Eagledad

I''m so sorry. You touched my soul. I''ll pray that God mends your heart.

>>Also if there is additional coaching because of this, why is that bad?>As adults we are suppose to be coaching and allowing our scouts to develope into leaders.>If this only last a few months, then it at least it lasted a few months. It will show the Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, and other leaders that they have the power to introduce new guidelines, policies, and important decisions to the troop by going through the Patrol Leader''''s Council and then working with the Troop Committee.

When our troop started getting a little bigger, many of the parents started complaining about kids leaving their cars trashed out. So we started going to a carwash before we got home from campouts so the scouts could clean the cars with their own money to the satisfaction of the driver. After a few months we quick doing that (except for summer camp) because all of a sudden the problem went away. Use this as an opportunity to teach trust, loyalty, courtesy, and kind. Teach the scouts a new habit of behavior to help develop their character. Don''t yell, jump up and down or get angry, just think like a boy and find the right motivation to give the boy a will to change. Good Luck. Barry

>>What are your views and suggestions? This goes to our Unit Committee at this month''''s Committee Meeting. The scouts have already started following the motions of this evaluation.

>>So here is our basic plan.... -Conduct a Troop Leadership Training weekend camping trip very soon. We are planning on two weeks from now...>-Engage our new PLC in planning a year of Scouting. Currently, we have a hard time getting them to plan more than a month. Plus, adult priorities always seem to override their plan.>-Support the new youth leaders. This will very likely involve coaching and mentoring the older Scouts who have effectively abdicated any formal leadership role, and preventing them from undermining their elected leaders. We will also need to protect the boys from those "adult priorities" I mentioned above.

You could try and suggest a slight change of tradition to present the patches at the next meeting and the card with a mothers pin at Blue&Gold. This is kind of what our troop does. The SPL presents the badge to the scout after they pass the BOR (usually that night). Then at the banquet, the SM presents the mothers pin to the scout for him to pin on his mother, which is great fun for all. Covers all bases, especially mom. Barry

You''re getting great advice. We had a pack of 120 scouts and did two campouts a year. One small one in the fall then our big one in the Spring. I don''t want to repeat what others are saying, so I will pass along the huge difference we found between the troop and the pack. Cub scouts requires a lot more planning because a large number of parents haven''t camped in years. They will need as much hand holding the camping part as the boys. Some families may not have access to tents. A local troop usually will help, and might even be glad to send some scouts to help set up. I will add that camping was always a great experience for our families. We even had to cancel camp early once because we got 10 inches of rain in just a few hours. They even enjoyed that. Something about the outdoors. We had a ton of food and donated it to the rescue crews of the Merrill Building bombing. 120 families and not one complaint. Hey, thought of a theme. Native American Indians is always a fun one for campouts. CAll the Indian Nations Council in Tulsa and ask for cub World packet that gives packs all the needed instructions for getting ready for their Cub World weekend family camp. It is designed for their camp, but you can still use 90% of it for your own program. It has everything you need for four weeks of planning and program including den meetings and Pack meetings. Food recipes, costumes designes, songs, skits, and more. Very cool. Barry

>>From the "Are they ALL important?" thread: "Barry - you are employing the Method, and I applaud you." I guess we see what we want to see.

>>"Boys want to know what they can expect from you as their Scoutmaster, and what you expect from them. Strive to be consistent in word and action." Scoutmaster Handbook He didn''''t lose any respect for me, but I have lost respect for you thanks to your post. How you can make such broad assumptions based on so little information is simply astounding.

>>And every kid''''s experience will be different. Scouting cannot pretend to be providing just one gender of role model because of some perceived gap elsewhere. We really have no idea in most cases.

>>So if Scouting is designed to prepare boys to be men, it certainly would seem appropriate for them experience female leadership early on.

>>For anti-uniform folks, try sending your kid to football with his jersey and pads, but a motorcycle helmet and blue jeans instead. See what happens next.

>>The issue I see is when Football season morphs into Basketball morphs into baseball and the scout is always late, then I agree with your questioning if scouting is worthwhile, but for a few months? I think the program can handle it

>>So women should be viewed as second stringers, bench warmers?

From your answers, I think a merge will work. But, you and the CM? First each pack needs to get the committee on board. I know how some units run and that may be a no brainer. But trust me that this is what the council will tell you to do anyway. Then if all is well, call a meeting of parents for each pack. That will be the test of how well it works. I suggest the committees of the other pack attend each parent meeting to show support and answer questions. You MUST have the DE and UCs attend as well. It always looks better if you can get the Council Executive too. The meeting must be specific. Explain the reasons for the merge and the advantages. Keep it positive and have a written plan for everything including the what the pack numbers will be, meeting times, leaders and so on. Try to leave no room for questions. If the parents see how well you are organized and understand the need for the merge, you will do OK. You will know how well you ran the meeting by the number of questions. Make this a seamless as possible for the Den leaders. I would not start a new pack unless you see that is the best way to keep peace. Personally I would change anything until after May if that means boys change leaders. You can recharter if you like, but changing dens disturb the routine of families. Good luck. Barry

Hi mkahler I hate merges and splits. They are emotional and rarely is everyone happy. Maybe you can help make this go easier. Questions: How many scouts in each pack? Do both packs function OK or is one a lot better then the other? Have you polled the adults in both Packs and how they feel about it? Have you considered two packs under one charter and meet on different nights? I will add that recruiting is a pain if you considered that. Is one pack older then the other, more tradition? Would the families of one pack have to drive a long ways to the other school? As you answer questions, here are a few thoughts from thinking back to experience. Merging into a brand new pack can be expensive in getting a new flag, patches and equipment with a new number. Keep everyone informed so that nobody feels they are being taken advantage. Some folks just hate change. Other folks think that tradition is very important, and they may have emotional attachement to the unit. Wait until May you do merge and combine the crossovers with into the new merge dens. Make a celebration of it and have all the Den leaders there so everyone feels they are working with the same leaders. Barry

>>This makes for unbalanced terms, but there is much less for the elected leadship to do in the summer.

>>Aquila: Woman don''''t belong running the troop, nor sitting in at PLC meetings.

>>Barry: I was very much impresseded that you had 150 boys in your unit.

>>One suggestion is to provide a copy of the SPL handbook to all adults that feel a need to be present at a PLC meeting and request they read it with an eye to finding their role in supporting the SPL.

>>Let me ask this question: for those who have seen uniforming improve over time in a troop, what was the cause? Adult leadership, youth leadership, improvement in other elements leading to more esprit? I''''d be curious to know.

Hi Allangr Im in the beautiful town of Edmond. I think you are going to have to feel your way through this question. Probably 95% of troops do six months as does mine. However, the best run boy run programs I have ever witnessed do 1 year terms. Saying that, some do a 1 year SPL while the other offices are six months and the ASPL is the elected knowing he will step into the SPL job in six months . The advantage of 1 year is that it really takes about 6 months to learn a job well, so the other six months give the scout a chance to really lead and make a difference. ! year coud be a long time with bad leadership, but is unusual because scouts in those troops know well befor what the job requires. Generally those troops have very good leadership and the SPL is at least 16. I tried to do 1 year elections, but we just had too many scouts who wanted to serve offices and they felt 1 year was to long to wait. Our SPLs work really really hard and they would tell me they are ready for a break after six months. But in every case, I have a hard time getting them to step back from the new SPL for the next six months. I think they would enjoy a 1 year stint. Now, I like to suggest troops with only scouts 12 years old and under consider three or four month elections because boys that young burn out really fast and leadership at that age isnt a lot of fun for them. In a true boy run program, they need a break pretty fast. What ever you choose, you need to stick with it for a while to develop traditions and predictable program and training dates. Also, do not ignore when the new scouts come in. Do you want new scouts electing an SPL when they dont know anybody? You may want to give the SPL and SM time to fine TGs before the new scouts show up. There are lots of things to consider, things you may not have experienced yet. Barry

>>Since EagleSon has been in the marching band, I''''ve known no fewer than 4 HS students who do exactly that: Play ball, at halftime, they march with the band! Thankfully EagleSon is not one of these.

>>Second, mentor the SPL and teach him the leadership skills he needs to be an effective leader and get back in the good graces of his peers.

Oh for pete sakes Brent, he was talking in the third person of scouts in the general term talking about their SM in the general term. Adios Amgio? That is not your style. Barry