Liz

Our dues are only $10 per year plus Boy's Life, which is somewhat optional (It's assumed, but if you can't afford it the treasurer will take it off your bill if you ask). We do have excellent participation in fund raisers. Boys who are from very limited income families aren't bothered about dues if they participate actively in fund raisers. Popcorn sales go almost 100% to the council; our troop and boys get a few pennies on the dollar for popcorn. We actively push Friends of Scouting campaigns for the council. Our other fundraisers are split between the boys' accounts and the troop. I do

Oh, don't worry about me. I'm much too secure in my core beliefs to let GW throw me off. I'm sure he's got a lot of great stuff to say about Scouting; but it's clear that there's some bitterness about Christianity that I'm not equipped to heal. And, GW, whatever it is that caused this, I apologize on behalf of the Christians out there who let you down somewhere along the line. I don't expect that to matter to you, but there it is. Certainly, throughout history, there have been enough atrocities committed in the name of Jesus that one can make a list a mile long; I don't imagine it makes a

Wow. I didn't mean to stir up so much venom. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. As am I. -Liz

"So? Jesus was a peace-nik." So, many people in this country (at least) believe Jesus was a good role-model. If you aren't one of those people, then that's certainly your choice. In that case, my post probably has no relevance to you. That's also your choice. I think there are also plenty of good arguments against torture like Skeptic's which don't drag some washed-up dead rabbi into the mix. Of course, look where standing up for the moral high ground got Jesus... Depending on your point of view, it got him: Tortured to death Lasting worldwide fame & respect A great

"It is easier to win a war if you hate your enemies." Maybe this is why Jesus refused to lead his followers in a revolt against their Roman oppressors. Whether one regards Jesus as the Incarnate God or just on a level similar to Gandhi, most people at least see some wisdom in his methods. It's sometimes frightening to think about the world Jesus lived in; it was the very world we are fighting with everything we have to prevent: political oppression, a government bent on world domination -- which routinely instigated massacres and engaged in ethnic cleansing to "keep the peace," tota

When my younger son & his peers got their AOL, he'd been with the same group of boys under the same exceptional Den Leader since tigers. We secretly got all the boys together, along with their Den Chief, in uniform, for professional photos, and presented the den leader with a framed certificate of appreciation and a framed photo of the boys together (signed on the back by all the boys) at the crossover ceremony. He was absolutely speechless. I'm not suggesting you copy this idea for your Scoutmaster; I like the scrapbook idea better. I do think that you might consider the possibility

Unless you're aware of a local troop that doesn't already have a Scoutmaster, your best bet is to volunteer as an Assistant Scoutmaster in your son's troop. Just go with him and talk to the Scoutmaster or a member of the Committee. They can get you the proper paperwork. If they already have plenty of adult volunteers and don't need any more ASMs, then I would suggest starting out with counseling some merit badges or making yourself useful in other ways. Each troop only has one Scoutmaster, and honestly I don't think it would be a good idea to jump right in and be a Scoutmaster without hav

This is just my opinion, you understand... I think there's a big difference between an "Eagle Mill" and a successful program that turns out a high percentage of Eagle Scouts. When I think if an Eagle Mill, I think of a program that focuses through taking kids in batches through all the requirements as quickly as possible, without regard to how well the boys actually learn the concepts the requirements are supposed to be evidence of. A program that offers lots of *opportunity* for advancement is not the same as a program that is focused on checking off boxes on a requirement she

I saw the Boy Scout dog tags in the Clearance section of scoutstuff.org last night. I didn't see eagle-specific ones, but they do have both the cub- and boy- scout versions. Those who want either of the other ones should probably hurry and get them. To see what they have, go to scoutstuff.org, click "Clearance" near the upper right corner of the web page, click the "Gifts" tab, and scroll all the way to the bottom. Good luck finding the Eagle tags! Have you checked ebay? -Liz

"It's sad that his parents have taught him to be so mean towards people he disagrees with. " You can't be sure it was the parents. I know I hear my kids spout off mean things about the candidate they like less, and I am constantly correcting them (and asking them to take derogatory statements off their facebook, etc.). While I will sit down and watch debates with the boys, and point out in *both* candidates when I think they're right or wrong about something, I do not stand for making mean jokes or personal attacks on them. They are, after all, PEOPLE. Even though my boys are Scouts,

That's true. I can't think of any reason why I would require a boy to read a MB book; however I think several of the MB books can be very helpful to have the boy read, if possible. Unfortunately, the boy in question who is having trouble reading his MB books may not have the option of going to a counselor who is willing to verbally go over all the material needed to get the MB done. Sending the boy off to read the manual, do the work, and report back to me is not MY MBC style. I prefer (when possible) to get groups of boys together in small groups, direct them toward how to accomplish th

LOL! And a *Quaker* mother with a gun safe. Where can you top that? I'm a pacifist, not a vegetarian. ;-) I like my venison, and from time to time I need to protect my livestock from predators. -Liz

Thanks, guys! That clarification helps a lot. I think we do have some target-based laser tag arenas in the area. This warrants further investigation!! The boys DO participate in tomahawk throwing at OA events (and maybe others?), and enjoy it quite a bit. My sons have been bugging me to buy them throwing axes, but then they protest when I tell them the axes will be kept in the gun safe when we're not supervising their use. *sigh* So... no axes at home for now, but it is something they sign up for at Scouts every time they have a chance. -Liz

Are games like laser tag prohibited as Patrol activities? Some of our boys want to do this as a patrol, but they've been told by one of the ASMs that the BSA prohibits any game that involves pretend shooting of that sort. Is this true? If it's not true, how would you suggest I approach the ASM? If it's a *Troop* rule or a Council rule, the boys just need to live with it. But if it's just a misunderstanding, we can probably fix it. Ironically, ours is the only "pacifist" family (religious reasons) in the Troop and we have no issue at all with Laser Tag. -Liz

That's great to hear that feedback!! Way more than half of the popcorn my boys have sold this year have been troop donations. In fact, between the two of them, I think they've only sold three actual popcorn tins that they'll need to deliver this year. -Liz

I don't know about boys who leave Scouting entirely. I have never seen one of those come back, but I don't have a ton of experience. I HAVE seen boys lose interest and be frequently absent for a while, only to regain interest later. My own son is one of these. He wanted to quit scouting, and I told him he couldn't -- but that he didn't have to go to meetings or outings if he didn't want to. Well, I didn't exactly tell him he couldn't, I just reminded him that he couldn't stay in OA if he quit scouting (for reasons I don't fully understand, he didn't lose interest in OA). After about 6 months h

My husband once suggested that it would be easier to load all the "Flag Flown Over the Capitol" flags into a cargo plane and fly the plane over the capitol -- and it would have almost as much meaning. I've never heard the 30 minute rule. It doesn't even make SENSE. -Liz

Insanescouter -- I really don't think that's a bad idea at all. I've got a whole group of boys working on Railroading MB together. Instead of having them all take turns reading the book, I more or less "transcribed" the safety requirements into a power point, added lots of pictures, threw in a few videos, etc.. That way, the kids all learned enough to meet the requirements, answer the questions, etc.. -- and I didn't have to buy 15 MB books or find a way to share one book among them all. -Liz (edited because I wrote in a hurry and part of my post didn't make sense)(This message has b

I don't know which MBs your son still has left to do, but if his disability makes it so he can't accomplish a particular merit badge, a different merit badge can be substituted. Not all of the MBs require reading. I would definitely talk to the council about this. Best of luck. I admire your son for persevering through this. Perhaps multiple Scouters could even be organized to get all of the Eagle-required MB books (at least) read out loud, recorded, and made available to Scouts with vision or reading challenges. I know I wouldn't mind reading one or two out loud, for the good

Barry / Eagledad -- I couldn't agree with you more. As a parent, I feel blessed to have my boys in the same troop as this young man. I've known him since he was Den Chief for one of my boys' CS dens (and an outstanding den chief at that), and it's been a pleasure to watch him continue to grow and mature over the years. The boys look up to him, and also see him as a peer and a friend at the same time. I absolutely see that the boys in the troop strive to be more like him, and that's a wonderful thing. We are very lucky. -Liz

We have a JASM. It works well for us, but I think that's largely because we have a very remarkable young man in the role. I suspect it could really be a disaster with the wrong boy as a JASM, and I would approach the idea with caution. Our JASM provides peer leadership, will step in now and then if both our SPL and ASPL are absent (but only if asked), is the boy that the other boys turn to if they have problems or questions, etc. He does a lot of the same grunt work that any ASM would do, helping set things up, keeping records, etc.. I've never seen a teenager with as much ability as our

I don't even remember what all I'm signed up for. The only one I've actually been doing is Railroading. I'm a big fan of trains. I think I'm also signed up to do anything that has to do with computer technology (my entire career has been in the software industry), communications, and reading. I know I have Personal Management on my list. But there are others in our troop who do those, and I'm the only one who does Railroading, so there we go! I always say my favorite author is Tolkien, but honestly I have a lot of favorite authors. I am a Literature major, after all! I'll read almos

Kraut - My post was mostly tongue-in-cheek, although there's a little truth to it; some of our patrols have a tendency to choose menus based primarily on which one will require the least amount of clean-up, rather than on what is nutritious or even tasty. I find myself biting my tongue a lot when I see what the boys have bought for their campouts. Even so, I'm actually a big fan of the baggie-eggs. -Liz

If it would get my husband into a kilt, even just once, I'd be all for it. =D -Liz

I haven't heard this, but I'm with you -- my boys would be seriously unhappy if they couldn't make their baggie-omelets. On the other hand, I personally feel that it's almost a cop-out... shouldn't they be learning to do DISHES? ;-) -Liz