[Bobwhite Blather] The role of "other" adults, part 2

[Bobwhite Blather Scouting Blog]

Bobwhite Blather has posted a new item, 'The role of "other" adults, part 2'

When I first volunteered with the troop committee, there was a lot of
interaction between the Scouts and adults on campouts. At one low point in our
membership (a trend that was not surprising in retrospect), we had nearly as
many adults as Scouts going camping. Why not? - the adults enjoyed camping as
much as the boys did. However, the adults didn't exactly leave the boys alone.
In fact, on many campouts the boys asked the adults to do the cooking (and the
adults agreed - especially the Scoutmaster). I'll say we had some delicious
meals, but that's not the point, at least for the Scouts. We'd get to camp and
the adults would be barking orders at the Scouts to get the dining flies and
tents set up over there, and would jump in and do it for them if they were
having trouble. Hikes were nearly always led by the Scoutmaster or an assistant
(as in the movie Follow Me Boys or any of a dozen other stereotypes). Adults
often fiddled with the menus the boys drew up (even making the menu occasionally
themselves), taught Scout skills, built fires, and got on the boys to clean up.
It's no wonder I was conflicted about the way I saw things unfolding versus the
way I had heard it was supposed to be. I didn't know it at the time, but it was
a classic sign of untrained adult leadership.

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Best regards,
Frank Maynard
email: scouter at fmaynard.com