How we reply, and to whom?

[KitCarson]

It sounds as though many here (and the SM in question) missed a golden opportunity to enlist the mother as an ally.

 

I believe that the ideal response would have been to give the mother the information about patch placement, then ask her to HELP turn this into a learning experience for the scout by forcing him to go out and get the information from his patrol leader or other sources (and tell her about those sources). Let her know that she has the correct information so that she can ensure that he has accomplished his task correctly. Explain how this dovetails with the Scouting Program.

 

Hopefully I will remember this when I am stuck in the same situation.

[qwazse]

Now that you all have beaten this horse from three sides, I'll take a crack from my soapbox ...

 

This is all about an unfounded reliance on EDGE. The SM believes that the only way to learn is I'd someone Explains something. This means Johnny new scout needs someone to do the explaining. In an attempt to be youth led the SM appoints his PLs to be explainers - among other things. Not just explainers of how to hike and camp safely, but how to sew patches! Not patches on tents or rucksacks, or torn jeans (because heaven help us you weren't wearing your uniform that day), but pricey patches on pricey shirts of seemingly delicate space age fabric!

 

This is not the context in which you refer a loving mom to a PL, this is where you ask "was there something in the book that is unclear?" And then you offer, "maybe you and me and Johnny can look at an example together." Then you ask, "has Johnny ever tried to sew? This might be a good opportunity to show him how. It's fine if he only gets one or two patches done by next week. Because although we use a uniform method, it's just as important that he dig into that handbook and impress hid PL with some scoutcraft that interests him. After all THE BEST WAY to learn is by reading it for yourself first."

 

If you want to teach independence, teach people how to leverage their references!!!!