MattR

A rope with an eye splice in it would be ... single ended. If you really want some fun make a zero ended rope by doing a long splice back on itself. Give said rope to a scout and ask him to tie a square knot in it. (first he has to find the ends.) Promise him an ice cream if he can tie it in less than 5 seconds.

@Hawkwin, I used to be a MB counselor for Programming MB and what you said is not quite what's in the MB book, or at least not how I interpreted it. Here is req 5: Projects. Do the following: a. With your counselor’s approval, choose a sample program. Modify the code or add a function or subroutine to it. Debug and demonstrate the modified program to your counselor. b. With your counselor’s approval, choose a second programming language and development environment, different from those used for requirement 5a and in a different industry from 5a. Then write, debug, and demonstr

Be careful what you wish for. If we're British then you all be American, if ya git my drift.

I've seen several packs close recently. The issue is not the scouts, it's the adults (not) volunteering. Add that category. Also, all of your reasons relate to scouts, not cubs. Another category is repetition, or "I'm sick of advancement."

How can this go wrong? ..... There will be two SPLs, one boy and one girl. That's okay, assuming they really are doing separate programs. But they won't, because there's only one committee to support them. So there will be, wait for it, co-SPLs. That should work just fine.

There's a missing part here. Or maybe something not brought up enough. A game with a purpose means a fun game. That means something new. New plus fun requires imagination and that takes time. When it's rushed it turns into simple advancement. Adventure is the same way. It takes time to figure out a good idea.

No. It's someone with a lot of debt and not a license to practice (that requires passing residency) and make money. So I'd say "a fool."

I had several scouts that did something similar. All of them earned Eagle. But there's a difference between what you imply and what I saw. The scout that gets Life and disappears does this because Eagle doesn't mean anything to him. Eventually he decides he wants it. If it was dad that wanted it then dad would have been pushing and the scout would have asked when he was 15. Rather, while dad is pushing, often the scout is pushing back by ignoring dad. Eventually dad gives up and the scout, realizing he has freedom and can do what he wants, decides for himself. By the time he gets to me he know

Explain to the parents what the point of tenting as a patrol is about. Ask for their help.

Right now there are two in my troop. They are tenting with their patrols now. Both have unusual families. I used to never see this but now I do. I think kids are less mature at a given age then they used to be even 10 years ago. A friend is a third grade teacher and she's a bit shocked at kids that are belligerent to their parents. They just tell their parents what to do. Maybe this is an anomaly. I doubt if they will have problems in a tent but they have obvious social skill issues.

This is the part I didn't like about being SM. And yet I got some wonderful memories from it (and some bad ones as well). I would have sat such a scout down and told him that he doesn't get my signature if the younger scouts don't look up to him. Actually, every scout got that speech at their life SM conference. That was my bottom line definition of being an Eagle. If the younger scouts don't look up to the Eagle scouts then there's no point in Eagle. That's my view, so everyone that disagrees, let's just agree to disagree. So I'd talk to the scout about this and honestly ask him what Eag

Not three areas. One for the adults and one for each patrol. The reason for a scout to sleep with a parent is that the scout is not mature enough. There are all sorts of reasons. I see it and I understand it. There are very few scouts that want this and by making them go find their parents they see the difference between them and the other scouts. They know they're a bit different but they are honestly not ready. It's a decision for them. It took a whole year for one scout to let go of mom but now he's doing fine. And mom was so ready for him to get to that point. As for distance, 100 yar

Hmm. Do we have the same scouts? We just got a new SPL and he's much more enthusiastic then the last one. Every decision the last one made was to do less. The new one is nice to watch. I pulled him aside last night and told him I really appreciated his attitude, both the "let's do this" and having fun at the same time. And to think he was one of the biggest pains when he was younger.

TNT is also a tool. A tool you need a special license to use. This whole discussion of guns is not moving forward. While the constitution talks about rights it doesn't talk much about responsibilities. We, as a society, have a responsibility towards the poor. We also have a responsibility regarding safety. Both of those responsibilities come from the idea that every life has value. So, when drunk driving causes roughly 25 deaths every day there is a very strong attempt to solve that safety issue. It's not just laws. Parents talk to their kids, there are designated drivers, etc. Nobody has

Mechanical hard drives have fairly strong magnets in them. It's probably more likely that you'd find a car when lost. Pull out the car speaker. A cell phone does have a battery and using that to make a magnet? With the head phone wires? (Hopefully not bluetooth) We're talking McGyver but the scouts might like it. Everyone I know that has a snowmobile knows how to pull the spark plug and start a fire with it. There are magnetic sensors in most cell phones. You just need the app to read them. I know, not much fun.

I agree with everyone's comments that it's not the MBs and ranks, it's how they are run. That is coming from the expectations of everyone involved. The expectations from national down through the districts, the scouters, and the parents is that advancement is school work with a little bit of outdoors thrown in. I think there's an easy solution to that. Remove all the describe and discuss stuff. Assume that if the scout is interested then some day he'll go and read about the describe and discuss stuff on his own when he's mature enough. In the meantime just do more. Rather than talk abo

Fair enough. I'm not sure where you live but start looking in neighboring councils for camps with programs for older scouts. Many of them take solo scouts and mix them together. You and your buddy could have a lot of fun. Make it an adventure! Even if you're not old enough to drive you can get someone to drop you off and pick you up. My friend and I did just that when we were about your age.

Or, if you're okay with using computers, just go back to packmaster until scoutbook is in better shape. They have good software. Tell the cubmaster you've got it, as she has more important things to do than deal with computers. Scoutbook has become a third rail item at roundtable.

This is probably more common than not. I don't like the focus on MBs. How about take the fun merit badges again and talk to the counselors about what you're really there for and see if they can help you out. Another option: Why not work at camp? You might not get paid, because of your age, but you can have a lot of fun. If the staff is good then you can make some life time friends.

Try going to a summer camp that has a program for older scouts. Do you have friends your age in your troop?

Yep, cubs sucks.

Exactly the book I'd like the BSA to work on. It would help all their programs. It's what I wanted from Woodbadge. I'm experimenting but I think one really important key to getting good leadership is a group that understands, really understands, teamwork. I'm not talking about kindergarten level play fair. It's prove you can do your part before we even let you camp with us. The BSA model has always been to first develop leadership and then teamwork will follow. I think it's the other way around for scouts. Given that environment I think the natural leaders would easily come out of their shells

I think venturing is the canary in the coal mine for boy scouts. Venturing has it much tougher than scouts. The 14 age limit is hard because kids have a harder time making friends after that age, most girls that join don't have outdoor experience, and worst of all, that's the age where kids start pulling away from their parents. The result is parents are less involved and nobody is around to pass it on to. SMs pass a troop onto the next SM. I never see a crew advisor pass things on to another. It's also hard to recruit because the age is past where a group of kids will easily join. The result

How about we assume it's exactly half and instead talk about the large difference between cubs and scouts. There's a lot more maturity required of scouts than cubs. They have to deal with people problems because the adults won't be there to fix everything. They will have to be more self motivated. They will have to do more outdoor activities. It's harder. For a lot of scouts it's more fun. Some just want to sit in a classroom environment. I hate to say it but if you're not bored with cub scouts by the time you leave, if you're not really anxious or excited to move on, or if cubs is just really

I think it's a good idea. I can see leadership in coaxing people into donating old machines, testing, reassembling, loading software, and also teaching people how to use the computers. Linux is your friend. It will run on any old computer. There are linux user groups all over that can help.