For those who have read some of my posts on the challenges that Ive read and heard about in regards to the troop affiliated with my pack, if this past weekend is the norm, the problems are worse than I expected. I am placing this in Patrol Method because I think the bulk of the problem lies in the lack of it being used.
Camporee was this weekend, the Webelos were invited, and it was a major Charlie Foxtrot from the get go. Yes I know the Patrol Method is messy. Yes I know kids will make mistakes and learn from them. but this is beyond that.
1 day prior to camporee, I found out that 1 patrol hadnt even done their menus for the weekend. And forget about the duty roster, that same patrol didnt have one at all, and the other patrol had one but didnt follow it.
SM told me that the troop will be meeting at the CO at a specific time, and leave at a specific time. Now he did tell me he would not be there as he was going straight to camp from work. I thought no problem, ASMs will be there. Well I show up, about half the troop is there, no adult leaders are there, and the parents are looking to me to tell them what to do. Ask what is normally done and am told, they usually just meet at the campground whenever. To make it more interesting, all information handed out to the leaders state the Scouts will be backpacking to 1 mile with their gear. Kids, or more specifically parents, didnt know that, so people are not prepared. Finally get to the camp and the other half of the troop is there already waiting for the group that went to the CO to show up and hike in.
Finally get to the campsite, and instead of separating into patrols, its a hodgepodge with some 4 man tents only having 1 person in them and the patrols are all mixed up. The trailer is an unorganized mess that they then spend 2 hours fixing. During the cleaning they realize they do not have enough propane for their stoves for the weekend. Also the patrols are missing some supplies. SM goes out of camp to get propane and missing supplies for the patrols, only to miss the SPL and SMs Meeting. While talking with friends Friday nite, find out that the campsite we are in was not the one we were assigned, and in fact the SM just had the trailer dropped off in it and took it over.
Saturday morning between campwide revile and flag raising, I had to leave several times to keep from acting like the stereotypical CS leader. Instead of getting the cooking and cleaning over and done with right away, the patrols lollygagged with scouts wanting to play with the campfire, not wanting to do their assigned chores, or for the patrol with no duty roster, arguing over who is doing what. Long story short, both patrols were about 10 minutes late for flag raising and opening announcements with some scouts still eating their eggs in a bag breakfast as they walked up.
Because they missed announcements, and also Im betting the SPL didnt pay attention at the meeting the nite before, one patrol waited about 2 hours before going to another event. And to my knowledge they didnt complete one of the events. Then again, the patrol which the Webelos were suppose to shadow and when in camp help them do some of the camp chores so the Webelos could get a feel of what life in a Boy Scout patrol was like, forgot about us after lunch Not only did the Webelos help out, they literally forgot about us.
And then there was lunch. Lunch. was an OA fundraiser: a NC pigpicking. Ok not everyone eats pork. My son and I dont, and we made plans for lunch. But one of the Scouts in the troop is Muslim and cannot eat it. Neither the patrol nor he made provisions for him, instead his grandmother stopped by and dropped off Chinese takeout. How the heck are Scouts suppose to learn if parents and guardians do everything? An believe it or not, the parents of the Boy Scouts did more interfering than the Webelos parents, at least until we Webelos parents had had enough, more on our interference in a minute. Boy Scout parents were pantomiming how to do things in one competition. The SM was telling one patrol that included his son what to do for another event. And one patrol had the PLs dad cooking their dinner while the rest of them played.
It got so bad that one parent told me he would not allow his son to join the troop even if they were not moving out of town. And I dont know what happened after dinner as I had to leave and do some OA things for the campfire, but things like cleaning did not get done with one patrol.
It was after the campfire that I and another Webelos parent decided that if the Boy Scouts wanted to act like a bunch of Cub Scouts, we would treat them like a bunch of Cub Scouts. We were doing KP for the adults and heard a loud boom from the trailer. Someone fouled it all up and no one wanted to admit who it was. As I mentioned it took 2 hours in the rain to fix it the nite before, and worse weather was a possibility so after several attempts to get the SPL to do his job as the SM was at the leaders' meeting, I and the other parent ended up taking over. We both had had enough. I got everyone in the troop save the SMs son who was a problem child all weekend fixing the the trailer. The other Webelos parent got everything ready for the two of us to wash but the cleaning pans. When the scouts got them out of trailer for us, they were disgusting, as if they havent been clean in ages. He had to get them to rinse out the pans, but instead of bring them back, they put them in the trailer soaking wet. The pans had so much water in them, they WDL probably poured out 8-10 ounces of water. Since that patrol still had stuff to clean, but hadnt gotten any water ready, He told them to go ahead and use our water when we were finished. When we were done I had to remind them they had stuff left from dinner to clean which resulted in arguments on who was to do what. I finally had to settle the matter.
I admit I left early. Son saw a tree limb fall which sparked a panic among the 3 Webelos moms there. This lead to others, both Webelos and Boy Scout parents leaving early with their kids. Simple solution would have been to move folks to the shelter, which eventually they did after I packed up and ready to leave. I admit didn't think of it, part of the reason was the shelter was a mess and part was I don't know how much I could have taken. Part of me regrets leaving, but part of me was glad b/c I was so frustrated. I am not looking forward to camping with them again.
I do see potential with some of the older scouts, but they too are getting frustrated. The soon to be Eagle told me point blank that once the paperwork come back from national and he has his ECOH, he is quitting the troop, joining the summer camp crew as his primary unit, and doing OA AIA. Another Scout told me that when he gets Eagle, he may be around some, depending on soccer and other extracurricular. But after this weekend, I saw the frustration in his face this weekend. And the one I saw with the most potential, is ready to quit now. He is tired of the entire situation.
Sorry for the long vent, but needed to get it off the chest, and the wife has already stated after listening to part of this that she doesn't want to hear anymore and to join another troop when the time comes.
Camporee was this weekend, the Webelos were invited, and it was a major Charlie Foxtrot from the get go. Yes I know the Patrol Method is messy. Yes I know kids will make mistakes and learn from them. but this is beyond that.
1 day prior to camporee, I found out that 1 patrol hadnt even done their menus for the weekend. And forget about the duty roster, that same patrol didnt have one at all, and the other patrol had one but didnt follow it.
SM told me that the troop will be meeting at the CO at a specific time, and leave at a specific time. Now he did tell me he would not be there as he was going straight to camp from work. I thought no problem, ASMs will be there. Well I show up, about half the troop is there, no adult leaders are there, and the parents are looking to me to tell them what to do. Ask what is normally done and am told, they usually just meet at the campground whenever. To make it more interesting, all information handed out to the leaders state the Scouts will be backpacking to 1 mile with their gear. Kids, or more specifically parents, didnt know that, so people are not prepared. Finally get to the camp and the other half of the troop is there already waiting for the group that went to the CO to show up and hike in.
Finally get to the campsite, and instead of separating into patrols, its a hodgepodge with some 4 man tents only having 1 person in them and the patrols are all mixed up. The trailer is an unorganized mess that they then spend 2 hours fixing. During the cleaning they realize they do not have enough propane for their stoves for the weekend. Also the patrols are missing some supplies. SM goes out of camp to get propane and missing supplies for the patrols, only to miss the SPL and SMs Meeting. While talking with friends Friday nite, find out that the campsite we are in was not the one we were assigned, and in fact the SM just had the trailer dropped off in it and took it over.
Saturday morning between campwide revile and flag raising, I had to leave several times to keep from acting like the stereotypical CS leader. Instead of getting the cooking and cleaning over and done with right away, the patrols lollygagged with scouts wanting to play with the campfire, not wanting to do their assigned chores, or for the patrol with no duty roster, arguing over who is doing what. Long story short, both patrols were about 10 minutes late for flag raising and opening announcements with some scouts still eating their eggs in a bag breakfast as they walked up.
Because they missed announcements, and also Im betting the SPL didnt pay attention at the meeting the nite before, one patrol waited about 2 hours before going to another event. And to my knowledge they didnt complete one of the events. Then again, the patrol which the Webelos were suppose to shadow and when in camp help them do some of the camp chores so the Webelos could get a feel of what life in a Boy Scout patrol was like, forgot about us after lunch Not only did the Webelos help out, they literally forgot about us.
And then there was lunch. Lunch. was an OA fundraiser: a NC pigpicking. Ok not everyone eats pork. My son and I dont, and we made plans for lunch. But one of the Scouts in the troop is Muslim and cannot eat it. Neither the patrol nor he made provisions for him, instead his grandmother stopped by and dropped off Chinese takeout. How the heck are Scouts suppose to learn if parents and guardians do everything? An believe it or not, the parents of the Boy Scouts did more interfering than the Webelos parents, at least until we Webelos parents had had enough, more on our interference in a minute. Boy Scout parents were pantomiming how to do things in one competition. The SM was telling one patrol that included his son what to do for another event. And one patrol had the PLs dad cooking their dinner while the rest of them played.
It got so bad that one parent told me he would not allow his son to join the troop even if they were not moving out of town. And I dont know what happened after dinner as I had to leave and do some OA things for the campfire, but things like cleaning did not get done with one patrol.
It was after the campfire that I and another Webelos parent decided that if the Boy Scouts wanted to act like a bunch of Cub Scouts, we would treat them like a bunch of Cub Scouts. We were doing KP for the adults and heard a loud boom from the trailer. Someone fouled it all up and no one wanted to admit who it was. As I mentioned it took 2 hours in the rain to fix it the nite before, and worse weather was a possibility so after several attempts to get the SPL to do his job as the SM was at the leaders' meeting, I and the other parent ended up taking over. We both had had enough. I got everyone in the troop save the SMs son who was a problem child all weekend fixing the the trailer. The other Webelos parent got everything ready for the two of us to wash but the cleaning pans. When the scouts got them out of trailer for us, they were disgusting, as if they havent been clean in ages. He had to get them to rinse out the pans, but instead of bring them back, they put them in the trailer soaking wet. The pans had so much water in them, they WDL probably poured out 8-10 ounces of water. Since that patrol still had stuff to clean, but hadnt gotten any water ready, He told them to go ahead and use our water when we were finished. When we were done I had to remind them they had stuff left from dinner to clean which resulted in arguments on who was to do what. I finally had to settle the matter.
I admit I left early. Son saw a tree limb fall which sparked a panic among the 3 Webelos moms there. This lead to others, both Webelos and Boy Scout parents leaving early with their kids. Simple solution would have been to move folks to the shelter, which eventually they did after I packed up and ready to leave. I admit didn't think of it, part of the reason was the shelter was a mess and part was I don't know how much I could have taken. Part of me regrets leaving, but part of me was glad b/c I was so frustrated. I am not looking forward to camping with them again.
I do see potential with some of the older scouts, but they too are getting frustrated. The soon to be Eagle told me point blank that once the paperwork come back from national and he has his ECOH, he is quitting the troop, joining the summer camp crew as his primary unit, and doing OA AIA. Another Scout told me that when he gets Eagle, he may be around some, depending on soccer and other extracurricular. But after this weekend, I saw the frustration in his face this weekend. And the one I saw with the most potential, is ready to quit now. He is tired of the entire situation.
Sorry for the long vent, but needed to get it off the chest, and the wife has already stated after listening to part of this that she doesn't want to hear anymore and to join another troop when the time comes.
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