Hey Kudu Patrol method question or opinion

[Kudu]

BrentAllen writes:

 

I have had more adult interest in our backpacking trip...

 

It is counter-intuitive to those stuck in Webelos III Troops, but if you develop backpacking and canoe programs you can attract more competent adults for those trips than usually attend your regular monthly Cub Scout campouts.

 

Your incompetent popularity-contest-winning-junior-leaders will tend to stay at home as well, which will provide opportunities for your natural leaders (the potential young outdoorsmen) to step into the leadership vacum.

 

If you want to experiment with B-P's Patrol System and try his 300 foot standard at least once in your tenure as an adult volunteer, then backpacking is the easiest way to get a Troop out of its Webelos III rut.

 

1) Do Not Call it Backpacking: Try "Backwoods" Trek or Trip. Calling backwoods adventure "backpacking" is like saying "Let's go haul roofing tiles up a ladder."

 

2) Sell Backwoods Treks as Adventure: Nobody in my current Troop wanted to go "backpacking," but 20 of them signed up for a "Backwoods Fishing Trip." Likewise for "Wilderness GPS Candy Treasure Hunt" and "Laser Man Hunt Weekend."

 

84 Wide Games just itching for such 21st century modifications can be found at:

 

http://inquiry.net/outdoor/games/wide/index.htm

 

Additional Night Games can be found at:

 

http://inquiry.net/outdoor/night/index.htm

 

3) Adventure NOT Distance: Start with destinations less than 1/2 mile from the parking lot. The idea is to wean them from Troop Trailer camping, not to cover any significant distance at first. Remember: It's all about an exciting Adventure.

 

4) Where To Go? Google hiking trails + local location names like county. You may find local hiking groups and locations that you did not know about. Roundtables and/or an outdoorsman at your local Council office may turn up additional resources. Likewise for Scout Camp Rangers and State Rangers. I am always surprised to discover how many Troops have parents that want nothing to do with regular monthly Webelos III campouts, but are very enthused about back county trips.

 

5) Temporary Backwoods Leadership: Make sure you separate those Patrols by at least some distance right away so they do not settle into their usual Webelos III rut. Assuming low attendance, ad hoc Patrols work best that so you can influence each temporary group's best natural leader to serve as temporary Patrol Leader. One of these Patrol Leaders can also wear the SPL or "Trek Leader" hat because you need your Troop's best leaders in those remote Patrol sites. A safe trip is about competent outdoor leadership, not "controlled failure."

 

6) Advancement Requirements: Those wonderful national committees of Eagle Scouts, Silver Beavers, and Four-Bead leadership experts removed the backpacking trip as a requirement for Camping Merit Badge (and replaced it with the option to float downstream eating cupcakes), but a small backpacking trip is still one of the alternative requirement options. Most Scouts and parents have not read those requirements very carefully, so you can sell four-mile (round trip) "Backcountry Fishing" trips as a Camping Merit Badge requirement.

 

7) Weather Permitting: I promote beginner trips as fair-weather only! In a perfect world your destination will have a regular campground nearby for a "Plan B" in bad weather (because most Tour Permits are not flexible). Remember that in the south, the time to haul a backpack around is in the winter when it is cool.

 

Yours at 300 Feet,

 

Kudu

 

 

[Stosh]

SR540Beaver:

 

Maybe I'm like most other troops on the forum, but somehow I end up sticking out like a sore thumb around my corner of the woods.

 

But after listening carefully to others I see many small but significant differences. Barry feels he works for the parents as he stated in his post. I never think that way, I work for the boys, after all it's their program. I spend very few precious moments worrying about the parents and what they think.

 

Parents are allowed to come along, but discouraged every step of the way. I haven't had a parent other than a new scout show up for an activity during the three years I have been with my new troop. Once they figure out what is being done in the troop, they get hands-off right away. We would never have 13 adults and 14 boys on any trip (no matter what you called it), or even at a troop meeting.

 

Every time I've had too much parent involvement in a boy-led troop, I've eventually lost the boy. Controlling parents just can't seem to let the boy mature and grow with his buddies. I don't want my boys bonding with their dads on my nickel, I want them bonding with their patrol buddies. If dad wants bonding, he can play catch with the boy after he gets back from camp.

 

My CC handles all adult/parent relationship issues. SM works with the boys, CC works with the parents. We try hard to keep everything separated. There's a standing rule between the CC and SM... if someone doesn't like the way the troop is running, they are encouraged to get trained and take over.

 

The only exception to this whole process is when we do our local hometown festival. We handle the corn station at a Cornfest because our CO sponsors it. We have all the boys, their friends, their parents, their brothers and sisters, their neighbors, etc. to come and shuck corn. It's a blast and everyone has a big party doing it. Other than that I wave to the parents when they pick up and drop off their boys for an activity/meeting.

 

As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, if 13 adults want to take 14 boys on an outing, I'm going to grab my kayak, a couple of friends, find some water in a different direction and have a welcomed weekend to myself. Oh, wait, the boys planned an outing this week starting on Wednesday and running through tomorrow. I had to work, so tonight I'm heading out for a two day paddle with friends. At Monday's troop meeting we'll compare notes to see who had more fun.

 

Stosh

[Eagledad]

>>Barry feels he works for the parents as he stated in his post

[Eagle92]

Kudu,

Watch it now with the canoe camping comments Seriously though I've done canoe trips that were as tough, and even tougher than some backpacking trails. Portages, rapids, weather, medical emergencies, a variety of reasons for why they were tougher.

 

I will say this though: proper outdoor training by EVERY scout on an expedition will save a life or two. glad I packed my survival kit on one expedition.

[Stosh]

Sorry, Barry, I stand corrected. I'm not always johnny-on-the-spot when trying to quote and interpret what others are trying to say.

 

We do vary a bit on this in that 100% of my time goes towards working for the boys and 100% of my CC's time goes towards working for the parents.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Stosh

[qwazse]

Oh, and on the back-country trips, warn your parents that we may hike more than the planned milage so long as we're still in the designated wilderness area. We won't interrupt the youths' thought processes until they are more than a 1/2 mile down the wrong trail. (The helicopter parents learn to hang back with the Old Fart's patrol pretty darn quick.)