JMHawkins

Picking up on Sherm's post, to quote what the current Handbook says about A Scout is obedient: If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he seeks to have them changed in an orderly way. The first step in "an orderly way" is having an open debate about what's wrong with the rules in question. The first step in a disorderly, lawless society is telling people they can't disagree with the rules.

Newb, Sounds like you're working hard to keep a reasonable perspective. It's tough sometimes getting vounteer adults to cooperate together, I know! I'm a CC too - but that's the job of the CC. Leadership is challenging and often isn't any fun, but it's our duty. From your descritpion, you are maybe the only adult involved who is willing to make the effort and not just kick over the card table, so I would encourage you to stick it out as CC and keep trying. Think of it this way - you're setting a good example for you son (and everyone else's), even if they don't see the dirty details

First off, I second Twocubs academic exercise. Second, a question: How have the boys in the troop responded to the SM? Nothing you've said so far indicates he's a dangerous SM, just a disorganized one who has some deficiencies. In light of that, I'd suggest patience. Tell the parents who are concerned to please be patient as the troop works through it's growing pains. Remind them that qualified people willing to serve as SMs are not growing on trees. Suggest that it's probably a mistake to fire your SM when you don't even have a registered ASM yet. Point out that you as C

Shortridge is right, Friends of Scouting ought to be targetted at community members who are not already involved in Scouting. Families who are already paying registration fees, camp fees, etc. are the wrong target. In addition to the dues we require from them, we're already asking those families to volunteer their time - we want even more of their money too? Nah, too easy for that message to go south on us. And when you're talking to the families with kids in Scouting, talking about the "real cost" can easily come off like a typical government services extortion ploy, where the Parks and

I think it makes sense for the BSA to standardize on a single training delivery model, mainly to contribute to creating a consistent experience from unit to unit and training program to training program. Actually, I disagree with this. Among actual studies done on teaching (and learning) styles, it's pretty clear that not everybody learns best the same way, and so it seems foolish to mandate a single teaching methodology, since it will not be effective for everybody. If we are going to start looking at methodology, we ought to make the requirement something like "teach someone how to d

...nearly thirty years ago, I seem to remember fewer troops using Dutch Ovens compared to these days. Perhaps others can suggest if their memories suggest a wider use of Dutch Oven now. SeattlePioneer, when I was a scout thirty (some-odd) years ago, my troop didn't own a Dutch Oven. Too heavy to carry backpacking, which is almost all we did. One car camp a year, and that was at a lagoon which we explored with canoes after setting up camp, and we still cooked over our white gas stoves. Yeah, we used stoves instead of wood fires. We'd have a campfire, sure, but patrols cooked over o

Add another vote for recruiting. I think having a second patrol might help foster more of a leadership role in the older boys because then you can have competitions between the patrols, and the older boys will probably figure out that if they teach the younger boys real skills, they'll have a better chance of winning. As it is, they don't see any value in having the "kid brothers" hanging around. You have to find a way to make those younger boys valuable to the older ones. And not just as the kitchen cleanup crew, but as members of a real team. Good luck.

acco said " Part of the course is to "be prepared" and for others not to describe in detail what the course will be like." Hmmmm, I'd say that part of being prepared is getting the folks putting on the event to clarify details where needed . Asking "do I need a backpacking tent for this weekend" is a reasonable question. Instructions to "come prepared as if going on a backpacking trip" would be good, though maybe would discourage Cub leaders who might only have the sort of equipment needed for family camping. As an aside, I'm not really keen on the idea of a leadership course tha

What's a turn table? ... a record? Oh, they're awesome! You can use them to make cool, spiral artwork on old CDs that are too scratched up to play anymore. It's a great Cub Scout B&G centerpiece project.

Wouldn't it be a great local morale and PR boost to have the Chief Scout Executive stay at the council camp when he's in town? It'd be too easy to crack a joke about meeting the requirements of the Medical forms, but then again, he probably wouldn't be staying 72 hours... Really, don't like to joke about people's weight, but if he's going to set a policy, he ought to set an example too. I know, I know, he's an executive of a major corporation and needs constant Internet and cellular access and proximity to big airports and transportation that's not a beat-up camp pickup truck to r

Interesting to read Crew21's take. A lot of that I probably could have guessed, it's pretty common in organizations. The Meyers-Briggs/Situational Leadership/Formin'-Stormin'-Norman'/Puddle-I'm-Standing-In stuff are all useful tools and techniques, but I think they are to Organizational Leadership about like IOLS is to doing a summit attempt on Mt. Rainier - strictly Introductory material. You're going to need to learn a whole lot more before you try the Mountain, else you won't get anywhere near the summit and you'll be lucky to come back alive. If I were designing an Organization

In my years of management experience, I've come to believe a few things. One is that, although management is a specific activity with specific skills, you can't teach it as a general science disconnected from the activity it is supposed to manage. A good manager has to understand the work being done by the people he's managing. Putting that in the context of "old" vs "new" WB, the lack of outdoor scouting skills in the new WB is a serious weakness. Second, management is a support function. It is not as important as the underlying acivity being managed. Good management might be crit

BSA is actually trying to do away with multiple forms, hence the 1 form. Back in college, my roommate brought home an answering machine one day. The box had big letters proclaiming "One-button operation!" The manual made a big deal out of how the machine was simple to use because it only had one button. Indeed, it only had one button. You pushed it once to play new messages, that part I remember. If you wanted to replay messages, I think you pushed it twice, or maybe that was how you deleted messages, and replaying was push-and-hold till it beeped. Pushing and holding till it b

Seattle, My memory is fuzzy (hmmm, maybe I had hypothermia worse than I thought...) but there were several of us "drying out" around that campfire, but me and my buddy may have been the only ones who were more than just wet and cold. Most of the troop at least tried to build igloos, and most of those had trouble in the rain. Thinking back on it, I bet several of the PLC were awake because their own igloos weren't holding up either. I don't know who suggested rounding everybody up and checking on condition - whether it was the SPL or the SM - and at the time I just assmed it was the SPL

... just don't know if Dr. would sign a form in 2 places.. Seems like it ought to just be two different forms then, a "frontcountry" form and a "backcountry" form. Or call them Standard and High Adventure if you'd rather. The frontcountry form asks the doc to confirm the Scout(er) is healthy enough for overnight camping a short walk from a vehicle, and the backcountry form asks the doc to confirm the Scout(er) is medically fit for strenuous activity perhaps some distance from help. It could even have a list of specific activites (SCUBA, Mountaineering, Rock Climbin, etc.) with a place

I guess I'm a member of the Hypothermia Patrol too. When I was a Tenderfoot during our annual Snowcamp, a warm front came in during the night and the rain assaulted my igloo. Well, actually, it was more of a badly made snow cave. It "caved" in on me and my buddy at any rate. The SPL and our PL came around at 2am and fished us out of the slush we were trying to sleep in and got us warmed up with blankets, a fire and hot chololate. Neither of us were in seriously bad condition, but we probably would have been by morning. Good thing those kids were out at 2am checking on the new scout

I'm not really offended so much as dissapointed, and I'm probably coming across harsher than I mean to. I really do try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I don't mean to "scold" Tokala (which I realize it probably sounds like I'm doing). I'm sure he (or she) isn't a petty tyrant, but I thought it was important to let him know the joke raised doubts. Why? It underscores a question about the Tour Permits/Plans (which also applies to a bunch of other "paperwork" like the Health Forms and mandatory training). What's the purpose of these things? If the Tour Plan exists to help

We have two DLs who act as ACMs as well. Of course nobody is dual-registered, and DL is their primary job. You can certainly do both jobs, it just means a little more time. How much depends on what ACM duties you were going to do. If you can invest the extra time - and you find it energizing instead of draining - go for it! But that "energizing" part is pretty important. DL is sort of a long-term commitment and you want to beware of burnout.

...you lack the background knowledge to appreciate my comments. An excellent reason that you shouldn't make that sort of a joke, Tokala. Someone who doesn't know you (like probably 95%+ of the volunteers in your council) might take you seriously when you say that you're tempted to behave in a selfish, vindictive manner, acting as a petty tyrant and abusing your authority. I'm all in favor of a good sense of humor. Joking about abusing your authoirity in an organization dedicated to teaching citizenship to impressionable youngers perhaps doesn't qualify as "good", eh?

Stosh, good luck. Yes, your milage certainly does vary. I'm curious what the other parents will think about this. I'm really sad to hear this happened. If it's any consolation, it gives me extra motivation to make communciation with new parents a huge priority to try and head this sort of thing off early.

Tokala, you shouldn't even joke about something like that. Frankly, if I was your SE, we'd have a little conference if I found you you suggested such a thing. And if my unit was in your council, I'd probably let the SE know that FOS was on hold until the VP of Program straighted up. Screwing around with things like that will cost you volunteers, dollars, respect, etc. Even joking about it, especially the way you ended the joke, will cause people to lose respect for your council. The paper work is a pain for the volunteers who make this whole thing work. The folks at National and C

Moosetracker - I'm sorry, I miscommunicated! Tour Plan is fine with me, I agree it's an improvmeent over Tour Permit. Its "Journey to Excellence" that grates on me. I think "Quality Unit" is a fine title. "Journey to Excellence" sounds like it cost $100k in consultant fees and is meant to avoid offending units, shall we say, taking a few too many rest breaks on their journey. Plus, since we're talking about communication, changing the name and the criteria is more likely to confuse people. If you said "Okay folks, there are some changes to the Quality Unit criteria for next year..." peo

We got a quick briefing on them at RT last week. I'm in the same council as SeattlePioneer (I assume, Chief Seattle), and our DE mentioned both the new Tour Plans and Journey to Excellence (frankly I applaud the changes but cringe at that name - makes me think I'm back in the corporate world with some overpriced mar-comm consultant trying to gussie up a pig, but I digress). Moosetracker's post is a good reminder though that one method of communcation just won't cut it. Multiple channels, mutliple times, if you want the word to get out.

First of all, sounds like the RT commish is a bit stressed. If he does feel that this sort of info is inappropriate for a RT, I would expect a polite "Unfortunately we already have a full program for RT and can't add new material, but thank you" sort of reply. That you appraently got something less polite makes me think the commish has some other problems causing him to be testy. (I'm assuming you didn't state your request as "hey, I've got something interesting to spice up your boring RTs..."). Personally I think that sort of info would be great for RT. Frankly, it's more useful tha

Anyone notice something conflicting on the form? The first part says the CR can only double register as CC or MC.....The second part says that the ScoutParent Unit coordinator may also register as CR.... Hmm, an inconsistency! I'd say the spirit of the thing is that the ScoutParent Coordinator is really a specialized Committee Member, and the CR can dual register as an MC. Since the COR is the official rep and member of the CO, for those units that recruit heavily from the CO's membership, it might make a lot of sense for the COR to be heavily involved with new parents. And in any even