Eagledad

Kids don’t always listen, but they are always watching what you do. Cindy Crawford

Let’s change that. We can’t have too much of a good thing. Stupid adult, always making rules. Barry

Don’t fear falling down, fear not getting up.

I have never felt more appreciated and unwanted as I did in the moment of his request. One wonderful thing that came out of my time off was the independence my younger 16 year old son gained as a result. We never saw much of each other at the meetings or camp outs, but we both felt a since of freeing when I wasn't part of the program. Kind of hard to explain, but it was a growing experience for both of us. Barry

A large jar of hair jell.

My replacement requested I take a 3 month hiatus because he felt my respect with the scouts might overshadow his effort in developing a relationship with them. I thought that odd since I trained him to be "Just like me". Barry

That is exactly what we do. During my stint as SM, we had two or three BOR leaders who recruited parents standing around, including new parents. The scouts have to request a BOR by signing up on a BOR request sheet. We always try to do the review the same day they sign up, which requires building a board with those standing around at that moment. The leaders give the volunteers a list of basic questions to help them get involved. Typically the leader starts with a few questions to set a tone for the BOR and to keep the question appropriate. As you said, it is a great way for parents to get involved. Barry

I guess, but I was hoping for quotes that both scouts and scouters could use in their units to motivate everybodies daily efforts.

My dad taught me this when I was very young. But he never gave Mark Twain the credit.

To answer your question, the CC is responsible for the BOR. Ideally they delegate the responsibility to another adult. You are in a tough spot because you are going to have to bring this up to the CC and/or committee. At the moment don't worry about passing around the responsibility. Your committee (and SM) need to get trained to how the advancement system works. If I were you, I would get all the documentation I could to learn exactly how the advancement process works and where the adults fit in. When you confront the CC and committee, you need to present facts back by the BSA. I say confront, but that sounds a bit harsh for how you discuss this subject. You don't want to get them defensive. You want to help inform the team so that they can be more efficient and not create some confussion down the road when a scout is getting ready for his EBOR. Barry

If it doesn't challenge you, it wont change you.

Orienteering

Two reason why troops go this route is they are overly concerned about advancement requirements, or they are dug into tradition. But why change if the routine isn't seen as a problem? Kind of like our PLC when I requested the one year SPL term, they couldn't see the advantage and I wasn't doing a good job selling it. Most of the times I've seen SPL and ASPL relationship problems is when the two positions aren't well defined. Even two scouts who don't like each other can get along when each has their own specific, and challenging, task that keeps the rest of the team progressing forward. Most of us view ASPL as the back up for the SPL. But what does he do until then? They each need their own specific responsibilities that not only balance the team, but are also understood by the team. I'll bet the average scout today cannot list their ASPL's specific responsbilities other than taking over for the SPL. And typically all troops are a little different. In our troop, ASPLs plan and run troop programs. SPL delegates and runs PLC meetings. By the way, this happens A LOT with unit adults as well, typically packs. Barry

I hear you. We all do. That is why the greatest character attribute scouts can learn from adults is humility. Barry

Well to be fair, the challenge for all adult leaders is learning to resist pushing the program the way they think it should run. The adults goals are Character development, Citizenship participation, and fitness. The scouts reach those goals through the actions of the eight methods. That sounds easy, but most adults need experience to figure out how scouting activities work toward those goals. So, instead of focusing on goals we don't understand, we get more involved on the eight methods. And it is a show stopper because the reality is adults ideas are limitations to scouts decisions. I was one of the worst. That is why I taught new adults of new troops to give the scouts the SPL and PL handbooks and let them go. That forces the adults to step back and watch how they scouts decisions effect reaching the adult goals of Character, Citizenship and Fitness. It's now quick, but it helps both the scouts and adults start in the right direction. Barry

While our program is like yours, I've observed the most mature troop programs had the commonality of electing the ASPL every six months with their SPL serving one year terms. I proposed this system to our PLC and they said no because they liked our 6 month SPL terms and saw no reason to rock the boat. So, that was that. Our system performed well, so I had no complaint. But I agree that our SPLs needed about 5 months to become productive. They work so hard, they think they need a break at the next election. I say, they think the need the break, because they can't seem to stop being an SPL even after the next SPL is elected. I believe they are over the hump of getting used to the job around 5 months, but I never got an opportunity to prove that theory. If I stayed on as SM, I probably would have requested a trial of 1 year SPLs from the PLC because I believe it would raise the maturity of the troop to another level. I personally don't support keeping terms short to provide more leadership opportunities. Maybe it's my engineering nature, but I believe good leadership is developing the most efficient program they can vision. I also value "role modeling" as the "best teacher" for the scouts, so I desired the best leaders. Maturity starts from the top and works down to youngest least experienced scout. The best measure of a troop program are the oldest role models. Barry

Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.

Our color guards always started their service at each meeting with a quote when they were called to present colors. This quote is the kind of stuff they looked for. It's easy to say and makes and projects a positive point of attitude for the day.

What I mean is everyone should add one quote per day. We should dozens of new quotes a day (I assume we have dozens of members). If only three of us add a quote, then maybe the one per day should go away. Sorry for the confusion. Barry

One per person per day. Quotes that scouters can take back in pass along to their scouts. You might even start a Quote of the Day before dismissing the scouts. I did something like this with both my Cubs and Scouts. Your SPL may want to start giving them at Troop or PLC meetings. Not a lot of rules, but scouts get bored quickly. The fewer the words, the better. They love humor. I'll start todays: Success is usually found in a pile of mistakes.

Been there - done that, a couple times. The assistant presenter of our Scoutmaster Specific class, who was also a SM, called me once to whine about their new ASM that was asked to leave our troop a month before. She was asked to leave his troop two months later. She quit scouts completely after a 3rd troop asked her to leave. Teams and leadership are hard. The job of the leader is to inspire the team toward a vision. That concept is not hard when everyone agrees with the vision. But like TMSM's example, the team leader is also the gatekeeper of the vision. If a member of the team doesn't agree with the vision, then something has to change. I used to be the district coach for units with adults that weren't working well as a team. In 90% of the cases, the leader either didn't have a vision, or was too weak to keep the team focused on the vision. And it is amazing how quickly most of these adults come together when they understand and agree on a vision. Barry

A few suggestions: Restrict the turning radius so the scouts can't turn so sharp they are thrown off the car or turn into the other cars. Don't let scouts use the rope for turning because it tends make operating twice as hard causing more risk of loosing control. Loosing control doesn't mean a risk of injury, it means the scout will have to get off the car to straiten it out. Advise the scouts to keep both hands on the brake. It's just easier. And don't install seat belts. A scout is safer falling clear of the cub mobile than getting dragged by it. All lessons learned from experience. If I make it sound dangerous, it's not really, but a few trials learning how much slope they need and how wide the streets need to be did cause some stressful runs. Stress for the adults, not the scouts. But I can honestly say we had no sever injuries over the hundreds of races over the years. All scouts left (even Tigers) finished with a big smile on their face. It even became a district event for several years. Barry

I agree, NEVER ask. And, if you are confronted, many times you can raise a convincing argument for continuing. That happened several times. Is the Cubmobile still allowed? They are as much fun to build as they are to drive. Barry

Ah thanks. It's always a fun Saturday for the scouts in our troop. Barry

I didn't interpret the guideline to include the water rockets. I also would not interpret model rockets under the guidelines either. In fact I believe there is a model rocket merit badge. AND, are you sitting on an RV8? Barry