I was so proud of our troop tonight

[Knight 10]

We had a Webelos den visit us tonight - and our troop did great.

 

They did not plan a special meeting - the boys just planned and carried out a regular meeting but with a focus on things the Webelos might be interested in. They did some map and compass skills things, etc. The ASPL and SPL had an agenda written out and had done a little planning with the PLs also.

 

What was really good was Scouts planned and ran the whole thing.

 

It started great: The SPL and ASPL standing silently at the front of the room with their Scout signs up while the Webelos, Boy Scouts and parents were talking and milling about. The Boy Scouts quickly caught on - silently, of course - and the Webelos eventually figured it out too - no "signs up" calls or anything like that. The Webelos parents were quite impressed - after years of herding cats, their boys were finally "doing it right."

 

The SPL and ASPL did an opening a welcome, the Pledge of Allegiance and Scout Oath and then broke out into patrols, with Webelos joining them. Some older scouts (Troop Guides) were extremely good in making things happpen and easing the way for the Webelos.

 

In parallel, extra scouts not with the Webelos were learning "storming, forming, norming, performing" from a Scout who recently completed NYLT.

 

Meanwhile, I was in the next room (we have adjoining classrooms, one for parents, one for Scouts), giving a New Parents orientation to new Troop parents and to the visiting Webelos parents (I developed it as part of one of my Wood Badge ticket items). The Webelos parents seemed anxious at first that the adults were in one room and the Scouts in another - but we looked in on the Scouts and saw everything was going Ok. I asked a parent of a new Scout who had recently crossed over to our troop to give his perspective. He commented how he was impressed how the boys had held a meeting to plan their six month calendar and also how it was nice to have the boys prepare and serve him food on a campout (after years of him preparing food for Cub Scouts).

 

And by chance a very well-respected Scouter and his son happened to be visiting that night too (they are considering making a change of troops). His comment to me: This is how a Troop is supposed to work!

 

Each meeting the Scouts do some sort of outdoor activity. For this night, another Scout who also just completed NYLT had the Webelos teamed up with Scouts doing the "flip over the tarp without stepping off of the tarp" thing. After the teams all got it done, they then did it again but with only one person per team speaking. The Webelos parents walked outside to watch part of it and, judging by their reactions, were very pleased that their boys were spontaneously showing team work.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Troop was getting the duty rosters finalized for this weekend's campout.

 

The meeting was reassembled for final announcements - at which time, the other ASM and I gave some info about upcoming camps and events - with assistance from the PLs and ASPL.

 

The SPL lead the group in a perfect rendition of Scout Law, motto, slogan and Outdoor Code.

 

Finally, the SM gave a heartfelt Scoutmaster's minute (time 1:14 - per the ASPL)

 

The SPL lead the Scoutmaster's benediction and adjourned the meeting.

 

A brief and informative mini-PLC followed.

 

The Webelos and their parents really got to see a troop being run by boys. The SM and ASMs helped out - we talked with parents and consulted with the various Troop youth leaders throughout the evening - but we were all on the sidelines. The boys ran their meeting.

 

I know many of the parents visiting us had seen Troops where the SM runs the show - but not in our Troop.

 

No, we are not perfect and we have a long way to go, but tonight was one of those great nights.

[gwd-scouter 11]

Congratulations and great job on training your Scouts. So many posts on the forum are about things that go badly - it's wonderful to read a post about when things go well.

 

 

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

It is always to have that kind of "Aha-ha" moment! I hope our scouts do as well when we have our Webelos visit in 3 weeks.

[Gunny2862 11]

Congratulations!

[Narraticong 15]

Knight-

 

Thanks for sharing. Your meeting description gave me several ideas for improving our meetings. We have a troop less than two years old and are striving for boy leadership. To read success stories like yours gives me incentive to keep working toward our goal.

 

Troops like yours will prosper and show exactly why we do not need to reinvent Scouting!

 

Thanks again and keep it up!

[roguedawg 10]

I hope you got it on video. You could post it so leaders could see how a troop should be run. Don't worry, it will happen again, again, again and again. Congradulations. Treat your patrol leaders with a candy bar or something like that. What gets rewarded, gets repeated. RD

[2eagles 10]

Congrats.

[Eagledad 2777]

I cant express the pride I feel for you folks when reading these post. Its what makes me love this scouting stuff.

 

Barry