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I've always been a fan of leaving lots of time for the scouts to just be scouts: run around in the woods and have fun. Too much of kids' time today is programmed. A lot of the benefit of scouts i y opinion is just giving them time to figure out how to occupy and entertain themselves. I occasionally get push back on this from the other adults in the troop, although I've brought most of them along. I definitely get push back when we're at district and council events. But I never insist my scouts attend any part of a program that they don't want to --- most of which are evening program

I don't think that we are even remotely talking about the same here. You seem to have a visceral dislike of the BSA and want to see it fail. I believe that having a strong Scouting program in the USA is a good thing. I'd rather see reform of the BSA so that it can really focus enabling successful Scouting programs in our communities.

Last night we had an adult leader meeting. Our CM has been very busy with work and family responsibilities. We gave her a report on our successful Summit Merit Badge Camp and Northern Tier trip. We did Philmont last year and she asked us to compare it to Northern Tier. They're very different adventures. I loved Philmont and Northern Tier. One thing that was common about Summit and NT this year was the lack of program. I know some won't want to hear this, but it was a great thing. Hear me out. Normally at Summit they have evening program. This year, the scouts were free to do wh

I guess that means my younger brother was also a sister when he was one of my niece's GS leaders.🤣

From the research I did a long time ago, I would disagree with the bulk of the cases. The time period the bulk of the current lawsuit abuse claims occurred, the mandatory reporting laws were extremely limited, basically health care professionals and teachers,. And that is the laws existed at all. Remember the first mandatory laws came out in the late 1960s, and some of the current cases go into the 1950s. Those laws expanded who was a mandatory report was over time. And one thing those laws do is protect the person making the accusation. Without the mandatory reporting laws, you make an a

Sadly there are more parents and Scouters who believe in doing more and filling every minute of a camp out with advancement than there are of us old fogeys who believe in letting the Scouts enjoy themselves. I had a Scout take a MB he already had because he enjoyed the activity, and there was no other way for him to do it at camp. When I mentioned this to other Scouters in the class I was taking, One Scouter said my Scout was wasting his time. When my troop held their own summer camp this summer, yes almost every minute was planned out. BUT the intention was to have make sure the Scouts h

You may be right, but we had a lot of scouts with moms who used scouts to give their son more male role modeling.

Why would so many girls families join the dysfunctional Boy Scouts. Nobody knows BSA is dysfunctional. Very few on this forum even believe it. BSA started loosing itself when National started becoming more inclusive by watering down the program way back in the 60s. It continued with Tigers, more Eagles, and New Scout Patrols. These all contributed to a complicated program lost in mediocrity. Pack adults can barely keep their head above water while troop adults push scouts for advancement and leadership in a race for rank. If National doesn’t believe the BSA Mission and Visi

I disagree, to a point. This program requires parent participation, evenings and weekends, money and gear. For single parent families, those with multiple gig jobs, and those not making much money, this program is a hard sell.

Get rid of ALL the girl-centered products that have been sitting on our stores' shelves untouched for months! Bracelets, ribbons, leggings, hair accessories - I am sure BSA was banking on them being instant sellers once girls joined Scouting, but NONE of it gets bought here, they are expensive to produce, and they take up shelf space with product over half of the program's members will never touch. Such a waste.

Sounds like some folks are 'doing their own thing' up there. As far as I am aware, there is no nationally sanctioned 'test out' option. As a matter of fact, my council was one of a couple a year or so ago that wanted to do IOLS/BALOO online rather than in person, and national was all over them when they got wind of the plans. When I moved from Webelos Den Leader to ASM, I registered for the next available IOLS course. When I arrived, our district training chair looked at me, and said 'what are you doing here'. When I replied that I was there for IOLS, he responded 'why, you probably k

Preach!