Leaderboard

Every Scoutmaster should develop and maintain a strong key-three relationship through regular communication and the full sharing of all disputed issues. In our case the CC and COR are officers in our CO. And we regularly consult the CO CEO on key decisions, who also stayed 2 nights with us during summer camp. Such a relationship makes very clear to parents where the adult authority lies in a unit and prevents the rise of abusive “parent clubs” that attempt to micromanage. I wish you luck in your further efforts to reformulate authority lines within your troop, but believe you need to have

Since all our soccer players were scouts, we tried similar ideas like this and the answer is yes, they did take charge because to not do so would be to loose. It was very much like sandlot sports. One of the players on my soccer team came from a traveling team who got to tour and play several teams in Ireland. They were beat every time. I talked to dad about that and he said the players in Ireland didn't have quite the personal skills of American players, but they were much better team players. The coaches in Ireland at that level have less personal time to coach, so the players have mor

BSA has partnered with a Marketing Firm (I forget their name) who has created a campaign on this very topic. The major theme is "Scouts Start". Whereas in just about every sport there are the few starters, there is no "Bench" in the BSA; every Scout is a Starter. Also, where most "Try Out" for sports, in BSA you "Try In". I thought it sounded a bit hockey at first, but it's actually very well done.

I will plead guilty to being one of those who does keep my copy of every blue card. Most of what I sign are for scouts in my troop, and I know that there is always that scout who will come up to me weeks later, after having lost the rest of the card before thinking about turning it in to our advancement chair.

Scout handbook. And a small box for blue cards. As a backup, save pictures of the signed handbook pages and blue cards to a cloud drive that the scout shares with his parents. If he is still having a problem seeing the forest for the trees, try a white board with "This month I am working on ..." He would then fill in his short term goals.

Scout Handbook for sure. I was (am) ADD before it was a diagnosis. The handbook puts the entire rank on 1 or 2 pages. My SM at each conference would ask me about my goals and we would write expected dates at the top and in margins of the next rank. For example, during 1st class SM confeence we would write at the top of Star page, "goal to achieve around [date]." And similar for mBs.

Might be a NJ thing

Because the scouting experience doesn't have the value of the sports. Our troop had a reputation as welcoming athletes, but in truth most troops really don't mind. What made us more attractive was our program. Oh yes, we were willing to let scouts arrive to Camp Saturday morning after friday's nights football or band. But, those scouts could of easily not bothered to camp that weekend at all. Program, program. program. Barry

I met a forum member. He did data recovery. His was the team who would, after a natural disaster, bring a system back to life so that business would be operating normally even before power was restored. Normally it's very simple work. Go in, confirm that the server farm was indeed flooded because corporate relegated it to the basement, start the generators, boot replacement servers, and ask "We'll send a crew to retrieve off-site back-up. Now, where is that?" "Oh, we backed up to servers in the basement of our sister HQ building across the street." Face-palm. A troop duplic

Our SM has tried to do this, even going so far as to have a sign-in sheet so he can tally how often Scouts come to meetings. Frankly, I bristle at this. Scouts who don't show up won't get elected to leadership positions, nor will they complete requirements for rank. That should be enough to encourage them to come to meetings.

I think a lot of Scouters have TRIED to do the same and have found that the parents and Scouts, given a choice between sports and Scouting, will usually choose sports. So the "free market" dictates that it's us who make the accommodation, and not the coaches.

This is why we have assistants. If you've got a Scout who can be there enough to provide leadership to a function, then let him lead the function. If he has to miss 50% of the events, then no big deal. Take a more junior scout, make him/her Asst. of whatever POR that scout has. Benefits: The Scout learns to balance the realistic demands of life. A younger scout gets to learn from a senior scout Older scout learns delegation The job probably gets done better Negatives: None?

I still have my blue cards from 25 years ago...

And the scout/athlete/musician/scholar. When I was in high school and made plans to attend National Jamboree, I realized that band camp was the same week. I explained this to my band director, and he curtly said that no camp no marching band. I shook his hand and said, "No problem, see you in the winter for stage band." I wasn't the least bit upset. I wanted my school to have the best band around, and if my absence would compromise that, I had no problem being a fan and cheering my time on from the stands. I went to the guidance counselor that day and said I needed to adjust my fall

Not What, who. That would be us parents.

Yes, there is Boy Scout Volunteers https://www.facebook.com/groups/boyscoutvolunteers/

We hold them until the scout has aged out, and then we keep them until someone decides it's time to purge the files every few years. Holding on to them is pretty redundant since the record is held electronically in BSA's Scoutnet and in the Troop's Troopmaster file.

To clarify, I should have asked, how long should a Troop hold on to the Troop's portion of the Blue Card?

OK, I'll speak up for sports here. I don't like when we try and pit disciplines against each other. I think the benefits of scouts vs. sports depends in many ways on the parents and what they want for their kids. Almost all the things we criticize sports parents for I have seen in scout parents, it's just not as overt. Whether it's the win at all costs or make it to Eagle at all costs mentality, some parents are just programmed to push their kids that way. I will say that while sports parents can harass the referee, there is a limit to how far things can be contested. In scouts, however, if a

Once the scout has aged out, and has received his last rank prior, I don't see a reason to keep the troops copy. I would, however, give them back to the scout at that time.

I think that the original question was "How long should a Troop hold on to the troop's third of the blue card, after the scout has completed the merit badge?" Until the scout ages out of scouting?

Both are good for the kids IMHO for similiar reasons, both are bad for similiar reasons too. Scouting tends to push youth to do things because it is the right thing to do, the work together for common goals, and get personal recognition for hardwork. Those are some of the positives. On the negative, many parents are too involved in the youth's advancement and cover up or make up for what the youth don't do. I see very similar things in sports. If they can do both, I recommend it. Band is another big thing here in Texas that provide youth positives and negatives. I see

We continue to use Troopmaster for this. We've tried Scoutbook since it became available for free to all units. However, we just couldn't get past the learning curve to make it work for us. We couldn't even get the Scout's data to open in the system properly. After talking to others who have used it for a while, we realized that it wasn't just us, and it wasn't just a learning curve. Many Scouters around here wish they could go back to Troopmaster, but the new price of Scoutbook (free) has locked it in for many units over the competitors.

BTW - can we once and for all recognize: The BSA makes very clear that within a unit, the Scoutmaster has the final say on advancement. District Volunteers can not overrule unit level volunteers with their unit.

The troop committee does not have the authority to replace you as scoutmaster. That is not their job. Officially only the COR has this authority. That being said my advice is as follows: GET OUT!!!!!! I may have missed it but I don't see your son's age and rank. They would have to be nearly done for me to say that you might as well stay. This sounds like a very toxic place. You might discuss the issue with your COR (the person really in charge). If they are supportive of you continuing to develop the troop then they need to inform the committee that they don't have the authority

On a planning basis, Scouts at this age and at this point of a new program require 3 months of knowing what lies a head in their future, the troop leaders need about six months so they can get their minds wrapped around where and how, and the parents need about a years worth of vision so that they have some peace of mind that the program is not just a week by week slip shot operation. Now, just because I suggest a years worth of planning (at the adult level), make it vague and changeable. In fact, our PLC does annual planning every six months immediatly after the SPL elections. They revi

Personally, I think if you go past 3 rows, you start looking like one of the "3rd World General" memes, but I don't actually start laughing at someone (on the inside) until I see them wearing 4+ medals to go with all the knots. I kind of view it the same way I think of someone who signs a letter or email with 5 or 6 or more different sets of initials, I guess out of some fear that people won't realize how important they are. (I worked with a woman who was an appraiser for a government unit. She ALWAYS signed her name as Jane Smith, BA, JD, CPA, CRE, RAIII, CAE, MAA)

Glad to hear it works out for you. I can see the value in being able to back up a scout who loses a card....but for how long are you willing to be that safety net? Do you keep cards for years? That sure would add up to a lot of clutter as time goes by. That certainly does not work out for me, particularly since the troop should be keeping records of such things (via Scoutbook these days) and the scout should have his copy of the blue card for backup. Triple redundancy just seems silly and an unreasonable imposition on already overtaxed scouters. I remain convinced that there is no seri