AvidSM

BSA's lack of oversight breeds rouge units that do things their own way. Some with wise and experienced leaders who can make changes for the better. And, others who think they know what they are doing, but actually have no clue. If you choose to use scouting's program materials in the way that makes sense to you, how would you know which one you are - the fool or the wise man? If you choose to play it safe and not deviate, you may be doing things stupid, but at least it BSA certified stupid.

It's easy to make things fun ... just don't take yourself or scouting too seriously!

As a scoutmaster, my worst new parents are the ones who want to make things easier for their sons. For example, I have one new dad that keeps pushing the troop to buy E-Z Up style instant shelters for the patrols. I keep telling him that I don't like them - the are too easy to put up and they don't hold up in a strong wind. The dining flys we use now are a challenge for the new boys to put up, but that's a good thing - the boys learn teamwork and the two tenderfoot knots. Some new parents don't realize that if you make things too easy for the boys, they aren't challenged and don't learn an

Welcome!

My Council is trying something new this year in that it is collecting OA dues during rechartering. I recieved a printout of all the current OA members in my troop with the recharter packet. I plan on adding the $15 OA dues onto the yearly troop dues as applicable. Our lodge does have the rule of "no dues, no flap", but I don't enforce it. Instead, I encourage the scouts to pay their dues - which will be easier this year.

I think "it" is the program - the methods, meetings, activities. It is the game that the boys play that we as adult leaders set the rules and struture for. "There" is just what it means - being there for the scouts - to give them guidance when needed and to train them to be leaders - to be a role model and set the example. Scouting's mission gives purpose to everything we do as adult leaders. It is what sets scouting aside from all the other youth groups and activities. If we lose sight of the mission, then we are no better youth-development-wise than baseball, soccor, jazz band

Welcome! I've got nearly 10 years of scouting under my belt. My son make Eagle at 16 and is now a junior in college. I'm a Scoutmaster and enjoying every minute of it! Merry Christmas to you also

New course as a particpant - 10. I met and became friends with a lot of good people with tons of scouting experience. New course on staff - 7. A lot of hard but satisfying work and late nights.

There are lots of intersections where lights or traffic cops are not needed. Telling the city council something they already know hardly qualifies as helpful. A project must accomplish something or there is no benefit to the organization. Learning something while doing the project is not part of eagle requirment #5. I see no reason to have a scout take a risk on a project that may yield no tangible results. It may be that everyone in the communnity knows that this intersection is dangerous and they are waiting for someone to do something about it. I don't know the details. I'm only

I agree with the other posters in that the Req 6 statement has no set length - that the eagle candidate need only write as much as he needs to get his point across. The statement helps the EBOR to know the candidate a little better. They can use this to ask more meaningful questions during the BOR. If the EBOR knows where the scout is headed in life, it might even give some good advice to the scout.

The risk in this proposal is the assumption that a traffic light is needed near a school. The city council may decide to do nothing with the scout's traffic study and petitions. What then has the scout accomplished? Where is the benefit to the community? Even so, I would still keep an open mind and get more info from the scout. I would also talk to the DAC and see what he thinks. There is potential to demonstate leadership with this project.

My SPL picked up MRSA from his gym and now he has to take these nasty horse pills. They leave a mettalic taste in his mouth and make him very thirsty.

The summer camp we attended this year had an outbreak of Novo virus the month before we attended. My hands have never been cleaner the week we attended! Hand sanitizer was squirted in your hands at every door we entered - dining hall, trading post, etc. There was no outbreak when we were there or for the rest of the summer. I expect the same sanitation regime when we attend next summer. I, too, have a probem with people who run to the doctor every time they get a bad cold or virus, asking for some anibiotics. When you wipe out all but the resistant germs in your system, your inviti

I agree with all the other posters that say we are selling adventure to the boys. I also agree that you have to sell the parent's on the program also, using the leadership, fitness and citizenship angle.

My guess, from what I can glean from these posts, is that Palma had a bad time at her OA ordeal and was insulted by the Chapter Advisor when she tried to complain. She then plays the disability card with Council to get back at this person, not realizing she was burning her bridges behind her. There's probably more to this tragic story. Perhaps both Palma and the Advisor both had bad attitudes that day. Perhaps Council was getting complaints about Palma's leadership and was looking for an excuse to get rid of her. Her incident at the ordeal may have just been a trigger point. T

Why give the Wood Badge to participants who complete the Wood Badge for the 21st Century course? Only one word comes to mind - inclusiveness. I know it's a dirty word to some. But it opens the opportunity for all to work a ticket and earn their beads. Why exclude Cub Scout leaders who had their own WB course in the past and were able to earn their beads? If, you include them, then why not others? The new course is a break from old gaurd and I know it's hard for them to accept it. Scouting has changed and the new Wood Badge course is an indicator of that. You might not

For the boys that avoid a campout that has a five mile hike planned, there is nothing else I can do for them to advance. They will never get past Tenderfoot unless they meet requirement 1b. And Eamonn, saying that the five mile hike is in preparation for Philmont makes no sense to 10 or 11 year olds who are not eligible for high adventure yet. The fact that a boy did go on a five mile hike does not mean we taught him fitness - we only EXPOSED him to it. He may have liked it and may decide to go on more hikes. He may decide to never go on a hike again and spend the rest of his boyhoo

OGE - you are saying that only the boy scout leaders outdoor-specific course should be called Wood Badge? That the beads, woggle and necker be only given to participants that complete that course? What about the participants of the renamed WBfor2K? What do they earn? Rainbow colored beads?

Perhaps WB21C came about because the powers that be recogized that other adult leaders were being left out, and instead of spawning WB specific courses for them, decided to re-tool WB into one generic leadership/relationships course. Say they decided to spawn more WB specific courses instead of going to the one generic one. Would an adult with the volunteer career path of cubs to boys scouts to venturing have to take the course three times if they wanted to keep their beads? Would it be fair to place the burden of cost, time and effort on such a volunteer and the council that has to s

Acco40 makes a very good point in that a troop can only offer opportunities for advancement - it's up to the scouts to take advantage of it. Case in point - my troop scheduled a five mile hike at our September camping trip. I made it very clear to all the scouts who needed Second Class requirement 1b that this camping trip was their opportunity to earn that requirement. Turns out only 40% of the boys who needed 1b attended that campout. The boys that did attend had a lot of fun on that five mile hike and will advance to SC soon. The rest of them will have to wait to advance. To

Don't do away with advancement - just balance it out with the rest of the things you are trying to teach as scout. We need advancement in scouting to recognize and celebrate what a boy has achieved. What we don't need is a troop that focuses on advancement for the sake of everything else. Blame poorly trained or zealous adults for the eagle mills, not the concept of advancement. A good program offers fun activities for the boys to do, which by their nature lead towards fulfilling requirements towards advancement.

Yes, it's the PLC that makes the decisions (mine have also made some that I don't agree with). But, it's the Scoutmaster's job as an advisor to provide options and give weight to each. NASCAR is fun, but how will going there help meet the goals of the Troop? How is the Troop supposed to meet it's one camping trip per month goal? Or, provide the opportunity for boys to complete advancement requirements? I would advise the PLC that they can make any decision they want, but if they pick fun activities every month instead of camping then they are not delivering a quality program. I'd tel

Now that there will be requirements, which a scout only has to meet one time, and "A Time to Tell" will help statisfy those requirements, then National is in a sence mandating that a scout see it at least one time? For troops that have never shown it, they are now forced to show it at least once to the scouts that need it, or come up with some other way of teaching those new requirements. For the troops that show it every year to all the scouts, are we now tempted to show it only to those who need to satisfy the requirements? We've been showing the older version of the video every

I believe most of these new requirements are covered by the new DVD version of the BSA's video "A Time to Tell". The DVD is broken into five sections: Abuse by a Relative, Abuse by a Youth Leader, Abuse by a Youth, Internet Safety and Bullying by Peers. If you show this video to the scouts and use the "A Time to Tell Troop Meeting Guide" they should be able to explain and describe the information per the new requirments. Be advised that this video and related discussions take a while and it's a bit much to show all five sections in one sitting. My boys also mentioned that they all

I have a good team buiding game that worked great at our last PLC annual planning meeting. It's a simple game that will challege the boys to think about working as a team, using strategy, planning and communication. Take a deck of cards and collect all the non-face cards (A-10) of one suit and the same from another suit. Shuffle each suit of 10 cards and then place them face down in random order in two separate rows on opposite sides of a table. Divide the scouts into two teams. The object of the game is to flip over each card in order A to 10. If a card is flipped out of order