How Do You Guide Scouts in Choosing Patrols?

[qwazse]

@swilliams, you’re in for a wild ride.

Since you mentioned cross-country, look up your local orienteering club and see if your troop can find time to attend their events. Lots of American youth have the discipline for running or for navigation, but few have both. You might be the person to change that.

[swilliams]

3 hours ago, qwazse said:

@swilliams, you’re in for a wild ride.

Since you mentioned cross-country, look up your local orienteering club and see if your troop can find time to attend their events. Lots of American youth have the discipline for running or for navigation, but few have both. You might be the person to change that.

I don't remember who it was, but I sent an orienteering map I made to someone on this site.  Always wanted to try it "for real".  We do an orienteering event that I create every March, before the woods get too overgrown.  This past March, one group got lost.  They happily blamed my map-making skills, haha.

[swilliams]

So... last night was a mess, lol.  Unbeknownst to me, Confirmation classes are in full swing, and they happen every-other Tuesday night - same time as our Troop meetings.  This resulted in about a dozen of our scouts being absent - roughly a quarter of our troop.  On top of that, we had a visiting scout checking out the Troop - not the best activity for him!  

Followed by three scouts surprising me with, "I need a SM conference."  Then the mom of the SPL asking me to 'pick Patrol Leaders based on who was there last night' so we don't have to postpone the training date because it will be inconvenient for her son.  This is going to be an interesting year.  😂

[DuctTape]

Expect chaos and embrace it. You are in the storming phase for the troop under your guidance. You will be great.

[InquisitiveScouter]

6 hours ago, swilliams said:

Then the mom of the SPL asking me to 'pick Patrol Leaders based on who was there last night' so we don't have to postpone the training date because it will be inconvenient for her son

This is deeply troubling, and indicative of a snowplow parent who does not understand Scouting.

Good luck with the parent's education 😜 

[swilliams]

23 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

This is deeply troubling, and indicative of a snowplow parent who does not understand Scouting.

Good luck with the parent's education 😜 

She got a firm, but polite, "If Patrols are going to work, we need to let the scouts pick their own leaders.  When Patrols work, we'll retain more scouts, they'll advance faster, they'll be happier, and your son's job will be easier."  She's still speaking to me, so I hope that went okay.  

 

39 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

Expect chaos and embrace it. You are in the storming phase for the troop under your guidance. You will be great.

LIttle did I know how appropriate that term is, haha.

For those who may find it useful, the pairing up of two scouts (or in one case a group of three), then having those pairs find another group was the SPL's second way to get them to group when the statement "form groups 5-8 or 6-8 scouts didn't work for one group (who kept forming into a group of almost 14 scouts).  

[curious_scouter]

On 1/8/2025 at 10:45 AM, swilliams said:

So... last night was a mess, lol.  Unbeknownst to me, Confirmation classes are in full swing, and they happen every-other Tuesday night - same time as our Troop meetings.  This resulted in about a dozen of our scouts being absent - roughly a quarter of our troop.  On top of that, we had a visiting scout checking out the Troop - not the best activity for him!  

Followed by three scouts surprising me with, "I need a SM conference."  Then the mom of the SPL asking me to 'pick Patrol Leaders based on who was there last night' so we don't have to postpone the training date because it will be inconvenient for her son.  This is going to be an interesting year.  😂

Sounds like a regular meeting night to me

You will have a LOT of people telling you how to do the job.  Some will tell you how terrible you are at it.  Some will say that to you, others will just gossip about it.  But ... you're in this role because you stepped up, or were suggested and importantly out of all options - you Chartered Org Rep approved you.

I carry an index card with me and as scouts ask for time I scribble it down and try to set expectations "Hey bud, you're 5th in line and I have a few things to do before I can sit down for conferences.  It might be after the close of the meeting - can you stay?  If not, we'll get it next week for sure."  You're new in the role so you will tend to want to do more, probably, to learn and hone your skill.  You can definitely delegate.  Use those older scouts if it's to get something signed off.  If you know the Scout well, it's often better to delegate the SM Conf to an ASM.  I like to "hoarde" conferences for Scouts I don't know well or see as much as a tool to get to know them better and have that touch but also - never stand in the way of advancement progress.  Better to delegate out a conference than hold up a scout for 3-4 weeks.  And when things get REAL NUTS (sounds like you have a larger troop) you can do things outside of meetings, minding YPT.  I've done a LOT of conferences at Starbucks on a non-meeting night.  I've done a LOT at campouts and in fact have a habit now on Friday night saying "If anyone needs a conference or is really close - see me tomorrow after lunch" or whatever.  Remember too, SM Conferences do not have to be last.  If they are 1-2 simple requirements away from "being done and needing one" - just do it now if it's convenient.  Save the pressure that comes from leaving it last.  Many thing it has to be the last thing.  It's not a bad idea to encourage that and use the SM conf as a chance to make sure all looks square just before a board of review but you can do a SM conference ANY time for a rank.  And I always sign off the requirement the moment I sit down to do it with the Scout.  The requirement does not say "pass" a conference - it says "have" a conference.  So I just check the book, sign off the conf, then focus on them for the duration.  Takes the stress and anticipation of getting that initial out of the equation too and lets them engage better as well.

 

[InquisitiveScouter]

32 minutes ago, curious_scouter said:

You will have a LOT of people telling you how to do the job.  Some will tell you how terrible you are at it. 

For those folks, I listen, and then hand them this official Troop complaint form...

https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-501.pdf

[swilliams]

We're mostly set, with the exception of two scouts who haven't been to a meeting yet since the start of the year.

We did ILST yesterday now that we have our Patrols and PORs.  I think that it went pretty well, but after nearly 4 hours (45 minutes for lunch in the middle) we didn't hold a review at the end.  The scouts actually enjoyed the games, though the 'trust fall' one became 'shove the scout in the center' instead of 'redirect the scout in the center'.  I thought we'd be able to shorten the time a bit, but found that we couldn't get through everything in the hour allotted to each module.  I made sure we had time to watch the videos on the various aspects of the Troop meeting, because there are two parts our Troop doesn't do that I think will help us.  The videos were a little - can't think of the word I want - but anyway, the last one was of the PLC doing a review of how the meeting went and one scout said, "That (a game they had tried) devolved into chaos, as usual."  I saw a couple of our scouts nodding or chuckling.  It's good for them to see that imperfection is so normal and that this is somewhat typical.  

The best part was observing how the scouts handled aspects of the training.  I did a fair amount of camping with the Troop when we first joined, then less as time went on.  I forgot how rewarding it can be seeing them figure things out, make jokes, step in to help each other... and yes, even be obnoxious, lol.