Working with Kids
Counseling, inspiring and teaching kids.
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LATEST POSTS
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The transgender scout in my unit staid in. Earned Eagle, went to Philmont and now in College. Parent was a leader so that helped. The main odd thing was that the scout dressed as a 1950s housewife.... It's like they changed genders and decades. They were treated well overall. I checked in frequently. One leader from another unit told her "I don't get this gender thing, but you do you.". The scout loved that response as they know most don't understand but at least they were kind enough to let them live their life. As you said, single tent, only gender neutral bathrooms, buddy group changes. I was asked but didn't wear the pride knot, I think that hurt a bit. It is a bit complicated to manage, but it is manageable. -
I would just say to avoid putting yourself in legal risk, follow BSA rules and regulations. I was told, by a lawyer, I could be sued if a kid caught COVID during a scout outing. "I'll sue the BSA, national, council, CO, committee chair and scoutmaster and let the judge determine who is liable." Just get excess liability insurance and follow BSA policy and you will be fine.
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More than everything, lack of parent volunteers will damage this program. I took a similar step a few months ago .. it is sad seeing the change over the last several years. Went from more than enough parents willing to camp and lead outings to crickets.
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When I first took over in January of 2025 I saw myself staying as Scoutmaster for at least a year or two after my youngest aged out. He turned 18 this week, and I'm stepping down. I'll be taking on the role of Eagle coach instead. The biggest challenge was time, made worse by the lack of parent involvement in the actual running of the Troop. Of those who were willing to volunteer time, I'd say about 80% of them only wanted to be in an administrative type position - committee member, advancement chair, service chair, etc. Of those who were ASM's, one never came camping even on the trip they were in charge of organizing, and one needed to be hand-held through everything to the point it was faster and easier for me to do it myself. (Crazily, this parent is an Eagle, yet can't cook a meal or put up a tent that isn't their own.) Anywho... it's been great, and awful, and everything in between. God bless those of you who are in this role. I figured I'd share the message I sent to our Troop after the latest political issues, because I think it's a message that's needed no matter what we're facing, but didn't want to clutter the other thread. Although I have just one more week as your Scoutmaster, I wanted to issue a statement of support for ALL our scouts, our friends, and our families. I wholeheartedly believe in the overarching mission of Scouting, which is "to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law." That doesn't change how we are meant to treat others, no matter what is said by outside individuals or administrations. Trustworthy and Loyal means a scout can be relied upon to act with understanding, Kindness and Courtesy in their interactions with others. Scouts should strive to be non-discriminatory and Helpful to everyone around them. In short, the same principles that Baden-Powell espoused when forming this organization still stand today. Do your best to continue to be the amazing young people that you are. -
So... we actually have a transgender scout in our Troop, sort of. (They're still registered, but have let me know they will not be continuing with the program.) This scout is male, biologically, but asked to be called by a female name and be referred to as she/her a couple years ago. We met as a committee, at the request of the parent, to decide what we were going to do. All but one of us felt that the right thing to do was to keep the scout as part of our Troop. Since the scout had the support of the parents, that was enough for us to honor the request for name and pronouns. One committee member felt the scout should look into the local girls' Troop. It ended up being such a non-issue. Our scouts made the name switch pretty much instantly and never gave it another thought. They were all still friends. There were no snide remarks. There was no bullying and no asking why the scout didn't switch Troops. They all just went on with Troop business like usual, with one exception, which was that the scout started to tent separately. (Something many of our older scouts choose to do anyway. Hammocking has become a 'thing' with a couple of them.) That was a pretty good lesson for me, watching how our scouts handled it.
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