EagleScouter2010

Is there a PC way to get leaders to only teach one boy and not every boy they can possibly get their hands on? Because I am seeing leaders asked (by other leaders) to teach a skill to boys one night... even though it is a semi annual thing going over the same lessons. I'm not trying to bash these leaders. I just think we owe it to the boys who joined this program to give them the program and not an adult-run boy's club. As a young ASM, I feel as if my opinion is not taken as seriously since I don't have "experience." But the experienced ones enjoy teaching the boys a little too much. I messed

I'll jump in here too. I agree with MattR's post above. There is just not enough training material available. For the boys, the responsibility lies with the older boys, but when starting a new troop with no experienced boys (or even just moving from adult to boy led, like I'm attempting), the expectations have to start from adults. Where can we find out how much or how long, or even what we are supposed to teach the boys to ensure their knowledge is sufficient before we "let go" and set them off "on their own" ??? In terms of POR, I've only ever seen one boy, QM, learn his job by himself. He i

I'm just having difficulty being the "mediator" between the boys and other leaders because of the distrust. I lost a little respect for the older boys, but I wouldn't be here if I honestly thought this was hopeless. I'm not the kind of person who is willing to stand around watching things go wrong. The boys have already told me what they want to happen (boy led because the adults have them in a choke-hold) and I have been slowly pushing for it. COR really isn't that big of a problem because I know for a fact that the troop was 100% boy led 10-15 years ago when he was still around. He says he w

@SM bob: right now, the COR is really the SPL in disguise. I know he'd like to see the boys step up, but I think he feels that the quality of program shouldn't suffer and he should handle things if boys can't. We just had several leaders leave the start of the year for...reasons. I am trying to get those who are still here to make a change because the ones who left were mostly all of the spoon feeders especially on trips. SM and I want to see a cooking weekend trip to an open local BSA camp ground. I guess I can combine ideas and have Eagle plan that along with TLT on the same weekend since b

I'm not sure if I misled again. The "dork" and "cool" names are just what PL and SPL always say. In reality, the "cool" patrol is just the 12 oldest scouts OR the young ones they "approve" of. The "dork" patrol is actual a completely random group of boys that got put together because they were not wanted by the other boys. The group is mostly problem boys, though the PL I mentioned who is the only one wanting a leadership position is in this group (I want him to be a PL). He is not the sharpest tool in the shed and is lacking in terms of common sense, but he is the ONLY boy who has actually co

@Twocubdad I guess you're right about having to follow COR, I never thought about that before. I guess my next meeting objective is to sit down with those 3 and make sure we all walk away on the same page. I think CC is fine whichever direction we choose, though she wants her son to be in a disciplined program. SM and I both want boy led, so that leaves 2-3 opinions that may or may not clash. @qwaze We would like to be able to have adult meetings to discuss things like this but the boys "need" us in with them. Normally, meetings end up being me trying to get PL's to organize things while

Sorry about that post. Formatting error and I'm going to have to contact admin... Or I'll just post from a computer that isn't possessed.

@ Rick_in_CA I am 100% in favor of this method and have been talking to SM about learning through failure. He is not ready for that step and I think I can agree with him. We had several boys call home at summer camp and parents called SM withing minutes to scream frustrations when neither he nor I knew what was going on. One boy's mother literally screamed over the phone because her son's sleeping bag got damp...he had told her it was soaked...we immediately calmed her down and patched his tent... As much as I would love to see them learn from their mistakes, most of our parents are inactive a

@Hedgehog: Part of the problem here is that we are trying to back off as much as possible but they will not take the opportunity. When asked what they want to do, they have a whole list "apparently." I told them to come up with a plan for the trip and the response from SPL was "I already showed you everything and you did nothing." I later found out that SPL thought another younger PL had given me plans they apparently made. I told SPL I have nothing and have seen nothing. Hopefully these plans really do exist, because this would not be the first time they have flat out lied about their work to

Hi everyone. I came to the forums for similar help a couple years ago, but now I have some new issues coming up in the troop. The troop has 20+ boys (most active), a dad stepped up recently as SM to fill a void, and I am the only ASM with any experience. Our COR is former SM, though. We are attempting to have 3 patrols, mostly mixed age. The real problem comes from us not having any good PL's. Troop has 1 Eagle age 16 that I am going to rely on to be the unofficial SPL/"Guy in Charge". At Summer Camp, SM and I realized we have no boys willing to run as SPL for the troop. This isn't a

I didn't find anywhere like this in the forum already, so link me to it if I missed it. I previously posted about my troop becoming boy lead and thankfully it is almost there because of advice we've all received. However, now my troop is facing another dilemma; we're running out of productive ways to organize our meetings (90 minutes). We've been trying to have 20 minutes of patrol time, 30 of instructional, and 20-30 of a group activity, opening/closing too. For the past 4-5 months, the SM and SPL had the troop going off of the Troop Program Guide but everyone has noticed that it isn't workin

RR, Well, the group had a decent trip at least. I've got a few questions though if you don't mind answering: How much leading did the APL actually do? How much of the PL's or APL's plans actually happened? Have you talked to the SPL yet or at least let him know your opinion? (I actually found a great link if you want a hard copy to show him every responsibility for each troop member. It's not official, but it still helps. http://www.scoutingbsa.org/programs/boyscouts/Principles_of_Scouting/Sample_Troop_Info/Youth_Job_Description_524.html) I don't agree with some minor details, but the mai

RR, I think I know what you're talking about because I am guilty of making part of the mistake that your SPL is making now. One of the patrols in my troop was disruptive at meetings, so as the JASM then, I was assigned by the SPL to help them back on track. My mistake was taking the leadership away from the PL until I overheard the SPL talking of forcing the boy out of his position. I immediately realized how blind I had been and took a few steps back so that the young PL could do all the leading. The next time I got involved was to whisper some suggestions into the PLs ear and let him de

Hi everyone, I was looking around this forum to find some helpful stuff relevant to my situation and I came up with minimal that really dealt with this. If I missed a forum, please attach a link or tell me where I can find it. thanks. Anyway, I'm a 17 year-old Junior Assistant Scout Master and Eagle in my troop and have been here for almost 2 years. I've been looking around a lot at what some of you online have to say about your troops and I am very embarrassed at how mine is being run (by the adults). I would like to know how to get more people involved in planning and leading becau

Again, thanks to all of you for your advice. I have taken all of these comments into thought (from other forum topics too) and am slowly building a plan. For my troop's next meeting, I would like to talk to my SM and SPL about two main points: sitting the patrols down to elect a PL and to create a yell, name,...etc. The second point needs to be the creation of a PLC. We have not had one since I have been in this troop and I would like to have one organized quickly. That spurs another question that is bothering me: Would it be a good idea for me to suggest that I lead the first PLC to sho

CalicoPenn, our next elections will most likely be held in march/april of 2012. I believe that they should be held bianually, but the SM wants it to go a year (at least for now) since the troop is slowly becoming boy lead again. I am under 18, and my reason for not volunteering myself is due to the SM; he has said that he wants the Eagles to be JASMs because that is more of an all inclusive position. I do agree with him and have agreed to his offer though. I do love all of your suggestions that you are giving, but as for campouts, I have a lot of plans/ideas now. I am lost at how to impro

SeattlePioneer, with my current troop, I am not sure if they should learn from mistakes at this point, most of them would be pulled out by angry parents and I would need to find another troop...I love learning from mistakes, but most people don't understand that, especially with the mindset that "everyone is a winner" We are participating in our area's upcoming camporee and we are camping a few weeks after this as a troop. I would love to try the separation of patrols on both of these trips and I would also like to plan events for my troop's trip to show the younger boys that it is not to

Thank you all for your advice so far. I would like to clarify a few things and make this as specific as possible for you. Kudu, I like your overall idea of weeding out the "indoor" scouts, but I still have the problem with my SPL. I feel that I should not do things over his head but I also feel that he is not motivated anymore and will not listen to my suggestions or ideas. I really wish that there were four obvious natural leaders in my troop! moosetracker, to answer, your first question, yes I was in another troop, but it was slowly collapsing as I reached Eagle. It had 2 patrols w

Hi, I am new to this forum and so thankful that I have found it. I am an Eagle Scout in my troop and feel that I am one of the few who is motivated for a change. I have been in my current troop for one year now and it has always been adult lead. Our current SM, who is about 2 years into the position, recently decided to push towards a boy lead troop. I have been reading the Patrol Method forum topics like crazy for the past two weeks so that I could help him. I would like to start out by stating how our Troop has recently "elected" a new SPL and an ASPL. The two boys were our only members