Scoutmaster Podcast 56

And now it's to you Scoutmasters. So two Scoutmasters walk into a bar, the third one ducks.

Oh my well, hey, thanks, Jason. This is podcast number 56. Hey, welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clarke Green. You heard Jason Pettis there over. The phone, left a voicemail and we'll tell you a little bit about how you can do that.

He said that he had a joke for us And he also had a question that we're going to hear a little bit later in the podcast. Thanks very much, Jason, for being in touch.

Yeah, the voice is a little rough this week, isn't it? Woo?

Yeah, Long camping weekend in the winter, Very dry, and yeah, well, you know, takes a couple days to recover. Everybody knows how that works, right, But anyway, we had a lot of people get in touch last week. Let me see here. Bob had this to say: you do excellent work. I wish the podcast was around when I started as a Scoutmaster 14 years ago. I'm telling every new Scoutmaster I meet about the podcast.

Well, thanks, Bob. Britt Helms, over Twitter, said thanks for the wealth of information and experience you share in each of your podcasts. It has benefited my Scouts and troop. Thank you, Britt. Certainly appreciate the good word Larry Geiger wrote in about podcast number 55, the last podcast. He said great podcast.

I like the juxtaposition of the answers to the question about leadership and respect. The whole thing was a very pleasant listen.

Well, thanks, Larry. Let me tell you this: On Saturday, February 26,, there is going to be a merit badge university at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, And there is an adult training part of that program And I'm actually going to have a part in the adult training section of that merit badge university. I've been talking with one of the fellows who is setting things up down there And they asked me if we could do an Internet kind of training session.

So we're going to give it a shot. If you're in the area of Murfreesboro and you'd like to come and participate in that, there will be a link to information about that event in the blog post that contains this podcast, So do go ahead and check it out. It is February and we talk about Scout history in February And the Scoutmaster newsletter will be published by Wednesday of this week And the featured theme in it is scouting history And also going to be the featured theme of Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less.

And then we have a phone call that came in over the new Google voice setup that we have with a question, And we'll be answering that, And that's plenty to do for this podcast. So let's get started, shall we?

Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. Part of Scoutmastership is continually reassessing first principles, And that maintenance of our focus and direction requires some inspiration.

Now I found on Google Books a facsimile of the 1913 proof edition of the handbook for Scoutmasters. This was the draft that was distributed for comment to perfect the final first edition of the Scoutmaster handbook, And I was looking through it and I thought that they did some things just wonderfully. I mean, they worded some pieces just eloquently, And although it was written almost 100 years ago, it was the basis for the first edition of the Scoutmaster handbook.

These things haven't changed, They're still the same, And so I thought I would share a couple of excerpts from it with you, Just a way to inspire you to maintain your focus and to get direction from these broad underlying principles that have remained constant through a century of scouting. Here's a piece written about the intentions of scouting: The Scout movement is not antagonistic to any civic enterprise, but rather seeks to cooperate with all other good movements in the interest of the boy. The movement is wholly non-sectarian and plans to work with every sect and creed alike. It is non-military and seeks to promote peace scouting and to develop educational character building for good citizenship. It is wholly non-partisan. It cannot favor one against another and cannot countenance interference on any debatable questions, whether social, religious or political.

It seeks to make the boy a more useful and appreciative son to his parents or those to whom he owes his home comforts, a more diligent and obedient student in his school life, a more valuable aid to the community in promoting its material progress and protection, and a more efficient and better prepared young man in development for future citizenship and the pleasures and hardships of mature existence. I think that's just an incredibly eloquent statement and a fantastic encapsulation of the intent behind scouting: Not to be sectarian, not to be political, not to be military, To cooperate with all the good influences within a community, to help young men grow and build character, to be a contributing part of that community. They had this to say about discipline: A scoutmaster should not be petty in his discipline but should stand on the high plane of honor in everything. On the other hand, he should be careful not to be lax and the boy scout should understand that when he has said a thing he means it. Liberal and cautious in his judgment, but firm in his attitude when once his judgment has been made, should be the rule of the scoutmaster in matters of discipline.

I like the fact that the original draft edition of the handbook said: don't be petty, Don't sweat the small stuff- I think would be an appropriate modern translation of that- But stand on the high plane of honor in everything and when you say something, mean it. I mean this is good general advice for all parts of our lives, not just being a scoutmaster.

Here's what the draft handbook had to say about reverence. Law 12 directs the attention of the boy to the idea of reverence. It holds his religious duties as an ideal worthy of being worked for and urges upon him the duty and responsibility of respecting the convictions of every other man in matters of tradition, custom and religion. Should he think that he has more light on these matters than the man next to him, he should be the more generous and liberal because of that fact.

Now again, very well worded, very eloquent. But when it talks about reverence, it talks about reverence that is very inclusive and very accepting of tradition, custom and religion.

Then it goes on to say: if you think you've got it, if you think you have a corner on the truth, that should really allow you to be more generous, because you know that the way that you feel about your particular way of life and the particular way that you do things is felt as strongly by that other guy, that other person. I just think that's an outstanding little study on reverence, On dynamic leadership. The draft had this to say: the idea that must continually be kept in mind is the boy's good and the boy rather than scouting.

Isn't that interesting? The idea that must continually be kept in mind is the boy's good and the boy rather than scouting.

I think that's a great point. Half of our teachers in the public schools, it goes on to say, are trying to teach the subject matter of the book when they ought to be teaching the boy. They employ static methods. You can set up a goal for attainment and the boy will reach the goal. Generally, however, he will go no higher than you point. Your teaching should be dynamic rather than static.

What I get out of those couple of statements are that what we're trying to do with our scouts is to inspire them, to set goals and then inspire them to meet them, inspire them to pass on them. But it's this dynamism, it's this dynamic element of scouting that makes it different from every other occupation that the boy is following. It makes it different from sports, It makes it different from school. They might not be able to set the goals as they want them, They might not be able to follow them as they see fit, But in scouting they have this kind of experience where they can do stuff according to their own lights, according to what they want to do, according to the way that they see fit, And they can try stuff out And they'll succeed. They'll fail, but they'll do it in a safe environment that is encouraging and nurturing.

Now on the ultimate aim of scouting. It says this: Aim: to secure balanced, symmetrical activities for your patrols. Remember, your scout is four-sided. He is physical, mental, social and religious in his nature. Do not neglect any one side of him, but get the proper agencies to cooperate with you for these ends. Let the boys do whatever they can.

I'm going to repeat that. Let the boys do whatever they can. Merely insist on adequate adult supervision. Above all, be patient, practical and businesslike. And remember that old heads never grow on young shoulders. The Scoutmaster should take his place in the community by the side of the teacher of secular and religious instruction.

He is an educator and is dealing with the most plastic and most valuable asset in the community: boyhood. Let him take his task seriously. Look upon his privilege with a desire to accomplish great things And always remember the good of the boys is his ultimate aim. I'm really interested in that statement. Let the boys do whatever they can And merely insist on adequate adult supervision.

I think that's a great way to put it. You know we talk about boy leadership. We talk about troops being boy led and everything like that.

Well, you know, define that for me. There you go. Let the boy do whatever they can, Just insist on adequate adult supervision. Be patient, practical and businesslike, And remember that old heads never grow on young shoulders. That's a very good thing to remember. It will save you a lot of time and a lot of frustration, And it's stated right in there with an encouragement to be patient, Because you do need a lot of patience.

Look upon this privilege with a desire to accomplish great things And always remember the good of the boys is our ultimate aim. So that's all from the draft 1913 edition of the first edition of the Scoutmaster Handbook. I'll have a link to it on the blog post that contains this podcast If you want to go in and look around and read some more about it.

But I thought it was a great inspiration on how we go forward in our role as scout leaders.

This is Cliff Jacobson And you're listening to the Scoutmaster Podcast with Clarke Green. Don't be afraid, You can call me, Tell me and I'll be around. Hi, Clark, My name is Jason Pettis. I'm Scoutmaster of Troop 130 in Golden Colorado. We are about to get a tidal wave of Weeblows crossing over into our troop. I've got four different packs feeding into me.

The next month, At the beginning of March, I should have between 16 and 20 new Weeblows coming in. Current troop enrollment is about 30. Though I'm seeing a lot of those kids will be older and aging out.

Kind of curious as to some suggestions for integrating these new guys into the troop, We've talked a little bit about maybe having new scout patrols for a few months so everyone's up to speed And have some of the other older guys act as troop guides. We've also talked a little bit about mixing them into our existing patrols, So our patrols are still kind of fragmenting right now due to age and interest in other things going on. Hopefully, though, if it had been like just a small handful, we probably could have managed them in With this big number- at least big for our troop- seems that that's the best way to approach this.

We're a little concerned about that, So any thoughts you might have would be great. Thanks, Talk to you later, Clark. You can get in touch through the Google voicemail service and you'll hear a little bit about how you can do that towards the end of the podcast. And Jason is concerned because he has a tidal wave coming to his troop.

So if you got about 30 guys, maybe four or five of them are getting ready to age out. So now you're looking at it- maybe like 26 or so- And then you're looking at 16 to 20 new guys coming in. Oh, that's going to be great. Oh, it's going to have some challenges and things like that, But boy, it's going to be great. And if it's the first time you've managed a giant wave of new guys coming into the troop, first of all, prepare your youth leadership, And you have been talking to them about this, I'm sure, And you've been consulting with them about what they would like to do.

Do you think new scout patrol is a good idea, guys? Is that the way we should go?

Do you want to just incorporate them into new patrols? Is it time for us to redo all of our patrols?

How do you want to handle it, fellas? Do you think it's important that we ask the Weeblows coming in as new scouts what they think and how they would like to do things as far as setting up patrols and stuff?

The question of setting up patrols, I know it seems like a big challenge right now, but it's pretty easy. I would leave it to your youth leadership. They're going to have some pretty good answers. The dynamic of having that many new guys in the troop that might not settle down to be something comprehensible for a month or two or for the course of a year.

So I would be ready to ride the tidal wave, get your surfboard out, get geared up and get ready to go. You're going to do this by preparing your youth leaders for it.

I would sit down with them and I would say: okay, let's remind ourselves of exactly what we're doing. Let's remind ourselves of the four or five important promises that we're making to these new scouts.

We need to talk about how we're going to be ready to meet the challenge of fulfilling these promises for them. That will kind of center them on the idea that the new guys aren't bad, the new guys aren't a problem, but that the new guys are a welcome challenge that will help them grow as leaders and will help them become better scouts. Yeah, it's going to be great.

The other thing to do, you know, make sure your adult leaders are prepared for the same thing. Hey, we have all these new guys. It's going to be great.

Here's the specific promises of scouting that we need to fulfill for them. The Patrol Leaders Council is well underway on making this happen and we're going to need to be in a support role for it.

You know we're going to have our challenges, but let's make sure that we keep our eye on the ball and on fulfilling the promises to these new guys. The other thing is is you're going to bring in a few new adult leaders, so you've got to get them into the culture of the troop and how you handle things and the way the boys lead, because I know- and I know that you know this too, Jason- you know your first couple of months are just going to seem like utter chaos and new leaders coming in off of being like a Weeblis den leader or something like that. They are not going to take the chaos very well. They're going to react to it in the way that they reacted to it when they were Weeblis den leaders and try and fix everything instead of standing back and letting the youth leaders take care of business.

So you're going to have to explain that to them too. Now you know. If you've been at this for a while, you already know what I'm talking about, and it's going to cause a little chaos, it's going to cause a little difficulty, but what a wonderful challenge to have.

I think that you guys are going to do just great if you stick with the idea of fulfilling the promises of scouting to these new scouts and you motivate your youth leaders to do that. As far as you know the nuts and bolts of it and how to make this happen and how to make that happen, I think that will come. As long as you're concentrating on those promises and fulfilling those promises and in making sure that every decision that the Patrol Leaders Council and your adult leaders make is focused on that.

I think the final piece is to make sure that you have a really good parent's orientation set up, explaining exactly how things go from here on out, that they've left Webelos, they've left Cub Scouts and now they're into this new phase and they're into Boy Scouts, and that's going to be quite a bit different, because the principal leader that they're going to talk to and ask questions of is the scout's patrol leader, and they need to know who that patrol leader is. They need to know how to be able to get in touch with him and how to get information.

There'll also be, you know, many other pieces of practical advice that they'll need for camping trips and things. I think I've made a mistake in the past in not doing a very thorough job of orienting new parents around this, So I would suggest that if you don't have that kind of thing in place already, help it and get a real strong parent orientation thing going, especially with a group this large.

So I would love to hear what happens in the future. Jason, I would love to hear the story and I really do appreciate you getting in touch and I hope that helps.