Leaderboard

No disagreement at all that the well-being troop members and their families should be the top priority for unit leaders. Absolutely true. However, lower overall BSA membership is (or should be) a concern for folks at all levels of Scouting (including individual units). When money is tight, facilities are not maintained, staffing is cut, training is shortchanged, and money pressures start forcing decisions to be made for the wrong motivations (i.e. not for the good of the boys and the program, but for the survival of BSA the corporation). In our little corner of BSA, I'm seeing this e

http://www.firecrafter.org/webelos-camper.html

I have never really considered myself overly religious, but do consider myself to be quite reverent. I rarely attend church now, I have attended regularly in spurts over the years, but not now. I work with people of several faiths and beliefs and respect their customs. I am not closed to their thoughts or actions. I respect their needs to pray, say grace before meals, attend services,etc. I participate in such activities when I am with them but not usually at home with family. It was not the way I was raised or my husband. The Scout Law says be reverent not be religious. There really is a

If they don’t have an official sock, then why did I spend around $50 on socks to staff a summer camp? 😁

We ended having to reject a girl from joining our Pack since we didn’t have a female AOL den leader. Well, actually we gave the girl’s parents two choices. Either join our 4th grade den or have her mom register as a leader and come to all the Den meetings. She is definitely not interested in the 4th grade den and her mom is too busy. This is a biased rule that will hamper the experience of female scouts. I typically can get moms to go on campouts... but at a much lower rate than dads. I think moms willing to go on HA will be even rarer.

Presumably it’s the asymmetric way that women can supervise boys but men cannot supervise girls.

Interesting. My wife has asked the same thing. All I could think of as a response was: "I am really, really tired." For some reason that was good enough. But the truth is that...I really am really, really tired. No one in their right mind would want this old bag of bones. Children have active imaginations and they develop the ability to lie very quickly. I'm not sure if it's innate or if they're taught but false accusations are serious and I'm fairly certain that young people don't take this seriously enough. A false accusation creates multiple victims, including the accuser. I don'

Sadly, I've heard your view from scouts too. Add also discussions from them on why many different types of laws need to change. Laws on everything from liability to the oldest profession laws. ... I've always been amazed what we can overhear as adult leaders when you are good at blending into the background.

Only for the perpetual victimization crowd. The message it sends otherwise is: - Different people value different things. Some scouts value an all-male experience. It's diversity that makes us great - Voluntary association is a hallmark of free societies. - Nobody is invalidating you, you're doing it to yourselves if you let this bother you Besides, if the BSA really believes in the value of single-gender scouting (that's why we have separate gender troops in Scouts BSA), then boys-only and girls-only weeks are logical extensions of that stated goal.

I do propose moving to the language of “Cubbing” and “scouting” to refer to the different programs.

Two grandsons new in a cub pack. There are (horrors!) girls. No one seems to notice. They do stuff together. It's almost as if it's not unnatural.

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

I don't like the new YPT rules either and it doesn't have anything to do with girls. It looks like I am going to have to cancel our first Troop Event on Monday. I don't have two 21 year or older YPT trained leaders to go on our five mile hike and orienteering course. I usually put together some type of hike or bike ride on the Holiday's like Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day etc. It is a good chance to knock out some of those Advancement and Merit Badge Requirements for the new boys. This time I have seven Scouts and five adults going one of which is a YPT Trained leader (ME). J

Hi NoW, Are you commenting about THIS website or the one linked in the original post?