IN a
small camp so very much can be done by example. You are living
among your boys and are watched by each of them, and imitated
unconsciously by them, and probably unobserved by yourself.
If you are lazy they will be lazy; if you make cleanliness a hobby
it will become theirs; if you are clever at devising camp accessories,
they will become rival inventors, and so on.
But don't do too much of what should be done by the boys
themselves, see that they do it -- "when you want a thing done don't
do
it yourself" is the right motto. When it is necessary to give orders,
the secret for obtaining obedience is to know exactly what you want
done
and to express it very simply and very clearly. If you add to the order
an explanation of the reason for it, it will be carried out with
greater
willingness and much greater intelligence.
If you add to the order and its explanation a smile, you will get
it carried out with enthusiasm -- or, remember, "a smile will carry
twice as far as a snarl."
A pat on the back is a stronger stimulus than a prick with a pin.
EXPECT a great deal of your boys and you will generally get it.
/Baden Powell .... September/, 1911.
