Leaderboard

That is why any issues, concerns, or problems a SM has with the Elections Team and/or Advisor need to be dealt with privately and calmly. I know I have had a few of those over the years. But when a SM starts yelling and berating the youth election team members, that is when an advisor needs to step in. And if a SM continues to make a public spectacle by yelling and berating the youth and the advisor who is trying to calmly and privately discuss the issue, then it is time for the OA election team to calmly leave like I did.

Wow. You mean they went in and added some nights so they'd qualify to be on the ballot? I'd be livid at that!

Hey Everybody, I thought I'd share a tip that can help Scouts with the 90-day logs for Personal Fitness, Personal Management, and Family Life. We struggled with our son on how to do the logs at first and had some failure. My husband ended up buying a cheap monthly / weekly planner from Wal Mart that my son used to record his chores for Family Life. This worked better for him than an online log. The weekly calendar page spread gave him enough room to make his entries, and the book format made it easier to keep track of the actual log. We will use this type of planner again for all the

Lots of THEY and THEM no doubt. Assuming pics and drawing are androgynous individuals. Happy gender neutral cubbies in skorts out enjoying the program

I've been around several handicap scouts, some in our troop and some in the council. This situation reminds me of a Eagle Scout who was born with severe birth defects. I don't remember what those defects are, but imagine Steven Hawkin. This scout's father became the ASM of a troop so that he could work officially with his son through the process of advancement. I met with this dad a few times and learned that he took as much training as possible so that he work side-by-side with Council and District to create a modified plan for his son. This dad knew the advancement process better than most o

Agreed, and even more. For me scouting (all scouting) is about growth in behavior. Parents are shocked to learn that I don't care much about their little Johnny getting Eagle. My passion is for their son to learn habits that give him the tools to get his Eagle on his own initiative. Rank is fine I guess while he is a scout in his youth, but I want to teach life Habits of setting goals and building a plan to achieve those goals. Part of that process for us was to guide the new scout in how to initiate working a MB. We teach him to ask for the SM counselor list, call the counselor to learn

Prohibited! Like breaking a law or something? My post was specific to the MB college discussion. The organizers of the MBC provided a list of classes, but not counselors. The scouts were guided to call the organizers and get the counselor information. A lot of the times the organizers hadn't found a counselor yet, so the scout couldn't find out about the counselor until they went to the MBC, where the SM stood by to sign the cards once the scouts got the information. A bit of a hassle, but as I said, MBC wasn't that big of deal for our troop. As for the rules; in my opinion National

So, if that is actual policy to have an adult advisor at the elections, where is that documented in the by-laws or policy? I would like to know this, because if that is the requirement then I know of a lodge who does not enforce that policy of the chapters. Thank you for the insight. On the other point about the nominations of the boys to pick out the best scout, I totally disagree that the election system works. I can show for fact, in many instances, the best scout was not nominated, sometimes due to the scouts parents being involved in the Troop as leaders. I will argue that point unti

For a new down bag, you shouldn't need it. The bag should already be "waterproof" enough as long as it is clean. The outershell will already have the same "waterproofing" as you would get with a Nikwax treatment. Keep in mind that when we talk about "water-proofing", we're really talking about protection against humidity and cold-weather condensation - not rain or puddles in the tent. What damages the "waterproofing" the most is dirt - when the sleeping bag gets dirty, washing it using the Nikwax cleaning product should be enough to bring back the "waterproofing" of the bag. Only

Nope. I doubt they're Heinlein fans.

Per the rules, that can be hard to do without first going to the SM or other leader to get their name. To quote 7.0.2.1 Getting Started: Kind of hard to seek out the counselor first when scouts are supposed to be prohibited from knowing who is on that list. I just learned that this week and thankfully, our troop does not follow that rule.

Yup. I'd even hold the adults to a higher standard. I'd honestly consider having them dropped from the troop charter. Or at the least, not have them go through Ordeal, and make sure it was a long while before they might be considered again.

There are few things I dislike more than telling a SM in his own troop meeting to back off and leave the OA election team alone because they are right and he is wrong. It can get rather interesting indeed! Especially when the SMers son is envolved. But I need to protect "my boys" when they are being wrongly harassed by an adult. That job comes with the white sash and the title of advisor. When the scouts know their adult leaders will back them, it becomes a lot easier for them to hold fast to what is right.

Well, this thread's gone bust.

Spot on advice from @qwazse I was SM for 5 years and was one of the Adult Advisors working with our Chapter's Elections Teams for 50+ elections over the years, so I saw it in my troop as well as at other troops. This happens, and is a learning opportunity for growth.

At the moment I have a group of 5 scouts working on the "herritage" section of our local knowledge badge. They are looking at the history of our troop, which is pretty extensive going back to 1911. This evening, having found out the various places the troop used to meet they went for a bit of a walking tour. Nice and easy, all within half a mile of our current building. One of the venues is a picture framing gallery. It's a working workshop but surprisingly, given that we don't think the troop has met there since the 1940s, there are still markings on the walls marking the patrols. B

Thank you for all you have done for the Scouts and for Scouting. For the little it's worth - I don't think National was trying to disrespect us. I think they just handled it poorly.

100% agree. I would add make sure you find the right den leaders. I’ve seen den’s collapse when we had a den leader who was overextended and did a poor job proactively scheduling/canceling meetings. I can deal with suboptimal CMs and committee members, good den leaders are critical.

another really great point..... on the other hand though, a huge part of making it adult friendly is making the boys want to come. No parent wants to drag their kid out of the house to do something that neither really wants to do....

Most of the time Troop age scouts feel intimidated by adults asking why they are dropping out, so I always talked with parents as well. Parents know what's going on and tend to give a more completed explanation. I also would ask my sons or scouts who knew them well. Our troop program was a growing program, so in most cases (not all) the parents pulled their sons from our program because they had different expectations than ours. Most of the time it was because they wanted a more ambitious Eagle program. Which is ironic because our troop average an Eagle every 2.5 months. At the pack

Hmmm? I always thought staffing the District Committee and Commisioner service had more to do with coercing warm bodies than anything else.

My lodge, Konepaka Ketiwa #38, instituted election team training after last year's problems. I heard there was an election that the SM required a two-thirds vote and another had an election with a lot less than half of the active scouts present. This is a mandatory training. Even though I am in the Order I had an adult member from outside of troop present for my troop's election. I even delayed my Troop's election for two weeks after I found that someone "edited" the camping nights on our Troop Web Host site for an adult and their scout.