I get lots of email questions about… … troop conflicts. It may be volunteers arguing with each other, parents arguing with Scouters, volunteers arguing with Scouts, they all have a common thread, and most have a common answer. I also offer my simple advice for welcoming girls into troops, so simple you may not like […]
Eagle Advancement
Podcast 373 – Create Shared Expectations
Create shared expectations and you’ll have a happy troop. In this week’s podcast I answer an email question about a behavior problem. A problem that would never happen if those involved shared expectations. Ask Scouts to analyze their behavior in light of the Scout oath and law. Listen carefully, ask questions, listen more, share your […]
Podcast 372 – Eagle Scout Advancement
When thinking about Eagle Scout advancement … .. we ought to ask “what is an Eagle Scout?” rather than “who deserves to be an Eagle Scout?” The answer to the question “who deserves to be an Eagle Scout?” is easy; any Scout who completes the requirements. That’s it. No more and no less. There’s no […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 356 Energy and Vision
Expertise and experience are overrated Scouts need Scouters with energy and vision more than Scouters with expertise and experience. Scouts don’t care what you know, they respond to who you are. In this podcast I answer three email questions. The first (begins at [1:05]) comes from a new Scouter contemplating becoming a Scoutmaster, but is […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 343 – Scout Advancement Questions
Scout advancement questions are often easy to answer … … if you simply take things at face value. It’s actually all pretty easy to understand. Problems arise when Scouters don’t challenge their own assumptions after they have read the requirements or directions and policies in the Guide to Advancement. This week I’ll answer three Scout advancement questions you’ve emailed […]
Podcast 334 – Do Parents Understand Scouting?
How well do Parents understand Scouting? Should we expect them to? Most of us didn’t understand it either for our first two or three laps around the track. There’s an understanding that comes with having things explained, and an understanding that comes from experience – two entirely different things. This week I’ll discuss how authentic Scouting provides […]
New Eagle Rank Requirements
This is seventh in a series of posts about the new rank requirements that take effect on January 1, 2016. Scout | Tenderfoot | Second Class | First Class | Star | Life | Eagle Exactly how the new requirements are phased in is explained in this PDF document – Notes on Transitioning to the New Requirements. I found […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 278 – Eagle Scout History
This encore presentation features an interview with author Mike Malone about his book about what it means to be an Eagle Scout, Four Percent. Mike is an award-winning author and experienced Scouter with an impressive resume of leadership. Four Percent is much more than a simple history of the award – it is a significant contribution to what it means […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 272 Eagle Scout Thoughts
There’s always plenty to talk about when it comes to the Eagle Scout! In this week’s podcast I’ll opine (and preach a little) about our Eagle Scout attitudes and answer email questions about troop meeting chaos and an advancement mistake. The important thing to realize is that once a Scout earns Eagle Rank he begins the lifelong process of […]
Podcast 263 – Wilderness First Aid
Wilderness First Aid is highly recommended, but when is it required? In this week’s podcast we’ll do our best to tell you when wilderness first aid training is required (although it’s just good common sense too!) , I’ll also answer questions about uniforms, the effective date a Scout earns a rank, and how Venturing Crews use the patrol method. […]
Podcast 261 – Avoiding the Troop Program Death Spiral
Are you in danger? I know that a title like “troop program death spiral” sounds dramatic, but I got your attention, right? I’ll explain what the dreaded troop program death spiral is and help you avoid it as well as answering email questions about Eagle Scout advancement, Advancement policies instituted by a troop, and “Webelos […]
What is an Eagle Scout?
Asking “what is an Eagle Scout?” sparks interesting conversations among Scouters. This question got me wrapped around my own axle for a few years; but not anymore. Conversations about Eagle Scout commonly unfold like an operatic libretto. The curtain rises on the chorus singing about how once proud standards have fallen because now just anyone can be an Eagle Scout. Stories of overzealous parents, […]
Podcast 250- What is an Eagle Scout?
This questions starts some pretty dramatic conversations! In this week’s podcast I’ll explain my answer to the question ‘What is an Eagle Scout?’ in Scoutmastership in Seven Minutes or Less and answer two email questions about Eagle Scout advancement. Our role is not safeguarding Eagle from the unworthy, or trying to make it something it isn’t, but understanding […]
Podcast 245 – The Emperor has no clothes
When the Emperor has no new clothes… it’s sort of embarrassing for everyone isn’t it? Listen to my response to those (thankfully few) troops who decide to create their own requirements. Adding to the requirements is as misguided as subtracting from them, and sends a mixed message to the youth we serve. In the email segment […]
Podcast 232 – Let’s Get Started!
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Hello! Back home and lots of catching up to do! I answer emails about signing requirements, Troop Planning, Eagle projects, and advancement. Plus an announcement for those of you interested in going to Kandersteg, Switzerland! Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 232 Get The SCOUTMASTERCG APP Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window […]
Scoutmaster’s Minute – Eagle & Peacock
Eagles and peacocks are both impressive looking birds. Peacocks are known for their elegant, showy, appearance, and for strutting around and their impressive display of feathers; “proud as a peacock”. If you’ve ever spotted an eagle in the wild you’d agree they are an impressive sight. A symbol of power, nobility and freedom the eagle’s flight through human history is […]
How I would Change Eagle Required Merit Badges
Reading the requirements for sustainability merit badge got me to thinking about merit badges as tools to achieve the aims of Scouting in general and Eagle required merit badges in particular. Faithful readers will understand that I like to think about these things and write about possibilities, take it all with a grain of salt. […]
Quality of an Eagle Scout
One of the more common emails I receive concerns the frustrations of Scoutmaster’s who are faced with a boy they just don’t consider has done enough, cares enough or is good enough to become an Eagle Scout. They want to know what to do. There’s a big gap between my idealized Eagle Scout and what’s required to earn the […]
Four Percent – Eagle Scout History
Friend of the blog and podcast Mike Malone has announced the release of his new excellent, authoritative Eagle Scout history: Four Percent – The Story of Uncommon Youth in a Century of American Life; . (Listen to my interview with Mike on podcast 137.) Mike is a well known writer, twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. His […]
Eagle Scoutmaster Conference
Google the title of this post and you’ll find some pretty elaborate plans and opinions for the Eagle Scoutmaster conference. Some of them leave me thinking I should don a wizard’s robes and start boiling up some eye of newt because I am about to do something magical and mysterious. There’s nothing magical or mysterious about it – […]
Who Makes Eagle Medals?
St. Louis’s Stange Company (run by an Eagle Scout) produces Eagle Scout medals and pins. When David Bouchein won his Eagle Scout medal in the 1970s he had no idea of the prominence that award would play later in his life. “Who would have thought I’d be running the company that made my Eagle medal?” […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 11 – Scout Program Idea
Scoutmaster Podcast 11 Listen in as my senior patrol leader and I discuss a Scout program idea we have used several times now – the “magical mystery tour”. In This Podcast Magical Mystery Tour One Night at Camp Avoiding Eagle Scout Drama 1 Podcast Notes Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS […]
Why Life to Eagle Guides?
Do we need “Life to Eagle Guides”? We already have a Scout Handbook and an Eagle Project Workbook – any Scout can understand and work their way through the trail to Eagle with these resources alone. Yet every Council and District seems to have ‘resources’ that are often confusing and often contain information that is contradictory […]
Another Eagle Scout Imbroglio
A Scout’s parents have written me about a Scoutmaster who is making an Eagle Scout Candidate’s life miserable for no good reason.. I’m not going to go into all the particulars here. It’s really all too familiar. A Scoutmaster with a diseased ego browbeating a Scout. The district advancement chairman won’t stand up to the […]
