Scoutmaster Minute—The Founders

SM Minute—The Founders

Next Sunday is Scout Sunday, when we celebrate the founding of the BSA by William D. Boyce on 8 February 1910.  Boyce, as you know, brought Scouting to the US from England, where the movement was started by Robert Baden-Powell.

Robert S.S. Baden-Powell

As a youth, Robert Baden-Powell greatly enjoyed the outdoors, learning about nature and how to live in the wilderness.  After returning as a military hero from service in Africa, Baden-Powell discovered that English boys were reading the manual on stalking and survival in the wilderness he had written for his military regiment.  Gathering ideas from Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and others, he rewrote the manual as a non-military nature skill book and called it Scouting for Boys.  To test his ideas, Baden-Powell brought together 22 boys to camp at Brownsea Island, off the coast of England.  This historic campout was a success and resulted in the advent of Scouting.  Thus, the imagination and inspiration of Baden-Powell, later proclaimed Chief Scout of the World, brought Scouting to youth the world over.

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(adapted from Troop Program Resources)

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Scoutmaster Minute—Parable of the Toothpaste

SM Minute—Parable of the Toothpaste

Have you ever squeezed too much toothpaste out of a tube of toothpaste and tried to put it back in the tube? It can’t be done, can it?  No matter how hard you try, the toothpaste is out of the tube forever.

When you think about toothpaste, think about the Scout Law: A Scout is Kind.  Like toothpaste from the tube, once unkind words come out of your mouth, you cannot take them back.  So when you are tempted to say something unkind, remember the parable of the toothpaste, and keep the unkind words to yourself.

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(adapted from Troop Program Resources, p.19)

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JohnScout 2011 Year in Review

Yes, Scouters, JohnScout didn’t fall off a cliff without 2-deep leadership.  Just been a bit pre-occupied with Rechartering two units (Internet Recharter hates me!), helping my den of Webelos Cubs complete their Arrow of Light, and a bit of distraction that is Presidential politics.  What a year 2011 was, a great year for the Boy Scouts of America, our local BSA council & district, troop and pack, and all the volunteers that make Scouting happen.  The JohnScout WordPress numbers tell us:

• Busiest Month: 1,521 visitors for an average 49 per day in October, a new high on both counts.
• Busiest Day:  June 5, 2011, 131 views.  Don’t y’all have better things to do on a summer Sunday?
• Top Referral site:  Google found us, I guess…
• Top Search Terms:  “Crazy Horse Monument” and “Scoutmaster minute court of honor”.  Last year’s frenzy of Bechtel Reserve searches subsided dramatically.
• Top (not-search-engine) Referral site:  Twitter
• Top (not-search-engine nor twitter) Referral site:  Scoutmaster CG narrowly edged out Minnesota’s own Melrose Troop 68.  Thanks, Scouters!
• Had twice as many hits this year as last year, which was twice the year before that. And again, it helps when I actually POST original content.

Top posts of the year:

• Once again, I suspect a lot of Bear Den leaders are looking for tips with Tall Tales, the most widely read post, by far.  Got to love Paul Bunyan, Casey Jones and all their pals.
• Scoutmaster Minutes continue to be a popular draw.  I appreciate your interest.  These year’s favorites were Scoutmaster Minute—Words Behind the Words from 2009 and Scoutmaster Minute—Court of Honor from 2010.  Both ranked top search terms above.
• The kick-off last year for my Centennial Year of Scouting series of SM Minutes, Scoutmaster Minute—What Does It Mean To Be “A Scout”, also continued to draw interest.

One thing I notice may have something to do with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  I started titling my “Scoutmaster Minute” posts shorter, as “SM Minute”, to save space in the title line.  Figured that would be handy, plus show more of the topic in search results.  However, the longer titles consistently score higher in search. Hmmm, seem to have out-thought myself on that one.

December

Merry Christmas!

November

SM Minute—The Strong Link

October

SM Minute—Three Uniforms

Dutch Oven Cooking—Swamped Pig Pork Chops

SM Minute—A Simple Cloth and a Common Thread

September

SM Minute—A Good Turn

SM Minute—When the World Stopped Turning

Dutch Oven Cooking: Fiesta Omelet

August

Boy Scouts Didn’t Hand Out Badges for Trying

The Marrow of Life

July

Camp Wilderness: Going Home Again

June

Ripley Rendezvous 2011

May

Privacy, Safety and Names of Scouts in a Public Forum

April

SM Minute—Losing Your Temper

March

SM Minute—Orion’s Belt

February

A Scouting Movement, not a Program

Erickson earns rank of Eagle Scout

January

SM Minute—Twelfth-Point

SM Minute—Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Prepared. For Life.

JohnScout 2010 Posts

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