mk9750

sctldr, Yes, everyone has been trained, although all of the adults, me included, have really only received the bare minimum. there will be a major effort to upgrade our adult training in 2003. ALL of the youth leaders are trained, and some have served on Council JLT staff. As a matter of fact, JLT is really how we compare our boys's skills with boys from other troops. At the meeting this weekend, we do exactly what you are describing, although it is a more core group of involved adults, not the full committee (SM, ASM, Advancement). We absolutely try to guide the SPL toward mor

See, I told you that all of you were a great resource! Thanks! Mark

I'm just adding this so that I can click on the "notified when reply" button. Mark

Our core adult leadership met this weekend to discuss what was needed to be presented at our troop committee meeting. When we do this, we invite the SPL, who represents the PLC. They plan the next two months in detail, and the following 2-4 months in outline form. After he presented this work from the PLC, all of us, including the SPL, started questioning some of the changes that our troop have been going through the last two years. We all agree that our troop has become less involved in standard, outdoor camping. We opt for adirondacks or cabins far too often. With the exception of a few

I make no claim that the way we do it is right... What is considered class A uniforms are required at anything that is considered a meeting. Troop meetings, Courts of Honor, Scoutmaster Conferences, Boards of Review. We consider class A to be every part of the uniform except the hat. MB sashes are not required at troop meetings. During the summer, we permit the SPL to declare Troop meetings only to be class B: any scout related shirt (most often our Troop tee or polo, or a summer camp tee). No BSA pants etc. are required. Full class A's are still required for Scoutmaster conferences, etc.

We have just gone through this excercise in our Troop. Our Council Service Center only requires the New Scout Application marked "transfered" and $1.00 if the boy is transfering within the council. If he is coming from outside the council, transfer paperwork listing his advancements is required. From within the council, advancement records follow the boy from Troop to Troop, so no transfer paperwork other than the application is needed. For the new Troop, either some type of advancement record (easily generated from Troopmaster or other Scouting software) would be helpful. Without such, t

We've had an Eagle Scout in our Troop who made 2nd team all state in his sport. Did he miss activities? Yes. Did we miss him at meetings and campouts? Yes. Did his absence ruin his Scouting experience, or that of others in his patrol or troop? Absolutely not. He participated as much as he could during the season, and when the season was over, Scouts beame his #1 priority. We've got another guy who just made Eagle. Played football and wrestled, although through four years on both teams, I don' think he ever started. But he gave those sports everything he had during the season. When he wasn't wr

Instead of contacting thesongofthesouth.com, I put the tape in the VCR. Watched the first 10 minutes. The quality was much worse the any knock off Rolex watch I ever saw. For anyone who cares, my opinion is that the tape I received is pirated. Unless someone can convince me that it is not, I won't be watching the rest of it. Which is sad. The first 10 minutes had me fondly remembering seeing this movie when I was in grammer school. Mark

I am dipping my toe in water with which I am VERY unfamiliar, so forgive me if I am wrong, but... My wife works in a hospital in an area that is more diagnostic than care giving. She is in contact with patients all day long, both in house and out patients. She was told she has no right to know the medical status of a patient. Medical Right to privacy trumps the right of the health care worker. Universal precautions expected of health care workers, to be used in every instance of patient contact, should be sufficient to protect both the worker and the patient. since Universal protection is

I really have done an about face on this issue. I am, and always have been, dead set against tatoos, and males wearing earings. Tatoos because they are so permenant, and both because those who generally are in a position to help you or hinder you in life are usually "establishment" types, who tend to look at such adornment with disdain. Therefore, I have alsways supported our Scoutmaster, who has banned visible displays of both within our troop. I still think that neither are not in the best interest of a boy, but I now think that this is enough of an unimportant issue that it isn't our pla

I received my copy of Follow Me Boys from thesongofthesouth.com yesterday. Although it looks like a new tape, the artwork on the box makes it look like it may be less than an original release. When I ordered it, I never even gave a thought to the fact it might not be a legitimate tape. Puts me in a real quandry: I preach all the time, especially to my own boys and to scouts, that Copyright infringement is not only illegal, but truly is wrong. Although I am going to try to determine through thesongofthesouth.com if this is a legitimate tape or not, and if it's not, if they'll take it back, I

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Thank you for the gifts you all give: The chance that the world will be a better place because you spend time with, and nurture boys while they become men. I am proud to know every single one of you, even if it is only electronically. I hope someday our paths will cross in real life. Mark

You know, it's kind of funny you tell that story. We had a boy this past year cross to another troop, even though his brother was ASPL of our troop, and his father is an ASM. No one could understand this, and we were VERY concerned that this was an indication something was wrong. We finally got the answer: This boy had lived in the "scouting" shadow of his brother and father for 5 years. He wanted to strike out on his own, to be his own scout. He asked his dad to come on a campout or two with his troop, but NOT to register as a leader there. It's been a little hectic for the family. Of cour

pack38scouter: Looks like we said the same thing at about the same time. I hope that can be taken as a sign it might have some value! I looked at your checklist in the other thread. It is very good. I do disagree with the statement about the size of the troop that is best. There are plenty of smaller and larger troops that are good too. In general, it probably is difficult to run a good program with less than 20 boys, but it's not impossible. As far as more boys goes, our experience is that we become a completely different troop with every 10 boy increase we have. It requires our junior le

We have a simliar situation in our area. We do have a little brother pack, but it is so weak that by the time kids are 10 - 11, there is almost none left in the pack. They find other things to occupy their time. We have the same attitude you do: It is vital to our existence that we get an infusion of at least 4-6 boys every year, because our method of "see one, do one, teach one" requires that our second your boys have first year boys to teach. Before I started with the Troop, our current Scoutmaster was concerned that we were circling the drain (9 boys in the troop). He did exactly what yo

In our Troop, our troop youth leadership is almost always boys from our "honor patrol". This patrol is made of of older scouts who have distinguished themselves. Usually it is by participating in High Venture activities, or being exemplary scouts, or having served well as a patrol leader, then moved to the honor patrol. This patrol does exist as a real patrol: They have a P/L, APL, a ASM who acts as a mentor. They plan their own events, create their own duty roster for campouts (their duty roster includes a rotating schedule for each of them to spend a couple of hours of the campout teaching a

I am absolutely CERTAIN I know what I am bringing on myself by posting this, but.. IS woodbadge really this good? I've never had the desire to even investigate it bcause every time I've heard our locals talking about it, it seems less like training that will help deliver a better program for the boys, and more like Scouting for adults. Not that I have any problem with pretending to be a boy scout, but given the choice of spending time pursuing my own fun, and working directly with the boys, I'll take the latter any day. But, I have to say, with so many of you heatily endorsing WB, mayb

Shemgren, Where did you get the statistic on average age for Eagle? I'm not questioning it. As a matter of fact, our troop's experience is about the same. But much of the conversation I see on the topic of age for Eagle (both on this forum and locally) make it seem like 15 1/2 - 16 is average. If you have any real stats, I'd love to see them, because I think you're right. Koreascouter, Everytime I read one of your posts, I develop a higher level of respect for you. You always take the most pragmatic position on questions and issues, and you leave no doubt as to your commitment to the boy

KWC57, Sounds like a plan. I say this only half sarcastically, but maybe the first question could be "Who does your website?" If it's a boy, there you go. If it's an adult, might be an indication that boy led patrols is just lip service. Our troop website was conceived and developed by a boy 4 years ago. He's made Eagle, moved on to college, and the job has been passed on to a number of boys, with varying degrees of sucess (from none to none, really). The guy who started it has been itching to take it back and get it up to date. I can't blame him, it's his baby. But we won't let him do it.

KWC57, Not only is it not too early, I think the timing is perfect! Especially if there is more than one troop to consider. Lots of things go into making this choice, as shown above. Few, if any, can be determined accurately with one visit to a troop. One of the biggest, I believe, is chemestry. If your son seems to get along with the boys whith whom he will associate, and with the adults in the troop, I think you're way ahead of the game. And troops have personalities, too. Some troops are very heavily weighted toward outdoor activities, even more than once a month. some are geared toward h

As an Advancement Chair, I think that this is one of the ways Advancement Chairs can be very helpful to Scouts and patrols as they tackle the cooking requirements. If someone (it is me in our troop, as we activley use Troopmaster software) tracks the progression of each of the boys in a patrol), he or she can assist the patrol leader whil making out duty rosters. The cooking requirements all build on each other. Boys working on Tenderfoot must gather and make fuel wood for a fire, and light a cooking fire. Boys working on 2nd class must assist a cook. And the boys working on 1st class have to

Congratulations on a great start! If these are the biggest problems you have, you'll be way ahead of most of the rest of us! On the topic of missed awards - It happens sometimes. Our best efforts sometimes still come up short. Obviously, apoligizing to the boy has to be done, and I think he should get his award right away, or as soon as possilbe if it needs to be ordered. But at the next Pack meeting, he should get the same ceremony as the boys did last time. I find it goes easier for me when I admit in front of the whole group that it was my mistake. And as the Cubmaster, I would take th

Ozemu, I think you have made some valuable points. As I composed my original comments, what I had in my mind actually adressed exactly what you say, but did a poor job translating it to paper. I did speak around it though, so let me explian. Assuming a boy is of the mind to get value out of Scouting (and I don't believe every boy is), there are many degrees of three possible types of troops. In the best, the boy and the troop are a great match, and each gets great value from its association with the other. The opposite exists when there is absolutely no value to either scout or troop by be

Folks, sorry for the ignorance (I say that a lot in my every day life!), but what's a wiccan?

I agree with everyone here. I think most troops go through this. Let's face it: The active adults' boys are usually the most active in the troop (I know that is a generalaztion that isn't always true, but more often than not, it is). That means that the Scoutmaster's son often is the guy that takes on the toughest, biggest jobs. Many times, this is SPL, and even once in a while for multiple terms. Keep in mind however, that often it is Quartermaster, or Troop guide for that patrol that just doesn't run on it's own, or any number of jobs that he gets stuck with because the Scoutmaster can persu