Eagledad

>>I have sent a couple in the last few weeks. I sent one to Beavah, Old Grey Eagle and Scoutdad.

>>Scoutmaster is no little thing, and is far more than what you think you are signing up for. For me, the best Scoutmasters have big hearts, a well-developed sense of fun, a nose for adventure, the ability to give and get respect, an almost unquestioning dedication to both the program and the Scouts, and a sense of how to hang back and let the boys lead without interference from him/herself or other adults. They need to play the role of teacher, of taskmaster, of gatekeeper, of mentor, of public relations man, of referee, of car driver, and of parent, and a million others on top of that.

My observation is a little different, but then I started as a CM and ended as SM. I fully agree that the job of CM is completely different than the SM. A good CM is very hands on with the boys while a good SM is very hands off. That is a big shift, but not hard if the SM has a vision. Strangely, I think the adults who are a bit of an attention seeker make a pretty good CM but make a horrible SM. I think adults who have a bit of the clown or entertainer make are good CM qualities, but again horrible qualities of a SM. A good CM has to be Johnny on the spot because there

I'm seeing the parent managing thing and need to reply, I don't think we managed parents that much. I think it was because because they are always informed. If they had a specific need like money or information of activities, they usually went to that person in charge of that task. If they needed some information about their son, they typically talked to one of us after the meetings. However, we tried an idea that kind of worked. We had one of our senior scouts meet the ASMs every week to brief them on what happened at the PLC meeting. Our PLC meetings were a half hour before each Troop

Good questions. I have two meetings a year after each election where at least one of the parents is required. That is where I spend about a half hour explaining the program and a little bit about the next six months. Its mostly a Aims and Methods kind of meeting explaining how it all works. It is intended to help everyone understand we expect from the scouts and what they can expect from us. This I found answers a lot of questions from parents who have questions about how the program works, but for some reason hasnt asked. Advancement is always a topic of new parents. I spend most o

Hi Jane There is no easy way to answer the questions without knowing the program. Honestly, Five POS could easily run a troopof 25 scouts, so more information would help. But not allowing a scout to give up some responsibilities doesn't really make sense, so there is some questions. What hasn't been mentioned, but was hinted, is how agressive the less agressive scout really is. Its always difficult to understand if a parent is pushing harder than the the program is designed, or just concerned with a program that is not giving each scout a fair chance. Assuming your a mother concerne

I learned through the years that the Scoutmast should spend 50% of his time working with the parents. I teach that at scoutmaster training. Barry

One year we had 20 tigers that were very good friends. We decided to break them up into two dens because that was theoretically the right thing to do. My son was in that group. They hated it and reminded me about it over and over for the next two years. Well come their Webelos year, I retired as the CM, combined both dens and became their Webelos leader. I felt it was the least I could do since they put up with the split for two years. Everyone was happy again except me because at that time 16 boys was a lot to plan for. I was also a very active ASM of a fairly young troop at the time. So what

I agree they are ugly, expecially the Eagle Patch. However, they will be big collectors items in a few years. Barry

>>I hate to break the news to you, he goes there Monday - Friday. It's called school. And some of us pay to send them there.

I agree ACCO, but the other difference I didn't mention between Eagle Mills and other troops is Eagle Mills tend to push the methods on the group where as boy run programs push them on each scout depending on the method they are weak at the time. The Eagle Mill SM will tell all the scouts at once how they should dress. The Boy Run SM will leave it up to the SPL and PLC to enforce. The SM then will work with the scouts who struggle with their choice of how they decided to use the uniform. Not because of looks, but because of their choice. When the methods are enforced at the boy level, eac

Troop programs are defined by how the adults interpret and/or apply the eight methods that BrentAllen listed. I can give you a simple example of just how two adults could have two different programs, I don't agree with about half of how BrentAllen defines each method. Its not that one of us more right than the other, its how our lifes experiences define each method to be used for our personal interpretation of scoutings goals and vision. For example, I would never use badges and inspection to define how I applied the Uniform Method while I was SM. I used it to drive character developmen

I rarely called the other scoutmaster nor do I remember one calling me when scouts changed troops. You are right that it would be a courteous, I just don't remember feeling one was needed from either troop. I did talk to scouts to find out why they left or joined our troop, just never occurred to me to call the other SM. I once warned a SM of an adult who left our troop for his. He made the same call a year later to the next SM that the adult eventually transfered into. Barry

>>At Boundry Waters and Quetico the Rangers on both sides of the boarder appreciate the tons of garbage that the boys bring back from BWCA. Not to mention the numerous times boys have added a lost or injured paddler.

We are fortunate to have enough troops in our area that most families can find a troop near them that meets their taste. I didnt really have much trouble with GAHillBillys list except a question about the scouts discussions in tents: How does he know? I guess it bothers me because we once had an adult who actually set up her sleeping bag next to her sons tent late at night so she could listen to the discussions. Short story is that she was asked to leave three troops before she and her son gave up scouting. But Im not sure any parent should or could listen to such discussions from their

we've never had trouble, but we have seen other troops leave a campground pretty messy. Our scouts cleaned it up. Our PLC had a policy that we volunteer to do some kind of service project when we used their campground. They never turned us down. Barry

>>I know the OP asked not to dwell on this aspect, but I truely believe the 3G's are the often unspoken of 800 pound gorilla in the room for the BSA. How BSA as an organization chooses to address (or not address) the 3G's in the next 5 to 10 years will determine its success or failure as an organization. As others have posted, I'm not sure BSA moves forward in any means on the 3G's without first addressing the way the organization is intertwined with CO's.

>>Barry, you have brought up this Tiger Cub "Thing" several times. I'm tempted to ask Can it be turned around? Or it is that it was a bad idea from the get go?

>>I think it is hard to define those "to whom loyalty is due", in any precise way.

>>Instead of asking such poll questions such as "How does BSA stack up against the local school programs.....maybe they ought to review what they do best and improve on it. I have found over the years that when asks the wrong questions, they will always get a wrong answer.

>>I suggested that when patrols were reformed (the "best and final offer", so to speak), we ask that scouts write down their names and the name of a buddy they'd like to be in a patrol with.

You know Lisa, I really appreciate your passion and hard work that you have given to the program. I hurts me to read your post about the struggles in your troop because I've notice they basically have the same theme of the adults not acting very adult. You seem to be the lone voice of reason and I hate that someone like you has to deal with it. I wish you the very best in how you approach this situation because I can see it will be very difficult. Barry

>>I can imagine it might be tough to change the method when you already have the older scouts.

Well done on every point Eagle92. As for an easy start to the program, issue the Patrol Leader Handbook to all the working adults and scouts and isse the SPL Handbook to the youth leaders and ASMs. They are simple, basic, easy to read and keeps Everyone on the same page of the program. Barry

>>This confusion needs to be resolved by National as soon as possible!!