Eagledad

Every Troop program is limited by the fears of adults. If I had the courage you appear to have, consider the idea of talking with the adults. The committee meeting possibly. You need to convience the adults that you want to learn how to handle the troop program. THen ask them what is the worst that can happen? And be prepared to reply every situation they throw at you. Be truthful and humble. "I don't know but we will learn together" might be your best reply. But at least you are presenting your case of taking on more. And, from the very begining help them understand that you consi

>>Sounds to me like you decide which 13yr old should attend even if the SM has signed him up. Am I reading that right?

>>If the SM thinks he has a 12 yr old that is mature enough and can handle it, why not send him.

>>I have seen an interesting trend that maybe others can verify...our best troop guides seem to be the better SPL later in their scout careers...and a good Summer Camp Staff experience seems to bode well also...any thoughts?

Hi all We migrated from white gas to propane, and on to the Coleman gas canisters. Several years back the Venture Patrols wanted a stove that fit their high adventure theme. They ended up testing two Coleman duel burner Exponent backpacking stoves and loved love them ($90.00 at Campmor). They are sturdy because they are duel burner and have a wider footprint than single burner stoves. Light enough for backpacking and virtually indestructible. The troop ended up liking them so much that we replaced all our propane stoves with them. We have use them exclusively on all Troop outtings f

Hi All >>At these ages 12 - 17, age is not a very good indicator of the maturity level of the boys. Come to think of it, I don't think age is ever a very good maturity indicator.

>>Why not train them younger so they can understand what is expected of a junior leader so they can come into a position know what a leader is supposed to do

>>I would say to the ASPL that his idea has merit, but that because the patrol method is part of Scouting, we must find solutions that do not take away the responsibilities of the patrol.

Hi All In my opinion you are doing it right. Proper fitting personal equipment is the biggest difference. You can have bad shoes, socks and packs and still have a fun week of canoeing and portaging. But a bad pair of boots or socks or a bad fitting or heavy backpack makes for a long painful trip at Philmont. Barry

>>Now if anyone has any idea on how we could speed up the process of conversion, I would love to hear as well.

Hi All Anarchist writes a very good post. I have also been involved in turning units around and I agree pretty much with everything except the 9 to 10 years. My experience is more five years to turn a program around because thats what it takes to replace 95% of your scouts. I do agree that it takes more than five years to entrench your program, whatever that program is. This is why the suggestion of training a lot of adults all at once is a good start toward the change. I am watching a very entrench program of 150 scouts in our district changing because their new class of newly trai

Good reply Semper. Also, I found some Packs call up Webelos and send him across the bridge without mentioning the troop they are joining. It can be stressful for the SMs if they aren't sure they know the scouts joining their troop. So find and meet your Webelos before the ceremony. I've seen this happen a few times because many times the adult who recruited the scouts isn't the one at crossover. I pretty much let our scouts do most of the work with me just shaking the scouts hand. Barry

>>You might want to look first to the new adults to help you on this as they will be the most open to change.

Hi All Weve had a couple broken arms, cuts, and things like that. Many of those injuries came from wrestling around. Boys love to wrestle. The cut was just plain stupid. But blisters are one injury Ive seen cause a lot of concern because we are usually in the middle of Gods country when they occur. I can usually stop them if the scout lets us know early enough, but if they let them get too far along, the scout has a miserable trip. Barry

>>On the other hand, if the CURRENT uniform is a hindrance because of the way it looks or fits, of the way it is useless in the field, and how much it costs, then it seems to me that something can and should be done about it.

Hi All Im not surprised with the PLs actions. He felt trapped and reacted in the only way he knew to ease his struggle. That is what we humans do. The SM just needs to counsel him and give him more tools for dealing with these kinds of situations, a good life lesson. The lesson for the adults is take that as a new experience to add to our bag wisdom. Now, Im with Eammon that you have to pull the parents in here. You didn't really say it, but I also have a feeling that they are part of the problem. We had a situation like this in our Troop and here is the thing, the troop is going to

Hi All We present the Badge at the first Troop meeting after National approves it. It's slightly differernt in that all Eagle Scouts are invited in the middle of the circle to present the badge to the Scout. The scout really enjoys that because he now stands with that elite group. Being a Life scout, that was the one time I as the SM stood outside the circle. I very much enjoyed showing that honor. I love scoutering. Our scouts choose when they want to wear the badge, but we've had scouts wait as long as nine months to do a COH (My son was one) and that is a long time to wait f

Hi Vicki I wasnt trying to imply anything, thats a pretty good ticket item and one I would like to suggest to others. I think my experience was blinding me to ideas of how to make it a ticket, and I was wondering how you did it. I expect that what ever your results are, you could write a how to book of units working with disabilities. Your focus is on dwarfs, but I imagine most of what you learn can apply to most disabilities. If I were your TG, I would suggest your report be distributed to your district, and possibly the council. Good luck and thanks for all the families whose life

As a WB Patrol Guide, Im curious to how you wrote the ticket. Working with families of disabled scouts was a very long process, how do you know when you complete this part of your ticket? Barry

Hi Vickil Some good advice from the others, I can only add that in many situations the parents have to take the lead, but this is probably as much a learning process for the parents as it is you. They simply don't know. I learned to work with the parents as a team and it works best when everyone is open and flexible. Which brings me to the other part of this; the District and Council helped me when the requirements restricted the scout progress in the program. I found everyone wants the program to be a positive growth experience for all the scouts, so just call them when situations requir

>>I have an energetic young PL that kept suggesting amusement parks at our annual planning session. I could tell the SPL and the other PLC members weren't that interested in doing it.

Hi All >>So - I'm really down on Crews that skim the older scouts and leave the Troop with nothing above 14yr olds.

Boy, I must say I really enjoy your post Fuzzy Bear. You have a great grasp of all angles of this subject and have a gift into putting it all in words. >>We fail to appreciate the millions of other good citizens all around us that make up America and the world that have these same qualities but achieved them in numerous other ways.

Hi All Yep, Im with Semp, pray for crossover as fast as possible. Ive had good and bad experiences with Unit Commissioners (UC). It really depends on their ability to mediate. Not that many can do it very well and Semp is right that they would rather not get involved unless they are dragged into it. But since no other Pack authority will help, the UC is the next step. If that doesnt work, I would keep planning the agenda and sending it to the parents. In most cases the parents will go the route of the most reasonable adult. Make the agenda, if the scouts show up, great. If not, then look

>>Another possible question would be: is a person with a religious-based moral code less likely to violate his own moral code than a non-believer with a philosophy-based moral code?> To be fair, BSA does choose wording in its statement of religious principle that suggests religious people are better than others: "The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God...">As I've said before, I think BSA has good reasons for insisting on religious belief of some kind for membership--I just don't think better