Scoutmaster Musings

I've spent quite a few hours over the past year reading some Baden-Powell writings and some early year Scoutmaster handbooks. As I read them, I can see my friends and me doing exactly what they describe - running through fields for no reason but to run, doing things our own way whether right or wrong, turning anything at all into a game. As I've reflected on these books and tried to use what I can from them to improve what our troop offers for the scouts, I've run into a tough realization over and over.

I can't help but notice that boys have been tamed. Given complete leeway to choose absolutely any activity for a troop meeting, we still sit in rows of chairs, have announcements, have instruction, and sit. We have no one tussling, rough-housing, even thumb wrestling. Nothing gets broken, no clothes get ripped. These scouts appear to prefer to sit and listen to someone talk than go outside and climb a tree. Even with direct prompting from me at the PLC meetings, an active game just isn't part of a meeting. I must be wrong. There must be something I'm missing.

When we're on campouts, if there is any free time, they sit. They don't run off and explore or get in trouble. They just sit and maybe work on some advancement.

It's almost like watching tamed bears. They do neat tricks, but you just know they should naturally be doing something else. It may be that our community, in general, is very driven to have kids excel. Since kindergarten, organized activities such as school, sports, music, and playgroups have dominated these boys' lives. Maybe they really don't know how to cut loose and have fun without a schedule and a goal. But, it's probably just that they are used to troop meetings being a certain way and they're in a rut.

So, now I'm at the 'lets try an experiment' point. And, that's what I'm planning for the next few months. I'm collecting a bunch of things my buddies and I used to do. Stuff like pitching pennies, pen guns, match rockets, hand slaps, tree climbing, rock skipping, whatever I can remember. At the next PLC, I'll ask the SPL if I could have a 10-15 minute chunk of time at the next 4 troop meetings for a Scoutmaster Challenge or some such thing.

Assuming the SPL agrees, then I'll get an Assistant Scoutmaster for each patrol and explain the plan to them. At the meeting, they'll each take a patrol and show them the activity and then step back and let the scouts play. I don't think we'll have competitions, but if the scouts move towards that, then great!

After a few meetings I'll know if this has become a part of the meeting that scouts look forward to or not. If it is, then I'll need to chat with the PLC about the experiment and how it's time for me to step back and they can start an SPL Challenge instead. Hopefully, that will be a good start to some brainstorming of active games to try. If that happens, it will be a good big step back towards FUN.

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Anyone camping this first weekend in November? If you are, remember that you gain an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night with Daylight Savings ending at 2:00am Sunday morning.

Last night, we sat out front with our little screened in fire burning and handed out candy to the goblins, witches, and other urchins that ran past. I noticed it got dark around 6:00pm and the trick-or-treaters were complete by about 8:00. Oh, for the days of summer with light until 9:30 and blinking the sun out of my eyes before 6:00 in the morning.

I call the upcoming 4 months 'mushroom time' because we so seldom see any daylight when we drive to work in the dark, work inside all day, and then drive home in the dark. It also makes it a bit more challenging for scouting.

When winter camping, it's important to keep the short daylight hours in mind when scheduling a day's activities. In the cold, food is more difficult to cook and there is less light to work with. Maybe dinner should be moved to 4:30 from 6:00. Moving Lights Out an hour or so earlier also seems to work pretty well since it's been dark for 4 hours already.

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Even Scouters get old. As we age, our bodies run into problems, whether it's arthritis, weight, or even memory laps. The physical ailments and challenges are often obvious and a scouter needs to evaluate his/her effectiveness in each aspect of scouting. Maybe those extra 50 pounds mean I can't do Philmont or my bum knee means I can't do the 50-miler any longer.
Some diseases are more difficult to identify and accept. If a scouter providing safety for a crew forgets the route or becomes confused, there may be disastrous results. It's important that we as leaders maintain our abilities and accept our limitations.

The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) is spearheading a nation-wide drive over the month of November to promote early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related illnesses.

National Memory Screening Day is November 13, 2007. It is held annually in November and was started in 2003. November is recognized as National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month.

This screening day provides free confidential memory screenings for anyone concerned about memory loss or feel they may be at risk due to family history. A memory screening is a good first step towards early detection and appropriate intervention for memory illnesses.

If you have a relative for whom you are concerned, or want to get yourself checked out, consider finding a memory screening location near you. Sites can be found at nationalmemoryscreening.org which is the web site for the national memory screening day.

The AFA has some recommended tips for successful aging which are intended to help slow or prevent the loss of brain cells. A healthy mind, body, and spirit are key and can be aided by a healthy diet, limiting alcohol, exercising, relaxing, socializing, and managing stress.

Both seeking a cure for the disease and ensuring quality care for sufferers of Alzheimer's are important work done by the AFA. Please consider a contribution to the AFA to support their work.

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Our troop hosted a pack of Webelos at the camporee earlier this month and their Cubmaster insisted on giving us some money. I said "no", he said "yes". I said "No", he said "Yes". I said "NO", he said "YES". Since he's a lawyer, I gave up. :-)

Anyway, I wanted to do something special with the money and the scouts have started to get more interested in dutch oven cooking, so I looked around.

Lodge has a Lewis & Clark Commemorative dutch oven out. It's an 8qt. 12inch - that means it's deeper than normal so it works great for a roast.

If you want to take advantage of my legwork, the cheapest place I found this oven was at katom.com (I never heard of them either) and it was significantly cheaper than Lodge, REI, and other places. I was a bit nervous ordering it, but it arrived today and it is perfect! They also have the BSA Logo dutch oven and lots of others.

So, this weekend at the Scoutorama, the visiting Webelos be cooking doughnuts and chocolate chip cookies in our D.O.s - and if that doesn't convince them to join the troop, nothing will!

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It seems like forever that there has been a 'MYSCOUTING' link on scouting.org that just goes to a "Coming Soon" page. It was going to be here in August, then September, now its October.

But, the page has finally changed! You can now access MYSCOUTING and register. Enter your email, BSA ID info, and password to create an account for yourself. You receive a confirmation email and clicking the embedded link activates your account.

That's when you get to see the MYSCOUTING menu - "E-Learning", "ReChartering", and "Advancement" - "Tour Permits" are not available yet. You'll need special codes from your council to use the ReChartering and Advancement areas.

The MYSCOUTING area really needs a lot of work. Right now, its just an entry page to a handful of non-integrated tools, each one needed a separate login with no navigational integration between them. But, at least it's moving along and we're inching closer to usable online tools to reduce the work of our precious fellow volunteers.

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Have you watched Kid Nation on TV yet? My youngest son and I have been studying it for the past few weeks and find it interesting.

The concept is that 40 kids aged 8 to 15 are out at a ghost town that failed, attempting to build a city with no adults. (I have no idea what parents would have their 8 year old go out on his/her own for 40 days.) They've got a few kids that have good leadership skills, a few ringers that I think were coached to be irritants, and then a lot that you never hear from.

It's getting boring now that we know every show will have a contest, a town meeting where some homesick kids might decide to go home, and one kid will get a $20,000 gold star. Other than that, it's a whole lot of bickering, squabbling, and basic self-serving child behavior - imagine that. :-)

We are kind of rooting for Mike who is a Tenderfoot scout and was one of the leaders. He got voted off the town council last week so maybe he'll get a gold star soon.

There are a few snippets that would make good clips to use in a Troop Leader Training session on leadership styles that work and don't work.

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The scouts are planning their December campout which will be a skiing weekend. Since moving to Minnesota from Oregon, I haven't done much downhill mostly because there aren't many hills to go down. :-(
We do have a few guys in our troop that love to ski, though. They are talking about a high adventure trip to the West Coast in 2009 and include some skiing on Mt. Hood in Oregon. I've skied on Hood in July and it was a blast!

There's a full-blown summer ski program on Hood for skiers of all ability levels, as long as they want to improve. The National Alpine Ski Camp (NASC) offers a comprehensive summer program, usually attracting 14-17 year olds, but open for skiers down to 8 years old. What a great way to spend 10 days.
Besides skiing, the NASC program includes extra activities, such as rafting, rock climbing, windsufing, and mountain biking. They've been holding sessions for over 20 years.

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If you read Boys' Life every month like I do, you've seen a lot of Scouts in Action stories. Today, a Minnesota Cub Scout gets a medal for saving his little brother last year. Pretty cool!

In the summer of 2006, Jonah H., 10, saved his brother Micah, 3, from drowning in a family friend’s swimming pool. Micah jumped into the pool without a PFD and was unable to swim. Jonah called for help, swam to his brother and held his head above water until help arrived.

Jonah will be honored with a medal for his heroism tonight at the North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting in North St. Paul. Jonah is a member of Pack 49 in Northern Star Council and lives in Maplewood.

In 2006, the Boy Scouts of America awarded 92 medals, spread across the 300 Boy Scout Councils in the country.

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The Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) was established in 1936 with a mission to train youth as responsible leaders of the country that love God, their country, and fellowmen. Scouting was brought to the Phillipines in 1910 by Americans and now has more than two million members, making one of the largest Scouting organizations in the world.

BSP celebrates its birthday in October and has support of the government and especially the Department of Education. Education has weekly activities during October to help promote scouting in the schools. The activities this year support the "One World, One Promise" theme of Scouting worldwide.

As a highlight of scouting month in the Phillipines, the 14th National Jamboree will be held on Oct. 22-27 at the Philippine Scouting Center for Asia-Pacific Region, Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna. About 10,000 attendees are expected from the 109 Councils.

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When I went to Philmont in 2005, we had a scraggly assortment of backpacks. We had internal and external frames. We had huge packs and practically microscopic packs. We had orange, brown, blue, red, and green packs. But, we all had full uniforms! :-)

Finding the luggage at the airport could have been a real pain, except that we had a trick up our collective sleeves. Rather than ship the backpacks and hope no straps fell off or zippers opened up, everyone bought identical duffel bags large enough to fit every backpack.

At the luggage carrousel, it was a snap to find our duffels as they came by! Plus, we had extra room for shipping back souvenirs, including the trail food I collected to show the troop what we ate for 12 days.

In case you haven't heard of them, a company called "Outdoor Products" has a range of camping gear that is inexpensive. It's a good brand for new scouts buying their first backpack or other gear - low price on gear they'll outgrow. They have a 10,600 cu. in. duffel for $23 listed on Campmor.com and other online retailers. I believe that's what we got in 2005 and the new guys'll be getting similar bags next year for the two crews we have going in June.

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I've had a few scouts ask me about blogging, how does it work, is it fun, does anyone read it, what value does it have, ... and so on.

For the most part, blogging is done by women. That doesn't mean it's a good way to meet girls or that guys will think you're a sissy if you blog. It means that most of the blogs are written by women. Women tend to be more open with thoughts and like to share 'stuff' openly. These blogs are most often public diaries of daily happenings, feelings, and the kind of thing that might have been written in a diary not too many years ago.

When men blog, there is usually a theme or niche for their writing. For example, I mostly write about scouting stuff. Other guys have blogs about electronic gadgets, horses, hunting, business management, stay-at-home dad, pretty much any area of interest where they can write and not get into feelings too much.

That's not to say there aren't guys with "diary" type blogs or women with "tech" blogs. It's just what you will generally see.

The reasons scouts blog are varied. Usually, it is because they feel they have a lot to say about a topic or want an avenue to express their thoughts easily and quickly. Recently, blogs have had a very strong impact on web site ranking and have even become money-making experiments.

Starting a blog is very easy, keeping a blog going can be hard work, especially when you've emptied your head of all the ideas you have on that subject.

To start a blog, you need to decide what you will write about, how it will look, what software you will use, and who you will use for your blog hosting.

Picking your topic to write about is completely up to you. It's better to keep it a broad theme in which you have ongoing interest. Writing about "electric lawnmowers" might be too narrow, but "lawn and garden" gives you more room to expand.

There are many choices for software and hosts to use. Most software packages give you a selection of page layouts and color schemes so it's easy to make your blog look the way you want.

Movable Type is a powerful publishing platform for blogs and Movable Type hosting is available through many companies. Wordpress is another blogging software that is very popular.

I happen to be a web developer and created this site before blogging took off so my blog is "home-grown" and does not use a package. I would not recommend anyone do it this way due to the unnecessary work and lack of features. Just find a host, buy a package, and start sharing your thoughts with the world - it just takes an hour to get started.

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So, they tell me there's a bug going around. You think?!?

I've been out of commission for the past few days and am just now catching up on backlogged emails. Some of them have been interesting, but the one yesterday from someone moving their furniture and expecting me to get some Boy Scouts to help them was the best. :-)

Anyway, today's the first sunny day in awhile so I've got to kick the son outside and mow one more time while I work on my link directory and a few other web site updates.

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