MattR

Try synonyms for scout. You could also go with a Western theme. Replace troop with tribe. Patrol with band. Pioneers. Adventurer for explorer. Vanguard for PLC. Trapper. Wolf. Bear. Buffalo. And something outlandish for the award, like the Distinguished Silver Pelt with Crossed Talons. Or just the name of a bird of prey. Silver Hawk? Something a kid could understand.

@cocomax makes a good point. I think we should rename Patrol Method with Scout Ownership. If they want to own it then the patrol method enables them. If they don't want to own it then patrol method will not encourage leadership. One thing that really gets in the way of ownership is what @SSScout mentioned recently about planning (something about failing to plan is a plan for failure). Planning is nitty gritty work that involves thinking of all the details. It's a grind for the scouts. Coming up with the idea is much easier than making it happen. Again, I'd rather see more support for adul

Ah, thank you. It's great that your son is so enthusiastic. On the other hand, there's more to scouts than advancement. So maybe channeling that enthusiasm in a different direction might help. One thing this patrol seems to be missing is some scout leadership, PA or no. Either a patrol leader or troop guide should be running the patrol, not an adult. Since your son is so much ahead of the rest of his patrol maybe he could be part of that leadership. Or maybe he could be the assistant patrol leader to the patrol leader or troop guide. It would give him a great opportunity. It wou

Welcome to the forum, @Maxwell17. What's a PA?

It seems to me there's a problem when we're trying to define the meaning of words that are used to define what we're doing. Run vs lead vs led vs .... How about this: The job of the adults is to make the boys successful, where success is described as growing towards the ideals of scouting. If the scouts are taking on more responsibility then we're doing something right. A 12 year old PL is going to have a different definition of success compared to a 17 year old PL. I just got back from a backpacking trip with the scouts. One of the older scouts, who is 17.5, I met at a store a week

Maybe it's too easy to blame the parents on this. If you look at advancement resources vs outdoor fun resources the focus is clearly on advancement. There are pages of requirements. Manuals for judging the advancement. Arguments all over the place regarding examples of people doing things wrong. Then look at how to put on a fun, outdoor program and there isn't nearly as much. You don't even need to buy anything to keep it organized like the back of the scout handbook, no requirements to learn planning, no levels of learning how to make a skill into a fun activity. Unlike passing first aid or c

@Saltface and @Chris1, I sent you a PM.

Welcome to the forum! And thanks for the enthusiasm.

Holy Tintinnabulation, Batman! Good news on the grandson and your good health.

This is what I printed from their instructions. I must admit, the one they emailed to me is identical except that it has an expiration date. Guess what? my.scouting.org has bugs in it! Who would have thought?

I printed off the certificate and it clearly says "does NOT expire."

Welcome to the forum, @ncscouterz.

Welcome to the forum @mac266

Considering the 9 times I've take the previous versions every other year, it was kind of a sleeper.

Just to clarify what Jameson76 said. No, his eagle project is independent of the 6 months. He can take as long as he wants, as long as it's done before his 18th birthday. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. He could complete all of his Eagle requirements in the 6 month minimum except for the last one, which is the board of review. BTW, that one does not need to be completed before his 18th birthday but it does need to be before 3 months after his 18th birthday. The reason for the 3 months is because it can take a month to set it all up and 3 is plenty of overhead. So,

Welcome to the forum, @MsAinGH.

Turns out the SE took care of it for me. The entire council staff had a sit down. Apparently the volunteers are important customers. Things have improved dramatically in the past week. Thanks for asking.

This is what I wish the BSA would focus on. I'd rather see them bet the farm on better training. If there's something that will increase membership it will be helping scouters, parents, and the community better understand the program. Axe and GPS skills are important but just understanding the basics is also important. The current model the BSA uses for training is based on the assumption that there are plenty of adults with plenty of outdoor and scouting experience. i.e., all they need to do is go over some BSA specific safety issues and they're good to run a program. Come up with a training

Welcome to the forum, @DaBear-c5-324-15

Hi @Jishusa, welcome to the forum. While I'm not so sure about having the OA scouts decide that a scout must wait a month to try again, the idea of getting feedback from them is a very good idea. I've had scouts tell me, after an election went a completely different way then I thought, that a scout was very different when no adults were around. The best judge of a scout is the other scouts. They know who is lazy, who is a friend to the loner kid, who is selfish, who doesn't mind cleaning, who can be goofy and serious at the right times, .... I'd like to hear what other scouts ha

I like your idea, @qwazse. We were talking about how to get some parents to help out more and I suggested putting them in a patrol and teach them the patrol method (nod to @Eagledad). Not only that but they'd start having some fun and might see scouts differently. I always told people that one really great thing about scouts is you can do something with your son, it's not just standing on the sideline or in the audience. As to the rest of this thread, let's at least get back to the topic of the BSA betting on girls. I don't think it will have a huge impact on numbers, based on what I've s

it's not a troop position so you wouldn't see it. The UC is supplied by the district. He/she is a volunteer with usually a lot of experience. If you can't find it on the district web page then look for the District Commissioner, who can help you. If you can't find that title then look for the council commissioner or the district chair, either of which should be able to help you find a commissioner. I think this is the way to go, if you can find someone with experience and has a level personality. It's someone not tied to one side or the other and also with experience. I'd think that maybe

I don't understand why participation can't be a requirement. Imagine the soccer player that only plays one game a season. Scouts is about doing so why not let the SM make a requirement? If it's too harsh then the scouts can go elsewhere. As long as it's consistent I'd be okay with it. I always told the scouts if they don't like the campouts then let's talk about it so they can do something about it. But it's easier to just not do anything. Getting back to the aims of scouting, I'm not sure how scouting can have much impact if the scouts are never around. Without the activities the aims ar

Every time I take a first aid course there's a caveat; don't go beyond your training. There's a guy that runs the youth program at our CO (a church) and this guy has seen a lot more than I have. Suicides, attempted suicides, drug and alcohol abuse, kids coming out. He's my go to person with experience. I only had to talk to him once but it was good advice. My advice is find someone with a lot more experience than you have.

I did a few on campouts but less rushed is not how I'd describe it. The scouts wanted to get back to whatever fun they were having. As much fun as I had with scouts I could never compete with scouts hanging out with their friends. I did a lot at my house. Those were the most relaxed and I could get scouts to talk the most.