IM_Kathy

my son has an early fall birthday - so he will be turning 18 just as his senior year starts. Getting Eagle is totally possible even if they are older than others. My son is currently 15 and is a Life Scout only needing to finish up a few of his Eagle required merit badges and then do his project.

Other than completing his Eagle he is looking forward to being an ASM his senior year and able to go on the outings and eat with the adults.

so the biggest question is what does your son want to do? Does he have friends already in the troop? Does he want to join Boy Scouts with his friends in the den? Scouting is much more fun when you do the things with your friends.

keeping them fun helps. The one after summer camp tends to be the funnest because they have all the boys tell something funny that happened at camp.

keeping them short helps too. my son's troop hands out the actual badges as they are earned and then they get the paperwork at the CoH.

having food is the best way though... my son's troop they have boys or parents volunteer to bring treats.

and then the true best way is to have an active troop where all the boys are active whether with rank, MB, or projects to show off. If they only show up when they get award then keep them working so they have something to get.

Now Eagle CoH are totally different - when my son is not one of them doing something for the ceremony he'll go when it's his friends and when it was a project he enjoyed working on.

my son's troop does plan out their schedule and includes scheduling the CoH, but we do awards differently then some here.

when a boy earns a new rank or completes a MB the advancement chair goes to the scout shop asap and will get the badges awarded at the next meeting the boy and award is there. at CoH all the boys who have recieved awards get recognized and recieve their cards then and for rank that's when they do the parent pin.

as for how often scheduled...

they have one when we do OA vote, when we do friends of scouting, August (right after school starts), and then about 2 more as needed or when the PLC decides they want one.

my son's school district does not do the DARE program - they do have other programs throughout many of the grades, but does not have any sort of certificate of completion like the DARE program has. my son's troop hometown has DARE in the school so most of the boys get that through the school. For the boy's that live in our school district or are home schooled we have a parent that is a doctor who does a class as it's needed - which right now we're waiting until next crossovers come over because we have 3 that need it soon, but will have at least 2 more this winter once they cross.

in my son's first troop we had a local doctor come in plus a recovering member of the community that got sober as a teen.

my son's troop does a % split between boys and troop with fundraising. From the money that goes to the troop it covers equipment replacement and for helping with the adults.

They pay registration for adults that are active as SM, ASM, or Committee Members. For monthly troop campouts the boys fee includes the $ needed for campground fees, patrol food, and adult food budget. As for gas money they do pay the person pulling the trailer, but not anyone else.

Now HA trips - adults pay their own way. For summer camp it depends on the troop funds, but most years they are able to cover the cost. Considering we have some adults that don't get vacation pay they are going a week without pay to help at summer camp - hard to make them pay too. Only other times the adults pay is with council or district events were there is a fee for adults - then they just pay that, the $ for food gets split among the boys.

thank you all for answering my questions... and I will do as you suggested.

my son's troop does have a campout every month unless a district event gets put on a non-traditional weekend and the boys decide to go to it rather than our troop campouts near that time. They do week at summer camp every year for 1 of those months outings, and every other year they do a high-adventure trip.

as to what % attend it does vary. We have a couple of boys that are life scouts and really only like to go camping when activities include fishing or canoeing. We have some that hate tenting in the winter. Others it just depends on what season it is with band, sports, choir, etc... the schedule is set with the troop so that other than summer camp, high adventure, and district events that we camp on the 3rd weekend of the month. If there is some other event then the boys will decide which they go to.

My son is one that will go just about every month, though his favorites are always the ones that his buddies also attend.

Me, I attend when I can and when they need another adult.

1. I highly doubt I'll actually sleep - very hard to sleep when camping period so something I've just adjusted to (I can live on 2 hours)

2. is it the algonaunt (sp?) that wakes you or someone else? yes, that would be 1 thing that I would need to do because you never want to touch me when I'm asleep.

3. Do adults have adult algonaunts or youth members? if it can be a youth member that would be something if my son would be allowed knows how to handle most of my symptoms.

ok long story that I will make as short as possible, but I have a couple of ?'s that maybe you can answer for me...

the last 3 years I was asked to be the adult to be nominated by the troop, but I did not have the summer camp requirement so wasn't able to accept. I now have all the requirements so when/if asked I can accept...

however I have a few questions that I prefer to ask on this semi-annonymous forum than to ask the adult OA's in our unit... and as for my son he knows just the bare facts and I don't want him to know details so I can't ask him...

I have PTSD (Post Tramatic Stress Disorder) and have several triggers, and with the unknown of the whole ceremony and such I don't know if it's something I can actually do. So if you are able to answer this I'd be able to know if it's something I could do or not...

blindfolded at all?

bound with rope at all? (I can handle just holding a rope, but can't handle having any part of me bound by wrapping or knotted)

I know of the silence - but any gag? (I highly doubt this one, but just to be sure)

and while this may seem to many OA members to be no biggies - any of these things or close to these things would send my anxiety to uncontrolable levels and require me to leave to come done plus would set off my other symptoms.

I like the OA program from what I know of it as just a parent of a member, and would love to be involved. But if this is something that I would run into having issues with and have to leave I would rather see the spot go to an adult who would be able to complete.

thanks in advance.

what we heard is that our normal summer camp location is going to offer a discout to troops that bring their own tent.

for my son's troop this could run into some issues - they do NOT allow cots in the troop tents because of how they can damage the floor and I'm not sure the boys want to spend a week on the ground even though they do it for philmont and the like.

the new neckers are great - however it would have been nice if they had kept the same color choices available.

my son's troop necker coloring is no longer available so the boys had to select a new one so that when we have new crossovers everyone would match. We've always gotten new crossovers their necker, but we can't afford to buy a new one for every boy so the boys already established in the troop had to get a new one. To most in our troop this isn't that big of a deal, but for some it really does.

although that said - I do like the coloring of the new one they selected )

well if you look at 2 of more popular scouting organizations - BSA and GSUSA - you would see that BSA already has a standardized system through out.

you know that a 1st class scout has done A, B, C and so on... you know that an Eagle scout has done the specific merit badges and then selected a certain number of others to complete.

where as in Girl Scouts - we can get a girl transfer in from a different state or city and is currently a Cadette and has been in scouts since she was a Daisy, but we have no idea if she's learned first aid, gone camping at all, etc... They are able to move up to the next level of scouting regardless of what badges they earned or didn't earn - there are ZERO required badges!

I don't think BSA needs to have some sort of test that each scout has to take - they just need to do the work and progress through the ranks and their knowledge.

with my son's troop the SPL and ASPL only eat with their patrols - though when my son was SPL he tried to get it to eat with the adults because he was the best cook in his patrol and the meals went down hill when he was too busy with his duties to cook.

with tents typically the SPL, ASPL, and troop QM all tent together - since the SPL picks those people they are usually people they get along with.

during meetings when we break into patrols for planning the SPL and ASPL are all running around helping as needed, making sure patrols know what meals they will need to be cooking, explaining activities.

when it's rank work it depends on what ranks the SPL and ASPL are - sometimes they are helping with a younger scout with their rank work, sometimes they are talking with a MB coun. working one of their badges.

both the troops my son has been involved with used the progress of % closer to a full pull-up... and thankfully for him. He's now 15 and still can't do a pull-up... though I'm hoping now that he's in weights for gym that it might help him.

in the years I've been with the boys since webelos fitness and boy scout tenderfoot - it's always the little tiny boys that can do the pull ups. the rest either just don't have the strength to pull their own body weight, still have a little baby fat on them, or have already started maturing and so they weight has gone up and their strength hasn't caught up yet.

3 years sounds insane! we've had boys that no matter how much they tried with other requirements (like long jump) they can't beat it, and some can't even get their original mark. When that happens we assume a measuring mistake and write down a new starting distance that he has to work on beating after another month.

I did speak with the DL the other night and then was with her this evening with our sons' Troop.

The chat the other night she went on and on and on... mostly bashing the mom and only had 1 incident that would be totally directed at the boy and was dealt with properly though I'm not sure how her tone of voice was. She's one of those people that doesn't hide anger well.

The basic jist is the fact that the mom is a single parent of 2 kids and often has to juggle between getting both kids to different places at same times... the rest of the boys in the den have a parent always stay. So biggest thing DL kept saying was I'm not a babysitter... I'm sorry but when I was DL for my son and had her oldest there was only ever 2 adults there unless it was a field trip because I had 1 special needs boy that I required his parent to attend those activities because when he wasn't in "routine" settings he had a lot more issues.

So issue is - DL wants mom there all the time and mom can't be there... DL gets upset about that and the boy has picked up on that and the DL has yelled at mom more than once in front of the boy... and the DL is not purposely treating the scout different, but that is how he is percieving it... Gee, who would want to put up with that?

as for me having an ego - man, I've relooked at my posts and my thinking pattern in all of this and I don't see any ego issue here... and I'm a tougher judge on myself than anyone else.

our troop uses google groups which is very much like a mass email set up... they are changing some of the things with it in that you will soon not be able to upload files. I use it as well for my old HS youth group.

my GS unit uses facebook - the one nice thing about it is that you can post photos.

the nice thing about both these sites is you can limit viewing to members of the group only,

Moose - you're basically right... for next few months he's going to be a lone scout.

I don't think my personal feelings really mean anything with this... kid is a good kid, I get along with him mom, I even get along with the DL... but the one feeling that I have that is affected is the fact that I think scouting is a great program and any boy that wants to be involved should be.

The CM has given permission to work with the boy - my son will work with him in next room while I have my GS meeting and then I'll see his finished work. I'll report to CM and he'll be signing off. From what we know right now (I'll be looking at his book next week) he needs 1 pin and then attending troop for AoL and already wants to join the troop I'm on the committee with since there is already 1 of his friends in that troop and at least 1 more joining when they get their AoL.

I guess I'm just in a little shock about so many people seeing so many issues with this. Scouts is about the boys... and when 1 boy is ready to quit because of an issue with their DL you all just want the boy to quit? Sure if there was another den for him to go to I would've suggested that, if we had another pack nearby I'd suggest that. But with those options out, I did what I felt was best for this one scout. And if there were another then I'd do the same for them too if needed done.

I look at my son now and remember when he started as a Tiger and how he is now as Life Scout and I know so much of how well he has grown into a good young man is due to scouting. I'd hate to see that taken from anyone

ok a little more from the other day....

had our BSA troop meeting - her oldest and my son are in this troop as well as a boy who has a younger son in the pack. And they were chatting right next to me about the pack meeting and what went on with this boy and his parent. The DL said I hope he doesn't come back to the den I'm tired of dealing with them.

With my experiences with the family in Girl Scouts I have nothing to say negative about them - even when the boy attends due to lack of a sitter.

I was just shocked by the DL saying this - now I can see it if it were a behavior issue or bullying etc... but it's not.

so I went with my gut... a few years ago my son was the den chief for the den that the now CM had and so we have a good repor... so I called him up...

conversation basically started with me trying to not name names, but he figured it out. He knew a bit about what all went on and said that the DL over-reacted. I said I wasn't calling to blame anyone for anything - that I'm sure that both the DL and the parent have done things wrong or that upset the other, but my concern is the scout who no longer wants to attend den meetings.

Conversation ended with the CM saying he is swamped and doesn't think that he could work with the scout, but that if I can he'd more than welcome that and that he would then sign off and award the AoL when he gets it completed.

After that I talked with my son and he has volunteered to come to my GS meeting and work with the scout in another room to help him with some of the things and then I can come in at end and have him demonstrate what he's learned.

so, no hurt feelings... and scout will get to join the troop when he wants to because he can't wait until he gets into a boy scout troop

I'm a committee member for a BSA troop, and I'm also a leader for a Girl Scout troop... one of the parents from my GS troop has a son who is a Webelos II... they have had some awful issues with his den leader and has vented to me a few times about this because she knows I used to be involved with this pack and that I'm involved with a BSA troop that her son is looking at joining. I know this den leader and normally she is a great person, but for some reason just can't stand this kid. I've been around him a lot due to single parent and he'll tag-a-long sometimes with the girls, and he is actually a decent kid - just a normal 5th grade boy LOL. This mom wants to make sure her son finishes up cubs and moves up to Boy Scouts - she sees scouts as a great program for her kids (which I have to agree) but she does not want to have to deal with this DL any more, and if all that she has said is true I wouldn't want to either.

so anyway... I just want to get some of your thoughts on what I'm thinking about doing...

I asked her to bring his webelos book to the next girl scout meeting so I can look over what he still needs to do to get his AoL. And I'm planning on talking with the cubmaster and see if he'll allow me to work with this boy to finish up these last few months with him so he can get his AoL and then join the troop.

so, do you think this is okay? how would you handle this?

oh, and there is no other webelos den for him to join - it's a small pack with just 1 den for each level.

part of this would actually be determined by the pool set up. Our local pool already has areas marked off at depths that are the same as BSA safe swim defense... so then that just requires doing swim tests the day off, and having leaders discuss buddies and buddy checks... and talking to the lifeguards that a leader will need to have them blow whistle and do buddy checks periotically during the event.

the bounce dryer sheets also help some with misquitoes... my son takes a box with him every summer camp and puts up a couple fresh ones each day... not only helps with the bugs but keeps his tent from being the smelliest!

the key is that YPT is for adults who will have direct contact with scouts... to me if it's a parent going camping just this 1 time to get to know the troop I wouldn't worry about it as long as you do have leaders there that are trained and make sure all the adults follow those safety rules. Now if they want to continue to be involved and/or camp then get them trained!

now that being said - it also depends on what/where you are going. Our summer camp and our Council camporee required all adults spending the night to be trained.

son's troop uses google groups - it's more of an email deal and doesn't do anything for pictures that I have seen.

my daughter's girl scout unit which I'm Service Unit Manager for (basically the scout master and cub master) does use a FB site. we use it for sending out announcements for unit events, post pictures, and sending out just general info.

the pro's to the google group is that you just signup and select what method you want to get their information (only on web, through email daily, or through email individually) It allows 1 person to send out a post/email to everyone and then others can reply just to that person or to everyone. We don't have rules about conduct - it's known by all to follow the BSA Law with it.

the pro's to the facebook site is that you can share pictures and organize them easily. in fact each troop in our unit has their own photo album so they can share pictures from troop activities.

the con's to the facebook site is that everyone needs to have own FB account to recieve the info for events etc.

with our FB account we give the log in info only to to leaders (though with BSA you can have the webmaster have it as well) This limits who posts info to be sent out as being from our unit.

so with FB - scout A and parent of scout A have their own FB account(s) - they add our FB site as a friend. then when we create an event we send it out to all our "friends" and they get the announcements. when we add photos they get published and are sent to all our "friends" so they can then see them. We do keep our site private so that all info can only be seen by "friends" so we don't have to worry about some looney getting a hold of pictures of the kids.

my son's old pack use to have different catagories - "patriotic" "sports" "colorful" etc...

when we ran into issues with the winners always being what appeared to be adult made that we got rid of the catagories and changed it to breaking them into levels... so for design tigers competed against tigers, wolf to wolf, bear to bear, and webelos to webelos... made it much more fun.

although this did bring in a different factor that we weren't expecting, and that is what are the judges judging? 1 year the judges went with most looked like a car, another went with which looked more difficult to do, and another did a combined with looked good and how difficult it was to do.

then the racing we had an award for the fastest tiger, wolf, bear, and webelos... and then had an overall top 3 (obviously 1 of these guys got another award but a lot of times the other 2 top were in that boys same level)

I have no answer to the original question

instead, I have another question

my son is a Life Scout and working on completing some merit badges before going forward with a project. So we haven't seen the form you all are talking about....

so my question is - does it have to be hand written or can it be done on computer?

my son has horrible, awful, terrible, all those kind of words, hand writing... been that way since kindergarten - it's become a bi-annual thing to go to parent/teacher confrences and say "other than his hand writing what does he need to work ok"

and yes, we've done everything, tried everything, etc to improve it. And it has improved - I'd say his writing now looks like a 3rd grader! And he is so happy that he is now in high school and other than his Algebra class he is allowed to do his homework assignments on computer. Though his teachers asked him to demonstrate how bad his writing really was.

anyway, just curious

thanks in advance