Eagledad

>>Our scouts put the annual calendar together from suggestions made by scouts and adults during the course of the year. We also encourage scouts, particulalry older ones to add events to the calendar that they plan and run entirely on thier own to develop planning and leadership (Skiing, skating, caving, biking hikes and other one day activities). To date no one has followed through, but I have one scout now who with a lot of prodding is setting up an additional activity.

>>We never had a no pop rule, we were a backpacking troop, with pack it in, pack it out put a little damper on that.

Thanks

>>Carter arguably merited da prize for the Camp David accords, eh? He successfully concluded a peace between Egypt and Israel which has held for 30 years, something those of us who were around in da 60s and 70s would never have bet on.

The only rule I can think of off hand was requiring uniforms while traveling. Our Troop got rather large and I was told a large group of boys running around a Quick Stop can be quite intimidating for a store clerk. A uniform shows adults are responsibile for which boys. The way we solved the soda pop problem was the PLC restricted pop to only one meal and only from two liter bottles. Strangely, and I don't know why, but patrols almost quit bringing soda pop altogether. Barry

>>Why don't we stop debating if NSPs work or not and just deliver the program we promised to deliver?

Well I just read this subject and I think I'm the guilty party. Hard to tell since that discussion was a few days ago. Still, my apologies to skpetic and all for the tone of my post. I will try and do better. I do think tones and attitudes have changed on how folks carry discussions on forums. Part of it is I kind of feel like we are bit of family, so forgetting many folks may be reading on the forum for the first time, we develop bad habits. I also find that I'm trying to write 10 minutes worth of a response in two minutes because I in the middle of something else and I don't take the ti

>>Even with that, however, we would still be realigning the patrols by about 40% after 6 months, so in a way, it is only delaying the inevitable. It suggests a now or later scenario.

This is a tough spot. You know I am a big proponent of mixed age patrols and not fond of NSPs. But experience has proven that existing patrols more than two to three new scouts tend to loose the cohesion that has been developed in the patrol. So this is a situation where I would consider a NSP. But you already mention that is not a very good option this year. Here is the thing, the BSA looses more boys in their first six month of a troop experience than any other time and any other age group. The reason is the scouts loose the trust that the boys near their age can safely lead them in sc

>>To be honest, most kids will somewhat instintually know EDGE, even if they never heard of it. Why? Because the same concept, usually labeled "scaffolding", has been standard in the education field for forty bazillion years.

>>Not to hijack the thread......but mentioning longer school day.....who would be willing to work four 10 hour days in return for a three day weekend? I would.

>>The best change that I like is that rank advancement sign offs are just in one place

>>The pack is still functional, but the bars have a tendancy to start to pop out.

>>Until a uniform is required to be a member, requiring a uniform for any BOR is adding to the requirements.

>>(I turn 55 tomorrow and find myself thinking a LOT about mortality and how best to spend whatever remaining days I have left).

>>When I think of the Troop I serve, I don't look at 40 odd heterosexuals with a possible 4 homosexuals. They are all scouts. If any of them were to be "caught" in sexual activity either homo or hetero on a camp out, the result would be the same

These things do go in cycles because of changes in staff and learning from experience. Our EBOR is really good and doesn't have the problems discussed here, but I've seen scouts leave our Eagle Project Review Board crying. It only takes a few comments from Scoutmasters for the district to make changes, but I know of one District in our council that takes comments from Scoutmasters as a sign they are doing it right. But, one thing I've noticed across the districts is that most adults in these positions don't have a full understanding of the rules and proceedures as they should. Many got t

I also had that Come to Momma meeting and knew if I didnt change a few things, our family scouting expereince wasnt going to be pleasant. Even my kids didnt want to hear scouting come out of my mouth 24 hours day. They set up rules that I wasnt allowed to talk ANY scouting at the dinner table. I was only allowed one hour on the phone per night. I turned down all training staff positions with a promise that I would get involved after I gave up the SM gig as well as being OA representative for our district. I only skipped one campout a year, but I had to pick either Summer Camp or High Adventure

>>Yeah, I've been wondering what all the Glen Beck fans think of Beck's statement that McCain would have been a worse President than Obama.

>>We really tried to work with him but his mental health issues were beyond what we could handle. I am upset for him but you have to think about the safety of the rest of the troop.

>>I would ask him to explain to me his understanding of the term Nazi / Fascist / Communist / Socialist. If I found out he is just an idiot who is disrupting Troop meetings with his idiocy, he would no longer be welcome in my Troop.

Camp chairs, the kind with no legs. Because the typical ground in camp is dirt, mud or rocks, that item was missed the most by those who didnt take one. I agree with using waterproof cameras cases or waterproof disposable cameras. You only have about 3 seconds for the really good moose, bear, eagle and other critter shots. Did someone mention bicycle gloves to prevent blisters? The one thing I really liked about Northern Tier over a backpacking trek is taking baths in the lake. I generally took a bath and washed my clothes every other day. Very refreshing in many ways. Ba

Good advice from the others. Good advice from the others. We send a lot of crews to Philmont and found it is inevitable that you will loose scouts and adults because things happen in that length of time, so we recruit alternates as well or a full crew of 14 knowing that not all 14 will get there. We try to get at least 20% of boys and adults alternates and just about every case they got to go. We require they give a deposit like everyone else to show good faith and attend all the training and shake-down outings. If you have to go to other troops to make the numbers, thats OK. Ask the boy

>>1) The Chair and the Scoutmaster are not cross-talking well-enough about left and right limits. IMO, the Chair does not have the Scoutmaster's back! 2) The Chair, representing the support side, then needs to go to the SPL and PLC and explain the NO answer so the youth can learn. Trust me, the youth will have some tough questions. The Chair needs to be prepared to defend the decision

>>Now, if the SM and CC don't have each others back, there are bigger fish to fry than youth scheduling, and those bigger fish aren't very tasty