Eagledad

I'm not sure what you're saying here, but, ignorance isn't always bliss. Most of the time continued failures are the result of not getting enough information to succeed. Eating cereal out of the box can be fun, but learning how to prepare nutritious meals on a budget is a skill is not typical of teenagers outside of troops. My 64 year old sister confessed not to long ago that she always enjoyed me fixing breakfast when we were in high school because they were delicious. Then she asked me how I learned to cook such good meals. Well, it wasn't mom. There is always the struggle for us experi

I believe one of a DE's main responsibilities should be teaching sponsors "how" what they are doing is bigger than the sum of the parts. Truth of the matter is that from the outside, the parts (mastering preparedness) can look quite messy and unappealing. Barry

As the COR, you have the authority to do what ever is best for the CO. Actually, you are just a representative of the authority of the CO, but 95 % of the time, the authority gives you all the decision rights, especially when you are this involved. The real issue is the personal conflict. And I know it may not seem personal to you, but if the troop feels they need him and you don't, and you want to change his responsibilities, then it is personal. This really comes under "Can't Everyone Just Get Along?". Many of us here would call this a coffee moment, which mainly is a friendly conversat

Interesting post. I agree with the first paragraph, but based from my experiences, have a different opinions on the rest. I guess different experiences lead to different biases. Barry

One summer we did Cubmobiles races. Along with the other activities during a pack summer camp, each den had to assemble and paint their Cub mobile. They got to race them the last day of the week. The pack raced those cubmobiles for the next 15 years. The DE was so impressed with them that he asked our pack help him plan and run a district Cubmobile race. The district planned a district race each spring for 10 years. Google Cubmobiles to get an idea of their fun. Barry

I have seen it, and generally it was a screw up on the Council getting dates wrong. Probably doesn't happen very often now with everything recorded electronically, but 20 years ago we asked Council for a copy of all the scout's records and found they got some of the records wrong on 30% of our scouts. Most of the mistakes were not a big deal, but once in a while the got the rank dates wrong. Barry

I can't argue the fees, that is the result of the ongoing litigation. But, don't let bad adult leaders tant your opinion about the troops. The experience is typically different. Cub leaders can new and inexperienced with scouting and more often than I would like to see, they set bad examples. Troop leaders in most cases are more experienced and settled into the program. At least give them a chance. Camping and patrol experiences are fun. The Civil Air Patrol is pretty cool too. Barry

Great idea. Or start with a precourse test to check your knowledge. 70% rewards you by skipping the course. Barry

No, 2000 was when they required parents attend and have meetings every week. Lions was somewhere around 15 years later when National was also adding other clueless program modifications like adding Leadership as a 4th Method when it was already part of the 8 Aims. Barry

National change the Tiger program in 2020 to require each scout have an attending parent with them at every activity. Up to that point, Tiger membership dropouts was bad, I think around 50% nationally, give or take. I don’t know what National was thinking, but requiring a parent at every activity made the problem worse. Parents of 1st grade parents are bombarded with after school activities and it overwhelms them. They only have so much time in a day to work, cook, and be family. Those parents need a very easy program that fits the schedule and gives them an introduction to scouting.

Yes, their maturity is closer to toddlers and very demanding of the adults. I think the Wolf/Bear/Webelos programs are adequate and don’t require much tuning. If National really believes membership is reliant on the toddler age group, they should look at something like the Girl Scout program that has a separated more simple program for that age. Professionals say 20 months is the average time to expect from volunteers in any volunteer organization. Experienced has proven that to be about right. Burned out volunteers dredge boring programs that drive families away. Barry

Shorten the program 2 years to prevent burnout. That one change would double the crossovers into the troops. Barry

This solution is an example of why leaders without is not a national issue. Most of the time, the unit will find a solution. Also, intimidation from older is a more common problem. I knew of several troops with the intimidating older scouts. Leaders learn quickly that they better fix it or loose recruits. Barry

Strange discussion. But, if forums do nothing else, they bring out extreme opinions. Over the years folks expressed extreme thoughts like, scouting was dying from lack of gay adult leaders, then it was lack of gay youths, then it was female youths, and then to much god or not enough god or not enough camping, or too much camping and so on. A few extreme opinions doesn’t mean reality. But it does drive interesting discussions. I don’t believe millennial mothers are the pivot point of BSAs success or failure. Helicopter parents are a real problem, but only locally. I also don’t believ

I agree with qwazse, but I wonder how much of the enthusiasm was generated by passionate adults. I didn't get a comfortable feeling about the youth level of enthusiasm from this form. Of course this is an adult forum, but some of the adults seemed hell-bent and creating success stories. However, the Venturing Crews program does have some success with active girls. Barry

Yes, many challenges. A big one ate the unprofessional professionals at National. My big concern is whether parents want a character building program or an after school program. Barry

After many years of observing BSA units, I find that economics and ignorance are big drivers of unit procedures because few adults understand the BSA vision enough to keep their program compass pointed north. Adults will get what they want one way or another. Council would only step in when they see a liability risk. The next few years will be interesting. Barry

Doesn’t make sense. Barry

I agree with this post. A council in southern Oklahoma merged with the Central Oklahoma council in the early 90s. The southern Council's OA program was considered the hallmark of OA programs in all of Oklahoma while the Central Council's program struggled. The merge required OA members of the southern council drive 90 minutes to meetings in central Oklahoma. The southern OA struggles to survive now. Barry

The BSA is the adults program with a vision of developing the youth into moral and ethical decision makers. Most here who know me know I am very pro youth run. But, I cringe when I here leave it up to the youth. While the main principal of the program is scouts developing character from their free choices, the program has guidelines that the units must work within. That doesn’t mean the scouts can’t be a part of making the decisions, it means they should be part of the team with adults who have experience and wisdom that they can contribute to discussion to provide more content. The point of t

Tap out was always one of the fun parts of the process that scouts looked forward to. Especially at summer camp in front of hundreds of observers. Saying that, the Ordeal is where the scout finds out if he/she are ready and mature enough to be an Arrowmen. Rather that is how it used to be. Barry

I’m not sure my post applies to your experience. I’m saying just because a culture decided to be offended by the innocent and respectful actions of an organization does not make the actions any less innocent and respectful and should be treated with the respect of their intentions. As for your sons experience, I turned down the district recruiting committees offer to take over as the chapter advisor because I didn’t want to deal with the Scoutmasters. I come from a time when Arrowmen were the special forces of scouting. I would have drove the chapter in that direction and I knew I would m

Wow, with friends like this, who needs enemies. I’ve been active in scouting one way or another for almost 60:. In all those years, I have never seen AO show disrespect to the American Indian/idigenous/Native American culture. In fact OAs actions are typically respectful with the intention of showing honor. Now if the culture has changed how it looks at such things, fine, we change to continue showing respect. But done disparage the OA for living the scout law in their efforts. On the other hand, I’m not sure OA can get back to the honor and respect that the organization once had beca

Thank you for the wonderful post, mrjohns2. Barry

You keep say “the attention span of girls” as if girls are different. What are you comparing against. I’m not confronting you, I’m just curious how you came to that conclusion. Barry