Every Troop has a personality and the way things are done varies according to that personality. On a campout you can find Troops where the adult leaders are hovering over the boys hardly giving them room to breath, while in others you have to kick over their lawn chairs to get their attention. In the first case you can bet these leaders will also be right there in the patrol kitchen and at the patrol table. In the latter they probably will gather in their own mess tent as the "Old Goats Patrol" and show off their cooking to any Scouts that care to look. So which is the right way or best way? In my opinion, I’m not sure that either of these methods helps the Scouts at all.

There are two methods of Scouting involved here - "The Patrol Method" and "Adult Association" and they aren’t meant to be mutually exclusive. These methods can be used together.

The patrol method is used to allow a feeling of belonging and to allow boys to experience leadership and responsibility. They really need some space to try things out. And to paraphrase B-P, we shouldn’t do anything for the Scouts that they can do for themselves. That means the Scouts should plan their meals, cook them, and police their kitchens. They will make mistakes, maybe have less than stellar menus, and sometimes suffer through the results. These can be great learning opportunities if an adult leader is there to coach them through the process (not run the process). The adult leader can help at difficult moments, encourage when things get tough, give helpful advice when needed, and still keep enough distance to allow the boys to take on the chunks of leadership they can handle. This is the adult association part, where a boy can learn from an adult role model that a setback is not a life failure. The trick is to find a happy medium between simply ignoring the Scouts, and becoming so involved that they don’t have a chance to learn on their own. The best advice is to remember that each Scout is different and consequently each patrol is different. Each will need varying degrees of room to learn and coaching support. You as the adult leader are there to give them the support they need while restraining your enthusiasm enough to let them try out things and learn along the way.