Leaderboard

Having a scout recite the scout oath and law does not constitute adding requirements. Demanding that a scout complete additional nights of camping, serve additional months as active or serve additional months, or redo, a six month stint n a POR constitutes adding requirements. The other factor is the standard used in evaluating requirements, which might be wrongly perceived as "adding requirements" if the leader or MB counselor may be evaluating the scout to an unusually high and unfair standard. Standards should be reasonable, but that's a separate issue from adding requirements.

After 10 yrs of GS, I have just started a Venturing Crew and couldn't be happier. Have an amazing CO! Just had our first recruitment event, which was more about being visible to the CO parish and making connects then actual recruitment. Trying to learn as much as I can about the rules and our program, but I'd love to hear from Crews and their tips for newbies! What was the first trip you went on? How did you deal with funding when popcorn sales aren't going so great? Thank you

I don't see much value in today's boards of review. May as well call them what they are. Square filler. A super friendly chat with people who really, really believe in you. Everyone concerned--adults and scouts--knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if the scout has made it to that point, they've passed. Barring some minor administrative issue, of course. Alas, our scouts are better than that. Yes, the boards from old days were hard. No guarantee of passing. But the pride you saw at the court of honor...you'd think that new First Class badge was made of pure gold.

We tried an experiment where we included a senior scout in the board. It made all the difference in the world getting the young scouts comfortable. Barry

Agreed. I think?

This is the line that troubles me the most. Exclusion is never "natural," it's always a choice. They could have chosen to ignore their perception of what is fair or not, and included him anyway, but they didn't - they chose to treat the boy differently. As soon as that happens, you're starting on a path to trouble. And it would seem that pretty quickly, they reached their destination.

Can anything of importance be gained from an extreme nervous scout? Let's not look for reasons for not learning about a scouts understanding and experience of the program. It's better to just have compassion for being nervous. Barry

I've been a scoutmaster for four years now, I love the scouting part, the planning part and the teaching part. Troop is 13 scouts and we have a super time. Arron

At the end, the leaders concluded that my son and another scout (along with other scouts) lured the kid into the wood with sharpened sticks and want to do something to him. Few weeks later, we are told that my son would be suspended for 6 months. Has your son apologized to his victim, his troop? If the SM followed procedure, he reported this incident to Council which would make joining another unit difficult.

Welcome back. I hope you have a great year this year with the boys.

We had a scout the same as your scout, MattR. He droves us crazy mouthing off to adults and teasing other Scouts. Some today would his antics bullying, but they weren’t personal, more of just burning energy. Anyway, when he went through puberty, he became a poster boy for scouting. It really wasn’t anything we did, Mother Nature gets the credit for that one. That was 18 years ago. His dad is my neighbor now, so I get to him and his two daughters often. As for WB, at least from the 60s, it wasn’t a course intended to teach boy run. The course was designed to teach SMs additional mentoring

I’d have to go back to my notes, so I can’t comment on my memory (really lack there of) specifically. Seems I recall that “boy run” was only mentioned once in the SM Handbook. I’ve created courses specifically to teach boy run. I start with the Scouting Mission and Vision, then Aims and Methods. Methods are the adults primary objectives using the tools of the Methods, which are totally the Scouts responsibility. Then I work into the Method of Patrol Method and Boy Run. I found that most adults don’t understand what actions by Scouts are boy run. And even more difficult is the idea o

I do not disagree. Reading your other post about how you train is excellent. However, I still maintain that using the term "adult led" is wrong, especially when linked to "boy run" as it makes a specific distinction that the youth are NOT to lead... that is the adults job. I like the final quote you posted above.

I am entering my 2nd year as a DL. When its hot I wear some green Columbia shorts. I have pair of BSA zipoffs, but I prefer my 5.11 pants if I am wearing long pants. Dont have to pull em up as much. Have an AOL Knot. Today I attended the funeral of a former Troopmaster for our Troop. Full uniform was requested and I went out and bought a blue Cub Scout Leader neckerchief just for today so my uniform would be complete, although I did wear my 5.11 pants.

Once upon a time, I took my Scoutmaster IOLS training (but did not become a Scoutmaster. The home Troop already had a good one. I became a ASM) with a wonderful set of trainers. I came to believe (and still do), that if anyone were to ask me to define "Scoutmaster", I would point to one of these men. With the experience and skill I already had, I asked if I could help with the IOLS training, and so for the last 10 years I have averaged at least two IOLS courses a year. . The course leader (except for some surgical leave !) has been a gentleman I will name "J". At the end of each

I’m not sure who you are speaking about, but expressing an opinion is not dismissing or talking down. The WB course started by Badon Powell has no resemblance to the present day WB course in its design intent or syllabus. It’s has a whole different purpose that includes the Cub program. It so different that I’m surprised they kept WB as the course name. And National hasn’t given the support for Bill Hillcourts patrol method for at least 30 years. The SM Handbook implies patrol method should be used and provides a basic structure, but National hasn’t shown support with documentation