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MattR

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Everything posted by MattR

  1. MattR
    And I thought Pandora was a music server. As for what the new rules will likely be ...
  2. MattR
    Yes, it can be. Do a google search on "benefits teasing." There are a number of people that study social interactions. In a nutshell, teasing can be a form of play where kids learn social skills and/or bond. It's also a way for some to ensure social norms in a positive manner. In every one of those articles they also say it can go too far. I can see where people don't like that risk because it is a fine line. Sometimes the kids are learning where that line is. I've noticed that kids with siblings tend to have a head start on social skills compared to kids without siblings. How much of that
  3. MattR
    Are there any guarantees? Maybe you mean to say a significant number of adults will abuse this. But how many abuse the patrol method? There's risk in a lot of what we do. We're trying to encourage teenagers after all. That's an explosive mixture. I will agree that national treats us the way they don't want us to treat the scouts: It's better to micromanage than to train, trust, and let them be. As for the evolution/creation argument, it's great. The creationists are doing a better job of keeping the scientists honest than the scientists. Everyone says the options are only DNA/sex or Intell
  4. MattR
    I have to tell a story first to show how much things have changed. My first campout with the boy scouts was called an initiation campout. We were told there would be some challenges. When we got to camp scouts would slowly give out more details. It would be Saturday night, we would be blindfolded and have to make our way around camp, there was a rope bridge we had to cross, they thought someone had tightened it, it was 60 feet above the ground, it was 60 feet above a raging river, not many scouts fell off, very few died .... It was a ghost story made to scare us. I was scared. I was scared
  5. MattR
    It doesn't matter. But, if the scout believes in God maybe these words will encourage him. Or maybe the person that wrote the scout oath was encouraged by those words. I'm not stating there's an if and only if relationship here. I'm sure the Dalai Lama has his own meaning and words that are similar to the scout oath. Whatever encourages people to be better people I'm all for. I brought this up because a bunch of people were talking about a phrase in the Bible that has deeper meaning than Pack's knees.
  6. MattR
    Here's one interpretation of In God's Image. It's not about comparing yourself to God. If everyone is created in God's image then the question is how should we treat everyone? Possibly the same way we treat God, and the same way God treats us. To help other people at all times comes to mind.
  7. MattR
    So I guess we can't have patrol competitions anymore because some patrol has to come in last place, and that's embarrassing. A year ago my SPL couldn't start a fire in the fire competition. He said that was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him as a scout. He went home and practiced how to build a fire. He's quite good at it now. The other night we had a knot tying competition and the older scouts (all star and above) were judges. I told them ahead of time if they didn't know the knots I'd embarrass them in front of the troop. Then I asked them if they needed any help with any
  8. MattR
    When I started as SM our scouts left their stuff all over camp. Summer camp was a nightmare. I could ask them till I was blue in the face to pick up their stuff, to no avail. My son's 6tth grade teacher would dance with kids that were doing something they weren't supposed to do so I figured why not. An 11 year old dancing around the room with his teacher. Talk about embarrassment. We do a Mexican hat dance for lost items. The scouts sing the song and the boy dances. Any scout that tells the spl they can't find something before we do the dancing will not have to dance. Any scout that is looking
  9. MattR
    Thanks for the feedback. In a way I've been doing this for a long time. An older scout never helps out, I sit down with him and tell him I'll never sign off unless he changes, his eyes get very large, and we have a discussion that leads to the scout helping out and eventually getting eagle. The only scout that has not made Eagle after a discussion like this is the one that brought weed to summer camp. Some scouts have grudgingly gone along but most have made the best of it and had a good time. At the same time I really don't like doing this because it's a lot of stress for me and the scout. Th
  10. MattR
    This might be a bit off topic but I am interested in this. I have a problem with POR's in general, for older scouts. Shouldn't they just be expected to help out with the program? If they have a POR then fine but that's such a short period. I despise the attitude of I don't need the POR so I don't have to help out. I'd like to ask every scout coming in for a SMC for a higher rank what he's done to help the troop. It would be great to see him pull out a list of things he's done beyond what the POR requires. Helped run an event, taught younger scouts some skills, mc'd a camp fire. I'd like to see
  11. MattR
    I mentioned this before as well. I have a laptop and if I adjust the angle of the display I can make it easier to read. Someone mentioned adjusting contrast, but I can't do that on my display. I'm happy to see the spell check working. All in all, this is much nicer than previous versions.
  12. MattR
    Part of me agrees with Barry. In my prayer book is a quote in a footnote that I really like. It says Judaism is a matter of the heart. Reform Judaism views the messianic age as a goal we should work towards, where violence and poverty are no more. It's an impossible goal that is still worth striving for. That's a contradiction for the mind, but not the heart. So is following the scout law. The scout law is an ideal we'll never reach but that we should always strive for. So having an absolute such as God, even if we can never reach it, is good training that works well with the Scout Law. On
  13. MattR
    I'll bump this topic. I like the idea of having levels of MBs. Scouts need increasing goals to keep them interested. By making them so an 13 year old can do them means by the time a scout is 17 he's bored with MBs and they are nothing but a time sink. Grouping them into water sports or STEM is something to think about. I like the idea of making First Class mean more than it does now. I'm not sure how to do that other than getting rid of FCFY and also doing better training for adults on what this means. Adding the old req to take your patrol on a campout would be great. I don't lik
  14. MattR
    There seems to be two simple ideas the adults need to understand. One is fully accepting the part of Reverent that includes respecting the beliefs of others. The second is understanding how fragile it is for the typical teenager. If it's explained well I think the majority of scouters will do well with it. My only fear is that National has this fantastic way of muddying up this subject. I'll tell you what, get AZMike to rewrite this topic for National and Pack can incorporate it into his satiric, online "How not to run a SMC."
  15. MattR
    Of course it's silly, but it's a start. I honestly doubt if a boy will look at a rock and say that's god. More likely he'll look across the ocean, or a mountain valley, or the Milky Way, and say there must be something. I'd say that's a great place to be. While I don't like the Rock or the Meatball, not accepting it puts us in the position of judging the beliefs of others. Given that religion can be such a long journey, I don't see judging a young man's beliefs as helping him if he's just getting started.
  16. MattR
    I agree with Fred. It's a whole lot easier to have a discussion if Religion of the Rock (Dome of the Rock, anyone?) is allowed. I'd much rather encourage a young man to figure it out on his own or with his family, with no strings attatched. Maybe a scout is sick of hearing fire and brimstone sermons and decides the Milky Way is more peaceful. So he comes up with his own beliefs. Years later, because of his history with scouts, he volunteers and meets a cleric that more closely matches his beliefs and he finds a congregation he likes. Worked for me. Sometimes it just takes faith in the boys.
  17. MattR
    We had a kid eat a peanut and when I asked him where his epi pin was he said he forgot to bring it. We were an hour from the nearest hospital. We gave him benadryl. He threw it up. We gave him more. Another kid did have an epi pin and I asked for it. He was smaller so I assumed the dose would be less. I was only going to use it if I really had to. We met an ambulance half way to the town and they took over from there. They told us we did the right thing. They also told us epi pins are not a solution, they are a temporary fix. I don't know why benadryl is not a standard first aid kit item. We p
  18. MattR
    What kind of open ended questions do people ask boys to get them to talk about Reverent or Duty to God? Do you preface it with anything? For example: "I'm not here to tell you what to believe" or "different people have different ideas about this." Just as in first aid we shouldn't go beyond our training, but I don't mind the intent of these "changes." The only change I see is national micromanaging things.
  19. MattR
    This just seems like one more in a long line of micromanaging the program. Instead of helping leaders understand how to make the patrol method work we get JTE. Instead of helping us have a discussion that could honestly help a boy grow we get a vague check box. I would certainly like more guidance but I'm not seeing that. Some leaders will do well by this and some will abuse it. For the obvious situations most leaders will know how to handle it but there will certainly be cases where they are ill prepared. Unfortunately, the boys with the most to gain will likely be the ones that are hurt
  20. MattR
    My son aged out and I stayed. I enjoy it and am trying to get better at it. I still have fun, so I stay. We have some other adults that also stick around but don't do nearly as much as I do. Several have told me they will stick around as long as I do. If someone was showing the level of passion for this that I have I'd ask them if they wanted to be SM, and I'd give it to them if they wanted it. I've asked lots of people if they want to be SM and it's surprising how quickly they say no. I also am constantly asking parents what they think is right. Whenever they mostly disagree with me I'll
  21. MattR
    We use 3 buckets by patrol: soap, rinse, bleach. Someone mentioned something about steritabs (?) to replace bleach. When we go on real cold campouts we will have a centralized place to heat water with a high output burner, as the stoves don't have enough heat to boil water when it's below zero and above 7000 feet. Our scouts are good at using the 3 buckets but for some reason they can't seem to keep the oil, soap, and bleach containers from making a mess out of their patrol boxes. The QM collects them after the campout and we put them in a different container. This drives me nuts and I'd r
  22. MattR
    I don't know why everyone thinks lodge is so great. If you can find old cast iron it's better because someone sanded down the bumps, which Lodge doesn't do. So I went and sanded down my skillet. It is much easier to use now. A big dirty mess but worth it. About flax seed oil. Be warned that's for seasoning, not for day to day use. Flax seed oil has a very low burn point, which is good for seasoning but bad for cooking. Some people have a lot of luck with flax seed oil for seasoning and some do not. I don't. Some people swear by saturated fats. Some swear by unsaturated fats. Seasoning cast
  23. MattR
    1) Do you use Dutch ovens? Yes 2) Wood or charcoal? Mostly charcoal 3) Troop cook or patrol cook? Patrol 4) Size(s) used? Mostly 12" and 14", regular or deep 5) Uses: stove top style (Stews, soups, oatmeals) or Oven (breads, pies, cobblers, casseroles, pot roast, etc.) Yes. They make great skillets. 6) Do you own an aluminum Dutch oven? No 7) Do you use DO's on activities other than plop camping? Also on rivers where we don't have to portage 8) Aluminum foil liners or clean as you go? That's a religious fight. If it's my DO I'd never use a liner, but I take care of
  24. MattR
    Any chance you can increase the contrast on the dates of threads? It's faded first if the mouse isn't over the thread box, and second just because. Consequntly it's not easy to read.
  25. MattR
    I was a scout brat, in the Transatlantic Council. I hung out with all the Army brats. One size does not fit all, either good or bad. This is where bad things come from.
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