Can you define Scout leadership without using the words “lead”, “leader”, or “leadership”? The Scout oath and law does a great job of defining leadership without any of those words. Look at the simple promise “to help other people at all times”. That’s where Scout leadership begins: helping other people at all times, by serving […]
Understanding Scouts
Girls in the BSA?
Yes, girls in the BSA. I want the BSA to be a fully co-ed organization with no limitations on how girls participate. Before you lose it understand I don’t think girls in the BSA should be forced on anyone. More about that later. I think we can and must make this happen for one simple […]
Every Scout is a Leader
We tend to focus only on directive leadership roles when we are thinking about engaging our Scouts in leadership, but every Scout can (and ought to) be a leader. Here’s some thoughts you can use to encourage all of your Scouts to engage in leadership. Leadership is much more than standing in front of the group […]
Conduct, Character, and Scouting
Remember being young when the ground was constantly shifting under our feet? Remember wanting to be an adult but not wanting to be like the adults you knew? Remember how you wanted to change things? What an energizing, exciting, challenging, and sometimes confusing world we lived in! Our growing brains and bodies were in a constant state of change, every day was full […]
Autism and Scouting, One Boy’s Personal Journey
This video speaks for itself, I want to note, however how the attitude and will of the adults involved made this a positive story. Listen to Chase describe how he felt and how he perceived things. Listen to Chase’s mom describe how she felt as a parent. It’s very difficult to imagine that 11-year-old as […]
Plan-Do-Review
Scouts Canada has created a clear, uncluttered, engaging process in the “Plan-Do-Review” component of the Canadian Path. Scouting is made up of intuitive principles that are intended to be taken at face value. Simplicity can be elusive; we tend to prefer complications. At first blush there’s nothing groundbreaking or new about this approach. It’s so intuitive and simple I think most […]
Do We Demand or Earn Attention?
Scouts endure demands for their attention. In a classroom we listen for things that sound like they’ll be on the test, and strain out the rest. If someone asks a question everyone groans, because that makes the lesson longer. We learn not to interrupt, to run out the hour, and let the teacher talk. When it’s “time for instruction” […]
Special Needs Scouting Resources
Tony Mei, chairman of the National Disabilities Awareness Committee, got in touch to share a variety of resources for special needs Scouts. Every unit leader ought to take the time to read The Guide to Working With Scouts With Special Needs and Disabilities Reach the committee task force for answers to questions about special needs Scouting at disabilities.awareness@scouting.org. Here’s […]
Bedwetting and Scouts
Every so often I hear from a Scouter or parent about a Scout who has a problem with bedwetting. It goes without saying that I am not a medical expert, but I did a little research and several sources agree an estimated 3.75 -5.25 million boys (and a smaller number of girls) in the United States have a medical […]
Cub Scout Leader “Survival Guide” 5
This is the fifth of a five-part series, Part one Understanding Cubs Part two Understanding Meetings Part three – Understanding Volunteering Part four – Blessed are the Den leaders I’ve been a Cubmaster, and a den leader for Wolf, Bear,and Webelos dens. Volunteering as a Cub Scout leader ought to be a lot of fun, and […]
Cub Scout Leader “Survival Guide” 4
This is the fourth of a five-part series, Part one Understanding Cubs Part two Understanding Meetings Part three – Understanding Volunteering Part five – Understanding Parents I’ve been a Cubmaster, and a den leader for Wolf, Bear,and Webelos dens. Volunteering as a Cub Scout leader ought to be a lot of fun, and it is, most […]
Cub Scout Leader “Survival Guide” 3
This is the third of a five-part series, Part one Understanding Cubs Part two Understanding Meetings Part four – Blessed are the Den Leaders Part five – Understanding Parents I’ve been a Cubmaster, and a den leader for Wolf, Bear,and Webelos dens. Volunteering as a Cub Scout leader ought to be a lot of fun, and […]
Cub Scout Leader “Survival Guide” 2
This is the second of a five-part series, Part one Understanding Cubs Part three – Understanding Volunteering Part four – Blessed are the Den Leaders Part five – Understanding Parents I’ve been a Cubmaster, and a den leader for Wolf, Bear,and Webelos dens. Volunteering as a Cub Scout leader ought to be a lot of fun, […]
Cub Scout Leader “Survival Guide” 1
This is the first of a five-part series, Part two Understanding Meetings Part three – Understanding Volunteering Part four – Blessed are the Den leaders Part five – Understanding Parents I’ve been a Cubmaster, and a den leader for Wolf, Bear,and Webelos dens. Volunteering as a Cub Scout leader ought to be a lot of […]
10 Point Scout Troop Checkup
Active, aware, Scouters all ask themselves how well they are delivering the Scouting program. There are any number of ways to measure metrics, the Journey to Excellence being the most familiar and widely used tool. I am going to suggest ten questions a Scout troop can ask of itself that do not have metric answers. Hopefully the answers would help […]
Constructive Scouting Discipline
Sitting down, a sigh of relief, a cup of coffee, close your eyes, and think about a nap. What’s that? Somebody walking through the leaves. You open your eyes just enough to see the senior patrol leader striding purposefully in your direction, he stops a couple of feet away, wondering if you are awake. After playing […]
The Secret Laws of Adolescence
It’s been some years since most of us lived under the regime of the secret laws of adolescence. Our Scouts know them pretty well and obey them most of the time. Here’s one section Scouters should review: SECTION I TALKING TO ADULTS 1. ATTENTION SPAN a. Maximum attention span of three minutes, no minimum attention span required. 2. […]
Scout’s Energy, Eagerness, & Anticipation
Boys can hardly wait to go on hikes, sleep in tents, and cook meals in the open. They are eager to master the skills of Scouting and to put into practice what they are learning. They want to share experiences with their friends. They anticipate challenge, adventure, and recognition for their achievements. Troop members look to […]
Hitting the wall
Marathon runners sometime experience a sudden loss of energy that they call ‘hitting the wall’, they pass through an invisible barrier and get-up-and-go gets up and leaves. Youth leaders are especially susceptible to hitting the wall, and most do at some point. Communication breaks down, nothing seems to work, what seems simple becomes hopelessly complex, frustration and feelings of […]
Scouting in a Dirty Old Duck Puddle.
In Aids to Scoutmastership Baden-Powell writes: The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother…. He has simply to be a boy-man, that is; he must have the boy spirit in him: and must be able to place himself in the right plane with his boys as a first step. Boy-man? That’s […]
Does Every Scout Have “Special” Needs?
Don’t all of our Scouts have special needs? Each has an individual way of seeing things, individual talents and shortcomings, in one sense don’t all of us have some special need? The sport of Scouting is discovering how to best deliver the promises of Scouting to Scouts with different needs. It’s not so much about “special” needs, it’s about individual needs. When we throw quotes around “special” […]
Scouting as Craftsmanship
During the late Middle Ages the practice of a master craftsman employed laborers ten to fifteen years of age (apprentices) in exchange for food, lodging and instruction became a formal tradition. For a few centuries we passed our skills and knowledge of craft from generation to generation through apprenticeship. After the industrial revolution technology became increasingly complex and production was gradually centralized […]
The Overprotected Kid
In her Atlantic Monthly article, The Overprotected Kid, Hanna Rosin writes: It’s hard to absorb how much childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school, forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your child in your lap—are […]
John Thurman on Scouters
John Thurman was the Camp Chief at Gilwell Park and had an important role in shaping Wood Badge training. He authored many Scouting books (his three pioneering books are great resources). In his 1950 book Pioneering Projects, he offers some reflections on the Scouter’s role. Scouting isn’t easy to get at first, and it never has been. […]
