Scoutmaster Podcast 31

And now, for you, Scoutmaster.

So, two penguins are paddling their canoe across the Sahara Desert. Just get that picture in your mind. Two penguins in a canoe paddling through the Sahara Desert. The first penguin says to the second penguin, Where's your paddle? The second penguin says, Yeah, it sure does. Okay. Yeah, doesn't really jump right out at you, but think about it for a moment. Where's your paddle? Sahara Desert, sand, paddling, wood, sand. Where's your paddle? The second penguin says, Sure does. Okay, not the best one I ever did. But, hey, this is podcast number 31. on.

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clark Green. It's been a great summer. We had a great week at Scout Camp. Just got back from our canoe trip and ready to go for the fall. It's going to be a great scouting year. Hope you're doing as well. Had a couple of nice comments that I wanted to share with you about podcast number 30. One is from a longtime reader of the blog and listener to the podcast, Larry Geiger. Larry, I certainly do appreciate your thoughts. This is what he says. He says, The very best scouting happens when adults and Scouts are joined together in an activity and no one really notices who the Scouts are and who the adults are. This can happen on extended backpacking trips and other events that are similar to that. However, this is almost impossible to achieve at the normal Scout meeting and also with younger Scouts. And here is why younger Scouts will ignore youth leaders when an adult is directly inserted into an activity. They are trained over and over again in school how to defer to adult leaders. And that's a very sharp observation, Larry. I think it's one that we've seen a number of times. And so understanding that is a big step in supporting our youth leaders by staying out of their way. He goes on to say, I remember an Appalachian trail hike. Each morning I would get up, eat breakfast, pack up and hike out. Each morning I left my son and his friends sleeping in the shelter and sometime later, usually before lunch, they would hike past me. Each day at the end of the trail, they would walk out and meet me as I wandered into camp, usually with several other adult leaders and checking to see if I was okay and if I needed any help. Once I got my tent set up and dinner going, my son would come over and say, Hi, Dad. You doing all right? Can I help you with your gear? And sitting around the campfire each evening, the Scouts would read the trail guide, plan the next day's hike and review the day's events. They could have easily done the whole thing without us. Well, Larry, I got to say that's a great story. And that is where we're aimed. They can do the whole thing without us. We can be there. However, they're very polite. They'll let us participate. They'll let us kind of, you know, roll along just like you point out. But they can do the whole thing without us. That's our goal, isn't it? To make them successful enough that they can do the whole thing without us. Finally, Larry says, The transition from hurting 11-year-olds to fully self-actualized young men is a marvelous thing. And I've got to agree with you. It's the goal. It's what we aim at as Scout leaders and when it happens. It's very, very gratifying indeed. So, I also heard from Steve B., the Scoutmaster of Troop 68. And he blogs about scouting at www.melrose.org. So, go and check out Steve B.'s blog and follow the exploits of Troop 68. And he says, A great job with the podcast. Keep them coming. Certainly appreciate that, Steve. You know what? When you sit here and you're talking to a microphone, what you're counting on is that people will be listening and they'll find it valuable and they'll let you know. So, do let me know. You can leave a comment on the blog and you can email me, but we'll talk about that towards the end of the podcast because we do have a lot to do. And one of the reasons we have a lot to do is because I found installment number five of the future of your unit, whether it's a Cub Pack or a Troop or a Venture Crew. We started a general discussion about four or five podcasts ago about things that you need to think about for the future of scouting in your unit and in your community. And I thought we were all done at four. But hey, I've got five. And I can say almost without fear of contradiction that five is the last installment in that series. But you never know. We'll see. So we've got a lot to do. Let's get with it. Scout Mastership in seven minutes or less. Within the past couple of days, we've arrived home from our trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. It's a week-long venture trip for guys who are a little bit older in the troop. We start at age 13. This is a trip we've been doing now for the past eight summers. And we're experiencing some of the benefits of fellows who are able to go up there for three and four years running and gain some experience. And the point of this experience is to make them successful scouts, naturally. But one of the real points of it is for them to learn in this school of the outdoors some very complex things and some methods of decision-making and self-determination that they would not be able to avail themselves of otherwise. Every evening, we sit around the campfire and we discuss the day and we record our thoughts in a log. And this time, we were fortunate enough to have a recorder along, so we recorded some of these discussions. And I thought it would be interesting to you to hear one that I thought was particularly good about some of the decision-making processes that the scouts need to undertake in the course of this trip and a little bit about the nature of the trip itself and what they think they get out of it. And who you're going to be hearing, for the most part, is the crew chief of this trip. He's 15. He has been on two or three trips up to Algonquin before. And, you know, he was put in a situation where he had to make some decisions about where we would go and what we would do, how we would respond to changing conditions. And I think this is at the heart of why we do things like this in scouts. And it doesn't necessarily have to be in canoes in some exotic place. It can be that day-to-day work that you do in the way of troop and patrol meetings and outings and things. But I was really encouraged by his thinking and his response to some of the challenges that he came across. So let's listen. This will run three or four minutes. Let's listen in. You'll hear, you know, hey, it's still scouts. So you'll hear some input from some of the other guys on the trip. And you'll hear the campfire and various noises and things. But I think you'll get the point. We discussed the different situations. If we stayed there and if it was nice the next day or if it was really bad, stormy, windy. And then we decided that the worst case is the best case to predict in the situation overall. And we decided that this would be a better place to be stuck in that situation at. Because... We need a plan for the worst. Yeah, we need a plan for the worst. We don't need a plan for the best weather. It can be sunny a second and then in the next 30 seconds a huge overcast come over and it's pouring rain. And then you can really somewhat, like, feel the weather up here. If it's starting to get windy. If it's calming down. If a lot of clouds are scattered or coming over. You... After your third or fourth year. It's my third. But after your third or fourth year you start to get a feel. The first year you don't know at all how big the lakes are compared to the map. It's a lot harder than you think. Yeah, it's a lot harder. They're a lot bigger than you think. And then you finally get a feel for how big it is compared to you in a canoe than the map. Your little paddle. Yeah, being able to paddle a distance that you think is short but is actually fairly long. It's not hard to sit down and set up camp at all. It just, it takes up time to pack all the tents up. Get everything organized. Get all the food distributed in a easy way for packs to be all even. It just takes time and we have to set time apart for that stuff. And then food also takes time. Lunch is usually quick. And breakfast is usually quick. All we had to really plan for is light for dinner. We considered the time it would take to get to that campsite majorly. Because we would have to get there quick. Because if the weather came over, we would have to get there as fast as we can. Because there was probably nowhere else to stop on the way. And then we discussed if we did how much time it would take to set down camp there and then set up camp here. And then how much trouble you would have on the water since it was very windy. And it actually played out very nicely. I think. With, even with the wind. Yeah. I agree. It was. So you got to where you wanted to be. Yes. Okay. And did you ask for opinion of the adults who were along? Not really, no. So you felt confident in being able to make that decision. Yes. Without us. Yeah. Well, I mean, we did have to. Yeah, but we basically decided with the group of kids on the adult row way. Well, that speaks very well of the experience that you're having. That you've learned an awful lot from being here before. And you're able to make a pretty complex, take a pretty complex set of circumstances and come up with a decent decision about them. That's a pretty good skill. That's really why I like this trip. Because we were able to do that. And we're not able really to do that at our home. Like, consider all this stuff and be in that situation. Like, that you have to be thinking about it and have to make a solid decision. Now, why can't you do that at home? I mean, we can, but it's not as drastic. If it rains at home. Or if it's windy at home. When here, and we're canoeing, it's really... It's just like going up. Yeah. Not every kid has the opportunity to do this. That's also a reason why I like this trip. It gets you out of that environment of being dependent on technology. And I mean, I don't mean like technology because everything's technology. But like electricity more. And dependent on like big shelters and like cars. And that whole system. And being thrown out here in the wilderness in canoes. And being able to survive on that. That's... I find that amazing that we can just... This is very simple. Packing food. Canoeing lake to lake. Sleeping at lakes. It's a very... It's a very simple trip, but... It's very satisfying. Simple doesn't define it. I mean, it is challenging at points. Extreme. I'm not saying it's an easy trip, but... It's an easy... The whole... Yeah, the concept of it is simple. No, no, no. That's what I like about this trip. So the scout that you heard speaking, I remember very well his first time up to Canada. And the challenge and the struggle that he went through when he was 13. And, you know, the tears and the frustration that he encountered. And I know it was a difficult and challenging enterprise for him. But because it was difficult and challenging, because he got the right kind of support from his fellow scouts and the two or three leaders that were along with that crew, he came back. And then he not only came back, but he was much more successful the next time around. And the third year, he was the crew chief. And he really shone as a leader. He had developed some real leadership skills. He developed some knowledge of the activity and the ability to meet the challenges of it. And I've got to say, what a wonderful, wonderful way for things to happen. I know this is something that you experience in your troops. And I just wanted to give you what I think is a great example of how scouting really works. And encourage you to look for opportunities to make this happen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. the Centennial Unit Award, has been the generally accepted standard for assessing a unit program. Quality unit metrics give some indications of the health of the program, but we really need to take a closer look because, in my opinion, quality unit metrics, you know, they concentrate on adult leader training and youth recruitment and retention, parent participation, youth advancement, um, the outdoor program participation, uh, program planning, and those types of things. Those indicators are somewhat like having a pulse to me. You know, yes, the patient is alive. Um, the unit is alive and kicking. The problem is, is that a unit can meet these criteria without, uh, actually presenting the program in a youth-based way. Now, let me explain what I mean. You can have all of the participation and, uh, program planning and outdoor program points that you want, but if the youth haven't been involved in making that happen, then to me, you've, you're really not presenting a scouting program. You've got something else going on. Um, so my choice of indicators would be just a little bit different, and they would be based on two major things. One is your patrol system. What key indicators would I use for a patrol system? Well, here's three or four. The patrols plan, purchase, and prepare their own meals on campouts. The patrol leader was elected by his patrol. He wasn't appointed by the scoutmaster. Patrol leaders routinely sign off on rank requirements. Um, patrols meet away from the troop, uh, and have their own meetings and activities. Those would be key indicators of a good patrol. Oh, and patrols exist throughout the year. They're not just assembled for special events or for going to camp or something like that. They're, they're the heart of, uh, what the troop does. The other idea would be youth leadership. And that, the key indicators of youth leadership would be that the patrol leader's council meets once a month at a minimum. And that, uh, the senior patroller is elected by the scouts. He's not appointed by the scoutmaster, uh, that the youth plan and present the weekly troop meetings and outings. They're not just handed a ditto sheet and, uh, or not just an audience for adults who are planning and presenting things like that. Troops that meet these key indicators will almost certainly meet or exceed the quality unit metrics, but I don't think it would work the other way around. If, if you don't have an active patrol system and youth leadership, um, you know, you can still meet the quality unit metrics, but, um, you know, and any troop that meets the indicators that I've explained about the patrol system and youth leadership is definitely going to meet or exceed the quality unit metrics. So, um, what are the metrics for a Cub Scout pack or for a venture crew? Well, that is not really my area of expertise, but, um, the metrics for any scouting experience, the indicator that any scouting experience is being successful is the fact that the scouts are volunteering their time to participate in it. And that's, that's a reasonably successful scouting experience. They're not being compelled. They're not being forced. They're not being cajoled. They're not being controlled into participating in scouting, but they're freely giving their time and, uh, they're interested and they have a lot of heart about it. They're excited about being a scout. That would be a real key indicator of, um, a good program. Now, if you are in a key leadership position within your unit and you've looked at the program and you've assessed it and you've said, yeah, it looks like we're doing pretty good. There might be one or two things to improve upon, but we're, we're working pretty good. Uh, well, we don't want to get hardening of the arteries and we don't want to fall into just a bunch of traditions. We want to keep that lively. We want to inculcate our future leadership with that type of thing. So they need to be trained. They need to be, um, worked with and nurtured, uh, before they take over these roles and they need to understand what's really at the heart of that program and what makes your unit an effective service to your community. And that's really what we've been centering on as we've been doing this series. I hope you found it helpful. Uh, I hope that, uh, you'll let me know if I missed anything or if you have any further ideas about the future planning for scout units and for leaders who need to look ahead, uh, over the next four to five years of, uh, the life of their unit. If you have any stories or, um, suggestions about, uh, the transition of leadership within a unit, I would certainly like to hear about it. Well, thanks once again for listening to the Scoutmaster podcast. You can read the scoutmasterblog at scoutmaster.typepad.com and follow us at scoutmasterblog on Facebook and scoutmastercg on Twitter. You can subscribe to the Scoutmaster podcast on iTunes. And when you do, please leave a comment or a review or a rating. you can email me, Clark Green, with your comments and questions at clarkgreen, C-L-A-R-K-E-G-R-E-E-N at gmail.com. The Scoutmaster blog and the Scoutmaster podcast are not official publications of the Boy Scouts of America, nor are they endorsed or sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America. Nope. It's just me talking into a microphone, trying to, uh, lend a hand to scout leaders and perhaps have a little bit of fun along the way. Thanks for listening once again. And remember, send me an email, leave me a comment, question, a review, or a rating, and that just makes my day. Just like paddling past a moose gently grazing in the limpid waters of the lakes of central eastern Ontario. Really? Let's hear from the founder before we go. Sir Robert, have you anything to share with us on this august occasion? Good luck to you and good camping. Thank you so much again, folks. Until next time.

Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Thank you.