[philmont] what would you do?

I would open up private lines of communication with the Scout and his parents as early as possible. No real need to get the rest of the crew involved at this stage. Just a little bit of extra individual attention to both scout and parents, together and separately, along with recommending that the scout and his parents talk between themselves and share the fruits of their discussion with you. Each advisor could also individually make the effort to open up these private lines of communication.

If the scout or parents are harboring their own private doubts, private discussions may be the way to get them out in the open. That, combined with your own private doubts, expressed in confidence, may guide the decision so that it's not black or white, go or no go, based upon your own doubts alone.

I would not just "wait and see", then be forced to make the call yourself. A gradual, gentle give and take early on may make the solution self evident.

Re: fitting of packs. Many packs are adjustable in any number of ways, but are fitted with a hipstrap whose minimum circumference is too large for the lad. Hard to get the weight up on the shoulders when the hipstrap is too big.

Bill Sheehan, ASM
Troop 55, Pitman, NJ
Philmont '70,'72, Autumn Adventure '01,'03,'05

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Received on Sun Mar 25 20:46:42 2007