Leaderboard

I was a soccer coach at the same time as a Scoutmaster, so our troop was open minded with sports, and other outside activities like band and school plays. I would say that on average, we had 60 percent of scouts at meetings and 40 percent on campouts. Just when I started worrying that we weren't as fun a troop as we working toward, we would hit a month between sports and have a 95% attendance at meeting and campouts. If the program is worth doing, youth will fit it in when they can. But, that kind of a program is a challenge and patrols have to be developed with that in mind. We made patrols o

IMO, youth naturally form groups or gangs for good or bad. In Scouting, we take those groups further by teaching and guiding scouts into responsible, cooperative, disciplined, self-lead patrols - the Patrol Method. From @Kudu website http://www.inquiry.net/patrol/system/3_patrol_organization.htm

Advisers ... There is a BSA concept of a unit commissioner, but then again you can't guarantee unit commissioners really know what they are talking about. IMHO, the best advice is to talk to as many scouters as possible. "The ideal" ...We often talk in "ideals" and much of our advice is such that "the ideal troop would ...". Units can absolutely still provide a great, meaningful program even if they aren't the Norman Rockwell troop. IMHO, are the scouts benefiting? Growing? Learning lessons? ... My first ideal is focus on program. Get the scouts out doing things and doing things t

I'm not sure I agree with some of this, but I will say that most administrators of the patrol method would consider camaraderie an indicator of growth and success. In the four stages (forming, storming, norming and performing) of team development, performing is the stage of a highly functional team. I would say camaraderie is a requirement of that stage. Getting to the performing stage is where most adults find the challenge. As we were talking about yesterday, Ad hoc patrols works against team building, but seem to be the natural reaction to low number troops. That is just one example, but it

As a kid, a GSUSA Girl Scout in Europe, the scouts in my troop made completely unofficial neckerchiefs to wear for activities for which our uniform was inappropriate. When wearing our neckerchiefs we were immediately recognizable as some variety of guide/scout. (There were multiple scouting/guiding organizations in that country.) Ironically, when wearing our GSUSA uniforms we were not recognized as guides/scouts but were (at least once) mistaken for flight attendants.

Nudist.

No myth, I have seen it happen too many times. The kids want to make friends, with rare exceptions. Some find it easier than others. The process is messy, disorganized, loud and sometimes a bit crazy. All things that run counter to our adult need for things to be organized and orderly. That is why we attempt to "assemble" friend groups. But core groups of youth with form into friends groups and eventually patrols. Leaders will emerge. Some youth with struggle to fit in, that is where adults nudge, whisper in the leaders ear, listen to the youth, ask questions and lead them toward making

Agreed. If a youth prioritizes Scouting or not, I'm glad they are involved at whatever level they want to be. We're a broad enough program to accommodate all involvement levels.

I can relate to them. Scouting has never been my first priority activity. There is nothing wrong with a boy choosing to participate in a scout unit as his second or third favorite activity. We should be glad that the scout has a variety of activities and lots of friends to enjoy.

Why did you guys take on scoutmastering? In one sentence, what do you want from the experience? There are as many reasons for volunteering as there are volunteers. Camping, leadership, adventure, mentoring young people, or even proving to oneself that you can do it. There is one desire that motivates your soul more than the others. What is it? The BSA has set their Mission of Association for Preparing young people to make ethical choices over their lifetime by instilling in them the value of the Scout Oath. They even give building blocks to the mission called Aims and Methods.

@fred8033 is absolutely right: Focus on giving your youth great experiences. Most troops do better on some of the Eight Methods than on others, and there are a lot of troops where circumstances largely prevent the successful execution of one or more Methods. We haven't found what I think would be a good answer to the problem of variable attendance. That's why I started this thread. Some troops have tried to adapt by creating extra-large patrols so that there will be at least a few patrol members of each patrol at the activity. Some troops find out who is planning to go on a campout

A fantastic idea! And a privilege.

It would be great if we could work out an adviser program. One where the experienced scouters here come and visit the troops wishing to improve or struggling with a certain aspect of scouting. The in-person view would certainly help in understanding the actual problems being experienced by the struggling Scouters. I appreciate the feedback from Barry, HelpfulTracks and Fred, but I don't think it helps address what's needed. Every troop meeting about 25% of the scouts are missing from the patrols. The missing scouts change every week. Trying to work with the patrols to plan meals doesn't

Shouldn't the title of this post be "Can you deliver the patrol method to your Scouts?" What is in the way of doing that? Do you need something more? If so what do you think that is? I'm really interested in what resources (BSA Handbook, troop training, etc.) you are using now, and what else you feel is needed from the leaders perspective.

@ParkMan The striped ties may be in process of going away or being replaced. Only the ladies shows in stock online. There is also a fleur-de-lis tie availble in red.

Girls are different from boys, so I think naturally forming groups changes with the new girl membership changes. Natural human instinct is being replace by program policy, so more adult participation will be required to subtly influence some kind of positive outcome. My humble opinion is that expectations of patrol method will change to fit cultural trends. Maybe that is what's been going on since National started New Scout Patrols, but the traditional members resisted. Since traditionalist are dwindling and their influence is fading, global scouting can step up and bring changes to the p

I'm heading over on Saturday! Very excited!

The Ken and Barbie uniform. Sorry, but they look rather stiff.

We have Field - Class A, Activity - Class B, Necker only, and I have one more....(very old photo links - scoutstuff.org only has the the pieces)

Hang in there. My son is working in SE MA and dealing with. He's assigned to a cabin with no electricity, so he and most of his mates are sleeping in their hammocks under the stars.

Thanks for fighting the good fight this summer! Glad you and your fellow staff are hanging in there!

Last week was extremely brutal for staff. It was very hot and it was easily to get dehydrated. I believe the heat index was over 110 at one point. Staff still sleeps in the green canvas tents, but at least we have a electricity. I was glad I decided to bring a fan this year. We had some nasty storms throughout the week which also made a impact on us. Outpost was harder than usual due to storms, but we still made do. This week is beautiful and perfect temperature, so I guess it’s a plus for this week. Only places in camp with AC is trading post, camp office, and health lodge. It doesn’t even r

Yep. A result of turning the neckerchiefs into little hankies to decorate the uniform and then making them optional in troops. But using them as Scouting identity items when not otherwise in uniform has some merit. I am seeing more Scouters wearing neckerchiefs over the collar and tied at the ends with a friendship knot, in the fashion of many of our international Scouting cousins, often when not in the official uniform.

There seems to be something wrong with the Scout Shop links. If you go to your favorite search engine you can use these search terms to go to the product pages directly: "protect yourself" site:scoutshop.org Try these links: Protect Yourself Rules preview adventure loop (for Lion, Tiger, Wolf, and Bear dens) Protect Yourself Rules preview adventure pin (for Webelos dens) You might want to contact the Scout Shop online to let them know that their links are not working and the URLs of the broken links or searches.

On the Parade Field or Review Field. Thus the fancy duds.

I suppose anyone with authority can define a "uniform" as consisting of this or that. What does BSA - not the many unofficial sites or a council or unit - but BSA itself say? The BSA usually refers to the uniform as "the uniform" - no adjectives. See, e.g., https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33066/33066_Official_Policy_WEB.pdf ; http://www.trcscouting.org/files/d/usr/65/Scout uniform.pdf The final Boy Scout Handbook (13th Ed.) referred to the Scout uniform as "the Scout uniform" - no adjectives and as "BSA's official Boy Scout Uniform (sometimes called the 'field u

National also says the uniform is not required, yet the Scout Handbook states how and when to wear the uniform properly (or it did when I was SM). Talk about contradictions. I don't believe using different names for uniform is corrupting the program. These names have been around since at least the 60s. Now, if someone was to say using Class B to describe a uniform is the cause of the fall of Patrol Method, my ears would perk up. But there needs a convincing argument. And donuts, good arguments and donuts would have some sway. Barry

That is what we have to do on most campouts, due to the lack of scouts. I am trying to figure out how to build patrol spirit when every campout is another ad-hoc patrol here and there. Mike

I think it is ridiculous.

There must be something more important than stamping out "Class B" - like having a uniform instead of merely a brand of heterogeneous clothing.