Eagledad

When our troop was 100 scouts strong, I would say 50 percent of those scouts were in sports and other outside activities that demanded some of their time. But, it was seasonal. I average troop meetings between September and December averaged about 60 scouts. 100 scouts January through March, then 60 to 80 scouts until June. We took 100 scouts to summer camp and then the cycle started over again. I agree that parents understand the value of the scouting experience better than their kids, but, I also think if the troop has a good (fun) program, the scouts will attend when they can. They w

This has always been the situation during my time in scouting. What might be a little surprising is that even some two-parent families look for programs with male role modes to help develop their sons. I'm not sure if the reason is because the culture is anti-male and they are looking for reinforcement of masculine behavior, or the father is out of the picture a lot from work. But our troop had several scouts in that situation. Looking at this further, I wouldn't be surprised that families would be looking for the experiences for their daughters since the evidence also shows that girls s

Gays had very little influence one way or the other on membership until National decided to allow gays. That caused the exodus in numbers as well as as alumni funds. And that was the beginning of raising membership fees. Forcing scouting out of schools was done by the atheist. Non of the progressive activism really affected membership except for the girls. What really hurt the BSA the most was the financial support from past members. While liberal corporations taking away their support got all the media attention, it was the huge alumni pockets that hurt the most as National tried to

You had me going there for a moment. Then I remembered that National only makes program changes that serve the folks at National. I’ve been wondering lately what the Boy Scout program has that would attract girls over the Girl Scouts program. Then I ran into a BSA girls troop fundraising at a local store yesterday. These girls were in full uniforms with every patch they could wear appropriate for their rank. They looked really sharp and any Scoutmaster would be proud. I think these girls are attracted to the legacy Boy Scout program. Sadly, National is going to shuck that away from them l

I’ve been preaching for a more simple cub program for many years because it pulls down the membership for all the other programs. But, I fear it’s the troop program that will be changed, which doesn’t need change. National has rarely shown to make changes to better the program toward a better program. Barry

Thanks. Barry

Scouting is local. While scouting is marketed as outdoor, there is room for local leaders to push the gray area that fits more to their level of comfort. A lot of adults are living their scouting dream through their youths’ program and don’t even realize it. Even Woodbadge can suffer from different interpretations of the syllabus. Barry

Everyone here uses the normalcy of family, schools and churches as a justification to normalize scouting. Scouting was always intended to be different to give ethical and moral growth a chance for males. Nobody today wants to admit males and females are different and different programs give both genders the chance for the best growth. A scout is brave is the first trait to go in this culture. Barry

“Boy” Scouting has been a program of ethical and moral growth without the distraction of normal that compromises the growth that eventually contributes to the greater good of normal. Ethical and moral growth are a worthy sacrifice in today’s self centered search for importance. Barry

https://www.foxnews.com/us/boy-scouts-america-making-big-change-more-inclusive

Take out point 5, everything else applies when drivers are on their own. Before cell phones, we moved a whole troop of 120 six-hundred-miles and ended up at the destination with in 15-20 minutes. So it works well. Before cell phones, we used radios that had a range of 50 miles. Our trailer broke an axle in Colorado and all other cars knew within minutes. A plan was set to which car would help and which ones would continue to next stop at a safe place for a bunch of scouts. Much better than stopping a whole caravan of cars along side a busy two lane highway. Barry

Should still be there. National added it when they found scout car accidents occur more often in convoys. Following drivers pay less attention when the aren't navigating and often break traffic laws trying to catch up to the lead car. A lot of motorcyclist have accidents in group rides for the same reason. We found that all the cars typically show up to the destination within 15 minutes even after a 600 mile day. Of course the the SM always showed up first. Barry

As a SM, this is the approach took with politics as well as religion. Barry

Hmm, I know exactly how you feel. Barry

She thinks that way because she didn’t have a scouting experience as a youth. Patrol method is only limited by adults fears. I used to teach a course teaching adults how to push their fears boundaries out. The adults need to ask themselves what it would take to let the patrols to cook on their own. I’m not a fan of no cooking, but some healthy easy to fix meals might help the adults grow in the program. Discussion? Barry