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From my experience, the saturation of those with adult-led scouting experience happened a long long time ago. With them it is even more difficult (impossible) to break them of that habit/belief. Most do not even realize it and will just respond with " well that's how my old troop did it." While I agree with Barry that an excellent patrol method, scout-led, scouting program will manifest as adults who are better able to provide a quality scouting program compared to those with little/no experience; those with a adult-led scouting experience are much much worse than those with little/no exp

Gradually, our culture has begun to value Eagle Scout (or just "Scout" in general) less and less. Someone previously mentioned, a Scout's rank was supposed to reflect what he can DO. Those days seem gone. I absolutely hate this "one and done" program. It fosters an extremely poor attitude towards learning and retaining skills, and encourages taking "the path of least resistance". They follow the lead of adults, because that is what their parents and our current culture have conditioned them to do. They (and parents) just want to have you teach the skill, let the Scout demo it once, get t

Goodness I've tried. I brought up discussions in my leaders courses and even created a council leaders course specifically on the subject of giving scouts the trust to screw up because they develop character from the decisions. A couple of adults come back and tell me stories of how they changed their program from the course, but in general I found the loud crickets in the background. I believe our parental instinct to protect our kids is greater than the wisdom of letting youth learn by their own efforts. The reason that scouting carries on with adults who have a youth scouting experien

With a warhammer to the head after rolling a 20 to hit and rollng an 8 for damage. Seriously though, the the only way I have seen this work is for 2 Adults to ride herd on the interfering adults and constantly making sure they do not cause trouble. Then as their Scout matures, they get it. Problem is the following: 1) You need 2 adults to maintain eternal vigilance over the interfering adults 2) You gotta make rules AND ENFORCE THEM. You cannot compromise as it give the interfering parents hope. 3) It takes a long time, several months at a minimum, sadly severa

I wonder if they will tell us, like they told us about mortgaging Philmont and other assets last year. But whether they do or not, being in Chapter 11 will likely require court approval of any "significant structural change" though I suppose they could nominate a CSE to be in compliance with the current Bylaws. That was the year that was. My $0.02,

Parents not overly supervising their Scouts? Allowing, even ENCOURAGING them to go exploring on their own? Must be a new concept for some. For some... What a concept. https://www.atmuseum.org/1936-boy-scout-thru-hike.html

I don't think there is anything wrong with him discussing it with the MBC, but if it were my son, I'd suggest the issue be raised as a question rather than an accusation. Something like: "Hey, I just wanted to clarify something to make sure I understand it correctly. I noticed that some of the scout folders were full of pictures that were taken "of them" by someone else and not photos they took, but I thought we were only supposed to post pictures we took ourselves. Am I correct, or are photos taken by someone else acceptable?" And then he'll need to just leave it at that unless h

@InquisitiveScouter , I'm laughing out loud. Prospective Parent: Is ___ in your crew? Me: Yes, ___ is our CC. Parent: Then my kids aren't joining it! Me: Well, would you like to be CC? Parent: No!!!!!! Me to Myself: (Dodged a bullet with that one.)

"The Good Idea Fairy" (TGIF) TGIF: "We really oughta do this idea I have!" Me: "That's a great idea! Get started, and let us know if you need any help or funds to make it happen!" TGIF: "Oh, I don't really have time to do that. I was just suggesting it for the Troop to do. But it would be easy, and a great thing to do!" Me: 👿

Scout leaders friends and family- We are Just Leaders . We are not experts. We're your next door neighbours. We're not perfect; we are just parents like you. We don't have anymore spare time or energy than you do, we all work full time and juggle our families and our schedules and try to keep it all together as best we can. The only difference between us is that we believe in what Scouting has to offer. So much so, that we contribute our time, our miles, and our talents to help our children and your children grow in Scouting. We complete authorization forms, budgets, and reg

Our NT trek is still on (June 27-July 4) out of Ely, and both crews are still going. As we had paid everything except airfare, we paid that also (and got a great discount on southwest!). A few adults are worried about the air travel, but it beats 16 hours in the car just to Minneapolis. I guess I'm in the minority, but I'm not worried about the air travel or NT. The BWCA is one of the most isolated places I've been and rarely see anyone when I'm out there. The crew's are already small sized, and i have no problems sharing a tent with the other adults in my crew, or riding in a van wit

There was a national webinar last week regarding CDC guidelines, camp preparedness, needed supplies, etc. National is being very supportive and offering many resources. Your council is probably waiting for the official CDC, state, and local guidelines.

Once upon a time, I held the position of "First Assistant Everything Else". Even had a badge of office. My wonderful wife was the Cub Scout Day Camp Director. Son was a Wolf. (much later, an Eagle. Another story...) I went and got Archery Range Safety Officer trained, and "did the Range" many years. Scout Son even grew up to help. Later, his Troop wanted to do archery, so we arranged with a private Archery Club to visit their range (archery Merit Badge, among other things). They had Scout Leaders and abided with all BSA rules, so it was a good thing. Before we went, Scoutson ask

It's not clear when or if the draft CDC guidelines will be released. The draft I saw would certainly seem to preclude any residential scout camping in most areas of the country and would require major changes in traditional scout programming even in day camps. Hopefully we'll know more in a few days. I personally don't think regional or HA camps should be operating this summer. I think some version of highly local, unit run, small scale camps later in the summer are still possible depending on the region, local guidelines, and BSA policy. One of the things we really need more information about

Most COR's won't do anything. Sadly, most units have people that won't deliver on their job. It is kinda a fact of life.

Go to your COR/IH. Committee Chair at the Pack level is the position they appoint, and cubmaster is appointed by them, so you are unfortunately not on equal footing here to deal with it yourself. Not having valid YPT is not okay.

I came from the 70's so I didn't see the effects of the changes. For me, the first obvious sign of the end was the creation of the New Scout Patrols. What appears small created a ripple effect that forced adults to become more intrusive in just about all the personal decisions scouts made in planning their activities. The intrusiveness was doubled down with the implementation of the First Class in First Year program. Equally, if not greater, to the negative program effects from the New Scout Patrols was the unforeseen effects of a degrading Patrol Method concept after National changed th

Indeed, the ISP was the beginning of the end of scouting. There have been a few gallant attempts to turn the tide, but not enough save the movement. There are too many non-outdoors, risk-averse folks in the BSA who won't be satisfied until every scout, from 5 - 20 years of age, is wearing Tiger Cub Orange and making popsicle stick art, indoors, under the direction of two adults. And folks still wonder why membership is declining.

Actually these developments are much, much further along than noted here. First of all, there is already an official organization in place that has replaced the LDS-BSA Relations Committee, now known as the Vanguard International Scouting Association - it was announced on February 8th of this year to coincide with the anniversary of Scouting. Its information can be found here: https://www.vanguardscouting.org/uncategorized/new-vanguard-international-scouting-association/ Secondly, there is a virtual conference from Philmont scheduled for next week (Friday and Saturday) during which

The alleged Rule of 25 hasn't been around for awhile, if ever. As is often asked, "show where it is written". There are several Faith Awards that the BSA allows and to my knowledge, the named faith has few Charter Orgs, if any, listed in the BSA ranks. Deny Wiccan faith awards? Well, maybe not allow on the uniform officially. But again, where is the rule ?

As the article says, "mostly stayed at home". Take aside the nursing home folks, the imprisoned folks, and what you have left are the rest of us- those who are making weekly trips to the grocery store or the hardware store. Again, the point of the stay-at-home was not that we wouldn't see a spread it was that we wouldn't see a massive swell that would overwhelm the health system. Now, we should be slowly taking steps to begin to resume some activities. Be smart, and not try and go 100 mph in a week.

People would never lie to their doctors/health providers about their compliance with medical advice/the law! Would they? 😄

Councils can follow the advice of state and local health officials and operate summer camps, as long as the insurance companies are in accord. For instance, some governors (Maryland, for example) have already declared that camping is again on the "allowed" list of things that are safe to do if precautions are taken (there might be youth camp-specific declarations as well). If state officials approve and if the insurance companies say they will cover the liability of summer camp operations, a council is then in the position to consider opening. Of course the council cannot operate a camp rec

We just heard that Philmont after July 1 is a go. I also heard other high adventure are going too. While I get your worries about someone getting sick during, that is a risk we have to take any time. Yes, it is more serious now - with air travel to the location. The other risk we will have is that there could be a 14 day self quarantine upon return. Personally, I do not think that going ahead with this is the safest or sanest option. However, my son and I have decided to go ahead, knowing he will not get this chance again. Next summer is his last before college and knows he will want

I had a four-year gap in scouting, from the time I aged out in 81 till I signed on as an ASM and went to Scout Leader Basic Training (SLBT) in 85. Quite a difference in culture. It was obvious the BSA no longer valued the independent-minded, outdoor-oriented scouter. My training course turned into a 3-weekend grudge match between cadre and those with prior scouting experience. Cadre downplayed the outdoors, patrol method and unit scouting as a whole. The message was a) "We district and council scouters know best" and b) "Do your quaint troop stuff if you must, but real scouting happens at