Let Them Live Their Own Lives

Green Bar Bill’s analogy of Scouting as a game get’s me thinking about what would happen if we altered other games the way we sometimes see Scouting misunderstood. For example: Basketball is OK, but why all that dribbling stuff?

Letting players carry the ball would be so much easier! And hey, do we really need the baskets to be that high? We’d score a lot more goals in soccer (and it would be a lot more fun to watch!) if the opposing team tackled the goalie and held them down!

Baseball has too many antiquated rules. Only three strikes? Let’s make it TEN!

Scouters have to understand how the game is played, and resist the urge to make changes to the basic structures and practices that make Scouting what it is. For example: Youth leadership only develops in an atmosphere of real responsibility.

Mistakes are not just inevitable – they are important.

Advancement, as B-P put it, is “Cheery self-development from within and not the imposition of formal instruction from without.” B-P also said : “The Patrol Method is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where The Patrol Method is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself!” If we let our Scouts play the game as it is, and live their own lives, the more successful they’ll be!