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One of the grandkids explained it to me tonight. She always has dinner with us before going to Religious Education on Wednesday evenings. She doesn't play with "Magic" cards, but she knows about them. She has a completely different take on the issue. She thinks that those of us who are opposed to having girls in boy scouting should embrace the idea of boys playing nerdy fantasy card games at scout campouts. Nothing could be more effective at keeping the girls out.

She should see the look on female venturers' faces when I give them a patch from a council/area activity! Something between "What am I supposed to do with this?" to "I am surrounded by dorks!"

Kinda like patches at Jambo, huh?

I wouldn't have allowed that at a scout activity. I guess it all depends on whether or not you have the authority to stop it. If you do, go ahead and stop it. You have plenty of justification. If you don't have the authority, then all you can do is tell your kid not to participate.

I understand what you are saying, but it's not about poor messaging or creating a program that won't be followed. The "linked troop" concept was created to dance a fine line alientating as few as possible. This "linked troop" concept is transitional and will fade out over the next 5 to 20 years, after the contention and stress over this huge change has gone away.

Confusion on some part exists due to the program name and the rank name being the same. Ranks are ranks and requirements need to be met to receive them, it's not a participation patch. Wolf program year is not a guarantee that the Wolf rank will be completed. Likewise, crossing over into the next program year is NOT contingent upon completion of the current program rank. Our Pack does it this way: B&G is an event, not a deadline. I have spent several years dispelling the myth of rank completion by this event. Yet every year there are a few (especially new families that Google st

By Jove, I think he's got it!

I have never heard of the Magic Draft, but I sure have heard of Magic cards. They are a plague on Scouting (and on humankind in general) as far as I am concerned. There have been incidents at summer camp of kids stealing cards, charging each other exorbitant amounts (in U.S. $) for cards, and other un-Scoutlike behavior. I am glad my son never got into that whole thing.

...or BSA wants to collect a second chartering fee?

These inspirational articles always bring me back to the one that I think may have "started it all" . . . This is always re-quoted in what some may see as "politically correct", but I still like the original: Within My PowerBy Forest E. Witcraft (1894 - 1967), a scholar, teacher, and Boy Scout Executive and first published in the October 1950 issue of Scouting magazine.I am not a Very Important Man, as importance is commonly rated. I do not have great wealth, control a big business, or occupy a position of great honor or authority.Yet I may someday mold destiny. For it is within my power

This is exactly my angle on it, too. Others in the pack, though, lean pretty heavily toward ceremony, and with all of the points in training about making to sure to publicly recognize the kids for all of their achievements, ideally involving parents, asking them to come up and stand with their kids as they receive the award, etc, I'm even more outnumbered. I've been planning on working on the "give the kids the new neckerchiefs now" angle since that's such a nice tangible way of marking that the new year is starting now, and summer is a part of it. The pack doesn't have a strong history of

Our guys play Hearts and some other card games. We even keep a supply of regular playing cards in the trailer for such. At the lock-in they play some of these, but then that's what the lock-in is for...that and head shot dodge ball

Sadly, I have seen this first hand as a pro. A lot of new DEs are just out of college with little to no experience in the program. Prior to going to "DE School" aka Professional Development Level 1 training, I needed to complete basic training for all levels of traditional Scouting: Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Sea Exploring/Exploring (now Sea Scouts and Venturing). Thankfully all I needed was Cub Scout Basic Leader training. But you can only learn so much from training, no matter how good the trainer. And DEs are not encouraged to work with units. I busted my butt working with one unit to help

Call it what you want, linked troops will be coed units. But that has obviously been the plan all along. The dishonesty and doublespeak is just atrocious. The whole one committee has 2 troops is again (as with most of this rollout) just a statement made in a world of fantasy. Most troops have enough trouble getting a committee together to actually meet for 1 unit, much less 2 units. Such a mixed message and really poor messaging. As has been stated, the CSE and BSA National is plunging ahead like they have never seen an actual unit function in the real world...with real volunteer

How can this go wrong? ..... There will be two SPLs, one boy and one girl. That's okay, assuming they really are doing separate programs. But they won't, because there's only one committee to support them. So there will be, wait for it, co-SPLs. That should work just fine.

Not sure, might get a tad confusing with UK and Commonwealth Queen's/King's Scouts. "Uncle" Ian

You should be giving them at least till the end of the school year to finish their rank requirements. Some units will even extend it till the start of next school year, so they can finish up over the summer. Most rank requirements say to do with your family or den.

But that is proper. We should go with that.

So...to be clear, I am not supposed to be running the Texas hold-em big blind games at camp? Admittedly the pots get way smaller after the first night and "the house" seems to have been the big winner. Will have to adjust the campsite events

Basically sounds like the SPL wants to have a Magic tournament as an activity on a camp out. Many of the scouts in my son's troop played Magic, but I am not aware of them ever doing a draft game. The way a draft game works is that each player gets X number of unopened packs at the beginning of the game. They open the packs and they keep one card from each pack. They then pass the rest of the pack to the left. This continues as each player chooses a card from each pack as they go around the table... thus the "draft" concept. So having a fee makes sense, as you have to cover the cost

Awful article until it started discussing number 1...then it was great. People are different. People can also be equals. I think we should recognize what we have in common, while celebrating the differences that we have. But that 6-list code...read it....how is that any different than how you would want to raise a daughter? They should strive for their own code, letting them go chase their dreams, and fail as well. Certainly we want all children to grow up to be capable adults making ethical decisions. Now, how we accomplish this may be different...but the goals are the same.

One thing I got knocked down about at my proposal was not having the full safety things listed. Make sure you put a map to hospital, a phone, a first kit.

And tell the helicopter parent to back off. Barry

I don't know what a "Magic Draft" is either, but I don't like the sound of it. Is this a fantasy sports thing? Is it gambling? We don't allow any commercial activity or fund raising of any kind to take place on our property or during our programs without the prior approval of the Chartered Organization. If the CO hasn't approved it, I would forbid it.

My scouts here in the UK are 10-14 and I don't really see it. Sometimes they seem to drift into single sex groups. We went punting back in June. We told them to sort themselves into boat groups and they ended up single sex. A few weeks earlier we'd been sailing and they naturally sorted themselves into mixed sex boat groups. It just depends on what we are up to. Our actual patrols, where most chores are done, are mixed and there's certainly no gender based division there. They simply get stuck into it together. Maybe it's the sort of girls that come to scouts rather than girl guides

I will not count cabin-camping nor lock-ins (such as sleeping in the Church) as camping. Many enemies I have made - no sleep I have lost. That goes for fathers and sons sleeping in cars wanting OA camping nights. No sir. No how.

Because 11-14 girls and 11-14 boys naturally separate and don't want anything to do with each other. Even at church we have coed elementary school stuff, coed high school stuff, and separate boys and girls groups for the 6th-8th grades. Also, in a coed environment tasks can easily divide along gender roles, depriving the kids of a chance to learn valuable skills more commonly associated with the other gender. The linked-troop option seems very nice in reducing the overhead involved in getting a new troop off the ground, and in providing institutional know-how. But I can see

A group is maintaining a map of every council with early adopter Packs. See below: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1UMMudFUybRb5G2mun-tIQ7_jWU3_Lel1&ll=43.0890255520589%2C-97.97409562070374&z=4

...Benny’s shirt had “Bad Boy” on the back. I’m not sure if his mother told the Den Mother that was his name or if Benny’s reputation preceded him and the Den Mother put it on the back of his shirt to make him easier to identify. Much to my surprise, Benny turned out to be pretty good at Cub Scouting skills. He made a leather belt, started a fire and caught a fish. But … he used the belt like a bull whip, set the Scoutmaster’s shoe on fire and put the fish in the Den Mother’s purse.... A funny short read about Cub Scouting back in the day when black eyes were more prized than well an

Good article. Kind of on the same basis of other discussions on this forum. It won't sit well for those here who believe that both men and women are Venus. Masculinity for them is a four letter word that implies unfair power. When I look at the list and ponder what I gained in my youth that carried me over as a self-confident husband, father and grandfather, I must say it's the code. The moral code I learn as a youth kept me balanced over my life kept when all those around me were running around flailing their arms in the wind. The moral code is the legacy a boy will carry the rest of hi

There is the other side: 1) You have a boy (girl) in scouts. 2) You slowly get sucked into the myth and re-discover your inner boy. 3) Some old scouters or real boy scouts teach you some skills, you get just enough 'official' training to stay our of trouble. 4) You deliver the best program you can, make friends, and gain 100 unofficial nephews. Some inspire you, most are memorable, and a few break your heart. 6) You ignore national unless you hang around the forum or there is a press release. Look the whole world seems to be falling apart, some of us on the front

Oh, my! I just saw a Girl Scout selling cookies outside a DRUG store! They have federally controlled substances in there! Just like medical marijuana. What's the world coming to???

I understand that, and yet, there they are. I don't know. Maybe they could violate the Emoluments Clause, that doesn't seem to be enforced either.

See! Now we finally learned why membership dropped off so much in the 70s. Atlanta killed the Playboy Patrol. This was the start of the death of boy-led!

Well Hooters did sponsor a Cub Scout Camp in Colorado, so I consider them friends of Scouting. http://abcnews.go.com/US/parents-outraged-learn-local-hooters-sponsored-cub-scout/story?id=40325654

@Thunderbird, you're assuming there's more to life than rank advancement! Oh, the tears of distraught moms you will see!

Now I have a definitive date to plan my exit from Scouting.