Scouts who don't pull their own weight @ campouts

[TAHAWK 1420]

For the most part, boys want to be in Scouting because they think they will be having fun with their friends - or at least boys they want to be their friends. Adults have different motives.

 

The younger, "immature" boy may simply need more time to grow up and learn that he can do for himself - and get satisfaction of achieving. Simply "catching him" on those occasions when he "gets it" may be all it takes. What is his job in the patrol? Is it a good match? Could he define a job for himself that is useful and stimulating?

 

(By the way, my troop was a Coleman dealer for 14 years, and I got to take the dealer training. Coleman strongly recommended stuffing tents because folding concentrates stress. Hence "Stuff Stack.")

 

As for the older boy:

 

1. He is on a team. He should be on it because a consensus welcomes him there and wants him to be there. "A patrol is a small group of friends." It is supposed to be self-selected. The further you get away from that, the further you are from the Patrol Method.

 

Does he have any friends in the patrol? In the troop? In another troop?

 

Does any member of the patrol want him on that team? If not, why is he on that team?

 

Does anyone in the troop WANT to be his friend?

 

If he has no friends, it is probably not his idea to be there, "Do you even want to be here?"

 

2. He should be on the team because he wants to play the game,

 

a. Does he know what the game is? If not, he should have it explained to him by someone who understands completely. BSA has given Scouters quite minimal help in the last fifteen years in understanding, The new Scoutmaster Specific syllabus does a little to improve that situation - but just a little.

 

b. Does he in fact want to play the game? If there any aspect of the game that he wants to play? If not, why is he on the team.

 

There are worse outcomes than the departure of a boy who has no desire to be on the team.

 

He is unlikely to be learning to be a better person and better citizen in the circumstances that you describe, At 14, he is unlikely to change much absent a transformative experience.