Scoutmaster Podcast 179

And now the old Scoutmaster. Have you been to summer camp yet? We're a week away and I'm looking forward to it.

You know they say at camp everything is within walking distance. I suppose that's true, but theoretically the comedian Stephen Rice said everything's really pretty much in walking distance if you have the time.

Hey, this is podcast number 179.. Well, welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clarke Green. Let's take a look at the mailbag. Our friend William D Levasque was kind enough to leave a very complimentary review of the book Thoughts on Scouting.

Have you heard about the book? Got a book now, right with a cover and pages and all that stuff. He left a wonderful review on amazoncom where you can find the book, He said. I feel this would be an excellent suggestion for someone making a transition from cub scout leadership roles to becoming an adult leader in a scout troop. This really does a nice job of suggesting to the reader how the adult leader role in a troop must be different in order for boy scouts to grow and thrive. If you care about becoming involved in scouting, a copy of this book would make a very meaningful gift If you're a volunteer searching for brief, high impact statements to enhance training sessions or set the tone for meetings.

You'll find rich content here. If you are personally looking for some material to refresh or re-energize your commitment to serving youth through scouting, you're going to love this book.

Well, thank you so much, William. I really do appreciate that and I'm so glad that you enjoyed the book. Pete Parris is with Troop 41 in Junction City, Kansas, and he wrote to say: Clark, your webpage is unbelievably fantastic. Either you have a staff of 100 people helping you or you never sleep. I never sleep, Pete. That's the deal, because it's a staff of one.

The amount of scouting knowledge here is overwhelming. Please keep up the good work.

Well, thank you so much, Pete, and we certainly appreciate hearing from you, And, you know, spend a little time. Go over to the blog at scoutmastercgcom.

This past week- Do you know at least where we are in the world? In the Mid-Atlantic, we have had somewhere between two and three times the amount of rainfall that we're used to.

So we've been doing a little camping in the rain and because of that I've published a couple of things this past week on the blog- Ten more tips for camping in the rain. You want to make sure to check that out. How to make a fire in the rain. That's an infographic that we published this week That should help you make it through the rainy season if you're in the same boat as we are, Literally. I also posted an article about Bannock this week.

If you don't know what Bannock is, well, get over to scoutmastercgcom and check it out. A short time ago, Wisconsin scoutmaster Gordon Bain sent me a copy of his new book.

It's a collection of 11 campfire stories for scouts and it's called The Edge of the Firelight, and I want to recommend it to you. These are kind of ghost stories and they're really cool.

Imagine hunkering down around the fire and hearing a very credible account of someone you know or a place you've been, with just enough factual information to draw you in, but with this kind of eerie twist to it that raises the hair on the back of your neck. And that's what Gordon has done with these campfire stories with his troop over the years and with titles like The Missing Bugler and The Demon Troop. These are real scouting stories.

These are ones that Gordon actually made up, and so you can use these as kind of a model to tailor your own stories for your locality, for your scouts. It's called The Edge of the Firelight. You'll find a link where you can get the book in the post that contains this podcast. This week we continue our light summer fair and we're going to answer some email questions.

That's going to take up the remainder of the podcast, so let's get started. Shall we Write me a letter? Send it by name Email. That is, folks.

And here's an answer to one of your emails. Hey, here's a great email I got from John. He said I recently discovered your blog and podcast and I've enjoyed them a lot.

I signed some form and the next thing I know I was an assistant scoutmaster. Okay, so no big deal.

The scoutmaster was very gung-ho type and his two older boys worked well with the younger boys and I wasn't really needed that much, except, you know, to drive occasionally. Then I was asked to be the acting scoutmaster. I really don't understand that one, but I'm paying attention.

Up until now the boys have been led by the adults and the adults did most of the planning and told the boys where they were going and when to be there. Now I've read your blog and sat through scoutmaster training at summer camp, which, by the way, it's a lot of fun watching PowerPoint presentations in a 90-plus degree building. I've read most of the scoutmaster manual and that pointed me to five other books to read and even more meetings.

So I will tell my wife and daughter I love them and you know I have to keep a job, so this is all a little daunting. I've found it difficult to deal with other adults involved with the troop. I have one that thinks we're still in wee-belows.

I have another whose son was in the troop ten years ago and has some sort of district, something or another now, and they keep telling me these boys need to toughen up, that they're way behind other troops. I don't understand how we're behind other troops. From what I see of other troops, at least the really organized ones, the adults are pushing their scouts in the direction they want them to go.

Yeah, I wish we were that crackerjack troop with gourmet cooking skills in the woods, but we're not and we may never be. I wish they would cook something more than hot dogs and hamburgers. But they like hot dogs and hamburgers If it has cheese on it and they have a piece of fruit. Technically I guess it falls within the food pyramid.

So there you go. I really need to get them used to picking their own outings and activities- Things I wish they would do- and I can make suggestions. I've told them it's up to them. As long as it follows the 12 points of the scout oath and law, I won't put any obstacles in front of them that aren't already there. I get tired of hearing that they want to play laser tag instead of going camping. If they all decide for, an outing in the month is at the arcade.

I remind them that this helps no one advance in any way, but I guess, if they still insist, that's what they want, what do you do? Do we just tell the assistant Scoutmasters that a decision has been made by the boys and we need to round up drivers? I'm anxious to get the patrol leaders council going. It seems like it's going to be a very slow process.

If they can get more than one meeting planned at a time, though, I think I'll be happy. I have a feeling that this acting Scoutmaster thing is going to become permanent In our troop. We will have an election for this. I'm going to tell anyone that wants me to keep the job about the changes that I plan to make, And if they don't like it, I guess they can vote for somebody else. In fact, I'd really wish they would vote for somebody else.

Is it possible to steer the scouts away from this type of video game camp out? How much say does the Scoutmaster get in directing activities? Forgive me if my email has turned into something more of a rant than a question.

You know my wife does listen to me, but she has no idea what I'm talking about. Well, John, I'm really glad you found me and I'm glad that you got in touch, And I'm perfectly willing to listen to and read rants. I've written and spoken many similar ones before. The description of your troop and your situation- your fellow adult volunteers- has much in common with other ones I hear about.

So first, and maybe the most important thought I have for you is that you're not alone. Okay, Being a Scoutmaster is a demanding job because it's important work.

Training is good And, for all love, why anyone thinks we should be using PowerPoint to do it is beyond me. But, as you've discovered, developing as a volunteer is really up to you, And training is just the first step. You already know a lot about what scouting ought to be. You've told me where your problem spots are, And let me answer three questions for you.

First of all, is it worth the effort? Well, naturally I'm biased, but scouting has been worth the effort for me. I don't actually know anyone who regretted being a volunteer scouter. At times the work is kind of discouraging and it might be a little trying. But as with most things, you get in, you get out of it what you put into it.

The second question I want to answer that you seem to imply here: will you be able to make it happen? Yes, you will. Millions of scouts and scouters have made this happen over the past century. Nobody had a perfect troop or a perfect patrol. Nobody had perfect scouts. Not one had a perfect record of outstanding service, But in the end they got something right.

Few of these people were any smarter or any better prepared than you are, And their scouts were just a bunch of boys who did pretty average things. And there were plenty of fits and starts along the way.

I don't know if you're still deciding about continuing, but I think you're pretty solid on the whole enterprise. It seems like you've caught the vision of what this ought to be, but you aren't too sure if you can overcome the reluctance or resistance of the other adults involved, And you're not too sure if your scouts are really going to be able to rise to the challenge.

I'll tell you, even after 30 years, those doubts are still in my mind to some extent, So don't let them deter you. Just get with the program and get moving, And things are going to go well.

What are the next three things that I think you should do? Well? First, solidify your vision.

Continue to study and strive to understand what this is all about And, as you do, commit this growing vision to writing and sketch up a three or four-year plan noting where things are now and where they ought to be. You may never actually show this plan to anybody else, but it just helps sort out your thinking.

I think it's a good idea to sit there and write it down. Don't worry about how these things are going to happen right now. Just write out what you want to see.

The second thing I would encourage you to do is define your terms for continuing as Scoutmaster. If there's some decision point as to who will be the Scoutmaster coming up, you'll want to define what this means for you and for the troop. A lot of this comes with the plan that you're going to be working on, But there are some other questions to answer.

How much time will you be able to dedicate to this? What will you be changing And what are your expectations of support and help from others?

I think it's perfectly appropriate to spell things out and to have some well-defined expectations. After all, that's what leaders do, right? This is even more important in volunteer positions. If you're taking the lead, you're expecting folks to follow, not to undo what you're trying to achieve.

So making those things clear is very, very important. The third thing I would do is I would develop a tolerance for adversity and uncertainty and an appreciation for incremental improvement. Measure your progress against where you started, not what other people have achieved. You won't be able to get everything done at once. Most things are going to take a little longer than you think and they will likely fall flat a few times before they actually fly. If you learn to recognize and build on incremental improvements in your scouts and fellow volunteers, you're going to see improvement everywhere you look.

You aren't starting at a negative and building towards a positive. You're starting with abundant potential that will grow incrementally. Some of the time it will feel like you're filling up a bathtub with an eyedropper, but once in a while the dam breaks and you move forward in some pretty big steps. Get these big ideas solidified in your head and your heart. First You'll have a nagging feeling that you ought to be thinking in more practical terms about the mechanics of making things work. But there are plenty of mediocre, ineffective volunteers who know every detail of the administrative and mechanical side of scouting.

I would say about two in ten scouts really understand the big picture of working with boys in a way that makes the promise of scouting come alive for them. Now you said, if they all decide they're outing for the month at the arcade, what do I do, You know?

Do I just have to go with whatever they want? Well, no, you tell them to choose something that scouts do. Scouts don't go to arcades.

Maybe they can do that as a patrol day trip or something, but so far as the central activities of the patrol and the troop, you need to guide them into doing things that scouts do, and that's camping and hiking and biking and canoeing and things like that. You have a scout troop, right? Scout troops do these sorts of things. If you had a football team, you wouldn't show up with lacrosse sticks and expect to play lacrosse If you want to join a lacrosse team, that's fine. This is a football team. We play football, You know.

If the big thing in your life is playing arcade games and laser tag and stuff like that, we'll find a group that does that. But this is a scout troop. We do scout stuff.

You're very right in theory that scouts need to be able to make decisions and plans, but I think the thing that you're missing is they also do this in the context of scouting. Scouts lead and decide and direct. But it's not purposeless anarchy. It has a point. Scouts do what scouts do because by doing these things they achieve the aims of scouting. Scouts have no idea that that's going on, by the way.

They just think about camping and other stuff. But we know better. A Scoutmaster does guide his scouts to obey the rules of the game and play within the boundaries. This isn't a free-for-all Katie, bar the door devil, take the high. Most boys will be boys kind of thing. That's what people are usually afraid is going to happen when you turn things over to the scouts, because they don't understand that there are rules and boundaries to the game, that there is a context in which we do our activities and that is, we do what scouts do.

So, John, I hope that helps and I look forward to hearing back and getting some progress on your career as a Scoutmaster. Brian Parton is with Troop 271 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He says this: your website and podcast are addictive.

I have a number of our leaders now tuning in and following you. It's comforting to know that the issues and challenges happening in our troop are not unique to us. You're a great source of inspiration and wisdom.

Well, thank you, Brian, And hey, Troop 271 down in Ocean Springs, It's good to have you listening. A question came up recently at our meeting about first-class requirement number three, which is: since joining, you need to participate in 10 separate troop and patrol activities other than troop and patrol meetings, three of which included camping overnight.

Demonstrate the principles of leave no trace on these outings? The issue we're having is whether the last sentence demonstrate the principles of leave no trace on these outings applies to camping overnight or all 10 of the activities. We use troop master for tracking advancement and the program requires that the leave no trace box gets checked in order for the activity to be counted for the requirement. Even though we understand that scouts should always follow leave no trace. Not every activity is outdoors- camping in the wilderness- where we commonly apply those leave no trace principles.

What's your take on this? In that requirement, my reading is: leave no trace applies to the terms these outings.

So a scout has to do 10 activities, a minimum of three of the activities involved camping overnight. I think it's safe to say that the demonstration of leave no trace applies to the camping trips. But the whole discussion is a little moot because, as you noted, there isn't any time a scout would not practice leave no trace when he was able to do so.

It's not as if we're going to tell our scouts to demonstrate leave no trace three times and then stop practicing it because you know they've already got the badge right. Every once in a while you run into some wording and a requirement that causes a little bit of ambiguity. You apply a little common sense and you read it a couple of times, discuss it with folks and you find your way out.

So I hope that helps. Greg Stabaki is in Falls Church, Virginia, and he says I was involved in scouting as a scout from 1997 to 2004, and I dropped off to do boring things like college and a career.

I've recently returned as a volunteer and I'm now a unit commissioner. I started looking into uniforms and I got to tell you I'm a little perplexed Now.

The breathability of my old scout uniform was pretty bad, so I'm happy to see that they've been updated, but I'm just not really sure what to buy. Can I just update the patches on my old shirt and wear it with my old shorts, Or should a commissioner really have an up-to-date outfit to set an example?

If I do need to buy a new uniform, what do I go with? The cotton-poplin mixes or the suplex?

What should I do? Well, Greg, thanks for getting in touch. I got to tell you I was really, really happy when they came out with the new centennial suplex uniforms. I really like the suplex. It's very breathable, very light and it was definitely worth the cost for me. I spent a long time in that suffocating polyester envelope we used to call a uniform and I was really thrilled to switch.

While there may be newer and older iterations of the uniform, policy says that no uniform ever goes out of date. Anything that was a scout uniform remains a scout uniform, So you can wear anything that you have from when you were last involved. As for being an example as a commissioner.

I think that's a very laudable goal for you. If a commissioner, though, is helpful and polite and truly concerned for the units under his care, it won't matter that much what uniform he wears. I've known many commissioners of varying skills. Some go to great pains to wear a highly decorated uniform, and some look like an unmade bed. What really matters, of course, is what's inside the uniform. Good for you for getting involved, and it's great to have you as a scouting volunteer, and I hope that if you have a question, you can get in touch with me, and you're going to find out how to do that in just a moment.