what makes it work? a boys answer

[Lisabob]

There's been a few threads lately about what makes a troop/scout/leader work. So in that spirit, I thought I'd share this.

 

I happened to be sitting nearby while a long-time scouter talked with my son last night. My son is closing in on his 18th birthday, has been in scouts since he was 7, and is loving scouts now, more than ever.

 

This long-time scouter asked him: Some troops lose a lot of boys in their first year. Others lose a lot of boys around age 14-15. But this troop has grown a lot in the last few years, because almost everybody who joins, stays until they age out. Boys in high school are even joining for the first time. What is it about this troop right now that works?

 

My son's answer (I swear, I'm not putting words in his mouth):

This troop was a real shock to him, after being in another troop for several years and then visiting a variety of other troops to decide where he wanted to transfer to, or if he was just going to quit scouts. This troop functions in ways that he had never imagined could happen, until he saw it in action.

 

What he thinks makes this troop different is

 

1. Taking boy leadership seriously - giving responsibility and space to the boys to try things, even if they don't always work, makes it "their" troop and not the adults' troop. Boys feel loyalty and pride at being a part of it.

 

2. Patrol identity - In some troops, it is really more about troop identity so patrols, while they exist, are not that important, get reorganized often, and never gel. In this troop, patrols matter. They're the bedrock from which the troop is built. He likes that the patrols all have different characteristics and do their own thing. Being in this patrol vs. that one actually matters, and patrol mates feel a responsibility to support and look out for one another.

 

3. Friendship - because they have a strong group identity and do things together, he has become good friends with his patrol mates. That makes it fun.

 

Because of this, he said, younger boys want to join and be part of it. They feel like they're part of a community, with older guys to look up to and follow. The middle guys want to stay because they're having fun and getting to try out new ideas. Then they start to realize they have a responsibility to keep it going for the younger guys too, so they can have the same opportunities. That gives the older guys a good reason to stick around and anyway, they're still having fun. The older guys have so much fun, their friends from school want to be part of it.

 

It boils down to this, he said: Do the program right, and the boys will be there.

 

That long-time scouter just smiled and thanked him for sharing his thoughts.

[Stosh]

I hear this exact same thing from the boys I visit with. Of course I hear a whole different story from the adults. I don't promote what I do because I think I know it all, I promote it because I see boys really wanting it.

 

Stosh

 

 

[acco40]

I know that above is what the boys want and I know that is the program. What I struggled with during my time as Scoutmaster is dealing with parents who thought my (and the BSA's) expectation that he boys lead and take ownership of the program was a huge over-reach. They were more in the camp that it was the adults role to entertain the boys.

 

Without parental support in the BSA mission, the "job" of Scoutmaster was made more difficult. My biggest failing, in retrospect was that I enjoyed working with the boys so much I didn't spend enough time explaining, lobbying, etc. the parents of the scouts.

 

Granted, I took a struggling troop of about 8 scouts that had not had an Eagle scout in over ten years to a troop of about 30 scouts with a steady "graduation" of about 3 to 5 eagles a year but thought it could be even better for the boys.

[Stosh]

acco40 makes a good point. BSA and the boys can all be on the same page, but speaking from experience, once the parents get in there, things can go bad quickly.

 

I was asked to leave as I was sitting with the boys in the third session of Hillcourt's training after the boys had just finished up JLT and TLT and was asked to leave as SM. The parents made it clear that the boys were being expected to do too much leadership in the troop and that as SM I wasn't doing enough.

 

The troop was taken over by a parent who had 3 boys in the troop and a 4th in Cubs coming up. His oldest Eagled under my watch.

 

It would seem the boy's wishes for the program take a back seat in the politics of parents.

 

Stosh

[Lisabob]

Too true, sometimes. I think that's why it is also important for the SM, CC, and COR to be on the same page - so that they can recruit a solid core of other adults who "get it" and who will run interference/teach the other adults what to expect.

 

Along those lines, one difference I notice between my son's current (reasonably boy-led) troop and his former (very adult-driven) troop:

 

In the current troop, while everybody is friendly and welcoming, etc., specific adults will be asked to join the ASM core or the committee after having been around for a while. There isn't a constant cattle call for adult leaders. In his former troop, at practically every meeting they were asking parents to sign up as leaders. In reality they didn't need more people (they frequently already had more adults than boys on outings); they needed a core of people who understood the program. Instead they had lots of new parents, or parents who didn't get it, running the show. Bound to cause problems.

[Venividi]

Lisabob,

 

Thank you for sharing. What a breath of fresh air. While adults agrue how about how to interpret requirements, the boys could hardly care less. As shared, they like it when it is theirs, and have ownership and feeling of responsibility. I note the absence of any comment about advancement. Adults seem to think that boys are motivated by getting patches as easily as possible, when in actuality, that is not what keeps boys in scouting until they age out.

 

Thanks again for sharing.