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Working with Kids

Counseling, inspiring and teaching kids.


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  • LATEST POSTS

    • This isn't quite accurate though. While there is 1 NSO (and that NSO is Scouting America here in the states), if GSUSA, Campfire, Rainbow Scouts or Trail Life wanted to become a WOSM member they can apply to WOSM and force a federation; however, those other large(ish) national level organizations don't want to federate for their own various reasons are thus locked out of WOSM. 
    • We disagree on this issue, but arguably us both being involved and running units makes Scouting America stronger and more able to serve all interested youth. Families that like your unit on this issue won't like ours and vice versa - but the result is that all families can find a unit they feel welcome in. When there is a single NSO in a country (as opposed to the WOSM NSO being an umbrella organization for several scouting organizations with separate leadership, uniforms, etc), that NSO needs to contain a lot of different kinds of units or be content to serve only a small part of the youth. So, having units with different approaches (sometimes in quite sharp disagreement) is the only way forward unless one is ready to accept niche status, which I imagine no one here is. 
    • I notice you got no reply, probably because you have a good point. Especially because this forum is full of complaints from many people who refused the Kool-Aid on various points. Once a scout, always a scout. If everyone started a new scouting organization every time they disagreed with something in an existing NSO or MO, there would be no movement left. People's Front of Judea/Judean People's Front kind of stuff. The Scouting America Scout Law even has Loyal in it - you don't go splinter off in a huff just because you see a problem. No, you go fix the problem instead, which starts with defining and talking about it. Clearly not everyone even agrees that pressuring non-Christian scouts and scouters to be Christian or at the very least accept second class citizen status and stop complaining about it even is a problem in the first place, so there's obviously a need to talk about it.
    • The OP also ignores elements of complexity in the organization... When you first "sign up", you really have no idea what you are getting into.  The organizational structures and policies are discovered or revealed to you over time. (Or they change...) It is also naive to expect anyone to agree 100% with every policy or decision that comes down the pipe. The organization is made of people... and people often make poor decisions.  I agree with the ideals, aims, and methods of Scouting, and I pursue those.  I find the organization is often at war within itself because of policies, actions, decisions taken which do not coherently align with the ideals, aims, and methods. Here is a case in point... The Scout Oath presents a tenet to us to be morally straight.  For most of its history, BSA prohibited open homosexuals from being adult leaders in the organization.  They even won a challenge to this policy in the Supreme Court.  In my faith and belief, acts of homosexuality are a moral evil.  Therefore, I did not, and do not support the BSA's reversal on this policy.  I can tolerate the policy, but I do not accept it.  There is a difference... I have learned to reconcile this, given the circumstances of BSA's other policies surrounding the issue... to wit, our CO has the latitude to prohibit adults who openly profess or practice homosexuality, and our Troop Committee / parents will not accept a leader into our fold who does so.  These parents do not wish their children to be exposed to these ideas in our Scouting environment.  Further, BSA policy specifically prohibits discussions of these matters in a Scouting setting.  So, the issue should never be brought up.  In effect, this is equivalent to a don't ask, don't tell policy. I do encounter volunteers in BSA who openly push the issue.  I simply disengage and walk away. See item 6. in the Scouter Code of Conduct: "I will not discuss or engage in any form of sexual conduct while engaged in Scouting activities. I will refer Scouts with questions regarding these topics to talk to their parents or spiritual advisor."
    • Now that we’re in the throes of WW-III,  I can see that belief in God should face a healthy dose of skepticism, and faith in atheism is not the same as abdication to totalitarianism. Those were merely the exemplars that were elevated in the last Cold War. But while I was a young adult sorting things out, I came to divide people into a more subtle rubric, and I think the BSA of the 70s gave me a framework to do this. There are those who want to follow their religion, and those who want their religion to follow them. I’d be tempted to say that actions of the latter would be a pet peeve, but the Good Lord put them both here for a reason and learning from both is part of our journey.
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