fred8033

My view is .... Personal growth ---> Introducing new experiences. Stretching comfort zones. Opening eyes to broader, more challenging experiences. Made up example --> Last year, we canoed for an afternoon on mild calm river water. This year we are taking a two day overnight river trip. Next year, we are spending a week canoeing the Lewis and Clark path. Our goal is two years from now to do a white water Colorado river experience. Leadership Development --> We structure the program for the scouts to experiment with leadership and for the adult scouters to back off into the shadows. I absolutely view those as equal to the other six. I guess comes from one's perspective.

Every year I repeatedly see GSUSA uniformed youth selling cookies at BSA activities and events. It has always seemed like one directional relationship.

Much harder for all scouts period. I'm always surprised by the major difference of difficulty of the eagle merit badges. Some are significant work. Some are almost automatic.

My gut feelings... Swimming over Hiking Swimming MB is 9 times easier than hiking. Absolutely true ... I'm surprised cycling isn't more popular than hiking. Cycling MB is fun and can be a great troop program. ... But there are many back-packing troops. Env Sci MB over Sustainability Env Sci MB is not exciting, but a "sustainability" MB sounds duller than dull. I can't believe a scout would ever choose it. Troops have a history of pushing Env Science MB. Sustainability MB is newer. Emergency prep over Lifesaving I'm always surprised Lifesaving is not chosen more. If you have Swimming MB, Lifesaving MB is just a little bit more ... aka easiest path And Lifesaving MB is useful ... aka something to boast about And Lifesaving MB is in the water ... aka fun. And Emergency Prep MB can be very dull ... aka painful And Emergency Prep MB has parts that are just out of date / old / not useful.

I agree. But open the communication channel and find a way to manage the scouts and their commitment. IMHO, the original poster's situation is like popcorn in reverse. Buying popcorn is really a donation with popcorn as a thank you. In this case, the church is is donating $1000 to the unit, but they want 250 hours of free labor in exchange. At that point, you can't call it a donation or gift.

Events need to stay fresh. A fun once a year event done monthly can quickly become a drag with burnt out volunteers and burnt out scouts. Then mix in when the monthly burger night overlaps with summer camp or school break or a district camporee or ... IMHO, it's hard enough to run a healthy troop. I fear someone may have seen the scouts as free labor and thought "hey we give them $1000 per year". They don't realize it costs about $10,000 to $35,000 per year to run a strong healthy size troop and the troop has it's own program to run also. Plus, if $1000 per year breaks down to $85 per month --> then factor in two adults plus a strong mix of scouts so that it's scout led. How many hours? Assuming a three hour commitment (setup, cook, cleanup) for 7 people (two adults plus five scouts), then you are at 21 hours of labor with a $4 per hour return. ... not to mention shopping, etc... It quickly turns the good will donation of $1000 into a less than minimum wage job. I'd argue the scout unit should do it once a year to say thank you to the charter org. It's a good-will connection. Monthly though is a job that pays bad and will quickly wear out your scouts.

This issue is less about the scout and his leaders and more about our country and the strong political divide. Then, add in the online news in-your-face approach. I like the comment earlier about not making a battle of this. IMHO, things like this should be treated just like many other situations in scouting. It's an opportunity to interact with the scout. An opportunity to create a reflection and a lesson. A good scout leader should be able to turn this into a friendly, positive, constructive conversation.

I fully agree. If she gets to automatically count her unregistered time as official time, then we need to go back and retroactively see who else to credit? All venturers? All siblings that showed up at cub scout and boy scout events? IMHO, at earliest, she can earn eagle in 14 to 17 months. But she needs to do the positions and complete the requirements while registered as a scout in a troop. Anything else is just wrong. On a personal note, I did not mind her wearing the scout uniform if she is now registered as a scout. That's fine. Wearing it at a very political event is questionable, but let's leave that as celebrating a huge achievement and a big change. Fine. BUT at best, she should be wearing the scout rank patch. Wearing the life patch was wrong. Period. It's a proud thing to advocate for change. It's right to celebrate when you succeed. A similar case is that I'd also be greatly disappointed in a scout wearing an Eagle rank patch before his EBOR. I fear her troop has misled her. She should not be wearing the patch or have been pretending to go through advancement in her troop. Now, the troop could pencil whip her through rank and just let time pass. But, I'd hope she honestly does the work, earns the rank just like all the new scouts that are newly joining. Give her Silver Beaver. IMHO, she's earned it. Even as a kid I think you could justify her earning it. But not eagle until she completes the requirements as written while being a scout

You are right and I understand your reasoning. It's just sad troops can't have an inventory from which they can recognize quickly.

This is my preferred method. Give them the cloth patch immediately after BOR. Give them the paper card and parent pin at the COH. I'd extend this to merit badges too. A troop that I was involved in had a large cache of MB cloth patches too. IMHO, it's sad that a registered scoutmaster or advancement chair can't build up a stockpile of cloth awards without circumventing BSA purchasing methods. Maybe, BSA should have a rule that a troop can buy some amount in advance. For example, each year able to buy a quantity (25% of their troop population) in any merit badge before receiving the advancement report. It would require tracking a running quantity of MBs, but that's very possible these days.

A registered MB counselor needs to sign them off. The goal is to have the scout pursue and drive his own advancement. I fully believe this is how it is to be done. With that said, sometimes MB counselors will coordinate with the troop and say something like ... If the scout shows you this, sign it off. I've had that before where the MBC works with the scout and the scout has one or two things left. Then, the MBC lets me know that if the scout shows XXX, then sign off the badge. Overall, we're trying to broaden the scout's experiences and we want the scout to have a good experience. As such, sometimes flexibility is taken. But the idea is a registered MBC is the signer of the badge.

I like your approach. So often we create rules that ... if we enforce, we upset the people and they quit ... or if we don't enforce we're not fair to others. I like your current approach because it reflects natural consequences. For example, size. Here is the size we can do. If it's beyond that, it won't fit on the track.

Dead on right. Give them space. Listen to what they really want to do. Then, let them do it. It might mean they want a patrol based ski weekend. Fine. It might mean they want a trip out west. Great. Often, they want to do something that sounds cool to their friends and that they can brag about. I'm not one for fixed or mixed age patrols. IMHO, the key thing is that a patrol is a group of friends that want to do things together. Our success with older scouts is to keep them active doing things they really want to do. And it usually means adventures and fellowship.

Your write-up is more succinct, but I doubt it would be received well. I fear it would further burn bridges.

You never have to lie or mis-represent, but neither do you need to explain things in detail. The best separations are short and gracious. AND, even more so if you are upset with each other. If you feel the need to share, do it face-to-face. Use it as a chance to heal and to re-build a connection with the other person. But if your intention is to not heal and re-connect, then just don't do it.