March 3, 2021

[NO. 668 – MY 20TH YEAR OF HELPING SCOUTS, SCOUTERS, & PARENTS]

We’ve been looking at various viewpoints on uniforms in the past several weeks. Here are some more that just came in. We also have some further comments about parent-drivers staying at a troop’s campouts, sometimes with dining provided by the Scouts…

Hi Andy,

When I first joined Scouts, I used the money I earned selling newspapers (and netting 2.5 cents per paper) on the streets of southcentral Los Angeles to buy my own uniform: $10.41. Later, I bought the green-with-white-belt Explorer uniform for only slightly more. That took sales of about 600 newspapers.

A few years ago, one of the boys for whom I was legal guardian (there were three kids in all), wanted to be a Scout (he went on to earn Life rank!), so he had more than one uniform along the way (kids do have habit of growing). At that time, shirt, pants, belt, and necessary insignia cost over $100 and was no bargain because this “BSA official uniform” had been made somewhere in Asia, and the shirt’s buttons were sewn in a nice row along the shirttail—no wearing it till we removed the buttons and sewed them to meet the buttonholes! (Dean Whinery, Life-long Scouting volunteer & council paraprofessional, now in Zacatecas, México)

Yup, I get it. My youngest son had any number of uniforms between 1988 and 1998—neckerchiefs, shorts, pants, belt, knee- and short-socks, cap—and none of them cost less than $100. Ouch!

In the late 1990’s, when I worked as my council’s Sea Scout Commodore (about the same sort of job as a Unit Commissioner), the recommended uniform shirts and pants came from the Dickies brand (the BSA didn’t sell uniforms for Sea Scouts or their adult volunteers). This was oaky by me, because a khaki shirt-and-pants combo from Dickies cost me about 70 bucks, while a comparable combo from the BSA ran over 90 simoleons!

Hi Andy,

On the issue of driving parents, if a group of them camps and cooks for themselves, they send several positive messages to the Scouts (assuming the Scouts are within sight of them). First, cooking can be fun (assuming they’re not kvetching at each other). They can also create interesting dishes that the Scouts can aspire to. Plus, they’ll be “demonstrating” good cooking methods (bring the water to an active boil before dumping the macaroni in), and techniques (use a plastic spatula in the no-stick frying pan). (Mitch Erickson, UC + executive board, Patriots’ Path Council, NJ)

Your ideas about adults cooking and Scouts looking on in awe and admiration are indeed interesting. There’s just one little problem. Scouting’s method of learning is not for youth to watch and listen–it’s for Scouts to DO. To actively dig their hands in, get grimy, make mistakes and fix them, encounter problems and solve them–all with an adult “safety net” but without direct interference except on issues of safety. Scouting is kinetic and visceral. Scouting is hands-on, not hands-twiddling-thumbs while listening to some adult drone on about how to do everything while all are surrounded by parents and others steeled to immediately jump in and keep Scouts from making mistakes.

Hi Andy,

For camping trips with parents and adult volunteers driving, I’m suggesting one more thing—arrange it so that the parent group can sort of “show off.”

Some of my favorite times as a parent when my sons were Scouts were when we went camping with the troop. The Scouts would do their thing in their patrols, and the parents and leaders would form their own “patrols” for cooking and such. We parents took great delight trying to outdo one another with creative menus.

Occasionally, we’d pitch our campsites downwind from the patrols Scouts and cooked things that smelled really good. Since many of the Scouts didn’t know that “cooking” can be much more than a scorched pot with mac-and-cheese lumping up at the bottom, “tube steaks” (hot dogs) skewered on a branch and held over the flame, and powdered “bug juice.” Camping upwind of us, our tasty aromas from beef Stroganoff, roasted corncobs, and a cranberry cobbler would waft in their direction, often yielding a Patrol Leader or two coming over to our campsite to watch what was going on and get better whiffs of those tasty aromas.

Most times, we parents would pre-plan, making way more cranberry cobbler that we’d ever need or bringing more ”s’mores” supplies than we could possibly finish. Then we’d tell the Scouts about our over-cooking “problem” and ask them if they might be able to help us off-load our excess desserts. Their eyes would light up! “Sure we can help!” they’d say.

For breakfasts, we’d usually bake multiple batches of cinnamon rolls, using a couple of Dutch ovens. Same thing: A couple of Scouts would show up at our patrol gateway, wide-eyed and asking what we’re cooking now. For this, we’d have the raw materials bagged in proper quantities for a normal patrol size and we had a couple of recipe card for them. (On Sunday mornings after the troop’s Scouts’ Own service, we’d notice as the Scouts were packing up, that their unopened little boxes of Count Chocula, Lucky Charms, and Froot Loops were getting repacked to take home. Mission Accomplished! (Robby Wright, ACC, San Diego-Imperial Council, CA)

What you and other parents did was a wonderful parent-kind-of gesture, and surely appreciated. But I’m a bit confused. I’d though this level of the Scouting programs was about Scouts doing things for themselves, with no parents around. I recall the famous quotation, “Never do for Scouts what they can do for themselves” so I’m not sure that what those troop parents did fits with Scouting’s purposeful plan of adults being “guides on the sides” instead of “sages on the stage.”

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Hi Andy,

I read your piece about adults grumbling about gas money to drive their Scouts to outings and the meal kerfuffle regarding both Scouts and adults.

About parents driving their sons or daughters and maybe another Scout or two, I agree that whatever dollars are spent on gas might at the most equal a couple of Chili’s hamburgers, and I also agree that gas is a small cost relative to the benefits of Scouting for our kids, so how about just sucking it up. That said, if the week-long summer camp is the three- to five-hour drive, one way, then a flat dollar amount for their vehicle and time is a fine gesture, sure to be appreciated by all (and maybe even refused by some).

Besides, it’s likely that the parents’ gas expenses may be tax-deductible. warranted. Plus, how about recognizing all parent-drivers at courts of honor—a I think a public show of thanks (and maybe a small token from that camp) can go a long way!

About who cooks what: In our troop the patrols do cook all meals to include leaders and parents. As Scoutmaster, I don’t think it’s much of an issue, but if it ever becomes one, we’ll be sure to have the Patrol Leaders Council decide what to do.

One way to handle this is to have the adults cook for themselves as a “patrol” of their own. (Joe Sefcik, SM, Connecticut Rivers Council)

I think you’re really onto something with your idea of recognizing all adults—parents or not and drivers or some other contribution to the troop—at every court of honor. Yes, these events are for the Scouts, but having “audience members” stand for recognition goes a long, long way! (A public “thank you” always trumps a couple o’ bucks!)

As for Scouts cooking, serving, and cleaning up for parents and such, I think that horse has been beaten up enough today.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!
Happy Scouting!

Andy

I will personally answer every message I receive. There’s no “writing staff”—just me. When writing, please include your name & council. If you’d rather be anonymous—if published—just tell me and I’ll honor that. Although these columns are copyrighted, you have my okay to quote or reproduce any column or part, so long as it’s attributed: “Ask Andy” by Andy McCommish.

[No. 668– 3/2/2021 – Copyright © 2021 Andy McCommish]