I hope you had a great summer… The picture for this week’s podcast is one of my favorite campsites on Proulx lake in Ontario Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park. We took twenty people in three crews this year and had a great time. I am glad to be back, and this week I’ll answer some of the email […]
Behavior Problems
Scoutmaster Podcast 260 Paperwork!
Scouts and paperwork can be like oil and water! In this week’s podcast an update on our 2016 trip to Kandersteg, I’ll answer email questions about handling permission slips (get in touch and tell me how you handle paperwork and deadlines), youth leaders, and avoiding homesickness. LINKS Working with Homesick Scouts Homesickness on podcast 76 Helping Homesick Scouts […]
Podcast 254 – Behavior Problems
Behavior problems can be challenging, but… … understanding the basic principles behind addressing difficult behavior helps us resolve them in the best interest of the Scout. I’ll answer an email about bullying and another about concerns over merit badge counselling. Scoutmaster Training Syllabus – see appendices G and H for information on the Scoutmaster Conference […]
Constructive Scouting Discipline
Sitting down, a sigh of relief, a cup of coffee, close your eyes, and think about a nap. What’s that? Somebody walking through the leaves. You open your eyes just enough to see the senior patrol leader striding purposefully in your direction, he stops a couple of feet away, wondering if you are awake. After playing […]
Podcast 238 – Patrol Method 4
What, exactly, is the Patrol Method? Why did our founder emphasize the importance of the patrol method over all else in Scouting? In this week’s podcast the fourth of four installments that discusses how basic ideas to practically apply the patrol method. I also answer email questions on how to have Scouts form patrols, how to address bad […]
Podcast 237 – Patrol Method 3
What, exactly, is the Patrol Method? Why did our founder emphasize the importance of the patrol method over all else in Scouting? In this week’s podcast the third of four installments that discusses the typical objections raised when the patrol method is applied. Three different email questions on the theme of focusing on the individual Scout, one […]
Podcast 229 – Resolving Serious Misbehavior
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Working with Scouts means dealing with routine behavior problems from time to time, but… While serious misbehavior, at least in my experience, is thankfully rare – we do have to be prepared to resolve it when it occurs. In this podcast I offer my best advice to Scouters who contacted me with about resolving two incidents […]
Defusing Explosive Situations
Have you ever had to deal face-to-face with a fellow Scout who was out of line? If your Patrol and Troop are doing adventurous and challenging things, you will have to deal with a situation like this sooner or later. I remember the hardest time I ever had camping was in the middle of July […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 208 – Difficult Behavior 2
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 208 This podcast features the second and final installment of the two-part series started in podcast 207 discussing difficult behavior in Scouts. There’s also email questions about youth leaders roles and who decided how the program will be presented. All this and your messages in the mailbag. […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 207 – Difficult Behavior 1
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 207 What causes Scouts to behave poorly? Are they just being willful and disobedient or is there something else going on? In this podcast the first part of a two-part series looking into the reasons behind difficult behavior and how we can respond to it effectively. There’s […]
Scouting’s Positive Rites of Passage
Carrying backpacks for the first time, Scouts leave the familiar comforts of home and strike out on the trail. Following flashlight beams through unknown territory, they arrive at the campsite with their friends. Tents are set up, a fire is lit and they gather around trying to shake off the cold. They talk excitedly about […]
Working With Homesick Scouts
If you are headed off to camp this summer it’s likely you will be working with one or more homesick Scouts. Understanding, preventing and treating homesickness ought to be approached like administering first aid for any other illness or injury. Homesickness is not imaginary, it’s not an indication of weakness or lack of character, it’s […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 167- Behavior Problems,Toten’ Chip
In this edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast we talk about this month’s ScoutCircle, reiterate how Scouting cooperates with the family in matters of discipline and behavior, and answer a question about the Toten’ Chip card. All this and your messages in the mailbag! Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS Listen […]
Discipline and Accountability in Scouting
There is discipline and accountability in Scouting but Scoutmasters are not disciplinarians. We are volunteers in the game of Scouting and our job is to mentor and train youth to lead themselves. When there is a question of accountability – a Scout who is not doing what he is expected to do – Scouters can speak to […]
Understanding Risky Behavior in Scouts – Part Three
The first two parts of this discussion deal with why Scouts make poor decisions and how we can help them decide well. How do we react to bad decisions? If we understand the way our Scout’s brains are working we know that reactive punishment is going to have little effect on their future ability to make better decisions. […]
Understanding Risky Behavior in Scouts Part Two
Yesterday we looked at why otherwise intelligent Scouts sometimes make incredibly bad decisions. We understand that this has a lot to do with their developing brains. How do we help them? Asking adolescents to contemplate trade-offs between risks and benefits is ineffective because their decision making capabilities are underdeveloped. Stating the facts not only won’t […]
Understanding Risky Behavior in Scouts Part One
Every once in a while a Scout does something so stunningly foolish and reckless we stop and ask; “He’s such an intelligent kid, why did he do something so stupid?” Emerging brain development research explains the sometimes stunningly bad choices adolescents make. Understanding how the developing adolescent brain works will help us help our Scouts avoid risky behavior and […]
Jedi Scoutmaster
We are all working towards the troop where Scout leaders are not leading, up front, talking much ( if at all). Our aim is that , the vast majority of the time, Scouts are leading Scouts and we are far in the background. I am not advocating that adults should be continually present monitoring for bad behavior. This technique […]
Trying to Make Good or Trouble?
When I served as a camp director I got some complaints about our dining hall steward’s attitude towards Scouts setting or clearing the tables. Scouts rotate the responsibility of serving as a waiter at our camp. They go early to set the table, serve the food during the meal and clear up afterwords. At any […]
How to be Unflappable
Scout leaders are constantly called on to resolve conflicts, make decisions and provide direction. We do these things better when we are able to be calm, non-judgmental and unbiased. I can be easily upset and that leads to getting upset about being upset and that leads to being reactive, judgmental and unpleasant. I admire unflappable people, I aspire to be unflappable. Unflappable […]
Interview With My Bully
If we want to end bullying we need to understand it. Author Steve Almond found the boy that bullied him in eighth grade and asked him why. Their conversation helped me appreciate the complexity of bullying from the unusual point of view; that of the bully; Sean Lynden (the bully): ” One other thing I should mention, there are different kinds […]
Second Chances
Adolescence is an often difficult, unstable time and adolescents tend towards actions and attitudes that we find upsetting. Recent research points out that much of the chaos of adolescence is owing to a period physical brain development we are only now beginning to understand. One can draw the reasonable conclusion that people in their adolescence […]
Scout Behavior and Program
Unpredictable sometimes difficult Scout behavior is part of adolescence so it is a part of Scouting. Scouting responds with a program who’s intrinsic design is a response to this and the other vagaries of being a Scout-aged boy. Boys naturally form groups within groups and institute traditions and practices like initiations, pecking orders and all […]
Be an Adult, and Be Kind
How do we maintain discipline, require accountability and promote responsibility without resorting to shame or allowing our anger to take over. My answer is twofold – be an adult and be kind. Scouters are supposed to be exemplary adults. We are to bring our experience and compassion to bear on the lives of our Scouts […]
