MattR

OK, guys, it's time to stop beating the poor kid. Paracord, you obviously have a lot of enthusiasm. That's a great asset to any troop. That said, your idea of awards for being able to do things that are already covered by ranks sounds a bit redundant, and I think that's what people are complaining about. However, your trying to improve enthusiasm to do a good job is admirable. Is there another way to reward that? How about having a knot tying competition and giving out something for the top three? I had a knot tying competition and to even the field I had the older scouts do some of the k

Sounds like the problem is with the CC. Punishing a scout to send a message to the parents is rather draconian.

Scout Spirit is an attitude and the SMART (acronym, not shouting) requirements for Eagle won't create it. What does create it is the scoutmaster, and it's very subjective. That said, this is the crux of scouting, this is what parents want for their kids. Better training for scoutmasters is the only thing I can think of that would help.

If you like knots, para chord can be used for real cheap woggles. You need something less than 4'. http://www.troop54.com/knots/TurksHeadKnot/TurksHeadKnot.htm. The only challenge is figuring out the right diameter to start with so it ends up right. Sometimes you have to try a few times. If you like knots it's not a problem, if you don't, well, stick with pvc. Something else that is very nice is, while making the turks head, between coming out and going back into the knot, is drop down a loop and tie an overhand knot in the loop. It looks just like the Good Turn Daily knot hanging off the

Okay M&M, it's time for one of you to take the high road and step back from the keyboard. This conversation is not changing anyone's mind and brings nothing new to the table. Both of you have a strong desire to convince the other of something very important to you and, to be honest, neither of you will. What's left is the appearance that neither of you is willing to not have the last word. How do you teach your scouts to deal with another kid that won't stop arguing? Some times it's better to just walk away and know in your heart that you are right. Anyway, please stop, before I start

Strictly professional I've been asking around for the volunteer type and this seems to have struck a chord.

Colorado. Of course I need help, at least that's what my wife always tells me. Since private messages don't work yet, send email to jsi6hgcw3oj6ceg@jetable.org. Then we can use regular email. That address is only good until 9:40PM Tuesday.

I currently have an exchange student from Germany staying with us. Yes, we do have guardianship. I'd ask the boy if he's interested in advancement. Most likely he has no idea what it's about and really is just interested in how Americans have fun and what camping is. He's here to learn our culture, not get Eagle. After one campout he may be done with it or he may really enjoy it. Give him a handbook, sign stuff off so he can be part of a patrol, and don't worry about it. He'll be gone before summer camp and will never get close to Eagle. Explain to him what the PoA means to us and ask him what

I'd say there can be passion without religion, look at PETA, or the vitamin junkies at Whole Foods.. Passion can be a good thing, art, running, gardening, one's spouse, boy scouts.... Passion isn't the problem, the problem is when passion spills over into telling others how to live when they don't agree.

The sad part was I didn't even realize this until my son was close to Eagle. At the time I thought I had a long way to go. Totally clueless as a youth. Now, I fully support Eagle coaches

The only MB I had left to do for Eagle was Cit in the World, and I was living overseas at the time....

I should learn to keep my mouth shut. I went to the meeting about rebuilding the camp and I gave them a synopsis of everything we talked about here, and they loved it. The good news is they want to start off small and slowly change it over a few years. The bad news is I have to figure it all out. Stay tuned.

One scout from my troop went and he enjoyed it. Only negative was the miles to get to some events. He couldn't do some of the events because of the time required to get there. Maybe 20,000 cheap bikes spread all over the place next time? What was great was he had no problem with the heat. At summer camp he ended up at the medic with pretty severe dehydration. It wasn't that he wasn't drinking enough water but wasn't getting enough salt. I had electrolyte tablets but he didn't like the taste as his stomach was already upset. He did ok with gatorade. When he was getting ready for jambo his

How about a game called "human pin ball." I'm not sure what the rules are but it sounds about right. We did human foosball and it was great. I tried a version of quidditch with 3 balls with webelos. That was a bad idea. Two boys looking at two different balls running into each other.

A few years ago I hit the same realization that BD had, it may be better to spend time on those that want to get something out of the program. Maybe it would be better to send email out to all of the existing families and do roses and thorns with them. What do they like? What would they like to see improved?

JoeBob, if you combine the Bikini Girls with the Scouts then the cars will not get cleaned. There may be some clocks that get cleaned.

Bears? I've seen bears open tents wherever they want. They just run a claw down the side of the tent. What does a tent have that a hammock doesn't? Maybe the bear wants to sleep in the hammock? Or is a hammock too much like a tarp? That begs the question, why not tarps?

I'd like to echo Packsaddle's opinion (not the whango tree thing, which is probably better then pack singing), only not just for the current circle of death. Back in January I put up a thread that referenced a bible story about how arguing to pulverize your opponent is not only wrong (people got swallowed up by the earth!) but also a waste of time. Arguing to understand each other and learn from each other, however, is fine. The difference is subtle but we need to back off, or at least be courteous when we cross that line. Since January we've crossed a lot of those lines. What we're argu

My only suggestion is be a facilitator and not a professor. Our roundtables are horrible. Half of us only go because we know there's an after-meeting with golden foamy liquids. But, we are slowly working with the commissioner to improve.

Summer backpacking sounds like an interesting use of this. I don't know much about them but am curious. I use a syl-nylon tarp and sleep on the ground. It would be nicer to just move it all up a couple of feet. I've read that you can sleep on your side or even stomach if you sleep at an angle to the tarp. Doesn't that make it harder to get insulation underneath? Can you hang a down blanket underneath? My pad, which isn't that big, is really big compared to a lot of things I carry and getting rid of that would be a real bonus..

"Would you agree that the advancement part of the program is easier for people to teach than the leadership part?" Yes. I tell my scouts that the scout spirit requirement is the hardest one for them to get checked off. They don't believe me until they ask me to check it off. "I'm thinking the easy cop out is to simply make check marks in boxes than it is to sit down and work with boys developing their character and leadership abilities." It's even harder when you're not quite sure how to work with the boys to achieve this. My point is only that I barely understand how to do it ri

Jblake, I agree with you, absolutely. The selfish should be balanced by the selfless. That's a well rounded scout. What can the BSA do? Based on JTE and the Venture rewrite, I don't see anything useful. I like what you're ideas are, but they can't be requirements and check boxes. As you said, a culture change is needed. The only way I can see that is if the adults truly understand what the methods are and also how to implement them. I'd like to see better training or information for scoutmasters. The scoutmaster handbook is a nice introduction but it could go a lot deeper into

I don't think it's a tradeoff on advancement mill vs servant leadership, I think it's more the expectation and goals of the SM. If the SM wants every kid to get Eagle then the shortest path is an Eagle mill. If the goal is to have a ton of adventure then there's a different path. If the goal is to have boy led then servant leadership is important. The challenge with the last option is it's difficult to implement. Part of this is the lack of training for adults and part is it just takes time working with kids. This, to me, is the crux of what scouts is about. To be a servant leader, or tru

Given it would be the same project, 1.5 months is doable. You can't use any of the work you've done but you can use the plan. So my guess is any money that anyone has given you can't be used. So you need to find more donors. You asked about whether it showed enough leadership. That's always a tough call. It's not enough if someone gave you a plan and all you did was provide labor. I would say going around to collect donations would be good. Talk to the organizations that deliver them and find out what they need. They may ask for diapers. You don't know. You can also do a drive to collect from

When do you turn 18? I had a scout in my troop do a project without getting Council signatures and he is now doing it over. If you have the time then don't worry, you can just do the exact same plan again, only get the signatures first. If you don't have the time, you're at the Council's mercy. Tough lesson.