So where does camping fit in?

Like the Scouts of nearly every troop, our boys recite the Scout Oath and Scout Law at the beginning of troop meetings.

How often do they – or you – stop to ponder what those words mean?

They are the essence of our movement, reduced to forty words in the Oath and twelve points of the Law: Duty to God and country. Help others. Be trustworthy, helpful, courteous, reverent… you know these things.

What do Boy Scouts do, mostly, though? They hold meetings and they go camping. That makes up, I’d say, 80 percent of their time and efforts. Continue reading “So where does camping fit in?”

Order in the troop! Order in the troop!

You’ve heard the sayings.

Order is Heaven’s first law. (Alexander Pope)

Good order is the foundation of all things. (Edmund Burke)

Order is power. (Henri Frederic Amiel)

Henry Miller also had something to say about order:

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.

Clarke Green recently posted an article on his blog ScoutmasterCG titled The Jedi Scoutmaster in which he discusses the issue of boy behavior, our perception of it, and how to handle it in our troops. Continue reading “Order in the troop! Order in the troop!”

Abolish “death by meeting”!

A while back I posted a series of articles on making your committee meetings more effective. These were aimed at the committee chair or meeting facilitator to help improve the meeting experience for everyone concerned.

Harvard Business Review had a short “management tip” article recently on ways for participants to, as they put it, save the meeting that’s going nowhere. It’s a very short article but it can get you to thinking, especially if you’re stuck in such a meeting.

My solution to these issues  is prevention, and that lies in the hands of the committee chair: Continue reading “Abolish “death by meeting”!”

“So, what is it that you do?”

At a recent troop meeting we were welcoming a parent of a boy new to Scouting and discussing how the troop and Boy Scouts all works, and in the process of explaining which committee member takes care of dues, or membership, he asked me what my position was, and what I do in the troop.

This kind of took me aback, because most people in Scouting are familiar with the committee chair’s role, or at least knows what functions he or she performs. I blurted out “well, I’m kind of like the CEO of the troop,” and while I felt at the time that it was an OK answer, later I thought that it didn’t really describe what the committee chair does. Continue reading ““So, what is it that you do?””

Webelos den leaders: What’s your most important job?

Look in chapter 21 of the Cub Scout Leader Book and you’ll find a description of the Webelos program including an outline of the Webelos den leader’s responsibilities. It’s really brief: The Webelos den leader plans and carries out a year-round program of activities for the Webelos den.

Look just above this job description and you’ll find what is most likely the most important job of a Webelos leader:

One of the purposes of the Webelos den is to prepare boys for Boy Scouting and to graduate Webelos Scouts into a Boy Scout troop. (Emphasis added)

Of the ten purposes of Cub Scouting, the tenth – Preparation for Boy Scouts – is the most lasting, for it is in Boy Scouts where boys not only experience adventure but learn skills that will serve them their entire lives – leadership, cooperation, communication, responsibility – and the values of citizenship, character and fitness.

But the #1 reason that Webelos Scouts fail to cross over and become involved in Boy Scouts is often the Webelos den leader. Continue reading “Webelos den leaders: What’s your most important job?”