Leaderboard

I can testify to the immeasurable value of a good den chief. I have had the most wonderful young man serving as mine for almost two years now - he is respectful, thoughtful, good with the boys, responsible, and mature. He comes in his uniform, he takes direction but also leads successfully, he participates in our activities and leads his own well - I can't imagine trying to run my den of boys without him. A good den leader can make a night and day difference in the success of any den.

I have to agree with @fred johnson on this. I too believe the SM is wrong on this, but @Hawkwinyou are mistaken if you think somebody will "make" the SM drop his policy. I have seen this played out numerous times, and unless there is a legitimate safety or YPT violation, nothing usually changes. Your son can ask for a BOR under disputed circumstances without the SM conference, and then have the BOR conducted by district volunteers. But what then? Unless he switches troops, he's gonna be "that Scout," and you will be "that parent" to the SM, CC and other adults. It'll be difficult for your son.

Personally I feel the new generation of adults who don't have a scouting experience is more challenging than the G2SS rule. As you said, if the adults get it, they will make it work. But with a larger influx of adults that don't get it, the trend will go the other way. Of course that is all based on my theory of the new influx of inexperienced adults. We will see. Barry

I know it's my faith, but you are there for a reason. God bless you. Reading about your gift, I reflected at a time when a scout came to a meeting late and out of uniform. We leave the uniform requirements and choices up to the scouts, but this was an unusual occurrence with the scout. So I asked him how things were going. He confessed (blurted out) that his parents just dropped him off from announcing they were getting a divorce. I knew from other life experiences that divorce ranks way up there when it comes to shock. I didn't know what to say, but I felt that he wasn't ready to join h

IMHO, anybody who thinks another volunteer isn't working hard enough, should be willing to take their place, or help them in their position.

Or give use the SM's email and we can berate him for you 🙂 Maybe the District Commissioner would be a better way though

Hmm, very philosophical. I'm not sure I agree or disagree, but we all grow in our experiences with others. We'll see what you think next year. Still, life has a way of making us hurry up and wait. Biblically, patience is a virtue, and a show of love. If your scouts know your heart, they are better for the wait. This has been and interesting discussion because posters have been all over the field describing why the scoutmaster is wrong. He added an extra requirement. Really? As I've pointed out, we all add requirements in our own way. Are we all bad people? The SM is making the scout

Forgot one, BECAUSE IT'S FUN! (yeah I'm screaming that at ya :)- ) Seriously though, that is a major mistake. Remembers doing a pirates' orienteering course with the goal of finding the treasure, ICE COLD CAPRI SUNS!

There are plenty of us out there fighting the good fight.

I've discovered the value of a truly good Den Chief recently. Like I had no idea I had a really good one and only found out when I heard about how little some of the other Den Chiefs contribute to the other Dens in my Pack. A good Den Chief (or two) can be a lifesaver, I'd imagine even more so in a struggling Den where the adults need a lot of help.

Hawkins, I have been in a situation similar to this and unfortunately I suggest you look for a new unit. You are right he is wrong yet the council or District are not often very effective in dealing with this type of matter. A lesson that I learned the hard way is just because you're right does not mean that you will win. I know a number of troops. Blakely violate advancement policies and have gotten away with it for decades. Some of the scoutmasters from these units are extremely high in the council and continue to gain influence. This is not to say that your battle was not worth it

@Hawkwin - I fear you are burning bridges with the troop. Though I think the scoutmaster is very very wrong here, you and your son have to continue in this troop through Eagle. Or switch to another troop. Scoutmaster can be a fiefdom owned by the scoutmaster. It's not always right, but it's how it often is.

I don't view this discussion as philosophical at all. But you do answer what I would have said later. Our duty is to support the scout. If they ask for a scoutmaster conference, then the scout has done his job. It's now our job to help make it happen. Doing any less is not fulfilling our role in scouts.

Good point. I see a common thread in patrol method discussions that implies that adults need to leave the Scouts alone to figure things out on their own. It's as if the patrol method is somehow based on the concepts of: learning through failure learning through self realization While I fully embrace both concepts, I think there's also room for the Scoutmaster to serve as coach. Here the Scoutmaster can do a wonderful job of raising the expectations and broadening horizons for the scouts. I think that's a really good thing.

I don't think that it's always wrong to ask a Scout to wait. The question is: how long before the Scout's wait would be considered to be unreasonable? Earlier in this thread, @Hawkwin said that the reason his Scout couldn't attend the campouts was because the Scout would be out of the country and that this would delay his rank advancement until November (or later). It's one thing for the Scoutmaster to have a preference to do these conferences on campouts for the higher ranks, but the SM seems to have made it an inflexible requirement instead of just a preference. The Scout believes that h

So being British and all, maybe have them be sort of magical and then they are broken up into houses and have them hang out in a castle. That may have been done before...you should check

The scoutmaster conference is for the benefit of both the scout and the scouter. However, I see it as a requirement on the scouter's side more than the scout's side. We have a duty to get that done. Any time a scout asks me about a conference or completing a requirement and I have no choice but to delay it due to other troop obligations, I feel bad. These scouts have done their work and have earned the advancement. We need to do our part and not be a hurdle.

It may be time to get your District Commissioner and/or Council Advancement Committee.

Welcome, and thank you for all you do for the boys! We look forward to your comments and ideas!

They learn basic orienteering in Wolves; it's not really taught in any of the Webelos adventures now. Which is not a good thing, lol. I teach some anyway just to prepare them for Boy Scouts AND because it's just an important life skill.

I wish I had a picture to share. I worked in a local scout shop, and a grown man brought in his old merit badge sash. One of the merit badges had fallen off. He wanted me to sew it back on, but "make it look like the rest of them - like they way I did it when I was 16, using my mom's old machine". It was one of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen; with black, uneven stitching showing all around the insides of the badges.

My council camp has started giving us a form with everyone compressed onto a few pages in line item format. It's rather annoying. It would be nice for the boys to retain some token they could use to prove their accomplishment if the troop's records were ever in question.

My troop was in that rut about 8 years ago. We had a ASM start offering backpacking merit badge. A few of us with loaner gear loaned it to the scouts to go. Now our troop has 3-4 backpacking trips a year. Not all the boys go or want to, but it's been key in keeping older boys engaged in our program.

What do you do when you have a group of boys that have no interest in a patrol method and just want to hang out with their buddies and have fun and just want to leave all the leadership stuff and planning to the adults. . . even though the adults are coaching and training the boys to lead the program? Sometimes when boys are allowed to "do whatever they want" (within the limits of safety, finances, and remaining in the game of scouting) they can sometime choose the easy, but boring path, and then complain about how they never get to do anything fun. Maybe they choose the easy boring p

Bribes: flowers, chocolates, and the troop's best scout (or scouts) as den chiefs.

We do our best. The PLC (or Greenbar) meets monthly to plan the meetings, they cycle through activities by patrol at the meetings. For campouts the patrols cook and work together. They setup patrol areas (tarp / table / cooking) and all the Scouts meals are together. The leaders camp hopefully out of sight, but sometimes that is not possible. At worst well away. On campouts they do tent with friends or hammock in groups, not necessarily patrols. At summer camp they function in patrols for waiter duty, campsite duties, etc. The Scouts plan the outings and determine at the

I can't claim perfection, but our troop definitely attempts to use the Patrol Method. This weekend, our troop is doing beach camping at a location voted on by the boys during the annual planning meeting led by the SPL. Adults made the actual campsite reservation because that requires a credit card and coordination with a private business. We are taking three boy patrols on the campout with each patrol doing their own menu planning and cooking. Adults will be cooking/eating separately as the Dad Patrol. The organization of menus and camping equipment assignments has been led by either the

If a unit has to "force" older Scouts to attend to get a SM conference, the issue of conferences is likely the least of their worries. While we would always welcome more of the older scouts, the key to get them to the outings is to have engaging and fun / challenging outings. If the outing is solely based on advancement, then likely it will drive many away. If the district or council camporees do not get enough attendees, maybe pass on those (yes one could get involved and maybe plan more engaging ones but that is a long play). Key is to do stuff they may not do with their friends and