Working With Scouts

*During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.*Each Sunday I’ll publish a selection from his writings in the hope that you’ll draw inspiration and understanding from his timeless ideas. IN the Headquarters Report of one of our Oversea branches it is stated that a large percentage of decrease in numbers of Scouts occurs in about the third month of their service in the Movement, and Scoutmasters are warned to look into their method of handling Scouting to make sure that it meets the expectation of the lads....

*During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.*Each Sunday I’ll publish a selection from his writings in the hope that you’ll draw inspiration and understanding from his timeless ideas. A FURTHER way of discovering activities that will appeal to the boys is for the Scoutmaster to save his brains by using his ears. When in war-time a soldier-scout is out at night and wants to gain information of the enemy’s moves, he does so to a large extent by listening....

Every so often I hear from a Scouter or parent about a Scout who has a problem with bedwetting. It goes without saying that I am not a medical expert, but I did a little research and several sources agree an estimated 3.75 -5.25 million boys (and a smaller number of girls) in the United States have a medical condition known as nocturnal enuresis (NE) or involuntary urination during sleep, commonly called bedwetting....

What do you think? In this week’s podcast I’ll answer email questions about [anxious Scouts,](https://scoutmastercg.com/tag/behavior-problems/) liability insurance, cell phones and whether we should be using merit badge books or unofficial work sheets and workbooks. The Big Three Resources every Scouter should read BSA statement on liability insurance Article on merit badge workbooks and worksheets. Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS...

Reviewing, Retesting, O.A., and Webelos More questions and answers about the Scoutmaster’s conference and our review process. In addition we’ll discuss Webelos woes; how can we get them excited about being in a Scout troop?, encouraging cooperation between Order of the Arrow and the troop when it looks like O.A. responsibilities may be cutting into Scout’s responsibilities in the troop, and how a new Scoutmaster can get older Scouts on his side....

*During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.*Each Sunday I’ll publish a selection from his writings in the hope that you’ll draw inspiration and understanding from his timeless ideas. The calmness and the cheerfulness of trained Scouts when doing their work has often been commented upon. It is what results from giving them aims and ambitions which they can carry out for themselves, and from which they gain personal satisfaction....

Classroom methods are one way to instruct Scouts, but they are the least effective, (and least fun) way to get the job done. Many of us just don’t know how to instruct Scouts without the classroom approach. Baden-Powell encouraged us to do better; Our aim is merely to help the boys, especially the least scholarly ones, to become personally enthused in subjects that appeal to them individually, and that will be helpful to them....

Boys can hardly wait to go on hikes, sleep in tents, and cook meals in the open. They are eager to master the skills of Scouting and to put into practice what they are learning. They want to share experiences with their friends. They anticipate challenge, adventure, and recognition for their achievements. Troop members look to their Scoutmaster as the person who will help them realize the promise of Scouting....

We set aside today to celebrate the United State’s 238th year of independence. Have you considered the individual “independence day” that is the aim of a Scouter’s work? It’s independence day when Scouts stand on their own two feet, overcome obstacles, best challenges, and take the initiative to set their own path forward. These strides forward into adulthood may look small to us, but fireworks are going off in their hearts and minds....

In Aids to Scoutmastership Baden-Powell writes: The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother…. He has simply to be a boy-man, that is; he must have the boy spirit in him: and must be able to place himself in the right plane with his boys as a first step. Boy-man? That’s a bit of poetry, a term to conjure with, and a paradox. (Before I go further any adult, who is a “boy-man” (adult-child?...

Don’t all of our Scouts have special needs? Each has an individual way of seeing things, individual talents and shortcomings, in one sense don’t all of us have some special need? The sport of Scouting is discovering how to best deliver the promises of Scouting to Scouts with different needs. It’s not so much about “special” needs, it’s about individual needs. When we throw quotes around “special” it’s understood we are referring to someone with a perceived deficit and requires ‘special’ assistance....

Podcast Episode (00:26:34): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 216 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers In this week’s podcast I discuss building positive peer pressure and answer email questions about direct donations to Scout Troops, immediate recognition and the Eagle Scout rank, and the appointment of youth positions of responsibility in a Scout Troop. Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers We all want Scouts to reflect, and to use the product of reflection to grow and develop as useful people. Scouts are action oriented, their capacity for reflection is developing, and you have to align your expectations to their level of development. If you think about it at that age you and I learned more by a repetition of silly mistakes than by power of logic, or accepting what we were told....

The author’s 5-year-old son, Gideon, playing at the Land playground in North Wales. (Hanna Rosin) In her Atlantic Monthly article, The Overprotected Kid, Hanna Rosin writes: It’s hard to absorb how much childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school, forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your child in your lap—are now routine....

Podcast Episode (00:34:33): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 212 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers In this podcast I catch up on a number of email questions that have accumulated over the past few weeks. Do Scouts need contracts? What’s the ideal Troop Size? How do we resolve problems between brothers? Can A Troop be welcoming and helpful no matter what limitations a Scout may have? Should we call Scouts ‘kids’ or ‘boys’ rather than Scouts?...

Podcast Episode (00:18:12): Download MP3 Scoutmaster Podcast 206 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Listening is, perhaps, the single most important yet neglected skill any Scouter can use to better serve their Scouts. I talk about why and how we ought to listen to our Scouts. A listener asks if I support Scouting organizations other than my own. And another question bearing on Scout accounts. All this and your messages in the mailbag....

John Thurman was the Camp Chief at Gilwell Park and had an important role in shaping Wood Badge training. He authored many Scouting books (his three pioneering books are great resources). In his 1950 book Pioneering Projects, he offers some reflections on the Scouter’s role. Scouting isn’t easy to get at first, and it never has been. The “small voice” inside us says “this will be great fun, let me at it!...

There he is, waiting for our reply; how do we respond to a Scout who wants to quit? Not every boy is going to maintain an active interest in Scouts, it doesn’t automatically mean that anything is wrong with them, the program, or ourselves. I expect that every Scout will have a tough time once in a while, because I have tough times myself. If a Scout says they want to quit imagine what you would like to hear if you were in their place....

Understanding how Scouts listen should help us figure out how we best communicate with them. There’s never enough time to get your message across. Even Fidel Castro, famous for giving six-hour speeches, had plenty more to add. If you’re given 8 minutes, take 8 minutes minus 7 seconds, not 9 minutes. The extra minute is selfish. The extra minute doesn’t actually make that much of a difference in how much you are able to communicate....

Sometimes all we need to solve our biggest problems is a slight shift in attitude. What would things be like if our first assumption was goodwill? The patrol leader who forgot to do something may have honestly forgotten to do it, not just ignored their responsibility. I forget all kinds of things! Assume goodwill. The Scout that earned three merit badges last month may just have worked hard to achieve something rather than trying to get around your standards....