Leaderboard

So after all of the debating and back and forth with the new scout parents... we show up and the oldest, most experienced scout was there in shorts along with his leader parents in shorts 🙃 I dont think I ever saw a group of scouts unzip their convertible pants so fast 🤣. Thanks everyone!

So? Must pick and choose, I guess. Go to the Scoutshop, buy some extras, put a mix on your "extra" Scout shirt. Or on your Campfire Blanket..... I have two uni shirts, slightly different patches on each. My pride in awards/accomplishments need not be so important to the Scout I pass on the trail, only the stories I can tell around the campfire.....

That's what I meant. Same age patrols can have growth through shared comraderie. A group of mates working together to solve challenges that they run into. I'm not arguing that same age patrols are better. Most point is really just - if leaders understand the purpose and goals of patrol method then could they accomplish the same with mixed age patrols? Could you develop a strong program for older youth by leveraging roles like Troop Guide? I could envision a model where Scouts work together in their same age patrol. They grow together as they mature and their patrol strengthens.

If it starts to flare up again, consider getting a Strassburg Sock to take with you. It's a lightweight version of a "night splint". Keeping the achilles tendon stretched out during the night makes a huge difference for me on whether or not I have pain during the day.

Odd question. My parents never had first class skills. A couple of my brothers did, but they were off starting families/careers. I learned my skills from: The handbook My PL and SPL The SM Camp Staff A WAC vet who ran the county pool as if our lives depended on knowing how to swim. So, I don't expect parents to be able to teach my scouts 1st class skills. I have no idea why anyone would.

Sure, why not 🙂 Competition is good, and probably more importantly, an informed notion of what various people and units might think are reasonable expectations, wouldn't be a bad thing. I'll start. Our Girls' Troop first campout was last month, and they wanted to focus on outdoor cooking skills, so we threw them an assortment of interpatrol cooking challenges. Now before you say "they're girls, of course they're good at cooking!", I'd like to point out that A) My son, at 10-12, on pure skills, could probably cook circles around any of the girls in our Girls' Troop, indoors or o

One thing I learned as a scoutmaster: get all the information before having an opinion. We don't have all the information. We can guess but won't help. Something else that has helped my sanity; realizing that eagle is nothing but a bauble at the end of a list of check boxes. While most scouts get what we'd like them to get out of it there are those that just see it as one big check box. I have a lot more respect for those scouts that volunteer to be SPL or PL because they know it's a job that needs to be done than an eagle scout that only held a POR long enough to get the check box signed

You know what's hard for morale? Girls finding out that you unnecessarily gave them a pass. What's good for morale? Girls knowing you won't skimp on requirements -- theirs or yours.

The B.S.A. has not trained adults or youth in the Patrol Method in a remotely coherent way for decades. Yet, to earn "Scout,' a youth member must explain the Patrol Method. ("3a. Explain the patrol method [sic]. Describe the types of patrols that are used in your troop.") A troop is a collection of patrols, not a group of scouts and scouters. According to BSA back when it coherently defined the Patrol Method, a scout was to primarily spend his ("his" then) time in a patrol context. This hint is still there if one recognizes it: “Scouting happens in the context of a patrol.” B.S.

Dry ice. Don't pack Friday's COH ice cream in dry ice. You will have concrete and not be able to eat it. Bicycle. Scout disassembled and had each of his friends pack a piece of it in their gear. Then it was reassembled at camp. Hard to hide.

I welcome first year parents to attend some or all of summer camp, I view it as the best opportunity for me to train them. I'm explicit in my training, both in the run up to camp and after arrival: here's how things work, here's the hierarchy, here is the very limited role we as adults play in this process, and I'm not afraid to step in to counsel or correct behavior that doesn't fit what we discussed. It's no different from all the many times I've had adults at work that I needed to train and lead