Dealing with disruptive/ trouble making youth

I have no tolerance for attitude like that. Anything remotely akin and the youth would be on their way home; a second occurrence and they would be gone for good. I can deal with exuberance, aka ADD, but not insubordination.

On another note, the movie Mecury Rising does a very good job of showing a kid with autism.

Given all that garbage, I would really first try to lay this at the feet of your Court of Honour. This has got to be getting the other Scouts angry, and them being part of the solution is a form of natural justice. If their decision is too harsh, you have the authority to temper it. If too lenient, you can later say it didn't work. But peer discipline, as opposed to peer pressure, can be much more effective than leader-based discipline, and it might keep your two troublemakers in Scouting, and turn them around. It is worth a shot, anyway.

And you're right. I would not tolerate that behaviour for one more moment, which is a total violation of the Scout law. I won't take it from my own children, and I sure as heck will not take it from someone else's.

Wow. I apologize. I did not understand the scope of the issue.

It seems these Scouts have found which buttons to push (those would do it for me too) and are pushing. So, why are they in Scouts? Do they want to be there? I do not believe that this behaviour is related to their ADHD. That is just bad behaviour.

I would ask them what they enjoy about Scouts. If the answer is sarcastic or “nothing”, ask why they still come. If the answer is that they are forced to, I’d ask what they can do to make it enjoyable (and be ready with the follow ups “would anyone else enjoy that?” and “would you really enjoy that?”). You are right though, enough is enough. I’d say it’s time for a parents-leaders-Scout discussion.

Good luck.
Tom

It's not so much the impulsive one-off behaviour that's a problem. It's the consistent lack of respect and rudeness. I’ll give some examples:

Leader speaking to specific youth. Youth looks at leader, does the talking had motion and replies ‘blah, blah, blah’ to the leader

Youth told very nicely by other scout that it was time to wake up as breakfast was ready. Youth’s response was to scream “Screw You” as loud as he could
..........

And what consequence is given when they do these types of things? It sounds like whatever happens is not something they care about (ie, their bad behaviour/attitude "pays" them more than the consequence "costs" them.

You've been given some suggestions that look pretty good - It is a time for a leader-youth discussion with them on whether or not they want to do scouting.... (as suggested), and also time for a CofH to discuss consequences that may work better. I have to also agree, that in my troop for something like that, we did the (figurative) "2 dimes and a nickle" method... we just used fakes ones instead of real ones.... First infraction, they are given a dime. 2nd infraction, another dime. 3rd infraction, a nickle, and they are taken to the pay-phone to call their parents for a ride home. For a couple of the things you mentioned, I think I'd have gone right to a quarter.

I like that idea.... now of course you cant find a pay phone and in AB you get an extra strike since a pay phone is 35 cents, but a good idea.

So make it a quarter and a nickle.....

Well, when I used it, the concept of the payphone was well understood by the youth (not like these cell phone days...) - and as I said, we used fake coins anyway.... Honestly, I don't think I ever sent more than one scout home that way... the effect carried on for years.... but all I had to do was hand a scout the fake dime, and they generally smartened up. (At least, if they really did want to be there.......)

We had one youth who was consistently ruining the night for all of the other Cubs. I talked to the Mom and asked her to come one hour early the following week with her son. We came prepared with pen and paper and together we wrote out a contract. I provided three of the items and the Cub added three of his own items. The Mother was told that she was to be present during the Cub meetings at all times. We agreed that he was to be given three warnings and then he would be sent home. The warnings would just be a look from me with a nod. I think it it is necessary to try and develop a relationship with the youth. In the end, he did not return after one year. I think that all of the leaders were pleased. I have since heard that he is consistently being expelled from school. Could we have helped if he had stayed for one more year. Who knows.

So make it a quarter and a nickle.....

Well, when I used it, the concept of the payphone was well understood by the youth (not like these cell phone days...) - and as I said, we used fake coins anyway.... Honestly, I don't think I ever sent more than one scout home that way... the effect carried on for years.... but all I had to do was hand a scout the fake dime, and they generally smartened up. (At least, if they really did want to be there.......)

I figured just changing the coins would work. perhaps now it would be a cell phone case, a battery and the phone???

I have a couple of Beavers this year that are totally undisciplined at home and were causing all sorts of mayhem within the group. I started using Beaver Bucks. I printed money on business size cards issued by Bucky Beaver Bank. At arrival every Beaver is given 3 dollar cards and at each time they have to be spoken to they must pay a dollar to be returned to the group. When they lose all three dollars they go home. At the end of the night the remaining Beavers put their money in little business card holders and these go into our shoe boxes.
Once a month they get to shop in Bucky's shop. I have a few trinkets from the scout shop and the dollar store in the shop. Some priced higher than others. The Beavers get to spend the money they have saved. So far most of my disruptive ones are starting to turn around. Hope to get farther apart with our shopping days. I have promised the Beaver they can pool all of the saved cash at the end of the year for a party of some kind.

Two points -
(Dealing mostly with cubs here)

One general rule - 3 strikes, you're going home. It puts a sense of approaching consequences, at 2 it kind of sinks in.

One general caveat - all you are different. I'll appeal to a sense of seniority for older youth or a sense of wanting to be treated like an older youth for the younger ones.