Patrol Temporary Realignments

[Stosh 3452]

Hotdesk writes:

 

"2. Bob White in an ideal world scouts would feel obligated to go to campouts if they knew that it would effect their patrol. HOWEVER, many scouts are involved in multiple school activities, church youth group, Boy Scouts, Venture Crews, driving, working, 4H, etc. A lot of times it is a combination of these things. This prevents a lot of scouts from going on campouts regardless of how obligated they feel or how pressured they are. For that matter expecting a scout to pressure another into going camping is usually not going to happen. Even if they enjoy camping they will simply talk about the fun that they had and the events that happened. They will not use peer pressure on a scout to go camping."

 

Keep it in mind that all youth have choices. They choose to get involved in other school activities, church, but not always family. Here the choice is always keeping Mom happy. :^)

 

With that being said, youth today are constantly asked to choose between differing activities. If boys are choosing something over scouts, it is because they believe that the other activity is more worth their time than scouts. If scouters think that scouting is so great that every teenaged boy is going to be breaking down the door to get in, think again. If on the other hand, your troop offers activities that are more worthwhile than the other guy is offering, you will get more boys choosing scouts. If the program doesn't offer something the boy values or needs, it will quickly get passed by and no amount of parental coersion will keep the boy in the program. I hear of people withholding driver's licenses, etc. to keep their kid involved in a program that they don't want to be in. Ever wonder where discipline problems come from or where they end up?

 

If one offers a better than the next guy's program, the boys will come. If you don't, they will leave. Even if you have the best program going, if it's not presented to the boy in a manner acceptable to his needs, he's gone!

 

Stosh

[Bob White 20]

The real world is what you make it.

 

Two scouts can't go camping as a patrol because of what?

 

Splitting wood? We are talking about enough wood for two people. Even if they had to split what they needed they don't need that much. In fact if someone taught them to use a backpack stove they probably would not need to split wood at all.

 

Building a fire? Just how many scouts do you need to build a fire Hotdesk?

 

Cooking? Scouts in the unit you serve cannot cook for two people?

 

Dishes? How many scouts in the unit you serve are need to do the dishes for just TWO people?

 

Setting up a campsite? This sounds like the lead in to a joke but come on hotdesk, how many scouts does it take in the unit you serve to set up ONE tent?!

 

Packing gear? This is a problem for two people? You understand that you pack for yourself no matter how many are going and then you only add the patrol gear you need fo the size of the patrol going...TWO PEOPLE hot desk, what all patrol gear do you need?

 

Garbage lines, Ho messy can two people be that they cannot Pick up their own litter???

 

There is no more work to two people camping than eight people.

 

If you are going to constantly reallign patrols then why bother making patrols in the first place. I don't think you understand the concept of the patrol method.

 

 

[gwd-scouter 11]

We have been operating as a single patrol troop for years because we've only had a dozen boys or so and usually had 6-8 at meetings and campouts. We now have 11 Scouts (one about to age out who is not very active) but I've noticed that we have 10 at all our meetings and even had all 11 on our last backpack trip. What we don't have in our troop is a spirit of teamwork, unity, identity. It's becoming the "older guys," and "new guys," and the leaders (those middle guys in new PORs). When talking with Eagle son, who is also one of our ASMs, he said, "so what if we're small, we still could have two patrols.

 

I think he's right. Last week we formed two patrols of five. Scout #1, who is newly elected as our SPL/PL is Patrol Leader for Patrol #1, Scout #2, Troop Guide who has been having great difficulty working with our newer Scouts, is now PL for Patrol #2. Mixed age patrols, each with an even mix of Scouts ranging from Tenderfoot to Life.

 

Last week they came up with Patrol names, began designing flags and a cheer. We have a campout coming up in a few weeks that will be the first in which they have separate patrol sites and must begin to work and rely on the members of their patrols to get things done. Our Troop has enough equipment for two patrols (enough for four or five actually).

 

I admit this set up flies in the face of what some would call the perfect world of Scouting. Eagle son and I actually made up the patrols. The Patrol Leaders were not elected, but had a change in their POR as I stated above. We considered the age, experience and personalities of all the Scouts involved. We both knew, as did the other adult leaders, that we had a situation brewing in our troop, that our current crop of junior leaders were in over their heads (I have several posts about our Troop elections last December and won't go into all that again here), and we needed to do something quickly to help these junior leaders connect with the concept of "servant leadership" and before we lost our new Scouts.

 

It is my hope that by splitting the guys up into these two small patrols, the PLs will have a better chance to grow and learn in their PORs, our new Scouts will feel more welcomed, and our older Scouts will continue to mentor.

 

 

[AnneinMpls 10]

Bobwhite, thanks! You've helped me think about how small patrols can function more effectively.

 

What do you recommend if only one member of a patrol shows?

Anne in Mpls

[Bob White 20]

I would ask the juniour leaders if they thought they coud keep on eye on him and help him when he needed it and to make sure he did not feel alone at meal times.

 

I am confident they would handle the situation correctly.

 

I will admit that I never had only one scout from a patrol show up.

 

BW

 

[jmwalston 11]

I would hope that if only one Scout in a Patrol showed up, that it was the Patrol Leader.

 

Bob White assessed it very well, have the Scout intergrated with the others so he isn't left out. I would think it would be pretty hard to learn Scouting skills if you have to teach yourself.

[hotdesk 10]

Bob I have already mentioned that I do not support realigning patrols unless absolutly necessary. I did this when I said that our troop's Scoutmaster, Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Jr. Assistant Scoutmaster, Patrol Leader's Council, and I discussed ways to prevent doing this. Our solution was decreasing the number of patrols, matching scouts with similar interests, creating an older scout patrol, and to continue filtering new scouts (after they reach First Class or the first year in the troop) into existing patrols.

 

I will agree that each individual task is not a lot of extra work. There is more work to be done with those tasks when more scouts from a patrol attend a campout. HOWEVER, when you have to compile all these tasks together 11 and 12 year olds will not enjoy it, will not want to do it, and will stop having fun. It is a lot of work when they are all done by the same two scouts. I'm sure that 15, 16, and 17 year old scouts won't be stressed out, but that is because they have been on High Adventure Activities where the main work is not from these jobs, but from the actual activity.

 

One of the things I have noticed regarding participation in scouts is that regardless of the program scouts will favor other programs as age increases. In our troop the scouts (through the PLC) select all the outings, service projects, fundraisers, and goals at the Annual Troop Planning Conference. We get a good number of scouts to attend this Conference. The boys in our troop that seem to control the meeting are older, experienced scouts. The younger scouts seem to sit back and take things in and start participating at future conferences. It is also these older, experienced scouts that seem to be involved in multiple activities and when dates conflict select those other activities.