I've been robbed, ROBBED, I Tell You. LOL

[Eagle92]

So my oldest son robbed me, yes they ROBBED me of something I was only able to tell him for the past 5 months: "Go ask your patrol leader." Yes, his patrol elected him PL this past week, and I no longer can tell him to "Go ask his PL" anymore. It's been a sad, sad... WAIT A MINUTE! I now get to tell him to "Go ask your SPL!"

 

 

" NEVERMIND."

 

 

Seriously though, he got elected PL of his NSP. Now I'm not a big fan of NSPs. My experiences with them have been negative until recently, but I've been told that they do work by friends I trust. We'll see. At camporee earlier this month, they did as well as the other patrol, and both qualified points wise for a blue ribbon.

 

But one thing I did do was lend and give him a few things to help him out. I got him a Patrol Record Book, Patrol Leader Handbook, and lent him my old Fieldbook. He's already set a goal for the patrol to earn the Baden-Powell Honor Patrol Award, devoured the PL book, and is starting on my Fieldbook. I hope he does a better job as PL than I did, but then again, I learned a heck of a lot from that expereince.

[qwazse]

Don't worry, you wouldn't have needed to tell him that for much longer anyway. After 8 months they stop asking!

 

I'm sure he'll do a fine job!

[LeCastor]

@Eagle92, that's awesome!

[NJCubScouter]

Wow, do I feel old. My YOUNGEST child graduated from college on Sunday. (Although I can assure you, I felt old before that, it was just another marker on the road.) So he would have joined his new Scout patrol... 11 years ago. Wow.

[packsaddle]

You ARE old. That's a good thing.

[Eagle92]

Well, he set a goal and got the patrol to to back him: they want the Baden Powell Honor Patrol Award.They already met one requirement; patrol gained 3 new scouts this week. 2 aged out of Cubs from the feeder pack, and one transferred from another troop. And he may get one more scout to transfer to the troop!

[Old_OX_Eagle83]

Young scout patrols are as good as you make them. A good NSP will facilitate a transition from Cub to Boy Scouts, and acclimate the new scouts to your troops customs and methods, while developing future leadership and facilitating the scouts acquiring the skills needed to advance to First Class.

 

What we've found works best is a starting structure of an ASM working with a Troop Guide (that should be at least 13). The Guide ideally is someone who has leadership potential, and for whatever reason never receives appointments from the SPL. The Guide and ASM of young scouts should start a few months ahead of time, and partner with the SPL and SM to build a structured one year program, with specific meeting, and event plans, including patrol only events. Within 90 days after crossover the ASM should step back and act as Adviser to the Guide, only interacting with the Guide, who takes on the Primary leadership role, selecting a new scout as his assistant for each of the next three months. The Guide and his assistant should work with the whole patrol to flesh out the meeting and event plans, handling their own instruction, under the guides direction (the guide should bring in fellow scouts, who are subject matter experts, when needed). When the six month mark is reached the patrol should elect a PL, with the Guide becoming adviser, and continue to run the program as before. The Guide should now only interact with the PL. APL and patrol jobs should be assigned, and used. In another three months the Guide should step out of the chain of command, allowing the new Scout Patrol Leader to deal directly with the SPL. AS the scouts reach first class, which should happen in 9-12 months, they should graduate to the venture patrols. At nine months the ASM of young scouts starts doing SMCs for lack of advancement, and the Guide mentors those who are struggling. In a year your nest should be empty, and your scouts, no longer new, fully ready for all scouting has to offer.