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In 1785, just a year before his death at age 37, Robert Burns enshrined ‘the pith of sense and pride of work’ above wealth or aristocratic birth in his poem A Man’s a Man for all That . Burns knew the privations of poverty from the earliest age yet became a legendary poet and favorite son…
In 1785, just a year before his death at age 37, Robert Burns enshrined 'the pith of sense and pride of work' above wealth or aristocratic birth in his poem A Man's a Man for all That . Burns knew the privations of poverty from the earliest age yet became a legendary poet and favorite son…
Eagle Scout Projects are actually very simple; any Scout can complete a project without a lot of fuss if he avoids the maze. There is a whole lot of opaque, misdirected and downright wrong advice out there. Much of it may come from district or council level Advancement Chairpersons.
The GSA (Girl Scouts of America) arrived at an elegant solution to the question of including girls who have diverse spiritual beliefs. The Girl Scout Promise On my honor, I will try To serve God* and my country To help people everywhere And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
After long preparation and excited anticipation our annual backpacking trip looked like a real washout - rain from Friday night to Sunday morning. Enduring a couple of days of rain is not anyone's idea of a great time so we are postponing until next weekend.
I cannot outrun my Scouts. They are faster, more agile and a few of the older ones are bigger and stronger. However I will always be older and wiser. Thankfully I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have had any significant behavioral difficulties with my Scouts in the…
As I have noted before politics and Scouting don't mix. Political campaigns can test our patience and bruise our spirits. We can be disappointed or thrilled with the ultimate outcome but whatever befalls over the next four years we all Americans.
Senator John McCain ended his presidential campaign with words befitting the bravery, loyalty and heroism that shaped him as an invaluable American patriot. Here are some excerpts I find especially inspiring A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him...
A very promising recruitment strategy mentioned at the Scoutmaster Musings blog: The Scoutorama is 3 hours of scout skill activities, lunch, and scout games. We've created a fun way for the Webelos to spend a little time with every patrol in the troop and try new things.
Our Scouts enthusiastically take on the challenge of preparing, launching and completing a backpacking trip. As a Scoutmaster I appreciate the Patrol and skill building opportunities but the real reason we go backpacking is the sheer joy (often achieved through great effort and discomfort) of the experience.
What is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strongly and so advantageously situated as this Republic is? Of course I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it.
What is the rule of honor to be observed by a power so strongly and so advantageously situated as this Republic is? Of course I do not expect it meekly to pocket real insults if they should be offered to it.
While I have managed to avoid blisters myself one or two usually show up on someone during the course of a Troop backpacking trip. Dr. Paul Auerbach has posted a very comprehensive treatise on preventing and treating foot blisters : To prevent blisters one must minimize friction generated by the normal biomechanical forces of walking and…
Gregg Shupe Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 12 in Framingham Mass. has come up with a great Patrol Box Wash Station . The station holds three wash basins for cleaning rinsing and sanitizing - looks like a great idea! Associated posts at Scoutmaster Chuck Boxes More Camp Kitchens Patrol Box Design Two Patrol Boxes Even More Chuck Boxes…
Paul Auerbach at Medicine for the Outdoors reviews Wonder Wash and Hand Sanz Wonder Wash is a biodegradeable and concentrated all purpose soap from All Terrain that comes in peppermint scent or fragrance free. It is advertised to be for "washing anything, anywhere, anytime," formulated to be gentle on skin, pH neutral, and sufficiently mild…
1. Making things more efficient Changes that compromise the responsibility of the scouts to do for themselves may make things more efficient, but they are inimical to the spirit of what we want to accomplish. Inefficiency 2. Applying uniform standards "Our standard for badge earning—as I have frequently said—is not to attain a certain level…
Selected for it's 10X zoom my digital camera has recorded many Scout outings over the past several years. Every once in a while I wish it had a wider minimum angle to capture more of a big scene. I repeatedly find that I must zoom out to the widest angle in my approach to Scouting…
Green Bar Bill Hillcourt's oft repeated encouragement to " Train em' trust em' and let them lead " remains the simple formula for building and maintaining confidence in youth leadership. Hillcourt's formula has three active components Train Training youth leaders need not be a protracted formal training event.
Illustration by Hap Wilson. Originally appeared in The Keewaydin Way by Brian Back Lake Temagami and environs is one of the great good places to go canoeing. According to the Ottertooth website: The three-walled heritage fireplace has been a Temagami tradition for over a hundred years and many blackened campsite fireplaces have been in use…
Picture from Ottertooth Reflector Ovens are great fun. Baking over the campfire is one of those advanced camping skills that bring a little class to your camping trips. Take a look at this lineup of ovens I put together a couple of years back to buy or make yourself.
Keith Monroe was a longtime contributor to Scouting magazine and Boys' Life . His book, Be Prepared , an account of his joys and struggles as a Scoutmaster, was published in 1952 under the pen name Rice E. Cochran. Here is an excerpt concerning Scoutmaster's dividends: The biggest dividends...
I would guess that one Troop in twenty schedules actual, independent Patrol outings. More likely than not the Patrols all go camping at once - AKA a Troop outing (like my Troop). I haven't pursued independent Patrol outings for a couple of reasons; Logistics - Planning, supplying and launching three or four separate outings is more difficult…
Part of preparing to get our fall programs underway is tuning up the engine that motivates our Scouts and keeps the program moving. The simple promises made to every Scout are written in the front of the Scout Handbook. I've laid them out below with some tips for assuring your troop is pointed at "true…
The following statement comes from a Council website. It seemed a timely thing to pass along. I found the picture above on the web. The name on the sign isn't important, we all need to read, understand and practice this policy: Boy Scouts of America policy prohibits Scouts from participating in political activities.
Several years ago a local Scout Troop ( I swear it wasn't us) suffered through a period of infamy they flipped several canoes while paddling in some heavy weather and had to be rescued. On this year's trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.
Dehydrated and freeze-dried foods are hard to beat for nutritional value, light weight and ease of preparation. As I have mentioned before prepackaged meals are expensive and hit-or miss in the taste department. Harmony House Foods offers vegetables, fruits, textured vegetable protein (a soy based meat substitute) in small or large quantities so you can…
Much of what I write in this blog is a search for the essential qualities of great Scoutmastership. In truth these qualities are so simple that they can prove to be elusive and so transparent that we are in constant danger of missing them.
Two recent events remind us all of the importance of correct sanitation practices when camping: In Virginia Goshen Scout Reservation closed early due to an outbreak of E. Coli illnesses traced to contaminated, undercooked ground beef (reportedly in foil dinners).
Today 18 Scouts and adults are off to our annual high adventure trip to Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. Canoer Chris Lawson, in writing about his Bonnechere river trip in Algonquin, has developed a lexicon for some of the conditions he encountered while portaging: The Armadillo: wherein the clear line through the bush becomes suddenly a…
An experienced Scoutmaster knows a lot. They have seen perhaps ten, perhaps twenty groups of Scouts through their Scouting careers. Training and experience have virtually turned them into Scouting experts, they can spot difficulties and errors before they are made.
Supplying 6 days of food for eighteen people in two crews for a canoe trip (that's 18 meals, 324 servings) with traditionally packaged freeze-dried food is a real budget breaker. One can shop at the average supermarket for reasonably lightweight, nutritious and easily prepared food but freeze-dried foods really expand the menu for very little…
Author Gerald Finley has put together a fine, no-nonsense book 'Rope Works Plus'. The expanded version of his original 1997 book 'Rope Works' features clearly illustrated directions for tying and using knots, splices and lashings, making rope (with plans for a geared rope making machine) and netting.
Scouting begins with an individual commitment expressed in the life of the Patrol and Troop. Troops form districts, districts form councils, councils form regions and regions form our national organization. Each step away from the Patrol is overlaid with an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy that obscures the real work of Scouting.
I have, very conscientiously, kept my politics out of Scouting and will continue to do so. That I have included the video below should not be interpreted as a political statement of any kind. I have posted it because I admire the thoughts it espouses - nothing more, nothing less.
Scouting Magazine poses the following question on “How to Control Misuse of Cell Phones”; A few of our parents want their sons to be able to use their personal cell phones during meetings and camp-outs. What can we do to keep the technology from being disruptive, yet allow the parents the security they’re asking for?
Patience and fortitude conquer all things. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Scouters must be patient. Scouting can be frustrating, even irritating, but an adult who shouts at Scouts portrays a weakness of character. Yelling is almost always an irrational, impulsive reaction. Verbal explosions are no less inappropriate than physical ones, and can do as much harm.
John Kennaugh in a discussion from uk.rec.scoutin g makes the case for essential Scouting Skills; The skills Baden Powell (BP) instinctively identified as Scouting skills were based on the skills of our ancestors, making camp, putting up a shelter, cooking over a fire, exploring our surroundings without getting lost, learning about the natural world and…
During my early years as a Scoutmaster fundraising for Scouts was a miserable task I dreaded. We tried selling stuff offered by fundraising companies with marginal success. What we finally hit on was a spaghetti dinner that has been a great money earner and event for the past decade or more.
The season of the tick has returned – time to review appropriate strategies to prevent Lyme disease and a host of other tick-borne agents. Most everyone in this part of the world knows someone who has had or is battling Lyme disease.
Every so often Scouting gets an outside-in evaluation that reveals how we are regarded by those with little or know connection to the movement. I expect many commentaries as Scouting celebrates its 100th anniversary. Scouting began as, has been, and always will be a work in progress based on the simple goals of making the…
From the CNN website: A 12-year-old Boy Scout missing for four days in North Carolina’s wilderness wandered away from his campsite because he was homesick and planned to hitchhike home, the boy’s father said Tuesday. Michael told his father he slept in tree branches during the night, drank river water and prayed he wouldn’t get…
Most of us are familiar with and follow the principles of the Leave No Trace program while camping. Low impact Scouting has the potential for reducing our actual environmental impact but educating our Scouts on wise practices. Active Troops will spend 20-30 days and nights camping annually- for a Troop of 25 that’s the energy…
From a letter by the 2005 National Chief of the Order of the Arrow; The Boy Scouts of America recently completed a survey of boys who had left the Scouting program. I would appreciate it if you read this letter and share the information with your unit leadership.
Anyone who spends several years as a Scoutmaster will end up arguing with a fellow Scouter, committee member, or parent. While these conflicts aren’t inevitable they are unfortunately probable. What follows is plain-spoken advice from Ask Andy, a fantastic resource for Scouters with questions or difficulties.
Andy the net commissioner asks “Are we really that smart?” or are we smart enough to change scouting fundamentals? … before we start changing things around to suit ourselves, we’d better be asking ourselves, “Have we really come up with a better way of doing things, or have we just violated or depleted something that’s fundamental…
The United States Flag Code states the rules of flag etiquette, display, and handling.. Heartfelt respect and reverence cannot be compelled by law so the flag code is voluntary. There are penalties for knowingly desecrating the flag ; but there is the question of free speech.
What’s your Scouter Mission Statement? Mission statements are a reference point, an expression of intentions and goals, they are useful reminders to stay the course. Here’s a starting point; Scouter Mission Statement As a Scouter I will; Create and nurture an environment for learning leadership and developing a sense of direction.
In his book, The Left Handshake, Hilary St. George Saunders recounts the history of the Boy Scout Movement during the Second World War. 1939-1945. The book is available in PDF format . The Left Handshake is the story of how scouts in occupied countries aided resistance movements, maintained their troops and provided many public services often…
When I served as a camp director I got some complaints about our dining hall steward’s attitude towards Scouts setting or clearing the tables. Scouts rotate the responsibility of serving as a waiter at our camp. They go early to set the table, serve the food during the meal and clear up afterwords.
Michael turned out to be a special Scout in more ways than one. I would like to say that I had no reservations when I read an email from a family relocating to our town; their two boys were in Scouting and would be looking for a new troop; the older one had Downs Syndrome.
