Exibar

SMT, great points added about the getting the PLC involved and the committee BOR as well.

I also VERY much agree that scouting should be a safe haven for the boys (and adults!), I have no tolerance for any forms of harassment (aka bullying), fighting, teasing, etc within the troop. I also agree that if any parent has a problem with this, they can go ahead and find another troop.

Mike B

Wow, I'd certainly have those older scouts reprimanded for their actions. They should NEVER have done that to the younger scout, they should know better and set a better example.

14year old scouts are much older than an 11year old scout. I'm thinking that the 11year old's punishment is well suited. The 14year old scouts should have any BOR delayed by AT LEAST 6 months, they should make a formal apology to the entire troop WITH PARENTS PRESENT, and explain what it was they did in front of everyone. I would even go so far as to make them the official dish washers for each patrol for 6 months. They should also have to prove to the SM that they have learned the error in their ways and show that they once again are following the Scout Law.

If they have a history of such behavior I'd be very close, and probably would, bring their parents into a SMC and explain why they are being removed from the troop.

The 11year old was surely pressured into doing it by the older scouts. Even though he was the so called trigger man, I doubt he would have done that on his own.

I doubt they could be arrested, but harassment charges surely could be filed against them. Even now harassment charges could still be filed against them.

I guess you can see that I'm not very tolerant of such behavior. Practical jokes are one thing, but there is a line that is drawn, and having someone drink someone else's urine is totally and fully past that line. If this type of behavior isn't dealt with Swiftly, openly, and justly then it will happen again...

Mike B

Brent: that sounds really nice. I'll have to look into the SOAR sites. I just googled quick and came up with www.mytroop.us.

I'm putting together a Wordpress based website for my troop, same that I had for my cubscout pack. I really like th elook of the SOAR stuff though! maybe I can incorporate some of those features into the wordpress stuff.

Mike B

so what's the general consensus on this? At first I was asking my scouts to get new books, but I'm kinda liking the label idea for the new requirements.

I was thinking about "highly recommending" that they get the new book, but in the mean time I'll either put a label with the one or two new requirements in their book, or a larger label replacing the entire requirements page with a photocopy of the page from the new book.

Hardship was brought up about buying a new book by one of my ASMs, I told them that the troop will buy the new book for anyone claiming they can't afford the new one. But the same ASM brought up that it would be a pain for the scouts to transfer everything over to the new book or it would be a pain to hold onto 2 books. The second argument doesn't hold any water for me at all, as life isn't always easy, and big deal so the scout that is going up for Eagle has to produce two books at that time... the rest of the scouts simply work out of the new books until Eagle.

Wingnut: agreed, I want to have my SPL and the PL's to be able to communicate to the other scouts as well.

PL's and SPL's change, so I want to make sure that all my scouts have every tool that I can help them with at their disposal for use.

setting up the new email accounts (with parent's permissions) would be an optional item. If the scout already has an email address, they're welcome to use that. or if they prefer a text, that is fine as well as that's still just an email address I can sent to.

I guess my issue is that I need a way to send messages out to the scouts themselves, parents are kinda unreliable :-) and phone isn't always a good idea as I usually send messages out well past midnight after the family is asleep.

With the kids being so plugged in these days, email is certainly understood and easier for them to use.

Mike B

yah, I was getting a 502 error last night :-(

I think someone is forgetting to feed the hampster on the wheel ;-)

Mike B

thank you for all the great feedback! You guys are awesome, I hope that I can start repaying by answering some questions shortly too :-)

I really wanted to get all the boys their own email addresses as part of our whole "web initiative" for further enhancing communication within our troop. I'm an IT Security Engineer by day so I can put the parent's mind at ease a bit for the security of their son's email accounts and the web site.

Here's what I'm planning on:

1) ask the parents permission for their son to have a troop email address.

2) CC the parents on ALL communication with their sons

3) request that they check their email at least once every 48 hours (once a day would be ideal).

I've taken over as Scoutmaster and one of the issues in the past was communications. With the boys being *very* internet savvy these days the website and email is the main mode of regular communications.

When my CC mentioned that scouts couldn't have email addresses, that really threw me for a loop as I never heard of such a thing.

thanks!

Mike B

I'm actually a scoutmaster and my CC is the one that told me that he was told that scouts cannot have email addresses. I told him I've heard of no such thing and he kinda walked away.

I'm glad I'm right, at least by the sound of it so far :-)

thanks!

Mike B

I was told tonight that scouts aren't allowed to have email addresses and that everything MUST go through their parents' email.

Is there any truth to this? I was told this was a national rule, I haven't heard of such a thing, and couldn't find anything in a search of this forum.

thanks all!

Mike B

oh a pig roast would be an awesome idea too.... we have a huge campfire ring at our camp and can certainly rig up a Spit for the pig....

Maybe invite the Cubs along too, they'd really love that!

I'm writing it down in my "summer to do" notebook for sure!

Mike B

I'll check out that other discussion, thanks!

Zippy: nah, not too concerned about the parents. I'm ScoutMaster not ParentMaster ;-) The parents will know when/if this will be occurring, but it will be left ultimately up to the boys if they want this experience.

I know some boys are picky eaters, and won't eat chicken on the bone. The grubmaster for their patrol will have to accommodate for those scouts that won't want to eat the rabbit stew or what have you.

Perhaps I'll just have one rabbit for the old goats, have my friend teach the scouts with that one rabbit, and have rabbit stew made for the goats and encourage the scouts to try it and see if they would like to do it themselves at the next campout. Hmmmm... I really like that idea. If there is an old goat that doesn't like/want to eat the rabbit stew, they can make accommodations for their own substitution.

Thoughts about that idea anyone?

Mike B

Do yo have the bugler announce the opening of every troop meeting? Just at campouts? just once a month troop meetings? just award ceremonies?

I've seen little as to exactly what the bugler "should" be accountable for. Other than he announces the opening of meetings. What is the general thoughts on when the bugler should be bugling? Previous to me taking over as SM, the previous SM only had the bugler announce taps and revele during campouts, this doesn't seem like it's adequate for a POR to me, but if that is what's expected then so be it.

We only have one scout who can play the bugle, or any thing even remotely like it, he's asked to remain bugler and I've allowed it. I'm turning over most of the items that the previous SM did to th eSPL where appropriate, but I have to get a handle on it myself ;-)

Is there a training course I missed that specifies in detail what the bugler "should" be responsible for?

thanks again all!

Mike B

My plan was to have my friend teach the boys. Even though I've been hunting and skinned a few rabbits in my day, he's certainly more qualified than I am as he used to raise them for food. I guess my question is that if anyone ever did something like this with their troop and if it was well received by the boys?

thanks!

Mike B

I have a very good friend who used to raise rabbits for food. I was thinking that it would be a great experience for my troop to learn how to prepare a meal "from animal to plate" so to speak.

aside from concerned parents and all that... Has anyone done something like this with a rabbit? I'd love to have the boys learn how to truly prepare their food. I can see it being helpful if they ever get lost in the woods and have to set a snare to eat, etc etc.

I wouldn't have the boys slaughter the rabbits, I'd provide one dead rabbit per patrol that was obtained at the local butcher shop that already said he can provide anything I need for the boys at a greatly reduced cost.

We're not a city troop, but we're not exactly a full farm community either, so I know 90% of the boys have never done nor have seen anything like this done. I think only 1 of the boys has ever been hunting with his Dad (mine can't wait until he's 13 to go hunting with me ).

Any thoughts? Is there a current merit badge this could be applied to or anything like that as well?

thanks!

Mike B(This message has been edited by exibar)

I agree, this forum is great and filled with great folks! As a new Scoutmaster coming up from being CubMaster, I know I have a lot of questions and it's great to be able ask them here and find out how other troops operate so I can help my troop be the best we can make it :-)

thanks all!

Mike b

Thank you all again! We couldn't find the clarification in the book last night, so I wanted to ask the experts :-)

Mike B

Excellent, thank you for all the replies.

Here's another Eagle related question. If the boy chooses "lifesaving" for his rank, and he has also earned Emergency Preparedness, can he use EP as one of the elective badges? My first thought is no, as the requirement says one or the other, but I figured I'd pass it by you guys as well.

thanks!

Mike B

ok, I have a scout that will be making Life. I see the requirement for Eagle is "21 merit badges (10 more than you already have)". is that 21 badges total or 10 more badges that he already has after making Life?

I know there are eagle require badges, but I'm hung up on the "10 more than you already have" piece.

thanks all!

Mike B

oh, I like the Aesop's fable as a scoutmaster's minute.... I'm going to use that at my B&G this Feb!

thank you!

Mike B

I have a group of 5 webelos crossing over into boyscouts that want to stay together as a patrol. So they'll become our troops first NSP. I'm happy with this as SM and the boys are happy with this.

Now I'll interject here that I'm a new SM for this troop, and I've been CM for 5 years. The troop has been in turmoil, and the two ASM's are hoping that with my help we'll be able to turn around the troop and make it function as an actual BSA troop and not just a bunch of boys gathering.

My question is this, next year there will only be 3 webelos crossing over as it stands now. They have their patrol setup, but how do I bring them into the Troop? With only 3 scouts in the patrol, they won't be able to make a NSP. But they are all friendly with the Webelos crossing over this year so I think I'd just integrate them into this year's Patrol. I'd hate to disband their established patrol... would most of you leave it up to the boys? or would you simply apologize to the boys and tell them there aren't enough boys for a full patrol and integrate them into this year's NSP.

any thoughts?

thanks all!

Mike B

Aside from the scout himself, I would think that the Patrol leaders and Senior Patrol leaders would ask their patrol members hat they require to work on.

On top of that, I would think that the ScoutMaster should also be made aware of what his Scouts are in need of. Perhaps the majority of the scouts require one or two items, the ScoutMaster can bring it up at the Patrol Leader meetings and steer the Patrol leaders into perhaps focusing on those items during the next troop meeting.

Am I off base here? I realize that there is the TroopMaster software and many other 3rd party tools to help with this, but am I correct in thinking the way I am?

thanks!

Mike B

Other than the 6 months, what other requirements has he not made?

Wereas I agree that the 6months is a FIRM unwavering requirement, I don't see anythign wrong with the ScoutMaster telling the boy that he has not fully met the 6 month requirement and to see the SM in 20 days.

sounds to me like there is more to this other than that 6 months...

Mike B

I for one would not deny any Scout his Eagle for being unsure of the existence of a God.

As long as the Scout shows that he is Reverant, he'll pass. By reverent I am referring to the root of what I believe is the definition, Respectful of other's beliefs in religion.

I can say that I've had many beliefs myself in my 41 years. Born and raised Roman Catholic, but during my early teen years I quickly realized that I no longer believe in 99% of their teachings, I've practiced Wicca for well over a decade's time, I've also studied Buddhism until I've reached my current beliefs, agnostic swaying *very, very* much into Atheist. But, one thing that has always held true for me, and I would ask this of any scout, I have always shown respect for what other people believe. Everyone is spiritual in their own way, be it in a church, in the woods behind the house in a special place, or even just sitting alone pondering the reason that we are all in existence. For some, "God" is science and evolution, for others it's a "higher power"....

IMHO, Being reverent does not mean being religious, it's being "deeply respectful" of other's religious beliefs.

there are too many people that die in wars over religion, if only everyone shared the above view, there would be no more people dieing over the meaning of the word "God".

Mike B

hehe,it's funny that it's no longer the "official" handshake, yet all the old timers (myself included even with only 5 years in scouting) want to shake hands with the pinky.

I gave such a quick and smooth pinky handshake to one old ScoutMaster and he complimented me on it ;-)

It's the little things that make the difference right? We're in a great organization, and the handshake is "old time tradition" so why remove it? Just because the rest of the world doesn't use the pinky means that we have to stop it? BAH!!!