Eagledad

>>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

>>I know we have discussed it before, but I still want to find ways to empower these scouts to make their own decisions and give them a real sense of ownership in the troop.

>>As for the Scouts in SMT224's Troop, I don't know. They didn't learn that when you make a mistake, you should admit it and try to make things right. They didn't learn that when someone is gracious to you, you should find some way to thank them. I'm afraid they learned that a hard-nosed, stiff-necked attitude will get you what you want, even if it isn't rightfully yours.

Character isn't how one contends with the expected; character is how one contends with the unexpected. I would say your scouts just witnessed great character from the troop's adults. They will take that lesson with them forever. Barry

I would do some research on the subject first. Bullying is a power thing typically at "weaker" victims who can't fight back. I'm told by those who know that it is more common with kids who are bullied in their own life, usually parents of family. That certainly was the case in the few instances I witnessed. How do you change someone who lives in that environment everyday. I've also seen a different kind of bully in a troop program who were not known bullies at school. Those bullies where influenced by adult leaders (parents) in the troop who didn't like certain boys and were very expressi

I have a lot of good stories of the advantages of wearing a uniform while traveling, but it is also the only adult forced rule while I was the SM. Not that it had to be, most of the boys agreed. We created the rule when I once stopped at a rest stop. They were my scouts, but I saw a very nervous store clerk watch 25 church kids running around in out of the store grabbing snacks and so on. I jokenly said something about it to the clerk and he said the hardest part is not knowing which adults belong to those kids. I realized that store clerks are a lot less nervous when they can identify the adu

Let me start by asking the question of why we dont ask the question of adults getting tired of working with younger scouts? What do the adults do different? Then I would like to propose that older scouts are adults, not boys. I will also point out that a 12 year old boy is a really different person from a 14 or 15 year old man. If the adults are treating the 15 year olds with the same aspect of the 12 year olds, there is going to be problems. I think the BSA attempted to attack the problem with Venture Patrols, but that doesnt help at all because the takes the older scouts away fro

Well I read the post as a little humble bragging. And rightfully so, you worked very hard to pull the troop up to this place. Weve all seen your blood, sweat and tears as the forces seem to work against you even when you knew you were doing it right. Oh, I know you questioned yourself now and then, but you had it pretty much right all along. I think the boys feel it too, and they dont want to lose that ground they worked so hard to get. But like the adults, the scouts will find out that growth is more about learning from the failures than celebrating the gains. Still, even with all that

I was responding to CalicoPenn's statement about being raised by scientific parents. Barry

>>So I was hoping that there was something more to the concept. Perhaps someone can elaborate?

Prayer is positive thinking. Beary

>> There is no heaven, there is no hell, there is no divine intervention. Storms are just storms, floods are just floods, fires just fires, god has nothing to do with anything that happens. I gave been immeasurably happy since I realized this.

You will get a good jump start by getting the scouts the SPL Handbook and the Patrol Leader handbook. Those books are pretty good, but you need to get them and read them as well so that you aren't guiding in conflect of the books. In fact, I think you can almost tell them to go by the book and they won't need much help at first. Most of the answers for the boy running a basic program are in those two books. Typically its the adults who don't read the books that get in the way. Barry

>>Two years latter, we still suffer from the bad reputation we earned, it's tough to overcome something like that.