Mike Long

Very true Eisely. I do have one advantage though, no one can accuse me of treating my kid differently. I don't have any children.

Eisely you raise a very common issue. If the boy is displaying behaviour unbecoming a scout I'm on him quick. No favorites, no exceptions, no matter who your daddy is. Frankly I'm a little tired of the "but his mom/dad is so involved" stuff. I understand that no one wants to lose a big troop supporter but ask yourself exactly what kind of support does that person provide if they refuse to see any wrong their child commits? The best you can do is talk to the parents and voice your concerns honestly and openly. Hopefully they will come around. If no response then talk to the Committe Charman and the Charter Rep. If you can't reform the child and the parent is actively fighting that reform them someone needs to find a new troop. The it's ok for my child but not anyone else attitude is an incedibly destructive cancer to a troop. The last thing you need is someone in an authority position that doesn't think that the rules apply to them. What kind of role model is that? Most importantly, be sure you are right.

That is NOT the Boy Scout way and the process is very effective. You saw an "awkward stage" as you charitably called it. I call it scouts in dire need of leadership training and a stern reminder that a scout is courteous and kind. If the Scoutmaster saw this and didn't act positivly he needs the same. Behaviour like that is not tolerated in our troop especially from those in leadership positions. The "get over here" stuff does occur with frustrated scouts unaccustomed to leadership and is corrected as soon as we observe it. The distainful attitude and insults however are another matter that requires more intensive attention. First off I would speak to the Scoutmaster about your concerns wether you choose to join that troop or not. Second I would visit other troops and I am sure that you will find what you seek.

I love to talk hiking and backpacking! Planning a hike. 1. Where are you going 2. How far will you go 3. What is the difficulty level of the hike 4. When do you start 5. How long will you be gone 6. Who is going 7. What is the ability level (including general health) of the hikers (helps determine time on trail and difficulty level the group can take safely) 8. Be Prepared (adequate gear, water and who carries what) 9. How much will it cost (permits/fees) 10. How will you get to the trailhead 11. Where will you go if something goes wrong (closest help and don't count on the cell phone) 12. Notify the ranger of your detailed plans including finish time (ETA) 13. Notify 2 different people who are not hiking with you of your complete plans including finish time (ETA) 14. When done inform the ranger and call the 2 people to let them know you are done and OK. A lot of the above is unknown until you get to the trail but for me all of the above must be satisfied.

DOH!!!! Ya got me before I could re-post!

Addeddum: I just noticed that all I gave were lunch suggestions. Dinner: Lipton noodles and sauce mix add canned meat. hamburger helper add dehydrated ground beef. flavored rice mix with meat Beans and rice with sliced summer sausage added. Freeze-dried dinners are great but expensive. I recomend Mountain House brand. For dessert make pudding and you can chill it if you are near a cold water source. In cold weather make jello and drink it hot, it will keep you toasty all night. Pack in some cookies too. Popcorn is great around the campfire. I can't stress enought that the meal must satisfy the nutritial requirements of the hiker. Food is fuel especially on the trail. This is not an opinion this is a fact. So ramen is not enough because it will not satify the nutritional requirements of any hiker and high calories are a must. The average person takes in about 3000 calories a day. When backpacking you burn 5000 to 6000 a day leaving you in a caloric deficit. Poor nutrition will aggravate this. On week long high adventure backpacking trips I strongly suggest you require your boys to bring multivitamins.

A trail meal is whatever you are winning to carry and prepare on the trail that satisfies your nutritional requirements. Ramen alone is the beginnings of a meal and will leave me out of fuel in about 2 hours at the most. Suggestions: Ramen noodles with half a can of chicken added and an orange or handful of trail mix peanut butter on a flour tortilla and a single pack of applesuace or an apple or trail mix (don't use corn tortillas the disintegate in a pack as does sanwich bread) tuna in a foil pack (keeps forever and weighs less than canned stuff) add mayo and relish (from the small platic packs) to make tuna salad with crackers and trail mix or fruit. Fresh fruit is heavy but it makes the perfect reward after a long day on the trail or at the top of a mountain. To all bring powdered gatoraid or some drink mix in a ziplock and mix it in a water bottle. NEVER MIX IT IN A HYDRATION CELL. The acids will dissolve and destroy the cell over time.

We are getting way off track from the original question. In response to the question posted. I avoid prize systems the prizes never seem to make the work worth it. Several times we have had boys work hard for a prize and be disappointed in it (usually due to quality.) Plus without a prize system you cut down on the inventory that you must manage and you no longer have drop-ship worry if you used an outside vendor. Keep it simple. Our troop fundraisers are all built to help scouts pay their way to camp. We get much better participation and results that way.

I think your right about the jamboree patch eisely. What some of the guys do is get clear plastic patch holders that hang on the right pocket button and just swap the patch out or stitch a button loop on the patch. I don't know where they got the patch sleeves. As for patches on the back of the sash, it just looks wrong to me. Just an opinion though.

I would just concentrate on doing fun things and learning. Our troop typically has slow advancement and you won't lose boys because of slow advancement as long as they are having fun by doing things.

Oh, it's not a problem. Just a "heads up."

There used to be a fundraiser offered to units in our area that was similar to the one described (The Entertainer coupon book.) I seem to remember that it was council approved too. Definately check with council/national about it but I would think that if national approved of brand name candy sales they wouldn't have an issue with coupon books. A lot of the fundraising ads in Scouter and Boy's Life look pretty darn commercial to me. If they had a problem with them I would think that they would refuse their advertisments.

Rooster is just an active Scouter. (the best kind) You are probably right Eisely, but my opinion is that it looks horrible. There are no other patches worn on the back of the uniform. Why then have any? It seems very unbalanced and awkward. In our area it is the trend to not wear anything but merit badges on the sash. I believe that temporary patches (like camporee and jamboree patches) can also be worn above the right pocket.

Welcome to the board I B a Scout. The gay issue is covered in the issues and politics area and there is an exensive history of discussions. This and other topics of that nature need to be discussed there as it is not pertinant to theme of Boy Scout Program. As to strong opinions, you catch on quick! You have to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. Enjoy.

"Common sense isn't very common." -Voltaire Look him up and check out how long ago he lived.

He is wrong. They should be two separate hikes.

Wrong is wrong. It does not matter how "the game is played" in school, work or politics. If it is the boys assumption that he was "playing the game" then it needs to be explained in no uncertain terms that "the game" is un-scoutlike, un-american, immoral and flat out wrong and exactly why it is wrong. Just because we accept that bad things happen does not mean that we should participate or facilitate them by inaction. The candy has been passed out, the candy (assumably) has been eaten, the honesty of the vote has already been compromised before the second election by virtue of the fact that the bribes can not be returned. The only logical course of action is to remove the scout from participation in the next election in order to assure that the previous bribes do not continue to influence the election. All scouts holding positions of responsability in a troop need to have Scoutmaster's approval. Please notice that it does not say Troop Committee approval. When I said I would talk to the Chairman I meant I would explain the situation to him and TELL him what I plan to do and ask for his advice and input (I could be wrong you know.) I agree with OGE, Sounds like a problem scout who needs some help and you should do what you can to help. Leadership can sometimes help these boys but not SPl and not this time around. BUT Folks please excuse me for this but I get the distict impression that his father was the assistant who didn't think this was a big deal. If so then their presence in the troop will be nothing more than an uphill battle with the parent being the apologist rationalizing their sons bad actions. Personally if I have tried my best and the problem continues and the Scout and his family refuse to recognise the problem then it's good riddance. If I'm wrong I'll take jmcquillan's "dope-slap" happily.

Yarrow that policy (as described) is unnecessarily harsh and rigid. I really don't see a justification for it to be so. I would fight to change it. Our major reason for us trying to get the boys to work in pairs is to stregenthen the buddy system and to get more boys to advance. The boys with more initiative help along the more retiring boys and it does work. But I just can't see not allowing a boy to persue a badge simply because his interests are different than most of the troop. Someone doesn't realize that kids are not popped out of a common mold.

I've been thinking about your post. 1. Troop is small-Not a problem just function as a patrol with an SPL until you start to grow. 2. Boys with ADD- I still don't see a problem just don't overwhelm them and be aware of their needs. 3. No one to lead-If you mean the boys then once again not a problem. Leaders are trained just work towards training them to eventually lead. A district of council JLT session is the best way. 4. Boys wanting to quit cause of work- Once again not a problem that's the way kids are until they get trained and become more comfortable with the mantle of leadership. 5. They think you are running the show- Sounds like you have that one covered see point 4. Reading the rest of your comments it appears that you are taking positive steps towards solving your problems. If you are dismayed at seeing big troops with an active leadership component and you are struggling with yours don't be discouraged. Every troop started just like you and it takes a long time to grow into the aformentioned big troop. I've been through this as a adult and as a scout and each time it worked out fine by doing just what you are doing. Go to roundtable meetings and talk to other Scouters for ideas. If the boys see other troops doing things they want to do then work towards doing those things in your troop. Keep them interested and learning and you WILL grow. I do not see you doing anything wrong, as a matter of fact it looks like you are doing everything right.

Not a bad piece of advice in the lot. Not only would I make the point of vote-buying being unscoutlike. I would make it a point inform them that in the real world it is also illegal and people go to jail for it. I would nullify the election completely not just the SPL vote. Re-vote for everything because everything has been tainted by this. In my eyes this also calls into question the character of your Assistant Scoutmaster. Fraud and dishonesty is no big deal? That's not the message I would like to filter down to my scouts.

Our boys typically persue merit badges outside of the troop meetings. Usually they meet with the counselors at the meeting room before the meeting starts. Sometimes we offer a meritbadge to the whole troop if it is one that lends itself to group participation (canoeing, physical fitness, pioneering ect.) or one that the boys have a hard time finding a counselor for (crime prevention, emergency preparedness ect.) We also require a scout to work with another scout when earning a badge. If a boy wants to work on a badge and he can't find a buddy then he needs to have a parent present (or someone) to satisfy the two deep requirement. We try to be flexible.

The requirements have to be completed under the auspices of a registered merit badge counselor. It doesn't matter if the hikes are with the troop or without they just have to be approved by the counselor. My opinion is that the hikes at the very least need to be with a buddy in keeping with hiking safety so why not make at least some of them a troop activity? 2 deep ya know. Y'all are right, backpacks are not required but day and fanny packs should be used as OGE mentions. Convenience and safety again. What fool would walk ten miles without a water bottle? Brad you are fine, go enjoy the hikes.

Councils are the de facto voice of National and they try to funnel all communications to us the members through our local councils. So no, there isn't an email for national. Everywhere you look national will funnel you back to your local council. The only way to contact National directly is phone or mail. You can get both in the yahoo yellow pages for Irving, Tx.

I've been through this one before as the chair of the review board. We need to make a very important distinction here between poor performance and NO participation/performance. Poor perfomance can be worked with but you can't do anything with nothing. While I do agree that the BOR is well past the time to inform a scout of his obligations I still will not pass a scout on by who has not fullfilled the requirements. Ever. Regardless of where the failure ultimately lies it helps no one to rubberstamp. Especially not the scout because you have just taught him an even more damaging lesson, that he can get away with and be rewarded for not fullfilling his responsabilities. That being said it is important to for me to say that in our troop we have a meeting with all the newly elected and appointed leaders and I tell them exactly what the troop expects of them. They are also made aware that if they don't live up to the troops expectations the requirement will not be signed off. One of the major points of leadership is that the scout holding the office has to be sure that their work is done and if they can't personally get it done they need to be sure that someone handles it. If it turns out that they can never be there to do any of the work personally then they need to step down from the position. This pretty much take care of guys with other interests that can't always be at troop functions. I think that failure is an important if not the most important part of learning. Not that we should encourage failure but we should help our scouts learn from failure. I don't have a problem with signing off the leadership requirement for a scout who didn't do a good job in the position as long as he truly learns from it. What I'm getting at is that three months into the postion is a great time to review progress and make adjustments. I wouldn't extend the term if the scout corrects the problem and makes a strong finish. That's what learning is all about. Screwing up at first and finishing strong. This is an issue that when handled poorly will bite you in the butt. In the two cases I delt with this only one came out a positive for the troop. Luckily both boys went on to earn their Eagle but one did it in another troop. Consistency and fairness are the main issues here.

I guess to narrow down my question further... When does the term disabled apply to someone with a medical condition? (perception) Is it enough to merely be diagnosed with the condition? Example: My wife controls her diabetes with diet and exercise. My brother is lucky enough to have shaky hands and a foot that ever so slightly drags as he walks (most peolpe notice the hands and think he is a nervous guy but no one but my parents and I notice the drag.) Obviously in both cases their conditions affect their life very little. Is disabled a matter of the severity of the condition? (degree) Example: My neighbor who has no hands, kids with ADD ADHD who can't focus long enought to do even the most basic of tasks, Asthmatics and folks with allergies so bad that sudden movement triggers attacks. I have always thought that disabled referred to folks with conditions (physical, mental and emotional) that profoundly affect their ability to function in the day to day workings of their life and their interactions with society. Am I wrong? Who should we approach this with our boys? (and our own interactions)