Eagledad

Good point. Our troop has done a few night Troop-o-rees under the James Bond and Star Trek themes. This is basically competing in camporee style scout skills at night. We invite a couple other troops. The events start after a campfire about 9:00 PM and finish about 1 or 2 AM. We have also did a Triathlon campout where the patrols had to ride bikes, canoe and hike to different events during the day. Our scouts say biking campouts are one of their favorites and our shotgun/rifle shooting campouts are always big. One Venture patrol did a backpacking trip that started from our church and ende

I think you would be surprised. One of the adults in our Troop is the climbing/rappeling instructor at Camp Alexander in Colorado during summer camp. He lends himself out to any troop that wants to rappel but doesn't have trained adults. We don't see him much because he's busy pretty much every weekend with some troop from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. We are in the same District as the unit in kwc57's pictures. I would venture to say at least half of the troops in our District rappel/climb at least once every two years or more. Just off the cuff, I can think of at least five that do it every ye

Thank you for the kind words. Use all our post to your best advantage. I'm sure I have forgot a lot. We need to look at every aspect of scouting as a tool or advantage to build better men. I tell new parents that we are in the job of build citizens of character and leaders of integrity. In this skeptical rough and tumble world we have to use every trick in the book to help these guys see the advantages of making the right choices, freely giving a helping hand, and holding each other accountable in a compassionate way. I see uniforms as a great tool. As for your Pack problem. I got all my

Wow! Great backhand Imascouter, OK its back in my court. I can write all day on this; so allow to me try and give ideas then allow the discussion to grow. As an adult, I want my sons to learn values that will help them when they are 30 years old, married with two kids. The uniform gives identity. It is an equalizer in that everyone starts equal by wearing it. The poor are equal with the rich. The Catholic is equal with the Jew. A boy from California looks no different from the boy from New York. You wont have to feel intimidation to try looking as important as the other guy does. The uni

>>My question is HOW DO WE ENCOURAGE BOYS TO WEAR THE FULL UNIFORM WITH PRIDE? I am speaking of boys who own the entire uniform

Yes but, what does your son think, what is he doing about it? Your emotions see this as a door closing on your son, but my experience sees one opening for opportunity to grow. I say it a lot, but a scout troop is the adult world scaled down to a boys size. The adult world is not perfect and these things happen there as well, what do you do about it. And it's not as if you son is stuck, he has a lot of tools in his scout bag. He has the Patrol Method tool that gives him the ability to speak out and suggest change. Everyone in the Troop has equal voice because the Patrol Method is a form o

Good post Dan. My post was more of shifting adult perspective, but there are two important points to older scout programs. First, the adults in a boy run program have to grow with the program as much as the boys. We adults have to learn to push our limitations so that our fears or ambitions dont limit the scouts growth. Small example is do you trust your SPL to run a productive PLC meeting without any adults attending. If not, then the adults need to develop the program that direction. I look at all parts of our program and evaluate whether or not I have to be there just so they can accomplish

Koreascouter is right. A boy run program in scouting means the scouts learn by their actions. That means the adults allow the scouts to plan run the program to learn by the results of the program. But what many units don't understand is that adults are their the scouts guide in their struggles. I know it's hard to know when to step in and when to let the scouts go, but failure upon failure develops habits of failures. If scouts arnt going on camps, then the SM brings his experience and wisdom in the PLC meeting and ask why. The program is based of Aims and Methods. The adults are responsible f

>>When do you step in, or do you ever?

>>Eagledad, Just curious as to how you lit the neckerchiefs on fire without them burning up? Does the cloth come from planet Krypton like Superman's suit?

Traditions are interesting. They are great for adding fun and character to a program, but can bring it to a stand still as well. I watched one pack restrict their Webelos from joining a Troop until April because they always wait until April to do Crossovers, and I saw another Pack of Webelos have to go through a paperwork nightmare because the Troop they visited in January submitted the applications they filled out for the AOL requirement before the Pack submitted their names for the AOL award. I have found that Blue and Golds go on twice as long because someone once said that they were

Hi All Lots of good suggestions have been posted. I have found that in most cases the parents just havent been asked. Our Pack made a commitment that Den leaders would do nothing other than Den Leading. If we couldn't get parents to do Blue and Gold, Pinewood or other activities, then we wouldn't do them. We never failed to have these activities because when we asked, they came. Nine out of ten times a parent will say yes when you talk to them personally. A phone call or just walking up to them during a meeting works fine, but you have make the personal contact. There are a couple of s

Hi All I have done a long study on this and the large problem is bored Webelos. I found that Webelos who enjoyed their den program and den leader relate that positive experience to future scouting, while Webelos in a boring dens relate that to troops and want to quit as soon as they can. I also found that Webelos don't have to camp or model a Patrol to have fun, it base more from a fun they have at their meetings and a positive attitude from the den leader. There are several reasons for this problem, but by far the largest is leader burn out. No matter if its the church, little leag