Eagledad

>>Then it was Wolf, Bear, Lion, Webelos/Arrow of Light. The Lion/Webelos book was combined. WeBeLoS stood for "Wolf, Bear, Lion, Scout".

>> Eagledad, Thanks for the inquiry about who I am, but that is irrelvant to the message.

GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY! What a great marketing theme for the BSA. Maybe the BSA could start a movement. Imagine a series of 2 second video clips of scouts hiking, climbing, rapelling, biking, scuba diving, sailing, cooking, backpacking, canoeing, building a fire, singing by the fire, on and on and on. Imagine a series of pictures of the same thing in the local paper. Just Do It! Nike Go Outside and Play! Scouting Barry

Hi Brianbuf. What is your scouting experience? About how old are you, give or take? What does Brianbuf stand for? Thanks Barry

>>But you CAN pull all the parents together to explain your vision, and how it will benefit their sons. And acceptance that everyone sees things differently, and conversations are the only way for the group to learn from past and agree on steps to improve in the future.

Me, Me, I've been in almost the exact same place except we went from 16 to 35 the first year and 25 more the next. You are in a very challenging place and that you are asking about it shows how you are trying to get ahead of the game. I think beavah gave great advice you need to use, but it doesn't apply to the first six months of your next new group. Lets face it, your program is going to change. It has to just to keep up with the numbers. So start pow wowing with the adults and prepare for it. We were not prepared and lost 50% of our new scouts in four months. We just weren'

>>But it was not until one chilly autumn night with the smell of wood smoke in the air that I heard the Eagle Patrol singing in the distance and something "clicked." For the first time in my life I "understood" the Patrol Method. This was not a theoretical understanding.

I love that song. My favorite part is the silky tights part. So, what critter did you get? Barry

>> Other than that, they are great DL's. Regardless, what we have is working.

>>then a troop of 100 lukewarm, middle of the road, could care less, speed through the dorkiness, quit as soon as my parents let me, scouts.

Our Troop is in the habit of giving staves of onor to scouts and scouters for such ocassions. Barry

Hi All I think this is good stuff and I enjoy reading other folks opinions in an area I have so much passion. If I may, the fallacies I see in the results are that they are basically opinions of a few, if not one adult. Not data or facts based from polls or questioning of groups and individuals. I mean to say that uniforms are basic reason boys rather go somewhere else like sports, or girls really makes no sense in a program where they can go rapelling, canoeing and even scuba. But I see these kinds of subjects come up all the time, we have our opinions and we want to do better in an orga

I think our troop is above average in high adventure. When I look at all the adults involved in the past, I would say just about all of them had little or no experience starting out. When we wanted to do a trek, we went on an established trek or found an adult who trained us. Ask other Troops if your scouts can go along on a trek or arrange a trek with another Troop that may have the experience. The adults are out there, you just need to find them. I am no longer active in my troop, but I have been asked to train and lead a trek to the Northern Tier next summer. I'm going to ask the guy the tr

>>If the boys are used to troop cooking or adult cooking then this might be a hard thing to wean them from. But I've noticed that, while my son doesn't love cooking for the patrol and detests the shopping part, it has taught him organizational and leadership skills (as well as cooking skills) although I'm not sure he'd see it that way. Not to mention, he appreciates a "mom-cooked" meal so much more! So I'd say it is worth it.

Wow! Eamonn, that was really good. I wish we had a course to teach that kind of scouitng stuff, but I'm afraid that Wisdom 101 is a prerequisite and that takes time. Barry

"My take is that it probably isn't better or worse, just different." I agree with everything Lisabob says, and not because my name was Barrybob in my first course. The old WB course also taught leadership skills, but they were pretty much were all personal skills. The present course, while spends some time on personal skills, spends a lot of time on team developement skills and team leadership skills. To me the main difference is the new course teaches concepts that apply equally to new units struggling to get get momentum as well as the units already cruising from successful leaders

Anyone who is creative and likes to work with their hands will really enjoy this badge. In fact, I think it would be one of the most popular crafts badges at summer camp because you can make so many things from composite type materials. Scouts will learn that much of the exquipment from back packs, canoes, bows, tent parts to boots, climbing gear, most water sport gear, bikes, even tools like axe and saw handles. Its easy to shape and the chemical processes is fun to watch. It is an area where Engineering is really expanding. Barry

>>is it actually complete since a requirement wasn't done? I say no.

>>CalicoPenn, I understand the idea that the MB is "completed" when signed by the MBC, even if no actual work was done...but would you really sign an advancement report including such a MB if you actually knew that no work was actually done? If I did so, I would be making a false statement--that the record met the "standards and requirements" of the BSA.>I hear this grumble all over. IMO I think National needs to address this. Time to put the values back into scouts.

This is an interesting subject. I was just having a conversation with a good friend of mine who I think was the best CD our council has ever had. I mentioned a couple future course directors that I would have thought needed some time yet before they took on that responsibility and I asked him why they were selected at this time. Now don't get me wrong, when I think of the best CD, Eamonn comes to mind first and I compare all CDs to him. The folks I speak of are like Eamonn and will lead a good course, they just have a lot going on now in areas of scouting that I think should have the ful

Thanks for all the kind replies. Your words Beav really ring true. Everytime I read your post, I think our Council has a great future. Eammon, I always enjoy your words because in many way I feel we came from the same mold, but I was the sent to the states. I can't think of who I would have said was my role model back in college. Looking back now, I can pick several. My dad is on that list, but I didn't understand that until I was a father. I have noticed my 23 year old starting to understand our family as well. In a time when many of his friends come from divorced families, he has

HI All I had a wonderful weekend last week. I was invited to present a scout his Eagle during a troop Eagle COH. That is unusual for our troop because even though our scouts and their families plan the COH to their taste and needs, usually the father presents the Eagle with a short tribute following. This all started years ago when one father gave a very tearul tribute to his son and now all the moms since have forcefully incourage the same for all the scouts. I didn't ask questions, I only replied that I was honored. But I did wonder why this family was breaking tradition. To add t

>>This year at summer camp we had a leader in our site that flew the "Jolly Roger" (skull & cross-bones).

This is a strange thread to me because my Patrol when I was a youth was the rebel patrol. That was in the early 70s , what about 15 years ago, and no one ever thought anything about it. Our patrol flag was a small Confederate battle flag. Sometimes its sad how times change. The BSA even offered a patrol patch with a rebel flag on it. I still have a shirt with that patch. Barry

Do a Google search on NEA gays. Barry