Leaderboard

I'm slightly hesitant to wade into this sad and dispiriting mire, and I won't presume to know what's right for your country, I really hope for all our sakes that change is made for the better.

Barry I am not sure to what extend your research covers my area, but I can tell you based on my 12+ years locally: Most DLs are male. Most CMs are male. I would wager a good 60-70% of them. My district does an annual survey. I am looking at the last two years of data right now and easily 2/3 of all DLs are male. Our unit got together with three other units in our area back in 2010 and put together our own survey to pass around to all Webelos dens. It was online so we got about a 45% response rate which is great. The most popular thing taking kids away from Scouting were 1) sel

I think the question parents need to consider is - why are their boys in Scouts at all? If they are in it to build character, become good husbands and fathers, and take active, positive roles in their communities, then advancement will reflect that and the effort, time and personal expenses will all be worth it. But if we don't have a clear vision of the end goals, what good is all the work we put into it? Considering these things, I don't believe the tired old adage about "the journey mattering more than the destination." Quite the opposite. Sure, you should get the most out of the journ

And one other big factor is the average Webelos leader is the burned out mom who has no outdoor camping experience. Is anybody surprised by the 49% crossover number? Barry

I agree and disagree on this. The statistic Nationally is less than 50% of “Webelos IIs” join Boy Scouts. So if we added the dropouts from all the age groups, including the Tigers, the number of cubs who don’t join Boy Scouts is substantial, maybe 75%.The main cause of cub drop outs is adult leader burnout. Burned out Leaders don’t put the effort into the program to make it interesting for the boys, so they get bored and move on. I believe the overburdened Cub program is the main cause for dropping membership the 30 years. Barry

Unless you're next to a screaming toddler on a Lufthansa flight. THEN it is all about the destination and not the journey! https://metro.co.uk/video/video-demonic-child-screams-eight-hour-flight-1628342/?ito=vjs-link

Every Scout deserves his moment in the sun - alone. It may be brief, but it's not a cattle call. Efficiency is not a goal when we are doing recognition. Mom and Dad should be able, at a minimum, to snap a picture or two. Yes? Limit the time for announcements. Enforce the time limits, politely, to be sure. Music? . Suggest handouts; you can cite the need to be sure everyone gets the dates/times/details accurately. Slides sounds great!. Either handout or slides forces them to think about their message in advance vs. rambling on.

You just need a super cool cell phone Or be on the beach Or one in you car

Here's a 2013 study by the Obama administration that say otherwise.

See something (and again many did beforehand even over internet), say something,...and then say it again... Washington State Grandmother reports grandson http://abcnews.go.com/US/grandmother-reports-grandson-school-shooting-plot-washington/story?id=53136502

Exactly the point. Banning and legalizing does little. When people want to do something bad enough they will find a way. The answer lies beyond the old fall backs of ban this or legalize that.

Well that is not typical of national, or wasn’t. I haven’t been involved for the last 10 years. Is that District or Council wide a far as you know? I would enjoy coming down to abserve the program in your area. Maybe you guys are doing something right that would benefit the rest of us. Barry

Really? So people do pot never kill anyone while on pot? Never drive stoned and kill someone? Really? C'mon.

CMs and ACMs are generally more passionate about the program and aren’t as affected by burn out. But, those leaders (Wisconsinmomma) only make up about 5% of total leadership. Troops suffer from burnout as well, but it’s not as much of a problem because the Scouts take on a lot more responsibility. However, I have seen that Troop Venturing Crews were generally started by burned out troop leaders looking for more adventure to keep them interested. Likely why they rarely last more than 3 years. I found the best Webelos leaders are Troop leaders that go back to take on a Den. They know

The cost of going to Disney for a few days could cover going to a high adventure base. Most kids I know would rather do that than see the mouse. We stopped at DW on the way to Seabase one year, day trip. But to make a special trip? Doubt our PLC would even consider it. The cost for such a trip could be put to going to Alaska for HA, hiking the AT or doing white water on the Natahala.

I flew to the Dominican Republic sitting near a bathroom that was broken (and unable to contain the smell of itself as a result of whatever was broken). It was 100% about the destination then.

Hey, way to blame moms for BSA's numbers. 100% of my scouts crossed over, only 4 of 6 are still in scouts one year later. One left for sports, the other for disinterest. In some families the crossover seems to be about the parents -- and especially -- families and boys who choose sports over Scouting, and parents who think Boy Scouting is uncool for their children's social status.

Sad but true. I had to team up youth and adult staffers for IOLS. Adult staffer was to keep the adult participants in line if needed.

Overburdened?? You just have to get on the membership train, more stuff is BETTER Used to be 3 years of Cubs then one got to Scouts (waaay back in the day) Let's make it School year so they all advance at the same pace Let's go camping Let's all go camping as a family Let's add a year of Webelos so we can lower the entrance age Let's add Tigers so we can lower the entrance age again Let's add popcorn sales Let's add camp card sales Let's add Girl Dens / Boy Dens / Coed Packs Let's add kindergartners so we can lower the entrance age

I have been in enough Troop photos to know: short newbies to the front, fat old guys to the back. I like my first years to be belly shielding height.

Yup, in such cases they know at least one candidate. We actually had that happen last year. The DC was on the ballot and one of the Lodge reps told three Webelos (just crossed over and their first meeting) that they couldn't vote. Our OA Rep overheard so the youth came and got me. I told the Lodge rep these were new Scout and entitled to a ballot (he disagreed but could not find it in the rules) so we had the boys vote. Yes, they were registered with the unit so they counted. Happy to say the DC needed those three votes and got in with just enough votes. Also happy to say that DC is

Change will be hard. Even if we take up all the AR-15s and handguns lying around, kids could still make other things to cause harm. When people seek to do harm they will find a way whether it is a box cutter, pipe bomb or AR-15. We can take steps to eliminate some of the weapons but we will never get rid of all of them. For me the answer lies with family, faith, friendship and fairness.

The on-line sign up and generating of attendance rosters from Excel saves tons of time. Can see which events need more promotion and which are doing fine

Exactly! And it automatically updates and events or files that have been updated. All such updates are included in the eBlast announcement that goes out each week. The email lists are priceless too. We can target emails to OA or PLC (or whatever groups you create). It also allows the PLs to communicate with their patrol (and by default, also with parents too). I can honestly say that it has saved me tons of time. Couple that with Google Drive and Skype, we can collaborate whenever we need to. In fact, I was on a PLC Skype call last year and it was pretty cool. 10 kids and 4 adults. Got a

Correct In looking at the approved and provided photo (graphic??), Family Scouting also does NOT include: Only children families Families with more than three children Children more than 3 years apart unless the youngest is an infant Single parents (male) Single parents (female) Families with children of the same gender Male parents shorter than the female parents Bald parents Frowning

We did a local theme park in patrols as a special event one summer but I couldn’t see making a special trip to disney. That’s not really what scouts is about. My friends and I would rather be on the lake or hiking or something. We can do disney with our families.

We had a problem because the new scouts joined us in january right during elections so they really didn’t know anyone. The election team encouraged them not to turn in a ballot because it would make the 50% number higher than it should be. So they counted for purposes of having 50%+1 of the registered scouts there but not against the 50%+1 of the votes need to be elected. Made the most sense.

I've seen a lot of WDL who operate a program where the AOL year is the end of the Cub Scout experience. Boy Scouts is a new, but related program for the boys to do next. I think this is why we see the biggest loss in membership when boys go from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. In my mind, it's a continuum. Just as boys go from Wolf to Bear and Bear to Webelos, so too do they take the step from AOL to Boy Scout. It's not that the WDL needs to spend all their time getting the boys ready, but they do need to make it a smooth process.

Good point. Webelos, back in the day (here he goes), was a shorter program perhaps for that reason, as was Cub Scouts. A 5th grader Cub started his last year working on Lion (Wolf-Bear-Lion), at the end of the year you worked on Webelos/AOL for a short time. The requirements were learn the BOY SCOUT OATH and LAW, salute, hand sign, motto... If Boy Scouts interested you, you joined a troop where you learned your Tenderfoot skills. When you think about what preparation does an 11yr old need to join Boy Scouts? None, no experience required. Same is true for his adult leaders.

I wouldn't assume that scouters who are negative on this board, or grumpy at committee meetings, are acting the same way while they are interacting with the boys. The kids often have a way of bringing out the best in some people.

We have the same type of discussions in our sports programs. Only 30% of grade school/junior high athletes will continue to play in high school. Should we focus our attention on being a good feeder program for the high school, or should we put more of our efforts on making the games more enjoyable for the 70% of kids who will, in all likelihood, never advance to a high school team? The same is true of scouting. Boy scouting and cub scouting are two very different activities. Many boys who enjoy cub scouts will not join boy scouts. By making the last two years of cub scouts into a feeder p

Why does anyone assume that a longer journey is a higher-quality journey? In much of my Scouting experience I find that when a Scout slow-walks through the ranks, it is because he is only partially engaged in Scouting and only shows up sporadically. That half-commitment is of course reflected in the speed of his advancement, too. Where in that equation does anyone derive that he is having a higher-quality Scouting journey? I see quite the opposite, in fact.

@WisconsinMomma Something to consider: Item #10 on the Journey to Excellence (JTE) criteria for troops involves holding 2-3 courts of honor, "where troop plans are reviewed with parents." However, that doesn't mean that they need to go on and on trying to inform the parents about every single little thing. They could hit the highlights and leave all the details for the newsletter, weekly e-mail, e-blast, website, or whatever communication(s) you want to use. Over an hour for announcements and FOS seems excessive.

When I offer Den Leader Training courses for new Cub leaders in my council, that's actually a large part of what I try to convey. As a Webelos Den Leader, I think it's important to be aware of the local Boy Scout program so that I can sufficiently prepare my boys, not only for the program, but for the leaders and Troops up to which they will be advancing. My den feeds in to the Troop sponsored by our shared CO, so I always make it a point to attend their committee meetings and to know the SM and his assistants personally. That way I can give them information about the boys moving up soon,

SOAR does one other thing that really helps. Put an announcement on the front, whenever you want, and one day a week it emails a synopsis of all the most recent announcements. So, no flood of emails.

I don’t think so. Flagg has been pretty specific and you’ve been ignoring what he says. Pretty clear to me. It is almost like your trying to provoke something. How many times did he have to say what he said.

@ParkMan, that's a great idea. What you describe is exactly what I was looking for and I asked if those things would be covered in WB. I was told yes (queue the magic elixir ad). However there's the practical issue of the current WB group admitting that something else might be useful. People would go to your course and skip WB. That would cause a turf war.

This is what I meant.

Ours is still tap outs... For youth fairly firm, for the adults they really pound hard....

We still tap out but it is light and only with consent of the parents of the guys participating. Parents are invited to watch and it’s all open.

I think we're way off topic at this point, but on the subject of advancement... It kind of seems like no matter what pace a kid takes, it will bother someone. Go too fast and you're missing out on the journey. Go too slow and earn eagle in the 11th hour before turning 18 and they didn't take it seriously, didn't plan ahead, procrastinated, etc., etc., etc. My feeling is if this is supposed to be about the journey, let it be a journey that fits each scout. No two journeys end up being the same. The kids have their list of requirements, but even within that there is a lot of choice an

Here's what our PLC did a few months back: First meeting was the parts of a compass and basics of map reading. They had a game called Orienteering Baseball, where patrols played each other by answering map and compass questions of different value (some were "singles", some "doubles", some "home runs"). Like First Aid baseball only with navigation questions. Second meeting of the month was more advanced map reading. They learned about UTM and magnetic declination. We got several large topo maps of Philmont and made up treks. Patrols had to navigate from various points, get wate