mikecummings157

They've tightened up the requirements for who can supervise shooting sports, which maybe is a good thing.

The helmets while sledding is pretty idiotic. This must have been a knee jerk reaction by someone in the BSA risk management office.

Overall, with the exception of the helmet rule above, I don't think BSA is too risk averse. I'd argue that most folks who think so don't want to invest the time or money os getting trained to safely conduct these activities, so it's easier to complain about it than invest the time in the kids.

I used to be an Owl......

Having previous scouting experience is helpful as a foundation, but it doesn't make you a good (or bad) leader. Some of the best leaders in our troop had no scouting experience as youth, but have been willing to learn as they go, including going through the required training that so many folks on this board complain about.

Also, some of the absolute worst leaders we have had in our troop had extensive scouting experience, up to becoming Eagle Scouts. Some folks get too stuck in "the way it used to be", become inflexible, and drive scouts and leaders away.

I tell potential adult recruits that all they need to get started is a willingness to be there for the boys and we can teach them the rest.

Having adults without scouting eperience increases the diversity of the unit, which is a good thing.

For the sake of full disclosure, I fall into the category of having a Scouting background (Eagle 1979)

I used to be an Owl.....

Having previous scouting experience is helpful as a foundation, but it doesn't make you a good (or bad) leader. Some of the best leaders in our troop had no scouting experience as youth, but have been willing to learn as they go, including going through the required training that so many folks on this board complain about.

Also, some of the absolute worst leaders we have had in our troop had extensive scouting experience, up to becoming Eagle Scouts. Some folks get too stuck in "the way it used to be", become inflexible, and drive scouts and leaders away.

I tell potential adult recruits that all they need to get started is a willingness to be there for the boys and we can teach them the rest.

Having adults without scouting eperience increases the diversity of the unit, which is a good thing.

For the sake of full disclosure, I fall into the category of having a Scouting background (Eagle 1979)

I used to be an Owl.....

Congratulations!

I used to be an Owl....

NE-III-185

Contact me off-line and I'll send you what our troop uses. I put a Chaplain Aide book together for part of my Woodbadge ticket.

There are a lot of strong feelings about WB. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I avoided WB for many years, for some of the same reaosns some folks post here. I was talked into reconsidering a few years ago and I'm glad I did. I picked up a few things and it affirmed a lot of things I have learned over many years.

Like a lot of others things, you get out of this what you put into it.

I used to be an Owl.......

The SM is dead wrong by denying the scout the opportunity to be elected. He's probably got a bad impression of OA and it's trickled down to the other scouts. He should be promoting the Brotherhood of Cheerful Service to the boys to stir interest amongst all of them who are eligible.

A frank discussion over a cup of coffeee with the SM may do it, as it's not his place to block this opportunity. As a last resort, maybe the CC, Unit Commisioner, or Lodge Advisor can talk some sense into him.

Anyone on here attending SummitCorps or sending scouts there? My son is down there now and I've been following the progress. These youth or doing great work building trails!

This is pretty typical for us too. We assign a senior scout as Troop Guide to work with them and the active new scouts will be Tenderfoot before summer camp, 2nd Class after summer camp, and 1st Class in ~ 10 months. Some of the kids who aren't as active take longer, but that's OK too.

Current SPL holds the new SPL elections. SPL Candidates must be 1st Class and have been ASPL, PL, or Troop Guide. PL's elections also held by SPL, with minimum requirement for eligibility 1st Class.

SPL with concurrence from Scoutmaster appoints the other positions.

Our Process is very similiar to what Alabama Scouter describes. We just got back from summer camp and will be program planning for the upcoming year in a few weeks.

Our Council has been running a Lion program for a few years now under Learning For Life. It's very similiar to the old Tiger program, with the T-Shirts, Iron-on's, and Adult Partners.

It's been sucessful for our Pack as well. There are a lot of boys this age who otherwise wouldn't be exposed to the outdoors and learning to work in a group environment.

I don't see it. There isn't anything the boys in my troop have wanted to do that was "no" due to BSA rules. If they want to do something that requires extra training, we'll go get it.

Is it easier to do these things outside of scouting? Of course it is. However, there are a lot of boys who would hardly see any sunlight if it weren't for scouts, but would sit inside on the video games or PC.

There were a lot of adults who did this for me when I was a scout, so I don't have any problem "paying forward" to the next generation of boys.

We plan our COH agenda at our PLC meetings and the SPL runs it.

The Advancement Chair organzies all of the awards, which are presented by the Scoutmaster (me).

There is typically some time in the agenda for someone on the Committee to make comments on Troop business.

Does it run perfectly with the scouts planning it and the SPL running it? No, but so what? They own it and get their recognition.

It's our Troop tradition for everyone to wear Troop Class B T-Shirts every day @ camp.

Fire and Knives; get 'em out with the local Boy Scouts as much as practical.

Based upon my Scouting experience at the Pack (12 years) and Troop level (10 years), here's my 2 cents

1. Approximate number of Cub Scouts who earned their Arrow of Light rank?

Of the boys who actually make it to 2nd year Webelos, probabaly 95% of higher. The problem I see in our area is high attrition around 4th Grade. Webelos Leaders are not upping the level of the program to get the boys ready for Boy Scouts, but still treat them like Wolves and Bears. This equals a boring program.

2. Approximate number of those Scouts who did not enter a Boy Scout Troop after Cub Scouts?

About 10-20% of boys earning AOL either don't join a troop or drop out almost immediately. Many Packs will force feed their boys into a certain troop, which may or may not be a good fit for them, instead of having them look at different troops. Parents of these boys don't take the time to educate themselves on what to look for in a troop, nor do they realize that they can transfer to another troop if their son isn't happy. I can't count the number of times I've heard from a parent that "I thought he HAD to go into Troop XX" or "I didn't know that troops are different and he could transfer". It's easier to dump them into Karate, Soccer, Baseball, etc, than to get involved in what's going on in Scouting. I'd say we at the Troop level have to do a better job of reaching out to these parents and selling what our program will do for their son.

Does anyone have any experience building simple, safe chariots?

This is great. Thanks for sharing it.

This'll work well as part of a Scoumaster minute!

Love the feedback! We had an aqueduct idea, but this one's better.

Refreshing this post for any additonal inputs. We have a lot of good ideas we're selecting from, but anything additional is still welcome.

Also, we're looking at using Pugil sticks in one of the events. Does anyone have any experience using these for Boy Scouts? We'd like to make or buy them cheap if we can. Any lessons learned from a safety standpoint are appreciated too.

The most effective way to recruit volunteers is face to face; you're way harder to ignore than an email or a letter. Tell them exactly what you need and why you think they're the right person for the job.

Don't take it personally; it happens to all of us. 90% of time time it's the parents, as other posters have noted. Do your best to deliver the program and try to have fun!

Secretary Gates gave a great talk at the Opening of the National Jamoboree last year too. Even the boys thought so!

I finished my ticket a few months ago and ha my "beading" this week. My original Scoutmaster was brought in as a surprise co-presenter, 80 years young! That brought back of lot of great memories.

Enjoy the journey.

I used to be an owl...