Leaderboard

Er muss mein Hut sein.

Go back to late July/early August of 2020 and you will see more explicit examples of why the OP was angry about one specific affinity group at the last NOAC. While the only affinity group I attended that week was a NESA group I knew exactly what and whom he was angry about, as a very crowded dining hall found me at an empty space at a table with the person he described in detail several times. In the 20 or so minutes I was there I found the young man personable and polite. If anyone remembers the conversations right after NOAC there is no doubt what the OP was referring to at that time

The OP provided evidence that there were affinity group meetings at NOAC (5 March) He did not specifically state why they were detrimental other than they exist. He never states exactly why. He then provided examples at a national level that had no actual connection or identified applicability to BSA. His apprehension on a white male affinity group is his perception - or did someone tell him he cannot form one?

For scout's personal use, I would recommend anything with a folding blade. I remember the old Swiss Army Tinker knife when I was a kid. Enough tools to be useful. Not too many to be a distraction. For a gift, it even comes in a cool BSA design: https://www.scoutshop.org/swiss-army-with-universal-emblem-tinker-multi-tool-pocket-knife-3-blade-618438.html Currently my personal favorite is the Leatherman Rev. It's a little smaller than the full-size Leatherman, comfortable for growing scouts. Sturdy and a good tool selection. https://www.leatherman.com/rev-832127.html I don't want scouts

Stimmt das.... and since it has three corners....

I would say to anyone who is making a decision about Scouting to not pay attention to posts on a website that is not official. And that ALL Scouting is local. So check out your local Troop to see if it is a good fit. I honestly do not believe anyone is so naïve as to think that way. We can (and do) have any number of people here who are not even involved in Scouting, yet post their ideas in conversations about topics. Just because you do not like people's opinions, or how they express them, or the way they pose an idea or question doesn't mean you are the hall monitor who has

I have done that section of the AT! This may not too much for WEBELOS who have never backpacked, if you limit their pack weight by having a good gear shakedown, and limit their weight to about 25% of their body weight. This means others may have to help carry gear. Or, you could let them join you for just one night on the trail! Have them backpack up with you to the first campsite. In the morning, they pack up and go back down to trailhead. This means you'd need two more adults, but they could ferry your cars to Crater Lake, and save you that logistical pain on the first day.

You're right, I expressed myself imprecisely. Negative affect of some kind. I read downvotes as negative, for example. I believe you do too. Laughing at sincerity I also read as some kind of negative affect. But so is reading what I wrote in such a way that you thought I was trying to dismiss OP. I mean, I presume that you think that dismissing people is bad. When that wasn't at all what I was trying to do, clearly something went very wrong in the communication there, which you also acknowledge. I just want to be clear that it's not you asking questions that makes me think negative affect. I d

Thank you! That's sort of why I was asking. Our older scouts want to do an AT backpacking trip in two weeks. Delaware Water Gap to at least Camp NoBeBoSco but more likely to Crater Lake. 3.6 miles Friday evening to the Backpacker campsite. 9.1 the second day. 2.0 Sunday morning. Worried that might be too much for our Webelos who are crossing over tonight and have never backpacked. Younger son suggested making it "high adventure" and limiting it to scouts 14 and older. I'm a little surprised younger son wants to go. My boys went to Philmont last summer. The scouts narrowly vote

I often think the reactions of some of the scouters on this site to certain things might be due to the fact that they perhaps no longer have younger kids involved in a public school district themselves. Or, if they do, their involvement may be limited to a more insular community like a scouts/church continuum. Some simply may not be exposed to things that seem very commonplace or mainstream to others.

The term upstander versus bystander has been used in anti-bullying programs for probably 15 - 20 years in many school systems. Exactly what we would hope a Scout would be if he or she witnessed bullying.

I agree completely. Let's do that instead of starting conversations with culture war rhetoric with little connection to scouting.

"High Adventure" is whatever your Scouts say it is 😜 Backpacking by itself is not. But backpacking 15 miles over a weekend on the Appalachian Trail (AT) might be HA for your 13 year old's who are new to the experience. It might have to be backpacking 50 miles on the AT over 5 days and four nights for your older Scouts to say it is HA. If your Scouts want a High Adventure experience, let them help define what it means to them.