Eamonn

Back in the Dark Ages, when I was at school in that distant land across the sea. The what would be called a High School over here in th USA, still had corporal punishment. For minor sins you could get whacked by the House Master, for bigger sins the whacking was done by the Senior Master and for really big sins the Head Master took on the role of whacker. Gym Masters were known to whack using an old tennis shoe, this was known as being "Slippered". Being whacked by a Master was known as caning. I was lucky to go all through school with only ever getting caught one time. I cut a music class to go to the local fish and chip shop. It was my luck that was a day when the music master called off sick and my House Master took over. Other than the slippering all other whacking were done with two members of staff present and it was recorded in some sort of a log book. To be very honest my whacking wasn't really much of a whacking. I went in the House Masters office, he asked me if I'd cut class. I had no choice but to admit it, after all it was a fair cop. He asked me if I was unwell? I thought about telling a big fat lie, but didn't really have the guts. I bent over and he tapped me on the behind with a stick. When it was done, he asked me if I was OK? I said that I was and then I was on my way. The entire thing was forgotten about until the end of term when I brought my report card home and my parents seen that I had been whacked. The nuns at Holy Cross School were also known to do more than their fair share of whacking. We as kids accepted that being caught doing something wrong meant that we had to face the consequences for what we had done. At that time the consequence was that you got whacked. I'm not in any way for inflicting pain on anyone especially young children. When OJ was in First Grade, he had a nun for a teacher. This woman was a real pain. Every night she would phone me and tell me about what sins OJ had done that day. One day he managed to kick his shoe off and it went flying through an open window, another day he left a wad of gum in the drinking fountain. Night after night she would spend at least 45 minutes telling me all about what he'd done. In the end I got a little upset. To be honest I never really worked out how to tell a nun to go and pound salt! (Maybe I was scared that she might whack me?) In an effort to stop the nightly calls, I explained to her that we had a problem. The problem being that she was seeing OJ as a child of God and I as his father knew that he was a little devil. Once I explained that the calls stopped. Eamonn.

Have to admit that since I'm not as active as I once was, I don't keep up with things like I used to. The other day a forum member and myself were exchanging emails. He mentioned the Trainer's Code of Conduct. Me being the twit that I am, thought he was talking about the Wood Badge Course Directors Pledge; we were talking about Wood Badge. Needless to say I got it wrong! He was indeed talking about this Trainer's Code of Conduct. Thanks to Google I found this Trainer's Code of Conduct. On the last page of the Trainer's EDGE syllabus. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/26-242.pdf As I read this Trainer's Code of Conduct, my first thought was that somebody needs to get a life! To my way of thinking stuff like this is just way over the top and does little to help get anything done. Eamonn

Ditto to all the nice things that have been said. Ea.

From what I have read and seen on the news. It seems to me that just about everyone seems to agree that when it comes to health care here in the USA, there is a need for change. Right now one of the main reasons I'm toddling off to work everyday is to ensure that myself and HWMBO has the coverage we need. I didn't have much choice in the plan that I was offered, in fact my choices were take it, don't take it and if you take it you have the choice of a HMO or a PPO. Some of my co-workers with many years service in don't pay anything for their insurance. I pay 1/2% of my gross, it should be 1% but we have a silly Get Healthy Plan, which entails answering a bunch of questions on line and results in the discount. The State has it that if your spouse works anyplace that offers insurance, they have to use that plan, but can be on the State Workers Plan as secondary insurance. OJ was also on my plan, while he was a full time student. He however decided that he wants to be a Para-Medic. In order to reach his goal he has to work as a EMT. He is working as an EMT. He is working some very strange shifts and some very long days. Most weeks he works about 50 hours. As do most of the other EMT's. But the company he works for doesn't hire any of its workers as full time workers. As part-timers they are not even offered the choice of buying health insurance through a company plan. He isn't earning that much, a little over $10.00 an hour. Not enough to be able to afford his own plan. Meanwhile he is out there lifting some very heavy loads, working 16 hour shifts. Who is to say that at sometime, somehow he isn't going to do himself some type of harm? Sure he will be covered by Workman's comp. Insurance. But a bad back isn't an easy fix and can last a lifetime. I'm not sure how to make it work. But I do believe that everyone and I mean everyone needs to be covered by a health insurance plan. Right now the people with no insurance are a burden on us all. They tend to use the local ER as a Doctors office. The Hospitals have no choice but to treat these people and these people for one reason or another (Some just can't afford to pay) don't pay. This raises the costs that the hospitals have to pass on to us all. Allowing people to wait until they become really sick, before they buy insurance? Is just a daffy idea. Which will end up costing everyone more. Allowing employers to not offer insurance, by saying that everyone is a part-timer. Is just wrong. Even more wrong when the employer makes money from billing health insurance plans. Eamonn. (Sorry about the rant!)

" C'mon people, just a little common sense in the world would go a long way.... " Isn't part of the problem that there seems to be a lack of common sense? Parents or maybe I should say some parents? Are in such denial that their little sweetheart can do no wrong and seem willing to move Heaven and earth to defend the little sweetheart that having a rule which doesn't allow for any flexibility (What might seem like common sense.) Is the safe way to go. Eamonn.

I think that most of us would agree that efforts to keep our kids safe are a good thing. I have in the past posted that I'm not in favor of long lists of rules, regulations and that sort of thing. In part because these normally fail to cover everything that needs covered and end up not being worth the paper that they are written on. The media seems to enjoy the times when silliness takes over. The little fellow who ended up in hot water at Halloween for going to school dressed as a fireman with a plastic ax. The spork (Was it a spork?) I'm left not really being sure what is and what isn't a weapon? We have read about kids getting into trouble for taking ordinary everyday pills such as Aspirins to school. This I think is due to another Zero Tolerance Policy. We can moan and complain about this Zero tolerance, but maybe it's part of our own making? Maybe if everyone agreed that taking stuff to school that shouldn't be there we might end up with allowing common sense to be used. If it's OK for one Lad to stash something like a knife in his car? Why not a cross bow? Or a gun? If one kid can get away with a pocket full of aspirins, why not a pocket full of narcotics? The aspirins given to the wrong kid can do a lot of harm! I wonder what the tone of this thread would be if little Annie had taken the knife to school to cut the cake that Grandma had baked and Nasty little Lad had taken it and killed another student with it? Would we all be asking why she was allowed to take a knife to school? Eamonn

lneubs51 Hi and Welcome. It would seem to me that if this has gone to the IH, the Troop can do little but wait and see what happens. Once the CO has decided what is going to happen, it will then be up to the adults in the unit to decide what they want to do? If the CO decides that this person is no longer needed, the choice really shouldn't be that hard. Of course the youth members might have a very different take on all of this, so the remaining adults should maybe be prepared for a storm and maybe the loss of some of the youth members. (Maybe even a couple of adults.) If the CO decides that there is no good reason to remove this person. Then the remaining adults need to look at what their options are? From what you have posted, it seems to me that these options are very limited. Eamonn.

TAHAWK I would of course be happy to talk about this via email. To be honest I'm not really sure where we are going? As leaders of small teams. Adults who lead Units, committees or youth who lead teams; Patrols or PLC. Having some kind of an understanding of what most small groups will go through is a good thing. Lots of different things can happen to a group. I have worked with groups that really never get past the Forming Stage. Some members of the group for whatever reasons, never really become part of the team. At times the team will forge ahead and still go through the other stages leaving this person (Or sometimes more than one person) behind. Sometimes this will cause the group to just fail and fall apart. Some teams will accept a new team member and the new member will fit right in with little or no fuss, skipping the Forming Stage (Or the team moves through it so fast, no one really notices.) While with some teams the addition of a new face will mean starting all over again. I have worked with a team that was able to manage a specific task well, but when faced with a task they were unfamiliar with, they (We) went back to a kind of "Re-Forming" and then moved on to the Storming. My point is that while this "Stages of Team Development" is worth looking at and worth trying to understand. It is helpful as an indicator. Which of course means that the word "All" is out of place. Eamonn.

Pennsylvania lawmakers agreed to a 2009/10 budget on Friday, 101 days after the start of the fiscal year, making the Keystone State the last in the United States to settle on a spending plan. Not sure about anyone else, but 101 days? Seems like a very long time. Seems like the people who should have and ought to have been working on this are just not doing their job. Of course there is a lot of finger pointing going on. There is no shortage of blame. But from what I have read they were supposed to start working on this budget back in February. Does it really take nine months? I don't know how many people have been hurt or harmed by this delay? I do know that while these twits couldn't decide how they would go about spending my money, they had no problem collecting it. Seems that they also didn't have a problem collecting their daily $158.00 allowances! I have to wonder if they hadn't been able to collect any state taxes if things might have not taken 101 days? Eamonn

I know that some changes have been made to the syllabus since I was last involved in WB. The syllabus I have does state that the Model can be used to indicate what a team will go through. Not that every team will go through it. From what you posted it seems to me that you are talking more about the task at hand and not the team (People) who will be doing the job. While I might be wrong?? It also seems that the people knew each other and that there was no need for the team to form or at least not all the team to form. With this Forming out of the way the team went straight into the Storming Phase. http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/tuckman.htm "Individuals in the group can only remain nice to each other for so long, as important issues start to be addressed. Some people's patience will break early, and minor confrontations will arise that are quickly dealt with or glossed over. These may relate to the work of the group itself, or to roles and responsibilities within the group. Some will observe that it's good to be getting into the real issues, whilst others will wish to remain in the comfort and security of stage 1. Depending on the culture of the organisation and individuals, the conflict will be more or less suppressed, but it'll be there, under the surface. To deal with the conflict, individuals may feel they are winning or losing battles, and will look for structural clarity and rules to prevent the conflict persisting." Eamonn

As I have posted in the past. My kid got suspended for having a small knife in his locker at school. A prize he won for winning a pie eating contest one OA weekend. (That's my Boy!!). I wasn't very happy. The school also had a zero tolerance policy. I got over my not being happy, when I remembered a really nice kid who was being bullied by some not so kids in the school where I worked back in London. The good kid pulled a knife, one of the bullies went to punch him and ended up with a stab wound. The next day the London tabloids were full of headlines about the "Blackboard Jungle". In the light of what has gone in schools across the country, I think most of us are happy with a Zero Tolerance policy. Zero means Zero. Eamonn.

Back when I was a Scout, the Troop had a "No Socks in Camp" till Lunchtime" rule! I know it sounds silly, but the idea behind it was that once your socks got wet from the dew, your feet were wet all day. Strange thing is that I can't remember anyone ever questioning it! Lord knows we were at an age when we questioned everything. I tend to have pet peeves. Some peeves last a very long time some seem to fade away. I used to have a "No rap music" in my car rule. I kinda grew into liking some rap songs. I do ask that people don't talk on the phone when we are driving. This came about after a female Sea Scout talked to her sweet-heart for over three hours one Friday night. I was ready to toss her cell phone out the window! Now they make calls at rest stops. Scouts who ride in the passenger seat of the car I'm driving are expected to read the map. I can't stand the smell of hard boiled eggs or peanut butter, so I have a no peanut butter or hb egg eating rule in my car. I have always insisted that Patrols (Crews) eat together at the same time. (No individual eating or cooking.) No tennis-shoes in the ax yard! Please don't call me Mr. Walsh. If you come to my house you are expected to eat. (Peanut butter and hard boiled eggs are never served!) Ea.

I really didn't intend to resurrect the much debated discussions that we have had here in the forum about wearing or not wearing knots and dingle-dandies. I have never served on a WB course staff in anywhere other than here in the USA. I have noticed that back in the UK, WB Staff members do not receive the extra beads. As I have posted in the past. Back when I was first invited to serve as a staff member. I really wanted that third bead. Yes!! I now see that I was wrong and hope that I am maybe doing a slightly better job of keeping my ego in check? Still I still meet and have met some people who think that having that extra tiny bit of wood is the mark of having made it. Many of these people are really wonderful people and fantastic Scouter's. If they didn't have that "Something?" They wouldn't have been invited in the first place! Maybe deep down, I feel that Wood Badge is a little over rated? Don't get me wrong! I have really enjoyed the times I have spent on courses, I do believe that people who do attend come away with a lot of really good stuff. But there does seem to be a lot of hype about the course. So many people seem to go on about it as if it really was /is the best thing that they ever did! Maybe this "Best thing ever" plays a part in the need to have an extra bead? Or maybe I'm just seeing something that isn't there? Eamonn.

Of course being that I'm now serving as a membership chairman, I would have liked to have seen a boy child. But I'm a patient fellow, I can wait till she is old enough to join a Crew. Two weeks ago we brought home a new Golden Retriever puppy. (Dudley, Dribbles, Doright). I'm having a wonderful time just watching him discover the world. Even though I know OJ isn't ready to be a parent just yet. Watching Dudley has really stirred-up the yearning inside of me to be a Grandparent. I don't even mind doing the "Yucky Stuff"! I just can't wait to hold a little person in my arms and there is no smell that is as wonderful as the smell of a baby who has just been bathed. I'm very worried that when the time does come, that I'll be too old to enjoy it. Congratulations. I do hope everyone is doing well. Treasure every moment. Kids, like puppies have a nasty habit of growing up when we are not looking. Eamonn.

I just read over the "Sample Course Director and Staff Bead Presentation Ceremony" in Administrative Guide. It makes no mention of the beads only being worn on the course. I do now remember at one time hearing that people who had earned their third bead were seen as an assistant course director(staff) which was a 2-year appointment (technically, at the end of the 2-years they should then wear 2 beads)But four beads signified a certified Course Director (Scoutmaster/Cubmaster) and was a permanent appointment. I never heard of this being enforced, at least not in the area where I live. My apologies to TwoCub. Ea. Eamonn(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Have never heard the: " you only wear the extra beads during the course. Once it is over you're supposed to go back to the two beads."Before ? I have been a lot of places where there have been people who I think might have mentioned this, so I'm inclined to think that it's not right. While each of us can think of things that we have done that we can rank as we wish and maybe we rank what others do as being important or as being hard work. I happen to think Den Leaders have a hard job! I didn't really enjoy being District Chair and I thought the time I spent on the Area Committee was at times a waste of my time and money. Ea.

I do wear my beads. I wore two, then three and now do wear four. A lot of my friends do wear three beads and a few wear the four. Being as the Council I serve is in a cluster, the Council only gets to host a course about every six years. So having the fourth bead is seen as a big deal in our area. I was very deeply honored to be selected as a CD. I really did put a lot of work into the course. I like to think that I did a good job and did a lot to being new blood into what had become a bit of a good old boys club (Yes I know I was a member of the club, but maybe a bit of an outsider??) Anyway.. This question is for everyone who has ever staffed a course. Would you be OK if there wasn't any extra beads, knots or recognition for staffing? For the record I'd be OK with just wearing my old beads. Eamonn.

When the WB21C came along there as a period of time when those who had taken the older course were discouraged from attending the course. I seem to remember that when the course was opened for people who had taken the older course that they were treated the same as the other participants. I didn't see this as being a big deal. Back when I was a participant on the old Cub Scout course I was asked not to wear my beads or regalia from the Boy Scout courses I had participated in. You might say that I "Lucked Out"! I had staffed a good many courses when the new course came along (Both Boy Scout and Cub Scout). I was told that I did have to staff a new course as a Guide before I was allowed to be a CD for the new course. I did and am very glad that I did. But again this wasn't a big deal, as I had also had to participate in the Cub Scout course, before I was able to staff that course. We have in our cluster canceled courses because there haven't been enough people sign up. Eamonn

Not sure how good an example this might be. But.... I grew up in London, England. Back in the days when we Pounds and shillings. There was twenty shillings to the Pound and twelve Penny's to the Shilling. On 15 February 1971, the UK decimalised, replacing the shilling and penny with a single subdivision, the new penny. The word "new" was omitted from coins after 1981. The pound was still a pound, but no longer had 240 Penny's in it. I was working after school in a hardware store on the Kings Road, Chelsea when the change came. For a while everyone wanted to know what things cost in the "Old" money? Was 1.50 really 1-10/-? Of course in time everyone got used to the new money and there are a lot of people today who have no idea what the old money was and I'll bet most of these people really are never going to lose any sleep thinking about the old money. The old course is gone. It is never coming back. The new course, while it has kept the name "Wood Badge" is nothing like the old course. In fact the new course really isn't that new. Soon it will have been with us for ten years. The 17 year old who was a Boy Scout when it first came out, is now married and his son is a Tiger Cub. Just like the pre-decimal currency we had in the UK when I was a Lad, the best thing we can do is move on. In time fewer and fewer of us old timers who took the old course will be around and the younger guys and girls really are not going to want to hear us harp on about the "Good Old Days." Teachers in the UK today when they are teaching younger kids about handling coins and cash, don't mention the old money. I'll bet most of todays teachers never even seen a farthing! Trying to staff a new course without ever having participated in it? Is probably not a very good idea. Eamonn.

Rio??? No, mate! I'm off to London. Ea.

I'm sat sitting here thinking how strange my life is. I live in an area where, to the best of my knowledge we have two maybe three African-American families. One of the managers of the local McDonald's is African-American. Sadly where I work the African-Americans outnumber everyone else. Sadly because it's a correctional facility. I don't have to drive very far to find areas that are not as "Well to do" As the area where I live. Places where there is a higher African-American population. Places where kids grow up facing a lot more challenges than the kids in my area face. These less fortunate areas are within the Council I serve. But trying to find a local Scout Troop is next to impossible. When I asked what the problem is? I was informed that many of the men who might wan to step forward don't because in their youth they messed up and got caught with drugs or got caught dealing drugs. While of course there are some people who should never be trusted to work with our youth and our children. But many of these people have served their time. learned their lessons and changed their lives around. If we are ever going to pay more than just lip service to really taking diversity to heart we need to find ways of looking at the person, not just the persons record. Eamonn.

Have to say that I really don't think discipline is the ugly side of Scouting. One of the things Scouts learn from being Scouts is that there is a time and a place for what is and what isn't acceptable. While playing a wide game at camp, yelling, shouting and running around is not only fine and dandy, it in fact expected! None of this sort of behavior would be acceptable on a shooting range. While maybe it's a bit of a stretch? You could say that learning how to make ethical choices is also about knowing how to exercise self-discipline. Most Leaders who have been around a unit for a while, know the youth that they are dealing with. It is very rare when a Lad does or doesn't do something that is unexpected. As we all (Adults and youth) deal with whatever the task at hand might be?? There are times when a "Correction" might be in order. In the Utopian Troop (Never met one of these!) The P/L or S/P/L would have all the tools needed in his tool box. But most times this "Correction" can be given by an adult with "The Look". Sometimes a simple "Hey Guys!" Does the trick. Patrols can impose discipline on themselves. They write their own time-table of things that they want to do and when they fall behind some of the things they wanted to get done, just don't get done. (Take 3 hours to clean up after lunch and the afternoon activities go out the window.) Sadly there are times when a youth member will do something that crosses the line. When this happens, when possible the Scout should be removed from the group and returned to his parents. The matter should then be handed over to the Troop Management Committee. I disagree with allowing the PLC dealing with this. No one ever said that the PLC should act as any kind of a jury. The unit leaders are tasked with providing the program, not handing out judgments. In over 30 years as a Scouter I have only ever had one Lad removed from the program and that was due to him acting inappropriately with another male Scout. The decision to remove him came from the Committee. Eamonn.

Brad, While I'm happy to go along with you if you think that a software package in some way makes the management of a Pack easier on you. Back when my son now 21 was a Cub Scout, I managed very well without a software package. Sure even in them dark ages we did use emails, and the telephone. Heck I even used Excel. Still the most effective communication was between the Den Leaders and the parents along with a new-sheet handed out at the Pack meeting. I do however disagree with you when you say: "I could reply upon the parents solely for advancement but this will cause lower long term participation." With all the respect in the world I urge you to take a look at the methods of Cub Scouting: Advancement Recognition is important to boys. The advancement plan provides fun for the boys, gives them a sense of personal achievement as they earn badges, and strengthens family understanding as adult family members work with boys on advancement projects. 4. Family Involvement Family involvement is an essential part of Cub Scouting. When we speak of parents or families, we are not referring to any particular family structure. Some boys live with two parents, some live with one parent, some have foster parents, and some live with other relatives or guardians. Whoever a boy calls his family is his family in Cub Scouting. If we fail to allow the program to work as it is designed we are failing the very core of why we have Cub Scouting. Eamonn.

This is in no way any type of a put down. But I really don't see the need for Pack Management software. A little fellow joins a Pack. All the information is on the application. The Pack retains a copy. Once this has been entered in at the Council level all the information will be on the charter. He joins a Den. Den Leader has 6-8 Cub Scouts. Advancement in Cub Scouting is supposed to be done by the parent. Cub Scouts advance once a year! Seems to me that all the records needed could be kept in a three ring binder. Ea.

District Commissioners and District Committee members in our Council can serve indefinitely. District Chairs have a 3 year term. I'm not sure why? Think it might be because the Chair is on the Council Executive Committee. Ea