Giving Life To The Oath and Law

[Eamonn]

I posted in the other thread that Troops in the area where I live don't allow Patrol Camping.

I'm not sure why?

I do think that this is a shame.

As a Scout, I camped with the Patrol I was in a lot (Go Kestrels) and as PL, I was happy to get away from the beady eye of our Scout Leader.

I think it's fair to say that maybe a lot of the things we did and didn't do was because we were free from the adults.

Yes we packed some dirty stuff in the Patrol box and yes the QM gave us a hard time when he seen it and made us re-do it.

However looking back I now see that these trips did more to teach us about the meaning of the Oath and Law (Scout Promise and Scout Law) than just about anything else.

To this day I firmly believe that if you want to teach a kid the real meaning of the Oath and Law you have to allow him the space to live it.

If you want a Lad to learn how to be trusted you need to place him in a situation of trust.

If you want him to learn how to be helpful. - Place him in a situation where he can help and so on.

Will the Scouts always get it right?

No! Of course they won't! (Just like me they will try to get away with some stuff and maybe they will pack some dirty Billy-cans in the Patrol box!)

But if we are going to try and get young people to learn how to make ethical choices? I can't think of a better way then allowing them to camp for a weekend alone away from the adults.

Eamonn.

[Eagledad]

My dad's Scoutmaster didn't go with them on many campouts. They would tell the SM about their experiences at the next Troop meeting and he would then discuss with them how to do the things they did wrong differently the next time. That was during WWII and their SM couldn't go out of necessity. But I wonder if that should have been the norm.

 

Now of course my dads troop never camped any farther away than they were willing to hike out of Laurel Mississippi. Still, I'm sure it was an adventure.

 

Barry

[Kudu]

Eamonn writes:

 

"But if we are going to try and get young people to learn how to make ethical choices? I can't think of a better way then allowing them to camp for a weekend alone away from the adults."

 

I agree, even if these days "allowing them to camp for a weekend alone away from the adults" means only 300' away from the other Patrols as Baden-Powell suggested for whole-Troop campouts.

 

Kudu