Disciplinary action

[Eamonn]

This may or may not be related to the other thread?

 

As I have posted a lot!!

I'm not in favor of lots of rules and regulations. My thinking is that we have all we need in the Scout Oath and Law.

Also I'm not wise enough or clever enough to pen a bunch of rules that would cover every situation.

Our (The Ship's) youth leadership have a few rules and the like that mainly deal with the day to day running of the ship, but do not cover what actions are to be taken when someone acts outside of the Scout Law and Oath.

 

Most of the time the youth members tend to care of what needs to done and who does what by themselves. Most times when someone gets a little out of line they deal with it without any interference from any of the adult leaders.They deal with it by telling the person what he or she should or shouldn't be doing.

If I see or hear something that is wrong, I have "The Look" or might say something. Not a big deal mostly a "Don't do that!" Or "Quit it!"

When something is more serious, I will take the "Offender" to one side for a chat. I try to give them time to explain why they are doing whatever it is they are doing (Or not doing) I try to listen to what they have to say and I also try to remain in the present not dealing with past sins.

I will admit that at times this is hard for me.

As a rule after one of our little chats we manage to come to some form of an understanding. If something was wrong and was the cause of them behaving badly I try and take steps to fix what was wrong and they agree to not behave badly.

When someone does something really bad or keeps doing something that they shouldn't, I involve the parents.

I meet with the Scout and the parents and we go over what has happened and come up with a plan to avoid future misdeeds.

Sometimes I opt to not have the Scout at a meeting and have a word in the ear of the parent. As a rule this is something that really isn't that bad, but I think the parent needs to be aware of. (Returning a copy of Playboy that a Scout has taken to camp, to the parent and informing them that I'd prefer that their son doesn't bring anymore copies is a situation that comes to mind.)

When a situation seems to be more than I can handle or is really big. Or involves continued misbehavior with no sign of improvement I have no choice but to hand it over to the Ship's Committee.

While 99.9% of the time the committee will ask me what I think should be done and will follow my recommendations, which if it gets to this stage normally means removal of the Scout from the Ship, I really don't have a voice in what they decide to do. They could maybe say that I was unfair and opt to suspend the Scout for a while.

In over 30 years as an adult leader I have only ever had to go to the committee one time.

Most of the Scouts I have worked with seem to know when they are in the wrong and as most of them seem to want to do what they can to please me or at least not get on the wrong side of me!! They do their best to correct whatever the wrong was.

I don't know how other leaders or units go about this, but this seems to work for me.

Ea

 

 

[baden]

Eamon-

 

Your post brought a smile to my face. A number of years ago at Summer Camp I detected a low buzz centered around one tent. I thought, this is not good. I wandered over and the boys sort of scattered, so I let it go for then, but the next day when the boys were out of the campsite, I did a shakedown of this tent and found a pile of Playboy mags, some of which I hadn't read. I confiscated them and sat on them for a day waiting for my chance. I finally caught the owner privately and innocently asked if anything was missing. I got a paniced look, and then he asked what was I talking about. I told him I had his mags and was going to return them to his Mother. He started crying and I told him that I would keep it between the two of us, but I didn't want it to happen again. We became great friends and are to this day. This boy did make Eagle, and he thinks we have a secret. He doesn't know that I waited for a good time to tell his Mom. She sort of laughed, and thanked me for handling it delicately. She said he probably swiped them from her husband's shop. I know it isn't correct to say it anymore, but still, boys will be boys. Even some of us "Senior" boys.

[Eamonn]

baden,

While your post also made me smile!

It also says a lot about how different situations and different Scouts need to de dealt with differently.

In my book a Scout sneaking a copy of Playboy is not a hanging offense. You used your knowledge of the Scout to do what you thought was best for him.

Had there been a rule that said "Any Scout found with..." things might have turned out differently.

Of course I'm not saying that we want or in any way condone this sort of thing at Scout Camps.

A few months back I posted how I went to visit the home of one of the Ship's adult leaders. He had two sons in the ship. For Christmas he had bought the pair of them lap-top computers.

One Lad said his computer was running very slow and asked if I'd look at it.

The reason it was running so slow was that he had downloaded a lot of junk, illegal music which was full of spyware, games. You name it!!

While I was trying to sort this out, I found that he had also downloaded some nasty porn.

So there I am, in their home, it's Christmas. I have my wife, the Lads mother and a glass of wine in hand.

I opted to do nothing.

But a few days later I got the Lad's Dad by himself and said that he might want to take a look at the computer and have a word with his son.

Sadly this was the same Lad that a little while later was found touching another Scout in a very inappropriate way and is the only Scout I have ever had to go to the Committee about. He was removed from the Ship.

Ea.