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Scoutmaster Minutes

Inspirational stories and meaningful remarks to share

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221 topics in this forum

  1. Teens turn in Woodbury coach who offered beer

    By infoscouter,
    • 0 replies
    • 1.6k views

  2. Something nice happened

    By Gold Winger,
    • 3 replies
    • 1.8k views

  3. Eastern Mysticism 1 2

    By SSScout,
    • 16 replies
    • 3.7k views

  4. Eagle Scout

    By OneHour,
    • 5 replies
    • 1.8k views

  5. Common Sense

    By highcountry,
    • 2 replies
    • 1.9k views

  6. Like My Momma Used to say... 1 2

    By SSScout,
    • 15 replies
    • 3.8k views

  7. Super Heroes

    By msnowman,
    • 4 replies
    • 2.6k views

  8. If a Tree Curses in the forest and there's no one around...

    By SSScout,
    • 3 replies
    • 1.6k views

  9. Ride turns into a lesson for Scouts

    By fgoodwin,
    • 1 reply
    • 1.7k views

  10. Unmaking Makes The World

    By SSScout,
    • 1 reply
    • 1.5k views

  11. "God's Drum"

    By SSScout,
    • 0 replies
    • 1.6k views

  12. Opportunity

    By JerseyJohn,
    • 0 replies
    • 1.5k views

  13. Two Stories- Lengthy but good

    By cc987,
    • 1 reply
    • 1.8k views

  14. Mayo jars and Coffee

    By C-BOLT,
    • 0 replies
    • 1.6k views

  15. COMMUNICATION

    By Eamonn,
    • 0 replies
    • 1.6k views

  • LATEST POSTS

    • Eagle94-A1
      Is the real patrol method dead?

      By Eagle94-A1 · Posted

      To quote the grandfather in The Princess Bride, "Wait, just wait." I was informed that the number of adults will soon be 4. Apparently the number of adults not qualifying at check in, or needing evac on the trek is over 1/3. One of my Scouters plans on staffing next year, and that is what he was told.
    • Tron
      Is the real patrol method dead?

      By Tron · Posted

      This rule is with good reason, a lot of abuse victims were victimized by near peers. 
    • Tron
      Is the real patrol method dead?

      By Tron · Posted

      This is sort of 3 now for high adventure now that high adventure requires 3 wilderness first aid and CPR qualified participants. 
    • Eagledad
      Is the real patrol method dead?

      By Eagledad · Posted

      This is the normal response from new leaders because their parenting nature is reacting to the situation. Most new leaders have to be retrained in a scout-run program. We approached this in several ways, including having the scout read and use the Scout Handbook. When I taught Scoutmaster Basic back in the day, the two most asked questions were discipline and uniform. My answer to the uniform question was the Scout Handbook. If the scout knows the uniform policy, they also know when they're not following it. They are making a bad choice. Don't hound them about proper uniform; ask them if they made the right choice. But really, it should be the PL who asks. Honestly, I wanted to see how the scouts dressed. Often, it shows a state of mind. Often, it shows a scout struggling at home.  Another way we got new adults used to the scout run program was by restricting the adults from putting up the scout sign to get the group's attention. Adults rarely need to get the group's attention in a Scout Run program because they are in the background. However, if an adult is being used as a resource to explain a skill and needs to get the group's attention (because they are boring), then the adult asks the nearest youth leader to get the group's attention. Likely, the scout will put up the sign, and the adult will follow in support of the youth leader's direction. There are other ways to train adults to let scouts make their own decisions, but honestly, it is a matter of mindset or a culture that respects scouts as equals to adults. Adults wouldn't treat other adults as some treat scouts as youth. The faster adults start treating scouts as equals, the faster the culture of trust changes. And the results are amazing. Scouts have to get used to it also; they have been led by adults all their life, so they just can't turn a switch to change. Trust comes from continued actions by both the adults and scouts. Practice.  Barry
    • HashTagScouts
      Is the real patrol method dead?

      By HashTagScouts · Posted

      The last unit I was with had purchased new tents the year before that YP change, and they were intended to be used for three youth - bad choice IMO (3 per tent?), I came in at the tail end of that decision and couldn't understand that logic- also thought they went with too high-brow of a tent model, and within a year two of them were missing poles/had broken poles/had tears in the rain fly. Prior unit did individual, Scout (parent) purchased, tenting and that worked out well. Troop had a few troop owned tents that mainly were used for the first campouts after crossover so the youth transitioning in had a little time to learn the ropes. For the kids who preferred hammocks, they used hammocks. Their tent, they were in charge of bringing it home, airing it out, and keeping it in good repair. Some kids would bring their family 6 man tent to a campout, but the other Scouts would make it known that this was not up to expectation pretty quickly (usually by making that Scout wait it out before helping them to set it up- watching an 11 year old try to set up a 6 man tent by themselves is a sight to behold). Some Scouts would start off with a $30 Walmart one-man tent, some went right for the REI models. My son had a Walmart one, but he saw me taking care of my tent, so with him hitting it with waterproof spray at the start of each year and checking seams that tent held up well for him over the years. That tent only weighed a little over 4 pounds, so wasn't bad for backpacking or regular weekend outings.
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