koolaidman

I'm still in the process of digesting all of new (draft) requirements. How is your troop planning to communicate the changes and guide the scouts to learning new skills? We're still in the planning stages, but I'm proposing: Inform the parents of the new requirements and transition timelines. Inform the SPL/PLC and let them inform the scouts of the new requirements an transition timelines. For the "new" skills not yet published in a Scout Handbook: Ask PLC/First Class+ scouts how they plan to learn the skills to teach the scouts the new requirements. Perhaps suggest a few "learning weekends" to get up and running on the new skills, so they can teach the new scouts. The goal will be to guide the scouts into learning the new skills themselves before teaching, with the least amount of adult instruction as possible. We have a young troop with few scouts First Class and above. They are still learning to think of the younger scouts needs rather than their own. What steps are other troops taking?

Yours are the ones with the neckerchiefs, right? Thanks for the post @@Cambridgeskip!

We have no minimum age or height ( ) requirements. We try to guide the voting scouts that elections have consequences. We also counsel candidates as to what is expected of them. I would make sure my expectations of a 13 year old SPL are age appropriate. My advice: Work with him so he sees where he is having trouble and see if he can improve upon those situations. Remember the end game of youth leaders is not to make the Scoutmaster's life easier, but to give responsibility to the boy. If the troop is having trouble respecting his position, that would most likely be the time for the Scoutmaster to address the troop, (or the key older scouts, the younger ones emulate) on being respectful of others and working as a team.

Can anyone point me to the full text of the actual resolution? All I can find are sections of it in press releases and articles, but not the full text.---nevermind. found pdf on UMM link: http://www.gcumm.org/files/369/Adult%20Leader%20Resolution%20071015%20(Final).pdf

What Stosh said. Ask the scout what he wants to do. If my troop had a bi-coastal scout, I'd want to at least recognize his accomplishments at a COH. It doesn't have to be an Eagle COH for him to be recognized.

I just have to get a thought off my chest regarding the confederate flag. If there's anything we've learned from the recent SCOTUS decisions, Caitlyn/Bruce and other news of the day, words and identities are all about how the individual perceives them and there are no more absolutes. Someone may have all the physical characteristics of a human male, but if he considers himself a female from another galaxy, then by golly that's what he is. People should look at the confederate flag in the same light. If someone considers it to be symbol for sunshine, puppies and ice cream, it must be that! It's not what you think it is, it is what I think it is. (only half joking when I type this, definitely half serious). As far as Boooorring!: I have news to report. My son has now gone from "having" deodorant to "needing" deodorant. Hooray for deodorant!

Thanks for the tip AZ Mike. Very useful for us thrifty scouters!

In response to the original question: I sent an email to the national advancement committee regarding a similar situation with "pre-requisites" for a special MB Eagle Encampment at a summer camp with age and rank ":pre-requisites". I received a timely response that it was not adding to requirements for the MBs and it is OK for MB counselors to choose who or what type of scouts they want to work with using criteria like that I'd tell mom that swimming is definitely require for Eagle while Lifesaving is optional with E-Prep as it's option. Let's see how well the scout does in the water first. He may not want lifesaving after taking swimming.

Nice to hear from you Eamonn!

Anyone ever use sulfur powder as a tick repellant? We used to dust our pants and shoes with it at my grandfather's ranch back in the 70s. it seemed to work then, but I was just a kid.

A quick transition is best for all I think. I like packsaddle's suggestion.

I'm digging it so far. I like the options for looking at new posts. A big thanks to Terry, admins and mods for all the things yall do!

Can we post now. Below is what I was going to reply with yesterday. Everyone has made good points. We just had a recent experience with our troop that would make me reconsider a canoe trip with inexperienced canoers. (is that a word?) We had two scouts in a canoe that had completed the canoeing merit badge at summer camp that absolutely could not canoe in a straight line for more than 5 yards. Ahh... we had lofty plans and ambitions to make a six mile route, but we didn't make it out of the cove. Their canoe kept going in circles and the boys weren't taking instruction very well. The wind wasn't helping us much, but we scouters did learn from it. Luckily our outing wasn't dependent upon a successful canoe trip. We chalked it up to fun times. My thoughts: What Stosh said. Basic Strokes, seminar on paddling. If you have any doubts, do a trial canoe exercise on a small lake. If some scouts can't handle the canoe, if they can't follow your directions, they can't go. Safety is at stake here. Also make sure your adults have the required BSA training. Don't skimp here. Definitely bring along one of those rescue ropes in a bag. Or a regular rope...

Another article about it. Different spin: http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/04/blacks-beach-hike-fallout-nude-beach-cub-scouts/

I haven't read the book, but Nessmuk has been brought up on Clarke Green's scoutmaster podcast before. Clarke mentioned this quote as well. Clarke's went on the clarify the quote. The "smooth it" wasn't referring to how we camp, but why we camp. It is to get away from the roughness of our everyday life and to smooth our life out a bit. "To get away from it all".

We ask the local chapter of the Order of the Arrow to do the ceremony and they do it very well.

Welcome to the forums peachybella!

Welcome to the forums Anita1216!

One thing I've been wanting to try is a Search and Rescue mission. Nothing fancy here. An adult or older scout gets "lost" and the rest of the troop apply Search and Rescue techniques to find him.

Tuesdays are best. I vote Tuesdays! Seriously though, in our school district, each level of school has a designated night of the week for extracurricular activities. For example, Mondays are for elementary schools, Wednesdays for Middle Schools, Thursdays for High Schools. So in a perfect world, I'd take that into account, then meeting space available dates, when the DL can lead meetings vs when a majority of parents can show up. Then Pack meetings. Which, if you do the math right, leads us to Tuesday....

BD: I think it would be a nice gesture for the Scoutmaster to pay for a babysitter for 12 hours while the parents are away... #TooSoon? Seriously though BD, it sounds like you get plenty of crap piled on you. I hope you can find a good and decent ASM, or more committee members with shovels to help get it off. If this happened more than once in my troop, the scout would have to miss campouts unless the parent attended as a volunteer. Assign the parent with the responsibility of med forms and emergency contacts and hopefully the parent would realize the burden he/she placed on you and the troop. (assuming this parent would pass background check and take YPT of course). I think it is sad, because the end game is this scout wouldn't be able to campout anymore because the parent doesn't care enough to pick him up on time. I feel your pain, but I feel much worse for the scout.

Hi christineka, We had a sight limited scout in our troop recently. He was shy. He never asked for help even if he needed it. The only advice I would add is if needed, help your son find the courage to ask for help if he needs it. By the way, the parent of the scout dropped by either the scout shop, or council, I can't remember which, asked for a large print version of the scout handbook and they printed him one up for free. Each page was blown up to 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. I don't know if that is what all councils will do though.

Hi Twocubdad, I don't believe your pack is an outlier. Our pack operated in the same fashion. The only difference is in Webelos, the den leader logged the achievement in Scout Track since the parents' permission was taken away. I think the unintended consequence of making the advancement chairs' lives easier with the software is the scout has absolutely no idea what he has done to advance. So after 4.5 years of never looking at a requirement and having it all planned out for them by adults, it naturally becomes confusing for the scout and his parents who don't know any better when be becomes a Boy Scout.. I think you could stop the bleeding by having a parent meeting to explain Boy Scout advancement to the parents and having the SPL and PLs go over it with be boys. The for the next batch of new parents and scouts, get ahead of the game by explaining it to them during Webelos visits or very soon after the cubs crossover into the troop. Rule stickler disclaimer: Per the Guide to Advancement we can not expect the boys to seek out a leader for the signoff. If the requirement was completed, they deserve the signoff. I don't believe this precludes giving the boy an opportunity to seek out the signoff though. in my perfect world, I'd give the scout a week to seek the signoff, if he doesn't, find the scout, signoff after a discussion of what he did and why its being signed off, then give encouragement for him to seek out signoffs in the future. Your misery has my company. I hope things are able to get smoothed over with your parents.