Issue 569 – June 19, 2018

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Dear Andy,

Thank you for your support with my son, as his counselor for Communication merit badge and helping him promote the Order of the Arrow in his troop. While he was fulfilling the requirements for Communication, he needed to attend a city council meeting to take notes. But something beyond this happened…

At that meeting, he stood up and took the opportunity to share with the council and audience his concern about the weak street lighting in our neighborhood. The Mayor took note of our son’s comments and told him that the Police Department would go out with light meters and measure the amount of light on our street at night.

A few weeks after that city council meeting, while putting our trash containers out on the curb, I was surprised to notice that our street didn’t seem quite as dark as it usually was. And then I looked up…and saw that we now had a brand-new street light!

His dad and I are so happy that our son, by speaking up, initiated the solution to an ongoing problem for all of the families on our street! He not only fulfilled a merit badge requirement, but he learned a lot about the power of one voice! This is an amazing life lesson, and I thought you’d enjoy knowing about this Scouting success story! Thank you for all you do to support Scouts. (Colleen Heredia, Patriot’s Path Council, NJ)

Thanks! I’m sometimes asked, “Andy, what do you get paid, to write these columns?” and you’ve just given me the very best “paycheck” possible!
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Dear Andy,

First, thank you for all of the great advice and guidance that you’ve given in your columns. When faced with a tough decision, I ask myself, “What would Andy do?”

In our troop, we’re losing committee members left and right! Their sons have aged out, or they’re moving—all good reasons, but the vacancies are mounting!

I’ve been trying to get parents to join our troop’s committee and become more involved and supporting of the troop as a whole, but I’m not having much luck. I’ve tried stressing what we need filled, and that this is their opportunity to help shape their sons’ Scouting careers and experience, but this hasn’t yielded the positive results I’ve been hoping for. Do you have any suggestions on how to best accomplish this? Thanks! (Ryan Nugent, SM, Cradle of Liberty Council, PA)

Scoutmasters (like you!) already have a set of responsibilities. Your key job is to train, coach, mentor, and guide the youth leaders of the troop so that they can plan, run, and lead their own troop and their patrols’ program of Scout-selected activities.

A key responsibility—different from yours—of the troop’s Committee Chair is to identify, recruit, and train the adult volunteers who serve in every other capacity on the troop’s committee.

This means that the very first thing that needs to happen is a face-to-face conversation between you and the CC, so that you each know what you’re supposed to be doing. (BSA training can be a huge help for both of you!)

When you and the CC reach agreement, brainstorm about how he’s going to recruit and how you’re going to support him. In the meanwhile, I’ll guarantee that “broadcast” announcements are the LEAST effective way to add volunteers where needed!

Thanks, Andy! One thing that compounds the issue is that our CC has been kind of “hands off”, during the tenure of our previous Scoutmaster. This is my first year in this role, and I’m trying to straighten certain things out to the way it should be, including a proper and functioning committee. I’ll have to have a sit down with our CC, as you suggested, so we can discuss who’s responsible for what. Thanks again for all of your help! (Ryan)

This sort of “hands off” problem has an ancient history… In 1907, when Baden-Powell considered what to call the adult volunteer who would be the direct contact for Scouts and who would provide the guidance needed, he chose the key word used in England to signify “teacher.” Yup, that word was “master,” as in schoolmaster and headmaster. So what would be most fitting would naturally be “Scoutmaster”–teacher of Scouts. But a few years later, when Scouting crossed the Atlantic, “master” meant something quite different (and still does!) in America: Master means “boss”—“the guy in charge of everything” here.

You and your CC need to take a look at page 2 of the BSA Adult Volunteer Application. There, in plain language, he’ll discover that it’s the CC who’s “in charge”—including approval of ALL OTHER VOLUNTEERS.

Your CC needs to step up to the plate and make recruitment (and subsequent training) happen. If he or she isn’t prepared to do this, then a replacement is needed, and quickly!
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Dear Andy,

I just took the latest Youth Protection Training, and noticed the new requirement that “youth sharing tents should not be more than two years apart in age.” I can see the reasoning for this rule, but one thing that wasn’t quite clear to me is how the “two years” is determined. Is it two years “to the day” (e.g., one year-eleven months apart is okay, but two years-one month isn’t)? Or is it based on their numerical age (12-year-olds and 14-year-olds can tent together, but 12-year-olds and 15-year-olds can’t)? I can see issues with both of these interpretations…

– If it’s their age “to the day,” then we will need to keep track of each Scout’s date of birth and compare birthdays on every campout to determine who can tent with whom. This sounds like a logistical nightmare, especially with larger troops.

– If we take the second interpretation, then we’ll wind up in situations with Scouts who are, say, two-and-a-half years apart, so they can only tent together half of the year. Let’s say Tommy and Johnny are 12 and 14 respectively, so they can be tent-mates. But then Johnny turns 15 and Tommy is still 12. Do we tell them they can no longer tent together? But don’t worry! Just wait six months and you can tent together again! This seems very silly and unfair, since they are exactly the same “distance” apart in age the entire time.

The Guide to Safe Scouting doesn’t seem to give any further clarification on this. If you follow the wording “no more than two years apart in age” to the letter, then it sounds like the first definition would apply. However, I can see how, if we left it up to the Scouts, they’d probably follow the second interpretation because it’s easier and kind of sounds like what it’s saying (especially at their age).

Or, since the wording says, “should”, is it simply a guideline, and we should leave it up to common sense on a case-by-case basis? (Joe Martinez)

GOOD sense trumps “common” sense… (wink)

I admire your conscientiousness but let’s not make ourselves crazy here. As a former Scoutmaster, I’m inclined to use the “KIS” of “KISMIF” and Keep It Simple by using present ages. Assuming two-man tents, if one Scout is 11 and his tent-mate is 12 or 13, everything’s cool. If another pair of tent-mates are ages 13 and 16, not-so-cool. Just use their stated ages at the time.

If you’re following the BSA Patrol Method, having a problem here is really pretty remote… When Scouts join the troop from, let’s say, a Cub Scout pack (this is typical in about 80% of all cases), they’ll all be somewhere between about 10-1/2 and 11, so as their patrol moves along in age, right up to “aging out,” they’ll all be well within the age boundaries suggested (yes, “should” is a recommendation; “must” is a rule).

If you’re using the now-ancient (and not recommended) procedure of “seeding” young Scouts into older patrols, you can plan on trouble that goes beyond just tenting. That or those significantly younger boys won’t fare particularly well in patrols that are made up of Scouts considerably older… The young guys will get KP and other not-so-fun duties just about all the time, while the older Scouts will, essentially, become a “patrol sub-group” because that’s how boys hang out: They gather by approximate ages, no matter our intentions or hopes.

The other mess that occurs is when somebody decides that two “partial” patrols are easier to deal with when they’re smooshed together on a hike or campout because somebody thinks this is more “convenient.” Big mistake! This is the antithesis of The Patrol Method! (And it can guarantee an age-by-tent disaster.)

So always keep patrols intact—even when only two or three patrol members show up—because there’s no sense of responsibility, comradeship, bonding, learning together, or having fun together without The Patrol Method!

Happy Scouting!

Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

[No. 569 – 6/12/2018 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2018]