Age-based vs Mixed-age Patrols

My old Troop (55 years old then, just now celebrating 60) also had the
stratification that Drew talks about. We went about it a bit similarly:

First we had the new Scout patrol. We found that if we moved the Scouts out
after they were past 2C and well on the way to 1C we could move them into a
patrol where they were accepted (or sometimes where they preferred or mom and
dad preferred, since there were some personality problems from one of the
three feeder schools). That provided us with young patrols that were mixed in
age if the boys were younger than 14. 14 years old and up became our Venture
Crew, which was its own patrol, but which also usually provided some
leadership, particulary SPL, ASPL, and TG. Some of the 14+ preferred to
double as patrol members and Venture Crew, often because they liked being PL
and near the top of the running for the Troop leadership positions.

Since the stratification occurred with some boys, we provided them with a way
to still be involved and enjoy it. Others didn't mind the difference and
worked on as they always had. Some hated working with the younger ones but
realized it was the only way they turned them into youth that could be
leaders and stayed on to help them. We adapted to try to keep everybody
happy.

Which is the key to things here. If you don't have a program for them -
younger or older - or if your program is beyond them and they don't
understand, they don't hang around and you lose members.

You need to be able to adapt and adjust and take advice from the PLC to
provide what your unit needs, and make sure the PLC realizes it must
represent EVERYONE. The youth have the program figured out if they get the
chance and they'll be involved where they want to be.

Tom Petrik

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