LeCastor

Pack, in the words of Lewis Grizzard: "Delta is ready when you are!"

That's not fair, JoeBob! 

I left the South to go to school in Yankee territory but not to get away from anything or anyone.  Let's stay on topic and try to keep this related to Scouting in some way?  Is that possible?  Does this thread have anything to do with Scouting?

I came across this just yesterday and thought I'd share with the group:

http://www.nps.gov/subjects/youthprograms/girlscoutranger.htm

What an excellent way to promote the outdoors!

I think this is an excellent time to stand up, stretch our legs, take a deep breath.  Let's sing a Scouting song:

"We're on the upward trail

we're on the upward trail.

Singing a new song.

Scouting bound.

We're on the upward trail.

We're on the upward trail.

Singing, singing.

Everybody singing.

Scouting bound."

Ok, now please have a seat and let's get back to talking about Scouting.

What is preventing them from doing so outside of the BSA? 

Nothing.

Change is inevitable and it's all around us.  Some here have likened it to loosening morals/values.  Others have pointed to traditions and long-standing policies.  Let's stop bickering about it and move forward into the second decade of the 21st century.  

One day heterosexuals are going to realize that homosexuals are just people.  The "gay agenda" is getting up in the morning, taking a shower, getting dressed, and going to work.  Gay/Lesbian/Bi-Sexual Scouters only want to help young men and women grow into fine citizens.  

As Sentinel said, we should poll the Scouts and gauge what they think about all this bickering and in-fighting.  The Scouts are highly influenced by the actions of Scouters who they see.  The youth will model your behavior and if that means fighting and fomenting further divisions in society I'm afraid we aren't doing our collective duty to encourage our Scouts to question traditions and long-standing policies.  

Please stand, raise your right hand in the Scout Sign, and join me in the Scout Law....

There are subtle ways to teach our Scouts lessons that don't involve tough love.

example: This past weekend we shared a campsite with another Patrol from a different Troop during a backpacking-themed camporee.  Our PL asked me, the SM, to go get the bear bag down from the tree so we could eat breakfast.  When I got to the tree, the other Patrol had left all of our food on the ground.  I wasn't very happy with that and I let our Patrol know that was not something I or they should ever do.  So later in the day our PL came back and happily told me he returned the favor and left the other Patrol's food on the ground.  My only response was, 'Is that the courteous thing to do?'  He immediately turned around and raised his neighbors' bear bag up the tree.

Thanks, blw2!

I didn't plagiarize it either  and made it very clear these were the words of the Admiral.  It is, indeed, a very inspirational moment.

Keep on keeping on!  Good luck with the Cubbies! 

One of our Scouts passed his Eagle board of review just after his 18th birthday but about a week before that he attended his last court of honor as a youth.  Since he was off to college and heading away from his Patrol and Troop, I wanted to give him a few words of encouragement. So I kind of boiled down the Admiral's address into about five minutes, highlighting the key points.  There were plenty of moms, dads, and Scouts in tears when I was done.  

LeCastor, I appreciate the work of persons such as yourself who serve as Roundtable Commissioners, but if the BSA has new rules (including "clarified" rules) that they expect unit Scouters to know about and follow, roundtables are not an adequate method of communication.  Nor is relying on a "unit commissioner", a position that in my district exists mostly in theory.  It's not a question of UC's doing their jobs; mostly they don't even exist. 

Thanks, NJ! 

Do you have suggestions on how the BSA can communicate this information effectively?  Shouldn't Roundtables be a place for training and learning about program updates?  I know our Cub Scout RT Commissioners are using RT to roll out the new Cub Scout program, for example.  

How did updates get passed around in the past?  I know the "improved Scouting" was heavily talked about Scouting Magazine and Boys' Life in 1972.  (I know because I looked online and read the articles.)

As for Unit Commissioners, I know they are kind of a laughing matter around the country.  It still remains unclear to me why, though.  My RT Commissioner training included UC training and I definitely see the need/importance for the role in our districts.

Who does SMCs one-on-one? Our SMCs are two-deep. If we did use remote SMCs we'd do it two-deep.

I sit with a Scout one-on-one within eye and earshot of others.  That's still within the boundaries of YPT.

My troop voted to require 5 push-ups from boys who spoke when they were supposed to be listening.  At one point or another everybody does push-ups.  That  is less embarrassing than being singled out for being disrespectful of other peoples time, and it keeps the meetings moving.  We carry on while the blabbermouth is getting exercise on the floor.

 

A few boys are building some good shoulders!

Surely you're joking, JoeBob 

Before I got involve with our troop (about 40 years ago), a new scout went camping with the troop.  He wore tennis shoes and blue jeans, and did not bring anything else.  He left his tennis shoes out of the tent when he went to bed.  It snow that night!  That was the end of his scouting career - and his mother work for the BSA Council.

So this Scout left his shoes out in the snow and decided to quit Scouting?  You didn't make him do Irish dancing or sing an aria because he screwed up did you?  

So do you make the obese kid do the 1/4 mile run or pull ups in front of his new scout class? Or does he do them in private? Do you have the known non-swimmer still attempt the swim test? Or does he get a pass or a private test? Does the kid with a stuttering problem or social anxiety get to do a private speech and a pass on doing the COH or campfire or interfaith service? Or is he required to still get up in front of everyone and expose his disability?

 

My point is there's embarrassment throughout scouting. Unless you've eliminated ALL of it, decrying signing for stuff is a bit hypocritical, no?

 

Laissez le bon temps roule.

So why add to it with singing for lost stuff, mon ami? 

1. The PL should make the call on helping his "obese" Scout advance to Tenderfoot.  I've watched the young Patrol and they are very helpful.  

2. Our JASM is a BSA lifeguard and swim team star, so he helps our non-swimmers privately before they have to do the official swim test.

3. A Scout is courteous, kind, friendly, helpful, etc. and lends a hand when asked and certainly doesn't make fun of someone else for a disability!

I don't consider myself hypocritical in this case and I always work to make things work out for the best for my Scouts.   

Problem is these changes go through the district's interpretation which, where I live, is usually wrong.

Mozart, it sounds like your local district/council/lodge is in need of a some changes...  

 But let's not pretend there aren't other areas in ALL of our units where similar exclusions take place.

I'm not pretending anything, cher.  

But I certainly don't feel the need to make someone do anything to reclaim a lost piece of gear.  If one does feel the need to take advantage of a "teachable moment," I agree with Sentinel (above) that this should be done in private.

Example: I saw that two of my Scouts had pitched their tent in the dark and had left the stuff sacs, pole/stake bag, and various other things lying around camp until well into the next day. Instead of making a show I just took both Scouts aside and explained that the tent belonged to the Troop and asked them if that was how they treated their own stuff.  No one laughed at them and they understood--through my gentle reminder--that they should take more care with the gear and not leave things out to get wet, lost, or damaged.

And even before you get to that, how are these changes going to be EFFECTIVELY communicated to "the field"?  Is the average walking-around Scoutmaster or troop advancement chair even going to know that the BSA decided to come out with a new 2015 version of the G2A?   Does he/she even know that a new version came out in 2013?  Not counting people who actively participant in this or another online Scouting forum, how many Scouters in this country read Bryan's blog?  How many even know it exists?  I'm guessing it's a small percentage.  We in this forum know these things but I do not think we are representative of the average Scouter.

NJ, I had the same thought and then figured it was my responsibility as Roundtable Commissioner to make this part of our next meeting.  Each council/district advancement chair should make sure this gets down to everyone, and if the unit commissioners are doing their job(s) this should get communicated to each unit.  (That's the textbook answer, right?  )

I tend to collect lost items in my trunk after a trip and then put them on the table in the room where our Troop meets.  People can come up and see if they've lost anything and claim it.  Shaming Scouts or Scouters for losing the stuff has never even occurred to me.  Man, I can imagine me at 11 being made to sing for a lost sock.  I would have been a hot mess of tears and probably wouldn't have gone back to camp with that bunch of jerks ever again.   

Great, Pack!  What kind of conservation project will your Patrol be doing?

My Scoutmaster Minute last night was about Earth Day and what each Scout could do.  Help globally by acting locally.  

I've been involved in citizen stream monitoring in our community for three seasons now and several of our Scouts--some who have gone off to college now--enjoyed testing the water for dissolved oxygen, clarity, and biotic index (aka, playing with bugs in the muck).  Our Troop has a long history of helping our local stream that flows through town not far from the church where we meet.  

Have any of your Patrols decided to celebrate Earth Day this week with a conservation project?

Statements by Lord Baden-Powell

"The Scout, in his promise, undertakes to do his duty to his king and country only in the second place; his first duty is to God. It is with this idea before us and recognizing that God is the one Father of us all, that we Scouts count ourselves a brotherhood despite the difference among us of country, creed, or class. We realize that in addition to the interests of our particular country, there is a higher mission before us, namely the promotion of the Kingdom of God; That is, the rule of Peace and Goodwill on earth. In the Scouts each form of religion is respected and its active practice encouraged and through the spread of our brotherhood in all countries, we have the opportunity in developing the spirit of mutual good will and understanding.

"There is no religious "side" of the movement. The whole of it is based on religion, that is, on the realization and service of God.

"Let us, therefore, in training our Scouts, keep the higher aims in the forefront, not let ourselves get too absorbed in the steps. Don't let the technical outweigh the moral. Field efficiency, back woodsmanship, camping, hiking, Good Turns, jamboree comradeship are all means, not the end. The end is CHARACTER with a purpose.

"Our objective in the Scouting movement is to give such help as we can in bringing about God's Kingdom on earth by including among youth the spirit and the daily practice in their lives of unselfish goodwill and cooperation."

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/Relationships/ScoutSabbathServices/badenpowell.aspx

All the bold, italics and underlining is mine 

"Tell me are you a Christian, child?

And I said, 'ma'am I am...tonight.

Walking in Memphis..."

Marc Cohn

I also bet a large number of people also don't realize that the DRP they are agreeing to subscribe too isn't even printed on the form (an excerpt is).

Rick, as I mentioned earlier, the new adult apps have the DRP and a special place where you have to initial as a way to express your understanding and acceptance of it.

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved".  Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off.  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  We were polite...offered him an adult app and explained that references and background would be checked thoroughly.  He never came back.  I did take a CPR course here at work (miltary hospital) and the young Hospital Corpsman instructor asked me why I needed the training,...I told him, "for scouts" and he divulged that he was an Eagle Scout from Arkansas, so I invited him to my troop and we had a great relationship until he got transferred.  He taught all the first aid and CPR stuff, and went to summer camp with us.  Even managed to find some cases of MRE's for us.  Great guy.  Doing my due diligence, however, I did email the SE at his home council and asked for a "reference check" just to make sure he was who he said he was.  Never got a reply.  SEs must be real busy.

I went to a Sierra Club open house in my community and offered my services as a river guide for local youth, explaining that I was a Scoutmaster and had experience leading youth in the outdoors.  The presenter spent so much time telling me about the background check and looking at me sideways that I said "fuhgettaboutit" and walked away never to pursue it further.  What a turn-off!