Leaderboard

It's not just a BSA problem, it's a societal problem. Our over arching desire to protect children is actually damaging them, mentally and physically. Lukianoff and Haidt talk about it in their article, and now book, "The Coddling of the American Mind." It's the basis of Leonore Skenazy's Free Range Kids movement. You're right, the BSA should absolutely be fighting against the trend. But, it's risky business to say "Let your kid join our movement! They're going to be challenged emotionally and physically. They'll hear things they disagree with. They'll get into arguments. They'll

I've got a request for the moderators: How about a subforum on "Practical advice for launching a girls Scouts BSA troop" under the "Open Discussion - Program" forum. We've currently got a couple of good discussions going: this one ("Linked Troop Mission Statement") and also "New Scout Troop" that would fit there already. And I imagine there will be more in the upcoming months. And it would help people looking for advice be able to find this good advice more easily.

I share your sentiment and agree. The BSA is doing this things because it's the obvious path given the rest of our society. As a Scout leader, what I've seen is that relatively few folks actually want us to coddle their kids. It's just it's what parents think is the right way to do things because it's what they see everywhere else. However, when we present them with another way and explain why, they generally agree. Setting up a tent is the classic, albeit simplistic, example. Parents will often go on the first campout with their son after crossing over. They'll see their son

I agree with @Eagledad. I've seen a variety of terms used in planning like this. But, they generally break down into "goals" and "steps you'll take". When folks add a Mission Statement, it's usually a little more general. Most of the rest of what you wrote sound like the short term steps you'll take to get going. What I feel like is missing here is details about where you want to get to and some times and durations. The question I normally get with this is - "this seems to formal for a Scout troop - isn't it obvious we want to do these things? I've found that even in Scouting, havi

Came across this article while I was scrolling through my LinkedIn today. https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/this-rarely-seen-leadership-practice-is-now-linked-to-happier-workplaces-motivated-employees-says-research.html I think it nicely supports a good deal of what we try to teach our Scouts about being kind to others and servant leadership.

The other constructive way that you can handle this suspension time is getting to know the other scout families better, one at a time. Invite a family in your boy's patrol over for dessert or go out for ice cream. Maybe even start with the family of the boy who your son hit. Explain that it's your way of making up to them, but also a way of teaching your son to think better of people so he can respond with kindness and courtesy instead of anger when he's stressed. This doesn't have to consume much time -- maybe a half hour -- unless the boys have something in common like a game they want to pl

Some very great points. The only thing on the committee shadowing the troop's. Our 2 females that have already agreed to step up, have no clue on how to run a troop (Positional training will happen soon), nor how to hold a SM conference and Board of Review. They are both Mom's of boys in Scouting, but haven't volunteered for anything on the troop level. The soon to be Scoutmaster has been a popcorn kernel for the pack and nothing else. The potential Committee Chair has been a Assistant den leader for two months now and has no clue on what a Committee Chair does, or how to hold

What strikes me is that you're assuming both an extreme lack of knowledge on the part of the parents and an extreme level of complexity for youth running a program. How would you be doing this if you were starting a new troop for boys --- as has been going on for 100+ years? There could be some value in the girls observing how the boys run their troop for a few weeks, but mostly I think what you need to do is get the girls to jump in and start putting together THEIR program. Get your troop together, see who wants to be the leaders, have them work with the their fellow scouts to pl

As I gaze on the small pack of grandsons that I have, what I view is their access to media and interactions with others in more ways and much greater freedom than my generation even dreamed of. This is, to some extent, affected by rapidly-changing technology and I seriously doubt that even the best-intended 'rules' or 'guidelines' or whatever you want to call them, can keep with with those rapid changes. That doesn't mean that we should 'throw in the towel' (I can dig even deeper into the collection of cliches if needed) but rather that we perhaps should spend more time and attention on just w

A Mission Statement and Plan of Action are two different things. Typically the Plan of Action is the "how-to" for the Mission Statement. Your appear to have a good plan that is ready to move forward with action items. But I'm not clear why you want a Mission Statement. Are the BSA and Mission and Vision Statements not enough? I'm not suggesting anything, just trying to understand what you are asking for. Barry

Advancement requirements are exactly the same. Scouts in LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) units do not pay registration fee, dues, or for most campout costs. They are only allowed one fund raiser per year, and there are restrictions on the types. It is not important to know the specifics, but you may want to clarify what the troops does. This may help ease the shock of annual registration fees and unit dues. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints troops do not camp on Sundays, therefore the leave camp Saturday night. For those who are not members of t

I just hope they're beta testing the rules and supporting language with real units. I can deal with rules like "have adults copied". It's just when the rules try to get specific but end up being vague that we seem to run into issues. Stuff like "is email a form of social media?" and "what does public mean?" . These issues seem easily avoidable if they were to roll the rules out for comments and then incorporated comments into the final version. Beyond that though, this all just saddens me for the BSA and the scouts. I'm 100% behind protecting youth - but there has to be another way.

@Zebra132, not sure if grumpy is the right word, but I'm certainly old. There are lots of discussions on this forum about what an Eagle scout should be. It's mostly about character. There are also lots of discussions about not adding requirements. Unfortunately, these two ideas create a lot of tension because what we think an eagle scout should be has little to do with the requirements. The requirements are very concrete whereas character is not. Courteous and kind and putting the needs of others is very subjective whereas 20 nights camping only brings up conflict when the idea of sleeping in

Not tangential in the least. The CO has a very strong influence in these situations. In fact, the first person I might consult in situations like these is the COR and IH. And it's not just for any sense that they have moral high ground (although they may). It's to get an honest outside opinion on the matter. Yes, "clean" is to be interpreted broadly, as per BP's description. I have never noticed a pattern regarding which CO's influence troops in which directions. I think this is, in fact, because most CO's are hands off. They want good kids coming through their doors and getting

If this is really the rule, then I think National has sailed right off the deep end. You know, @RichardB, adults can harass and verbally abuse other adults, and it unfortunately happens in workplaces all the time, and it can sometimes lead to liability for the employer. In BSA National Headquarters, and in councils, are employees allowed to email each other? (That's a rhetorical question, I'm sure they are.) If so, how do you know that some nefarious activity is not taking place by email. By the logic of not permitting troop communications by email, then people at BSA National should not

Question for the OP. Are the boys getting their work done? Is the troop running well? Have you had any actual reports of wrong doing? For 100 years our goal has been to get boys to work together to run their troops. Train them, trust them, let them lead is the catch phrase. Now we're being told adults have to intervene. There's no faster way to crush the spirit of a group of boys who have bought into the actual vision! The policy quoted above is technocentric and technophobic. Would we demand to see hand written letters between the scouts? What if they decided to use an enc

Focus on the first meeting, the first month and the first camp out. Everything will seem clearer after that. Start by focusing on the first meeting. Get the PL Handbook and SPL Handbook to plan the meeting. Basic meeting is Opening, Patrol Corners, Program and Closing. I typically ask the SM to play the part of the SPL (or PL if you wish) for the first meeting only to set an example and get the momentum started. Opening- SPL delegates scouts to run a very basic opening. Pledge, Oath, Law, Prayer, and quick Announcements. Patrol Corners - PL runs through a basic agenda of

She doesn't know who they are yet. She might have to ask to visit a troop during their parent night/court of honor. (I'd take her over an FOS presenter any day of the week.) Besides the troops, there are other churches, other schools, the local newspaper (here you might want to have an adult party be the contact, but the pitch should be hers), lemonade stands. And after all that, she falls short? She will have met dozens of youth and adults around her community. That will count for a lot! Like you said, there are other towns. But she has to count the cost of added commute time, etc .

Tough love time (Hawk's already heard this pep talk) ... We parents and unit and district and council scouters can beat drums for these one or two girls here and there and never find a finger-hold to get a BSA4G troop up and running. The responsibility for starting a patrol then a troop, rests squarely with the youth. These girls need to dig really deep and ask other girls if they'd like to hike and camp together every month. This probably means talking to strangers ... every girl in their class ... every sister of a boy scout ... even if she is a couple of years olde

Nothing stopping said parents from making that plan and putting it into action.

Have you seen the price of good hiking socks? These are priced about the same and based on the manufacture they are real hiking socks. Those old green socks with the garter were a pain. The original red top were great until they stretched out and they didn’t stay up.

Sounds like a problem for the Council or the District, not your troop. I would refer them to the appropriate entity. I have an AOL daughter in the same predicament and I continue to work actively with the local district to find her a troop in February. I don't harass my son's troop (or their CO) about it but I have asked them what they plan to do.

Most of the commentary seems to be on the wisdom or stupidity of the extension- but mostly how it affects an individual Scout. Either way, it does provide potentially a strong program gain. The new troops starting up will have a much better chance of success if they have a few "senior" girls in them. Always tough for leadership development when a new troop is formed from a den of Webelos. To get those girls, there would be opportunity particularly with current Venturers. While not every 17 year old girl will want to work towards Eagle, it does make sense that some of them would- and the t

As far as I know, every lawsuit againt the BSA regarding membership policies has either been won by the BSA or settled in such a way that the membership policy was not changed until the BSA later decided to change - with one exception. That exception is the complaint brought in the New Jersey Division of Civil Right on behalf of the 8-year-old trans boy who was denied membership in the Cub Scouts because his birth certificate says he is a girl. The BSA basically caved... they changed the policy and I believe they even paid some money to the kid's family. The BSA did not have to cave, they c

I don't see a problem with this. If a soon-to-be-young-adult wants to put their shoulder to the wheel at this window of opportunity, no problem, I'll gladly support them. If another S2BYA's timing precludes it, no problem, I can point them to other summits and if they help me lead my unit I most definitely will support them.

Maybe its just local conditions. I'm 25. When former Scouts visit our childhood troop, they say hi to me, and after observing they almost always joke: "Wow, things really haven't changed much." They're both right and wrong. I think the BSA as an organization has changed quite a bit. I feel like that pace of change has accelerated. But I still recognize the BSA from when I joined back in 2005. My Troop hasn't changed much from all these policy changes. Requirements change, uniforms change, membership policies change, but the core activities and methods of Scouting haven't changed in

A 16 year old boy who just joined knew how much time he had and if he could or could not earn Eagle in that time. It would be his choice and I don't think more than a few in the country, if any at all. The real point is that National it's allowing those who were not in the program before mostly because they were not allowed, to have 24 months to earn eagle. It is simply giving them the opportunity. There will always be those who just miss a deadline or cutoff date. In my crew there are two girls best friends that do everything together, one turns 18 in January the other mid February.

We talk often about lawsuits being filed, or the fear there of. Can anyone list any significant successful lawsuits against BSA , or a troop, or a CO for its membership or advancement policies that actually resulted in a court ordering a change in either advancement or membership. I play an attorney in my day job, and I can think of almost no grounds for bringing a successful suit that would ever make anyone an eagle scout or force any individual unit to do anything about admitting a particular individual as a member. This is mostly a boogeyman fear, and as scouters we should be goo

Well, I think there is an "additional requirement" of sorts, in that the Scouts who do this will have 24 months (or less) to go from no-rank to Eagle, of which more than 16 months are time requirements, rather than having 7 years. There will be no time for pauses and probably very little or no time for sports, robotics, school plays or any other elective activity. These Scouts will basically be eating, sleeping, going to school (including college), doing homework (hopefully) and doing Scout advancement.

I don't see a reason to add requirements. As it is National essentially added the time requirement of "24 months from joining to Eagle" I think that is enough added work for an 18-19 year old.

Lawsuits would have been filed regardless. Now they can point to a consistent policy for the 2019 new Scouts instead of what some Councils would have done by pushing exemptions under the following reasons. To be clear, I don’t know if Nationals would have granted any due to #1 below; however, there may have been groups pushing for exemptions under #3 below. Now it is clear how to handle the situation. 1. The member joined or rejoined—or became active again after a period of inactivity—in time to complete all requirements before turning 18. That is, the time remaining between joinin

I wouldn't even say high hundreds. Most girls I know at the troop age, want to join for the activities. I have only met 1 that wants Eagle (but shes young enough to achieve it properly).

This is an exceedingly wise decision.

I agree. It seems like the most limited and equitable “transition rule” they could have adopted, if they were going to adopt one at all.

I actually found this solution to be much better than what was being asked. There was pressure to shorten the time period between ranks or even give credit for work done before joining Scouts. They are offering to this to boys as well and are not changing requirements (other than max age)... plus you have to earn this within 24 months so it is not for those who want to abuse this exception. I would have been completely happy with no modifications and I’m surprised they are allowing the exception, but at least they didn’t follow some of the suggestions that would have weakened the rank.

"Instead, the BSA will officially recognize our Inaugural Class of Female Eagle Scouts in the fall of 2020, providing young women who join Scouts BSA the needed time to complete all requirements. This Inaugural Class will be celebrated nationally and collectively commemorated." 2020 appears to be the "inaugural year".

The program isn’t changing. They still have to do all the same work as before. If they are between 16-18 when they join, they can ask for a 24 month extension to finish properly. Also, not sure what you mean by inaugural year, there will be no Female Eagles in 2019.

Until I got to #3, I thought this was the worst decision in history. But both genders are being treated equally, so I guess it isn’t the worst decision in history. It actually seems like a Solomonic decision. I guess. On a more positive note, I think the decision not to recognize a “first female Eagle Scout”, and the stated reasoning, is perfect. That is what I was hoping they would do.

I have, and is missing coed training. I called National thinking I had taken the wrong course (it also has same number as Boy Scout YPT, Y01). But that was the correct course as it now covers all programs. I don’t think there are any additional modules unless they decide the current set does serve their purpose. I was/am surprised the was such a difference between old Venturing YPT and new all encompassing version.

The question isn't impact or intention. It's principle. The BSA had a perfectly functional, equally applied to all scouts policy. You have to finish all the work for Eagle by your 18th birthday. Objective, easy to understand and simple to enforce. That's why the young man we talked about before had his appeal denied https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/greenburgh/2018/08/14/greenburgh-teen-loses-eagle-scout-bid-technicality-public-rallies/975027002/, . This announcement bends that policy, advantaging new scouts over existing scouts. Somewhere in the US there's a boy who joi