Discipline Action

[ScoutNut 147]

No letter. That is the "easy" way out.

 

As has been mentioned in a number of posts here, the SM, and CC, should have a sit down, face to face, real discussion with the Scout and his parents to talk about his behavior and come up with some solutions TOGETHER.

 

 

[Engineer61 19]

"This past weekend at a campout he physically, once again, tried to go after another scout. "

 

Q: Did he succeed? Did he physically assault another Scout?

 

If so, he's gone from the the Troop in my book...period.

[Basementdweller 608]

Every scout makes a mistake....You start ejecting boys for this and that then you don't have anyone in the troop.

 

Blakes advice is solid.....

 

 

We have no idea what happened......Just one side of the story and the OP has disappeared.....

 

 

Remember we could be the object of a magazine article or research again.....

 

Be wary of posters with no numbers.....

[Eagle732 27]

Everybody makes mistakes but this is being represented as an ongoing problem. I don't think anyone here is advocating giving a boy the boot for getting into a scuffle now and then. Boys will be boys.

 

I've found that NOT removing scouts who create long term, ongoing problems causes more membership loss. Parents with well behaved boys who were raised to respect others have little patience for those that do not. And it's those parents that make the decision on if and where their sons attend scouting.

 

I personally try to work with every boy who joins my unit but I'm very aware that some are beyond my capabilities.

[Stosh 3452]

Maybe as a "service project" the other boys in the troop could all pitch in an fix the damaged patrol box as a sign of respect against such inappropriate actions. One may never know who the person was who did wrong and made the mess, but they will all know who did right and fixed it.

 

Stosh

[Eagledad 2781]

>>Be wary of posters with no numbers.....

[Basementdweller 608]

Naw deleted my post

 

Ya don't care for me Barry and thats fine.....(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

[FScouter 24]

Does the answer as to "who" opened the discussion make the comments and thought processes invalid?

[Eagledad 2781]

>>Ya don't care for me Barry and thats fine.....

[Eagle732 27]

Well I like you Basement even though you don't like me because of all my Maine tagged trailers.

You obviously are suffering from a case of Trailer Envy

 

[Basementdweller 608]

OH Eagle....

 

I don't have trailer envy....I got a nice big one that I use to camp with the Pack.....It is full of stuff to make cub scout family camping possible....I spent probably 5 grand to make it happen. this was done before I joined the current organization because the previous troop would not loan the Pack equipment to camp.

 

 

Multiple camp chief stoves turkey friers to boil water, Huge griddles, canopys, tentage, ......

 

We can cook for 100 easily.....

 

I bought it all.....................

 

 

It is even legally register in my state...It cost me $75 per year.

[Eagle732 27]

Now there's an idea! We have a spare 6X10 trailer and lots of extra camping equipment. Maybe we can outfit it to lend out to packs so we can get the Cubs off on the right foot camping. You know, lots of equipment like tents, stoves, patrol boxes, dutch ovens, lanterns etc. That way they can get use to plop camping so they'll fit right in with most of the troops in our area.

[Peregrinator 85]

No letter. That is the "easy" way out.

 

As has been mentioned in a number of posts here, the SM, and CC, should have a sit down, face to face, real discussion with the Scout and his parents to talk about his behavior and come up with some solutions TOGETHER.

 

I agree that a face-to-face conversation is best, but it helps to have a written record of things in the event of any legal action. Sad that we have to think about that sort of thing, but that's the way society is today.

[Horizon 97]

We have given the Scout and parents a letter detailing the discipline meted out at the end of the meeting - but we also are 50% international and often have to have translators when dealing with parents.

 

We have had physical issues - fighting and bullying to be blunt. Usually it is a loss of camping and POR privileges. That has worked well.

 

Last thought - often it is the boy who is the most trouble that also needs Scouting the most. Balancing that with the needs of the good Scouts is tough, and I often have to re-read the parable of the prodigal son to keep my blood pressure under control I admit.

[Oak Tree 15]

Did he physically assault another Scout?

 

If so, he's gone from the the Troop in my book...period.

 

Yeah, if only life were so easy. It can be hard to tell who really started something. Even when one kid throws the first punch, it can be because the other kid was intentionally provoking him (sometimes for a long time). We once had two brothers get into a fist fight that clearly was being carried over from internal family frustrations.

 

Sometimes it can also be hard to tell where the "assault" started. Boys are rough-housing a little bit, and it gets out of control.

 

We certainly deal with all of those situations and take various steps, and it's really pretty uncommon in our environment, but it's not quite as easy as declaring a "zero-tolerance" policy.

 

We've actually never had to ask a parent to attend with a Scout, although that's definitely in our disciplinary bag of tricks. Most of the time we try to deal with it the way Stosh does. I find that new parents, and parents of younger kids, tend to advocate for harsher punishments. Some of them have told me that they have been impressed, over time, at how well the older kids seem to take direction from us, and they've come to appreciate the more subtle approaches to dealing with problems.