Eagledad

>>Eagledad said that they tried the letter writing method. I think that would be good for one group of older scouts, but for my tigers that would not work. They may be too young and it would possibly take too long to complette the task.

>>Would 4H use push-ups? Debate club? Science club? Student forum? Do public schools? No!

Beav, your troop sounds so much the troop you visited when I was SM. May I suggest you throw in the idea that your scouts learn how to camp light. We went this way to get rid of one of our trailers. Everyone just needs to start using back packing gear. It sounds like something the scouts would hate, but in reality the scouts loved it and the adults hated it. In fact, the adults still brought a lot of gear. As for new parents, I wanted them to come to the first campout because it use that whole weekend to show them a boy run program. No mistery, this is what your son will do every campout.

>>If you make a scout sit-out an activity as a form of punishemnt, are you not embarrassing them? You are denying them the opportunity to participate.

>>And don't talk about Obama and the Democrats. This was all done under the Bush Corporate Welfare Program. As Beavah noted. Obama's just stuck cleaning up the mess.

>>You are aware that Japanese auto manufacturers get lots of support from their government don't you? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face

>>I love my Suburban. It's great for scout outings and my business. But I'm not sure I'll ever buy another one, because I don't want to subsidize the UAW.

Some parents just need to feel safe with the troop and if the adults at least look organized, that helps. But that is subjective. I have always felt our adults are organized, but since our program is boy led, some parents see our adults talking in a different room from the scouts as disorganized. What I found that concerned parents really want is some feeling that the troop has some kind of plan. Boy run is great on the play ground so long as the adults are watching, but what does it mean when if the adults go take a smoke break, so to speak. As been said already, parents dont understand

Beavaher is right, have the scouts start attending the Troop as if they belong in the Troop. We did this a lot and it is no big deal. Do not have them fill out a troop application because if it some how gets turned in, the scout will not get his AOL. In fact I would kindly ask the pack turn in all the scouts paperwork as soon as possible to prevent any confusion. Typically they wait until the Ceremony, but you might offer to help. If you can tell, I've had to help clean up a lot messes in this area. Barry

OK, I'm not savy on this subject, what is twitter? Barry

>>One complaint I get on this is that, with two SPL's a year only one of them gets to plan a Calendar, the other one only gets to carry out the other ones agenda - That MAY be why your Troop does it the way they do.?

>>In my eyes, this is nuts. The PLC has decided to plan a campout to recruit Webelos in October, but the Troop will not even be able to provide the new scouts & parents with a calendar of upcoming events, because the calendar has not even been planed.

Its not a YP problem, but my son is a school teacher and they are instructed to not be a friend or have a friend with any students. I'm not sure why. I do know that Facebook has legal rights (or something like that) to everything put on Facebook pages. Barry

We have two ASPLs and both are responsible for program. They alternate every other month to lead the planning and leadership of all the troop activities. Barry

Everyone are right on and gave excellent advice. I only add that I spent a little more time on character and leadership during my confrences because that is the expectation of Boy Scout. I gave more focus on character during my Star confrence and little more time on Leadership during my Life Confrence. My reasoning was that I held Star Scouts and higher ranks to a higher level performance living of the Scout Law and Oath. The Life Scout is closer to Eagle and generally the older scout with a lot more Leadership Responsiibility. Barry

>>My advice is to run it past the local Fire Marshall, as Hal said. If you're really that gutsy and confident, invite him to one of the ceremonies and surprise him.

Boy that is a tough one. I tried to kill such a Troop (with the blessing of the DE) in our District when I was District Membership chairman. It had long and bad reputation of terrible leadership. I also had concerns of safety and bad examples of role modeling (adultery among the leaders). Our goal was to kill it long enough to clean its reputation then start it back up with a fresh new CO and committee. Our problem is that this is the oldest Troop (real old) in the area and a few of the committee members (real old) were scouts in the troop during its hey day. They would rather have a bad

I will stand up and brag that Ive done the ceremony many times. I wont get into the details about safety, we did an extensive job to be safe. A person would be at more risk slicing potatos for dinner. The mix splattering on folks is impossible, at least the way we did it. I will say that I found indoors better than outdoors because we could control the elements a lot better. You all go ahead talk down something of which you have no experience, but this is a discussion on safety. Oh I understand folks being afraid of what they dont understand. Lots of troops dont allow the uses of axes, h

>>Our derby is this Sunday and I've been asked to help check-in cars. Does anyone have a template "check-in" sheet which includes all these "cheat factors" to look for? I'd love to use one so that there is consistency in the process. Thanks.

>>Whenever possible let the Scouts handle the safety. I have found that if I can wait just a little longer than I normally would to put a stop to something a Scout will. The difference is that when a Scout tells a another Scout that what they are doing or about to do is stupid he only has to say it once.

Our troop has about two miles that we four times a year. Our town even put up sign with our Troop number giving us credit for that street. I used that activity to get younger scouts some leadership practice. Beary

In the old days this would not have been and issue new scouts lerned their skills from their patrol mates. And we have to understand the difference between advancement and learning skills. As other have said, he needs to hang with his friends and enjoy the parts of scouting his friends bragged about. I'm sure they will be glad to teach the skills their friend needs to enjoy the program. Barry

>>This type of camp program puts the onus on the Scoutmaster to just say no.

I'm with Narraticong, boys dream of this stuff, help them make the dreams real. I think this is a great idea I wished I would have thought of. Some folks look at bows as tools, then there are those who only see weapons. So let the scouts carve the bows and then take the group to a range to learn safety and shoot their hand made bows and satisfy the can't do folks. I like the idea of teaching a little history and learning how to make strings as well. This could be a great project. Good Job Barry

One of my first Eagles was deaf. It doesn't take long for everyone to think of him as normal and treat him that way. You forget he is deaf until someone new in the troop meets him. Evmori has great advice as he always does. Your scout is just like all the boys with the same dreams, attitudes, boy problems and behaviors. In fact, our scout tried to used his deafness to his advantage. Its seems that sometimes he didn't hear the instructions, if you know what I mean. The parents of our deaf scout were so proud that I did his Eagle Scoutmaster Confrence at his home so his parent could watch.