Working With Scouts

It may be that the most difficult thing to get about Scouting is figuring out what it isn’t. It is not a boys club, a baby sitting service, an academic system, an ideology, or a program of activities. The Scouting movement was born as a simple response to the inherent need of boys to have some direction and structure to their lives as they go about becoming adults. The proof of Scouting’s universality and genius is it has been adopted in vastly different cultures and locales over more than a century....

Scouting’s progressive program is built on the idea of developmental stages. Tiger Cubs work hand in hand with their parents, Wolf Cubs build on the relationships with their family, Bears build on the concepts of community, Webelos on self-reliance and independence. The Scout Troop and Patrol builds on all these skills as Scouts progress through the ranks. Every so often I come across a situation where some overheated leadership has taken it on themselves to depart from the age appropriate activities and blaze their own trail....

Measuring tapes are an essential tool for a carpenter; eight feet will always be ninety six inches. But measuring tapes are not indispensable and sometimes cause more problems than they solve. An experienced carpenter will tell you that they would prefer making a cut by holding a board in the place it belongs and marking it rather than transferring measurements from a tape as it is more likely to achieve a better fit....

For most of us adolescence is a difficult, chaotic and confusing process. Whether we are going through it ourselves or watching it unfold in others relatively new research on adolescent brain growth sheds light on an otherwise mysterious set of circumstances. It is now understood that our brains undergo significant physical changes in adolescence that may have some bearing on the way we behave and develop. The Frontline documentary Inside the Teenage Brain is a concise and useful resource that presents the science of adolescent brain development and some practical direction for those working or living with teens....

Dave Wortendyke, ASM of Troop 78 in Boulder, Colorado – Longs Peak Council — has to say about the value of “Thorns and Roses,” and how to do it… (from Ask Andy ) “While many Scout Troops/Venture Groups either attend National High Adventure Bases, or conduct their own long-term adventures, and almost all Scouts have a fantastic time on the trips, once in a while a dark cloud can occur to spoil the trip for one or more of the participants....

Night falls on the first day at summer camp; the big opening campfire is over, the troop has returned to the campsite, the Scouts are preparing for taps. Just after we end the Patrol Leader’s Council a young scout, at camp for his first time, is wandering around the edge of a pool of lantern light. I know exactly why he is there; he and his brethren have been there for twenty plus years – he is one of my homesick Scouts....

We can all agree that Scouting is fun, right? What is Scouting fun, and what isn’t? Young people are in Scouting because they crave an honest challenge. They don’t need any more “bread and circuses” (benefits or entertainments intended to placate discontent or distract attention). Scouts love to learn, but don’t like to be educated; Scouts like to work hard, but dislike being driven; Scouts strive to achieve, but at their own speed....

I have known a troop who has a sign posted in their meeting place that reads “make good or make way”. They send letters to scouts who don’t attend regularly threatening them with removal from the troop. Part of Scouting is dealing with our prodigal Scouts who disappear from time to time without any explanation. When they reappear we do best to follow the model of the father in the parable and recieve them with open arms and kill the fatted calf, not drawing attention to their shortcomings in a letter....