fred8033

accu40 ... great point. dennism manipulated the situation to make a point. The hike was not going great for the younger scouts. So dennism forced a failed buddy check using his own son. Unfortunately, it back fired on him. It does NOT excuse another ASM losing his temper. Period. But intentionally making a scout effort fail is just not cool. It's like when getting ready to leave camp and the scouts are walking a patrol line to look for trash. After they pass, an ASM throws trash on the ground in a few places. If not caught, maybe it's a learning situation. If caught, som

On long hikes, have the slowest person take the lead. That's the only way they get rest. The faster scouts will find things to talk about or look at or keep themselves busy. Otherwise, it's not manageable. An adult losing their temper and getting physical with anyone is not acceptable. If it's once, you can attribute it to stress. If it's a pattern, things need to change. It's NOT a good example for the scouts. That's the number one role of the adults. To set an example. Your troop also sets an example by how they respond. The scouts see what happens and they see how the

Yeah. Never realized that. Female adult leaders in Boy Scouts can be selected for OA. I never thought about the Venturing implications. All I can say is that change is come'in. Slow. Years away maybe. But change is inevitable.(This message has been edited by fred8033)

From what I understand ... BSA doesn't want service projects to be primarily fundraisers because #1 Friends Of Scouting and #2 popcorn sales. That's how BSA finances professionals, camps and much more. If people started donating cash to Eagle projects all the time, they'd feel their good deed was done and then not donate to Friends Of Scouting. Or buy the popcorn which itself is essentially just a donation. It's not that scouts doing fundraiers is bad or there is automatically more value in physical labor. The fundraising restriction is BSA's way to reduce competition for the al

Some cool ideas for tents. I really wish we could afford some of these tents. I'd love to get one of those Icelandic tents to have an entire patrol share a tent. On the flip side, I like smaller tent camping because two people can fall asleep fairly quickly. But ten scouts in a room and they are up all night and need to be watched so that the stupidity level doesn't get too high. http://www.blacksofgreenock.co.uk/acatalog/patrol-tents.html http://shop.scouts.org.uk/c-76-group-tents.aspx

Gotta admit, I think Sunday night meetings would work great. And very appropriate for a Sunday. Just think about drying out tents or cleaning up the trailer or other meaningful activities.

I'm betting within five years. It will be as with many things ... fought and protested and the end change will be much ado about nothing. As much as we complain about BSA's backroom old boy's national leadership, that same leadership style could make this an easy change.(This message has been edited by fred8033)

snugharborlabs - Sounds like your troop is working hard. Gotta applaud that. Just focus on giving this scout a good experience so that in the future he naturally leans toward helping others and giving service as part of his personality. That's the important part. As for service projects, we never have trouble with them. - We do a small service project on virtually ever camp out (scout camp, state park, other). The SPL asks if there's a service project the scouts can do. Usually a one hour project or less. - We do a few hours of service for our charter organization once or

You are going to get answers all over the board on this. As such, I'd use the basic rule of thumb that if the scout is doing a good deed, then congratulate him and get out of the way. Officially speaking, I'd look at two things from the Guide To Advancement, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf . GTA 4.2.3.3 Service Projects - Essentially leaves it open to the scoutmaster. The only real key is pre-approval. But even that is scoutmaster perogative. IMHO, a perfect example would be a scout walking up to the SM (or an ASM) and saying "I'm going to work on Timmy's eagle

I would be very interested to understand... Where the tradition of eagle scouts planning their own COH started? Where it started as a separate event from a normal COH? Where it became so much more formal filled pomp than all the other ranks? Our troop usually does separate ECOH planned by the scout family. We had one recently that was just part of the normal troop COH. I much prefer the normal troop COH, planned by the troop and including recognizing the new Eagle scout. I'm not trying to diminish eagle. I'd just rather see it as a troop event.

Scout Oath and Law are all that are needed. To deal with disrespect, bullying and teasing is a matter of knowing the scouts and dealing with issues in a timely way. The Oath and Law spells it out in a very simple way. We had a new scout who pushed those limits this summer. Picking on new scouts. SM, an ASM and me (CC) sat with him at a picnic table on camp and said it was not acceptible. That it was a membership issue. It repeated. We repeated. One the next occurance we indicated the next incident would require notifying his parents. Any incident after and he would be going hom

Link failed because I punctuated the sentence with a period. Try it without a period in the URL. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf Page 21.

bnelson44 wrote: "The EBOR is not a job interview, at least it isn't intended to be one." I wish this was published somewhere. Our district EBOR leaders absolutely believe it is to be treated as a job interview. They've used that analysis time and time again. I disagree with that, but that's me. bnelson44 wrote: "If the Scout is walking into the room for a EBOR he should have for all intent and purposes already earned the rank." Fully agree. Scouts earn the rank. We are not hiring them as Eagle scouts. And it's an outlier for a EBOR to not approve a scout. ....

funscout - Your quoting the old policies that were updated in 2011 with a more nuanced approach. Check this http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf. See page 21. I don't think BSA encourages an "active" percent, but BSA does allow units to define a reasonable level of involvement. Sorry to hear about your scout that missed Eagle. If it as you wrote, that's just mean. Especially considering how hard scouts work as camp staff and how little under 18 staff get paid. IMHO, camp staff is just slightly more than volunteer work. What a great way to tarnish the scout's experience

It's treating a symptom and not the disease. The troop problems are caused by the program, not the "active" rule used by the troop. The disease is not camping and not having a strong / fun program. I am saying this because you indicated the troop camps three times per year. Scouts invest their time where they get somehting out of it. And rightfully if the troop itself isn't "active", the scouts will find other places to spend their time. IMHO, you want to celebrate that and encourage scouts to explore all opportunities in life. For example, their high school bowling team awards d

Didn't realize the troop was only ten scouts. Though not the smallest I've heard, it's hard to sustain at that size. Until your last comment, I had reversed routed and moved into the attitude to switch to the new startup troop. I do like the idea though of moving the whole troop over to the charter org of the pack that wants to start a unit. It would solve two issues with one action.

bigbovine - Your stuck in a hard situation. If the new troop will be created in any event, then you have a real decision. If it wouldn't be created without your help, let a sleeping dog lie. Beavah's right about numbers. Our city has seven troops and seven packs. Recruitment is a real issue. Hard feelings occur between units at recruitment time. Not much fun. Some years troops get enough new scouts. Other years they get almost zero. Not fun. I look forward to the one-unit concept being piloted in our council in the coming year. I hope to learn more about it soon. I

CPMom wrote: "Only one problem: He was the only adult leader in their campsite. Yeah, ummmm... That's not a little problem. Each unit, provisional or not, should have at least two leaders. This is a youth protection issue. .... Provisional units are a gamble. You need to start with a flexible, outgoing scout that can easily build friendships and can see good in others. Don't send a scout that can get easily frustrated or isn't that flexible. Don't send a scout that can be challenge. After that, it really depends on the combination of scout, unit leaders and other s

Scout leader on KP - Make sure one of the scout leaders is on each KP duty roster and ideally sitting on each dining hall table. By doing that, they can make sure each scout gets a fair share of the food that's set out.

The following are a few of the things that we did differently this year that were really good improvements. - Parent talk - Every year as we gather to drive to summer camp, the SPL and SM talk to the scouts about a few subjects. This year during the scout talk, we took the parents about 150 feet away and had a parent talk. I'll probably forget part of it, but a few of the key points were... ---- Parents are welcome to camp with us and to observe any part of camp. No secrets. Just let us know their plans. ---- BUT we want the scouts to socialize with scouts and to work with sco

qwazse wrote: "Have what candidates told you at your district EBORs had an impact on district program?" I have never seen it. Most district scouters already have strong opinions. I doubt feedback from a single EBOR would affect the district. But if it was coming from multiple EBORs, I bet the district would be already hearing it through other channels. Just my opinion. I think this is a key reason to do unit EBORs. A single EBOR could affect/change the unit. Those EBOR members from the unit have known the scout for years and will take his comments to heart. At a district EB

I wonder if trading leadership jobs helps? In my 1st year as CC, it was a huge amount of work. In the 3rd year, it was easier. Now in year ten, it's pretty easy. I'd hate to switch to another role because I'd have to re-invest and figure out how to make that role work. Not that it's harder or easier. It's just different. To prevent burnout ... take breaks ... get to know the other adult volunteers. Become great friends with them, socialize and get to know them. Most importantly, have fun! No fun equals quick burnout.

I'd like to see our district change to unit EBORs. Our district is large and does well but has trouble staffing the EBORs. It affects the quality of the EBORs. Our district has about 100 troops with an average of one or two eagles per troop per year. That coordinating time and place for 450 to 600 reviewers, 100 to 200 scouts and their scoutmasters. That's a lot of work. Also they are a bit impersonal and ya get the feeling that most of the EBOR members are just trying to get through it. I myself can sit through one EBOR. Maybe two if it's a good set of adults that make it

BNelon44 quoting the GTA is useful. I'd walk right in with that information and ask for the certificate. I bet someone just didn't know what they were doing. Multiple times we've received a special certificate of insurance co-listing the city or some other group. For example, to have a float in the city parade, the city requires each group to provide proof of insurance with the city listed as an additional insured. One phone call to council. Then I get an email with a PDF certificate with the city listed as an additional insured. Done that one twice. Done a few others also. Usuall

Arizona? Sell relocation maps to live somewhere it's not 110 in the shade. Just looked. Today's forcast is for thunderstorms in Tempe AZ. So much for a dry heat. Actually, I love AZ. Just not having my car sandblasted during wind storms or getting stuck there because it's too hot for the plane to get enough lift for take off.