Suspended!

[hacimsaalk12]

in our troop, since i have been in, there has only been one instance of epulsion/suspension. one of the boys always had his hands and himself where they didn't belong. stealing stuff, destroying stuff, and being rough on other scouts. he also had a foul mouth, and it showed rather often . all he wanted to do was play poker, and eat. he was warned many times. finally on one of the camputs down at the scout camp, he decided he wanted a drink. the spigot he went to wasn't yet turned on(it was still late winter/early spring). he then proceeded to shake it until it broke. water started gushing everywhere. we tried to shut it off, but it busted off behind the shutoff valve, so we couldn't stop it. he ended up draining the water tower of all 5,000 gallons. to make it worse, he wasn't even sorry, and justified all his actions by saying he was thirsty. the next meeting his parents, the SM, and the committe chair sat down and told them the way it was. they weren't gonna put up with it anymore, and he was out. that put an end to him for good.

[Mike F]

Good discussion.

After other efforts to instruct, train, encourage, discuss, etc., all fail to correct the problem, it's time to demonstrate to the scout (and maybe the parents) that there is a consequence for their actions. I've found this often comes as a shock - it seems scouting is the first place where they are held accountable in this way. It's a valuable life-lesson to learn at an early age. Some will see the light, adapt, and flourish. Some will leave for good. We agonize over those, but have to remember our first priority is making sure the troop is a safe place for all scouts.

 

This isnt a new phenomenon. Many moons ago I was temporarily driven out of my troop by a band of out-of-control bullies. When troop leaders finally decided to handle the problem, the bullies all left and I came back to enjoy scouting for over 30 years. It brought no joy to see each of the bullies in the news as the criminal justice system finally showed them they are accountable for their actions.

 

-mike