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In the case of Scouting, the BSA may dissolve in this bankruptcy, if so, it will be replaced and Scouting will move on. IMHO, Scouting is an idea, a philosophy of life, not an organization. Another $0.02,

Frankly, I am very frustrated that the "natural" response from 90% of the commentators, Scouts, victims and Scouting volunteers is to automatically assert that the natural remedy to heinous crimes of abuse committed by, in some cases, people that are dead or long since removed from their positions within Scouting, is to take money from todays' innocent children and volunteers and give it to the victims. There is nothing moral about taking from the innocents of today, and the future, to give to victims of the past. Nothing moral at all. I get anger on the part of the victims, and a desire to

I'm skeptical. In my 10 years of recruiting kids, never once have I heard - are you a member of WOSM? You hear lots of "I couldn't wait for my son to be a Scout like I was." "I remember when I earned my Eagle", "I was on Summer Camp staff and loved it.", "I was very active in the OA."

Just to add another way of what @Eagledad and @yknot seem to be saying, scout led doesn't mean adult ignored. Ask questions. Keep them out of ruts. Keep them about the law and oath. One size of adult participation does not fit all, it really depends on the maturity of the scouts.

It seems to me that much of this problem, not only with the BSA, but the Churches and those youth entities that are waiting in the wings to have BSA and the Catholic Church drained before they are drawn in, is that we have the false idea that you can fix the errors of the past by dragging them into the present. It is like the idea of preparations for Slavery. How deep and how far back do you go to find the victims, and how do you distinquish who gets the reparation today? Something that is not too often noted in the Slavery issue is that many of the ones doing the selling were tribal

You're the one who keeps calling on Charter Organizations to have complete control. If that's the case, then they need to foot the bill for Victim Compensation. Somewhere, a long time ago, those adults were approved to be leaders by a Charter

First of all, Congress doesn't own scouting. It has no ownership rights to assert. If BSA did somehow become nationalized, it wouldn't be the congress who would run it. It would be the executive branch. President Trump would probably get the authority to appoint the new executive board. So be careful what you wish for. Unless you want to go back to a more conservative Boy Scouts, and Make Boy Scouts Great Again, you might want to reconsider this position. Personally, I would love to have a retro version of Boy Scouts. Roll back all of the new liberal social changes. But I th

I like to tell this story to show the perspective of what Webelos are looking for; at our Blue and Gold of my first year as Cub Master, I asked our Webelos why they chose the troop they were about to join in a few minute at our crossover cerimony. They all said because that troop had the best game during their Troop Meeting. The Webelos leader told me six months later that only one of all those Webelos was still in scouting. Make no mistake about it, parents drive what the sons (and daughters) are looking for. I gave the example of scouts who bucked their parents opinion and joined our tr

From the Ernest Thompson Seton Institute: http://etsetoninstitute.org/on-playing-indian-and-cultural-appropriation/

This is a complete joke and insulting. Please, enough with your disdain of Professionals.

That's not how the WOSM works ... I bet it will be concerned when sales of the world-crest drop. Organizations who don't have a congressional charter aren't obligated to report their membership statistics publicly. They have nice web pages, but are shy on stats. They do talk the YP talk. But, let's not be so optimistic. A sinking tide grounds all boats. The massive liners first, then the smaller ones, down to the last dingy. One claim against an independent scouting organization, just one, will make it as much a target for punitive damages ... more so because they should have "lea

Patriot Scout? There is something about "Eagle Scout" that has gravitas. Continuity. History. Legacy. Association. It's like saying RC Cola is the same as Coke. Personally, I like the taste of RC Cola, but it's not Coke.

Well, I'd have to argue that there wasn't much of any "covering things up" in the vast majority of cases; they just weren't advertised. And a big part of that was that the thinking back before the 80's was very different about "the best interests of the child". The general belief was that the social stigma that would come from a public accusation and arrest and trial would cause more harm to the victim than just "moving on". I mean, let's keep in mind that any of these instances that went unreported to the police could ONLY have gone unreported with the agreement of the child's parents.

I and others on this board have pointed out many times that this is the goal of the forces arrayed against the BSA.

I mentioned, a few years ago, that I have a friend who owns a franchise restaurant. The franchise went bankrupt, but the existing stores are allowed to continue using the name and logo. It was the best thing that could have happened to him. He still has the restaurant, but he doesn't have to pay the franchise fees anymore. Business has never been better. Imagine if BSA and its councils all disappeared, and the existing Chartered Organizations are allowed to continue with their Boy Scout units without the interference and fees from BSA. It would be the best outcome that could possibly

I've had units set up a hotwheel track and a bucket of cars to race for siblings that always wanted to be involved. This track keeps them from being around the real track, messing with derby cars, and helps with boredom. The loops and turns always seem to keep the pre-lions and lions busy.

IMHO, I do NOT think we will see - any changes to the torte system coming in time for this case. - the Federal government bailing out the BSA or any non-profits. - taxpayers paying for a reparation fund or for another government oversight agency. For an organization whose motto is "Be Prepared", I think many will say accept the consequences and fix your own problems. My $0.02,

So just a quick note, we have 8 registered girls in our Pack and more filing in the door, but only through word of mouth and our own recruiting. Despite fighting with our council since the inception of girls in cub scouts to reclassify us (and I mean revisited over and over and over), we still appear as a boy only Pack in the council and at national level. There may be more Packs out there taking girls than what you can see online, given how impossible it is for someone on the Council end to fix our own classification. As an aside, yes, I know it is a setting we can do through our own Sc

Like my Pakistani buddy tells me, "You Americans won't believe anything unless it's on a piece of paper." So, that youth-run troop needs to put something into the hands of those Webelos. So, that might mean: A calendar. Ideally, it would be one with the dates of the entire year printed on one side AND scheduled activity days and meetings circled or stamped, then the names of the activities, hand written, by the scouts on the other side. A follow-up card hand-written by a scout mailed to each prospect who visited the troop. It doesn't have to say much: "Thanks for visiting. I h

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's troop, nor her Crossovers, nor her helicopter parents ....

Sad day indeed. I participated in 4 BOR’s last night for 4 Scouts. The program and the scouts are what I am going to try to focus on during this time.

I think you treat this at face value. We are here to serve the Scouts. If a Scout calls you up and says he'd like to visit your troop and even join, you tell him the time and place and welcome him. While I understand the feeling that you should tell the other Scoutmaster, I would suggest that you do not. This is not a situation where you actively pursued the Scout. As such, a change of troop is hard enough. If you tell the Scoutmaster, that may result in added pressure on the Scout. This is the Scout's journey and it's the Scouts choice who to tell and when. Now, after the Scou

By the guide to advancement, you can't look back through an eagle applicant's record for minor errors like this. You have to assume that all previous ranks were completed correctly.

I'm on the cub scout side. Cub scouts especially have a lot of do a or b or 3 of 4, etc. If I'm logging that my scouts have completed the loop, I'm not going to take the time to fill in each of those sub things for each scout (or care about the quick entry). Unless they want to double or triple my pay, its not happening.