Leaderboard

While I firmly oppose BSA's girl decision, I strongly support kindness and sensitivity in personal interactions. Even though their Cub Scout Pack is at fault for breaking fundamental rules about mixed-gender Dens, a kind approach is still merited as the situation gets resolved. A Scout is friendly, courteous, and kind, and nobody should be made to feel like an outcast. First, I'd explain in the friendliest way possible to the girl and her parents that we are excited for her interest in Scouting. Then I'd also explain in the friendliest way possible that because we are a boy-only troop, we

National as of today has registered another 7,000 girls this week, taking the total to 32,000+. Maybe the surveys were more accurate than some have speculated. Seems they have called the market accurately.

It was interesting to see the thread about misconceptions as I had deliberately logged on to post something. yesterday I spent 40 minutes on the phone and my Group Scout Leader (my manager, don’t think you have an equivalent) had spent 2 hours on the phone with the mum of a scout who was having a bit of a moan. She had various things to say but they all stemmed from the fact that her daughter has not made PL or APL yet. Her daughter is disappointed. She’s not the first and won’t be the last and in herself is not a problem. The problem is that her mum does not accept how scouts operat

I am a bit of an interloper who just happened to stumble across your page, but as a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer, I do know where the command "two" comes from. The US Navy adopted a LOT of traditions from the British Navy, and one of them is the tradition of ships "passing honors" at sea. When a naval vessel passes close aboard another naval vessel with a more senior ranking officer in command (or embarked), it is customary for this "junior" vessel to initiate what we call "passing honors" much the same way it is the junior service member who initiates saluting the senior officer. The

Short answer regarding Eagle app: no. Worst case scenario he's a camping maniac, meets requirements at age 11.4 and someone doing the math tells him to wait six months for his BoR. meanwhile he keeps earning MBs and racks up instapalms. Not pretty, but not calamitous. But if he's anything like the one scout in Son #1's den who started a little early, he'll take his good old time, and that gun-jump will be of no consequence. You all sound a little harsh. I'd tell the scout that if he completes his Webeols badge, he can start attending the AoL, then next year he could be a denner for his bu

I can assure you that top on the list of unpleasant crew advisor experiences is telling a half-dozen gun-ho girls that we lack the requisite female adults for them to join our expedition. These girls rightly trusted the male adult leaders, so the sense of the YPT rule was completely lost on them. On the other hand, they found (strong-armed) a female leader for the next weekend. I was quite proud of them for the rebound. I can only imagine this being replayed for clusters of girls throughout the country. If you've got a dozen like that, put it on them -- not church, nor troop committe

mash, Agree kismif sst3rd

Problem solved, talked to several OA advisors and they all said she is dead wrong. Talked with my son about switching troops and he was relieved. He is happy to be free of the SM. It makes me sad and frustrated that others will have to deal with her. I can't wait to see there response when they receive my respectful letter to the CC that we are transferring troops and districts.

Your Scout should not have to wait that long for a SMC. That is entirely unacceptable! I would request that either the SM do it immediately or he turn it over to an ASM to accomplish. The Scout is being punished in this situation. Absolutely ridiculous.

There is far too much unsaid in this episode for any of us to fully understand what transpired here. I will say that it is unfortunate that the SPL, who is a youth leader, had to come between to adults. That should never have had to happen. And there are always two sides to everything; we have parts of your perspective on what happened, but nobody from the opposite point of view to give us a more balanced sense of what really transpired. So we can't really make any calls on the episode itself, except that things got out of hand to the point that a young man had to intervene when two adults los

That sounds about right to me. Girls are in Cub Scouts now. Troops can't invite Packs/Dens that are open to girls to Troop functions and then say "No girls allowed."

Legal action seems strong, but as a whole, this pack sure doesn't seem to have their act together. You can't invite girls to attend and then backpedal. That is tantamount to gender discrimination. You're either 100% in or you're not. I think they are even fine with saying "we're in if we get 5 scouts". But, inviting girls to join, attending meetings, excluding them from events - that's just wrong. The other unfortunate thing here is this seems similar to some of the other petty unit politics we see. Pack makes a decision, someone complains, so they make a different decision. It get

LOL..reminds me of the time when I was Cubmaster and a parent called to demand to know when meetings were going to start. I said, "as soon as you volunteer to become a Den Leader"...she got furious and demanded to speak to my "supervisor"...so I handed the phone to my wife.

Scout leaders (Troop and Pack) are paid professionals. I was shocked by that one and heard it more than once.

My Scoutmaster Conferences have mostly focused on point #2. These other points are great - thanks for the ideas.

@Hawkwin I am so sorry. In many forum threads, we talk about the game of Scouting and how Scouting dies when the fun is lost. Is there any more effective way to drain fun from the experience than what you and your son are going through? Waiting another 1-2 months to adopt recommendations from a subcommittee - really?!? For crying out loud, this is a 15-minute Scoutmaster Conference - not a SCOTUS confirmation hearing!

I'm saying that by putting volunteers in a position to accept transgender scouts possibly sets them up as abusers simply by accepting them. Barry

Gender is not really any of the BSA's business. Sure, a child will need to pick a boy or girl troop. OK, that's all. It ends there. As for all of this medical intervention in teens, basic common sense would suggest that young people need to reach adulthood before making these kinds of medical moves. Yes, puberty is awkward, but it is important. Why would any doctor commit to life altering elective surgery on a healthy minor? It's irresponsible.

Well... That's one opinion. The Scoutmaster is in charge of the program, and the committee is in charge of the policy and the business end of troop operations. So in a case where there is a policy that does not conform to BSA advancement policy it is the place of the CC to act. Personally I would never take a week to get back to someone on this type of topic, unless I was in a coma or at a camp with no signal. It may just be "I am looking in to this" or "I will talk to the SM on this matter" but it will be something. So we just have different communication styles.

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

I'm surprised we don't hear about this more often. I know my church requires all volunteers to have a background check and specific vulnerable person training. Because of situations, there is zero flexibility on it. I'm sure if we chartered a scouting unit, the requirements would apply to the scout leaders.

The common misconception is that BSA is an altruistic organization composed of selfless volunteers with the mission of building boys into men of character. The reality is that BSA is a corporation driven by corporate motives. Money - not altruism - drives BSA, just like any corporation. While many BSA volunteers may indeed be selfless, BSA corporate leaders largely ignore and dismiss the opinions of front-line volunteers in decision-making.