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Whenever possible let the Scouts handle the safety. I have found that if I can wait just a little longer than I normally would to put a stop to something a Scout will. The difference is that when a Scout tells a another Scout that what they are doing or about to do is stupid he only has to say it once. For instance we were camping last spring and one Scout announced he was going to jump over the fire. I sat quietly ready to put stop to it. As I was choosing my words another Scout says "Only an idiot would do that. Besides it is not much of a challenge anyway." That was the end of it. I s

Let me join in with the chorus. When an older boy, heck any boy, joins a troop he should be in a patrol with his friends. He will do more with those friends than a bunch of Scouts he does not know regardless of rank. It is his PL's responsibility to make sure his is advancing. Let the PL do the job. Think of it this way that Scout who just joined has 5 to 7 well trained instructors to work with.

Our camp offers a ton of merit badges. Lot's of them have prerequisites. We go to Camp Manatoc in Peninsula Ohio which is the council camp for Great Trail Council. The camp documentation encourages the Scouts to do two or three merit badges at camp. The camp provides tons of things to do that are not merit badges. I feel it is one of my responsibilities is to help each Scout have a fun time at summer camp. I ask them what they want to do. Some choose several merit badges others choose to do other things. Some Scouts come home with a fist full of merit badges others come

Our Middle School has several to many Lego Mind Storm kits the students use for science class and Robofest competitions. The kits run about $250 if I remember correctly. I have thought about getting a kit for my son and I now a couple of Scouts who have gotten them for Christmas. So I don't see robotics as a difficult thing for Scout to do.

Buffalo Skipper thanks for the long explanation. It is unfortunate that things came together like this. I will be interested to see what the others reply. As a Scouter I believe that letting the older Scouts plan and execute is one of the keys to keeping those Scouts interested and active.

I am curious who's idea it was to do the wilderness survival outing for the Venture Patrol? From the blatant disregard for the spirit of thing it seems like the Scouts were not at all interested. The odd thing is you almost have to commend the Scouts for thinking ahead (had snacks ready to be stashed), planning (hid snacks in woods) and pulling off their own agenda (almost did what they planned; if was not for the meddling SM). Except for the fact they shattered several points of the Scout Law in the process.

By the book a patrol is 5 to 8 Scouts. I will caution you that even patrols of 5 can be difficult to work with because if two Scouts don't show the division of labor is gone. Similarly if you have a patrol of even 9 or 10 temporarily until you see if you are growing or shrinking it is okay because it is unlikely every boy will show up for every event. If they do you are doing a great job and the boys can decide to split the patrol. I never worked with a troop with only one patrol. Oddly enough the SPL seems a bit superfluous one only one patrol but I wonder if the ASPL is still needed. By

This is always a tough requirement for Scouts to understand it seems. I am not sure why it seems pretty straight forward to me. Pick an organization, find out about them, if this organization is OK with your parents and your MBC go help them for 8 hours. As a MBC for this badge I have accepted hours performed to an organization that was done before the Scout checked with me. Only in the case where the Scout did 7a and 7b first. I also explained to the Scout that it was risky to do the service without my approval. Hopefully when he works on future merit badges he will be more carefu

I am sorry if I implied the boys could not go and do GtSS prohibited activities at all as individuals or as a group. That as not my intent. I wrote "I looked at them and said that you can not go to laser tag as a patrol or a troop". I have taken my own son and several of his friends who are Scouts and some who are not Scouts to Laser tag. When my son was a Cub and I was Den Leader he and I worked on projects using power tools as well. These were not Cub Scout events so the GtSS does not apply. I think that if Scouts are planning an event that is prohibited by the GTSS as if it is Sc

Narraticong I am with you. I have heard similar arguments about Laser Tag. At one time the Scouts started giving me a hard time about not being able to go to Laser Tag. I looked at them and said that you can not go to laser tag as a patrol or a troop. I also told them that I also think that the BSA banning laser tag is a bit extreme in to me as well. I don't like the rule but we have to live with it. I then explained that a rule is a rule until the rule changes. If they think they have a case for changing the rule write a letter to National and see what they say. No one took me up on

Public view First Aid Cooking Camping Pioneering Wilderness Survival Aims of Scouting view Personal Fitness Personal Management Family Life Citizenship in the Community Citizenship in the Nation Scouts View Rifle Shotgun Archery Can I do Rifle again? No. OK then Camping Wilderness Survival

1) Last year when we were looking for a new vehicle my wife told me that we should go with a Honda Pilot because it holds 8. The other vehicles we were looking at only held up to 7. We are a family of four. Her reasoning was that since I go on all the Scout camping trips if we got Pilot then the Scoutmaster and I can carry up to 14. 12 Scouts and two leaders that would make it easier on the troop not to have to recruit other parents to drive most of the time. We bought the pilot. 2) The other vehicle we own is a minivan. I have the space behind the rear seat reserved for most used Scout

Mafaking wrote: "Is there program experience that one can comment on where the program went back and re-emphasized scout skills as a means to improving patrol leader success? " In our troop we have our older Scouts teach the new Scouts their Scout Skills. In my opinion teaching others is the best way to learn ourselves. A secondary benefit of this is that the bonds between the teacher and the student are strengthened. Now lets go a step farther have the PL teach his patrol a Scout Skill they are weak in. Make sure the skill is verified by the PL when he is done. Of course this is

A Boy Scout Troop is a diverse group. Some patrols and some boys will excel at some things and not others. The first question you should ask is if the Scouts are having fun on the outing? If they are then other training can be added to improve their abilities in leadership and scout craft. However don't ever forget "The fable of the Animal School". http://www.janebluestein.com/handouts/animal.html Here are some of my thoughts about leadership and management Leader Develops a vision or identifies the direction for the group based on values Manager Develops the mission based on a l

Because of scouts aging out and no crossovers this year the PLC decided we need to reform patrols because they were tired of camping with 3 or less to a patrol on most campouts. Our troop policy is that you can use any patrol name you want as long as it is approved by the SPL (As in all things the Scoutmaster always has the right to veto anything but rarely ever needs to use it) and a patrol patch can be acquired from the Scout Shop. Too many promises to get custom patrol patches without any follow through. So we used to have Flying Tigers, American Eagles, Black Hawks (Their flag had a

The SPL and ASPL are considered inactive (there is probably a better word but I could not come up with it) members of their patrols. Typically the SPL and ASPL tent with each other or members of the patrol they would be in if they were not SPL and ASPL. They can set their tent up with their patrol or completely separate, it is their decision. They eat with whoever they want to but have to give heads up before the food is purchased. They even eat with the Scouters if they want to. They are not on any patrol duty roster because they have more important responsibilities. In patrol competiti

In our troop the Scoutmaster does all Webelos II's, Scout and Star and above SMCs. I work with the Troop Guide and the new Scouts so often times it makes more sense for me to do the Tenderfoot and Second Class SMCs. I already have a good idea of where each new Scout is at and what opportunities are coming up. Depending on the Scout the First Class SMC will be done by whoever the SM and I feel would be best to give the Scout direction toward Star. Typically this has to do with who the Scout gravitates to more. The SM and I are close friends and try to always make the decision bas

Uniforms and books ... required ... not required. I suppose that a car without tires and a steering wheel is still a car. It just is not as functional as one with those things. Keep in mind that even though uniform is not required it is one of the methods of Scouting. Also keep in mind that the handbook, though perhaps not required, is really the best way for a Scout to track his own advancement and investigate what the requirements mean on his own. Since advancement is also a method of Scout it would be a serious flaw in thinking by a Scouter not see that the Handbook is as c

I am pretty particular about the choice of words our Scouts use. I would like to think that if they can be offensive to anyone as Scouts should avoid them. The Scout Law dictates this in several ways which others have already pointed out. How an ASM cured me - During a "Personal Growth Agreement" (modern day Scoutmaster Conference) with an ASM about 30 years ago he looked me square in the eye. Then he said something like, "I don't like when people cuss. Do you know why?" My answer was something like "I don't know, it is not Scout like?" He replied "Although that is true that is not

Thanks for all the responses. Shopping is not really a problem. The patrols make their menus and shopping lists which the SPL approves with some SM guidance when necessary. They are giving a set amount per meal and stay within budget for the most part. If they are over (which is rare and not by much) the others have to pitch in and if they are under budget the left over is divided among the patrol members. All that works well. One parent does store long term perishables for future use like ketchup. My concern is really with the short term perishables like bread, milk, eggs, fr

We returned from this month's campout and had to send home about 14 eggs of 2 dozen purchased, 4 full sticks of butter 2 boxes of 4 purchased, a little more than a bag apples of two bags purchased... These food items were purchased by the patrol cooks. So I started thinking, has anyone tried having the Patrols working together on completing the food list. The patrols buy and trade for some items. Each patrol needs 4 eggs so one patrol would buy a dozen and the other patrol could by bread then trade half the loaf for 6 eggs. Our menus have to be approved by the SPL so he could look f

I am with Mafaking. In the final analysis I serve the community as BP intended. I believe that BP was interesting in creating a world brotherhood of good healthy citizens. Though a military man he believed if we taught boys that good citizenship and brotherhood then wars could be prevented. To obtain that goal on a daily basis I serve one Scout at time in whatever his needs are. Of course Scouting creates the needs which are for that Scout to be a physically fit citizen of good character who can make ethical decision throughout life based on the Scout Oath and Law.

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Some feel that other activities trump scouting but I feel that other activities are in a way part of scouting. We tell Scouts that they need to experience interaction with other adults. Don't they get the opportunity to do that when they are on a sports team or in the band. Don't we want Scouts to learn some level of proficiency in an area through merit badges. So if a Scout is involved in the band or sports shouldn't we encourage them to do so and point them toward the merit badge(s) that will be easily earned while taking part in that activity. Our Troop's philosophy is that we are wil

The District Klondike went great. Thanks for all your helpful comments. We had four Scouts on Friday and a fifth joined us Saturday morning. The temperature was between -18F and -15F on the overnight on Friday depending on whose thermometer you wanted to believe. The low on Saturday night was +25. The older Scouts did a good job of training the first timers. Everyone was comfy on the overnights. They all reported that they were warm in there sleeping bags. One Scout needed ... errr ... retraining several times on Saturday that wearing your hat and coat will help to keep your hands