MollieDuke

We have a boy in one of the Troops I work with that is a very well rounded young man. However, he's gotten specialized into first aid, fire building, and new scout instruction. Not that I feel these are not important; they are. It's just that I've noticed that he doesn't get an opportunity to serve in the OTHER ways he's very good, like planning ceremonies, cooking, planning outings, etc. He's also the best archer in our district, but age prevents him from helping (or so he was told--he's 15). This post made me wonder if we shouldn't take more care to do what ISN'T easy more often.

Someone PM'd me about this topic asking me what I had to share, and then my computer crashed. It's still on the fritz,so I'm using the library's. If you were the one who PM'd me, please do so again. I have print materials I can send via US postal mail if you are still interested, but I don't want you to post your address here. Sorry for the delay, but I can't get back to that email again as it's in the crashed laptop. Sorry. MollieD.

I host Advancement Training for all new leaders at the request of our District Roundtable Commissioner. I've done Advancement for different units forever, and I've probably seen nearly every situation described. It's been my personal experience that some individuals (particularly MOMS for some reason) become DLs so that their boys just don't have to work. They want little Johnny to have awards pasted on every free spot of their uniform and do nothing to achieve it because....well...it's work and maybe little Johnny does't want to do that work. I teach in a high school, and believe me,

My troop has a similar problem with a twist. The older boys "say" they already know all their basic scout skills, yet many cannot tie the most basic knots on request. They cannot teach younger scouts b/c they can't do it themselves. We have a new SM and it appears that the former SM allowed them to be signed off for "trying" the new skills instead of actually learning them. That said, these boys don't want to interact with the younger ones (probably b/c they can't actually DO the tasks assigned), they don't work on anything else, and basically they arrive, go to a corner and visit. That's

That's great info on fixing things. That, and sending personal info like SSN online were my biggest questions on this. I have several scouts with missing or mistyped info, and I want to get these in order without having to drive an hour each way to get to and from the council office with my paperwork for them to fix things. I have one scout that is working on Eagle, and at this point, he's the top priority to fix, but fixing it from home would be great! Since I'm advancement chair for three groups (one crew, one pack, one troop), does online work for all three? Thanks again, Molli

Just noticed there are several posts (albeit older) for camping near DC. I thought I'd post a suggestion that I know about which may or not be good for some of you. There is a KOA campground in Harper's Ferry, WV which is famous for the Civil War John Brown's Raid. The campground was great last time I was there. From there, you can travel a short time to the Metro and take the subway into DC (at the small fee of $5/day/ride all day) thus eliminating the driving into and around the city. I can't remember just now how far the Metro is, but there are alot of commuters that live near here

Having a little experience with Troopmaster and living in a very rural area quite a distance from the Council offices, I was looking forward to the online reporting of Advancement. Anyone have thoughts on this including sending certain info on kids over the internet, such as their social security numbers? Or is it only done with PIDs? What about checking kids' records for, say, Eagle BOR to make sure all the records match. Can you just print off a page for that from the "main office"? Is Troopmaster the only compatible software? That's what I have now, but I'm not so ingrain

Having just begun some special work in a local high school, I will tell you that this is NOT unique to Scouting. I see parents every week in my office wanting me to change a kids' grade or get them on "X" team or pull strings to make them look better than they are on paper. I have adjusted my strategies overall when I work with these kids to include not only honesty, but honesty with themselves. If they are not an athlete, it's OK. If they make a C and it's deserved, it's OK. Learn from it. Kids often learn more from their failures than the successes. That said, I will also add th

In our troop, we've started a new philosophy. If they want Eagle, help them as much as you can, but if they don't it's ok. If you were serving in the Navy and came out as a CPO and never made Admiral, you'd still have served, yes? So, why is scouting different. It should be about the journey and not the Eagle, IMHO. That said, I also have a mom who's pushing Eagle on her boy. She even went so far to call me to yell at me for not "getting her boy his Eagle" by now. He's a Lifer and will likely finish that way. He's lost interest. I've asked him about it, he says he's "working on

The former SM of our group and I sat down with seasoned parents last year and came up with a New Parents "What I wish I'd known" type list. We were surprised that "Advancement" topped the seasoned parent's list. What we found out from these Eagle and Life parents was that they wish they'd known more about how advancement worked from the beginning. Not just the basics, but the nuts and bolts. Example: they wish they'd been oriented early on to the change in the level of expectation on things like MBs and the amount of work required. To that end, I creatd a parent's guide to adv

I feel the same. We moved to a new area a few years ago, and as it is terribly rural, we decided to try to be more involved in the Council stuff mainly just to "stay in the loop" so to speak. The CE at the time was only interested in numbers and money. Boys came somewhere further down. This angered me so much that I quit doing council level stuff. Then, this CE left and we have a new one. He's not AS BAD, but I fear that bottom line is still numbers/money. I've had to ask for assistance in a couple of areas lately, and while he seems an ok fella, his first questions haven't been the boy

I am so glad to see that you all feel as I do that this problem seemed to stem from the adults in charge. I have inherited a real mess and so has the new SM. According to the outgoing SM, he did counsel these kids and according to the kids--well, big shock--he didn't. I really believe he didn't. Can't prove it either way, but the way things went down just prior to his leaving, I can believe the kids easier than the outgoing SM. I do feel that after the holidays especially, we need a new SM conference w/ not only these two kids, but the others too. It'll take me this long to wade through t

I looked up how long these boys have been Life. Boy ONE: 1 year 5 weeks. Boy TWO: nearly 2 years. Now, Boy ONE: PoR was Chaplain's Aide, but he didn't finish the 6 months before he was working according to his attendance records. He's attended few activities since then. (Actually, I've found only two so far) Boy TWO: Was elected SPL, however, according to his attendance records, he attended less than half of the 6 month period and seems to have been replaced due to lack of attendance from what I can see, and a new one elected close to his 6 month mark. So I assume this would qualify

We have two boys that are working on finishing MBs and have made NO effort on Eagle Projects, but I am wondering this using these two as examples: Boy ONE: Works to help parents pay bills right now, but must work on meeting nights. Does MBs with counselors, and can "discuss" when it says "discuss" will have "written" stuff and not "printed off internet". Cannot attend many functions due to family circumstances right now. IF (and that's a big IF), he decides to try an Eagle project soon, what would your take be on the "active" part? I personally feel that since he's still plugging away

Our troop is in much the same shape. We're very, very rural and 4H and FFA compete for our time, basically. Our boys are not so dedicated except for two. Our CO is hands off except for allowing us free reign over our "hall". Our SM inherited this troop from a man who could have cared less about it, really. He led it right to the brink of death, then bailed. The SM has been trying everything with no success. No new boys for over a year, and only 6 "active" which is an understatement. Our problem right now, though, is that you never know who will or will not ever show up for anything! We

In our groups BOTH BS and CS, we consider pulling a knife a CRIME. If this child were on the streets of NYC and pulled a knife on someone on the street, it would be a crime. If they were in school and pulled a knife, they would be taken down and it would constitute a crime. I'm rather concerned that this child's first defense is pulling a knife ESPECIALLY if he's from an anti-violence family, because exactly where did he learn this particular line of defense? Make sure the parents realize that it doesn't matter WHY he pulled the knife. It is a CRIME and cannot be tolerated. Then, t

My son went with a group to the Spy Museum two years ago and still says it was the best thing he'd ever done in DC. We used to go every year and he's done all the Smithsonian stuff, all the special stuff, and all the outlying stuff, and he still ranks the Spy Museum as one of his favorites. He even has a shirt from there that he wears only as a "special" shirt that says something about the museum and on the back says "I was never there". It's cute. He also says he'd rank the Air and Space Museum below some of the others. He's practically grown up at the Wright Patterson Air Forc

For younger crowds particularly, I highly recommend any of "The ButterCream Gang" films from Feature Films for Families. The one titled "No More Baths" particularly comes to mind. In this film, the kids refuse to take baths until a man who is about to become homeless is allowed to keep his home (as I remember) Also, I loved Rigoletto from this same company. In this film, a young girl goes to work for a disfigured man who eventually teaches her to sing. She, in turn, shows him that his heart is uglier than his face will ever be and the end is astonishing. Just about any movie fr

Let me first say that I work a job with kids whose behaviors are "less than optimal" at school. Now.......... If this child has changed schools--it's a red flag. Problems with behavior or academics or both? If this child has explosive or mildly threatening behaviors, this is a sign of problems somewhere along the line. You can't assume they at scouts. It may have been a failing grade in math that day or something much worse like a stalker online. You can't ever know that, so it's hard to judge behaviors alone, but anything like or similar to a threatening stance, word, or deed s

I think that while there are certainly problems involving this individual, we can't overlook that "active participation" requirement to advance. If boys are not attending/participating, they cannot advance. In our troop, there are guidelines for our very busy boys. We have the usual football players, actors, and ill kids who can't come for some reason or other, but they know what we consider a "good reason" to miss and just "I forgot" doesn't teach responsibility to them. Examples we use can be: Would your baseball coach allow you to miss 6 practices and still play? Probably not.

No! (or maybe Yes.........) Let me explain by using an analogy: I am a "Woodstock Generation" person. (the original/not the remake). Anyhow, I wore the hippie look the first time around. Now, my teenage daughter is wearing that look, but her colors/fabrics are so much BETTER than mine ever were. They wear better, are more durable, have lycra, all that jazz. How does that translate to this topic? Well, I think we have the ability to use better fabrics, better cuts of uniforms, new styles in pants specifically, wider shirts especially in the shoulder to accomodate those "foot

If you were an archery "range master" (that may not be the right term) for Cubs, can you be one for Boy Scouts/Venturers as well? If not, what do you do to be cerfified for Boys/Venturers? Also, if you have a police officer that is a gun shooting instructor to the police, can they be a "range instructor/master" to Boys/Venturers without any/or much more training for shotguns/rifles? We're trying to find range instructors for these for our district and were just curious. Thanks, Mollie

Two SM's ago, our group had skills and boy led troop. Then.....Next SM came in and in our group the leadership amounted to an adult telling each kid exactly what to do (more like Cubs). The adults planned each and every thing they did which basically amounted to basketball/football and very few scout skills. It's a very, very long story that goes over nearly 6 years, so I won't try to detail it, but suffice it to say that the boys weren't satisfied and that now they seem to be very excited over the changes. These kids haven't attended camp, advanced a rank, or earned a MB in over a year. S

This is spun from another thread because it is a situation that we're struggling with in our troop. Our boys have neither leadership nor knot/lashing skills. Long story! Anyhow....we've about decided to get the basics first and intense leadership second. Reasoning being the following: if a boy falls and needs a lashed travois, can they make one? if a child needed to make a shelter for some reason when he's out on grandpa's hill and sees it's getting ready to rain can he make one? can he signal in absense of his cell phone battery? I know these are just "what if" examples, but we're s

While I love this idea in theory, if we used it in practice in our troop then we'd never have any Eagle Scouts for quite awhile. Let me give you the cliff's notes as to why: We've had some discipline problems, some alcohol problems, and some major differences with boys lately (past couple of years). SM has been part of the problem, so it's continued. Finally got a new SM last year and it's turning around, but using this as a basis---only parents that were NUTS would allow this group out alone. They are getting a little better, but it was touch and go for awhile. Hope to be able to say t