Wood Badge

Now I don't want to give too much away, but I have to write about my latest Scouting experience.

This past weekend I began my participation in Wood Badge, the penultimate Boy Scout training for leaders.  It focuses on leadership skills and builds onto core beliefs of the Boy Scout program.

It was a transformational experience.  It shows what great leadership is and what functions are necessary to become a great leader.  The activities are very much what Baden-Powell said of Scouting; "Games with a purpose".  We had fun, but also learned at the same time.  And that is what Scouting should be; a game with a purpose.

I truly believe that all Scouters should go through this training sometime in their Scouting career.  The sooner the better in my opinion.  I can already tell that I'm changing for the better and as such my Troop, Pack and my family will benefit from this.

I don't want to reveal too much so I will end it here.  But take my word, go through Wood Badge.  Get trained.  Go back to your unit with this training and give the youth a better program.

Back to Gilwell!

Keeping the outing in Scouting

I am a firm believer in the idea that the out of doors should play an integral part in Scouting.  Back when Scouting was in its infancy, Scouts would venture into the outdoors often and usually to a much greater extent than boys nowadays could dream about.  Of course that’s back when the outdoors were more accessible and in all honesty, more abundant.

Things have changed.  We’ve become more urbanized and as such Scouting has evolved in that direction too.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but we cannot allow outdoor activities and other interactions with nature to fall by the wayside.  I feel that for many troops the outdoors are a mere periphery and not the main focus of Scouting.  I disagree with this approach.

One of the main reasons that most boys join Scouting is to go out into the wild and to experience nature outside of their yard or general neighborhood.  As our society becomes more technology oriented our connections to nature fade.  Scouting has always been a major connector to nature, but it too has started to falter.  Many new merit badges are very urban centered (animation, multi-media, computer aided design, etc.).  Though most merit badges deal with the outdoors or nature, the trend of urban centered merit badges is increasing.

I’ve heard of troops that only go out once a quarter.  I’ve also heard of troops who only “camp” in fully furnished cabins.  My own troop, which was once known as “the camping troop”, has also fallen into the “no outing” category.

This has got to change.  We’ve got to put the outing back into scouting.  We have to give the youth a good, quality outdoors program.

It’s incredible how many places there are to go camping, hiking or otherwise have great Scouting trips.  The first place you should look when searching for decent outing locations is your State Parks.  State Parks tend to have great campsites for reasonable prices and on top of that, they usually have a museum, visitor center or other facility for educational info and events.  So you’re really killing two birds with one stone with State Parks; easy camping facilities and activities to fill in the time between meals and Scout activities.  Be careful, however, you don’t want to fall into relying on State Parks as your sole outing destination.  They are great for beginner campers, but the more seasoned youth will begin to bristle towards these easy locations.

Outings don’t have to be limited to parks.  You can take your Scouts to any number of other destinations or activities.  Civil War re-enactments, military museums (i.e. the USS Alabama), museums, cultural centers, science parks and many other places are great alternatives to just straight camping in the woods.  My Scoutmaster when I was a boy took a small contingent of Scouts to the nuclear power plant at Oak Ridge where the boys were able to earn the Atomic Energy merit badge.  I also remember going to the Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  We earned Space Exploration.  So you see, there are so many things you can do with your troop that may or may not be readily obvious.  It certainly pays to research and see what’s available in your area.

Going on outings not only gives the Scouts a fun experience, but they also given them knowledge and a deeper understanding of our world, be it natural or societal or educational.  While hiking through a Civil War battleground, Scouts can get a better picture of what happened during the war and what the war was about.  This is hard to get from a textbook or movie.  Going to a city council meeting teaches the youth the processes of municipal government and thus a greater understanding of civics and how our cities work.

Life skills are also a major thing to get taught on an outing.  Rope work, proper handling of axes and other tools, cooking, orienteering and other normal Scout skills are best taught in the field, actually building and living in a camp.  You can have the Scouts practices their skills at meetings, but it isn’t until they have to rely on those skills that they actually get ingrained into the young mind and are thus able to be accessed readily.

The long and short of it is that we need to keep kids in the outdoors.  It is an integral part of our organization and we need to keep it alive.  Not only is it a major part of Scouting, it is a primary factor that draws youth to us.  Without it, we’re done.

First hike

Just found out this morning while going on a Webelos II hike that Meeman-Shelby Forest will be having an event called "First Hike" in January.  On January first at 2pm the ranger will begin a hike through the park starting from shelter #2.  There will be hot apple cider, a bonfire and a raptor hike.  I'm sure there will be more, but I think it sounds fun just from the few events she rattled off to me.

I will unfortunately not be able to make it as I will be out of town, but this will be a great opportunity for Scouts to see some cool stuff.  This would probably be especially cool for the younger boys.

Can do vs Can't do attitudes

I guess I am a can do type of person.  I don't generally think I can't do something.  I just do it.  It may not be perfect or 100% correct, but I try to get it done.  It bothers me when people immediately take the opposite attitude of can't.  I get extremely frustrated when I give ideas or advice and then immediately given reason why it won't work.  THEN the person continues to complain about the situation that I was advising on.

I don't mind my ideas being shot down.  What I mind is the immediate rejection, the whining about something and doing nothing to fix it and shooting done ideas saying they are impossible.

When I do something and run into obstacles, I try to figure out a way through it.  I try to remain positive and to find the silver lining in less than good things.  If one thing doesn't work, I figure something else out.  I rarely give up something as hopeless.  I guess that's why one of my fellow Scouters frustrates me so much.

This person basically voluntold me for something and asked me for my help and input, but constantly refuses my advice and tells me that nothing can be.  It's just excuses, excuses, excuses.  I feel that my energy and time are not being utilized well and that until the leader gets a better attitude, we are not going to be able to change or grow.

I think it's better to see what the possibilities are rather than why there can't be possibilities.  There are going to be times when things look dark and bleak, but rather than accepting that and quitting and wallowing in self pity, you need to sit down and figure ways that it will work.  My friend put this perfectly when he said "I'm sick and tired of people telling me why it won't work instead of trying to figure out ways that it will".  My sentiments exactly!

If you have a negative attitude about things, all you're going to get is negativity.  If you have a positive attitude, you will draw positive and good things to you.

When is being kind too much?

One of the tenets of Scouting is "a Scout is kind".  We teach the boys that one must be kind to his fellow humans and animals, but when is it going too far?

We have an elderly gentleman in our troop who has been in Scouting longer than my parents have been alive.  He's an institution within our council and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't know who this guy is.  But the fact of the matter is that he can be a bit of a burden at times.  He lives a block away from the church we meet at and yet needs a ride every time.  It wouldn't be a big deal, but he constantly calls me looking for a ride.  It's not just on meeting days.  He'll start calling me several days beforehand and if he doesn't talk to me, he will call again and again and again.  It's annoying when I'm at work (I've had talks with him many times about not calling me between the hours of 8 and 5 to no avail), but when I'm at home with family, I really don't want to spend five minute yelling into the phone to get this guy to hear me.  This situation is causing some issues between my wife and I as well.  She's annoyed that I have to leave home early in order to get him and that he always calls, looking for me.  Also, I don't want to leave my family for longer than I have to.  Being an ASM and a Den Leader takes a lot of my time and though picking this guy up doesn't take me out of my way, it does take more of my time.

Another problem with this fellow is that he wants me to take him to our monthly roundtable.  If I lived over by him, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I live far East of him and would have to travel past the meeting place to pick him up.  Doing this in rush hour traffic is no small task and again requires me to leave early in order to get him.

I don't want to go against the principle of being kind, but sometimes I wonder when is adhering to one's principles going too far?  I don't want to tell the guy to get lost, but I also feel like I'm getting taken advantage of and no one else is willing to help out.

This whole situation upsets me and I'm not sure what I should do.  I hope the situation will improve, but I don't expect it to.

New Uniforms

Seems like I'm complaining a lot about "new" things that the BSA are doing.  I'm sorry, but I guess I'm falling into the trap of most Scouters; things were better in my day.

The new uniforms were adopted probably about 5 years ago or so.  I'm not quite sure when exactly, I just know that they were in use when I joined my current troop.  They are made up nylon and cotton and are supposed to be great at sweat wicking and being better suited for outdoors.  I say phooey on that.  My friend had to replace his new uniform pieces twice in 3 years.  I'm still wearing the shirt that I wore as a boy 15+ years ago!

I just came into some of these new uniforms.  I inspected them and discovered that some of the "embroidered" parts are coming off.  These uniforms are expensive!  Why are they coming apart?  Why are they more expensive, but cheaper made?

A Scout is supposed to be thrifty.  How can one be thrifty if the uniforms are so expensive and yet wear out so quickly?  If I'm going to fork over 20-30 bucks for clothes that I'm going to be camping in and working in, I want them to last and not fall apart after I wear them a few times.  I will most likely continue wearing my old school stuff until it truly falls apart.

I think the BSA should reevaluate their uniforms and how they are made.

New requirements

I recently found out that the requirements for Second Class now state that boys should only build a fire, but lighting it is no longer required.  I wonder how Scouts are to prepare themselves for the outdoors and for life if corners are continuously cut?  I don't agree with this change.

I wish that our society would stop making stuff easier.  We're not doing ourselves any favors by giving everyone a pass.  Life is about overcoming challenges and learning and adapting.  If we keeping making things easy, our kids are never going to learn anything and will be helpless in the future.  We need to properly challenge young people in order to help them grow and learn.