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Hunt

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Everything posted by Hunt

  1. It seems to me that a big element in kids not doing things on their own much any more is a perception that they are in greater danger from external forces. I think this perception is probably even greater in urban or suburban areas (and it's rampant here in the DC area, after the sniper incidents). I say "perception," because I'm not convinced the danger is really any greater than it was 30 years ago--we just hear more about the rare incidents that do happen. So even if you can satisfy yourself that a group of young teens can be trusted to act safetly on their own, how do you convince their
  2. Hunt

    Uniform Police?

    Although you can never please everybody, you can please more people if you offer more options. Of course, you have to be motivated to do so, and it's hard to motivate a seller who has no competitors. Here, it seems to me that BSA is missing an opportunity to sell more pants to adults, and to promote more complete uniforming.
  3. Here's a related question--what if the long-term summer camp is in pre-pitched tents on platforms? Although the wording of the requirement is a bit vague, it seems to me that this wouldn't count, although some leaders in my son's troop think it does.
  4. At the lasertag place my son has visited, they go to great pains to avoid any language suggesting weaponry--ie, they always refer to the "handset" and they don't talk about "shooting." See http://www.shadowlandadventures.com/equip_advent.htm. I note that the effective beams aren't really lasers, but are infrared. So one could quibble--but it seems pretty clear that BSA wants to ban this as a troop activity. But I'm unclear exactly why BSA wants to ban this. Is it because of safety issues inherent in the activity itself? This makes sense for paintball, maybe, but lasertag is probably less
  5. Bob, it's clear to everyone that the National Council of the BSA has declared that local option isn't available. But it's not your view that it's somehow impossible or inconceivable that the National Council could change its position on this, is it? Or that the declarations of the National Council are somehow above question or criticism? Also, I think it's unkind to suggest that anybody who doesn't agree with the National Council's view on this should quit Scouting--if most of us quit every organization that we disagreed with on anything, we'd be pretty lonely. All that being said, I a
  6. I hear you, but let me give a more specific example. One of the requirements of the swimming MB is to bring up an object from the bottom of the pool. I know my son can do this, no problem--but he told me that at camp the counselor didn't actually require them to bring up an object, although they did touch the bottom. I'm sure the counselor was able to recognize which kids could do this, but maybe because it was a lake didn't make them actually do it. I'm not going to complain to the camp, or tell my son not to accept the badge--but I did ask him to bring up an object from the bottom of the
  7. I've read threads in which people complain that some leaders add requirements (like retesting all MB requirements), and others in which there are complaints that leaders sign off requirements that haven't been adequately completed. I think both of these are valid complaints. What I've been thinking about, however, is how to deal with this as a parent. When my son started Scouts, we made a pact that he wouldn't accept "sleazing" through any of his advancement or merit badge requirements--that he wouldn't accept these unless he felt he had really satisfied the achievements. My part in this p
  8. New Yorkers are not rude--they just express their manners and kindness differently. Thus, if a lady drops her handkercheif in my home town, someone might say, "Excuse me, ma'am, but I believe you may have dropped something." In New York, somebody might say, "Hey, lady! Watch yourself--you're droppin' your stuff!" Same sentiment--different expression.
  9. Here's my suggestion: write a letter to the camp director about what a great job the den chief did. Send a copy to the den chief's scoutmaster if you know who that is. That will have more longterm lasting value than any $5 gift certificate.
  10. This can get complicated, and it's dealt with very inconsistently. My 11-year-old son has asthma and nut allergy, so he needs an Albuterol rescue inhaler (which he self-administers when he needs it) and an Epipen, which thus far he's never had to use, although he knows how. At Heritage, he was required to keep the meds on his person at all times--at a church camp in Maryland, it was an issue whether he would be allowed to keep them on his person, or would have to give them to the nurse (he kept them). I can see a lot of sense in having regular timed medications given out by the nurse at a
  11. I don't know if this is off-topic, but I wanted to comment on the story about banning knives for all Scouts for two outings because the guilty party didn't admit carving on the cabin. I question this kind of collective punishment (which I see a lot in the schools) because I think it sends the message that you're going to get punished no matter how good you are. The kids who are constantly causing trouble don't seem bothered by it, so I don't think it really works in creating peer pressure, either. I know whenever this happens to my kids, their complaint is with the injustice of the group pu
  12. I would like to echo the point that you cannot currently go into the Statue of Liberty, including the museum. All you can do is walk around the outside. I'm not sure it's worth the wait at present. I would also suggest a lot of walking, unless someone can't. Take a subway to lower Manhattan, and walk all the way up through the Wall Street Area, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, up to midtown.
  13. I have recently signed up to be a merit badge counselor, and I have a question about timing. Specifically, when the requirements call for an activity that has to take place over a period of time, does it all have to be done after the blue card is first signed, or can it include activities done before? What if the activities were done before the boy was a scout? For example, Music includes "Serve for 6 months as a member of a school, church, Scout unit, or other local musical organization; or perform as a soloist in public six times." If the boy shows me he was in the school band the previo
  14. Now that we have more of the facts, it's easier to distinguish this case from that of an "avowed" homosexual. For this woman, her sin is in the past, and she has expressed remorse. For an avowed homosexual, especially one who continues in the behavior, this is not the case. In a case like this, you really have to leave it to local option, because somebody has to make a judgment about the person's character and the sincerity of their repentance. So even though I tend to think the gay leader issue should be local option too, I can see how this case is different, and easier.
  15. "A Leader who supports a lifestyle of alcohol use or smoking (even if they themselves do not participate) can and should be removed from the program." Are you saying that the editor of Wine Spectator, or an employee of Phillip Morris should be removed from the program? Or do you just mean that they can't support these activities for underage Boy Scouts?
  16. It's my understanding that BSA changed its rules to allow, for example, female scoutmasters. Isn't that correct? Whether it is or not, my point is that somebody has to decide what these policies will be. How do they do it? It has to be by the consensus of some group of people, living or dead--and it appears that it can change--how is that supposed to occur? I understant that BSA isn't a democracy, but what is it, exactly? And I don't really understand the argument about somebody injecting the issue of sexuality into scouting by being openly gay. I'm openly heterosexual--my wife appe
  17. I've been reading these forums for a long time--finally signed up. My son is a first year Boy Scout, and he was in Cubs and Webelos before that. I was a den leader for the Webelos, despite a woeful lack of true scouting skills. It seems to me that there are some points in this gay-leaders issue that people are talking past, or around. Let's assume that we agree that BSA is a private organization and has the right to set its own membership requirements. The real question is under what circumstances should the organization change those requirements? BSA certainly has changed since I wa
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