Eagledad

>>I do love the comment about real world balance

I just love the title, Philmont Training Center made easy. I am one of those who actually had to make the choice between Disney World and PTC. First of all, its not just about money. Many folks are limited by vacation time provide by their jobs, lets say an average of two weeks a year. And if you are active, it is likely that one week went to either summer camp or high adventure. That in itself is a difficult choice, especially for the Scoutmaster who feels obligated to attend summer camp or go with the older son to Northern Tier. Then there is the spouse that not only reminds you

Ghost Chickens in the sky sung to the tune of Ghost Riders in the Sky. Lyrics: A chicken farmer went walking out one dark and fateful day He rested by the coop as he went on along his way When all at once a rotten egg hit him in the eye It was the sight he dreaded Ghost chickens in the sky! Bok bok bok BOK Bok bok BOK The ghost chickens in the sky The farmer had raised chickens since he was 24 A-working for the Colonel for thirty years or more Killing all those chickens and sending them to fry Now they want revenge... Ghost chickens in the sky. Bok

I also agree with OGE and anyone else who wears knots for whatever reason. Knots are part of scouting and part of the uniform, so wear them with pride. That being said, I don't wear knots. I have abnormal fear of letting such things go to my head, so I leave temptation in my dresser drawers. Since I'm not as active with scouting right now, I am thinking of mounting them in a frame before I loose them. I also don't like to wear my WB Beads, but will do so at WB events so as not to stick out and become a conversation piece. I know it is silly and I agree. We all have our querks I gues

>>But we are stuck on how to get it out of the rut ... our troop meetings are either adult planned, or choas.

Great suggestions. Let me suggest Get And Use The Patrol Leaders Handbook And SPL Handbook. Those two books provide very simple guidelines for planning and agendas and should be used by both the adults and scouts. That way when a question or problem comes up, the SPL and SM sit down together, pull out their Handbooks and work for a solution. As your group gets better and more experienced, encourage them to improve what they have learned, but start very simple. We also taught the Who, what,where, when... and it works well once the system has developed. But right off the bat, it is a lot of

>>then the unit has training issues. They do not know or understand the roles of the various levels of program, and they need more training...the council can help with that.

>>My question is, should a person who chooses not to do so, be made to feel like they are some sort of deadbeat because they didn't repay their "debt" to Scouting?

>>The basic problem is that most kids don't want to be in Scouting. They stick it through Cub Scouts because their parents want them to be there. In Boy Scouts . . . they just don't want to be there. It isn't cool. No video games.

Well there are a couple assumptions that aren't quite correct. The huge majority of scouts in troops did come from the Cubs. And, the drop out rate of first year scouts was about the same as it is now. The reason for the higher numbers back then was a successful advertising program developing a culture that second grade boys automatically join Cub Scouts. An increase of Cubs led to the increase of troops. In my humble opinion, (and I know it is a reach, but I believe it), adding the Tiger program took a huge toll on the pack recruitment over the years. First grade boys are too young

Really depends on the maturity of the Patrol. I found the mature patrols elect older scouts. But I was also surprise to see that patrols also look at bringing up younger scouts to get experience. Im sure that idea bleeds down from the servant led PLC culture, but sometimes they get a little younger than I would have liked. Still, the older scouts were purposely good mentors. Our average patrol leader age in mixed age patrol was 14, I would have liked it a little older. But our program kept the older scouts pretty busy. I cant remember a problem with older scouts not wanting to be l

>>Young Eagles before, older Eagles now. Change in program? Good or bad?

>>The sm has never liked this kid and has never hidden that fact.

This is a really cool idea. I remember wearing my dads Scout Hat from 1940 and the adults really liked that. I wore my dads shirts as well and GW is right, they were uncomfortable compared even with the shirts in the 70s. I don't know how far you can push it because the limitation on the supply. We once saw a whole troop wear the campiagn hats. They were a big troop, so it look really sharp. Everything that troop did looked sharp. You could tell they took a lot of pride in their program. Our troop check into the idea but somehow it didn't go. I wished it had. I think this is a fanta

It really depends on the program and even on the personalities of the scouts. We didn't seem to have scouts Eagle in groups, but we had several scouts who waited almost a year so they could have the COH together, my son included. I can see this happenging with new troops because adults new to scouting tend to follow the advancement part of the program pretty close until they start to learn and understand the other seven methods because advancement is the easiest to do when you don't really know what you are doing. That first group of Webelos will likely Eagle pretty close to each other.

Personally I dont see this as more adult led dynamics moving into the boys program. In fact, I almost think it was created to prevent that. But I do feel that it wont help the boy run dynamics because it keeps the parents just a little to close. Our troop was rather large and when we saw the adults closing in on the boys just to be part of the program, we assigned a couple of JASMs to lead the new adult patrol. The JASMs would pull the adults together at all the troop meetings and campouts to brief them on the PLC meeting (we have one every week) and organize the adults for the next camp

>>These kinds of decisions, and changes to policy, aren't generally made in a vacuum or on a whim.

>>If the Scoutmaster is being "secretive" you can expect many more situations like this one. Open and honest communication is one of the most necessary skills of a useful leader.

>>No deaths I know of, nor has the ceremony been reduced to reading names from a list.

Sounds like a great trip. The Brazos river in central Texas is the closest river I can think of that will fit your needs. I can't help you with an outfitter, but I know there are several on the river. Barry

>>If that were the case, PeteM, the entire ordeal would have been changed.

This was an honor we save for the Webelos IIs in our pack. They are the leaders and instructors for all the other ages in pack meetings, but it is their thing for special events. Barry

First of all, how do you define hazing to the scouts? I think that is a very important question and one that should be answered in one sentence so the scouts have a clear understanding of it. One of the problems I see with adults today is they don't really understand a good definition and end up classifying just about any act that offends them under hazing. I once saw a leader jump on the camp staff for singing happy birthday to a scout that wasn't even in her unit. She didn't know the scout and didn't even ask him how he felt about being sung to, she just called it hazing. Why, because

Hi All The tiger program is all about the parent. To have a successful program, you need to cater to their needs. The packs that have the hardest times with tigers are typically the ones that put the most demands on the parents. More meetings means more demands. I know that we say it is all about the boys, and it is. But Tigers requires the parents and a lot of adult volunteer time. If the program is too demanding, the parents will not come. If the parents dont come, the boys cant come. However, the good news is that if you have the family in the program for the first year, you will have

I took one on all my campouts and treks except Philmont. It was the first thing I put up after we set up camp on our treks. It sets up fast enough to use during a long break on a hike or canoe trip if you want to take a quick nap. Sometime just getting off the ground is a relief. They are very comfortable and usually the envy of the rest of the group. The tarp works great in rain and anything else that falls out of tree. I didn't sleep in it at night where we had heavy mosquitoes. It was kind of the adult gettaway place at summer camp for naps and reading books, but I even let curious scouts l