MarkS

Your Webelos Leader Guide is your primary resource for everything from your annual Webelos den program plan right down to an itinerary for each den meeting. Completing Activity badge requirements makes up the bulk of the itinerary as it should but it also includes tie-ins for pack meetings. You should use Program Helps as a theme reference for these tie-ins. Be creative, tie some requirements of the activity badge to the monthly theme for the pack. For example, when I was a WDL, I had my den do a puppet show based on the theme at a pack meeting to fulfill a requirement for the Showman bad

After skimming through this thread, I saw a lot of great ideas for saving a pack, but didn't see any opinions whether DenZero's pack is worth saving. Personally, I don't think it is worth saving. The situation I see based on the description herein is that the local community has one very strong pack and seven boys in another just trying to muddle through with a monthly combined pack/den meeting. This is not much of a program and recruiting last fall was a bust as a result. Seems to me that it'd be best to pull up tent stakes and transfer to the other unit and make your contribution t

I've seen pix on the Internet of actor Ethan Embry (White Squall, That Thing You Do) wearing a BSA field uniform shirt with both religious and Eagle knots. Check out www.imdb.com for the pix but I don't know if it is authentic.

brianbug said, "Is this new since 1998? Are kids that much more busy post 1998 than pre 1998 that it would influence numbers, some as much as 10.9% drop in a single year? Is this a valid contributor to a point that kids activities have increased magically post 1998 vs pre 1998 to have that huge of an new, extra affect it did not have before?" We need to keep in mind that the data was gleaned from the annual reports posted on the National web site, that they only go back to 1997 and the only increase in youth membership shown is from 1997 to 1998. We don't know what the trend was before th

local1400 and Crew21_Adv, From my perspective it has been very hard to get adults interested in participating in the program to the number needed to "spread the fun around." Essentailly, what I've found talking to some who have dropped out, they'd rather spend the $600 on a short term commitment, than be vested in something for the long haul. brianbuf, As you can see from the varying pespectives and experiences exhibited for you by myself, local1400, and Crew21_Adv, albiet limited within the confines of this thread, you have an example of what SR540Beaver is talking about.

I think the greatest contributor to the decline in membership in scouting is an increase in competition from other youth programs. The focus of the competition is not for based on the cost but the time required to effectively implement participation. The time required is not the boys time, but the parents' instead. Think about the effort required from parents to put together a quality soccer, baseball, or football team compared to the effort required for a quality scout program at the unit level. A quality scout program requires a more robust and diverse set of experiences and opportunities fo

What the heck is a Patrol Adult Advisor and why would every patrol need one? I didn't recall and couldn't find any reference to the position in either of my Scoutmaster or Troop Committee training materials, handbooks, or guides. It doesn't even show up in the org charts nor did I find a position patch. Our troop has an Asst. Scoutmaster for New Patrols who works with the Troop Guide for the new Patrol and advises Den Chiefs.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

Isn't the Queens Scout Award a Girl Scout award? You shouldn't be able to count that one... Vote disqualified. ;-)(This message has been edited by MarkS)

t158sm said, "Nothing says that the first attempt at the fitness requirements cannot be repeated." Right, to streamline things and make the process work a little faster for the scout though, I would consider it acceptable to count the last attempt as a new first attempt if the boy failed to show improvement or even regressed. Have the boy try every month until he does better than the month before. He only has to achieve it one time.

I'm not certain that the work done two years ago should even be counted. The improvement should be shown after 30 days. My son never completed a whole pull-up when he advanced to Tenderfoot. His SPL counted fractions of a pullup. The first time he pulled himself up a quarter of the way and 30 days later about half. Suggest your boy ask that they start over from scratch on pull-ups (and only pull-ups if that's all that's left) and do it the same way 30 days later. A gray area I see in the requirement is that the boy is supposed to show improvement in the activities listed in requireme

The reason to take Wood Badge is to learn and/or improve upon the leadership skills that will help us better serve the boys at whatever level we contribute to the BSA (unit, district, council or national). One of these skills is to lead by example. If you contribute at the unit level and developing leadership skills in the boys you serve is an important part of the contribution you want to make, have your beading ceremony at your COH and use it as a platform to promote NYLT. If you contribute at the district level, have your beading ceremony at your roundtable and use it as a platfor

John-in-KC wrote, "In both a Troop and a Crew, the authority of the youth leadership to design, coordinate, and implement the program is a delegated authority per the Charter Agreement (that clause about executing the Scouting Program...). That authority comes with responsibility" What about the axiom, "You can delegate authority but you can not delegate responsibility?"

Here's a link to a photo of the float. http://www.unionleader.com/uploads/media-items/2006/december/d04a1paradef.jpg I don't see anything stationary to hold onto or anything to prevent those riding on the float from dangling their feet over the edge.

The annual reports published on the BSA web site show that Cub Scout membership has declined from 2.1M in 1997 to 1.7M in 2005 while Boy Scout memberhip has declined from 1M in 1997 to 943k in 2005. It seems to me that the whole premise of this thread is that the BSA doesn't understand why it is experiencing a decline in memberhip or is doing anything about it. The first issue has not been established but in 2006, the BSA launched the first year of a new National Strategic Plan, titled "2010: When Tradition Meets Tomorrow." This plan is supposed to support an organizational vision to

Our council uses FoS to pay for local programs and activities, scholarships, uniforms and fees for special needs youths, service centers/scout shops, insurance, professional staff, camping facilities available and properties maintenance, to subsidize the cost of summer camp and high-adventure events, advancement programs, hiking-trails maintenance, and leadership training including development, literature, and distribution. Our council doesn't require units to meet a donation goal but they do assertively promote FoS in each unit. There is no way the "Fair Share" program described her

"With that kind of sarcasm, maybe he's afraid to visit your unit more often. Maybe your free food isn't very good?" Or maybe, just maybe, he didn't fulfill his role and responsibility as a UC. When I was with my Pack, I may not have been the CM, but I was pretty much a one-man show trying to keep the program going and other leaders involved. I called and emailed our UC very frequently (at least monthly, sometimes multiple times a month) for help and invited him to committee and pack meetings. Told him we needed help involving new leadership when I left. This went on for a year. He did not

Does your council have an annual Cub Scout leader Pow Wow event? If so, check and see if they have some classes on selecting leaders and leadership transition. You might want to take them. If you've missed your event, you should be able to find out who taught them and get copies of their handouts.

WARNING: The amount of sarcasm in this message has been deemed dangerous to your health by the Surgeon General... From my experience, you only see Unit Commissioners once or twice a year. For packs, once when they come for the free food at your B&G banquet and once when they hand you your recharter packet. For troops, only when they hand you your recharter packet. Since the differences are so vast, perhaps they should limit themselves to just one program.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

GN said, ...If you had leaders with limited outdoor knowledge and experience, such a program might motivate them to educate themselves. Also, seeing leaders working to improve themselves could motivate kids... You mean earning that "Trained" strip isn't enough motivation? Frankly, I found the fact that I might have to employ and/or teach a skill as sufficient motivation to learn it. Unfortunately, I've had to work with adults whom you couldn't motivate to leave a burning building.

GN said, ...If you had leaders with limited outdoor knowledge and experience, such a program might motivate them to educate themselves. Also, seeing leaders working to improve themselves could motivate kids... You mean earning that "Trained" strip isn't enough motivation? Frankly, I found the fact that I might have to employ and/or teach a skill as sufficient motivation to learn it. Unfortunately, I've had to work with adults whom you couldn't motivate to leave a burning building.

Good thread... got me to thinking. When I was a Webelos Leader, the boys always said I had great den meetings for them--better than the pack meeting. MarkS puffs out chest. Since joining the troop I've noticed that the meetings aren't run as well as I feel I could do it (it was hard to let go of the reigns). It's gotten to the point that boys are having problems maintining proper discipline and behavior during the meeting. A sign of boredom. I figured it's part of the learning process but this thread got me thinking that it doesn't have to be. As Beavah said we have to teac

Sometimes it's better to devote your time on a quality program than trying to save a dying one. You may want to consider transferring your entire membership to a more vital Troop. Or at the very least, propose such a thing to your Unit Commissioner and your adult leaders. Their reaction should tell you whether or not you will have allies to help you save your unit.

Why was the SM explaining the rules? The SPL leads Troop meetings, not the SM. Hopefully, the leaders in your new unit will have a better understanding of the program.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

Just wanted to clarify my comment "The last resort is to involve their parents more..." By that I strictly mean in terms of correcting the unacceptable behavior. We want the boys to want to behave before we do that. I'm not thinking in terms of limiting their ability to provide adult leadership.

We have discipline problems. They are compounded by the fact that we have several scouts that are special needs (e.g., ADHD, Aspergers, etc). Reason and reminders do not work in mitigating the problem. Typical issues include not respecting other scouts and their property (e.g., taking and hiding of handbooks, rabbit ears over the head instead of the scout salute), wondering off from the group, excessive talking while trying to conduct activities (e.g., being very disruptive while the rules of the game are being explained), kicking butts (e.g., playfully, but still kicking), violations of