reorganizing troop
Lawrence Tuck (lawrence.tuck@GTE.NET)
Thu, 28 Jan 1999 08:15:15 -0800
Allen Maddox makes some excellent points. We should not be too quick to
judge this scoutmaster based on the limited information provided.
It sounds like this SM is dealing with a problem many of us face--what do
you do with boys who for one reason or another just don't seem to want or to
be able to go camping? I've got a couple like this in my troop. They're
great kids and I'm glad to have them--but their patrol leaders complain that
"Johnny is never around to help the patrol" and in some cases don't want
them in their patrols.
My inclination is to keep them in a patrol (possibly a different patrol) and
work with the PL to find ways to get the boy more involved. But in some
cases, like Rhonda's son, there are external circumstances that make it
impossible for him to be more active.
Does anyone have other solutions to this problem? And--just a point for
discussion--are there circumstances under which forming a "non camping
patrol" might actually serve the boys' (all the boys) best interests?
Final point--and I don't mean this as a flame, just constructive criticism.
Rhonda says she told the SM that if he moved her boy out of his old patrol
and away from his best friend, she'd move him to another troop.
Presenting the SM--or anyone else--with an ultimatum like that isn't a good
way to further constructive communication. The SM may have felt he had good
reason to make the changes. Was Rhonda willing to listen to his reasons, or
had she already made her mind up before the conversation began?
Sorry if that offends anyone.
Larry Tuck
SM, Troop 761
Thousand Oaks, CA
