gwd-scouter

A few years ago, our Troop tried a venture patrol. At that time, the Troop had a bunch of older Scouts and a handful of younger Scouts, nothing in between. The older guys were bored with Boy Scouts, most of them had been in the Troop for 3 or more years. So, the Venture Patrol was formed. Unfortunately, only one Scout in the Patrol was actually eager to plan and carry out events and he burned out early. The others were very used to adults doing everything for them and had no initiative to plan anything for themselves. And, add the fact that the guys now felt even more superior to the you

Oh yes. Camping in the itty bitty stinging rain, big ol' fat rain, rain that comes in sideways. We've been there! It's not the weather - just improper equipment.

Of course, OGE. How silly of me to forget. And, of course, as I step down from my regal conveyance, I will deign to honor the masses and regale them with my stellar rendition of "I enjoy being a girl..."

During my son's Eagle ceremony, he asked one of his fellow Scouts (Life) to MC. Young man did a great job.

Don't forget, not all our Scouts have the bodies of competitive swimmers. Body by Nintendo anyone?

As a female SM, I'm imposing a new rule for summer camp this year. Every morning, Scouts must bring me from the campsite to the assembly in a sedan chair properly lashed together. Of course, they must avert their eyes to my presence and gently place the chair to the ground so that I may debark with all the grace and ceremony befitting my high rank and authority. So it is written.

No sodas on campouts in our troop. Several good reasons given here already: cans all around, attraction of bugs, cans or bottles make much more litter than a fews packets of lemonade or gatorade. But, the biggest reason is that we are trying to teach budgeting when planning meals and a couple of 12 packs of sodas can eat up a patrol's week-end budget.

Welcome to the Forum AdkPaddler. Since I've never been involved in a Cub Scout recruitment other than the public school roundups each Fall, I can't offer much in the way of advice for your upcoming recruitment. From the way you describe the flyer I think it will be great. Just the right amount of info and hopefully color "action" pictures of Cub Scouts having fun. I am wondering if you already have the den leaders for these new recruits in place? Are you trying to get new Scouts to fill small returning dens for next year? If you are doing an open enrollment for your Pack and folks

We never re-oil our ovens after we use them. Hot water and a plastic scrubbing pad or wadded up aluminum foil to clean and remove food debris. Hot water to rinse. Paper towel dry and then on the coals a bit to make sure it's completely dry. Put away for next time. I've tasted too many cobblers made by other troops at camporee competitions that tasted like rancid oil. Perhaps the troops using those ovens did not clean them properly to begin with. Or maybe coating with oil is OK if you use your oven frequently which would not allow the oil to go rancid. Our ovens have been in use for

Michelle, Bunchiness??? That has had me laughing I can barely type a response! Love it and will remember that term everytime I see someone in a speedo. I don't know if our council camp has any specific rules about it, but females always wear one piece suits and have never seen a male in a speedo bikini type suit. Bunchiness...ha ha ha...I just love that.

Hops and I are chatting. Join us. It's fun!

The Scout mentioned earlier passed his Eagle Board of Review last night! I am very proud of him. Somewhere in one of my earlier posts I mention him and how he wore a complete uniform for the first time when we did his Life SM Conference. I posted jokingly that I wondered if he would have his pants hemmed by the time he went for his Eagle. Yes, his pants were hemmed!

Wow, that is a question I've been asking myself every week for over a year now! I did not actively seek to be a woman scoutmaster. I had served as Advancement Chair for several years when my older son was in the Troop. I was happy in that position. I rarely went on campouts, usually only helping out when extra drivers were needed. I must say I was made to feel very unwelcomed as a female on a camping trip - not by the boys but by the male adult leaders in our Troop. So, after a while I stepped out of the Troop and concentrated my energies on younger son in the Cubscouts. Then, younge

Yes folks. I'm a girl! Talked with a few Woodbadgers at roundtable last night. Many of them offered the same advice I've read here. Most encouraged me to sign up immediately. But, one Scouter who knows me well over these many Scouting years offered a different perspective - one that is very similar to what Eamonn posted. His concern was that I am devoting so much time and energy to moving our Troop forward, that adding one more time consuming project (two 3-day weekends plus working the ticket, etc.) may just be too much. He expressed concern that I would burn-out and that would be the w

Hi Mr. Mal and Welcome to the Forum. From your experience it sounds like you will be offering us advice and suggestions rather than the other way around (at least for me that is).

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. You've given me a lot to think about. Our course is set up for two 3-day weekends in October and November this fall. There are still spaces available so I have a bit of time before I have to register. And, OK Emb, I stand corrected - I have NOT been to all levels of training. Part of my reluctance to attend Woodbadge was that I knew it to be advanced training and really didn't think I had the required skill base to attend. The only people in my District that I knew took the course were the old time experienced Scoutmasters. Don't see any woman

Guys can bring their own CDs and we mix them up on trips. My only criteria is that it isn't rap. My apologies to any of you that are fans, but I just can't listen to that. Husband and I do the driving and we each have our own musical tastes - his more old heavy metal, mine more classic rock. Our older son made us a bunch of mixed CDs from his very extensive collection of digital music and the guys really seem to enjoy them. He did throw in a few surprises. Imagine head banging to Guns and Roses and then moving on to Sonny and Cher! Or cruising along to the Eagles and then suddenly hearin

I had the pleasure of doing an Eagle Scoutmaster Conference yesterday. I have known the young man since Cubs and he is less than 2 weeks from his 18th birthday. He was very inactive in the Troop for a couple of years, but came back a little more than a year ago with renewed spirit and enthusiasm. What a ride this year has been! He goes for his Board of Review tonight and I'll be there to congratulate him when he is finished. I have no doubt he will make it.

SR540Beaver - you didn't get the patch??

I'm am always learning on this forum. I've always been under the assumption that there were rules about the age and rank of the scout leadership positions within a troop. I have found, all over the Internet, written job descriptions for SPL on down, from differerent troops across the United States. They were virtually the same! Since I couldn't find anything in actual National BSA publications, I figured that what I found consistently on so many different sites on the Internet must be the way it is. So, each Troop decides the requirements for leadership positions? Is

Eamonn, you always seem to post such interesting topics, most of them I do not have enough experience to answer. This is no exception. I think I know what you're asking here, but I will withhold answer until some of the more experienced and verbally fluent among us answer. OGE comes to mind...

Ronvo - who sleeps when my children have friends over??? Ha ha. Now, back to the point. I am not trying to over protect anyone and all the Scouts in our Troop know that Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan are married. But, we have never shared a tent - over all the years we've been involved with Scouts. Maybe it started because many times I was the only woman on site and my husband just tented with one of the other men and I had the tent to myself. Maybe it's because at least for a couple nights I can be a bit removed from his snoring. Whatever the reason, perhaps my wording that it just didn't s

Bob, Welcome to the Forum. Your sure have started out with a thought provoking post! There are numerous threads under Program and Patrol Method about your situtation. I feel a bit presumptuous answering your post since I am in a similar situation and have been grateful to the other more knowledgeable folks on this forum for their advice. But, you asked for advice from anyone in the same situation, so here goes. About 15 months ago I became SM of a Troop in a similar situation to yours. What had once been a somewhat boy-led Troop had become completely adult-run. The troop used to aver

My husband and I go on every outing with our Scouts. I always have a tent to myself. We just don't think it looks right for us to share a tent, even though GTSS says we can. During summer camp our Troop is housed in a dormitory style cabin. GTSS says adult leaders can stay with the Scouts in the cabin as long as there are at least 2 and a privacy partition is put up (Leadership Requirements for Trips and Outings, #6). So, while the male adults and the Scouts are in their large cozy cabin with bunk beds, mattresses, and box fans to keep it cool, I am relegated to a tent for the week. Ah,

Good advice from all. I guess my effort to institute some kind of immediate recognition was done the wrong way. Over the years our Troop only held 2 COH a year and that was when ranks and merit badges were given out. One was just before summer camp and the other around Christmas Time. I KNOW that COH should be held more often! The reason I figure we haven't done awarding of the rank badge immediately is that our council office is over an hour's drive away. Not very convenient to be popping up to the office just to pick up one badge. Since our council office does not require the advancemen