Scoutmaster Podcast 368

And now for you, Scoutmaster. Yeah, I'm a bit of a weather buff.

You know, you spend a lot of time outdoors, you go camping and things. Well, you learn to watch the weather And I wanted to talk to my Scouts and kind of teach them a little bit about cloud formations and you know weather systems and stuff like that, And then I decided against it because it's all over their head.

Okay, Yeah, you're right, It was that bad.

Hey, this is podcast number 368.. Well, welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast.

This is Clarke Green And this is the last of our foundation series today And before we go into that, I have a couple of things to talk about. The first is a story that ended up being all over social media within the past week or so. You probably already know what I'm talking about because it was a scouting story. It was a story about a special needs scout who was working towards Eagle And if you read the story, what had happened was all of his merit badges were taken away and he was demoted to being Cub Scout And his Eagle project was denied.

It was just the BSA had done something just totally outrageous And people were righteously outraged And there was a lot of comment about it And back and forth. So much so that I actually heard from a Scouter friend of mine in Australia who had been discussing this with their fellow Scouters because they had seen this article and they were like: what is going on with you people?

So, without going into a great deal of detail about the policy and procedural things that were misrepresented in this article, whoever wrote this piece did it very irresponsibly, without much in the way of fact checking or research. The things that they reported that had happened were so far outside of anything that I understood about the BSA's handling of advancement- even though I have arguments with the way they handle it- that I couldn't help but understand that this was an article that was specifically written just to outrage people and to stir them up and to make them angry. I've fallen for stuff like that before.

We probably all have- And within a few days the BSA did make a very thorough statement about you know all the wise and wherefores of exactly what was going on And, as you would assume, naturally they're supporting this special needs scout and their family to make sure that they have the opportunity to work towards Eagle. And the one thing that I did, do you know, after I read this story I said: well, that doesn't sound right. Let me go look at the Guide to Advancement and make sure that I recall things correctly.

And I looked and you know there's very specific ways of handling alternative requirements. It's pretty clear cut way of doing it.

It's totally unambiguous, And so I figured somebody must have skipped a step somewhere along the way, And apparently that turns out to be the way that it happened. Big lesson from all this- And I kind of feel like I learned this way back before social media, before the Internet- is when you read a new story and you're totally outraged by it, you better check up and make sure that is not something that's designed to outrage you and make you upset and to react in a certain way, especially in this instant response environment that we find ourselves in, When something is that outrageous and just makes you livid and it feels like it's designed to make you react that way. To me that's a signal to back off, to learn as much as I can about it if it's that important, and to be sure that I'm not just being provoked.

So it was an interesting example of what turned out to be a very irresponsible reporting. Anyway, I just saw that I know a lot of you probably did and I couldn't help but to comment on it. And speaking of comments and reactions, I got a few to last week. I got quite a few to last week's podcast about developing leaders. One of the things that had been part of all of our foundation series of podcasts is the constant reminder of the main aim of our work as scouters and the main aim of the scouting movement: the development of character in the individual scout. And last week I commented that the development of leadership skills is not our main aim.

Making leaders is not our main aim. Our main aim is developing character, And that didn't sit well with some people. And one comment that I got said this. I have to fundamentally disagree with you. Leaders may have good character or a bad character. Not everyone with good character or a bad character will ever really be a leader.

While an aim of scouting is growing good character, leadership is a separate aim and primary goal since the establishment of the program and the Eagle Rank Scouting teaches scouts to be leaders with many tenants that have little to do with character. Although character development is a separate aim of the program, Leadership and leadership development is a very separate and specific objective for scouting. It is heralded as such for over 100 years. Please do not try to water it down.

Well, I will agree with you on this. Leadership skills are separate, specific and they're valuable. But I will still tell you that their development, the development of leadership, is not the main aim or emphasis of scouting and it never has been. It's not the main aim or emphasis of the Eagle Rank or any of the ranks in scouting, and it never has been. It is certainly a percentage of those things, in the same way that camping skills and communication skills and all the other skill sets are a percentage of all of that, But there is definitely not the main aim. The main aim of our work as scouts is developing character, because it is the only source of good leadership.

I will definitely agree, There are leaders of good character and leaders of bad character. We don't have to look very far to find skillful leaders who lack character. Talking about character development as the main aim of scouting and the source of good leadership is not watering scouting down at all, Because the application of leadership skills, for good or for ill, is defined by the character of the individual. Good leadership is more than being a skilled manager or director. It's clear that leadership and character are inseparable.

Now, in last week's podcast, I talked about every scout exercising some form of leadership or another. I break it down into four different kinds of leadership, and I don't think that that particular way of looking at it is original with me, And I'm sure there are many others.

But I think these four different kinds of leadership are both interdependent and progressive, And it all begins with that part of the scout in which we pledge to help other people at all times. That's something that is not limited to those who are in roles of authority.

It's simply being responsible for the welfare of others, And so if you need to be responsible for the welfare of others, you better start with yourself. Otherwise you're not going to be much good to others.

So leading yourself is one way of being a leader. Cooperatively following leaders and working as a member of a team is another way. Aiding and assisting your fellow scouts, being responsible for their well-being, is another way.

And then the fourth kind of leadership is the one that we usually think of first when we think of the term leadership, That directive, managerial decision-making leadership. So if we limit the definition of leadership to that fourth kind of leadership of authority over others or managing people- and we focus on developing only those kinds of leadership skills, we're going to miss 99% of our opportunities as scouts, And it would be a dangerous misservice to train leaders outside of the context of developing good character. And what I mean by that is leadership skills have vast potential for good or for bad. Think of it like this: We teach our scouts to build fires, to light fires, And that skill has a lot of potential, And that potential can be applied in a wise, helpful way, And it can also be applied in a destructive, unhelpful way.

So when we teach the skills of how to light a fire, we also teach about the responsibilities that come along with that knowledge. When we develop leadership skills in scouts, we also need to be conscious that we share with them the importance of responsibly using those skills for the welfare of others.

And that responsibility part- understanding the difference between good and bad- what is that? That's character development.

So no, I'm not watering anything down, and developing leaders is not the main aim of advancement or anything about scouting. And when we are working with scouts and developing leadership, it must always be done in the context of the development of character.

Otherwise I think it's irresponsible. Well, as I said, we are at the last of our series on scouting foundations or fundamentals, And we're today we're going to talk about constructive discipline.

So let's get started, shall we?

One of the things that definitely occupies our mind as scouts, and one of the things that we definitely need to understand and be able to do, is to maintain discipline and require accountability and promote responsibility in our scouts. And how do we do that, Since we're talking about foundations? It's very simple: Be an adult and be kind.

You know, in keeping with the way that we've examined other things about scouting in this series, let's ask ourselves: why do we need discipline? I know the answer is reasonably obvious. There are a lot of things in the scout oath and law that point towards the idea of a disciplined approach to what we're doing.

And, in the context of our analogy of scouting as a game, you know there's a lot of discipline that's exercised in playing a game. You have to stay on the field, You have to play fair, You have to follow the rules of the game.

It's so woven into the fabric of the whole thing that it may seem strange to ask why, but I think it's important. I'm not necessarily talking about discipline that results in quiet, compliant, obedient scouts 100% of the time.

Now there are definitely instances where we absolutely require immediate compliance with our instructions, And those instances are focused on safety and propriety. But we've got to look beyond the idea of just having the kind of discipline that an army officer demands of his soldiers, or a boss demands of his employees, or a teacher demands of their students. This takes us right into the heart of the matter, the aim of scouting, which is the development of character in scouts. When we're talking about constructive discipline, we're talking about the kind of discipline that is aimed at the growth of character, And we don't grow character by being oppressive. We don't grow character by being shaming. We don't grow character by being harsh and demanding.

We grow character by asking the question: what is the right thing to do in this situation? Discipline is partially about shaping and reacting to the behavior of scouts.

So let's talk about how we promote the main aim: the development of good character in scouts. When we're dealing with misbehavior, It's very simple: be an adult and be kind.

And what do I mean by those two things? Be an ideal adult. I have to deal with this at least as much and probably more than most people, because I'm kind of hot headed, I'm reactive, I understand that about myself. I can go from zero to 60 pretty quick and I'm a big guy And if I raise my voice I get what I want.

Now, in the face of impending disaster, that's a pretty good thing. As a response to just my being aggravated by the way scouts are behaving, Not a very good thing.

So when I'm saying, be an adult and be kind, those things have to be together right. We can't just be a demanding, loud taskmaster, We have to be kind at the same time.

Part of that kindness is having enough compassion to understand that we were once in the same situation. The poor scout who's standing in front of us who's misbehaved was in.

So having a little compassion, being able to put yourself in their shoes and remember what it was like, is a good thing. Don't equate that with being permissive of bad behavior.

We do have to hold our scouts responsible for their actions when something has gone wrong and they've misbehaved, But we can do it without shaming them. We can do it without making them feel terrible and bad.

That's easy, right? I mean, everybody knows how to do that.

We can just make them knuckle down, make them feel bad and send them away having learned pretty much nothing. Or we can be an adult and we can be kind and search for the application of the scout oath and law and apply it to the situation we find ourselves in. And whenever I talk about this, I really have to take a deep breath, because I am not good at this. Every single time I can be hotheaded and reactive. I regret that, but in a lot of ways I'm doing the same work that my scouts are doing in trying to shape my reactions and my character to the scout oath and law.

You might be too, So we need to give ourselves a lot of breathing room when it comes to this sort of thing And we need to focus on the constructive rather than destructive discipline. I have a post on constructive discipline that goes in depth on a given situation as an example, And I will have a link to that in the podcast notes.

It's worth going and taking a look at it, But let's talk about some of the principles that are applied in that post without getting into too much detail, Because what we're looking at, we're talking about foundations here. Applying constructive discipline is a skill that you have to develop in yourself And, like any skill, it takes a little time. It takes a lot of practice. You have to be patient with yourself and you will get there. And for the most part, our scouts are used to closed systems of rules and punishments and not an open-ended situation where they follow principles like the scout oath and law, rather than just a set of rules.

So, rather than issuing judgments about behavior, get scouts to look at their behavior and to judge it for themselves. They'll catch the spirit of this. It takes a little time and it takes consistency, But they will catch the spirit of this. I'm not a big fan of writing rules and regulations for scouts. We don't need them. We don't want them.

I've talked about policies and procedures and rules as parts of the game. Yes, they're there, But what I'm saying is is that don't sit down with the rest of the scouts in your troop and write a rule book or write a discipline policy or something like that. Scouts will find all kinds of ways around rules and regulations, especially when you take and put them on paper. They cannot find a way around their own conscience. When it's motivated by the principles of the scout oath and law, Rules and regulations are imposed impersonally on everyone. The principles of the scout oath and law are adopted personally by individuals, And when the scout oath and law are applied in this way, scouts realize that they have practical meaning.

They're not just words we memorize and repeat because we like to hear the sound of our own voices. The oath and law is more than an afterthought that we throw into this situation. It's not just a decorative element of what we do as scouters. It's not just something we repeat dryly during ceremonies.

It's the first thing we turn to in every situation. Another element of constructive discipline is the idea that we do not punish scouts who can't or won't follow the scout oath and law. Not your responsibility as a scouter, It's the responsibility of the scouts family And it clarifies the responsibility that you have towards young people and that their parents have.

Now, exactly how does that work, You're asking. Well, it's pretty simple. When scouts behave badly, we differentiate between proportionate consequences and corrective punishment.

So proportionate consequences are just, you know, the direct result of the misbehavior. If you've misused a knife or a saw or a hatchet, well, a proportionate consequence would be not being able to do that until you assured us that it was safe to allow you to use those things If your misbehavior resulted in hurt feelings or some kind of a mess. Cleaning up the mess and making sure that we dealt with those hurt feelings would be a part of proportionate consequences, And anything beyond those proportionate consequences is corrective punishment. Let me give you an example. Let's stick with it with the use of knives and saws and axes and things like that.

Now, if you have a rule book somewhere that says if you misuse a knife or saw or an axe, you know you are going to be restrictive from using them for the next three months or something. What you've done is you've instituted a corrective punishment, trying to get to the heart of the matter, which is the misuse of the tool, right?

So if I'm walking through camp and I see a scout misusing his pocket knife, I'm going to stop. I'm going to talk to the scout. I'm going to say: do you understand you're misusing that And we're going to have a discussion about it.

That is almost punishment enough, okay, But really, honestly, we get them to tell us what they're doing wrong. If they understand that it's wrong And if not, well, we've corrected the situation The second time that happens.

Okay, please close the knife and hand it to me. I'll be keeping this for a little while because we talked about it before and I want you to give this some thought and when you are ready to use this knife responsibly, come and see me and you'll get it back. Proportionate consequence. But I'm not going to take the knife away for six months or three months or two weeks or seven hours. Right, I am going to engage the scout in figuring out exactly how to build their character and how the scout of the law applies to this situation.

Maybe the scout was doing something so outrageously bad that I need to take the knife and then give it to their parent. And I need to say to their parent: look, this is what happened. Here's their knife. You need to talk about this because you need to assure me that something like this is never going to happen again.

And then it's up to the parent to decide how to handle that and they may have a corrective punishment that they're going to apply. But it's not my job. We don't want to get into the world of corrective punishment and we definitely don't want our youth leaders to be in that world.

So corrective punishments like oh, demerits or some kind of forced physical activity like doing push-ups or something. They're completely out of place. They're not something that you want to be involved in and they're not something that you should allow your scouts to do or allow any adult to do to a scout. That is not your responsibility and not your place. That is a parent's prerogative and a parent's responsibility.

Now, if we can't resolve everything with constructive discipline, proportionate consequences, counseling and talking with scouts, then it's time for their parents to take over. It's that simple.

Now you might be thinking: well, it's not really that simple, because I have 40 scouts in a troop and we have to have some kind of rules. We have some way of handling this giant mess.

Well, you already have a set of rules. You already have a way that good behavior is defined. It's called the Scout Oath and Law and that's where you turn in every situation.

It's the first thing that you go to. Now, is this more difficult and complicated than having a set of rules about common misbehaviors that also describe corrective punishments and stuff like that? Of course it is, But welcome to the game. This is what scouting does because, remember, rules are about compelling good behavior on the part of everyone involved.

That does not aid in the development of individual character, because when scouts misbehave, when we need to apply constructive discipline, it's a tremendous opportunity for us. It's a tremendous opportunity to advance towards the main aim: the development of character in our scouts. And good group behavior comes from good individual behavior.

So we want to aim our effort at developing discipline in individuals. Speaking to scouts individually opens a dialogue that helps them understand and develop an internal standard based on the Scout Oath and Law. I'll tell you this for nothing, while we're on the subject, What you talk about with your scouts as a group is the kind of behavior that you're going to see repeated.

Now, if you give negative attention to an individual scout about misbehavior in front of a group of scouts, you will probably have the opportunity to do that again because you've just paid attention to a scout individually about a way that they misbehave. If you remove the scout from the situation and talk to them individually about it, naturally following all of the youth protection guidelines- when you do that, you're going to find that A it's much more effective for the scout and it is a clear message to the group. They don't have to be told what's going on.

And the inverse of this is true When you see good behavior when you see something that you want to see repeated now, that's when you mention it to the whole group. Somebody goes out of their way to be kind, when somebody goes out of their way to help other people, when somebody goes out of their way to demonstrate any point of the scout oath and law, jump on that and you want to make sure that all of your scouts understand that this is a good thing and this is something that you really appreciate. You'll see that repeated. If you speak about the problems that you're having with individuals, with all of your scouts, those problems will likely multiply. If you speak about positive actions, those positive actions are going to multiply. Scouting discipline is relentlessly positive.

We want to maintain a positive attitude and confidence in scouts and being able to build their character and evidence that character and their behavior. We need to make sure that we do not equate bad behavior with being a bad person.

We want to have some empathy and some compassion for the frustration and conflict that scouts are feeling as they figure these things out and they build their character. And when we're talking about being an adult and being kind, the attitude that you get back when you step into a situation to correct a bad behavior will not usually be welcoming and saying: I really appreciate you helping me go through this. It will be resentful and leave me alone. You experienced this with your own children. In reality, very much of the time they appreciate that you have stepped in because, A- it evidences that you care for them And, B- they're often caught in a loop of bad behavior that they sense is not right, but they really can't figure out what to do with it.

So being an adult having broader experience and knowledge than our scouts do is a really important factor in this Discipline and scouting is also a cooperative effort. Our youth leaders may be able to resolve smaller discipline-related problems on their own, but they should be instructed to bring any behavior problem to our attention. They may have resolved things already.

We should be aware of precisely how they reach that resolution, And when I talk to my youth leaders and we talk about how things are going, we talk about it in specifics. Did you have to correct anybody?

Talk to anybody, discipline anybody about anything? Can you tell me how that went and tell me exactly what you did? Because it's our responsibility to make sure that they're applying their leadership skills in the same way that we strive to apply them right, With kindness, understanding, compassion and empathy. And finally, I'll say as a practical point that emotional scouts are not very good counselors and they are not very good disciplinarians. If you're like me and you're a little hot-headed and reactive, or a lot hot-headed and reactive, be aware of that and make sure that before you act you have gauged your reaction with a fellow scouter. Perhaps We're never at our best when our emotions are running high and misbehavior in our scouts can be really frustrating and upsetting.

Check in with a fellow scouter, gauge your level of emotion and don't react until you're level-headed. So just to review discipline- and scouting is supposed to be constructive. The constructive part is the building of character, the first reference point.

The last reference point: Every single rule of behavior that we need is already there, embodied in the Scout Oath and Law. It should be our expectation, It should be our goal that all our scouts are developing their character and evidencing that in their behavior by their adherence to the Scout Oath and Law. In applying constructive discipline, we're always adults and we're always kind. We strive to be level-headed, We strive to be compassionate, empathetic and understanding of the position that our scouts are in Being too authoritarian and demanding is as bad as being overly permissive, striking the balance. Take some practice, take some skill, and it's something to think about and to concentrate on in your work as a scouter. Hey, I'd like to hear what you have to say about today's podcast.

It's easy to get in touch with me. I'm going to tell you how to do that in just a moment.