Leaderboard

Or as my grandad used to say, you can take a horse to water but a pencil must be lead. I’m here all week

I wish I could edit more as I bet I could come up with many or refine my thoughts. Here are a few that I like. "Keep the outing in scouting" ... My interpretation --> Focus on doing. In doing, we create opportunities to teach and make a difference. "Teach at all times. Use words if necessary." ... My interpretation --> Our actions are our greatest teacher. Flip side, too many "teaching" words kills the scout spirit. ... Quote is often attributed to Francis of Assisi, but it may be a pairing down of their religious rules and not a real quote.

I’d always say never criticise another person till you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. That way when you upset them you’re a mile away. And you have their shoes.

How about this variant: Never let them smell the fear! Truth. YP doesn't even allow for older boys acting like older brothers anymore.

From BP's Aids to Scoutmastership p. 3 "The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother."

My feeling is that, as a Scouter, I "guide scouts to find their own path" towards the aims of Scouting. My $0.02,

I agree. First, most boys (girls?) of this age and maturity are more than ready for an advanced maturity program. I believe most Webelos Dens are just coasting their last couple months waiting to get in the troop anyway. Second, the few Dens that do wait a couple of months longer are typically doing it for the adults who want the boys to get more advancement. That advancement a year later will mean almost nothing to the scouts. For those Dens who are waiting, we asked that they send their Scouts to our troop just to get used to being a Scout (even if they hadn't committed to our troop).

Just goes to show you that there's always 2 sides to a story, and the hyped up emergencies you hear about in the media are often nothing of the sort. No biggee, no harm, no foul. Yeah, a couple canoes flipped and it sure was great that the sheriff deputies came to help get that done. In the end, a good trip was had by all. Happy ending. I LIKE it!!

Another: "Never let them know that you can hear them."

An indoor Wood Badge course is pretty bad. An indoor Wood Badge course AT A HIGH ADVENTURE BASE is just nuts. What's the adventure, trying to avoid getting a splinter from the seat?

Just what were these highly trained folks planning on doing with their training?

We think we know everything about how to coach scouts, until that next scout! Then we start posting here!

Whatever we all disagree about, I think we would all say that it's monumentally stupid to take Camping at your first summer camp. The Scout won't have the camping nights, and won't have any of the 9B requirements. What you're left with is a partial that probably won't be finished for a year or more. There's no point in bothering with this one until the Scout at least has the camping nights. Once he has the camping nights, he'll likely have knocked out one or more of the 9B requirements as well, and can focus on figuring out ways to get the rest.

Knowing how much work can go into an Eagle project, I'm sure that this was very discouraging. However, we must keep in mind that the project belongs to the beneficiary. While we always hope that it will provide a long lasting legacy to the Scout who completed it, the needs of the beneficiaries change over time. I have a relative who has a really hard time with this concept as well. This relative will give a gift, but will get quite upset if the recipient does not keep and use the gift. Once that gift is given, it belongs to the recipient/ beneficiary to keep, regift, or otherwise dispose

It can happen and has a special patch that says ... "Proud son of a super mom!"

Not very realistic or desirable in my opinion. I considered this for my own sons, but after two years found that they are somewhat neutral to earning belt loops/pins. As long as they get to participate in recognition events, they seem happy. They would rather run around playing tag on the playground with their den than doing an adult led activity for the sake of earning an elective. It turns out that earning electives was more important to me than it was for them. Another hint for me was that only one other scout in my den completed any of the optional electives on their own, although I encour

I notice that whenever the issue of uniforms is brought up, there is an immediate influx of opinions to the effect of putting down those who support proper uniforming. Sometimes those who support the uniform are belittled as being obsessive-compulsive about something these naysayers claim "doesn't really matter," or, there arises a rather condescending tone implying that these others have "more important things to worry about than patches or pants." I find such patronizing unfortunate, and disappointing. The implication is that if you take time to care about the uniform, you are ign

The requirement says: "To recognize youth members who recruit a friend into Scouting." It does not specify that it must be his unit. (Though I think it once did). If he wants the award have your son talk to his Scoutmaster (with the requirement in hand) and see if he will award it. If not, you could talk to the other unit, but it could be a bit of a rub with his Scoutmaster.

As many as are needed. And, make sure each one has a job, as mentioned by others. I came up with seven key areas of focus for ASMs: Overall Program, New Scout patrols, High Adventure, Regular scouts patrols, Special activities, Service projects and Camping planning. The bigger the troop, the more it would need separate people to focus on these key areas. A good Scoutmaster should always be able to ask for help when needed.

I am posting this here to possible help new scouters get the troop going on the right path. These are personal observations from years of working with hundreds of troops develop strong scouting programs. I hope they will help you evaluate where the troop you serve is functioning and where it can improve. Tis board would be a good tool to help you change for the better, but the resources of the BSA are probably your greatest source of scouting methods and information. Hope this helps, Bob White Some Common Traits of Successful Troops Currently trained adults Leaders wea

A lot of units have a higher than average number of Eagles. Many have a lower than average, that's how we come up with an average. What's more important is how they are getting to Eagle not how many you have. Eagle factory is a term used to describe troops who put the achievement of rank over the personal character growth of the individual scout. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy You might be an Eagle factory if.. If your troop meeting plan is based on merit badge classes then you might be an Eagle factory. If the majority of merit badge sashes in the troop look the same

Due to the recent annoyance of online advertising networks and the diminishing value of advertising revenues they offer, SCOUTER has cancelled all contracts with advertising networks. The pop-ups, surveys, and blinking youve won! messages just became to much for us all (SCOUTER Staff and visitors) to tolerate. At SCOUTER, we know as well as anyone that advertising can be an unwelcoming experience on the web. To ensure that SCOUTER can continue to provide thousands of grassroots resources to the scouting community, some level of advertising is absolutely necessary. Effective immed

My scoutmaster seemed to have believed, "If you hear 'em after lights out, shout at the top of your lungs."