Eagledad

No, 2000 was when they required parents attend and have meetings every week. Lions was somewhere around 15 years later when National was also adding other clueless program modifications like adding Leadership as a 4th Method when it was already part of the 8 Aims. Barry

National change the Tiger program in 2020 to require each scout have an attending parent with them at every activity. Up to that point, Tiger membership dropouts was bad, I think around 50% nationally, give or take. I don’t know what National was thinking, but requiring a parent at every activity made the problem worse. Parents of 1st grade parents are bombarded with after school activities and it overwhelms them. They only have so much time in a day to work, cook, and be family. Those parents need a very easy program that fits the schedule and gives them an introduction to scouting.

Yes, their maturity is closer to toddlers and very demanding of the adults. I think the Wolf/Bear/Webelos programs are adequate and don’t require much tuning. If National really believes membership is reliant on the toddler age group, they should look at something like the Girl Scout program that has a separated more simple program for that age. Professionals say 20 months is the average time to expect from volunteers in any volunteer organization. Experienced has proven that to be about right. Burned out volunteers dredge boring programs that drive families away. Barry

Shorten the program 2 years to prevent burnout. That one change would double the crossovers into the troops. Barry

This solution is an example of why leaders without is not a national issue. Most of the time, the unit will find a solution. Also, intimidation from older is a more common problem. I knew of several troops with the intimidating older scouts. Leaders learn quickly that they better fix it or loose recruits. Barry

Strange discussion. But, if forums do nothing else, they bring out extreme opinions. Over the years folks expressed extreme thoughts like, scouting was dying from lack of gay adult leaders, then it was lack of gay youths, then it was female youths, and then to much god or not enough god or not enough camping, or too much camping and so on. A few extreme opinions doesn’t mean reality. But it does drive interesting discussions. I don’t believe millennial mothers are the pivot point of BSAs success or failure. Helicopter parents are a real problem, but only locally. I also don’t believ

I agree with qwazse, but I wonder how much of the enthusiasm was generated by passionate adults. I didn't get a comfortable feeling about the youth level of enthusiasm from this form. Of course this is an adult forum, but some of the adults seemed hell-bent and creating success stories. However, the Venturing Crews program does have some success with active girls. Barry

Yes, many challenges. A big one ate the unprofessional professionals at National. My big concern is whether parents want a character building program or an after school program. Barry

After many years of observing BSA units, I find that economics and ignorance are big drivers of unit procedures because few adults understand the BSA vision enough to keep their program compass pointed north. Adults will get what they want one way or another. Council would only step in when they see a liability risk. The next few years will be interesting. Barry

Doesn’t make sense. Barry

I agree with this post. A council in southern Oklahoma merged with the Central Oklahoma council in the early 90s. The southern Council's OA program was considered the hallmark of OA programs in all of Oklahoma while the Central Council's program struggled. The merge required OA members of the southern council drive 90 minutes to meetings in central Oklahoma. The southern OA struggles to survive now. Barry

The BSA is the adults program with a vision of developing the youth into moral and ethical decision makers. Most here who know me know I am very pro youth run. But, I cringe when I here leave it up to the youth. While the main principal of the program is scouts developing character from their free choices, the program has guidelines that the units must work within. That doesn’t mean the scouts can’t be a part of making the decisions, it means they should be part of the team with adults who have experience and wisdom that they can contribute to discussion to provide more content. The point of t

Tap out was always one of the fun parts of the process that scouts looked forward to. Especially at summer camp in front of hundreds of observers. Saying that, the Ordeal is where the scout finds out if he/she are ready and mature enough to be an Arrowmen. Rather that is how it used to be. Barry

I’m not sure my post applies to your experience. I’m saying just because a culture decided to be offended by the innocent and respectful actions of an organization does not make the actions any less innocent and respectful and should be treated with the respect of their intentions. As for your sons experience, I turned down the district recruiting committees offer to take over as the chapter advisor because I didn’t want to deal with the Scoutmasters. I come from a time when Arrowmen were the special forces of scouting. I would have drove the chapter in that direction and I knew I would m

Wow, with friends like this, who needs enemies. I’ve been active in scouting one way or another for almost 60:. In all those years, I have never seen AO show disrespect to the American Indian/idigenous/Native American culture. In fact OAs actions are typically respectful with the intention of showing honor. Now if the culture has changed how it looks at such things, fine, we change to continue showing respect. But done disparage the OA for living the scout law in their efforts. On the other hand, I’m not sure OA can get back to the honor and respect that the organization once had beca