A Scoutmaster's Blog

In 1989, several women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting. It was broadcast several times over the years, usually during Boy Scout anniversary week in the first part of February. This program has now been broken down into five parts and will be shown on the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast during the next few months.

Part two of this five part series features Patty D. who is the mother of two boys who went through the Cub Scout program and graduated into the Boy Scout program. Patty was a den leader and very active in the Cub Scout Pack. She and her husband also were very active on the Boy Scout side on things. When you watch the video you will see her enthusiasm for the Scouting program.

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I, like many Scouters, read several Scouting related blogs. One of them, Scoutmaster, found at http://scoutmaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/ , recently posted a survey featuring questions about the Scout program in this electronic age. How does your troop use computers, cell phones, and mp3 players? It caught my attention so I took the survey.

Our troop has a policy that asks the boys to leave their mp3 players and cell phones at home when we have a troop activity, like a camping trip. The adults will usually have one cel phone along in case of an emergency, but we ask that they do not use it and set a good example for the boys. If our trip is a long distance from home, we do allow the boys to bring their mp3 players along, but we store them in the car once we arrive at camp. I have talked to several local Scouters who have a troop policy similar to this.

I am curious as to what the results of Clark’s survey will be. I bet he will be sharing them on his blog and his podcast. You can take the survey at Scouting in the Electronic Age.

I recently wrote an article about recruiting parents to become involved in the pack and troop. I posted an interesting talk I found called the “adding machine tape presentation”. I decided to use it during the Pack’s recruitment drive and recorded it. I was surprised to see how well it worked to get the parents to think about their time with their boys. Click HERE if you would like to read the presentation.

As today’s post to the Melrose Scout Production Podcast, I submit the “Adding Machine Tape Presentation”. Have you used this in your own Pack or Troop? If you have, how did parents receive it?

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Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Check out other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.

Those of you who read this blog and follow me on Twitter (stevejb68) may have noticed that out troop has been having some rough times. Last month I sat down with the Boy Scouts during a troop meeting and discussed the future of the troop with them. We needed to make some changes. They seemed to be ready to do what needs to be done. Tonight was a night that really began to take us in that direction.

Tonight’s troop meeting would be the first one in which the new senior patrol leader and his assistant would really take charge of the troop. They had been elected last month but last month’s meetings were a little chaotic and not planned well. This month’s had been planned by the new ASPL (the only Scout who attended the patrol leader council meeting) and were planned out very well.

Even though I have been a scoutmaster for 29 years I have been finding myself being up in front of the boys too much during a troop meeting. Tonight would be different. I pulled my assistant scoutmaster off to the side when he arrived and explained that we are going to sit in back of the room tonight and let the boys run the meeting, something we should have always been doing but were not. I wanted to be behind the boys tonight, out of direct eyesight with them.

The boys did pretty well. Oh, everyone was a bit late coming to the meeting. Yes, there was some goofing off and joking around but they did get much of the meeting’s agenda covered. I only stepped in front of the troop twice for short moments; once to ask a few questions about the menu and plans for the weekend outing at the end of the month followed by a quick uniform inspection, and at the end of the meeting to give announcements and a scoutmaster minute. All in all, it was a successful meeting.

It will be interesting to see how things go during the next few meetings. Actually, for the next few months. I have decided to step back, like a scoutmaster should, and let the boys handle things. It is the best way for them to learn. Unfortunately, I have to re-learn a few things again. Or, may not so much re-learn as much as re-apply the things I already know.

Thursday evening the pack (and troop) are holding a Night To Join Scouting at the local elementary school. The pack currently only has three members so this will be a critical meeting for the future of the pack. Our district commissioner has been to the schools to talk to the boys, and we have placed an ad about the meeting in the newspaper. A couple of the banks/credit unions are also promoting the meeting on their outdoor marquees.

I plan to attend the meeting in case any Boy Scout age boys show up. I also want to talk to the parents about accepting a leadership role in the pack. One of the favorite talks I have come across is the Adding Machine Tape Demonstration for adult recruiting. I plan to use it this year. Here is how it goes:

You need an 8-10 foot long piece of adding machine or calculator tape. Mark off the tape in ten year increments with 0 at the left end and 100 at the right. Use large numbers so parents can see from the audience. Roll the tape back up, so that the 100 is in the center of the roll. For the presentation you will need two helpers to hold the tape in front of you so you can point at various points on the tape.

Start out saying:
With the current advances in medical technology it’s very likely that your son will live about 100 years. (Have your helpers unroll the tape in front of you, so the whole time line is visible.) “Here’s a time line of his life.”

If you’re 35 now, statistically, you’ll likely live until you’re 75 or so, when your son will be about 50.(Rip the tape off at the 1/2 way point and hand the end to your helper. Let the other half fall to the floor — very important dramatic effect). “This represents the years you and your son will have together in his lifetime.”

“And he’s probably about 8 or 9 now.” (Rip of the tape slightly below 10 and let that piece fall to the floor. Hand the end to your helper). So here’s the time you have left together.

How old do you suppose your son will be when he goes away to college (or you decide its time for him to be out on his own)? 18 – 20? (Rip off the tape someplace in this vicinity. Let that chunk fall to the floor. Hand the end to your helper). This is the amount of time you have left with him at home.

When he’s about 13 – middle school age – his friends start to become a much bigger, maybe the major, influence in his life.” (If you can – assuming you have teenager – make a comment about how you know this from experience.) (Rip off the tape someplace in this vicinity. Let that chunk fall to the floor. Hand the end to your helper).

(Take the very short piece of tape from your helpers and hold in it front of you, and thank your helpers.)

“This is the time you have left to be the major shaping force in your son’s life. You can show him how important he is to you by becoming involved in Scouting with him. Scouting is a remarkable opportunity for you and your son to share a great variety of fun, exciting and positive experiences.
Experiences that give you that opportunity to help him grow into an adult that you’ll be proud to point to and say: ‘That’s my son – he’s a good person.'”

(Go on to talk about volunteer opportunities in your unit and how parents can participate in them.)

So, what do you think about this presentation?

This episode of Around The Scouting Campfire is dedicated to a special individual of Boy Scout Troop 68, Eymard, our assistant scoutmaster. Eymard is 83 years old and has been with the troop for 23 years. Buttons and Steve thought it was about time to recognize Eymard on the podcast.

In addition to Steve’s story about Eymard and Buttons interview with him we also get to hear the Buckskin staff of Many Point Scout Camp as they lead the campers in the Bear Hunt song. Steve has a scoutmaster conference about being clean. Buttons shares some feedback on past shows, including one comment he does not like very well.

Steve and Buttons thank PTC Media (http://www.ptcmedia.net) for allowing this program to be a part of the family of Scouting related podcasts. We also thank the Boy Scout Store (http://boyscoutstore.com) for sponsoring the show. Be sure to take a moment to check out their website. Finally, we would like to thank you, our listeners, for downloading Around The Scouting Campfire.

We have all heard that being a scoutmaster or cubmaster will only take an hour a week. In the last article I wrote about how many hours it may actually take for a scoutmaster. But what if we take this further? If Scouting only takes one hour a week that means it will only consume 52 hours per year. But let’s be a bit more realistic. Instead of looking at hours, let us take a look at evenings and days per year. Here is an average year in my Scouting life:

Troop meetings – 33 evenings
Patrol Leader Council Meetings – 11 evenings
Committee Meetings – 11 evenings
Troop Parents Meeting – 1 evening
School Night To Join Scouting – 1 evening
Courts of Honor – 4 evenings
Roundtables – 8 evenings
Summer Camp – 7 days
Weekend Camps (average 6 per year) – 18 days
One Day Activities – 6 days
Yearly Planning Session – 1 day
Fundraisers (meals) – 2 days
Troop Service Projects (varies per year) – 4 days

Grand Total  = 107 days/evenings!

This total surprised me. I did not realize that I give over three and one half months a year to the troop. And this does not count extra things like district or council training, evenings spent writing newsletters, working with boys on merit badges, or other such things. Wow.

I would like to hear from other scoutmasters out there. Does this sound similar to the time you dedicate to your troop?

If you have been involved with Scouting for any length of time you have probably heard someone say, “It only takes an hour a week.” What a joke that is! Just a bit of a misleading line there, huh? Let us take a look at a typical month of Scouting during this scoutmaster’s life.

We have three troop meetings a month. At ninety minutes per meeting, plus drive time, plus waiting for parents to pick their boys after the meeting, I can estimate two hours per meeting. Monthly total here is 6 hours.

One committee meeting per month, average of 1.5 hours. One patrol leader council meeting per month, average two hours. One district roundtable meeting each month with drive time to council office, average of three hours. Total of monthly meetings is 6.5 hours each month.

One weekend camping trip per month. The Scouts arrive at 6:00 Friday evening. Parents pick up the last boy at 11:00 Sunday morning. Total hours of camping trip is 41 hours. (Yes, I counted the sleeping hours. I am still in charge of the Scouts, am I not?)

Now, let’s add this up. It comes to 53.5 hours during the month. (Keep in mind that this does not include any prep time, fund raising, training, or special activity time yet.) Divide this figure by four weeks per month. Gosh! That comes to an average of 13.75 hours per week.

An hour a week? Not even close! But this demonstration does show that those of us who are scoutmasters can be quite dedicated to the program and the boys. The amazing thing is that I sometimes feel that I am spending more “quality time” with the boys then some of their parents do. What does this say about our society?

Scouting can be a great organization for boys and their parents. It gives them a chance to do some things together. Come on parents! Get involved with that Cub Pack or Boy Scout Troop. Become a committee member, a pack leader, or an assistant scoutmaster.

After all, it only takes an hour a week.

(This article was originally posted on August 22, 2007.)
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