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fred johnson

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Everything posted by fred johnson

  1. Hugely agreed. I think for years people have been criticizing un-involved and distant parenting. Teachers praise parents that shows up for each and every conference and meet with each and every teacher. Parents have to initial packets sent home with their kids each day. It's not that parenting has changed. It's that how society teaches parents to parent has changed and it's bad. I hugely disagree with this. My opinion is national is trying to heard cats. We have strong willed and strong opinion-ed scout leaders who have been leaders for dozens and dozens of years.
  2. I'm deeply involved in advancement locally and I advocate for my scouts to advance. BUT, my real focus is to get the scouts out doing interesting stuff. It's by doing interesting stuff that friendships are grown and the program thrives.
  3. Scouters love to argue how to do scouting. Years ago I probably said no adding requirements because of things happening locally. But these days I'm just worn out on certain phrases. "adding to the requirements" is one. "boy led" is another. I'm sure I could find more.
  4. Interesting ... That explicitly contradicts the G2SS ... "All adults accompanying a Scouting unit who are present at the activity for 72 total hours or more must be registered as leaders." Pretty clear that in the background means they are still present.
  5. I'm surprised we don't hear about this more often. I know my church requires all volunteers to have a background check and specific vulnerable person training. Because of situations, there is zero flexibility on it. I'm sure if we chartered a scouting unit, the requirements would apply to the scout leaders.
  6. Scouting is far away from overly safe. Are we drastically more sensitive to safety now then 50 years ago? Absolutely. Are we too safe? Very debatable. But we are bringing kids we know relatively little out into lightening storms and sleeping in sub-zero weather. Giving them knives and fire. Teaching them to shoot. At the same time, leaders are napping and trying to sleep through the night while we trust our urchins are also sleeping.
  7. I'm agreeing the interpretation is bad and BSA G2SS is one activity and not meaning one program year. BUT ... I'm interpreting some of these changes as good. From what I've seen in the last few years, we have too many parents on boy scout camp outs and it damages the program. We have too many parents at boy scout summer camp. It damages the program. Helpful registered parents are critical, but too many causes real damage to the program.
  8. Forgive my opinion, but I think this is a reflection of how our generation has been taught to parent by the public schools. Teachers that praise parents that are involved in their kids schooling. Teachers that assign 10 minutes of homework per grade level. It's okay for kids that are already at that level (and probably don't benefit from the homework much). It's a nightmare for the families who's kids are still struggling. It stresses situations at home and forces parents to be detail involved in their kids achievements. From what I
  9. I'm scared that adult leaders mock this topic and don't take it seriously. This is not a light switch where we either free range or baby sit every moment. Abusers look for programs in which they can abuse. Kids will sneak in alcohol, tobacco, pot, drugs, fireworks and more. Kids get hurt, drown, fall in fires, break bones and more. We can be effective as leaders while at the same time minimizing our presence and impact. It's about keeping kids safe.
  10. IMHO, I think BP would very much support the concept. But at the same time, we don't live in his time. Things have changed. We know more than we did. IMHO, I think it's appropriate to value the concept and hold it as our ideal, but we need to then correct for modern times and what we know now.
  11. Boards of review are for Confirming requirements are "previously" evaluated Learning about the scout's experience with the troop Encouraging future advancement and involvement. Boards of Review are NOT for evaluating if a requirement is done. As such, I'm just not comfortable with a 2nd BOR. It's a very bureaucratic and heavy overhead process. Plus, I'd fear it just won't not be done well. I could see assigning scout spirit requirement to the SPL. But, I like keeping it with the scoutmaster because it's the scoutmaster's catch all for when things hit the fa
  12. I don't think that was ever in the cards. If national reflects state, council, district and local levels, BSA has tried to coordinate multiple times in the past. GSUSA has not been interested though. In fact, GSUSA has promoted themselves at times based on problems in the BSA organization. IMHO, it would be like expecting Apple and Microsoft to collaborate closer. Both have partnered repeatedly, but neither is interested in the long-term health of the other except when it's to keep another competitor in check. Even then, it's only temporary. I do agree with you that
  13. I partially agree. I agree that I prefer NOT during the meetings as it takes away from the meetings. But flexibility is the key. We can state preferences, but it's only a preference.
  14. My apologies if this gets off topic ... I recently have had conversations with my eldest son. In the end though he completed his Eagle rank, he soured on scouting. For him, it was the adults. Every time he was upset, it was because of something the adults did. IMHO, the best troops have adults that diminish their own visibility and involvement. I know others would argue this, but you just don't need that many adults to run a good scout program. And too many adults or too much involvement by those adults will damage the program.
  15. Welcome. Congrats. Focus on the fun and doing interesting things. The rest will come.
  16. Yep. That happens. He's still representing your troop and doing service for your troop. Your troop can't survive if cub scouts do not join your troop. As such, his job is critical. But he can't be held accountable for the final choice of the parents. Even if the pack is on the far side of town or next town over, it still counts.
  17. Den Chief is a service to the troop. It promotes a healthy connection between the pack and the troop. It is rightly a troop leadership position and it is a key one. I would require nothing of the scout. But I might regularly email the cub master or the den leader to see how the scout is doing.
  18. Hard, but all too common situation. Troops deal with this all the time. Rules are rules, but I also can sympathize with the scout and the leaders. Kids are young and still learning how to think and prioritize decisions. I'm sad when a clean cut kid wanting to earn Eagle runs into an issue like this. I do wish we had more flexibility. A wise leader once told me she measured things by asking "What does it serve?" I ask that in situations like this. Here's a chance pull a clean-cut well spoken kid into the ranks of Eagle where he can give back to scouting for years to come. I
  19. Article said he became life in Feb and turned 18 in June. Article said he started his project in March and finished in May. Project dates are good.
  20. Then don't call it a committee meeting. If you coordinate camping, email all the other parents that are part of the committee (or broader if you need fresh help) and say "Hello Troop Committee members, we have a campout coming up next month. I need to make camp commitments and put an agenda in place. Your help and suggestions are very welcome. If you want to help .... Let's meet." It's not a committee meeting as an immediate coming events planning. Share the <time>, <date>, <place ... some coffee places work well ... or libraries or ....> Then invite them to bring
  21. CC is not elected. He's appointed by the COR. Your vote would only be a statement of who you support and could be very divisive.
  22. Easily understood. Your words were very understandable. I'm just sensitive to the point.
  23. Interesting ... Alcohol ... Just says not in presence of the scouts. So adult leaders could have beer or heavy liquor in their tent or away from the scouts. So "slightly inebriated" may be valid.
  24. Your job is to focus on your scouts in your unit(s). It is not your place to fix another troop. Even the district advancement committee doesn't have much power in these situations. The only power is really approving MB instructors and training. If you wanted to influence change, get to know and build a friendship with the scoutmaster. Also, feel free to chat hear in these forums about it, but be careful to not express or infer too much when in or among other scouters. Unit leaders making comments about each other's troops happens way too much and does not reflect good scout spi
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