Woodland Trails

We believe that part of teaching your son to become a godly man is teaching him discipline. We want boys to be boys, encouraging them to be what God has created them to be. We also want them to be meek. Meekness is best understood as strength under control. When strength is controlled, it can be focused on difficult tasks with success. When strength is out of control, it is unfocused and often results in harmful outcomes. Understand, we do not want to weaken your son or “break” him; we want him to be as strong-willed and physically capable as God has created him to be. But he must be able to control his strength under the guidance of God and godly authority in his life. For this reason, we will be disciplined in our meetings.

From time to time, we expect that all our boys will act in undisciplined ways. When disciplinary issues arise, we would ask that you allow us, as the Trail Life leaders, to handle the situation unless we ask you to intervene. We recognize your supreme role in raising your son, so if you do engage, we will not interfere. But by doing so, you might diminish the perception of our authority in the Trail Life meetings by stepping in, so we ask for your discretion.

When correction is needed, we will work with your son in an appropriate way to encourage him to maintain self-control. Generally, we will start with a verbal warning unless the infraction is severe enough to warrant a more appropriate response. Next, we will issue push-ups. We’ve found that push-ups are a great way for the boys to release excess energy (often a cause of discipline issues), provide an opportunity for a boy to refocus his attention, and provide an immediate consequence for bad behavior with quick resolution. Once his push-ups are completed, we will consider the matter closed and not revisit the issue unless a repeated pattern presents itself. If a boy does refuses to do his push-ups, he may be asked to leave the meeting. If he is unable to do push-ups then we will find another similar exercise for him to do.

In cases where a situation arises that, in the judgment of Trail Life 5662 leadership, puts the safety of the troop in danger or causes excessive disruption, the troop leaders may expel a boy for the remainder of the meeting and the following meeting. If the situation is particularly excessive or three expulsions occur within a grade year, the boy may be asked not to return for the remainder of the grade year.

If a parent feels that an expulsion was inappropriately given, appeals may be made to the Troop Ministry Liaison, Preston Lewis, 903-422-9799.

Navigators and Adventurers

All activities will be supervised. In the event that a problem arises, we desire that the young men learn to handle conflict between themselves. There is a process for handling difficult issues.

The first step is for the patrol (roughly 6 boys) to discuss the matter to reach a solution. We encourage the SCoRe method.

• (S)top the problematic activity,
• (Co)unsel the young man privately, and then
• (Re)direct to another activity.

We do not want to dwell longer than necessary on potentially embarrassing matters.

If this fails, the patrol should bring the issue to the First Officer who will be one of our most experienced young men.

Our next level of leadership that should be involved are the adult Trail Guides. If the First Officer and Trail Guides are not able to resolve the conflict, then the issue should be brought to the attention of the Troopmaster.