Changing attitudes

[madkins007]

I think the 'they're too busy' thinking is a basic schism in the Scouts, and is often the result of the adults THINKING they know the Scouts and being wrong... mixed up with just a touch of laziness (it is often easier to just have MB classes and football games than to run a real Scout program).

 

Once they get the hang of things, kids LIKE to plan and cook meals and do other basic Scouting things. Once everyone is on the same page, Scouts get more out of their MBs when they are not basically handed to them for attending the right number of classes.

 

So, how do you get out of this rut? In all honestly- you may not be able to, not by yourself. It will take a fairly united effort by most of the adult and youth leadership.

 

I think I'd pitch it about now- in the early summer (after summer camp and high adventure is planned well but before the annual program planning). Pitch what Scouting CAN be to the group of adult and youth leaders that will be in charge next year. Challenge them to stir up things and see what will happen.

 

Also read Mark Ray's "The Scoutmasters Other Handbook" for other ideas. He has a lot of good stuff in there.

[meredelaire]

Our problem is partly due to the community's emphasis on sports, partly due to adult leader burn-out, and partly due to our small group out in the middle of the county where the boys are already outside a lot. I can tell that some want to be challenged and some are there just because someone dropped them off.

 

I would like to see us grow into having two partrols. I already drive from the other end of another county to take my grandson to meetings and outings. I run the troop and pack web site to let everyone know about upcoming events, including district and council opportunities. I don't know what more I can do.

 

How far can the committee go to effect change (assuming the committee meets)? What do we do if we (I) step on toes and people we seldom see totally disappear? My experience is mostly with cub scouts. The other adults have a huge base of Boy Scout experience and have produced many Eagles in the past. I don't want to lose these valuable resources; I just want them to do something.

 

I am the only one in the troop and pack who attends roundtables. I have talked with a few leaders who are willing to help us. If I can't get the SM and CM to to invite outside help, how far can I go on my own?

[Hunt]

I do think that a lot of boys really ARE very busy with other activities, much more so that they were when I was a boy. I think what's changed is not so much the number of activities, but the time commitment expected for each activity. In my son's troop, there are several serious musicians. That means they not only play in the school band, but in at least one county youth orchestra, plus ensemble festivals, auditions, competitions, etc. The school band has afterschool sectionals. And kids who play a sport don't just play it one season with one practice a week--they play it year 'round, with multiple practices, multiple games on the weekend, tournaments, etc. My daughter is on a travel soccer team, and there is absolutely no way she could do that and participate actively in something like a Scout troop.

There were always a few kids with schedules like this, but now, at least where I live, there seem to be a lot of them. Plus, there is WAY more homework than when I was this age. We often have kids missing meetings because of homework, and I don't think it's necessarily because they put off doing it.

I think the only way to compete with this is to have a good program, and to try to find the kids for whom Scouting will be their main activity...the kid who'll say, "I can't be on a travel soccer team, because I'd never be able to go on campouts any more."

[hacimsaalk12]

i would sit all the boys down. tell them that there is a problem that needs fixed. tell them waht you have been seeing, and what needs to change. let them know that you will help them out, SOME, but not all the time. then tell them that if they dont start taking more time to do things, to make it a boy run troop, that you will just stop planning it for them. after one or two dropped campouts, because the boys are too busy, they will start finding time.

 

in our troop, the whole troop is boy run, except for the "adult" aspects of it (money, reservations, ect.) it took a long time to work up to this. i can remember the adults doing lost of stuff for us. the boys finally got tired of not having some thing the way they wanted (like the food, campout location, etc.). so we started taking over. now, if someone steps out of line, the SPL takes care of it, the scout doesnt just get shown to the SM's tent. until last year the positions like troop guide, historian, quartermaster,and all those didnt exsist.