Leaderboard

In Utah, by state law, it will not be a crime for parents to let their children play unsupervised in a park or walk home from school alone. Utah is the first state in the nation to pass such a law. A law to fill a void in common sense? “The fact that we need legislation for what was once considered common sense parenting a generation ago and is considered normal in every other country in the world is what surprises me,” said Danielle Meitiv, the Silver Spring, Md., mother who made national headlines three years ago after she and her husband were charged with child neglect for letting th

I know my Pack's policy stinks, and it will be brought up at the next committee meeting and I'll be pushing to change it. I'm a Tiger Den Leader, so this is my first go-around with B&G and this mid-year rank award method. I was trying to keep an open mind about it but now having gone through it, I don't get it. Frankly there is a lot I don't get about B&G, but one thing at a time... I'm probably a perfect case study for exactly why the policy stinks. I admit I have a somewhat lax attitude about requirement completion, and it's likely compounded by the overall lax Pack advancement

Our troop culture has been the SM asks the SPL whether the troop is ready to go? If the SPL was on his toes, he already told the patrols to line up and the PL's or himself performed a gear check. If not, then the SPL had a "teaching moment" check of his gear by the SM or ASM in front of the troop before proceeding with troop inspection. Parents know not to leave until the gear check is completed as some "sneakered" scouts are going home. Less latitude in cold, bad weather outings. My $0.02,

While I agree with Utah, I don't think it is a good idea for the BSA to start weighing in on legislation, pending legislation, or any other political speech. Not to mention it is against BSA's own rules to do so I believe.

All I am saying is that if you're looking out for new policies on the horizon, the G2SS is the wrong place. The fact that the sex of a trained adult matters for meetings for early adopters is cause for concern. That the professional did not correct herself when I said that requiring a trained adult of a particular sex for even meetings could make Venturing even more unworkable ... but instead acknowledged the problem, is evidence toward the positive. I'd love evidence that refutes what I heard. But, referencing the absence of wording in this year's policy does not support the negative r

Speaking of adventure, The one story the scouts of today can't believe is true is when I tell them about the time four scouts hiked 50 miles on the Appalachian Trail in 5 days and 4 night's without an adult.

"Oh he is/ I am such a Boy Scout." When I hear this, my mental reflex is to ask , "Oh so he/you were in scouts?" Often the answer is a disappointing no, make that annoying too. So this morning, I read New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is answering questions about his campaign fundraising. His wife used the Boy Scout defense. The revelations in Central Islip federal court came hours after First Lady Chirlane McCray tried to blunt Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Harendra Singh Singh’s earlier, damning testimony by insisting that her hubby was “such a Boy Scout” that he’d never b

Interesting. I guess I'm down for the whole retro-vibe, although it's still drably executed. As for the color "changes," they've actually been pretty consistent with coordinating color schemes for a long while now, with the one exception of the Wolves wearing yellow hats and neckers as a holdover from the days when all Cubs simply wore blue and gold. Otherwise the Wolves have been using red as their color for many years now. I suppose it was inevitable that they would eventually switch entirely to their red color scheme, but I will miss seeing Cubs in the classic blue and gold in any case.

If I may ask, where did you get this photo and information? Mind you, it's not entirely surprising, but what is the source of this picture? I confess the cover is ... well, boring to say the least. I hope they don't go with this monochromatic style in the end, but curious to know more. At least they are incorporating the addendums into it, but as the leader of an all-boy unit, I hope they don't go overboard with the gender-integration images inside. And what about our old friend Ethan? Will his twin sister Edna be joining us now? sigh ........ I know it's been said a million times over, b

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

Who is teaching the younger scouts? Who is teaching the older scouts? My Child psychologist professor friend (also a SM) taught me that the human instinct is to learn our behaviors by observing others until puberty. After reaching puberty, instinct is to serve the pack. In other words use what they learned to serve. Any scouter who has worked with scouts after a new SM takes over will acknowledge that the older scouts don't change. They are who they are and many times Scoutmasters have to split the program to get the older scouts out of the way. I found that while younger scouts will

I was speaking from experience, not idealism. Scouts of the troop age will gravitate towards activities and feel comfortable with the like mind members is the members are sincere in welcome to the group. Forget age and think in terms of experience. Never have I seen this more than where our troop went to play Lazertag. I watch a newly formed patrol of scouts from age 11 to 16 come together within a few minutes because the activity required all them to work as a team or fail. You will also see it in troop activities, but at much slower rate. Ignore age, think in terms of experience. I h

I'm a Health teacher. Sit a girl down in my classroom and I will have that conversation. I just don't feel comfortable discussing it in the context of scouting.

Yep. I'm not a fan of the new training regimen. I think we lost something significant when so much became "... in the comfort of your home ..." rather than "... at your next roundtable ..." or "... with our trainer at meeting hall ...". As much as it was a hassle, you got some fellowship out of the deal. And, sometimes that included an invite to an awesome hike.

What's the over under on percentage of "Linked" (wink wink) troops with this configuration?

Except for the fact I know it will happen, I would bet a beer that there will be at least one pair of troops in the nation who will have the same scoutmaster and ASMs, and the PLCs meet as one.

The thing is, that kind of natural separation is entirely normal at that age. It's simply the way most pre-teen kids think, and so it would be unhealthy to force any legitimately co-ed program on these ages. That's why I hope National is true to it's word and creates a separate program for girls that steers as far away from the boys program as is possibly. No girl/boy patrols, no sharing troops - a total separation of boys and girls in their own programs, even if the girls are working on the same requirements. As far apart as they can be is best for these ages, developmentally speaking.

You misunderstand what 'well regulated' means in the Second Amendment. The first 'well regulated militia' clause explains the reason of the second 'right to keep and bear arms' clause. Regulated meant 'proficient in the use of arms' as written at the time. The 'militia' are all able-bodied persons. In no way does it or has it ever meant to be a right regulated by any congress. None of the Bill or Rights limit or seek to regulate citizens' rights, only recognizes and limits governments' ability to limit citizens' rights. The Federalist Papers No. 29 and 46 along with Supreme Court case DC vs

The constitution does talk about the duties and responsibilities of elected officials. The Constitution is a blueprint for the federal government. It is not a blueprint for society in general. It does not instruct private citizens in how they should conduct their lives.

Camp Meriwether in Oregon has already published their plan for the 2019 camping season. See https://www.cpcbsa.org/meriwether Out of 8 weeks, only two will be set aside as "Boys Only". It seems to me they have it backwards - perhaps only two weeks should be open to girls. The tail is wagging the dog.

Honestly, I have never heard of a "three meeting model" being pushed as essential. Perhaps if one felt beholden to the Den Leader Guides, but really, does any body really use them that much? I will occasionally glance through them for ideas, but I don't base my meetings off of them. I prefer to simply pull requirements from the book and go through them at meetings for as long as it takes or as long as the boys are interested. The problems I see with the "streamlined" versions are centered around two main issues. First, it can easily be looked at as a way to simply blast through the requi

In the tag line of EagleScout2010's post he commented about the leaders being lazy when they don't step up to the job. I also hear a ton of comments about the boys not doing their jobs and a ton of such comments about boys not caring once they get selected and then there's those that don't really fulfill their POR's. I got to thinking.... (dangerous on my part).... but is it laziness or ignorance? How much training is done on a specific POR or leadership skill with the boys individually. NYLT does well on management skills, but they tend to be woefully inadequate for real leadership.