Hedgehog

There really are two optons - to expand the program in the STEM area (which most likely will work as well as the expanding Explorer Scouts to include career exploration did in the 1970s) or to double down on the essential parts of the BSA brand. If you ask people what the makes a boy a Boy Scout they will most likely mention camping, integrity and leadership. A pretty good brand if you ask me.

Although I agree having a UC with a son in the unit isn't optimal, I think the key conflict of interest is that Zuzy's son was elected SPL over SM's son. That is what lead to the repercussions for Zuzy's son. It seems to me that UC didn't do anything different because his son is in unit. The SM sounds so disfunctional that any UC would have tried to help him get on the right course.

We've made a lot of progress in being boy-led in the outdoors over the past three years. Both the SM and I knew that summer camp was the last vestage of adult lead and we were able to break that this year. I'm hopeful building on that for next year. I think we have five guys (including my son) that are doing NYLT this summer -- including the incoming SPL and ASPL. We haven't had anyone NYLT trained before. I'm making it clear that they have my support to change what they see fit. Also, I'm coordinating a weekend training for the rest of the boy leaders to build on what they did at camp (which of course was built on the efforts of the SM and myself over the past three years). Agreed. I'm pushing for this year's patrols to be very close to last year's patrols (knowing that the SM will still appoint patrols). Then I"m hoping I can convince people to keep the same patrols for the following year but allow boys to switch patrols if they want to at the end of the school year. Although I'd like to just throw it open and say form your own patrols, I'm not in the position to do that at this point. The best I can do is have the appointed patrols become permanent and give the boys the ability to switch. In the meantime, I'm working to strengthen patrols both in our weekly meetings and on outings. Those types of small changes can shift the troop culture over time. The line i've told the boys to use is, "I've got this Mr. Hedgehog." I spent the whole week at camp telling boys that approached me to ask their question to their PL. Over the past three years, one of the main changes is training the adult leaders to respect and foster boy-led. All of the folks at camp this year (except the Camp SM) have joined in the last three years and I've been able to impress on them what boy-led means.

Yes, how dare he have the audacity to try to get someone to run the program they way it is designed. Really? I can't understand how you can stick up for an SM that ignores the way the BSA tells us the program is supposed to be run and runs it like his own personal scouting program. I realize you are just the Chartered Organization Representative and SM Training is not required for that position, but you should take SM Specific Training so you understand the program that your SM is supposed to be offering to your boys.

Stosh: Troop is around 47 boys (were over 50, had a bunch of guys age out and a couple of guys join). We had 25 boys at camp. One of our issues is that we have ad hoc patrols on campouts because we see around 50% of the guys attending any particular campout. Leadership on campouts is appointed by the SM or the ASM in Charge of Outdoor Program (me) based on Elected Position, Appointed Position, Rank, Grade and Experience (we don't appoint an ad hoc SPL on campouts unless there are three or more patrols - the elected SPL or appointed ASPLs come on camp outs they are part of the adult patrol). There are the guys (like my son) who have only missed one campout in three years and others that only attend one campout a year. The other issue we have is that the patrols change each year and are assigned by the SM. The next issue we have is that the PLs are elected by the entire Troop (i.e. you vote for 4 PLs and one of them will lead your patrol). Those are the constraints that I'm working with. When I become SM at the end of next year, I have a number of gradual changes planned (as well as a couple that I'm sneaking in this year). So summer camp is no different. Three of the four PLs that had just been elected were going to camp. They were paired with the APLs that they will have for next year. Their patrols were then asigned by the SM. SM selected my son to be SPL for summer camp based on his rank and experience (as mentioned in the first post, I stayed out of that decision). SM (with my advice) also appointed two ASPLs for summer camp. My son will be the TG for next year. One of the ASPLs is going to be the QM for next year. As i've mentioned in other posts, we don't do a NSP (although next year I think we will have one from crossing over until the end of the School Year) and we don't have a Venture Patrol (I've advocated for both, but wasn't able to make those changes). So at camp, we had an SPL, two ASPLs and three PLs. With the exception of one of the ASPLs who just finished 9th grade, all of the other leaders had just finished 8th grade. With the exception of my son and one of the new PLs, none of the leaders served as a leader last year (son and new PL were APLs at camp last year and during the year with the regular patrols), none had been trained (except son and one PL had TLT and son had NYLT) and with the exception of my son, none of the boy leaders had served as an ad hoc PL on an outing (son was PL or APL on every outing last year). So we had an eager but very inexperienced team of leaders. That would typically result in a Troop this size being very much adult led at camp. Fortunately, that did not happen. My son took the lead and was helping and guiding the PLs. He truly viewed his job as making sure his PLs suceeded. He consciously put as much responsibility as possible on the PLs and APLs. He viewed his role as doing all the campwide SPL duties and coordinating the activities of the patrols. He set the tone for the week by his servant leadership -- his biggest concern was that everyone felt that they were responsible for their boys. Based on my coaching over the past year, he even quoted you, telling the PLs that their job was to take care of their boys. All of the boys put in a tremendous amount of effort during the week, not just my son - hence the theme of my original post: they all were amazing.

Our Eagle SMC's are, in part, preparation for the EBORs. We tell our scouts that the questions asked at the SMC will be more difficult than the questions asked at the EBOR and they are.

The quieter ones always do. Get two different colors of paracord. It is more fun if you can see each rope separately. Maybe even get a long thick (like an inch) dowel and cut it into three sections for practicing lashing (I did this for my son and he carries it in the scout pack he brings to every meeting). The website you linked to is great. They even have a phone app. One other suggestion is to get a book called "Self Working Rope Magic" by Karl Fulves. It is a great book full of rope magic tricks.

Son had talked to the Program Director, our campsite Commissioner and several counselors who head up the various areas during the week about being on staff. The campsite Commissioner came up an told me "There are boys who want to be counselors and there are boys who are just natural born boy scouts. Your son is a Boy Scout." He borrowed the camp baseball hat I bought at camp and while he was wearing it on Friday he was mistaken several times for a counselor. My son actually enjoys being with scouts outside of our Troop a lot. He has loved his experience with OA and loved hanging out with the counselors at camp. I guess he feels at home with other guys who are as "scouty" as he is.

Stosh: I know how you feel about SPLs from other posts. Although I think we agree about delegating as much as possible to patrols, I think we disagree on the role of the SPL. In most of your responses you listed someone else who would do the job, be it the QM, TG, a PL or the SM. I don't disagree with where you pointed out the TG doing things in line with their position (my son is TG next year which is why as SPL he took the new guys to the campfire) or the QM doing things in line with his position (the Troop QM was also an ASPL and did handle the unloading of gear while my son had PLs focus on unloading the gear for their guys). However, you have PLs and TGs doing things that are outside their roles on an ad hoc basis or done on the basis of being the "oldest" or being led by the venture patrol. Most of those activities require coordinating various positions within the Troop and I see those as being the role of the SPL. To me, it makes more sense to have one person in charge of coordinating the activities of all the leaders. I also agree the need for an SPL looks different if you have 6 or 12 boys vs. 25 or 50 boys. At 25 boys, we had three patrols of 7 or 8, an SPL and 2 ASPLs. The PLs were new, untrained and without a lot of experience. If they were put in charge without an SPL, I suspect that there would have been a lot more adult involvement. Having an SPL who had acted as a PL on a lot of outings and who was NYLT trained allowed him to work with the PLs to make sure they were able to do their job. He very clearly understood that his job was (with the help of the ASPLs) take care of his guys who were the PLs. The fact that the PLs and APLs felt more in charge and valued than in the past is all the evidence I need to know that my son did his job as SPL. As I said in response to Tahawk, we had an amazing level of Patrol Level leadership for a Troop that has is very much a troop method Troop and was at a camp that is strongly focused on troops. We had boy-led, servant leadership and some level of patrol method. To misquote Meatloaf, "Two and a half out of three aint bad."

Why do you think I've asked that question so many times? Although I may get in trouble if I keep asking because my son is intent on being a counsellor there next summer.

Each of the PLs at camp had not served as PLs before. Only my son (the SPL) and one of the PLs were APLs last year at camp and during the year and had undergone our troop's leadership training. Neither of the other two PLs had any experience or training. Simply put, to enable the PLs to lead under those circumstances, the SPL had to almost serve as their "guide." Could the PLs have done more? I'm sure they could have. However, their role was 1000 times greater than it was in the past. I find that to be an accomplishment worth celebrating. The strength of the patrols in our Troop is an issue that we need to work on. We have historically been a Troop Method troop in the outdoors. We have made some progress in the patrol method but still have a long way to go. I'm currently reading GBB's Patrol Leader's Guide and a book called Working the Patrol Method. There are some structural changes that need to be made... but that is another post.

The structure of the camp makes the SPL the "coordinator in chief." In the past the SPL did EVERYTHING leaving the patrol leaders feeling like figureheads. This year, the SPL worked to push down responsibility to the PLs (as well as the ASPL and APLs). The SPL didn't "DO" a lot (with the exception of the Thursday build-it project) except attend meetings and take care of his PLs. As he said at the pre-camp PLC to the PLs - "You guys are in charge, my job is to help you succeed." Some of the SPL duties (with parentheticals of how the PLs were involved this summer): Setting tone and preparing ASPLs, PLs and APLs at PLC meeting prior to camp. Coordinating unloading of Troop gear and boys moving into tents (asking PLs and ASPLs to take specific roles) Leading Troop on camp tour, dining hall table assignments and swim test Lining up the Troop whenever we leave camp (PLs were responsible for lining up their patrols and making sure guys were in uniform if appropriate. APLs were responsible for taking attendence. Duty was delegated to ASPL if SPL was unavailable). Helping PLs by providing materials to make patrol flags at camp Coordinating with Patrol Leaders to do daily responsibility charts for their patrols to make sure that campsite wide jobs are assigned. Serving as a waiter every day at lunch (with PLs and ASPLs to show that they were working as hard as everyone else) Doing morning and evening flag ceremonies at campsite (each Patrol was assigned to handle the flags at one ceremony) Lead the Troop to Campwide Morning and Evening Flags (relatively ease after line-up because each patrol was led by its PL) Attending Daily SPL meetings with Camp Staff (and then relaying the information to the PLs through a PLC meeting or one-on-one) Making sure camp is ready for inspection in the morning (APLs were charged with guiding their patrol members on what needed to be done and ASPLs did one final inspection during line-up) Making sure that waiters report on time (PLs were responsible for knowing who their two waiters were and making sure they were ready) Attending to issue related to playing music in the morning with neighboring Troop's SM Deciding on Troop activities on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (done at PLC with PLs) Being cheerleader in chief by telling ASPLs, PLs, APLs and others what they are doing well. Taking new scouts to First Year Campfire on Monday while ASPL led PLs to participate in Older Scout Competition Coordinating Troop boating activity on Tuesday night Leading Patrol Leaders in deciding roster for Troop Games on Tuesday night at ad-hoc PLC meeting Acting as a liason between Adults and PLs and PLs and Adults (i.e. keeping everyone informed of how everyone was doing) Coordinating participation in Troop Games on Wednesday (games were not done by Patrol but by Troop) Coordinating service projects on Wednesday (for the first time they were done by PLs and SPL and ASPLs joined patrols under PLs leadership) Coordinating Wednesday Troop activitiy (ultimate frisbee game against staff) Checking on how PLs were doing and asking them how the guys in their patrols were doing. Backing up PLs on any issues with their patrols. Addressing any issues that arose during the week with PLs, APLs, scouts and activities Coordinating building of Troop Build-It Project for Thursday (OK, didn't do the best job coordinating but stepped up to get it done) Making sure PLs knew what they were doing for Patrol Games on Thursday night Coordinating Troop Campfire on Thursday night (advance planning to get snacks, soda and music, having one PL build fire, another make popcorn and another make dump cakes) Attending waiter auction where Troops buy staff waiters for Friday night (asked PLs who their patrols wanted him to get). Coordinating making of Troop plaque for Dining Hall Coordinating move-out and clean-up of camp. Add that to the regular camp schedule (line-up at 7:50, Breakfast and then MB classes till lunch, a break and then MB classes until 5:00, line up at 5:50 for dinner and then a campwide campfire every night except Tuesday (activity) and Thursday (Troop campfire). The guys are usually pretty busy without being in a leadership position.

If that is the case, it seems like the SM is using that for justification for disposing of a scout who wanted to lead and is doubling down on adult-led. Sad. And that there won't be elections because we all saw what happened the last times the boys were allowed to choose a leader -- they chose one that the SM couldn't control.

I'm with most of the guys here. A new unit would not be started unless there was a need. That need might come from the fact that the current units are not delivering the program to the boys the way it is supposed to be delivered. It might come from the fact that the current unit is too big (that is how our unit started 50 years ago splitting another Troop to make if more manageable). It might come from an IH's desire to have a Troop and a Pack based on their positive experience with scouting. As for recruiting, we have up to five Packs that feed into our Troop. There are three packs that have the same CO and numbers as Troops in the area. One of those is the Pack that has the same CO as our Troop. When I was CM of the pack, we had boys go to three different troops and encouraged the boys to visit a variety of troops. We've had guys from the other "affiliated" packs come to our troop too. This year, the Webelos II Den leader in one of those packs was estatic that one of his boys who wasn't too keen on continuing in scouting decided to join our troop. We've actually been happy that a bunch of boys from our affiliated pack joined the troop down the street (the one we broke off from 50 years ago) because it was struggling with members almost dropping below 10 scouts (we are around 50 currently). Two of the packs don't have Troops associated with them and we pick up a couple scouts from them every year or so. We find that the most important factor is scouts that have older brothers, friends of scouts that have older brothers, scouts who's parents have friends who sons are in the troop and then affiliation between the Pack and the Troop (in that order). Each of the area Troops has a different feel to it. We are known as being large, boy-led and chaotic (no surprise there) and recently have gotten a reputation for having a strong outdoor program. We also have a rag tag, sort of F Troop feel to the boys. As one parent put it, we have a great bunch of goofballs. The Troop down the street was smaller and somewhat boy-led (we think that it is becoming more boy-led due to a new SM. The Troop to the west is midsized and much more adult lead and much better organized. The Troop to the north is smaller and does a lot of camping and activities. We really aren't in competition, rather we all are promoting Scouting and we are happy when a boy continues in Scouting regardless of which Troop they are in.

I'm with you. When the SM forgets what servant leadership is (i.e. helping the boys run a program as designed) and puts his own ego and interests above the interests of the program and the CO (which presumable signed on to have a successful program that builds boys up with integrity rather than tears them down with control issues) the SM must go. As adults, we have to always remind ourselves that it is about providng the program for the boys and not about our own egos.

What really surprised me is how contagious servant leadership and boy-leadership can be. In talking to my son, we both realized that there was a lot of factors that all converged to make this happen. A big part is that the boys who were in charge had been being primed for this role for three years. The idea of boy-led was ingrained in them and they saw some leaders (both adult and youth) do the opposite of servant leadership (authoritarian or "do as I tell you to" leadership). So the groundwork was there and a bunch of other things (me being there to keep the other leaders in check, my son being SPL right after NYLT, the other leaders being eager to lead, having the other adults at camp buying into boy-led and even the Camp SM being out of camp for a couple of days) were the cataylist. The next challenge is to build on this at our leader training campout in September. I could see how the SPL is fully occupied. My son had no free time even with two free periods until Friday (and he used that time to finish up work on two merit badges). Although it would be nice to have a separate campsite for the adults, that really hasn't been a problem. Three of the adults that are there all week have tents that are together at the front of the camp (they are a little bigger than the scout tents) and the other adults tend to tent on the fringes of the scout tents. I'm now jotting down my notes and thoughts on how we can build on this for next year.

We do the same camp every year. I"ve talked to a lot of parents and a lot of boys about the posibility of changing and the unanimous answer is they want to do the same camp. We don't have a formal decision but there is absolutely no inclination to change camps. I have to agree with all of them, the camp we go to is pretty good and I think it would be hard to find another camp that has a full turkey dinner served on Friday night with the waiters being staff dressed up in costumes.

The mantra I repeat to the new guys every year is "Scouting is about leadership. Leadership is about responsibility. The first step in learning responsibility is being responsible for yourself." Maybe as a congratulations for a good week at camp, you can get him a book on knots and some paracord to practice on. Ask him to show you how to use a knife safely to cut it into lengths that he can practice knots with and ask him to show you how to fuse the ends of the paracord so they don't unravel (otherwise you would have a frayed knot... get it "afraid not"?) . He should have learned those skills at camp. I've found that learning knots (and lashings) are great for kids like your nephew because it is something they enjoy learning and because at some point someone will ask "does anyone know how to tie a bowline knot?" and he will feel empowered. You could even ask him to teach you the knots he learns using the EDGE (explain, demonstrate, guide, enable) method. Notice that everything I'm recommending is turning the tables -- he is showing and teaching you what he learned by himself. How empowering is that?

The answer is communication. Talk to new SM and ask what his expectations would be and then listen to the answer. Essentially ask what do you think is the best way for me to become part of the Troop and advance to Eagle as a member of the troop? Most scouters love to be given a chance to express their opinions.

Yes, we can get to know the boy pretty quickly but I think that having the boy willing to spend 6 months with a new Troop before asking for an Eagle SMC dispells any concerns about his intentions. It conveys that he is in Scouting for the right reasons and not just in a rush to get his Eagle. It conveys that he is mature and can wait to earn that rank rather than being focused on rocketing to Eagle to get it off his checklist. It also gives him time to develop an attachment to the Troop rather than just being perceived as using the Troop to get Eagle. My sense would be different if he was 17 and 10 months, but he just turned 15. He has time. I can also see how that will help him at his Eagle BOR. "When I joined the troop, I wanted to spend six months with the Troop to get to know the guys before I asked for an Eagle SMC. I felt it was important to truly be part of the Troop before I became one of the Eagles from the Troop. I wanted to show everyone in the Troop that I truly deserved to be an Eagle and wanted to demonstrate my appreciation for the Troop accepting me by being "helpful" for that six months."

I got back from a week at camp with our troop last week and it was, in a word, transformative. So, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of your favorite beverage and settle in for a long read. TROOP PROLOGUE Before my son and I joined, the Troop talked the talk on boy-led but it wasn’t very much boy-led in the outdoors. The outdoor program consisted of one nearby campout, two backpacking trips and one cabin camping trip. The adults designed and implemented the program with the boys leading by performing the tasks that they were assigned. I came in at the same time as the new scoutmaster. Together, we reinvigorated the outdoor program - having 9 to 10 trips per year plus summer camp and moved toward being more boy-led in the outdoors. There was still something missing at times in the boy leadership. When the elected senior leadership was on campout, there seemed to be an “order people around†type of leadership. The adults learned to back off and give the scouts space to lead. However, summer camp was different. The person who served as Scoutmaster at camp would quickly fill any vacuum left by boy leadership. His intentions were good and very understandable when you are in charge of 25 to 30 boys in the woods (some for the first time). MY SON’S PROLOGUE So my son is very active - attending every meeting and every outing racking up more nights camping and more miles hiking / backpacking over the past three years than any other member of the troop. He earned Star in two years (sooner than any other scout in recent history - although another scout equaled his timing last year). He served as an Assistant Patrol Leader (as well as a Den Chief) last year, but the Patrol Leader was ineffective and he became the de-facto patrol leader. Now, we have patrols for our weekly meetings and ad hoc patrols for our outings. The patrols for the weekly meetings are focused on planning an activity for the troop portion of the meeting (each patrol take one week a month). On outings, my son was the PL for his ad hoc patrol based on his rank and experience. He struggled a lot with leading last year — at age 13 he was just learning to take care of himself and he found himself charged with taking care of others. He also clashed a bit with the older elected leaders - he became frustrated because they weren’t leading the way that I was trying to teach him to lead. Their leadership consisted of ordering people what to do while my son was being taught servant leadership. He made Life Scout in the spring as he finished up 8th grade. When elections for patrol leaders came up, there were five boys running for four spots (we elect patrol leaders as a Troop… I know…). He was the only one not elected out of the five. He was devastated. When he recovered, he asked to be the Troop Guide (I had another post on that) and the OA Rep. He asked NOT to have to go to NYLT. His comment was “why should I bother, I tried to change the Troop but they don’t want to change.†He was one of the two most senior scouts - one of which would be tapped to be the SPL at summer camp (the elected SPL was not going). The other scout got the most votes in the Patrol Leader elections (only by a couple of votes). My son was the highest ranking and had the most experience leading in the outdoors. I told him that I could tell the SM that the other boy should be the SPL so that my son wouldn’t be set up for failure by trying to lead other boys that had been elected to a position over him. He said he still wanted the chance to lead, so I told the SM that I didn’t want to be involved in the decision. My son did go to NYLT with a buddy and came back truly energized and excited. The staff and the other guys in his patrol recognized that he had “it†— with one staff member telling him he had the most potential of any leader that had come through the program. For the end of the week, his patrol elected him Patrol Leader. On the way home, I asked him and his buddy what one thing they would change in the Troop based on their NYLT experience. They both instantly yelled “SERVANT LEADERSHIP.†While at NYLT, the SM decided that my son would be SPL for camp. It made sense because the elected patrol leaders would be serving in that capacity. I hoped for the best but prepared myself for a train wreck. I rearranged my schedule so I would be at camp the entire week to cover us being short a leader for the second half of the week, recognizing that would give me a chance to coach him and to run interference with the other adult leaders. PROPER PLANNING… Even before my son was selected as SPL, I had been advocating having a PLC meeting of the camp leadership before we left for camp. Typically, the guys were expected to show up and just figure it out. Going off his enthusiasm from NYLT, my son and I worked together to come up with an agenda for the meeting. He started the meeting by setting out his vision: boy-led, patrol and servant leadership. My son made it clear that his job was to help the patrol leaders succeed. About half way through his presentation, the Camp SM interrupted and started talking about his agenda. After about 10 minutes, I managed to transition the conversation back to my son’s agenda. Over the next couple of days, my son sent a couple of e-mails out to the leadership team and to the scouts attending camp and their parents. I’ll admit, I did help him to develop the e-mails (what do you want to say? do you want to mention this? how do you want to say this?). He and the QM came up with a list of gear to pack for camp. He ordered bandanas and patrol flags for his leaders. He planned a junk food night for the Thursday Troop campfire and he even planned to have 1980’s music blaring to wake everyone up. My son also urged everyone to adopt one of the phrases he learned at NYLT - “Early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable.†THE WEEK AT CAMP My son backpacked into camp with a group of scouts. That gave him some time to talk to me and his regular SM about being SPL. Unfortunately, he twisted his ankle on the road leading into camp (did 20 miles over rocks and trails but twisted his ankle on a gravel road in the last half mile). He was limping for most of the first two days. When the others arrived at camp he faced his first challenge. One of the new scouts did not have a tent buddy. It took my son a moment to ask his buddy (who was one of the ASPLs) to move tents so the new guy could tent with him. In an instant, the new guy went from feeling like the last kid picked on the team to sharing a tent with the SPL. As the new kid’s parents went to set up the boy’s bug net frame, my son turned to them and said, “I’ll show him how to do it himself when we get back to camp later.†The second challenge was the chore charts. My son had already decided that the two ASPLs and three APLs would handle being waiters the first night so the SPL and PLs could be there to make sure everyone lined up in uniform for flags. In the past, there had been contention because the leaders exempted themselves from being waiters. That was quickly solved when the SPL, ASPLs and PLs decided they would serve as waiters for all the lunches. When the chore charts were posted, a younger scout pointed out that the leaders were not listed as waiters. One of the PLs heard that and responded, “we know when we are waitering - we’re doing all of the lunches.†The younger scout simply responded “cool,†but you could tell he was impressed with the leaders doing more than they were asking others to do. The first in camp PLC meeting was shared between the SPL and Camp SM. For line-up the first night, everyone was on-time and in uniform. The Camp SM did have some comments to the boys based on some tasks not being done (water jugs filled, lanterns set up, etc.) and encouraged the younger scouts to step-up. The rest of the evening went off without a hitch and you could see that everyone pitched in when they got back to camp after dinner. We had another PLC meeting on Sunday night with the Camp SM going over expectations for the week. In the past, those expectations had been conveyed to the Troop as a whole by the Camp SM. This year, they were conveyed to the PLC and the PLs conveyed the information down to the rest of the guys in their patrols. On Monday morning we played music (two songs) to wake everyone up (we’re the furthest campsite out so hearing reveille is hard). The morning was chaotic due to handing out merit badge cards to the scouts to bring to their classes. The APLs were responsible for making sure all tents were ready for inspection and the ASPLs did a final sweep as everyone was lined up. The APLs did their counts of guys in their patrol and reported to their PLs who reported to the SPL. As they lined up, the Camp SM complimented the guys on how well they did the night before and in the morning. As the boys came close to the the parade field, they stopped, reformed their patrol lines and took a count. The APLs then took their position as last in line for their patrols (i.e. running sweep to make sure everyone was there). The boys would be early for all of the camp flag ceremonies - a break from the past where they would be late at least twice. The Camp SM had to leave to deal with some work issues later on Monday morning and would return on Wednesday afternoon. My son set his schedule so that he would be free from 1:00 until 4:00. He had three merit badges in the morning and one from 4:00 to 5:00. The first afternoon, we spent a chunk of time from 2:00 until 4:00 going over the schedule for the week and the division of labor among “The Six†(SPL, 2 ASPLs and 3 PLs). There were a lot of activities and projects that needed to be completed during the week and my son realized that he couldn’t do it all. We also had a complaint from the Troop next door about the music in the morning. My son went over and talked to the ASM of that Troop. My son looked for a compromise - can we play it at lower volume? The ASM said he preferred we don’t play it at all. My son replied that we wouldn’t play it because “a scout is courteous.†He was disappointed but learned a lesson about what courtesy means - doing something you don’t have to do for someone else’s comfort. On Monday night, my son took the new scouts to the First Year campfire with one of his ASPLs (his buddy who was new to the Troop and was his first time at camp) and had the other ASPL take the remainder of the Troop to the “Second Year (and up) Games†which is typically some sort of scavenger hunt. From what I heard, the Troop appeared completely disorganized but they somehow managed to win the contest. The ASPL and PLs had a sense of ownership of the activity and stepped up. A scout had asked me what they should wear to the games and I told him to ask a boy. The ASPL told him to wear his troop Class B t-shirt. Those are usually saved for the Camp-wide games on Thursday, but I resisted the urge to overrule the ASPL repeating to myself that “nobody ever died from wearing a shirt twice.†Tuesday morning went like clockwork. I only said four words, “Do we have everyone?†I didn’t police the campsite like the leaders usually do, I just trusted the boys. My trust was not misplaced. I started to notice the ASPLs working in concert with the SPL - each supporting the other. I saw the PLs and APLs working in tandem. I saw some guys who weren’t named leaders stepping up guiding younger scouts. It seems that servant leadership is contagious. I was concerned because most of our leaders (SPL, ASPL, PLs) had just finished 8th grade (one of the ASPLs had just finished 9th). It seemed that those guys did better because they wanted to lead. In the past, the older boys thought that being a leader interfered with their having fun and that they were “too cool†to be excited about leading. On Tuesday night, the boy leaders were supposed to talk about he build it project between dinner and our Troop boating event. They did and three guys volunteered to work on the project. They were supposed to set up the roster and brief their patrol members for participation in the Camp Wide Games. I suggested that they do it right when they get back from boating. A couple of guys wanted to take a shower, a couple of guys had things they had to do and a couple of guys needed to rest. I reminded my son that they needed to have the meeting because there wouldn’t be time to do it in the morning. That was around 8:00. Around 9:30 nothing had happened. I was ready to let them fail. I got distracted helping a couple of the guys with their e-prep requirements (they were putting together an emergency kit from the items I had in camp). I came out to check on the leaders to see if they had even started yet, and was told that they had finished and were about to call everyone in and explain to them what they were doing. Another note to myself - although they don’t do it the way I would do it, they still manage to get it done. There was a couple of guys who didn’t like what they were being asked to do — luckily, those two guys happily switched roles. Wednesday morning went like clockwork. We actually were the first troop to flags. There was some joking that we were turning into one of “those†troops rather than our typical rag tag bunch of misfits. I assured them they still had a long way to go. Somehow, they ended up dominating the Wednesday games, placing in all but two events. Their cheers were louder than I remember it. They became the troop to beat despite being one of the youngest groups (our 13 and 14 yar olds beat other troops 16 and 17 year olds) and despite having every scout participate. They sealed their victory with a well run rope and sled race and several well played games of tic tac toe. It seems that they really thought about who would be the best for each game and then had the older guys teach the younger guys any skills they needed. This is the first time the troop had won the camp games in everyone’s memory (which goes back more than 10 years). The guys split up into patrols to do service projects with the PLs leading (the SPL and ASPLs added themselves to patrols and did what the PLs asked). The Camp SM came back in the afternoon, saw how things were running and stepped back. I did have to intervene when a group of younger scouts were not ignoring their PL despite repeated attempts by the PL to encourage them to help. I simply explained to them that boy-led means they have follow other boys for the good of the patrol / troop and that the alternative was adult-led which sounds a lot like me yelling at them. It was enough to get their attention and I noticed that they put in extra effort the rest of the week. Wednesday night saw the boy leaders working with younger boys on MB requirements. Our campsite commissioner had a talk with my son about him wanting to to be a counselor next year. The commissioner mentioned the conversation to me and said that there were boys who wanted to be a counselor because they liked the idea of being a counselor and boys who wanted to be a counselor because they loved being a boy scout. He then said, “Your son is one of the ones who loves being a boy scout.†The commissioner told me he put a good word in for my son for next year. One of the older scouts who had been disengaged in prior years told me that he was having a great time this year because “people are actually listening to me and I actually matter.†He explained that in the past, everyone was expected to do as they were told by the leadership rather than really asked to lead. I heard stories of the PLs taking care of their guys who were homesick or struggling with MB. When a scout became upset, one of the boy leaders was there to comfort them. When a scout decided it was their turn to be a brat, one of the boy leaders was there to get them back on the path. There wasn’t the expected “ordering around†of scouts to behave but there was advice given out of caring for the welfare of the scouts and others. On Thursday, things seems to be running well until I got back from the First Year hike. The build-it project remained unfinished. Actually, it had been started but what was done was not according to the plan that I thought the boys had agreed upon. I found out that one of the boys who wasn’t supposed to be working on it, started part of it and an adult did the rest. I tracked down SPL and asked what happened. He thought it was under control. To his credit, he said, “it doesn’t matter what anyone else did, I’m ultimately in charge and it is my responsibility.†He went back to camp, took apart what had been done (incorrectly) and began working on the project. He had one of his ASPLs go down to take his place in setting up for the patrol carnival and asked the other ASPL to handle rounding up the troop and doing flags. He was ready to miss dinner in order to get the project completed. He pretty much single handedly built the project in an hour and a half. I helped by holding wood that he sawed and by drilling two holes with a power drill. He made it down in time to grab some dinner and well in time for the competition. The project ended up finishing third in the competition - again, the best in recent memory. It was a great lesson is leadership for my son in both what went wrong and what he did as a leader to fix it. Thursday night was the troop campfire. One PL built the fire before dinner. As it go dark, they started the campfire. It started slow but became huge. One of the scouts organized a campfire as part of his communications merit badge. Everyone sat around the fire to watch as opposed to their typical going off and hanging out in groups of two and three. After the campfire program, there was music playing and food. One PL cut up watermelon. SPL broke out the chips, pretzels, Doritos and soda. One PL started making Jiffy Pop and another PL made two dump cakes in dutch ovens. Around 10 staff members stopped by camp — apparently the SPL and PLs had been inviting staff to stop by. By Friday, the leadership was able to coast. For SPL son, he had to play catch-up to finish a couple of merit badges. He knew a couple of other guys needed requirements, so he pulled them along with him across the finish line. Son spent much of his free time hanging out with the counselors. After the closing campfire, the SPL got overwhelmed by one of the stories that an adult told about leadership (using his first campout where an older scout invited him to share his tent as an example). All the pressure, stress, exhaustion, emotions and sense of accomplishment hit at once. We took a walk under the clear night sky and for the first time that week, he just became my 13 year-old son. When I woke him up Saturday morning, he was exhausted and had the start of a cold. I told him that sometimes, leadership means digging deep inside yourself and finding the strength to go on when you think you have nothing else inside. I told him that he needed to be energetic and engaged so that his boys would take a cue from him. After breakfast, the troop returned to the campsite to take our flag down one last time. Typically, the Camp SM and I would say something to the boys or the parents, but we both decided that boy-led meant that a boy should do the wrap up. So before taking down the flag, SPL did a quick recap of all the boys had accomplished during the week, ending his talk by saying, “You guys were awesome this week.†REFLECTION ON LEADERSHIP Last week was the most boy-led I’ve seen our Troop at camp. I heard the same sentiment from the other adults at camp and from many of the boys. In past years, the boy leaders ended the week feeling frustrated and aggravated because they felt that they were being bossed around by adults all week. This year, the boys left feeling exhausted but with a sense of accomplishment. On Saturday, I realized that the key is not a singular boy in boy-led but that it takes all the boys leading. My son realized that without his ASPLs and PLs, he would have failed. In talking on the way home, my son said that leadership is hard. He felt that the leaders in the past saw leadership as a privilege — the ability to make the rules, order people around and to do less than others. He told me that being a leader really means you have to do twice as much as everyone else. I know that we weren’t completely and entirely boy-led. I spent a lot of time working with my son to prepare him for his role as SPL before camp and a good amount of time working with him at camp. He would get up early in the morning and we would go over what to expect for the day. In the beginning of the week, it was me telling him. By the end of the week, it was him telling me. We talked about objectives and discussed what he and others had to do to accomplish those objectives - or using the terms we used - “what do you guys have to do and how are you going to get it done.†I did provide him with reminders at times. I also coached the ASPLs and PLs through a lot of quiet talks as we walked to and from activities. I joked with the other leaders that I was the “scout whisperer.†I think that boy-led is a continuum depending in part on the complexity of the task at hand, the experience of the leaders and the size of the group being led. For a patrol of 8 guys my son’s age going on a campout, there is nothing I really need to do or say. The boys have done it at least a dozen times before and know what needs to be done. For a week at camp that is jammed packed with activities that need to be coordinated, a troop of 25 boys and youth leaders that have just finished 8th grade it seemed that my being involved in the up front planning and the daily discussions of what needs to be done and how to do it was a good level of being boy-led. Even over the course of the week, I noticed my discussions went from telling “you need to do this†to asking “what do you need to do?†Finally, the most important part is that the adults have to make a conscious decision not to undermine scout leadership. The first three days, I must have told younger scouts to “go ask one of the boy leaders†at least 50 times. It is better to talk to the SPL and PLs privately, than to overshadow them and talk to the troop directly. It is better to let the scouts run things the best they can and have them ask if the adults have anything to add, than the other way around. Scouts can sense when they are really being permitted to lead. To quote my son, “You guys WERE awesome this week.â€

If he does have to join a new troop, my advice would be for him to be active in the Troop for six months before asking for an Eagle SMC. That will give the SM a chance to get to know the boy and will help alleviate any concerns about Troop hopping. Having the SM be able to vouch for the boy at an EBOR makes a big difference. Your son has time. If he goes to a new Troop encourage him to act like an Eagle remembering that Eagle is not just another rank but something that becomes part of who you are.

My son had additional categories like "necessary based on a choice to have something that is a want." This included things like dog food which was necessary once we decided we wanted a dog. Another catagory was "desirable method to satisify a need." That included things like eating out. He also had "necessary to fulfill a necessity." That included my train ticket to get to work (I have to get to work to work and I need to work to afford necessities). As others have said, the thinking process is what matters.

I'd love to have the translation, that would be something neat for the boys in the lodge.

Do the "Troop Mobilization" as part of an event like a charity run. Although the know the it is a drill, the boys can contact each other that morning though a call or text, meet at a central location and then move out to set up canopies and pass out water and snacks.