Scoutmaster Podcast 213

I'm Terry Gerard. I'm Scoutmaster with Group 44 in Collinsville, Oklahoma. This edition of the Scoutmaster podcast is sponsored by backers like me.

And now to you, Scoutmaster. I heard a cheer go up from one of our patrol campsites on our camp out last weekend and I was curious to know what all the excitement was about.

So I walked over and I asked and the patrol leader told me that they had finished a jigsaw puzzle that they brought along in just two hours. And I said: wow, that's really something good for you. And the patrol leader said yeah, the box said four to six years. This is podcast number 213.. Hey,

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green. John wrote in to say you've been a huge help to me as I get back into the thick of things in scouting. You provide a great outside opinion on what I see and don't understand in my troop.

Well, John, I'm glad to be of help. Tom wrote in and said: great show this past week. I enjoyed podcast 212.. I got a lot out of that episode. There were great specifics and I really like your advice on dealing with new scout parents and leaders. Setting the right tone and expectations from the get-go is best A Scoutmaster- or an advisor in my case- needs to be a mentor to youth and a leader to other scout leaders and parents.

It can be hard to switch gears, but keeping focused on the goal at hand helps. Keep up the good work. See you around the campfire. Thanks, Tom, I'm glad you got something out of that. Andy McDonald did too. He's with Scout Troop 196 in Winnersprings, Florida.

Thank you, as always, for a great podcast. As the new Scoutmaster, I've been making changes to our troop in the past four months and this podcast reinforced a number of those that I have implemented. One of them was that I don't allow adults to make announcements or to address the troop during meetings unless it's a special occasion like a court of honor. I ask that they bring announcements to me and I hand them to the senior patrol leader. Another change is having only registered and trained leaders on camp out. I've had a little bit of backlash on some of the things.

However, most of the changes have been well received by those that understand how a troop's supposed to be run. This podcast gave me another booster shot to keep me going on the same track I've been thus far. Thank you immensely for everything you do for us. Thank you, Andy, for getting in touch, And I'm really happy to hear that you're finding things helpful. Listen. If you are a regular reader or listener and, like Andy and Tom and John, you're finding what's offered by ScoutmasterCGcom has helped you, You can return the favor by becoming a ScoutmasterCGcom backer.

Funds from backers go towards the expenses of producing and publishing the blog and the posts and the podcast, And they keep these resources freely accessible to Scouters all over the world. And this past week I want to thank Terry Gerard and John Strohmeier who stepped up and helped out.

Thank you so much, guys. I really do appreciate it.

Well, in this week's podcast in ScoutmasterCG, in seven minutes or less, we're going to talk about the tremendous, powerful potential of our attitude

When we're dealing with Scouts in that developmental stage of life that we all know so very well, right? And then we've got an email question to answer, So that's going to take up the rest of the podcast.

Let's get started, shall we? Well, I know this probably doesn't happen to you, but sometimes my Scouts act badly, I mean just objectively poorly. Sometimes they're stubborn, They're lazy, They're indifferent, They're short-sighted And they do foolish things.

Now, why is that happening And what am I supposed to do about it as a Scouter. Wouldn't it be great if I could spend the next few minutes and tell you exactly how to fix all that? I'm not going to be able to, But I'm going to be able to share with you some thoughts about how to work with Scouts in a way that's going to make you happier and make them happier.

And well, how do I do that Scouts in a way that's going to make you happier and make them happier and will help you better achieve the aims of Scouting. So why do Scouts act that way?

Why are they that way sometimes? Well, there's a two-part answer. One is is that they're human beings and we're all prone to doing that every once in a while, no matter what our age, And the other one is because they're progressing through a developmental stage of life that isn't always pretty, But it's rather predictable and it's very normal and healthy.

I think one of the more useful things I could share with you is the idea that, to make real progress and to be useful to our Scouts, I think there's one key shift in our thinking as adults that's going to help us do that, And that is that outside influences are not causing these problems. Now, are there objectively bad influences in the world out there, Of course, But are these bad influences a significant cause of the difficult behavior and attitudes we see in our Scouts?

I really don't think so, And let me explain why. I think it's all too easy for us to blame these what I would call adolescent instabilities and uncertainties on outside influences like- oh I don't know- too much government or not enough government or society at large, or general moral decay and shifts in culture. There's just one fundamental problem with looking at the world that way: If we look at the last century and we look at all of the moral panics that we're supposed to end civilization as we know it, All you have to do is go back and look at old newspapers. I mean votes for women. We're going to end the world dancing in public. We're going to end the world with newspapers.

They were horrible. Novels- Oh my gosh. Movies, Oh no. Radio. Radio coming into the home, Television, the internet, comic books, rock music- You could just the list is endless.

Isn't it A pervasive and broadly accepted formula that we've all used? Is that the things that we see in our Scouts- the whole list, stubbornness and shortsightedness and foolishness- is caused by some fundamental change in the world since you and I were kids.

Now our parents and their parents, and the parents of their parents all the way back- they in some respects thought that the world was headed to hell in a handbasket. But it didn't turn out to be true, did it? If we think that way, most of us end up at one or the other polar extreme.

We can conclude that we're not going to be able to do anything about this and we're just going to acquiesce to them, And this kind of boys-will-be-boys attitude is dangerous and wrong-headed and because bad behavior is nothing to ignore, So I'm not suggesting that we're going to ignore these things, okay. On the other extreme, we can spend way too much time and emotional capital fighting these outside influences.

If we focus a lot of aggression- and that's what it becomes- on fighting outside influences, that aggressiveness spills over into the way that we work with our scouts and we start doing things that send very clear messages to them that you know we really don't like them very much And we kind of draw a line between ourselves and them And what we end up with is not what we want to have, which is a partnership together with them in development. We end up with an us and them kind of mentality. I mean, if you start a direct attack on stubbornness and laziness and indifference and short-sightedness and foolishness, you're taking on society and you're going to lose. You're just going to lose in the end. BF Skinner in Walden II- if you've ever read the book, said this: each of us has interests which conflict with the interests of everybody else. Everybody else we call society It's a powerful opponent and it always wins.

Society wins in the long run because it has the advantage of numbers and age. So if we're not going to fight society, if we're not going to take a head-on assault on all these difficult things that we see in scouts, what are we supposed to do?

Well, what we're supposed to do is apply scouting, and everything in scouting has a positive message behind it. On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God in my country and to obey the scout law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. There's not a negative in there. A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. There's no do-nots in there.

There's no prohibitions and there's no definitions. The scout oath and law, we're making a promise to ourselves.

We're making an affirmative declaration of the kind of person that we want to be and we're aspiring to become that kind of person. We aren't saying we're going to battle anything, but that we are going to be something. And with that promise and that law at its basis, scouting becomes this marvelous, positive journey about finding out what these things mean.

If we focus all that we do as scouters on those positive things- and we all have them committed to memory, so it should be pretty easy to do- we don't have to battle with negative things- And you've heard this before. Right, Instead of cursing the darkness, you turn on a light. And it's an old, tired phrase, but it's true.

If we aim consciously and intentionally at building an internal standard of what good is in our scouts, we don't need to worry about bad, because good is so much more powerful than bad. If we keep that in the forefront of what we do as scouters and we keep these positive things in the forefront, we won't have any time to fight with society.

Now, you and I as adults, we've made some key connections in our brains and personalities. I hope at least that scouts are still forming.

I think scouting is an ideal place to form those connections and to develop the character to put everything that they learn in scouts to use towards positive ends. To me, that's the way scouting works. It's this wonderful positive influence that you can champion that will overcome any bad influence. It may take time because, remember, it's in cooperation with the developmental process and as we develop and grow, we try out different things.

We try different attitudes and personalities, and some of them are very positive and some of them not so much. But instead of getting exercised and excited and fighting with those things that we see in scouts- and my list was stubbornness, laziness, indifference, shortsightedness and foolishness- I think that pretty much covers it right- If we stop fighting with those things and we turn on the light, those things start to disappear. They're always going to be with us in one way or another. We're going to see them in scouts and in ourselves.

So let's put our energy into what is really going to make a difference. By focusing on every positive thing that we see in our scouts and making sure that we call their attention to it, and by constantly focusing on all the good, all the wonderful potential in our scouts and in ourselves, I think we're going to be happier that way, don't you?

I think our scouts will be happier that way And we're going to actually do some good and make the world a better place.

E-mail- that is folks. And here's an answer to one of your e-mails. I did answer a specific e-mail about this particular question, but I get e-mails periodically and I get a lot of e-mails. I get a lot of e-mails. I get a lot of e-mails- E-mails periodically asking me to recommend a junior leader or youth leader training curriculum that a troop can present, And my typical reply is as follows: I've looked at dozens of different leadership training schemes and syllabuses and curriculums and things like that. I've even tried a few of them.

I've even tried writing a couple, but I don't use them, And here's why I think that scouts are interested in doing stuff. They're not big picture people. They want to do things, not sit around and be told how things work or the theory behind why we do them. I can think of two examples that help explain what I'm talking about.

What happens if you're the coach of a team- Let's call it a baseball team- and a new player shows up? Do we sit them down to a lecture on the theory of the game and its history and its mechanics. No, After a quick introduction we put them in the field and we throw them the ball. We get them up and moving and active and doing as a new player and they're going to make a lot of mistakes and they're not going to necessarily know what's going on.

But they will catch on because they're actively involved in the game And we have to remember that player came to play. They came to play. They don't want to sit on the bench and watch other people play.

Now they're going to practice a lot. They're going to play a few minutes in a game here and there and eventually they're going to begin to develop some skills. But we're going to get them in the game. Imagine if you try to teach someone to tie a square knot using diagrams and presentations about the theory and the history and the practice of knotting and maybe a whole chapter about how rope is made. They're going to grow kind of frustrated pretty quickly. I would imagine I certainly would.

In comparison, if you take and you put the rope in their hands, they're going to learn a whole lot faster and it's a lot less frustrating for them and maybe they'll become fascinated with the idea of knots and ropes and things and then want to know: well, how did this rope get made and what's the theory behind all this? If a scout comes up to you and says: I want to learn how to tie a square knot, you put a piece of rope, you put it in their hands, you break, tying the square knot into its constituent elements- right, Left over right, right over left- and voila, there's a square knot. They're going to practice, They're going to try it out, They're going to make a few mistakes. They're going to tie a granny knot. You're going to point out what the difference is, but pretty soon they'll have attained the skill.

Now, I don't think training youth leaders is any different than coaching a new player or teaching somebody how to tie a square knot. So you have a newly elected senior patrol leader, newly elected patrol leader, or the senior patrol leader is just appointed guys into new positions of responsibility.

So where do we get started? Well, my suggestion is is that you train them in small steps, just before they need the information they're about to act on. Our patrol leaders council meets to prepare before every meeting, And I may be able to take a minute or two to ask questions about what they're going to do and on occasion I'll spend a few minutes telling them a few things that might help them figure out how to better do that.

And then we meet briefly afterwards so that the senior patrol leader can review what went on and what their plans are for the next meeting, And I get another opportunity to ask questions and perhaps share information. When I train youth leaders in this way, in these relatively small steps, I can relate fairly abstract concepts to what they're actually doing right now, rather than having them sit through some long event where they're going to hear me talk for a long time.

The point is is that they're actually in the game. They have their hands on the proverbial rope right. They're doing things and learning as they go along.

Youth leaders need to know what to do in the next few minutes And what we do as scouters is give them what they need and then kind of stitch it together for them in review Pretty soon. They're going to be self-starting. They're going to pick up the ideas and put them to work. Back to my baseball analogy.

Here's a glove. You put it on this hand, Step over there 10 feet. I'm going to throw the ball to you catch it.

Okay, you're going to need to use both hands. You can't just catch it in the gloved hand all by itself. You catch it and you trap it. You got that.

Now let's try that out for a little while. Back up a little bit more.

Do you see what I mean? Active, I'm doing it. I'm actually working in the field. I'm not getting a theoretical discourse about how this is supposed to happen.

Now, this is a little counterintuitive to the way that we think training youth leaders should work. What we want to do is we want to sit down and explain every possible thing that we can about leadership and about planning and preparation and how to make things happen.

We want to give them the benefit of our experience and knowledge. We figure that the best way to do this is to do it in some kind of training event, Something that we especially set aside. Then, in this kind of classroom atmosphere, we're going to give them all of this information. They're going to dutifully note it or write it down, or practice it or whatever. Then they'll be able to go out and be leaders.

Basically, hey, we've trained them and now they're leaders. They should be able to do it. Anybody who's tried it knows that it doesn't work that way. No matter what kind of a course you put together, no matter what kind of an event you put together, you're still going to be in the position that I've just described of coaching and mentoring and moving along. My tendency is to skip over the first part. Let's not worry about having a big event or having this long training thing.

These guys are pretty sharp. They're very action oriented. They're not really interested in theory to begin with. What they want to do is make things happen.

So let's get them making things happen. Let them make the mistake and try the shortcuts and do all the stuff that we know is going to happen anyway, whether we have a training event or not. Let them go through that and be right there to work with and to explain to them what's going to happen, Along with getting requests for training curriculums and things like that. A lot of times, those requests are attached to the thought that we really want to get the patrol method going in our troop.

We really want to start getting the patrol system going and we need to have a starting point and we think that training everybody is going to be a good idea first. Well, yes and no, I don't want to say that I would absolutely reject the idea of having a sit down and a talk about this, but I don't think it needs to be all day long, I don't think it needs to be an hour.

I think what you do is you sit down with the patrol leaders council and say, hey, we are running on something called the patrol system as of now. It's going to be different than what we've done before and it's going to take us all a little bit of time to understand how it works, but it's going to start now.

I'm going to make just as many mistakes as you will, but let's go for it And then you start moving ahead. If the patrol system is something that's new to the Scouts and new to the troop, it's definitely going to be new to you and you're going to be learning as you go along. But there's no way to use a training event or something like that to inoculate ourselves against the learning process that needs to happen in actual time as Scouts are trying things out. I got to tell you from my standpoint: it's a whole lot more fun. It's never very orderly and it's not all that easy, but it certainly is a whole lot more fun.

Now, if you're running training events and you're getting good results from them, don't let me stop you. I'm just sharing what works for me and what I've found to be effective. If you've got a question about scouting that you are looking for an answer to, you can get in touch with me and I'm going to tell you how to do that in just a moment.