Troop Attendance

[Tampa Turtle]

I am of the opinion that you plan a camp-out and if only a few go, you go. If it was fun the other boys will hear. If they missed out a great advancement or MB opportunity--too bad so sad. Concentrate on delivering a good program--no matter how small--and grow from there.

 

Some of the smallest campouts are the best ones.

[Second Class]

Engineer 61 says a truth that often is treated as the elephant in the room.

Some boys are there ONLY because mom or dad says so.

They are the reluctant scouts that, IMHO bring down the entire troop, in spiriit, in attitude, in percentages.

Sometimes I think everyone would be better off if they just left.

But I can't verbalized that.

[Kudu]

 

Second Class writes:

 

"Some boys are there ONLY because mom or dad says so. They are the reluctant scouts that, IMHO bring down the entire troop, in spirit, in attitude, in percentages."

 

Worse than that, making sure that boys who hate camping rotate through a Boy Scout Troop's leadership positions is the whole point of leadership development's invention of Positions of Responsibility requirements in 1965, the year that Green Bar Bill retired. The Patrol Method must be dumbed down to the Cub Scout level so that reluctant Patrol Leaders learning office management formulas don't endanger the other boys.

 

That is the meaning of office management concepts like "controlled failure" (which replaced the controlled risk of Green Bar Bills' adult-free Patrol Hikes and Overnights). Simply look for adult "leadership" experts who brag that "the worst that can happen" in their units is burned food.

 

The evolutionary advantage of dumbing the Boy Scout program down to the indoor Eagle level is that Eagle mills can attract large numbers of Cub Scout parents: A critical mass. The good news is that as many as 50% of that critical mass of Cub Scout survivors are potential "Real" Boy Scouts. 50% of 32 Scouts equals two ad hoc Patrols of eight. Not bad!

 

Second Class writes:

 

"Sometimes I think everyone would be better off if they just left. But I can't verbalized that."

 

The concept is easily verbalized as "Webelos III."

 

The solution is simple: Develop a backpacking program.

 

The adventure of walking into the woods with packs on their backs will appeal to the Troop's "Real" Boy Scouts. The indoor adult helicopters and indoor boys (including the indoor SPLs, and the indoor ASPLs, and the indoor Patrol Leaders) will all self-select themselves out and stay home.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

 

 

[Brewmeister]

The solution is simple: Develop a backpacking program.

 

Boys want the adventure of the woods but the woods are not outside the back door. How do you develop a backpacking program when you must rely on the parents (or older scouts who can drive) to get the scouts to where they need to be to start backpacking?

 

 

[acco40]

Outings are more fun when attendance is high. Attendance is high when outings are fun. So, you need to work hard to reach critical mass.

 

Get the Scouts involved into choosing what they would like to do. Get the parents involved in supporting what the boys want. It does take effort.

[qwazse]

but the woods are not outside the back door.

 

Brew, let me call BS on that. There has to be some plot of land somewhere within 10 miles of you worth camping on. Pack up, walk there. Break the cycle.

 

b430, it's really tough seeing 3 overwhelmed MC's trying to make a program happen. I would suggest this two step approach:

 

1. Be thankful for them. Show it in any way you can. My committee was never seen on troop outings. SM, maybe an ASM or two, and the 40 of us. But, they kept the wheels going.

2. Set the boys down and say, "Guys, whatever gets done around here, it starts with us. Bring your calendars and let's nail down some dates." (Encourage parents to send boys with their family calendars or a list of open dates.)

 

Make achievable goals.

 

[Kudu]

 

"The solution is simple: Develop a backpacking program."

 

Brewmeister writes:

 

"Boys want the adventure of the woods but the woods are not outside the back door. How do you develop a backpacking program when you must rely on the parents (or older scouts who can drive) to get the scouts to where they need to be to start backpacking?"

 

Brewmeister,

 

Are you just asking a practical transportation question: "How do the Scouts get driven to the trailhead if the adults don't stick around to hike with them"?

 

If so, then (given current Patrol Overnights policy), we usually:

 

1) Camp as a "Troop" on Friday night, Patrols at least 300 feet apart.

 

2) Saturday morning the older Scouts set off on their own Patrol Hike, taking about an eight (8) mile route to our Saturday afternoon location. This ad hoc Patrol is self-selected (by invitation only). As you can see from the videos, gung-ho Scouts as young as 11 are sometimes asked to join. In that case, the older Scouts carry their share of the equipment.

 

3) An ad hoc Patrol of younger (and/or less ambitious) Scouts sets off on a shorter route (about two [2] miles) to the same end location.

 

4) The adults set off along that same shorter route. The goal is for the adults to hike at least a couple football fields behind the younger Scouts, but that changes with every hike depending on the capabilities of the younger Scouts. Last time we didn't see them again until we reached the destination, the trip before that two of their slower Scouts ended up hiking with us.

 

5) In the afternoon the three groups converge at the Troop's common location. The older Scouts camp a few football fields from the adults, and the younger Scouts camp about 300 feet away from us, in the opposite direction.

 

6) Sometimes the three Patrols do not interact at all. Last time the older Scouts hosted a campfire for us and the younger Scouts, with the understanding that we wouldn't overstay our welcome

 

Does that help?

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

[Brewmeister]

That helps with the logistics and how-to assuming the decision has been made that this is what the unit wants to do.

 

My question is how to get the unit to want to do it. Talk to the SM? The PLC? I have no clue. I am just a dad in this program, not a leader.

 

Perhaps the best thing to do is to get acclimated to the troop program (it's only been a few months). At this point my son is quite happy with the camping the troop does, and he's on the ground floor of the program so everything is brand new. I don't know if I know enough to even suggest any changes at this point, if that makes sense.

[acco40]

I'd suggest you read The Scoutmaster Handbook and concentrate on annual planning. Then, talk with the Scoutmaster, outside of a troop meeting, and volunteer to become an SA (Assistant Scoutmaster) and suggest you could aid in the annual planning process.

[Kudu]

 

Yes, try the PLC/annual planning, but that did not work for me after I retired and moved to the south. Leadership theory may be fine in Troops with established hard core outdoor programs, but can definitely work against change in a Troop with no experience in High Adventure.

 

The Troop in my new neighborhood gives each Assistant Scoutmaster a minute at the end of the meeting to say something (most don't), so I announced I was going on "backwoods fishing trip" (I did NOT use the term "backpacking") and if anyone wanted to tag along come see me after the meeting.

 

About half the Troop signed up, and backpacking has been very popular ever since.

 

Two things I did first, and if it makes sense to you, you might want to start now:

 

1) Figure out who the "Natural Leaders" are. Often they are the popular "to cool for school" kids whose parents force them to be there. Get to know each of them on a personal basis: What their interests are, and what you have in common. For instance, a couple of the young hunters in the local Troop hated Boy Scout campouts, so I invented a fishing angle for backpacking (I myself hate fishing). Once you have the Natural Leaders (even if they are NOT in the PLC), the other Scouts will follow.

 

That is also how I work a public school recruiting presentation: Convince the Natural Leaders in the crowd (usually the hecklers), and the other boys will follow.

 

2) Talk to all the parents, and any other adults associated with the Troop (and possibly Roundtable). Some men (dads, uncles, etc.) with serious outdoor skills want nothing to do with typical BSA monthly campouts ("The boys' Scouting is my wife's job"), but will jump at the chance to backpack or canoe camp. Some of our mothers lead canoe and/or 50 mile bike trips, but head off in the evening.

 

3) In addition to the current Scoutmaster's Handbook (which will get you acclimated to the mess that leadership theory has made of Scouting), purchase copies of William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt's two (2) volume masterpiece, the third (3rd) edition of Handbook for Scoutmasters: About 1,200 pages of details on how the "Real" Patrol Method works. The same techniques work today because they appeal directly to the unchanging nature of boys. See:

 

http://tinyurl.com/83xh448

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

 

[Brewmeister]

That sounds like a good idea. I need to know what I am talking about before I talk about it.

 

The good news is that I know several of the boys and dads are already outdoorsmen and hunters. I know that three of the boys for sure, along with my son, went turkey hunting in spring, which is actually how I got to meet one of the dads.

 

So I figure that any boys that are willing to get up at 4 am in the dark and cold and rain and trudge into the woods to go hunting are probably up for more adventure as well.