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  1. Scouts with Disabilities

    Where parents and scouters go to discuss unique aspects to working with kids with special challenges.

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  10. Safety words of wisdom 1 2

    By KoreaScouter,
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  13. Fundraising for COPE gear.

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  15. Council Specific Awards

    By NWScouter,
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  • LATEST POSTS

    • Armymutt
      First Scout week trip in 31 years

      By Armymutt · Posted

      That's exactly where we are right now.  Most of the adults in the troop were not Scouts.  They took the youth lead concept to an extreme and now we have a patient that is sick.  I'm trying to avoid getting to the life support stage, much less CPR.  The oldest Scouts have succumbed to sports and the fumes.  Half the troop is under the age of 13 and a quarter is under the age of 12.  We are going to have to actually teach the PLC, such that it is, how to do the skills and then get them to retain the information long enough to teach it to their patrols.  
    • Tron
      How to save a rapidly dying Troop.

      By Tron · Posted

      I get what you're saying; I would counter though that national should have been able to see that and should have planned that timeline to release the coed program earlier. So right now female membership growth is significantly outpacing male membership growth (I think the NAM numbers were 3x the number of females are joining right now), and most of us have no where to send our female AOLs.  I don't know about you guys but my council adopted the dumbest policy during the coed pilot. Only existing linked units from prior to the coed policy can be coed, so we have female AOLs just dropping from the program. Who could be so stupid to think retention of female scout was going to go up in some of these councils where we're stuck telling parents that if they want to keep their daughters in the program they will have to continue to drive an additional 10+ miles just to go to a troop meeting when their sons are swinging around the block for a meeting? 
    • Tron
      First Scout week trip in 31 years

      By Tron · Posted

      So we have a framework right. It's clear that adult leaders have to step in and instruct the senior scouts when there is a knowledge gap or lack of retention. This goes back to BP and his original Aids to Scoutmastership. The program has always allowed for adult leaders to step in; how we step in is critical though. My advice, which I would say is backed up by the solid century+ of the program and going back to the root (BP) is, in the absence of capable elected youth leaders, adults step in to teach those youth leaders and get them to the point where they are capable.  In short it's a 2 part solution. Part 1) Adults are on hand and always willing to teach the PLC members what they need to do to teach, mentor, and lead the rest of the troop. Part 2) Constantly assessing if you're not being a lazy  fat slob by flopping on the phrase "Have you asked your SPL".
    • Armymutt
      First Scout week trip in 31 years

      By Armymutt · Posted

      Semantics.  I'd argue that anyone under the rank of first class is a junior Scout.  I wouldn't call one a new Scout after being in the troop for over a year.  Splitting the 16 Scouts into two patrols within the new/junior Scout patrol is far easier to manage than one single patrol.  The ASMs aren't leading the patrol.  They are assigned to them to advise the patrol leader.  The handbooks aren't a suicide pact, last I checked.  Right now, we have 11 y/o patrol leaders who can't get themselves straight, let alone teach skills to the rest of the patrol.  The 14 y/o SPL is likewise lacking in leadership competence, having failed to ensure patrol leaders and meeting focus on Scout skills.  In a perfect world, we would have older, more knowledgeable and mature Scouts who would keep the meeting focused.  Instead, we have an SPL throwing jello on the roof of a shelter at camp and wondering why no one is following his instructions. It's been 31 years since merit badge factory summer camp.  Not Scouting.  Our OA chapter isn't much better.  I was trying to turn that around until the Army sent me 600 miles away for three years.  I've been supporting a troop at that location while simultaneously operating a pack and helping the OA in NC on the weekends.  
    • mrjohns2
      First Scout week trip in 31 years

      By mrjohns2 · Posted

      They aren’t teams, they are patrols. They aren’t junior scouts, they are scouts or new scouts. They aren’t lead by an ASM, but by a PL and a troop guide. It’s been awhile, 31 years, I suggest reading the PL, SPL, and SM (Unit Leader) handbooks again. Words matter. 
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