Scoutmaster Musings

A requirement for every rank advancement in Boy Scouts is Demonstrate Scout Spirit in your everyday life. This requirement is handled in many different ways, from being an automatic sign-off to requiring scouts to write essays on what they've done to fulfill it.

It's a difficult one for a Scoutmaster to sign unless you see the scouts outside of scouting. Looking for opportunities to interact with scouts away from the troop is a good idea. Maybe you're lucky and go to church with some scouts, or maybe you're a school teacher or coach, or work in a popular store. Other than that, it might take a bit of work to track 'em down.

At a scoutmaster conference the other day, a scout told me he's on the middle school cross-country team and they had a meet today. So, I took an hour off and went and watched. It was drizzling rain, but it was great fun! There were actually three scouts from our troop running and another 5 kids from my church so now I have something to mention when I see them next time.

I also helped set up computers for some quarterly testing at the middle school in the early morning for a few days. I finished just as the kids were arriving from the busses so I saw 5 scouts at various times. One came tearing around a corner in the hallway to get busted by a teacher right in front of me. I think sheepish would describe his look pretty well. :-)

When you ask that question of "So, what do you do outside of scouts?" at a scoutmaster conference, jot down the reply and then try to check it out. It shows interest on your part and gives you another view of the scouts.

Scout On

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