Do we(as Scouters) trust that other Scouters are trying to do their best?

[Bob White]

If you truly believe that trust should be freely given up front until someone proves to be untrustworthy then why teach your children to not trust strangers? Why not tell them that if someone they don't know loses their dog as asks for their help they should trust them and go along? After all that person hasn't shown themselves to be untrustorthy

 

Why not let just anyone babysit your kids?

 

Why do job interviews?

 

Why warn kids about chat rooms?

 

Why ask potential unit leaders for references, and have criminal background checks done on them?

 

If you truly believed that people should be trusted why not let scouts determine for themselves whether they have scout spirit as the handbook says?

 

You may say that you should trust people until they prove otherwise, but you don't really.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[evmori]

Trusting no one is the same as trusting everyone! Both are absolutes & absolutes are seldom correct.

 

If someone has signed up to be a Scout leader & gone to all the training they should, then why wouldn't we trust them to do the right thing and do their best until they give us a reason not to?

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Eamonn]

Bob White,

The examples you give are all valid.

But I'll bet for every example you give someone can give one on the opposite side.

We like it or not do have to place our trust in others.

I trust some people because of the position they hold. I hope that who ever appointed them has done their job in ensuring that they are the right person for the job.

When I go out for dinner I trust that the food has been prepared in a clean and sanitary kitchen and the food is not contaminated.

I trust that the guy who works on my car is doing his job and is only charging me for the work that has been done.

The list goes on and on.

Of course we try and safeguard as much as we can.

But at the end of the day we end up trusting that someone somewhere has done what they were supposed to do.

When our trust has been violated or misused we feel hurt and let down.

While I didn't buy any of the toys that were found to contain lead based paint, I did feel that the toy companies were at fault for not doing enough to ensure that the toys were safe.

Does this mean that when the time comes for me to start buying toys again, that I'm never going to buy one? No of course it doesn't, but will I check to see where it was made? You bet I will.

Ea.

[Bob White]

"If someone has signed up to be a Scout leader & gone to all the training they should, then why wouldn't we trust them to do the right thing and do their best until they give us a reason not to?"

 

Didn't you already answer your own question????

 

Because trusting everyone who signs up as a scout leaders is as incorrect as trusting no one!

 

[evmori]

"If someone has signed up to be a Scout leader & gone to all the training they should, then why wouldn't we trust them to do the right thing and do their best until they give us a reason not to?"

 

Didn't you already answer your own question????

 

No I didn't and apparently neither do you since you responded.....

 

Because trusting everyone who signs up as a scout leaders is as incorrect as trusting no one!

 

When I was a SM, I kept all those ASM's who signed up on a short leash until they attended the necessary training. I trusted them menial tasks until then. After they attended training, my level of trust in them increased because I knew who trained them & that they were trained properly. But in both instances, trust was still there.

 

Eamonn has some valid points. I ride the subway to work everyday. And everyday I put my trust in the operator to do their best to get me to my destination. And when I park my vehicle at the park n ride I trust it will be there when I return after work.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

 

[Beavah]

Why teach your children to not trust strangers?

 

Yah, maybe I'm just unAmerican, but Mrs. Beavah and I never taught our kids not to trust strangers. To me, that's just an awful thing to do to kids. Start 'em on the American "culture of fear" kick as early as possible.

 

Fact is, the folks who hurt children are almost always friends and relatives, not strangers.

 

I always taught the kids to be polite, helpful, kind, friendly to strangers. Even to help 'em "at all times." Not that there weren't lines to be drawn, eh? Yeh don't owe "obedient" or "loyal" to a stranger.

 

It always makes me sad when I hear tomfoolery like teaching kids when they need help to only ask a woman with children. What a way to start a kid on a hurtful prejudice! What a way to leave a kid without help when there are men and other women around! Fact is, you'd be hard pressed to find a man who wouldn't put his life on the line in a heartbeat to protect someone else's kid.

 

Remember the young scout out in Utah who had been thoroughly instructed in "stranger danger"? So much so that when he became lost he actively hid from all the "strangers" who were out searching for him? Almost died and certainly was traumatized as a result.

 

I reckon that's what we do to kids when we teach 'em such silliness. Nuthin' but harm.

 

Beavah

 

[Bob White]

Children hiding from rescuers did not start with the "stranger danger" program. As an 11 year old scout I was involved in a search for a missing child and we were taught then that a lost child will often not answer back out of fear, even when they hear their own name being called, and that was years prior to the stranger danger program.

 

Learning who to trust is an important lesson at any age.

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[evmori]

Great point, Beavah! Kids learn soon enough the negative side of life! Teaching them what trust is by modeling trust is very important.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10