Outings, What do the Boy Scouts want?

[Basementdweller]

One of our members seemed proud that his boys never considered camping at a ballpark for an outing.

 

 

Are we doing them a disservice by not offering all of the available options????

 

I will admit to not enjoying camping at one of the major sporting venues, it is just too noisy for a decent nights sleep. But the guys enjoy going.

 

 

So as an adult leader, do you offer fresh ideas during the troop planning conference???

 

If so, do you limit your new offerings to things you are interested in or eliminate things that are too expensive or you deem as unscout like??????

 

 

 

What do YOUR scouts want???? Do you really know???

[KC9DDI]

BD - To frame this in a different context: I believe a couple weeks ago you posted some frustrations with the youths' dietary choices while camping. So I wonder if we're doing them a disservice by not offering all of the available menu options, like Red Bull and Doritos? :-)

 

I think as Scouters we do have some leeway to guide the program towards the ideals and goals collectively formulated by the BSA, the CO and the troop committee. So, personally, I wouldn't actively advocate an activity that I felt did not help us meet those ideals and goals. However, if the PLC was interested in such an activity, and was committed to researching, planning and executing that activity, I certainly wouldn't "veto" them (except, of course, in clear cases of safety issues or policy violations.) I might share with them my concerns, ask them to reconsider, etc etc - but I think part of supporting youth leadership is to support some decisions made by youth leaders that we might not agree with.

[qwazse]

It's a balance.

 

If your boys want to plan a trip to a wilderness recreation area that will involve a few days of hiking, then for the sake of conditioning your program is dictated by the hike-a-month club. Given that hiking is best managed in small numbers, it might not be a bad idea to fit in something that helps the boys connect with other youth in the area and gives everyone a change of pace.

 

But, each of us probably receives dozens of suggestions/flyers/e-mails a month. Which ones should you offer the boys? My approach is to offer them any that will fit into the leaders' schedules. Basically I give the line to the SPL "Here's a weekend when we're not hiking, fundraising, or doing a service project. Here's what I know is happening. Do you think any of this would interest you or the boys?"

 

It's interesting to see what they will jump on, and what they'll pass on. Our boys like doing things on their own (or sometimes with the Crew or one other troop). They feel no obligation to attend council or district camporees. And, they'll pass on "ballpark" camping. (Note how in the other thread I said I was trying to get guys to camp after fall football games. Emphasis on "trying". Zero traction with the boys so far.)

[Twocubdad]

Well, since it was my post which spurred this spin-off......

 

Are we doing them a disservice by not offering all of the available options???? No. There are things we do as Boy Scouts. We've had the local paint ball center offer a discount to the troop. Do we offer that to the PLC just to shoot it down as it is a violation of the G2SS? Why suggest activities which don't support the direction and program of the troop? If an activity is just a baby-sitting function, why commit troop resources?

 

So as an adult leader, do you offer fresh ideas during the troop planning conference??? Absolutely. But offering fresh ideas ideas doesn't mean suggesting every turkey promotion which comes down the pike. One of my roles is to challenge the scouts to improve the program and offer new, better programs than before. A good example from this year is wilderness survival. My guys love it and include a WS campout on the calendar every year. But if I let them default to old habits, they would build shelters and sit in them all weekend. This year I pushed them to develop a survival cooking competiton using food similar to what the may find in the wild. It went over very well.

 

If so, do you limit your new offerings to things you are interested in or eliminate things that are too expensive or you deem as unscout like?????? Three different thing. Limited to my interests? No. A good number of the troop's activities are things for which I have little interest. But I'm not the one deciding. Too expensive? Iffy. I wouldn't limit the possibilities, but if no one else does so, I'll be the one who questions the cost, asks how the costs will be paid and what they will do to make sure everyone has an equitable opportunity to participate. UnScoutlike? If you mean dishonest, unethical or unsafe, then heck no. But if you mean playing video games or hanging out at the mall (or a slumber party on outfield of the ballpark), I may suggest that become a patrol activity or perhaps something more suited to a group of friends doing as a non-troop event.

 

It's always a bit of a head scratcher to me why some guys think everything has to be a troop activity. Want to play paintball or hang out at the mall? Or for that matter do more backpacking or go climbing? GO! Have fun! Why wait on the Scout troop?

[Basementdweller]

Barry,

 

Why a troop activity?

 

Because some boys don't have the resources to do it any other way or time.

[Oak Tree]

Are we doing them a disservice by not offering all of the available options????

 

Nah, I don't think so. Sometimes it's easy enough to look at an event and decide that it won't fit the schedule, or the budget, or the troop's profile, or whatever.

 

So as an adult leader, do you offer fresh ideas during the troop planning conference???

 

Absolutely. We encourage everyone to do so. Only a few do. Generally it's the adults that have the more interesting ideas. If someone is excited about it, that's a good way to get other people excited about it.

 

If so, do you limit your new offerings to things you are interested in or eliminate things that are too expensive or you deem as unscout like??????

 

To things I'm interested in? No, definitely not. I was never interested in attending Scout night at the monster truck jam, but that made it on to the calendar in the past.

 

Eliminate things that are too expensive? Well, we do kind of steer them away from them - or at least we point out what the cost would be. I don't know that we've outright eliminated them, though.

 

Unscout like? I can't remember ever eliminating an event because it wasn't appropriate for Scouts in the adults' minds. (Not counting things that violate the G2SS - those we would eliminate - skydiving, hang gliding, paintball). I don't think we've ever had the Scouts actually ask to plan an event that was too far afield.

 

 

 

[Basementdweller]

Our scout shop has a turnstile full of even flyers and roundtable there is a flyer table.....

 

We do the "Guys what do you think of this?" then can the ones no one is interested in.....

 

We let the boys determine if it is too expensive or come up with a way to finance it....

 

 

 

[Second Class]

What I have observed is that scouts in the PLC limit themselves to what has been done before, where, and the like.

 

They need to be pushed out of that rut with new ideas, from other scouts that have done different things. This is one of the reasons I like camporees. They provide a venue for scouts to mix with other scouts and share stories.

 

I always try to invite the group next to us over for dessert and tall tales; everyone enjoys it.