Scoutmaster Musings

I was asked today: Is a 'code of conduct' for Cub Scouts like there is for Boy Scouts or does each Pack create its own?

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Just like the Boy Scouts have the Scout Oath and Law as their 'code of conduct', the Cub Scouts have the Law of the Pack and the Cub Scout Promise. Those are the only codes needed to describe how scouts act.

There are many techniques that den leaders have employed to help manage the bahavior of scouts. A common one is the 'Den Candle' which burns as long as the den is behaving. When the candle is burned up, the den gets a prize of some kind. These can be useful for promoting expected behavior, but they don't define that behavior.

Scouts know how they should act, but that does not mean they will always act that way. While a Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos den leader, I was fortunate to have very few behavioral problems. I believe that was because I was blessed with an exceptionally great den of scouts and because they did not have time to get in trouble. I had more activities planned for a meeting than we could possibly do and then had a couple extra games 'just in case' that we never got to. I tried to never have the scouts sitting still for more than 10 minutes - longer than that feels too much like school.

I found that the best way to alter behavior was to simply ask which part of the Law of the Pack the scout was practicing - was it following Akela, helping the Pack go, or giving goodwill? Occasionally, a more in-depth discussion of better ways to practice was necessary was required. The couple of times that didn't work, calling a parent, explaining the situation, and handing the phone to the scout solved the problem.

Sometimes troops or packs write down some guidelines which help define a process, such as how the trailer gets packed or how to air out and store tents. These are useful and unique to that unit. When we start writing down 'behavioral' restrictions, then we've crossed a line that will cause nothing but grief.

Codes of conduct will stifle creativity and foster the need to push against the restrictions and find loopholes and uncharted territory. We'll soon hear, "But, the code of conduct didn't say I COULDN'T do it!" and then we'll have to add that to the list. If we just stick to the Law and Oath, the scouts have a well-defined set of guidelines and room to play.

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Here's a great resource I found, especially for Den Leaders putting the Cub Scout Academics and Sports program into their annual scouting program. Check out the instructional guide for sports at playsportstv.com

There's hundreds of short videos demonstrating and teaching skills for football, soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, and other sports. If you're a den leader trying to learn good ways to present basic skills to your scouts, these can be a nice way for you to pick up some new drills.

There is an emphasis on good sportsmanship and examples of how to help young athletes enjoy the practices and become better team players. That seems to be somewhat lacking in youth teams I've watched in our area recently - the winning can sometimes become more important than the playing.

Besides the videos, there are also blogs by coaches with additional tips and advice. Quite a long list of coaches, too, and the soccer coach's blog had some real positive bits of information about really young players and good sportsmanship.

Hey, you might even want to let your son's football or hocky coach know about the site. Maybe s/he will pick up a couple ideas.

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diacetyl - sounds better than C4H6O2, I guess. There's been a suggestion by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that diacetyl, when used in artificial butter flavoring, may be hazardous if heated and inhaled over long periods of time.
That artificial butter flavoring is what's used in microwave popcorn, which we heat and then inhale its aroma.
With scouts around the country gearing up to sell microwave popcorn door-to-door, you can expect this concern to come up in your pack or troop. To prepare for that, the BSA has issued a Press Release letting folks know the Trails End popcorn is safe. That release says that the popcorn suppliers have "voluntarily started removing diacetyl from their products". Hmmm, 'started' removing it?
So, I checked the Trails' End web site and they have a big link on their home page that takes you to their press release. It says they have removed diacetyl so everyone can be happy now.

Whew! Now, I can inform the scouts that the popcorn they are selling is diacetyl-free. I don't suppose we can actually call it 'Healthy' though, can we? :-)

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We bought new tents for the new scouts that joined the troop last spring as well as replacements for some that had worn out.
I bought them online at ScoutDirect.com, and I feel we got a good deal, but I find myself using up more time than I should looking for the very best deal sometimes.
For purchasing troop gear, it's a good idea to check out different stores for good deals to minimize your impact on the troop's resources, but using hours of time to save pennies can be too hard on the Scoutmaster.
Plan ahead for the gear you expect to need in the next year or 18 months. Then, research to find the general prices for the gear. Then, keep your eye out for sales and such as you shop and surf. When a good price shows up, buy what you need and don't worry about possibly having missed the same gear for $.25 less someplace else.

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The 100th Anniversary of the BSA is still 2.5 years away - in February, 2010. But, planning for the celebration is well underway with a 100 Years of Scouting site online. There's a nice PDF file of a history timeline and other promotional literature.

Probably of the most interest to scouts is the Logo Contest open to all scouts with 5 winning categories - overall, Venturer, Eagle Scout, Boy Scout, and Cub Scout. Everyone that enters receives a patch and certificate and the overall winner goes to San Francisco to help finalize the logo design. Submissions are due by the end of November, 2007.

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It is now obvious to practically everyone that climate change is a real and present danger to our world environment. Some people believe the change in average temperatures is a natural phenomenon, just part of the normal cycles of history. But, most people realize that our carbon fuel use and green house gas emissions are having a drastic and immediate impact on the global environment.

On the Climate Change area of Energy Policy TV, there is a collection of very interesting videos from recent conferences and climate change events. For example, there are videos of Senator Clinton, Senator Klobucher, and President Bush. There's even a video of Theodore Roosevelt IV with a keynote address at a conference in Florida. He doesn't look much like the 26th president, but I thought it was cool to see a guy whose great-great-grandfather is on Mt. Rushmore.
The videos are long and not the entertaining type you find on YouTube, but there is a lot of good information about the problems and proposed directions to take.

There are many documentaries, movies, and books written and being written on the subject. Finally, governmental and business leaders are putting in efforts to address the issues we face regarding climate change. I believe from what I've learned that by starting right now, today, it will still be well after I and my children are gone from the earth before a successful shift will begin. Much like turning a freighter, it will take many years of effort to notice change in direction.

In the Boy Scouts, I feel we have a good opportunity to promote the needed mental shift in young men that will be business and community leaders in 10 to 30 years. By looking at the topic of climate change and the need for a global community commitment, we can help lay the groundwork for the changes to come as the rest of the community shifts their views.

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Last night, we had our first District Roundtable since the summer break. Lots of first-timers showed up since the organizers included a New Leader Essentials class break-out session.
It was good to see some other Scoutmasters and chat about what their troops did over the summer. It sounded like our troop had one of the more 'productive' summers as far as outings go.
We have district level adult training coming up soon and I've been asked to help with the Outdoor Leader Skills again. That will be fun. The plan is to have it during the district Camporee, hoping more adults will attend since they're out camping anyway. We'll hope and see.
Be sure to check your district's training schedule and promote the basic training to your adults. Help them earn that Scouter's Training knot.

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There are 6 troops in our town so Webelos have a nice choice of the type of troop they can join. In the fall, many of the troops offer events to help Webelos achieve their Arrow of Light requirements and show them how their troop operates. These events range from scouting campouts to video arcade nights, some promote scouting while others are specifically directed at luring scouts to the troop. We used to have a Lock-In which included a trip to a local video arcade, mini-golf, laser-tag place and that would attract tons of Webelos! But, it didn't really reflect what our troop does all year, so it's now a troop-only event and we invite Webelos to other activities. And, we don't do the laser tag any longer.

I've found that give-aways and prizes are quite an effective way to attract Webelos and make the event memorable. They are a low cost, high impact recruiting tool. An example is glow sticks which are always able to intrigue and interest young scouts. Just watch out for the inquisitive scout with his new pocket knife. These can be used in a lot of night-time games, probably the favorite of which is "throw the stick" - scouts just throw their sticks all over the place, obviously. :-)

With Halloween coming in a few weeks, your troop might even hand these out at a recruiting event and promote them as safety items for trick-or-treating cub scouts.

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A recent story last month on Girls Scouts in Prison focusing on the program to allow girls a chance to visit with their moms every 2 weeks, showed that scouting can help keep families together even in very difficult circumstances.

There's a similar article about a Cub Scout program in Seattle from The Seattle Times in May, 2005.

It's a tough way to see a parent, but I have to believe that having contact every couple weeks must be a strong incentive for the parent to shape up. And, it would keep the child in touch with mom or dad.

You might want to check in your community to see if your scouts might be able to provide some sort of service for prisoners. Some kindness shown while in prison might have beneficial returns to the community when they finish their time.

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So, I mentioned the new Chief Scout Exec, Bob Mazzuca, has taken over. There's an interview with Mr. Mazzuca at this Forbes page which gives some good insight into his plans.

I'm interested to hear more about the 100th Anniversary - since I'm not a 'bald eagle', I guess I won't be going to the Million Eagle March but events like that will hopefully be successful in driving the larger goal of reigniting scouting.

He recognizes youth obesity as a major problem in our country. He also mentions that he understands the need for the BSA to invade the virtual world of the internet, video games, and electronic media in general. I believe luring sedentary youth out of their virtual worlds into the real world is our greatest challenge.

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The end of this month starts the annual Scouting Popcorn Sales drive. If folks in your troop or pack are interested in something different that might net them a couple bucks, how about these ideas? ...

• Scouts can enter ideas and tips to Boys' Life
  
  • $10 - 'Collecting' ideas. Recent collections submitted include bolo ties, hat pins, farm toys, stamps, pencil lead, fortune cookie fortunes, and even video games. I'm pretty sure they'll accept absolutely anything.
  • $10 - Tip about anything. Recent tips include bringing along a deck of cards in the car to keep from being bored and don't wear sneakers on a hiking trip.
  • $2, Scout handbook, or Fieldbook - Jokes for the Think & Grin section.
• Boys' Life Reading Contest gives away $100, $75, and $50 prizes the end of 2007.
• Adult BSA members contribute to Scouting magazine:
  • Photo Contest - Enter up to three photos in their contest before Oct. 1, 2007 for a chance to win $400, $300, $200, $100, or $25 prizes.
  • Front Line - submit a question to the Front Line Stuff column and get $50.
  • Worth Retelling - submit a personal short story about scouting to the Worth Retelling column and get $25.
• Units that have 100% Boys' Life subscriptions by Nov. 30 are automatically entered in a drawing by BSA for 12 Bass Pro Shops packages which include a $500 gift card and 20 Eagle Claw fishing poles.

Check your Boys' Life and Scouting magazines for details or go to their boyslife.org and scoutingmagazine.org sites.

Well, you won't get rich, but it's better than a kick in the rear.

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We made what I hope is a step forward in the troop tonight. A short meeting of the current Assistant ScoutMasters (ASMs) to present a shift in the program.

Our troop was around 16 scouts when the previous Scoutmaster started his term. I learned what I know from him, so I just did what he had done. Unfortunately, with 55 scouts, his way of managine a 16 scout troop has not been working so well. So, tonight we're starting to distribute the Scoutmaster duties to the ASMs. It will take effect with the new SPL and patrol leaders elected at the end of this month.

Each patrol will have an ASM that has volunteered to mentor its patrol leader and help guide its progress. This ASM will be aware of the rank and needs of each scout in the patrol and will encourage the patrol leader to hold regular patrol meetings, help patrolmates succeed, and contribute to the troop.

I am extremely excited to see how this goes for the next 6 months. 6 of our 8 patrols have an ASM, but I'll continue to mentor the two older patrols unless someone else steps up. (Our patrols are age-based). This isn't a huge change in program, but I'm hoping that defined direction for the ASMs will have a positive impact on the participation, retention, and advancement of the scouts.

If you would like a copy of my notes on ASM duties, just give me a holler and I'll send you a short Word doc.

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