Eagledad

I understand your point. A sense of belonging is personal and has to be developed. Oh, there is that initial romance of joining something with a reputation that is bigger than life, but that romance can die quickly if the experience doesn’t live up to the hype. The BSA looses more Scouts in the first 6 months of the troop experience than any other age. Sense of belonging has to be earned by both parties. All I’m saying is Scouts can see the difference between using titles for political correctness or for personal growth. It’s not the words, it’s the body language. And on the forum (not you); it’s the tone, not the words. Barry

As a Conditional Scouter, I don’t know why this silliness is so hard for new scouters. Scouts of the troop age can see through adults’ words and wording. What they want from adults is respect. Respect your Scouts as adults, they will respect your experience of life and wisdom. Barry

We practiced our hand carving (😁sorry, wood carving) skills on our Space Derby and Pinewood Derby kits. Later-on a Indian neckerchief slide. Barry

Well! In my defense, I was afraid he was going to bring a gun into the fixed blade knife fight, discussion. So we nipped it in the butt, so to speak. Barry

Oh good! Now we can talk about him. Can you believe................................

The tone is not welcome. Barry

LS, you only needed to post the last sentence. It made the point without disparaging the Eagles you feel didn’t have the motivation to earn the honor on their own. Every Scout IS different, which is why the adult staff should strive to build a program that doesn’t obstruct any Scout’s personal ambition. Barry

I don't know the answer to your question, but troop calendars started changing after National introduced the New Scout Patrols (NSP) around 1990. Before NSPs, most packs moved the Webelos over by age, which resulted in troop receiving one or two crossovers every month over the whole year. Not the whole den once a year. A couple of New Scouts every month fostered the patrols to teach scout skills all year long. The NSPs intuitively swayed districts to encourage packs to cross their Webelos over in the winter, which forced troops to plan seasonal calendars. Before the NSPs, most troops planned their calendars around more adventure activities like hiking, fishing, backpacking and so on with scouts skills development done more at the patrol level and worked into the adventure activities. After NSPs were introduced, PLCs started planning toward seasonal programs of first class skills like, first-aid, pioneering, or cooking to fit in with getting new scouts up to speed for camping, as well as advancing. These NSP calendar schedules aren't bad in of themselves, but the unintentional consequences were PLC's taking over the patrols responsibilities of teaching skills to their new patrol mates and troop activities that have less adventure and more advancement. Simply, NSPs quietly and slowly drove troops away from patrol method and adventure. Knowing this, a troop can try and resist seasonal programming, but we found it almost impossible. Even though we are a mixed age patrol program, districts still push the winter crossovers, so troops are stuck with receiving most of their new scouts over in a 3 month range. That forces the troops into programs of getting new scouts up to speed for summer camp. That doesn't leave a lot of room for general adventure activities that aren't skills developing activities, at least in the Spring. We do OK because we understand the situation, but troop leaders that don't see it will fall into a seasonal calendar that is basically a first class advancement program. Which is a big killer of the older scouts part of the program. And to add insult to injury, many if not most, troops plan their fall calendar around recruiting, so they have very little calendar for just plain old adventure. The NSP inadvertently push troop scouting to be less patrol method and more adult run. Troops today are a lot less mature and strive more for advancement. And it's difficult to not fall into those traps because they are the paths of least resistance. Barry

I just watched national news and they called it “a war”. The GSUSA didn’t come out looking like the bad guy. Barry

As a SM (in the day), I preferred a crossover scout with little or no troop preparation because it is easier to teach a scout how not to be scared of the dark than keep a scout bored of the dark interested. I did like scouts who had camped overnight at least one in a tent without their parents. That is a difficult hurdle for many boys. But other than that, I liked plain slates. Barry

Ooooo, I like Dragoon Scouts. Barry

Is that sarcasm too? Barry

OK? NJ, the lawyers are already involved. Barry

You don't think so! Hmm, I'm pretty sure a small mention of the male dominating program pushing the GSUSA around on the issue will bring out heavy artillery. Activism is looking for a fight. Barry

That is an interesting perspective. Still, the outdoors part of the GSUSA has always been more marketing than substance. Barry

I agree with everything you said. But, the GSUSA has competition now. I'm waiting for those few scouter.com members (they know who they are) to accuse the GSUSA of promoting a sexist, bigoted, good-ol-girls program. After all, girls and boys are wired the same. What's the deal? Barry

The GSUSA is a brand name, that mountain will not be moved. The BSA will cower down to the GSUSA because they have neither the funds nor the will to hold their ground. This may be the motivation for the GSUSA to push a more outdoor program. Both programs are getting away from the original design of building future ethical and moral leaders. It may turn into a race to attract the best outdoor after school program. Ironically, family scouting might have an advantage. Barry

Policy change over the last few years tend to pull the Cubs away from the outdoor program. I believe much of the trend is to prevent litigation. So, it will be interesting. Barry

The GSUSA in the past had a lot more political clout than the BSA. I would be surprised if that has changed. The girls have the heavy horses if they need them. Barry

Ironically, with the influx of girls this year, Boy Scouts of America has some cash to fight the Girl Scout's lawsuit. Barry

I guess they haven't heard, things have changed, and that's that.

True, but this is really more of a mother pushing her agenda over the den leader. That is a harder problem. Over the years I learned that some drama isn't worth it. It's sad for her son, but I would abide by her wishes and not stress over it. Keep on providing a fun program for the rest of the scouts so that they wish they could stay one more year. I've told the story here before of the Eagle scout who said some of his best memories as of scouting were from my Webelos den. He wouldn't have said that if had joined my troop. Barry

When I was given responsibility for organizing new district Troop leadership courses with the new syllabuses in 2000, we only recruited experienced scouters who were professional educators. Humbly, I was the only non professional educator. Our troop had a simple train-the-trainer course for scouts who earned First Class. Barry

Yes, it is all in the approach. I wish there was a course for teaching approaches. Barry

I like SSScout's post. I believe our troop was pretty good at being a community of families working together for a common goal. We had the odd adult bad behavior once in a while that cause some trouble, but for all the bad behavior stories, I have dozens of heartfelt stories. Parents are going to have off days, but we scouters will too. It's not a matter of if, but when. The adult troop leaders can be the example for everyone in these situations. Barry