Eagledad

Hmm, nothing like adults meddling in scouts business. Merit badge requirements are between the scout and the counselor. Also, when adults start talking about shortcuts, they are mentoring shortcuts to the scouts. We must be careful that we don’t teach advancement over adventure. Sounds like a great campout. I’m jealous. Barry

I’ve trained many scoutmasters of new troops and my First step advice is put down the SM Handbook and get the Patrol Leaders Handbook and SPL Handbook. Those two handbooks have the same information as SM Handbook without the adult baggage. They are fast reads and basic enough to layout a plan for the next few months of your program. You will find the scouts and adults will bond faster when everyone is working as a team with the same instruction guides. And get ready, you are embarking on the most confounding and rewarding endeavor of your life. i love this scouting stuff. Barry

I don't understand. It appears your troop is a lifeboat for this scout and scouts like him. Our troop averaged one scout transfer per month because of our program reputation. Many were friends of scouts in our troop. Council often referred out-of-state transfers to us . These scouts lack of skills can be challenging, but I always found them and their parents enthusiastic and great supporters for our program. I'm so thankful for your service. Barry

Not surprised, not a single person in the Pentagon was a member of Scouting America. Barry

Back in the day, when I was trying to save the world, I sought the commissioners' help in identifying issues that were undermining the program, such as losing over 50% of Webelos before crossover (the National Average). The short story is not just NO, but..... If the commissioners could visit a unit once every two months to just observe casually what the Dens and patrols are doing, then they could report their observations to the District Commissioner (DC). If the DC identifies a trend, the district can then approach a solution, such as training. Of course, that approach requires identifying levels of performance and methods for working below minimum performance. If judging unit performance is not expressed correctly, then yes, observing units will appear to be overstepping. I've been there. But it can work. One DC friend ran the UC corps successfully in the largest district in Minnesota. He addressed problems quickly and with compassion. A good UC corps starts with a good DC. In my opinion, the DC is the most critical Key Three position. They require a big-picture understanding of the scouting program and how the units fit in the model. Then, they develop a district program to help unit leaders enhance their unit performance within that model. Most districts take the first person that says yes to the UC position, but more often than not, they aren't qualified. First, the district needs to find someone who is a good recruiter; it's a skill. They will find a qualified UC. Barry

Well, the program isn’t making it any easier, google “Boy Scouts woke” and there is very little positive responses from all sides of the spectrum. The program is caught on a cultural yoyo that makes it difficult for anyone to discuss. My wife and I travel internationally quite a bit and I often find myself bragging about the benefits of scouting I observed from my experience. I have found folks of all backgrounds and nationalities are intrigued with the scout program and want something like it for their community. I don’t step into the resent changes because I don’t want to turn the discussion political. I like to leave it positive. Barry

Great post, thanks. i used to teach the same approach. I believe the SM should have a feel for how a scout is doing before they are ready for the BOR. Like courious scouter, I may have signed off his SMC long before he completed the other requirements. For me, scouting is about personal growth. Some scouts have grown a lot, but they are in no hurry for advancement and that’s fine with me. I tend to have a good feel for simply by finding opportunities to have a quick chat asking how it was going. We might have something in common and I would bring that up or ask how a new patrol mate is dong. You can learn a lot about scouts at a SM conference, but few small chats tells you pretty much what you need to know. You can sign their book if they have it, or during a conference they request and use that opportunity to brag about them. Our CC told me of one scout during his BOR who didn’t remember having a SM conference with me after lunch earlier that day. When she reminded him of our chat while I bought him an ice cream bar, he was surprised to learn that was a SM conference. He just asked me how baseball was going. Any excuse to have an enjoyable chat with a scout. If I knew a scout was having a challenge with the scouting experience, I would try to get them to discuss it, and then I might ask if they felt they were ready for the advancement. Sometimes they would say no and set a goal to prove themselves. Even better when they want to grow. The sign off is important, but if it’s also fun, I can say 25 years later, it’s memorable. Barry

Thank you kindly. It’s a simple philosophy that everyone should go home feeling good about their scouting experience. Barry

It's really up to the Course Leader. I approved several leaders working together. I wanted the leaders to grow in the area they would be working. I am not sure why you wanted to work with Cubs if your mainly working for scouts. But, I would have been open minded. I did help adult shift their thinking of what they were going to do for the units. You would be amazed at how many adults aren't given expectations for helping their unit. A lot of units are running like well oil machines, so they aren't looking specific volunteers. I often worked with them on tickets to learn how patrol method worked and how adults should work in that format. They really enjoyed it. On troop leader had was very limited with his volunteering time time. He was a CEO and spent a lot of time working with teams for development. We came to the conclusion that he would work great on the district committee in planning with his limited time. So we designed his tickets toward working with the committee. There is no doubt he would be running the Committee in a year or two. He had rare skills that every district would want. So really the answer the expectation Tickets depends on the WB team. They are all different. Barry

I asked because I believe when done correctly, the ticket experience has the most impact for the participants. I agree tickets can get out of control and add very little growth to the scouter’s scouting career. I also was given ticket items approval responsibility and was able to counsel participants and TGs to simpler Ticket Items that enhanced their volunteer experience more directly. I was glad to help and counsel any participant who felt stress with their tickets. The experience really should be fun and something that add excitement. Many folks aren’t creative and struggle with Ticket Items, so I had enjoyable discussions with them to learn about their goals for scouting and then we discussed simple ideas for growing towards their goals. One new SM was struggling with his role for PLC meetings, so he created a ticket item to visit and observe PLC meetings of 5 other troops. One CM was also the Webelos leader and Tiger leader. So we created a Ticket item to recruit a Tiger and Webelos leader so she could focus on what she wanted to do, Cubmaster. I know sounds obvious to many that she should have done that in the first place, but things often happen that complicate our lives in such a way we done see it happening. Then suddenly we are overwhelmed and the fun is gone. When the fun is gone, scouts suffer the most. Most scouts leave because of boredom. Many districts use WB ticket items to source event leaders like camporees, which often lead to inexperienced adults planning complicated events that give scouts a terrible experience. I didn’t approve any event planning unless the participants could prove they had previous successful experience, and it would be a fun growing experience for their future scouting career. Scouting is supposed to be fun and the WB ticket items experience should be a highlight of growing as a Scout Leader. I had motto for both the scouts and adults; If it’s not fun, change it. Barry

What are your Ticket Items? Barry

Any SPL handbook works, too. In fact, I required all the SMs in my Scoutmaster Specific class to have one to use with the PLC for coordinating expectations. A team should work from the same book. Think of it as a condensed version of an SM Handbook. Barry

I’m am a mixed age patrol guy. I’ve tried them all and the fastest scout growth occurs in patrols with older aged and experienced mentor role models. But, building patrols is not easy. It takes experience. I agree to a point that the scouts have to be involved. But, if the adults (role model, mentors) struggle, the scouts certainly will. Don’t throw them in dark without some kind of guidance and plan. Work as a team with everyone understanding the goal as well as the challenges. Make the successes and failures a team responsibility so that both scouts and adults work the problem together. I promise the scouts take these things to heart and will work to fix challenges the next time. They don’t like it any more than adults. And you will be amazed how seriously they do these things as the troop learns and grows when they know that the adults have their back. This subject is an example that scouting is hard and the more the adults and scouts work as a team, the more confident everyone feels trying new ideas to improve the experience. Scouting is a safe place because failure is an opportunity to grow. That goes as much for the adults as it does for the scouts. Another deep discussion is news scouts and how to get them merged in the troop. But, that is a different subject for another day. Merry Christmas everyone. Barry

I understand what you are saying, but my experience with adults is that less is more. Adults tend to hinder the scouts' growth in character because, by their nature, adults don't like youth making bad decisions. I'm not sure what you consider average skills. Are knots, lashings, and orienteering average skills you're speaking about? Still, the troop program is designed so that scouts lead and manage their activities. That program doesn't require many adults. Of course, scouts have to continually grow to develop the skills for dealing with the responsibilities of running the program and their personal growth. A mature program requires a minimum number of adults because the scouts are responsible for the program's activities and business, including training. The challenge for units is having a resource pool of skilled experts to prevent stumping scout growth. Barry

Yes, my delegating comment was for the program 25 or 30 years ago when there were still many experienced Scouters. My point about the adults in today's scouts program is a different situation. I'm pretty creative when looking for solutions, but this one is a challenge. The program now, whatever it's called (part of the problem), needs big changes in identity and training. Barry