Leaderboard

Thanks Fred, I definitely agree. This method is very important to me. It's how I learned the ropes as PL of the Stampeding Antelopes many moons ago. Zero classroom training. I was given plenty of room to succeed or fail. And wow, some of my failures I remember to this day. But then we Antelopes hit our stride. Winning the "best campsite" award and placing second for the stew cook off at a monthly troop camp out (there were five patrols in this troop). Honor ribbons at camporees. Good times. The key elements: - Formal leadership training for youth was limited to one scou

Interesting. I never realized Bloomberg was an Eagle scout. Found this recent article about how other candidates might underestimate Bloomberg's "Preparedness" at their own peril... https://villaricanews.com/2020/02/16/alvin-townley-could-bloombergs-eagle-scout-creds-be-his-key-to-clinching-the-dem-presidential-nomination/

I love that statement. I've heard too other adult leaders say scouts are not ready to lead or not old-enough to lead. ... The above statement reflects my view that scouts learn by doing. If our scouts are young, they can still lead. Inexperienced, they can still leader. We as adult leaders continually adjust and quietly coach and slightly help as necessary with the continuous eye toward how can we step back. ... I swear I bite my tongue every time I hear another leader say the scouts are too young, too inexperienced, too <insert your favorite excuse> . When I hear it, I usually th

OK, the things that come to mind to me off the top of my head are: Second Class #1a. "Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in five separate troop/patrol activities, at least three of which must be held outdoors. Of the outdoor activities, at least two must include overnight camping. These activities do not include troop or patrol meetings. On campouts, spend the night in a tent that you pitch or other structure that you help erect, such as a lean-to, snow cave, or tepee." First Class #1a. (very similar to SC #1a.) "Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in 10 separate troop/patrol ac

While I agree with the sentiment in your post @ParkMan, the progressive/post-modern movement doesn't. After Obergfell there was a concerted effort to find and make an example of conservative bakers, florists, and wedding facilities. Similarly progressive California attempted to compel pro-abortion speech on conservative Crisis Pregnancy Centers. The idea that a conservative pack will be allowed to exist as progressives take control of the BSA seems unrealistic. Even if the internal desire is local option peaceful coexistence, outside forces won't allow that to happen. FWIW, I'm a live and

This past week's MacGyver episode (2/28 air date) featured Cub Scouts in full uniform at a Nova Stem presentation being led by MacGyver in full BSA uniform with Scout Me In neckers tied in friendship knots.

I agree with @walk in the woods - this sounds like two friends getting together, not a Scouting event. I would not step in.

But it doesn't have to be so. At our core, Scouting is a fun activity for kids that gives them new experiences and adventures. Along the way the kid learns some self reliance and independence. The program is led by parents from withing our community which means it reflects the values of the kids in the program. If you look at it like that, there is very little that most parents cannot get behind. There is no reason to want to destroy Scouting. In fact, it is exactly the kind of supportive, nurturing environment that progressives want. The problem is that we all want to label

I think we correct this by bringing back the type of scouting depicted in the upper panel of the drawing. The scouts are learning to lead by actually leading, being outdoors, and engaging in scout skills that encourage adventure. Patrol leaders teach scout skills and lead their scouts. The SPL is the roving on-scene leader watching, correcting, encouraging PLs. The SM is on the edge of the field, with a cup of coffee, a comfortable chair and an eagle eye on how the SPL is doing. Today we have the opposite model. Indoor minded adults. Adults stealing the duties of the PLs and SPL

I'm tracking re wearing. I haven't worn service stars since the Carter Administration. As far as significance, I believe service stars have their place. One example is @The Latin Scot's situation. Though I respect the differing opinions, I think he should wear the star, red background. Another would be the adult who was a scout for 3 or 4 years. Made it to First Class. Earned a few merit badges. He was active in his troop, went to summer camp, 50 milers, was a patrol leader, etc. Though he didn't make Eagle (and that's okay) he was a good scout, and his experiences made a lastin

Why? Let's not confuse 2 deep with no one-on-one. 1 adult can be with multiple Scouts at a given time.

They're 13 and 14yo's and capable and competent to do this hike. If we quit Scouting and went to that state park with those same buddies, I would not hesitate to send them on that hike while me and the other dads stayed in camp. When I was that age we got on our bikes and were gone for the afternoon. uhg sorry this makes me frustrated.

I fully agree. I'll add ... -- No following scouts to make sure they check into a merit badge session. -- No micromanaging each scout's advancement. Be there for them, but don't make them be there for you.

Pretty much all of our hiking is on the Florida Trail, some sections of which are pretty simple, others are challenging. While we are rarely faced with changes in elevation, hitting sections of sugar sand or trekking through water can be tough. We dealt with both several times on that particular 20 mile stretch.

We had three scouts do the 20 miler for hiking MB last year at this time (can still get pretty warm in FL at this time of year). Due to several unforeseen circumstances, we were faced with either cancelling the hike, or one other ASM and I (65 years old at the time) doing the whole 20 with them. They still bring up the fact (jokingly of course) that they almost killed me that day!🤣

Walk In Woods: My personal experience is that until the early 1980's the BSA was not overly-controlled by either conservative or progressive elements of US society. The BSA was conservative in the sense of an organization that encouraged self-reliance, but it was not the enforcer of religious or political dogma. There was no group of people at that time attempting to assert membership admission control. For example, the presence of gay men and atheists was generally recognized, but those people were pretty much left alone unless they were engaging in unrelated prohibited activities. W

My own son is First Class, and there are two others the same rank, one Star, and 2 Tenderfoot. (The Tenderfoot scouts joined late, so they’re in 9th grade already.)These scouts all wanted to work on this together, so only the two Tenderfoot need any of the hikes as part of rank advancement. Our Troop keeps track of hiking miles. So if we do a camping trip out on the Appalachian Trail, we count the camping nights, but also keep a log of how many miles hiked. In any case, it sounds like it can be added to their hiking totals, since it’s ‘under the auspices’. I have to say, though, I

-- Insert rant about increasingly verbose requirements here -- These guys are earning Hiking and they haven't got past 2nd class? Bully for them! Log the miles, because they may count for the National Outdoor Award. But, the letter of the 2nd and 1st class requirements dictate "troop/patrol activities" for no apparent reason. So only those hikes where they brought along at least their patrol would count for those ranks. And to @SSScout's scenario, if a patrol wants to come mow my lawn for an hour, the PL's may indeed have their scouts count that as one of their 10 activities. He can

Okay, I just love it.... Here's the discussion from several years back. I won't look for the reference. Scout has a yard that he mows (a Scout is Helpful) for the family, part of his chores. It's about an acre. Walking/pushing the mower (yes, it is a power mower, but not self propelled) it takes him about an hour and a half. Good aerobic exercise. The US military says a soldier with full kit in good shape should be able to cover about 4 miles an hour. Let's say a Scout can do 3 miles an hour with a light daypack (water, snacks, binoculars, bird book, poncho, first aid kit,

I would say yes on these as a hiking activity. If the scout doesn't complete the MB, they were still conducted under the auspices of the BSA. After the first couple of hikes some scouts may drop out, but the experience remains. Record it. This made me think about wheel-chair bound scouts and how they would earn the hiking MB. I would say if they "rolled" (not under electric power) the entire hikes, they meet the intent of the badge. I would challenge any "nay-sayer" to try a wheel-chair hike the normal distance for the MB.

We're treading in difficult waters here. It's really tough for me to argue what progressives will or won't do. My belief is that as long as Scouting is identified with promoting particular views, it becomes a target for one political group or another. The BSA promoting anti-progressive (aka conservative) views makes it a target for progressives. The BSA promoting anti-conservative (aka progressive) views makes it a target for conservatives. My point isn't that we should be actively organizing conservative or progressive packs - but that they will develop organically. As people

If you read his "bio", the character was a cub scout and his den mother taught him to "be prepared".

I follow YPT as closely as I can but I realize some of it is to cover BSA's neck. Sometimes you have to use commonsense or your child wouldn't be able to have a social life.

We could argue about how broad and meaningless the terms bullying and hazing have become but that's for another thread. My responses started to some hand-wringing about people involved in the chapter 11 process attempting to destroy the boy scouts, the impact that will have on current members of scouting, and how unfair it all seems. My point is simple. There are people outside of scouting, beyond the lawyers, who want to see scouting destroyed, for reasons other than money. It doesn't matter who we let into the movement or who is excluded or how much we change the program, the BSA wil

G2SS has killed a lot of the boys adventure.

The problem in all of this is two fold: 1) Our standard materials and adult training lead to lecture/school approach. A volunteer needs to use some imagination to avoid this. 2) Some units are doing this well today. They know how to lead with adventure and make it fun. My takeaway is that this isn't a general condemnation of Scouting. Again - some leaders do this very well. But, for your rank-n-file leader it's too easy to fall into this trip. I'm not sure how to correct this.

Have you considered Messengers of Peace? https://www.scouting.org/international/messengers-of-peace/ If you put a M of P emphasis on a service project and share, you are spreading the good that scouting can do for a community. Also, don't be shy about letting local media know when you are up to a service project. Our troop has increasingly been relying on committee members to keep 2 deep for events to make sure we have coverage. Hopefully, M of P will inspire kids to do service outside of their scouting.

And NSPs are an adult organizational concept. In one trop I was in with that used NSPs, scouts from 4 different packs were put into a NSP. Some of those Scouts joined with the intent of being with friends, who happened to be in different patrols. It was not a good year in the troop. One of the complaints, among many, we had back in 1986-87 when we were the guinea pigs trying out the NSP concept. While not everyone will be a Scout, if you deliver the promise, the outdoors, they will come. If you have a true youth led program, instead of adults conctantly overruling

"Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois serves over 9,000 girls and 3,587 adult volunteers in 40 ½ mostly rural counties in southern Illinois. GSofSI has a yearly operating budget of approximately $3.7 million. One out of every seven school aged girl in our jurisdiction is a Girl Scout." https://www.gsofsi.org/en/about-girl-scouts/about-gssi.html "The Board recognizes the need to preserve the financial value of camp properties while also ensuring the delivery of Girl Scout activities and experiences. In selling the camp properties, the asset value of the camps will remain. Camp assets of