Response to Stosh

[scoutergipper 277]

" This sounds like a rule some adult would impose"

 

In my Troop, there's no such thing.

[Stosh 3452]

" This sounds like a rule some adult would impose"

 

In my Troop, there's no such thing.

 

Welcome to the minority.

 

Stosh

[MattR 2659]

It sounds like your line, Stosh, is the Scout Oath and Law. I like the part about encouraging scouts to solve leadership problems, especially if they aren't the leader.

 

SM bob, is it that the boys are not allowed to have individuality or they are not allowed to solve problems or even have problems? Society tries to cram in so much that everything has to fit just right to do as much as we do. Consequently there's no room for errors, problems or failure, or more importantly, solving errors, problems or failure.

 

Another aspect of this seems to be that the boys need to know there is a solution to their problem. A lot of times it's the case that the boy doesn't know what he doesn't know. That seems to be what the adults can help with.

 

We have had some luck. One PL was complaining to his dad that he wasn't doing anything because his patrol was doing everything and the dad just about slapped him in the head and told him that was the entire idea.

[Stosh 3452]

One of the very first things I teach my boys when they come into the troop is that failure is what Scouting is all about. Most boys at age 11 are terrified of failure and will sit on their hands and do nothing if faced with a difficult problem. That in itself is failure, but they won't admit it. I tell my boys to step up to the plate and try something. If it works, fine, wait until next time to learn something. If it doesn't, figure out why and then store that information away so it doesn't happen again. My more timid boys get the extra lesson, "If you have a problem and your efforts to solve it fail then figure out how to fix it. The reason you do this is you're going to meet someone some day that has a similar problem and unless you have figured it out on your own, you will never be able to help them. You'll never be a servant leader."

 

This was sent out by our DE to all SM's of the district within 20 miles of this boy's home.

Hi All,

 

I spoke with a La Crosse family today whose son got out of scouting a bit ago and would like to join again. M____ T____ is in 7th grade. His mother's name is K____ T_____, 123-555-8506 ______@yahoo.com. Feel free to contact him and invite him to visit your troop.

 

Tammy Schmitz | Seven Rivers Senior District Executive

 

I forwarded it to my PL just as it is stated with no comment. (I do it with all council emails.)

 

This is what he responded:

• _______@yahoo.com
  
• Stosh
  

Hi my name is H_______ S________ our boy scout troop is at Trinity Lutheran Church on the north side we meet on Monday nights at 7:00 pm. We are a new small Troop that is boy lead. Please come check us out .

Thanks,

H______ S_______,

Patrol Leader

123-555-4911

 

 

 

NEVER underestimate your boys! This response was done with no prompting on the part of the SM, no lesson/guidance/mentoring on the part of the SM or ASM, Nothing more than a "situation" (opportunity) handed to him directly from the scout office DE. Remember, this boy is 11 years old, and was a Webelos II 3 months ago and has been PL for 2 weeks.

 

It is experiences like this that totally convince me that NSP's only need an occasional tweak from a TG's and can run their own patrols right out of the gates. Believe and trust in your boys! Worse case scenario? The boy picks a different troop. Not really a failure, but still a disappointment that will need to be addressed for next time.

 

Stosh

 

Oh, and yes, I had to fight the urge to do some recruiting on my own as SM. But I waited and it finally went away.