Eagledad

Hi All I guess I'm disappointed in the subject. It to me is about same as discussing how many of our kids will be president. Life is not about getting our kids to be president and scouting is not about getting scouts to Eagle. That our discussions have got to this place is a concern because it implies that it really is all about reaching the gaol and not about the experience. No wonder so many adults ask how to make the program more fun. What they seem to really want is ideas to keeps boys interest until they reach eagle. We don't have discussions about the honor of first class or patrol

>>The CC has called an emergency committee meeting for this Sunday to discuss how to proceed

>>The thing I think is important about this is that the SM conferences should be utilized to also educate the young lad on what he needs to do to get to Eagle - while recognizing that it has to be his goal.

I like the idea and reasoning behind it Calico. How much shift-of-mind is there outside the troop environment like OA or JLTC? Barry

>>The requirements for both the Scoutmaster's Key and the Scoutmaster's Award of Merit include rank advancement. They also include earning the Quality Unit Award, which includes rank advancement. We are setting up the leaders to consider advancement.

Hi All The only wisdom I gave about the sign was to our PLC. I told them group respect is a team accomplishment. When one member of the PLC puts their sign up, the rest of the PLC follows in support of the team and encourages those around them as well. I also agree with Beavah that consequences of performance change behavior. Our PLC improved a lot things (including starting on time) when the meetings were running long and all the complaints were sent to the SPL. Most of the complaints came from the parents tired of waiting outside in their car. In our troop, the adult never pu

Hi Lisabob Everyone has given good information. My perspective from the District point of view is training can help you get the middle of the road you are thinking about. Of course there are the obvious differences between packs and troops. The big one being that an adult can completely change the mood, direction and dynamics of a pack without really affecting the dens because the den programs are basically mini programs that run independent of the pack leadership. Troops are called boy run, but just about all parts of the troop program are intertwined together, so you cant just cha

>>For all we know, the troop's position may have been stated clearly at the pre-camp meeting (but the dad didn't attend) and in writing in the pre-camp mailing (but the dad didn't read it), and to the scout at camp (but he really wanted to try riflery for fun and the counselor generated a printout because that's his job, even though there was no SM-signed blue card).

>>Makes it hard to do the right thing, doesnt it?

Hi All In my business, I learned to constantly re-evaluate my work and performance so that the product improves. I took that habit with me into scouting and I quickly learned to evaluate the reactions and comments of our customers, or families. I find that 90% of the time their questions or comments are directing our attention to some part of the program that needs some kind of tweaking. Most of the time the tweaking is something simple like educating the families better about our program. We have discussed here that something as simple as "boy run" is not very simple. So I learned to exp

>>How is a kid harmed by gettin' an extra dose of safe handling checkout that isn't done immediately after the original instruction - so that it actually has to be remembered for somethin' longer than 10 minutes?

Hi All I'm just glad folks here agree the SM signature comes before the scout starts work on the badge. That used to be a challenge for many. Of the many thousands of cards I signed, I can't recall a scout every really caring about the MBC. Now I had scouts with neighbors or family friends wanting to be a counselor, so we had them come in and do the paperwork and also get to know a little more about them and their MB skills. The only issue we ever had was the dad who wanted to do all his sons badges. There is know restriction against that, but we had a lot of heavy discussions to why

>>I'm no big fan of Dr. Laura, however, she ends each radio show with "Now go do the right thing."

>>Are you certain about that? The signature by the SM is permission to start work, and he's to give the name of a registered MBC, but I don't know anywhere where it is stated that the SM has to approve the selection of the MBC.

>>" The real Scouting is dying, a slow death "...it refurbished into tigering, cubbing, and weblows. As I said before ,soon we we will have " diaper Scouts, and girls scouts will be the baby sitters ".

>>A Post Trophy? Past Atrophy? Apt Apathy? A Post Toasty ? Holy Guacamole.

>>Mr. Nelson, before you criticize, I would suggest you do some research. Long live Scouting spirit.

>>I hope all this almost stream of conciousness helps. Adulthood is not easy. Sometimes it is not fun either. We muddle through, one day at a time.

>>While it won''''t solve the Guide to Safe Scouting challenges which demand two adults at a Den meeting, there is a program person who can be a huge aid:

>>No big deal. Why would it be?

HI All Been there and done that. When push finally came to shove and no one else was going to lead, then I explained to all the parents that would be my asstance. First I asked for two dedicated assistance so that if one of us got sick, there were two still there. I didnt do it for Safe Scouting reasons, I did it to maintain adult sanity. Then, the rest of the parents had to take on a month of planning. I planned all the meeting except the theme activities part. The parent of the month led that part. My part was basically flag ceremony, games, and closing. I had my assistance keep up with

>>Removal may well cause the Scout to walk away from Scouting. Is that what the young man and the Troop need and want?

Hi All A lot depends on your response. Do you want the other scouts to learn from this scouts example? Do you want to just get rid of him so the PLC will perform better or up to adult expectations? Does the scout know he is not doing well? Personally I look at the troop as experience for real life (real life scaled down to a boys size experience). First, I want the scout to make the decision to give him the experience of practicing habits of character. I want the PLC to see me and the SPL give the scout a lot of counseling before the scout makes that decisions so they can learn a met

There are some Den Chief trainings out there. I would call the DE and ask if your district has one. If not, ask him/her to check the other districts in the council. Our district did not have the training, so we did our own. After the district found out about our training, they ask our trainer to do a district Den Chief training course. It is not really that hard, its more of a review of what the Den Chiefs duties are with the Den Leader so that the Den Chief and Den Leader go into the first meeting as a team. I would say couple hours. I will admit that as a CM I didn''t care f

>> Wow, with a CO of that size, maybe they need to charter two packs? Seriously.