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Some aspects of the Scouting game look like flaws…

… but they are features we must not alter. Games restrict or constrain play through rules, the laws of physics, or human limitations and Scouting is no exception.

We Scouters often expend  lot of effort trying to fix things that don’t need to be fixed, or smooth over things that are intentionally challenging.

When you get to know the game, the dynamics, and understand the field of play things become clearer and you become a better coach. The Scouting game is complex, fascinating, and multi-layered but anyone can play. In this podcast I’ll bring together the information I’ve shared over the past three podcasts and explain exactly how simple it is. Spoiler alert – it has something to do with going camping.

Scouting is a game for boys, under the leadership of boys, in which elder brothers can give their younger brothers healthy environment and encourage them to healthy activities such as will help them to develop Citizenship.

Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science: rather it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light.

Baden-Powell

Podcast Notes

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Thinking of Scouts as players …

… fills out the analogy of Scouting as a game. Players volunteer to participate in the game. The most important volunteers in Scouting have more power and influence than the highest official. Without their participation, Scouting would come to a complete halt. They bring endless energy, resources, and real transformational power to their role. They are the only volunteers we simply cannot afford to lose.

Scouts make a voluntary decision to participate and we Scouters have our positions only to serve the interests and goals of the Scouts. These simple things constitute the framework of Scouting, and they are all that is truly important. The rest is window dressing, it’s nice to have, but not essential to achieving the goal of the game.

Our work is maintaining a safe, secure environment for all this to work. We maintain focus, and work with one Scout at a time.

Podcast Notes

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Thinking of Scouters as coaches …

… can help us understand our role in the game. These are just analogies – we aren’t actually coaches, and Scouting isn’t actually a game.  Analogies are not exact copies, they only resemble what they represent. What a Scouter does may be similar to coaching, but Scouters hold an unique role in a young person’s life. We are part parent, part coach, part counsellor, part mentor, and part friend.

In this second installment of our fundamentals of Scouting series I’ll talk about our role, and the deceptively simple skills we need to master.  I may be able to explain observation, dialogue, discovery, and responsive application in a few minutes, but they take a lifetime to master.

Scouters as coaches apply these skills to an endlessly recursive process to facilitate the game of Scouting. Our game is not competitive, our game does not end in a zero-sum win or loss. Our game helping individual human beings to shape and define their lives.

Scouting is fascinating, fun, and sometimes frustrating work; but it is well worth our time.

Podcast Notes

Frank Maynard’s Blog Bobwhite Blather

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We’ve heard this before, right?

Baden-Powell employed the “Scouting is a game” analogy long before anyone else, and it is the best analogy I’ve found for explaining the wonderfully complex, intriguing, idea that is Scouting.

We have to be careful because analogies break down at some point. While Scouting is a game in many ways, it’s actually something far more than that. In this podcast I’ll kick off a series of foundational talks about Scouting. I”d hesitate to call these talks introductory, because we’ll be trying to wrap our heads around some very big ideas. My hope is they help you make sense of just what we are up to as Scouters.

Podcast Notes

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All Time Favorite Boy Scout

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Thank you for being a Scouter!

Today I have a short story to share (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore) I first read on Podcast 248 to wish readers and listeners happy holidays. The story includes Scouters in neckerchiefs, silence imploring, settling ourselves for a long winter’s snoring.

Next week is Christmas and the following is new year’s, so for the next two weeks the podcast will be on vacation right along with you as you enjoy the holidays with your friends and family .

I’ll return early next year with a new series of podcasts on the fundamentals of Scouting.

[spp-timestamp time=”00:25″] Dan Dinkin, Scoutmaster of Troop 95, Baltimore Area Council, shared this story with me.

[spp-timestamp time=”02:30″] Twas our first night out camping (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

Podcast Notes

Get a PDF version of Twas Our First Night Out Camping 

Music on this week’s podcast by the Pine Street String Band Banjo Christmas

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Imagine two Scout troops, troop A and troop B.

Both troops have “average” Scouts (whatever that means) who do what average Scouts do. Both have a well defined procedural approach to discipline and misbehavior.

Troop A publishes a guide that defines the rules, how they are enforced, and penalties for breaking them.

Troop B has no written rules, so they don’t have any measures for policing them or penalties for breaking the rules.

An average Scout in troop A decides to misbehave in precisely the same manner as an average Scout in troop B.

Listen in to hear what happens next, two very different responses to identical situations, it’ll stun the Dickens out of you.

[spp-timestamp time=”00:27″] Troop 38, New Berlin Wisconsin, takes a tern for the wurst.

[spp-timestamp time=”03:19″] A Tale of Two Troops.

Podcast Notes

Podcast 355-When Scouts Misbehave

Constructive Scouting Discipline.

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Scout advancement is not adults judging Scouts…

… it’s Scouts meeting requirements with the support of adult volunteers – in Scout advancement we are all on the same side.

We did not write the requirements. We don’t personally embroider patches to present to them. It’s tiresome and self-defeating to devise our own hoops for Scouts to jump through or impose our judgement on Scouts. 

Most advancement requirements are defined metrics, a few are judgement calls.

There are two basic approaches to advancement judgement calls. The first is establishing a metric all Scouts must meet. The Second is setting an individual goal in consultation with the Scout.

Having tried both approaches I strongly prefer setting an individual goal with, rather than for, the Scout.

The whole thing should take about ten minutes. Sit down and talk to the Scout about the goals he would set for himself to fulfill the “active” and “responsibility” aspects of the requirements. Listen carefully before you speak. Ask him to explain how he arrived at that goal. See if it makes sense to you, and if it doesn’t ask more questions. If you do more listening than speaking you’ll get some insight into his life and help him find a way to make things work.

I’ll answer two related email questions in this podcast:

[spp-timestamp time=”00:17″] Orienteering Points

[spp-timestamp time=”03:14″] I think mom and dad doing too much of the merit badge work and he is not getting anything out of the program. What do I do?

[spp-timestamp time=”07:26″] We have an ambitious Scout with ambitious parents driving hard for Eagle, the Scout is involved in many other activities and there are concerns about being active and fulfilling the leadership requirements.

Podcast Notes

The Guide to Advancement required reading for every Scouter

Check out these sections –

4.2.3.4 Positions of Responsibility

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Kevin Callan is here, it’s time to go winter camping!

Canada’s Happy Camper, our friend Kevin Callan, author of the new Complete Guide to Winter Camping joins us on this podcast with his welcoming way of sharing his knowledge of the woods in winter. You’ll see right away how Kevin has earned the name “happy camper”, he’s a passionate, devoted outdoorsman.

Whether it’s your first or 101st winter camping trip you’ll find the guide a fantastic resource. Kevin draws on a lifetime of experience and compiles the expert advice of many other seasoned winter campers and explorers.

As you’ll hear us discuss ideal winter camping begin when the thermometer hits freezing and well below. The guide presents shelter, clothing, and sleep system options, and teaches you how to venture into the “paradise below zero” safely. Learn how to track animals, check ice thickness, make white pie tea and enjoy in comfort, rather than survive, the wintery world waiting for you.

Visit Kevin’s website

Podcast Notes

Get your copy of  the Complete Guide to Winter Camping

Gear and books discussed in this podcast –

Calvin Rustrum’s Paradise Below Zero

Garrett Conover’s Snow Walker’s Companion

Read my review of Cliff Jacobson’s Expedition Canoeing

The “killy kittle” Kelly Kettle Camp Stove

Merino wool long johns from Woolpower and Minus 33

SOL Bivy for upgrading your sleeping bag

Really cool 1970’s Glacier Glasses

Neos over boots read my review here

Lure of the North Anorak Kit

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Expertise and experience are overrated

Scouts need Scouters with energy and vision more than Scouters with expertise and experience. Scouts don’t care what you know, they respond to who you are.

In this podcast I answer three email questions.

The first (begins at 1:05) comes from a new Scouter contemplating becoming a Scoutmaster, but is concerned they are inexperienced. I was a very inexperienced Scoutmaster, so I know you can do this. You’ll will make plenty of “mistakes” but those are really the joy of it all. What you really need  to be a good Scoutmaster is energy and vision.

What some experienced Scouters believe is important is really just window dressing. Aim your energy and vision at making it possible for Scouts to go camping with their friends and everything else will follow.

The Second email answer (begins at 9:45) suggests how to resolve a standoff with a Scoutmaster who refuses to do their part for an Eagle candidate. Another concerned parent blindsided by a, no doubt, well-intentioned, but wrongheaded Scoutmaster. Spoiler alert – another classic ambush where the Scoutmaster does not think the Scout has been active enough.

Notes for the second email answer –

I discuss who decides merit badge requirements are fulfilled, and how to make those decisions in the third email answer (begins at 14:20). Many times these sorts of things do require making a judgement call, but there’s no reason a merit badge counsellor or Scouter make that judgement call on their own. Our work is developing character, and this is a great opportunity to do just that. We ought to make the most of the opportunity to apply the oath and law to these situations.

Notes for the third email answer – 

Podcast Notes

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What do I do now?

A Scout misbehaves, makes a mistake, or even consciously does something wrong, and things spin out of control, now what?

If you hang around long enough your Scouts misbehave, and you’ll will be confronted by this sort of incident, so what is your plan?

I’ll discuss an incident shared with me some time ago to illustrate some core ideas about the crucial things a Scouter ought to know.

You can read more about the subject in Constructive Scouting Discipline.

It is a continuous struggle to measure supervision against granting the latitude required to grow and understand the oath and law. We can’t compel compliance if we expect the oath and law to have lasting effect. We only have a lasting effect if they internalize the ideals we champion voluntarily as a shared belief.

When I have had problems, and there have been plenty in 35 years, I am reminded that Scouting should be a very safe space for Scouts who fail, make mistakes, even those who consciously do bad things. Hopefully we surround our Scouts with compassionate, caring adults who have a sense of proportion and experience in addressing behavior problems in young people.

In This Podcast

0:09 The steaks are too high

Podcast Notes

Happy Wanderer Opening Music

Get my book The Scouting Journey

Get my book So Far So Good