Scouting discipline is constructive… … because it builds character through applying the Scout oath and law. When we think of discipline we often think of systems of rules and punishments. These things are more familiar to our Scouts than open-ended situation where they follow principles. Asking them to judge themselves rather than issuing judgments may be […]
Scouting Fundamentals
Podcast 367- Developing Youth Leadership
Why is Scouting designed around youth leadership? Most Scouters think a youth led troop is the brass ring of Scouting. What exactly do we mean when we talk about youth leadership? There’s much confusion and misunderstanding of this than nearly any other aspect of Scouting. Our perspective is often narrowly focused on things that aren’t […]
Podcast 366 – Scout Advancement
How does Scout advancement achieve the main aim of Scouting? Todays talk about advancement continues our foundations series. I’ve written extensively in detail about many aspects of Scout advancement, but this is different. In this podcast I ask how Scout advancement fits into the overall game of Scouting. You’ll hear me read from Baden-Powell’s Aids […]
Podcast 365 – Patrol System or Method?
What’s the difference between Patrol system and Patrol method? I have never found any actual difference between those terms in Scouting literature, but I will share acouple of thoughts to differentiate between patrol system and patrol method in a way you may find helpful. Over the next three podcasts we’ll continue our foundations series by […]
Podcast 364 – Playing the Scouting Game
Some aspects of the Scouting game look like flaws… … but they are features we must not alter. Games restrict or constrain play through rules, the laws of physics, or human limitations and Scouting is no exception. We Scouters often expend lot of effort trying to fix things that don’t need to be fixed, or […]
Podcast 363 – Scouts as Players
Thinking of Scouts as players … … fills out the analogy of Scouting as a game. Players volunteer to participate in the game. The most important volunteers in Scouting have more power and influence than the highest official. Without their participation, Scouting would come to a complete halt. They bring endless energy, resources, and real […]
Podcast 362 – Scouters as Coaches
Thinking of Scouters as coaches … … can help us understand our role in the game. These are just analogies – we aren’t actually coaches, and Scouting isn’t actually a game. Analogies are not exact copies, they only resemble what they represent. What a Scouter does may be similar to coaching, but Scouters hold an unique role in […]
Podcast 361 – Scouting is a Game
We’ve heard this before, right? Baden-Powell employed the “Scouting is a game” analogy long before anyone else, and it is the best analogy I’ve found for explaining the wonderfully complex, intriguing, idea that is Scouting. We have to be careful because analogies break down at some point. While Scouting is a game in many ways, it’s […]
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 320 – The Garden
Scouting needs gardeners more than managers or officers. Scouting isn’t the science of management or military discipline, it’s much more like a garden. Gardeners prepare the ground, plant the seed, keep the weeds away, make sure there is plenty of water and sunshine and step back. Scouting is just like that. We know our Scouts need […]
Podcast 318 – Troop Leader Guidebook Vol. 2 PART TWO
No 11-year-old boy joins Scouting to get his character developed… … and few boys join to attend troop meetings, wear the Scout uniform, or sit before boards of review. Instead, they sign up for fun and adventure. Last month Walter Underwood joined me on podcast 313 to review the first volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook. We got […]
Podcast 317 – Troop Leader Guidebook Vol. 2 PART ONE
What is the ninth method of Scouting? Author Mark Ray begins the second volume of the Troop Leader Guidebook with these words; Back when you first attended Scout leader training, you learned that Boy Scouting has eight methods: adult association, advancement, ideals, leadership development, outdoors, patrol method, personal growth, and uniform. Now that you’re a seasoned leader, however, you realize […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 307 – How Scouts Do What No One Else Does
I am not thinking about the nature of Scouting activities… When Scouting is happening, when it’s really popping and sizzling along, Scouts are doing things that few, if any of their peers are doing. I am not thinking about the nature of their activities, that’s something we’ve discussed many times before, what I am thinking about […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 297 – One Aim, One Method
Wait just a darn minute, one aim one method, I thought there were more? Well, yes, we commonly hear about multiple aims and methods employed in Scouting, but I think you can reduce them to one each. Understand I am not suggesting we change things, but just presenting a (hopefully) better way of understanding our […]
Podcast 293 – Peace Scouting
Peace Scouting is nothing new, and it’s very simple… In this podcast I’ll share some thoughts about peace Scouting as described in an address Baden-Powell made to what would later become the World Organization of the Scouting movement in Paris in 1922. Your opportunity as a Scouter is a profound one. Take a moment today […]
Podcast 292 – Do What Scouts Do
If you are wondering what to do next, the answer is always “do what Scouts do”. Can it be that simple? Actually, yes! It’s just that simple! When Scouts do things Scouts do they develop character as an after-effect. Don’t get sidetracked by anything else or you may miss powerful experiential opportunities. If we get ourselves caught in the thicket […]
Do What Scouts Do
Imagine, for a moment, there is nothing called “Scouting”, no program, no troops, no councils, no districts, no uniforms, no badges. Someone comes up with an idea for helping young people develop character by getting outdoors and going camping. They share this idea with young people who get pretty excited about it. They get their buddies […]
B-P’s Blog – Scoutcraft
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Each Sunday I’ll publish a selection from his writings in the hope that you’ll draw inspiration and understanding from his timeless ideas. Instruction in scoutcraft should be given as far as possible through practices, games, and […]
Three Leadership Styles
Although the founder of Scouting Baden-Powell and the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu lived centuries apart on opposite sides of the world, each describe the same three distinct leadership styles. More often than not we’ll find some aspects all three styles in the same person. I know I have used all three styles at one time or […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 288 – Yardsticks
Is Scouting a system of measurement? Scouting is more, much, much, more, than a system of measurement, yet it has lots of “yardsticks”. Baden-Powell wrote “Scouting is a game. But sometimes I wonder whether, with all our pamphlets, rules, conferences, and training classes we may not appear to be making of it too serious a […]
Podcast 287 – Small Troops
When is a group of Scouts a Troop, and when are they a patrol? We begin answering that question by forgetting everything we think we know and building a logical approach, by serving the interests of the individual Scout rather than the interest of an organizational chart. Small troops are going to function a little differently […]
Podcast 286 – Positions of Responsibility
What are the basic principles behind Scouts taking on positions of responsibility in Scouting? Our procedures are based on something more than policy or practice they have to have a basis in principles, in what makes Scouting what it is. If you understand the basic principles the procedures explain themselves. When we discuss positions of […]
Conduct, Character, and Scouting
Remember being young when the ground was constantly shifting under our feet? Remember wanting to be an adult but not wanting to be like the adults you knew? Remember how you wanted to change things? What an energizing, exciting, challenging, and sometimes confusing world we lived in! Our growing brains and bodies were in a constant state of change, every day was full […]
Podcast 266 – Scouting Source Code 3
Where is it? What is it? In this week’s podcast I’ll complete our series on the search for the Scouting “source code”, we’ll find out where it is, who created it, and why. Links in this podcast My.Scouting.Org PDF by Martin Ohrenberg A Troop Revolution Why do Scouts go Camping? Page 9 – The promises […]
