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| Home > Online Library > Scouting Guides & Information > Leadership in Scouting > Troop Traditions, Routines..... |
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Planning and Administration (Serious Side of Scouting) Troop Traditions, Routines and Habits Every Scout needs routines. Scouts are conservative by nature. They enjoy surprises, but they don't like to be caught off guard or embarrassed in front of their peers. Routines offer some stability. Everyone needs habits to make it easy to keep doing the right thing with a minimum of effort. Let me share some of the traditions, routines, and habits our troop developed over the years. I haven't defined which is a tradition, routine, or habit, because they can overlap. You'll figure it out for yourself if you adopt any of them in your own section. Just be sure you don't develop a tradition from a bad habit! Operating Conditions Our troop had no duty patrol at our weekly meetings. We tried a duty roster of assignments, but found the side-effect of designating a duty patrol was an "it's not my job" attitude among those whose names didn't appear on the roster. Instead, as they arrived, we encouraged Scouts to do the jobs needed to prepare for our meeting. The volunteers who completed specific chores earned beads (points) for their patrol. Among other things, this provided Scouts an easy opportunity to learn how to break a flag properly. We had a troop sash decorated with souvenir badges, pins, and other memorabilia collected during our travels and adventures. There were a lot of stories attached to it. Any Scout who arrived at the meeting place early enough could lay claim to this ceremonial sash, thereby accepting responsibility for conducting our opening ceremony. The patrol leader of the week's honour patrol wore the sash to conduct our closing ceremony. And our oldest patrol leader wore the sash on special occasions like parents' nights and inter-troop visits. Our troop dog--we never thought of him as a mascot because he always seemed to be more like one of the boys--wore a small vest made from our group neckerchief and decorated with the group, district, and region badges. He belonged to one of the Scouts, but he attended our weekly meetings and several weekend camps. When a Scout or patrol had earned some praise from their peers, there was no applause. Instead, one Scout called, "How!" and the others responded loudly, "How! How!" Much more effective! If things were getting dull, even momentarily, a Scout could call out, "Koo-doo!" as the signal for everyone (including Scouters and guests) to dance vigorously in place for exactly 10 seconds, the time limit was strictly observed and a silent signal marked when time was up. Scouts could call out "Koo-doo!" at absolutely any time--and let me hasten to point out that it's not easy to dance vigorously in place for 10 seconds in a canoe--but they never abused the privilege. Meeting Routines Promptly at 7:00 p.m., any Scout who noticed the time gave the silent signal for the troop to assemble in horseshoe formation for the opening ceremony. A Scouter never gave the signal, no matter how much later than 7:00 it was. Our opening ceremony started with a recital of the Iroquois prayer.
Each of six Scouts, enlisted by the Scout who was coordinating the ceremony, read one part. In time, all our Scouts could recite the entire prayer without prompt sheets. We followed the prayer with news bulletins. We avoided using the word "Announcement". If anyone used the A-word, the troop immediately interrupted by singing:
Depending on their mood, the Scouts would sing all the other 268 verses as well! The sound of the William Tell Overture by Rossini signalled the prelude to patrol inspection. We played only the "Lone Ranger" segment and about 30 seconds of the slow preamble to it. During the preamble, the Scouts remained motionless in the horseshoe but, at the first trumpet blast of the "Lone Ranger", they rushed to their patrol corners to be ready for inspection before the tape ended some 96 seconds later. During the set-up activities before our meeting, a Scout chose the theme of the weekly patrol inspection by selecting and posting a page from among 15 sheets that listed inspection topics. Patrol leaders inspected a patrol other than their own, according to the posted theme. For example, an inspection In uniform would require every Scout to be wearing the official issue of:
We didn't require our Scouts to wear the official woggle unless they were patrol leaders or assistant patrol leaders. Instead, we encouraged them to design and make their own woggles. Uniform was rarely a problem, because we insisted that they wear complete uniform for absolutely every scouting event, including canoeing, spelunking, hiking, Apple Day, whatever. Every time a Scout asked, "Should I wear my uniform?", the answer, in unison, was a resounding, "Yes!" For each correct item at inspection as well as other activities and accomplishments, our Scouts earned beads (points) that we trusted them to take from a small open container. By trusting them to take and keep the earned beads themselves, we removed the administration of the troop's Honour Patrol scheme from the Troop Scouter to the Scouts, who were scrupulously accurate about bead counts, especially someone else's. More than any scoreboard or tally sheet, beads gave the Scouts tangible evidence and up-to- the-minute accountability for their achievements. As we continued with our program, the Scouts moved from activity to activity by quickly responding to silent signals. Time wasted by not observing the signals meant less time for program items. We rewarded breaches of discipline with laps. Laps had a couple of advantages. They removed the troublemaker from the focus of the troop's attention and helped the Scout work off some of his surplus energy. On the first instance of unsportsman-like behaviour or the like, the culprit had to "do a lap"--run once around the perimeter of the school yard where we met. A second instance of unacceptable behaviour earned a second lap. A third instance meant we sent the Scout home. In 17 years, I only ever had to send one kid home. I felt worse than he did. During our meeting, we might ask Scouts to produce the emergency kits we expected them to carry at all times. The kit included:
We also expected every Scout to have available his own nylon knotting cord, which we'd presented him at the time of his investiture. At about 8:50, a silent signal gathered us again into a horseshoe for our closing ceremony. The first item on the agenda was to recognize the patrol who'd earned the highest number of beads by naming them the week's Honour Patrol. This won patrol members a 10 second "junk dunk", when they could dive into a small suitcase filled with old badges, pins, buttons, and other prizes and choose one item each. Then we presented their patrol leader with the troop sash, which he wore as he conducted the remainder of the ceremony. To finish the ceremony, everyone recited the epilogue of the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights.
Finally, we recited the Scout Promise and Scout Law. We made prompt sheets available for new Scouts, but they soon became unnecessary as the Scouts memorized the words. Of course, we had even more traditions, routines, and habits at camp. For example, we had an off-site lunch at every camp (Let's Do Lunch, Apr '92), using buddy-burner stoves to prepare a soup and sandwich meal. And we held at least one brief night walk with absolutely no flashlights. We also had special ceremonial traditions, like standing new Scouts on a slice of log during their investiture. So, was ours a perfect troop? No. But our traditions, routines, and habits helped make sure that we were always a happy troop. Scouter Colin Wallace is a trainer in Greater Toronto Region, Ont.
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