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With the lawsuit news and everything going on with my council and district, I am depressed. When the opportunity arose to work on district camporee, I jumped at it with the hopes It would cheer me up. Me and the other two folks working on the camporee agreed to invite the SPLs and any PLC members to attend the Roundtable to get input from them on camporee. 3 Scouts from 2 units showed up. I admit, I was hoping for more to attend, especially since one of the Scouts was my son, and I have been bouncing ideas off of him from the get go. But I think it went well, and the Scouts will be pleased.

I agree with this. I struggle with this in a variety of ways in my Pack. I think leaders and parents have good intentions trying to create the most robust cub program possible, with tons of activities, meetings, trips, etc. But it's exhausting. Five years of that and I can see how some parents probably just don't care anymore if their scout crosses over to a troop. They might even secretly hope they will ask to quit. We butt head with parents who want the entire day in camp to be scheduled. I want time for the kids to go play and the adults to sit and drink coffee. Interestingly enough th

"In approximately 18 States and Puerto Rico, any person who suspects child abuse or neglect is required to report. Of these 18 States, 15 States and Puerto Rico specify certain professionals who must report but also require all persons to report suspected abuse or neglect, regardless of profession.13 The other three States—Indiana, New Jersey, and Wyoming—require all persons to report without specifying any professions. In all other States, territories, and the District of Columbia, any person is permitted to report. These voluntary reporters of maltreatment are often referred to as “permissiv

My Son and I are going though the ordeal this weekend. He is 14 tomorrow and this should be a memorable birthday. Wish us luck.

National Service Territory Maps | Boy Scouts of America (scouting.org)

This?

Yes, and the concern I have with the "independents" is that there is no verification off of National's data. I cannot tell you the number of times I found scouts being sent to MBC who were "unit registered" (whatever that means) and never bothered to take YPT. We use an "independent" for calendaring and email purposes, plus document storage, but otherwise rely on Scoutbook.

I absolutely agree. Sports can also teach fair play and how to lose well, if the adults understand that it's an important skill to teach. But in scouting there's not agreement about what the game even is. The outdoors is to scouting what the rule book is to sports. And if done right, the patrol method is to scouting what fair play and honor is to sports. Any parent understands this about sports. I'm not sure many know all this about scouting. I think burnout is an important subject that is not just about parents. Kids get tired of all these activities as well. I was thinking of cub

Does #7 "An individual paid or unpaid, who, on the basis of the individual’s role as an integral part of a regularly scheduled program, activity or service, is a person responsible for the child’s welfare or has direct contact with children" mean scout leaders? .

Yes, stated very elegantly. We want the scouts to see who they are through their actions and decisions in scouting activates. Then compare their character to the character they want to have and make a purposeful choices to develop habits of that character. Parents do it all the time. Just about every parent can give examples of how the experiences of raising their first kid motivated them to raise their other kids differently. That is scouting. The struggle is getting adults to see that noble mission. Thanks again qwazse. Barry

I didn't say no adult association. Every unit is different with the different accumulated gifts of the participants. As you said, the methods are not discrete functions. But, I believe all things being equal. the experience of the Patrol Method has more influence for growth than adult association. Especially with mature scouts. My style was the passive approach of mentoring. I found that for us, scouts grew faster when they had to search for relief from the stress of making decisions. The mentors were in the shadows waiting. Barry

This is way after the fact but for future reference: The easiest Pack meeting we do each year is a Paper Airplane Derby. Bring a stack of printer paper, have the dens make planes and compete for distance, style, highest flyer, stunt planes, etc.

Or . . . maintain a 24-hour hotline that can connect them with jurisdiction-specific legal advice in almost-real time? I mean—if the BSA had contemporaneously, immediately referred every staffer who heard an abuse allegation to an actual lawyer who could advise the staff member of their legal obligations to report (as opposed to just falling back on policy and years-old trainings)—would the BSA be in the pickle it’s in? If any of the less-than-1/5 of states with “immediate” reporting requirements has an issue with the Church’s practice, they certainly have the information and resources

Funny you mention this. Each year, about 10 or so, 22’ish young adults from my work go on a ad box backpacking trip in northern Wisconsin. Different people, more or less, each year, but it is totally like a high adventure trip.

I want BSA to survive. Right now I don't trust it to. There are so many comments on this board and elsewhere that make me think that a reconstituted BSA would simply be the 2.0 version of what we have. If that happens, the next crisis is merely around the corner. The idea of making decisions now about scouting's future with the current leadership in place with no plan or road map that indicates any real internal analysis has taken place seems like history waiting to repeat itself. I was hopeful that bankruptcy would lead to a complete restructuring that would address some of the inherent dysfu

It sorta is, for the reasons I listed before. You may hate his ever loving guts, but your emails are going to do nothing to dissuade him from protecting his clients interests. JUST LIKE an effort to email the TCC lawyers (for example) from BSA supporters would do absolutely nothing to change what they are doing, at least I would hope. An attorney's job is to zealously defend the interests of the attorney's client. Schiovoni's doing that. Hate the stalling tactic, but he's doing what he is suppose to do. And TCC/FCR/Coalition are doing what they are suppose to do. Now let see what the

Need some brainstorming ideas that were not covered last night due to lack of time. What are some ways to encourage district unity among the Scouts, and more importantly, among the adults? Long backstory short, the new district is comprised of three old districts. 2 of those districts have some deep-seated rivalry/hatred from before I got here. that I cannot understand. At one point neither district wanted to work with the other, and when we had to share a DE, it was from another district that is actually further away. The third district does their own thing and could care less about the