LauraT7

Someone on the board - a month or so ago, did a post about making a suggested list for their SCOUTS - I thought it was a pretty good idea and 'borrowed it' and started a suggested 'wish list' for our boys on our troop site. While I am having a tough time getting families and boys to actually POST on our site - the boys did tell me many things they would like and I added them. I also included links to websites and info that many places give scout discounts. It became obvious that troop families DO check it, because I got quite a few comments - all good, and actually, as we have been en

Saw this on another site, and it tickled my funny bone - site is http://www.sftcbsa.org/humor/ if you want to check it out - more where this came from.... __________________________________ You might be taking your scouting too serious if: You buy that '89 Chevy Caprice because you really like that fleur di lis hood ornament. Your favorite color is "olive drab". You decide to lash together the new deck on the back of your house. You plan to serve foil meals at your next dinner party. You walk the streets in broad daylight with a coffee cup and flashlight hanging f

I'm also against 'mock BORs' BUT - I can and have seen some boys panic when they have to talk to a parent/ adult they don't know personally. Some take all 3 BOR's to FC before they can loose the sweaty palms and answer in more than 1 syllable words!! I have especially noticed it in some boys when they have to 'contact' me for badge counseling. many kids in our society are discouraged from talking to strangers on the phone, or in person. We have answering machines and e-mail, and other than teachers, (who are a different thing entirely) many kids have no real experience talking

2003 Thorns and roses - a good post to reflect upon for the new year! Troop and Scout thorns & roses- We lost a wonderful and dedicated scouter to a brain tumor this spring - Scot Mansfield was a true 'gift' to the boys in our troop; always able to relate to them, a true friend and mentor to so many. Taken long before we were ready to let him go, he's flying with the Eagles now! Scot, you are always with us on every campout and event - we miss you tremendously, friend! We had a hazing incident at camp that we thought was a 'thorn' but that turned out to be a 'rose'! the

our council was a test pilot for a new recruiting program this year for Cub Scouting - and by all accounts, it was a HUGE success - check with the pros- but I think I heard something about it being initiated thru National in the next year or so - Basically, the program is called " My best friend is a Scout" and it recruited across ALL age groups on a simple one-on-one basis. I believe the packs came up with activities of interest that the boys could invite a non-scout friend to, periodically throughout the year - in addition to their regular fall/spring school recruitment /parent inform

you didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway - I'm in favor of ANYTHING that gets leaders and boys effective training, safety checks and safety gear. If there is something in flag raising that could cause injury, then yes, they should be properly trained and supplied with safety equipment. There was a boy killed two summers ago by a downed tree limb while sleeping in his tent at one of our camps. It was a TRUE accident - not a dead limb, the tent was not in a bad location, the camp was very well maintained. Our troop had been in almost the same site the week before - no 'train

Hmmm - someone said something earlier about how Lill didn't 'dissasociate' hersoef from being a scouter or was 'hypocritical' of her scouting beliefs.... Excuse me if i am misquoting, but I think that was the general idea, anyway.... AlthoughI have been a Boy Scout leader (and prior to that a cub leader) for only a relatively few years - I was RAISED in scouting. Girl Scouts, and in an area that did alot of camping and had a program much like Boy Scouts, apparently. 'Scouting' is an indelible part of my SOUL. Good or bad, I can't really separate some of the beliefs and habits Sco

Found this and thought it was a great idea to share... When "performing" ceremonies at your Pack meeting, you need to remember to view it as if you were an 8 or 9-year-old boy. Remember to add a little magic and mystery and you'll have meaning, symbolism and interest wrapped up into one ceremony that can be prepared in 5 minutes using common household items, that will astound and amaze your boys. Water is poured into a glass and turns yellow, if the Scout has a truly sunny disposition. When poured into a second glass, it turns green to represent his love of the outdoors. And when poured

I agree that the animosity should stop. This IS a BOY SCOUT forum, and we should all behave on it as if the boys in our troops were hanging around the campfire, listening. Many of us have actively pursued the opinions of the scouts/ youth on this board - like Hops and others. I have mentioned this site to my troops boys and know some of them read it, even if they don't post. I do NOT agree that the fault is equally shared. Our troop has gained ALOT from the posts here, and much of it from Bob White. Bob White is a very experienced, well read and well trained scoute

Thanks all! I agree that "The check should be done by the scouts if they are properly trained or supervised." I also wish our adults did not have to be so involved in this - Problem is, even our older boys are NOT as knowledgable as they think they are (in some areas) - or as knowledgable as they SHOULD be. They KNOW this stuff as 'book learning' but haven't internalized it. Some of our Star and Life scouts are the very ones that have shown up outfitted incorrectly. And even though they toughed it out and insisted that they were "OK" - they are then setting a bad example for the

1. FIND A JOB! 2. Find a job that allows time for Scouts.... I probably won't get to go to camp with the boys this summer! :-( 3. finish painting/ remodeling my house (but you know, it NEVER ends...) 4. Get out the old Pop-up camper - either use it or sell it! 5. Have a HUGE garage sale and get rid of all my junk! 6. Use the money from above garage sale to buy a new tent and camping gear. 7. Possibly go back to school for my Master's.

Our troop always does a winter campout. Last year they built their own shelters out of tarps - this year they are going to try and build shelters out of natural materials. Every year, one of our experienced adults gives a talk on hypothermia, dressing for the weather, and how to suppliment your gear for the weather, etc. the older boys are doing a shelter demo and there will be equipment there to examine, suggested lists given out, etc. On past trips, we have discussed having the boys bring their packs, packed and ready to go - to be checked by an experienced scout or adult, and h

Ed - you may have answered Bob White's question elsewhere, but since i didn't see it, i AM interested. If you don't use FC emphasis and NSP's how has the history of your troop retention and advancements gone? I ask because our troop has been through alot of changes - traditionally they did NOT follow alot of the BSA suggested programming, yet because they did do some great high adventure programs (Dads planning great trips and taking the boys along) they generally maintained troop numbers. If the boys were interested, and pursued it TOTALLY on their own - there were opportunitie

I can see a number of reasons to have 'extra' people as ASM's or Committee members. We have a number of adults on our committe and a few as ASM's that serve as 'special consultants' for specific jobs. We have two ASM's whose 'specialties' include one or more of the following: Biking, Canoeing, Backpacking, Survival skills, climbing, etc. These particular men are not really interested in teaching 5th graders first aid or how to tie knots at a weekly meeting. However, they are very important to our venture patrol and doing high adventure trips. They go along on the trips, teach se

Wingnut - I can beat your "trick' on your sister - MY big brother used to make me wrap my OWN presents! he would just put them in a plain box and tape it shut real tight all around, then stand there and WATCH me wrap it to make sure I didn't peek! Other than that, and because he otherwise was a swell guy and he really WAS left-handed and all we had were righty scizzors, I didn't mind. I loved making pretty packages for under the tree. My older sister once worked in the gift wrapping dept for Marshall Fields and taught me all the tricks. Besides, in later years, I knew that in 'joint'

Lill ended up in the top two - i missed the first hour, where they voted Dana off. Anybody know WHY? I felt sure the women were going to vote John off - unless, did he win the 2nd to last immunity? Lill won the last immunity challenge, and got to pick who went to the end with her. the immunity challenge itself was cool - because for once, she clearly had an advantage and she KNEW it. The challenge was to squat on a small float in the ocean using only hands and feet for balance. If knees or butt hit the surface -you were out. Lill had taken aerobics classes, and her ankles

Our council doesn't have such rules limiting the number of badges you can counsel. BSA doesn't set a limit, so i don't see why a counsel, district or troop would override their decision. there are many areas of knowledge cover more than a fixed number of badges - conservation and nature badges being a large area, for example. There are also badges that aren't in high demand - I'm a counselor for Textiles, and in three years, no one has asked me about it, nor have I seen that badge on any badge sash. this gives me ample time to cover Photography, Pets, Dog Care, Communications and

I've missed alot of the shows, but I did catch it this week to note that Lill is STILL GOING ON! It got down to 2 men and 3 women, and one of the women (not Lill) had won the 'immunity' the 3rd time running. Lill's uniform still looks pretty good, though! Especially those pants! (course it's too hot to wear them most of the time!) One of the guys, (who I got the impression, thought he was a shoe-in for the #1 spot) won a prize, and he took the other guy with him on a 'holiday'. that left the three gals together, and they got together and agreed to boot him out. Lill a

Don't let other people make decisions for you. Take all the advice, knowledge, research, information, etc that others give you - stir it up and think about it - and then make your OWN decisions. no matter how much your parents, siblings, girl/boy friend, teachers, etc DO care about you and want to see you succeed - they are basing their opinions on THEIR lives and perspectives. When all is said and done, they get to go back to their own lives, but YOU have to LIVE with the decision they influenced every minute of every day. forever. along with keeping your own council on

A GREAT question! I would tell her that her involvement in Scouting has been immensely valuble. Her Scouting experiences have served her well in almost everything she has done. So keep it up - ignore the people in school who think Scouts is for losers and DON'T drop out of working summer camp for ANY boy! Boys are every bit as scared as you are. Do NOT listen to your parents and older siblings when they tell you that you can't be a teacher (your grades aren't good enough), or a professional scout (not enough jobs), or go into social work (impractical)or psychology (to much sc

Mark, I'll give you extra points for the long reply - Esp since it gave me some good ideas. thanks

our troop has done both mixed and NSP. the NSP failed because WE (the adults and PLC) did not set it up correctly. In the past, we got in 2-4 new scouts a year and blended them into the existing patrols. It was a bit of a challenge to keep up with some of their advancements and remember to provide opportunities FOR advancement. Lots of boys kind of slid through - they would 'hang' at tenderfoot or 2nd class through 2-3 COH's. often parents would bring to our attention that some boy who wasn't the organized type, was way behind. Not great - but we mostly stayed on top of things.

Our intent is not to 'make it easy' to get to first class - but to provide enough opportunities that with reasonable participation, they can get there. Only thing is - with only one spring and summer - say march to march - we are finding it difficult to schedule enough activities that cover everything and offer some repeats for missed events. for example - we try to go to a corn maze every fall as a webelos recruiting activity and invite the webelos for the maxe and a campfire afterwards. the 8-10 mile layout and puzzle of the maze lends itself to the 5 mile compass hike requirem

As a determined Tsunami starter myself, and having dealt with other adults who didn't go with the flow of the troop, I can empathise with both sides. As the others have said, we need more info. the person MAY have some valid complaints, or may just be trying to throw weight around. We had an ASM who was very valuble to the boys and our troop in skills and ability - however, she had a habit of making decisions without consulting the SM, Committee or other leaders. Stuff like; deciding to cancel an outing after the boys showed up, because 'only' 5 boys & 2 leaders 'wasn't enoug

Also, YOU may not have seen the boy earn his 'Scout' rank - but if a boy has earned his Cub Scout "Arrow of Light" he has ALREADY COMPLETED his Scout Rank requirements, except, perhaps, for the SM Conference. (Scout does not require a BOR) If he is NOT a cub with Arrow of Light, or not a scout to start with - the Scout Rank is simple to earn and should be set up for the boys to earn in the first meetings. You seldom get a boy that just 'shows up' and joins unannounced. Usually there is some contact with the boy and his family beforehand. A simple handout on the rank (given to