alligator

I have the same dreams, and I'm a Tiger cub den leader. I now ask the parent to give me a sheet showing the meeting outline so I can make sure they are ready - and so I can bring it if they don't show up.

I use email and our website extensively. But I am having second thoughts. Does anyone else get the feeling that electronic communications discourages coming to the Troop meetings? I sometimes feel like our Troop families feel like they are "in the loop" and don't necessarily feel the need to attend meetings. Does that make sense to anyone? I don't have a way to validate this theory yet. Just looking for other opinions on the subject.

Thanks FS... I will follow your lead! BL

This may sound silly, but I am issuing form 33746 Junior Leader Certificate of Training for the first time in our troop and I am not sure what to put in the field titled 'Office'. Is this the position of responsibility the scout is currently filling? That would seem odd to put a position there as leadership training is not position specific. What does everyone else put there? Thanks!

I can't believe the great discussions going on here! Our Troop is in the throws of re-invigorating the patrol method as well. We are taking the 'get training and more training' approach. We sent five scouts to JLTC this last summer and will have two or more on YLTC staff this summer. We have a few Woodbadge trained adults (one more on the way) and several with outdoor and leader specific, etc. We don't always get it right, but the enthusiasm builds with each newly trained member. Our problem seems to be finding enough time in everybody's schedules to get everything done at once! I guess we will need to learn a little patience along the way too. Don't give up! BL

Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the sincere and wonderful input on this. I realized from some of your comments that it is really hard to convey all of the details of a situation in a forum post. I really dont know why you all could not just read my mind and instantly know everything that I know! ;-) Those of you who identified the fact that we are all in over our heads are on the money there! I am guessing though that scouting should be a little about being in over your head. It is nice to know that all of you that took an interest are part of the rope that is standing by at the ready. Here is how thing have turned out so far. I had a SMC with the PL, very open and I listened intently for input. A complicating factor I hadn't considered is that we have just completed recharter and have had some scouts drop out as well as new ones added. The PL thought he needed to keep his patrol at a headcount of 6. With the addition of a couple of new scouts he was at 8 and took it upon himself to thin his ranks of the patrol's least favorite members. So that was an easy misconception to put to rest. We had a really good chat (basically me asking leading questions and letting the PL talk through the answers) about being inclusive, working with our fellow scouts even when they may not be our best friends. Setting boundaries for our challenging scout and letting the PL realize that his patrol does not have to endure behavior outside of those boundaries. I then reviewed our previous SMC and discussed the techniques that we had identified to help the PL and his patrol function. All in all, I think we are on a good track. The PL and I have agreed to meet with the PLC first and then the SPL will meet with him and his whole patrol, including our challenge and discuss those appropriate boundaries for behavior for everybody. We are heading into summer; we will see how it all works out. Thanks again! BL

Thanks for the welcome! Great ideas. I think your comment about a SM with the shunned scouts is well on point. You are right that they need more support. The behavioral issues are beyond a SMC and are being dealt with by professionals. My goal is to work as best we can with the Scout. Like I said, great guy and worth every bit of effort we can muster; well then... isn't everyone. I will look into some role playing scenarios. I think that is a great start to building empathy. Thanks. I don't have much left to pull on!

I have a couple of scouts that for various reasons have been shunned by (told they are no longer a member of) their patrol. I had previously met with the PL and discussed his frustration with one of the scouts. He has been a behavioral challenge and probably always will be. Great kid, nice family, he just deals with issues that he can not be held responsible for. Nonetheless, we do work on holding him responsible for his behavior. The PL and I discussed some strategies for working with the scout and how to know when the PL had had enough and needed to let someone else step in for a bit to give him a break or when a SA needed to shadow the scout for a while. All in all I thought we had a plan. Before I had a chance to observe the plan, the PL announced to the Scout that he was out of the patrol. The other Scout wants to be in the patrol, crossed over with them from WEBELOS and considers them his friends. A couple of the Scouts and the PL have decided they dont like him and don't want him in the patrol and again the PL announced to this scout he was out. We only have two regular patrols and a NS patrol. Neither of these Scouts wants to move to the other patrol. I am guessing having a SM meeting with the entire patrol is my next step. Any counsel or advice on this before I do? Any lessons learned that you could share?