MattR

Thanks for the laugh. A few years ago I was backpacking with my troop when we came upon some ladies backpacking that, uh, were trying for a different set of tan lines. It was steep terrain and no place to go so they discretely turned. They were more embarrassed than the scouts who didn't notice a thing because as usual they were staring at their feet. Not much to miss anyway.

We ask scouts to put in enough description and detail that they can give the book to someone else and they could run the project. The only point is to get the scout to think through all the details. Things usually change but the scout has enough insight that he can easily deal with the change. So we will ask a scout to fill in more information before we'll sign it.

Late, but I'll put in my 2 cents as I just went through something similar. There's a thread on weed and summer camp for details. I'm not going to get upset and throw a kid out because a he made a mistake with grass. But I do want to see some growth, acknowledgement, or something that the scout knew he did something wrong and not that he just got caught. That's where I drew the line. The scout lost my trust in him when he broke the law and it was up to him to repair that. The scout's parents asked for a check list of things to do to gain back my trust and I said trust isn't gained by a simple c

That article mentions that many web sites are removing comments because a small minority will take over and control the conversation. We also have a small minority that can control the conversation. The difference is our minority is driven by the Oath and Law and the others are driven by greed. Thanks Moderators. BTW, I see other websites that work and they too have a "play nice" policy that's enforced by moderators. These used to be called editors.

BD, he kept himself clean for 12 weeks, peed in a cup randomly, and took a diversion course so the court said he's fine. And for that I would have let him back in the troop, had he asked. His dad did call me yesterday, and said his son wants to transfer. Dad said it would be too rough for his son to come back to the troop because of the negative history. I could have said all sorts of things about how it could be a silver lining and a character building experience but all I said was fine and good luck. I just wanted to ask if he's so afraid of what other people will think of him then why

Still enjoy the outdoors. Check. Still enjoy working with scouts. Check. Still excited about making a better program or improving my skills. Check. Still rarely come home from a campout feeling fried (only once). Check. Meetings are another story. Still can't get anyone to say yes to "do you want to be the SM." Check, I guess. I have tried. Still get my way at committee meetings and still have a lot of support from the majority of the adults. Check. Still get a few adults that are horse butts so I have a ready supply of topics at the bar. Check. But the most important: St

Update: The kid did the proscribed class and urine check every week for 12 weeks and kept himself clean. I tried talking to him twice but he never responded. I also occasionally looked at his facebook page. The bottom line is he didn't seem to really want to make a change in his life. His facebook page is, well, embarrassing. He's still hanging out with the same group of kids, who are not a good influence. So when it came to rechartering I told the person handling it that this boy could recharter with us but he had to talk to me first. I figure if he can't find the nerve to call me and h

Here's my two cents from 50,000 feet. The boys came up with an idea (hooray for them for just doing that) that may have come across as a surprise to a bunch of parents that don't have the money this time of year. Some parents came back with a knee jerk reaction that was way off base. The parents are clueless. No matter what, this is not a SM issue. There's a problem here between the parents and the PLC. If I were in this situation I'd talk to some of the parents and find out what's bugging them about the party. I'd tell them the party is optional and no, I will not pay for it. If the parents d

What I think he's saying is he doesn't trust the PLC/older scouts to do the right thing. They likely won't if they don't have good support and training. I'd talk to the older scouts about this. They will make mistakes but hopefully the support is there to correct them. At least that's what I'm counting on for my troop.

Yes, we also have summer camp, but no, I don't go on everything. I usually pick one event. While I'd love to go on every trip, and make every campout a 3 day weekend, it ain't so. I have a big troop and dads that like the outdoors. We have two HA trips because most are limited to 12 people and we have more than 12 that want to go. If we have two inexpensive trips then a lot of scouts want to go on both. There's an age, around 16, where there are scouts that go on everything. They really enjoy the week long trips. That's the hook that keeps kids in my troop. When I talk to scouts that age out a

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." - Allen Saunders

We did that for a high adventure trip. Three nights in the canyon. Two groups started at either rim and exchanged keys in the middle. The cool thing was there were no other people on the trail that age. Everyone we met thought it was great. Hiking up the North side at sunrise is incredibly beautiful. We have two high adventure trips a year. One is allowed to be expensive (~Philmont cost) and one must be inexpensive ($200 - $300). Scouts can easily raise that much in a year.

Wow. Id' suggest you write a big long email and then throw it out. It helps. But the truth is that if the current SM likes what you're doing then it doesn't matter what the former one says. There will always be someone that doesn't like change. But, never waste a problem or an opportunity! How about asking the PLC what they thought about the former SM's talk? You'll develop trust by being loyal to your scouts. They might also talk about what they're worried about, or need help with. Also, the former SM just challenged your scouts. Let the scouts know that and they'll most likely want to

I hope your relatives played nice. Mine did.

I'm voting with Tahawk (there is interest in the outdoors and the training needs improving), and SeattlePioneer (the demographics are changing). If families are struggling to make ends meet then maybe meetings should be set up to include siblings. The kids in my troop don't have that issue so much as they have, how can I say this politely, cultural pressure to win, succeed, and sign up for everything. What they really enjoy about campouts is a chance to get away from the daily grind of school, parents, and home. They just want to hang with their friends. Scouts is local and success will h

Can I pin it to the forehead of the parent that's paying his son for each rank advancement? Talk about a SM nightmare.

jkmscottie, welcome to the forums. The short answer to your question is yes, it's your responsibility. The longer version, and what everyone else is talking about, is whether even you should deal with those issues. Sure, sometimes you should. If for example, you have a scout bring weed to summer camp then that's your issue (been there done that). But if it's a scout that doen't want to do dishes then it's the PL's issue. He may ask for help from the SPL, and if that doesn't help they might come to you for help to figure out how to deal with it. Again, you aren't dealing with it directly.

Apparently there are two paintings called A Scout Is Loyal. One was painted in 1932 and one was in 1942. The one you are looking at was done in 1932. The later one has a scout standing facing forward holding a hat, with Washington and Lincoln standing behind him and an eagle off to the side. I like the first one more than the second.

I understand your agony. If I knew that scout camps were being created elsewhere I'd say oh well, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Our council took a camp and put it in a conservation reserve. That means they got paid a bunch of money and signed a contract that said the land can't be developed by them or anyone they might sell it to. So it's now worthless to anyone that wants to develop it and there's less of a chance for anyone to want to sell it.

I don't think I can get you gps coordinates for treks but I can get you the coordinates for the boundary trail. That's 12 miles around the edge of the camp. There's a map the council puts out that has all the trails through the camp and I took that and google earth and found a bunch of points. I might be able to find you a map. I might even have one in a closet but that would require digging. Another thing to think about is driving over to the canyon to the South to go white water rafting one day on the Poudre river. The council doesn't run it but they can help you find a rafting company. Ther

Sorry. My bad.

Somebody once told me they weren't comfortable "with the whole God thing" and I suggested they take the bible and replace the word God with love, or a phrase like "what you know is right in your heart" and see if that helps. Sometimes you have to massage the words a bit to get them to fit but the meaning tracks well. Most of the bible is a story about a bunch of characters with all sorts of flaws and often the lesson is to be less selfish, which not surprisingly fits well with the boy scout message. It's great literature with a lot of lessons. Anyway, the prayers are a bit harder to transform

The Troop Program Features books now have a section with something like a hundred games. There are plenty of good ones. One I think is a riot to watch is blind folded soccer. Scouts are in pairs. One is blind folded and can kick the ball while the other can see the ball but can't kick it. They have to talk to each other, or more like shout at each other.

Yep, it's in my backyard. It's one reason we don't feel Philmont is such a big deal. They don't have as many activities as Philmont but it's much less crowded, as in you rarely see other people. Also a lot cheaper. You get to climb on real rocks as opposed to climbing walls, and rappelling off of Weaver's Thumb (a full pitch) is great stuff. There are different hikes you can choose from. The easiest is 35 miles and you stay on the ranch. The hardest is 50+ miles, pretty much above 11,000 feet the whole week and you go into the local National Forest. I know they have 7 day treks and I think the