January 2024 – Get the most out of this Scouting year!
Written by: Adam Riedel, Scoutmaster Troop 899
As both a Scoutmaster and a District Serving Executive, I constantly receive questions from Scouts, their parents, fellow leaders and have even received questions from other District Executives about how to maximize the potential of the Scouting program in a specific time frame. Since it is the new year and a common time for people to consider new goals, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my top tips for making this year a great year for your Scouting Journey!
Scouting is an adventure. How much adventure you have is really up to you. Whether you have just joined or have been part of this program for years, Scouting can open doors to new hobbies, or even a future career. There is so much to do in Scouting, here are some first steps to taking advantage of it all!
For the Scout
Be Active – It is important that you attend meetings, campouts, and extra activities. Prioritize being an active member. The more you attend the more you will learn. The more you attend the more you have an opportunity to work on the skills necessary to complete requirements for rank and for Merit Badges. The more you attend the more your fellow Scouts will get to know you. The more you attend the more opportunities you will have to learn the leadership skills you will need to be successful. The more you attend the more respect you will gather from your fellow Scouts. If you want to be elected into a Position of Leadership, be selected for the Order of the Arrow, have opportunities to do high adventure trips…. Being an active Scout is a critical component to success.
Be Present – Our meetings are 90 minutes once a week. At most meetings we get to have about 60 minutes dedicated to instruction, planning, learning, etc. We are lucky to have 10 campouts a year that give us more time than that, but we are extremely limited in the amount of time we get to spend together to work on the skills, lessons, and relationships we are working so hard to build. Each Scout should work hard to stay focused and engaged on the tasks. Do not just show up. Show up prepared to learn, work with your patrol members, share your knowledge, help others, and be the best Scout you can be. Don’t be distracted or mentally absent, don’t just go through the motions, instead stay focused on the here and now.
Work on your skills outside of Scout time. You can easily have access to your own advancement report, you have your Scout Handbook. If you are struggling with knots, look them up on YouTube and practice them. If you are struggling with lashings, look them up in your book, or on YouTube and practice them. Use your shoelaces and wooden spoons. The concept is the same regardless of the size of the “poles” or “rope”. Your Scout Handbook contains an tremendous amount of information and can help you through every Scout skill you need. Need help working on cooking, consult your Scout Handbook. Need help working on recognizing animal prints or identifying plants, consult your Scout Handbook. Need help learning map symbols, consult your Scout Handbook. Are you seeing the pattern?
Don’t focus on your advancement. I know that sounds crazy coming from me. I am exceptionally attentive to the advancement of all of our Scouts, but if you are only focusing on the requirements, you are going to completely miss lessons you need to learn. If you focus on learning the skills that you need to be a successful Scout (first aid, fire building, navigation, leadership, safe tool usage, cooking, personal fitness, etc), then you will advance through the ranks and learn the lessons Scouting wants to teach you far faster and much more successfully than a Scout who is only worried about getting requirements checked off.
Be prepared. The Scout Motto. A very good motto. And the motto for a reason. If it is a cold camping weekend, you should show up in pants, layered clothing and have a coat. If we are camping you should have your mess kit and the stakes necessary to set up your tent. If you just purchased a new tent you should know how to set it up before you show up Friday night. Don’t practice one time, practice until you can’t get it wrong. You should even read my blog from November 2022 here: https://www.bsatroop899.org/post/set-your-tent-up-right. If we are going on a hike, you should wear pants designed for hiking and layers that can be easily removed/put on to control your body temperature. You should ALWAYs have rain gear. Being prepared means you have put some thought into the upcoming event and you know what you will need to do, how to do it and be ready for things to go a way differently than you expected.
For the Parents
Make your Scout’s attendance a priority. Schedule the meetings and events on your family calendar the same way you would any other family, school, or sporting activity. The Scouting program is designed to teach your child ways to develop their character, leadership, citizenship, and aid in their personal fitness journey among many, many other things. Ensuring they have consistent attendance will help them achieve their Scouting goals on a timeline everyone will be happy about. Does your child play a sport? I hope they do! Staying physically fit is one of the promises we make as Scouts. Yes, a lot of times, Sporting schedules conflict with Scouting schedules, and that’s ok, but be at every meeting and campout possible when not at sports.
Every time you drop off your Scout, encourage them to bring something back to you after the meeting. Ask them to learn one new thing, help one other Scout with something they struggle with, be compassionate to a Scout who doesn’t know what they know by helping them learn that skill. Encourage them to leave their phone in the phone storage compartments and enjoy the fellowship during the meeting. Make sure they arrive at the meeting ready to participate. They should come to meetings having already eaten, not planning to eat during the meeting. They should have their uniform on and complete. They should be prepared to turn in any paperwork, payments, etc. on time. All these things will help them achieve their Scouting Goals.
Help your Scout by reinforcing the skills they learn during the meetings at home. You don’t have to be good at it, learn the skills with them. Pull up the YouTube channel and watch it with them. Learn together. Ask your Scout to recite the Scout Oath & Law. Ask them to recite the Outdoor Code. But more importantly, ask them what they mean. Play games with knots or take your Scout grocery shopping with you regularly so they can learn why you buy what you buy and how you make those decisions. We only get 90 minutes a week and one weekend a month. Your Scout will learn and embrace the skills they need much quicker if you reinforce the lessons at home as well.
Stop looking at the list of requirements as boxes that need to be checked and start looking at them as lessons that need to be learned. The Mission of the Boy Scouts of America is “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law “. It doesn’t say anything about making 1st class in a specific time, or earning Eagle Scout. As a Troop, following the aims and methods put forth by the Boy Scouts of America, we are working with your Scouts to teach them the necessary skills as laid out in the “Aims of Scouting”. They are Character Development, Leadership Development, Citizenship Training, and Personal Fitness”. We are focused on teaching and developing those skills and even though I can tell you exactly what your Scout needs to work on next without looking it up, that is not our primary focus.
Help your Scout be ready for upcoming events. Yes, they should be prepared on their own, but they are still children. You should not expect them to get it right 100% of the time. Make sure they have stakes, make sure they have appropriate clothing for the weather, make sure they have equipment they need. Make sure they pack their mess kit and rain gear. Remind them to bring their neckerchief and slide for a meeting, or better yet, when they get home from a meeting, hang up their uniform, neckerchief and slide all together. When they get home from a campout, help them repack their gear to be ready to go for the next campout. We can’t expect them to know these things if they aren’t taught and then reinforced over, and over, and over, and over…….
In closing, these five steps will help put you (or your Scout) on the right path towards future success. You can make 2024 a great year for Scouting if you are active, present, work on your skills at home, focus on the process of learning skills, and come as prepared as possible to all Scouting events.
Comments