Effective Scouters are alert to possibility, to the challenge of the moment. If we aren’t watchful, though, those transient moments of possibility become obscured by our preoccupation with competence. There’s no inherent virtue in being an experienced Scouter, after all if you stick with something long enough you become experienced. Hopefully experience leads to competence, […]
Working With Scouts
Mentoring Scouts
…the business of the Scouter — and a very interesting one it is — is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad. There is five per cent of good even in the worst […]
Scouting and Parenting
Frank Maynard is a troop committee chairman writes the blog Bobwhite Blather. In a recent article Frank discusses three things that Scouters should never do for their Scouts; As Scouters, though, we really need to put… parenting instincts aside in order to make sure that we not only deliver the Scouting program as promised, but also to help our […]
Synthetic or Authentic Scouting?
What is authentic Scouting? 52 Scout leaders from 16 countries in the European Scout Region replied to a survey about the retention of young people in Scouting conducted by the World Organization of the Scouting Movement (WOSM) during the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. Their responses indicate that Scouting everywhere shares common challenges. Here’s some key thoughts offered in […]
High Adventure, Friendship and Loyalty
Scouts need some structure and direction but they also need the opportunity (plenty of it) for the alchemy of friendship and loyalty to do its work. This is something that Scouters can’t control or manage; trying to make a plant grow is futile and frustrating. If we create the conditions conducive to growth we’ll see it happen. […]
4 Mistakes Scout Leaders Make and How to Correct Them
Sometimes it seems we are doing all the right things but the results we are hoping for never materialize. When Scout leaders grow frustrated with their work it’s usually because they are making one or more of the following mistakes: 1. Scout Leaders Become Over Involved You’ve heard the term ‘helicopter’ applied to parents, teachers and Scout leaders […]
Keeping Older Scouts Active
Keeping older Scouts active and involved is a perennial concern. Scoutmasters wring their hands over losing older Scouts and many troops do have a problem keeping them around. The standard response is amping up the ‘wow’ factor of the program but I have never been very fond of the “bread and circuses” approach to Scouting. (If you aren’t familiar […]
The Heart Grows Smarter
From an article by columnist David Brooks , read the full article at The Heart Grows Smarter In 1938, a group of researchers began an intensive study of 268 students at Harvard University. The plan was to track them through their entire lives, measuring, testing and interviewing them every few years to see how lives develop. … as […]
The Joy Of It All!
I was never a Scout as a boy but I had a copy of the patrol Leaders handbook illustrated with line drawings of perfect campsites and campfires, of Scouts in perfectly neat uniforms lining up eagerly to listen to their patrol leader, cheering heartily, rallying around the patrol flag waving their hats. I was quickly […]
Observation and Proximity
Two of the effects physicists describe apply to our work in Scouting: The Observer Effect Changes that the act of observation makes on the phenomenon being observed. A tire pressure gauge releases air from the tire thus changing the pressure we are testing. The Proximity Effect When two atoms come into proximity, the highest energy, or valence, orbitals of the atoms change […]
How Scouts Grow
Think for a moment how Scouts grow, about the way a Scout-aged-boy’s mind develops – He is becoming increasingly able to think abstractly. He may be sharply self-conscious thinking that he is constantly being watched and judged by others; believing no one can relate to his personal experiences. He is beginning to think systematically about morality, […]
Inspiring Discovery
Make Me a Boat If I communicate the love of the sea to my people, Soon you will see them diversifying according to their thousand particular qualities: One will weave the fabrics, Another will cut the tree in the forest, Another still will forge nails Someone will observe the stars to learn how to navigate, All will work […]
Scouters from the Scout Perspective
Enoch is an active 17-year-old Scout and blogger at Scouting Rediscovered I asked Enoch to write about his experiences with adult volunteers in Scouting: When I first joined my Troop, I really didn’t know what to expect; I was never a Cub or Webelos, and my family had not really been involved in Scouting. All I […]
What did Scouting Teach You?
“It’s a little hard to say exactly what I learned in Boy Scouts. Certainly, I learned camping skills that I have enjoyed using ever since: skills ranging from selecting a good campsite to making a fire, from tying knots and throwing lashings to basic first aid, from using a map and compass to finding north […]
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 […]
Scouting Methods – Youth Version
In an earlier post, I reported on a poll and discussion of how the eight methods of Scouting are applied in our troop. We followed that up with a poll during the youth leadership training. It was great for discussion in that setting, and there were some interestingly different views on how our troop is […]
3 Reasons Scouts Do Not Advance
When Scouts do not advance they may be disinterested, stalled, or afraid. REASON ONE They may not be interested in “doing requirements”. WHAT’S HAPPENING When we’re preoccupied with that list of stuff Scouts need to do to advance (the requirements) we’ve put the cart before the horse. If we have an active program of camping Scouts meet requirements as a […]
What’s your favorite Aha! Moment?
The penny drops, the light comes on, eureka!, discovery, enlightenment, revelation. If we watch carefully Scout leaders sometimes get to witness a marvelous happening; when some part of the world opens up for one of our Scouts. Have you seen this happen? Sometimes it is the sudden realization that they can do something they didn’t […]
14 things to do before you turn 14
In a partnership with Discovery Channel UK the Scouts association published this list of 14 things for young people to do before they are 14: 1. Navigate using a map 2. Climb a tree 3. Make and fly a kite 4. Cook a meal 5. Repair a bike 6. Camp outdoors with your friends 7. Build a den (survival hut?) 8. Put up […]
Integrity
Scouting offers an unusually good opportunity for boys to live their own lives, to have the Independence to develop integrity.
Kids Need to do Less
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the mother of two adolescent kids and a Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. She’s concerned that we may be killing the skills required for innovation by over-programming our children: … The jam packed, highly structured days of elite children are carefully calculated to create Ivy League-worthy resumes. They reinforce […]
Transforming a “Skull Full of Mush”
“The Paper Chase” started as a novel, was made into a movie and, finally, a TV series in the 1970’s. The story follows a law student in his first year at Harvard. The student’s nemesis is the brilliant, dispassionate and relentlessness Professor Kingsfield. Kingsfield has an off-putting demeanor and, at first, appears to be indifferent to his students and their problems. What he […]
Three Alternatives for Helping Scouts
Seth Godin is a muti-talented entrepreneur, thinker and author. Here’s my edit of his thoughts on three ways to help people (or Scouts) realize their potential: … People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop. If the habit you’ve taught is to achieve in order to avoid getting chewed out, once the […]
Earnest Thompson-Seton and Scouts
Earnest Thompson-Seton first published ‘The Birch Bark Roll’ in 1902. His work in establishing the pre-BSA organization, The Woodcraft Indians, was ultimately woven together with the ideas of Baden Powell and Daniel Carter Beard to form the program of the BSA. More than a century later Seton’s ideas remain relevant to our work as Scouters. […]
