fred8033

I agree ... We were better with <city> troop <#> Problems ... many of our troops pull from multiple cities. Personally, I don't see it as a big issue if my kid was in a neighboring city troop. It would be interesting ... Metropolis Troop 5. identifying troops would be harder. Data input would be harder and would always require city and state.

I'm with you. No policy necessary. I've seen thoughtful practices such as new SPL is really elected a two year position. Six months of incoming ASPL. Then 12 months SPL. Then outgoing ASPL for six months. But even with those thoughtful practices, I prefer none. IMHO, the best is to keep it simple and keep the adults in the back of the room. At annual planning, schedule elections twice a year. As close to just over six months as possible. I liked how our troop did it for years. An ASPL scramples to find paper and tears it into election slips. SPL asks for nominations. Each nominee accepts or rejects and/or gives a reason why they want the job. Our troop had SPLs often for 12 or 18 months because the boys would re-elect the SPL until the SPL didn't want to be SPL anymore. SM was always ready to coach a new leader.

"professional life" ... I was differentiating with trades. Trades can provide good income to raise a family. But, trades still mostly require a two year degree (or more) that directly targets the skills to be used. IMHO except for technical degrees (sciences, math, engineering, etc), the general college degrees rarely directly help professional careers ... except to get hired. I've seen many many well educated high school graduates that I consider as well suited for most professional jobs.

Now is when you plan 2020 trips. You're right on schedule. I'd call someone experienced with that exact water. Flows. Waves. Tides. Wind (predictable and BIG issue for us on certain parts of river due to landscape). A good advice I'd give is do your big leg on the first day. We always planned 19 / 20 miles first day and 8/12 miles second day. Scouts were tired on the second day and wanted to get off the river a little after noon.

I firmly agree, but it's now the starting point for a professional life. Very hard to have a long term stable career without a college degree. Personally, I don't see it adding much actual value or capability anymore.

How fast does the river flow? It depends. Moving water or lakes? Unloading, portaging and reloading? For our river trips, we timed it in the fall so the river was slow at about 4 mph. We did 18 to 20 miles the first day. Plenty of breaks for lunch, etc. The key was that even if the scouts did not paddle, we'd get to our destination. It was more a matter of how long we were on the river.

I had misinterpreted as "in-work" merit badges. The question was different in that it was asking about completed merit badges. Specifically, the troop stub portion of the blue card. I do know counselors that keep their inventory long term. I don't. If a scout needed it signed again, I would after a brief chat of where and when and a few of the details.

... Personal use. Not troop ... My absolute first choice ... his paper scoutbook. Put clips or tabs on the key pages were data is recorded. ... Get a zippered cover so he can keep blue card and other paper records if he needs them. My electronic choice is scoutbook. They used to have an individual account if your troop doesn't use it. If they do, ask for your login as a parent. Then, connect your scout to it. It has good reports and good tracking. And, it's BSA's official records.

I knew a scoutmaster that kept them for 20+ years. I personally see little value. I'm with T2Eagle. Now that records are electronic, it's mostly redundant. Minimize the time invested. Have an envelope for 2010, 2011, 2012, etc. Throw away after a few years or eight if it makes you feel better. I've never seen a troop use their portion of the cards to recreate records. Maybe in the old days it would have happened. But not now.

Yeah. I was in a mood, but that is the common comparison to a logical fallacy.

Until they see the scout. Question is a little like "when did you stop beating your wife?". It's hard to answer because you shouldn't be doing that. The blue card should either be in the hands of the scout or the counselor. When done, the scout hands in the troop's portion for the troop to keep. The scout keeps his part. The counselor keeps his part.

I see sports and scouts with similar pros and cons. The big difference I see is that results in sports is much more visible. Confidence. Satisfaction of the parent watching their kid drive kick the ball, hit the ball, pass the ball, etc. Scouts is much more subtle. I often think it's hard for parents to see the benefits. But when I looked close at my kids after each camp out or event, I always saw a little more maturity or capability or pride. My cheap parent view is sports is about more immediate gratification. Scouts takes a longer time to see. Not all parents will wait that long.

I think this is one of the reasons. All my adult leader friends who brought a smile when they showed up have moved on. I still have many friends, but it is not like it was. And I must admit ... this last month, I've done a lot of yard work and home projects that I have put off for a decade. It's sort of nice working my ticket back into my home life.

I've been mulling when to step away and make room for the next volunteer. This will be my 20th year in scouting as a parent. 18th year as a volunteer leader. 500+ nights camping. ... I like sleeping outside on a nice cool night more than sleeping inside ... Wood badge was 11 years ago. Lots of district and council work. I've also done a lot of volunteering outside of scouting. I once thought scouting would be my life-long volunteer passion. But, it's lost it's luster for me in many ways. Maybe that's normal that as you get more involved and more responsible for the content, you also learn more of the inner details. Over this next year, I'll be looking to have someone else take up my district and unit roles. It's time for me to step back.

We had scouts skit by patrol. Parents in the back. Siblings tended to do their own things either with patrol or with parent. Sometimes we had the patrol flags and scouts sat by their patrol flag. Usually a semi-circle.