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and a happy Festivus to the restuvus. I think we can dispatch with the airing of grievances, as the forum seems to do that weekly. Shall we move on to the "feats of strength"

Merry Christmas to all!

I think there is a tendency to reinforce negative thinking on a forum. Not necessarily because we're negative, but because the positive things are happening in our units, district and council, and we come here for support on the things that aren't going so well. I don't think this requires a whole new thread, but I'm greatly optimistic for my troop. The New Scoutmaster took over in May, and from May until now I've done my best to support him and pick up slack as he learns his role. I found out in November that I've been accepted to Graduate school, and that starts in January for me. I'll

Merry Christmas, y'all! I put this in the 'Issues and Politics' forum in case some of you wanted to suggest that we say 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'. Masticate my hiney!! 1- I wish that every girl scout troop finds enough female members and adult leaders to successfully launch their own scouting adventure. 2- I hope that all Scouters find satisfaction in their efforts, and that their visions of Scouting's gifts are fully realized. I appreciate that you are giving of your time. 3 - I freely share with all Scouters who are carrying forward with the new vi

In the spirit of @LeCastor's post on positive thinking, I thought I'd start a discussion on how to grow Scouting in a community. Here's the premise. Say your district is like many districts out there today. Membership slowly declining, the number of units maybe two-thirds what it was 20 years ago, round table participation dropping, volunteers helping organize things outside of the units are decreasing (camporee, day camp, etc). Let's further assume that the community itself is doing well - population is growing, people are generally well employed, etc. You have some units that are

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. (Which actually includes me even though I'm Jewish, because my wife is not. I'm not there for the religious elements, but the peace and joy and goodwill etc. stuff transcends religion.)

Happy to, although given what side of the Atlantic I’m on I’d suggest Skype as the way forward

Community visibility is very important and scouting has been going in the opposite direction. My favorite community service was Scouting for Food because scouts had to personally meet the public at their front door and introduce themselves, then explain the service they were providing. 90% of our community was meeting scouts face to face experiencing scouts doing their best. Our scouts would meet afterwards for refreshments and they all had great stories of the people they met. We made it fun, but our scouts looked forward to it each year. No other event gave scouting near that much priceless

@ParkMan, there's some training I took, whose name shall not me mentioned, that covered how to do this. It's more about people than any area. @SSScout is interested in marketing and has good ideas. I'd try to pave the way for him to succeed. @Cambridgeskip wants to help promote units on the internet, so I'd ask him if he'd be willing to give a talk at roundtable about that. @Eagledad likes the patrol method, so I'd ask him if he'd be interested in developing some training for patrol leaders, SPL's and SM's. I'd ask each person on the committee what their ideas are for their area. Creating

I don't know how much of a religious person you think of yourself, but your last paragraph reads like a prayer. We've known you on this forum since you were a scout. I've enjoyed watching grow into the man you are today, and I am excited for the man you are becoming. Thank you for opening yourself to us and sharing a bit of your life. I must admit, through the years I have you found as inspiring to this forum as much as you have inspired those who are personally involve with your scouting ambitions and experiences. You truly live up to "Loving this scouting stuff". Barry

I agree...that none of the above are Christmas movies. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/wonderful-life-isnt-actually-christmas-film

If “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a Christmas movie, then Die Hard and Gremlins are as well. Case closed! Merry Christmas!

Don't be a hater :)!

I&P is definitely the right place for this thread, because Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie. In order to be a Christmas movie, it needs to be about Christmas, or Christmas needs to be integral to the story. Just because a movie takes place near the holidays, doesn't cut it. In Die Hard, for example, the only thing "Christmasy" was that they were there for a Christmas party. Change it so that they were there celebrating "Nancy in Accounting's" retirement and the story is the same.

I can’t find any official statement, but based upon FB chatter from adults who had daughters in BSA photo shoots for the new handbook - the new female cut uniforms will be available in Scoutshops by Feb 1 - there is virtually no change from the current uniform other than fit It sounds like they dumped the idea of a major uniform change that was floated earlier. Again, not official but they did share some pictures that seemed to validate their story.

We’ve reached a point in history where if you’re not on the internet you don’t exist. Every unit to have an internet presence. It doesn’t have to be an all singing all dancing website, it can just be a Facebook page. Whatever it is it needs two things on it; 1. Photos or video footage of the scouts doing fun stuff. Forget courts of honour, award ceremonies and smart uniform. That doesn’t sell. Make it climbing and canoeing and the like. 2. An idiot proof method of signing up or getting in touch. If it’s an email address make sure someone checks it. If it’s a phone

i'm going to disagree slightly with some of the posters. This sounds like a situation isn't a situation where the normal incentives/disincentives will work. The scout can survive without food if he's stubborn enough, or he knows adult will feed him, or he'll just leave dishes dirty whether it hurts his patrol or not. This is where adult association comes in, and it has to start before the campout. However the patrol makes the duty roster, this scout;s name appears in a place for doing dishes. Assuming like most troops this is probably the meeting before campout, then at that meeting,

Merry Christmas @JoeBob!

""The Work Is Done By Whoever Shows Up"" The DE needs to be put to work, making copies.... Posters in every Public Library. Fliers created to reflect the local Scout (both Cub and Scout) units to every Public Library (some Units did this locally, but wasted resources by making 500 (!) per library). Local unit can be encouraged to put on a "display" or "demonstration" at the Library. This could even be on their schedule. Here, locally(!), if one counts out and separates out the packets, the central Library Office will send out the packages to every Library. No need to go yourself to

Then start writing. Seriously. You know it. You enjoy it. You want to share it. I mean this in the most respective and appreciative way I can. Write something that we can point people to. Write something that will not only explain how to do patrol method but why. One of the problems with the usual writing is the authors are trying to keep things short and not get into too much detail. The result is overly vague and not useful. It also has no emotion. We all get goose bumps when a scout first conquers his fears and starts leading his patrol. That needs to be conveyed in order to get someon

Use his words against him as part of your "have a nice day" dismissal: Mr. Jones, we understand you have concerns and that you feel strongly about those concerns. While we do absolutely take safety seriously, the very intent of the scouting program is to empower scouts to run THEIR program, not ours. If you believe that we are not the right fit for your child, we can respect that and feel it is best that we part amicably, and sincerely hope that you are able to find another unit that aligns to your vision of what is "the right troop".

I can the the CC, SM and CO Rep now settling in on the phrase, "Perhaps our troop is not the right fit for you and your boys, here is the number for council xxx to help you find another troop more to your liking. We will not be rechartering your family as members."

I have a success story in the making! A female Webelos - the only one in her pack, recently visited my son's troop to satisfy one of her AOL requirements. She visited us from the next council and county over. As the den leader for my daughter's AOL den (in yet another council and county over in the other direction), we invited her join us at our den meetings. She earned her Looking Back Looking Forward elective with us at our last meeting and will be joining us tomorrow to satisfy Build a Better World #4 - when we are visiting with yet another local pack who has invited the local school b

I'll admit that following these forums sometimes reminds me of spending too much time on social media or the news outlets. It's easy to fall into the trap of spending so much time on what's wrong that we forget about all that's going right in our world.

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