fred johnson

I again sit corrected. I saw so many "2"s that I read it as 2 from section 2. "Do requirement 1 or requirement 2. If you choose requirement 2, complete 2a plus two more from 2b–2d." To be honest, as a den leader, I'd dance around that requirement ... and still leave it to the families. Yeah, it's written as den leader, but I'm not going to step into that mess. I've got evangelical parents who view Catholic faith as evil and I've got Catholic parents that view evangelical services as flaky. Then, you mix in other religions and none practicing families. My number one goal is to

Dumb question ... Do people thread the cub scout belt through the loops on the pants? Or is it just supposed to be worn over the pants where a welt would go. Just wondering.

I fear BSA using "Duty to God" being used to shore up traditional supports will alienate even more people. If this is the direction BSA wants to go, then BSA members need to stop complaining about not having access to schools. Personally, I think BSA is off track here. My faith is very important to me and making sure my kids have faith is very important too. But I think BSA is mis-directed in over-emphasizing the faith component. Scouting is not a Sunday School program. It definitely has faith components. But trying to over emphasize those will just push people away. And, I

Belt loops ... Can't there be a better display mechanism. I NEVER seen any of our cubs wear them and rarely do they wear belts.

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pr...Transition.pdf .... There is much to learn. The above link (last page) has "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" on the title section. Why? KDD - The above document (last page) has "Faith in Action" for Webelos and for Arrow of Light are both followed with "family based". KDD ... http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pr...quirements.pdf says "or family" for adventures. So den is not required for adventures. As for specific requirements, there is a path to only handle it in the family setting for each rank. Sounds like leaving it t

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/program_update/pdf/CS%20Program%20Transition.pdf Talks about two of the Webelos adventures being Faith In Action. I want to learn more about this. Right now, we leave pretty much all faith discussions to family. Does this mean these two adventures will be demoted to family level just as the current ones are so demoted. When I think about my current Webelos den, I have Catholic, Lutheran, Hindu and non-practicing families. I look forward to learning more about how this will work. From reading the documents on the site, it looks like emphasis on

Akela ... kids and most parents barely know the story anymore. It's not as famous as it was in the 1920s.

I absolutely hate the worksheets. Worksheets change a potentially interesting topic into mundane work. So much for lighting a fire for the rest of their lives. Plus, scouting isn't school. Scouting is exploring and getting experiences. It's not paperwork. IMHO, worksheets are a way to let the counselor off the hook from spending time with the scout. That said though ... if a scout filled it out ... I'd accept it. the kid did the work. I'd be sad that we my interactions with the scout were reduced to reviewing paperwork. But he did the work and I'd give him credit ... aft

St. Croix river is my favorite river for an easy canoe trip. I've done a bit on the Namekagon. Cannon river is nice too. But St. Croix is gorgeous especially if you canoe when the leaves are turning colors. When water levels are right and the weather cooperates, the river travels at a rate that you almost don't need to paddle. It can be a nice relaxing trip and a perfect first trip for young scouts. Random comments ... - Maps. http://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/maps.htm - Water levels. http://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/riverlevels.htm - Water levels. T

Our cost is about $130 to $140 per scout per year. We price dues at the cost of paying for rechartering, books and advancements. We use the fundraiser to pay for the program. So the quality of the program is a direct result of the success of the fundraiser. This year our dues were $50 and we asked each scout family to sell $200 in the fundraiser. Some sold zero. Some sold thousands.

Fully agree ... BSA needs to take back the narrative. BSA is the best youth organization this country has ever seen and is now viewed negatively by the majority of the people (a recent poll). The trouble is BSA also needs to get it's own house in order. Charter organizations who have different stances on these issues. And those charter orgs are signing up the leaders. Do you expect those charter orgs to apply BSA member standards? Do you expect charter orgs to go on witch hunts? To some degree, BSA needs to decide what they want to be? A religious organization for a specific sub

"Do you have a Scout troop or something else" is a worthless mean sentence and just meant to shame others and cause division. "Boy Led" is a bad term. Not because it's wrong but because I see way too many leaders (as done above) use it to diss other troops. Too rarely does it communicate any meaningful purpose. AND, I see too many leaders take it to the extreme and end up drivings away with way too many bad experiences. AND too many leaders confuse "boy led" and "boy run". EagleDad hit it on the head. "Boy Led" is about knowing what we want to teach. Responsibility. Leader

My first son's Webelos den had 100% cross over. Second son had 100%. Third son 80%. This den is different. I'll be lucky if 75% cross and they will be crossing into three different troops. It's not that the boys are high achievers. They are good kids. It's the parents. After I had mentioned that I want to keep sign-offs to the den leader instead of the parents, later I get a call on the phone from a Webelos scout. He wanted to let me know the exact completed requirements that were done (badge X requirement #.#). He had a list of about 20. I could hear his dad coaching him the

This is my 4th time through Webelos and it's a lot less fun this time. The big difference is the advancement attitude. I have two families that are motivated and driving each individual requirement for their own boys and want each individual requirement tracked in a 3rd party advancement tracking web site. That's fine. It's their right. I'm used to having things recorded in the back of the Webelos book and I like it that way. But I'm okay with parents emailing me when pin X requirement 3a subsection four is done. My issue is that it has really broken the fellowship the scouts experien

Hear's the real question ... is he a signer on the checking account? If not, don't add him. Control of the money means control of the unit. He doesn't like it, work with the council to create a unit under a real charter org. Then write a check transferring the money to that charter org. What is he going to do? Sue? He has no legal standing as the entity does not exist.

No legal entity? That's bad. The "parents of" probably had the best of intentions, but the ball was dropped. That's why a bricks-n-mortar charter org is useful. They already exist. Another reason "parents of" organizations are bad is that parents and volunteers turn over through the years. A charter organization is probably going to last longer than any volunteer. As such, you can have better and smoother continuity of charter org infrastructure. Plus doing it yourself is more work than existing under a charter org who already has everything already in place. ------------------------

I can sympathize with both sides of this. Rock band? Yeah, I'd let my scouts go back to camp. Their choice. How about the Sunday night camp fire program at summer camp? Includes information. Recognition. OA callout. We strongly encourage our scouts to go. But if they are set on returning to camp, I don't think we'd stop them. But depending on what my guts says about the situation, we may send two adults back to camp too.

Having a bricks-n-mortar charter org is useful. Resources include more than just a building. How about an accountant. IRS tax filings. Liability insurance. Plus, having a real organization that is choosing the leaders. And it makes it easier for me to get my name "OFF" the organization when I leave. Plus, the charter org vouches for the leaders. If the leaders create the organization and choose themselves as the leaders, it's circumventing the intent and the structural protections. I'd expect BSA doesn't like them either because it could expose BSA to liability if a court

Sunday night - I am sure it won't work for some. let them do Monday or another night. But I see many many empty churches on Sunday night. And it would work well for me and my family. Agreed that "cool" and "loser" does not necessarily apply to scouting. I'm just saying that I'm very comfortable now suggesting that scouts either are able to work within the boundaries or suggesting they explore other options. Both behavior issues and diagnosed issues.

Personally ... I think it would help to move meetings to Sunday night. Gives a whole weekend to complete homework before the scout meeting and removes the parents that hold their kids back because of homework. Sports conflicts are mostly gone too. So are school conflicts. Plus, scouting is a social event. Sunday night does seem appropriate and the least conflicts. Plus, scouting does have a reverent side. Sunday seems appropriate from that aspect too. I'd let me sons join a troop that met Sunday nights. The issue that is in my mind more and more is about "scouting being for losers

How do you run your troop and pack committee meetings? I've tried to use the BSA agenda format which is similiar to this. "BSA committee" approach ---- Call to order ---- Welcome ---- Approval of previous minutes ---- Reports ---- ---- Scoutmaster ---- ---- Secretary ---- ---- Outdoor / activities coordinator ---- ---- Treasurer ---- ---- Advancement coordinator ---- ---- Chaplain ---- ---- Training coordinator ---- ---- Equipment coordinator ---- Old business ---- New business ---- Announcements ---- Adjournment Most people don't do "reports". T

"Paper eagle" is an insulting term that I really hate hearing. It reflects more on an unworthy leader.

I don't think you can blame BSA corporate, politics, publicity or competition for more than part of the decrease. IMHO, BSA is caught in national trends. Kids don't fish on their own anymore. Zero. When I was in junior high school, kids went fishing all the time. Average age of Boundary Waters visitors has nearly doubled in forty years from 26 to 45 (or higher now). DNR statistics in our state that show in the ten years from 2004 to 2014 that fishing is down 18.4%, hunting down 11%, cross country skining down 50%, and wildlife viewing down 22%. These are society t

The awards / incentives need to be less than significant. I remember reading about IRS and incentives before. The key was that incentives are okay if they are structured to increase the overall fundraising benefit to the non-profit. Much like hiring a company that are experts in fundraising and they take 20% of the raised funds. So if you want the incentive to $50 off dues, then the raised funds would need to be at least $500 in sales resulting $250 in cash for the non-profit. From what I've read, that's by the rules and honest. If you want to say the scout can sell $100 result

Pack versus troop. The goal with the pack is to make the experience as smooth and positive as possible. We want them to continue to grow in scouting. In Boy Scouts, we are transitioning to more mature youth who can start to remember things and figure out solutions if they forget their stuff. So in the troop, mess kits provided by scouts. For pack, the pack supplies disposable eating stuff. Paper products whenever possible. Plastic for forks, knives and spoons. I'm happy when we can get a Cub and his dad camping. i'm not going to nitpick the little stuff.