Scoutmaster

Program - Canned or Fresh?

Canned programs for Scouts are attractive because they are easy. They are also poor excuses for a Scout activity. Canned experiences require little preparation, skill development or leadership. In our part of the world there are whitewater rafting trips, ski weekends, museum lock-ins and similar activities that only require Scouts show up and be led by the hand through an activity or presentation.

Scoutmasters should be adamant that activities are aimed at fulfilling the promises of Scouting and not simply entertainment. Activities that Scouts plan and present for themselves, as imperfect or halting as they may be, are always preferable to a canned program.

All of our Scouts want to 'have fun'. Canned programs can be 'fun' but are simply an end in themselves. Fun is not an aim of Scouting but Scouting is fun. Scouts get a real sense of satisfaction from creating their own program. Scouting demands that Scouts be more than participants - they must be the planners, the leaders the developers.

A Scout-made program surpasses any canned program. When the Scouts have invested themselves in building a challenging, ambitious activity they benefit from something they have done for themselves.

Blisters

Dr. Paul Auerbach discusses blisters at Medicine for the Outdoors:

If a blister is caused by pressure (ill-fitting boots), you have a couple of choices. As mentioned above, prior to actual blister formation, you can protect or pad the area. Once a blister forms, the blister site can be padded with moleskin or other adhesive foam, so that rubbing no longer occurs, the blister should be ringed with a doughnut of padding and left intact. For a better cushion, a piece of Spenco 2nd Skin (an inert gel consisting of polyethylene oxide and water) can be laid into the doughnut hole and the entire area covered with a second layer of moleskin or an absorbent bandage, such as a Spenco adhesive knit bandage.

The best treatment for blisters, as for most outdoor ills, is a healthy dose of prevention. Thorough instruction on proper footwear, socks and quickly responding to 'hot spots' are an important component of preparing your Scouts for a hike or backpacking trip.

Scouts have enough obstacles - don't be one.

Jerry at the Scoutmaster's Minute blog encourages us to encourage autonomy in our Scouts;

And so it goes with everything in Scouting. Let them do it. Parents...Leaders... Get out of the way for a minute and let your Scout set the limit...pass the limit... find a new limit... and challenge himself to great things.

Your son is a perfectly capable young man that wants to prove to you that he can do it. He is used to having everything handed to him and is not used to earning his way. He needs to be challenged and allowed to conquer those challenges without mom and dad hovering with a first aid kit and kid gloves. It does not hurt him to get a little dirty..or tired..or cold..or hungry... he learns from those conditions. He wont starve on a camp out..get the flu.. or learn to shoot craps on a Scouting outing. He will learn to be a part of a team, develop life long skills, and habits for life with value.

Our kids have enough obstacles in their lives, we don't need to be one of them. Rest assured the Adult leaders of the troop have nothing but the best intentions for your Scout. We want them to develop Character and Citizenship, and to be physically fit. We want them to leave Scouting with a set of skills that they can pass on to their sons, Scouts, or friends.

Read the full post here

The Venerable Foil Dinner

A mainstay of any Scout's arsenal of cooking methods the foil dinner is simple, fun and (almost always) delicious.
The Cuckwagon Diner site has an excellent collection of foil dinner recipes.
How about a foil pineapple upside down cake or roasted garlic jam?
Via Uncooped
'2643 Scout Camping Dinner' picture from WoofBC at Flickr.

More on Cooking

Learning to be light

Tom Mangan at Two Heel Drive reports on his participation in a lightweight backpacking class

Eleven of us sit at tables in a small meeting room in a nondescript office park on the outskirts of Palo Alto. Steve faces us from behind a table containing a blue backpack that looks big enough for moon missions. Steve notes that he routinely toted 60-70 pounds in this leviathan before he saw the light and started trimming his load. While describing his idea of a "lightweight" pack, he opens a zipper and plucks a smaller pack — one that might hold 15 to 20 pounds of gear fully loaded — from the beast’s upper thorax.. Then he starts talking about his "ultralight" pack and snatches a shiny little number from the beast’s lower abdominal cavity...

...For years, one of the primary appeals of backpacking has been the melding of dreadful suffering with wondrous outdoor vistas. Most folks are content to gawk at mountains and forests from their cars or camper vans, but those who insist on seeing them up close have been forced, until recently, to carry equipment built tough enough for Everest expeditions. A few people who were not Sherpas became indignant that lugging a 50-pound pack up a hillside turned an afternoon amid nature’s wonder into hours of praying for the day’s end or death, whichever came first. They made up their minds to enjoy the show and save their shoulders (and knees, hips, ankles and feet), and the lightweight-backpacking movement was born.

Read the whole story - part one, part two

Freezer Bag Cozy

Have you tried freezer bag cooking yet? I am sold on the method - simple, lightweight, inexpensive and reasonably goof proof. Stove Stomper has a great pictorial guide to making your own freezer bag cozy from Reflectix insulation.
via Freezer Bag Cooking Blog

See also
Freezer Bag Cooking - worth a look

When is it time to find a new Troop?

Before you waste anymore time trying to fix what is wrong with a Scout Troop look around and see if you can't find one that is a better fit. Put aside the question of dedication, misplaced loyalty and grim determination and look at what the problems are doing to your son.

People of good will sometimes find themselves at odds with one another in schools, churches, community organizations and Scout Troops. Not everyone gets along all the time.

Examine your goals for being involved and keeping your son in Scouts. If they are not substantially being met by his current Troop its time to find another. This process can be as histrionic or as  simple as you choose (please choose simple). 

Simplicity is making the change quickly and quietly. No long letters, emails or discussions, get the papers and walk. If the Troop you are leaving is interested in why they will ask. If they do  have the simplest most direct answers ready - but don't be drawn into a long discussion. If you want a cathartic experience speak with a neutral third party.

Join the new Troop without complaining over the old. Make a fresh start of it.

Our little town has two active Scout Troops and they are quite different. During Webelos transition time we get visits from families who choose us, or choose the other Troop.  Sometimes we swap Scouts back and forth after they find that one or the other Troops is a better fit. My attitude is that this is all "no harm, no foul" territory. So long as the boy stays in scouting I am happy.

The Uncertain Senior Patrol Leader

Scouter 573 asks:
What can I do to help an SPL who thinks he got chosen for something other than his leadership abilities?

Most of my SPL's (twenty five or so and counting) have had at least a minor crisis of self confidence. A few have had some major misgivings. I try to help them recall that they were elected by their fellow Scouts, and that in itself witnesses that they have confidence in him.

Imbue them with confidence and support, make their disappointments small. If they are beaten down by many failures find some element of success to build upon.

Think of yourself as a drill sergeant who, instead of finding every opportunity to tear down, finds every opportunity to build up. Don't floridly overreact in the manner of a doting parent but find your opportunities for praise.

The confidence you exhibit in any youth leader is proportional to the confidence they will develop.

Scoutmaster Award of Merit

The Scoutmaster Award of Merit is offered by the National Eagle Scout Association for Scoutmasters who meet these requirements:

1. Be a currently registered Scoutmaster who has served in that position     for at least 18 months.
2. Have achieved the Quality Unit Award at least once during the period      of service.
3. Have completed Boy Scout Leader Fast Start Orientation, New Leader      Essentials, Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Leader Specific      Training, and Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills.
4. Have a record of proper use of the Boy Scout advancement program,      resulting in a majority of  Boy Scouts in the troop attaining the      First Class rank.
5. Have a record of 
   • Development of youth leadership through the patrol method
   • Positive relations with the troop's chartered organization
   • An extensive outdoor program including strong summer camp attendance
   • A positive image of Scouting in the community
   • A troop operation that attracts and retains Boy Scouts

The chair of the troop committee has the responsibility of nominating the  Scoutmaster on behalf of the patrol leaders' council and the troop committee. (Click here to download the nomination form.)

The nomination is certified by the unit commissioner and forwarded to the  local council service center. The nomination should be approved by the Scout executive and either the council NESA chair or the council commissioner. The Scout executive will forward the nomination to the director of the  National Eagle Scout Association at the national office.

Free Range Kids

I encourage you to pay a visit to Free Range Kids; a blog by Lenore Skenazy op-ed columnist at The New York Sun:

Do you ever let your kid ride a bike to the library? Walk alone to school? Take a bus, solo? Or are you thinking about it? If so, you are raising a Free Range Kid! At Free Range, we believe in safe kids. We believe in helmets, car seats and safety belts. We do NOT believe that every time school age children go outside, they need a security detail. Most of us grew up Free Range and lived to tell the tale. Our kids deserve no less.

Skenazy rocketed to fame (or infamy) recently when she wrote a column about letting her nine-year-old son take the New York City Subway on his own.

There is a propensity to exaggerate the danger of giving children some measure of independence. High profile yet statistically extremely rare abductions of children have made most parents jittery about letting children out of their sight.

At ten or eleven years old I was allowed to hop on the bus and travel from our suburban Virginia home to downtown Washington D.C. - a voyage I made many times without incident. We rode our bikes all over kingdom come and hitch-hiked quite a bit too.

No I'm not suggesting that children should hitch-hike. It is probably a good idea to give them some more autonomy and reexamine the often irrational fears that cause us to restrict it.