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LATEST POSTS
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I am sussing out that you're trying to figure out when to bring your knowledge to the table without burning a bridge. That's really tough to figure out; unfortunately we have a lot of bad leaders in scouting. I would recommend assessing the key 3 a bit, attend some leader meetings to see if they are just dictating or actually running the meetings properly. A key indicator to hold off and wait on making any recommendations is if the committee chair is not seeking input from all attendees at the committee meetings. -
I'm 100% okay with this. I'd celebrate getting the scouts outside their comfort zone and experiencing new things. My earlier response should probably not have been written during a work mtg. -
I just want to make it clear that I'm not looking to change patrol method or interfere in the details, just looking for ways to influence the broader mission of the troop without looking like the new guy who wants to come in and change everything. My thoughts are that I can continually be hyping more wilderness-type adventures, but I don't know if there's anything more direct that people have had success with, such as altogether hosting it myself. In my Troop when I was a Scout, we had at least one major trip or event each year that was chosen and arranged by my dad, who was SM. Patrols would still handle meals and gear, but the itinerary was set for us. I can imagine some strict Patrol Method adherents would not approve of this, but it got us out of our comfort zone and exposed us to things we otherwise would have missed, and thereby had a lesser overall experience for missing. -
Argumentative. Patrol includes the patrol leader. The connection between SPL and non-PL patrol members is the PL. The point of the original sentence was that the guidance for the patrol (including PL) is thru the SM and the SPL and that parents need to be careful trying to influence the patrol (both patrol leader and patrol member).
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Regarding your original question about choices of activities: they evolve as the troop evolves. The bad news: a huge influx of crossovers will require you to focus your on basic skills and relatively short hikes to campsites. Nothing can make a 1st year hate backpacking like 4 hard miles in backcountry. On the other hand, with proper conditioning, they will be begging for a 4 day midweek outing in the middle of Dolly Sods. Regarding load balancing of chores: it takes attending multiple events to understand those dynamics. You may have seen a weekend where the younger scouts did the dishes, but on the previous camp out they may have been the cooks. You might not have seen the hours after the first trip that the older scouts had put in cleaning carbon from pots, or the hours before the trip you were on that they spent organizing gear with the QM. Attend several consecutive outings, and you might be qualified to put a bug in the SM’s ear about patterns of behavior that should be reformed.
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