Basementdweller

We just did this - opening opportunities for our older Scouts so they don't feel they're are stuck as "babysitters" or kept from doing fun things by a younger Troop. Also going co-ed as we will be the only one in the District. Recruitment's slow, but we'll get there.

 

It's funny how people have such different DE experiences. Ours was over the moon about the new Crew and attended a couple of meetings in a single week getting all the paperwork filled out.

 

Oh, and we signed up a female adult who's not part of the Troop and won't have a Scout or daughter in the Crew so we're covered from that angle.

I agree with schifff.

this is pathetic.....

If it were one of my lads an SMC would be needed and a discussion about doing the right thing and not always receiving payment in any form.

What a fantastically funny thread......Choked on my coffee.....OH MY.

This is how we get the no fire building, can't tie a knot, do first aid or find their way out of a paper bag eagles.

Soooooooo, Who is his merit badge councilor?????? what does he or she have to say on the subject????

Oh that's right you did it as a troop. NOT the way it was intended.

Nice reply 99

 

Another dad searching for awards for son.....Nice.

 

Under the auspices.......Patrol outings and Merit badges both require SM's Approval....... So hiking and biking for the merit badge is under the auspices. So if the Cycling MBC is ok with counting the short trips to the corner kwikie mart for slushies toward the merit badge then I am good with it too, I have no other choice, other than report that MBC to the district on the complaint form.

 

Scouter 99, I told KDD earlier to fix his troop.....Not abandon it....Or have his son invite his patrol on the ride.

And we wonder why they don't stay in scouting after they cross over.

Because in Boy Scouts we don't recognize them for hiking a crossed a parking lot or showing up at the fire station, or blowing their nose.

In some troops they actually have to show some proficiency in a task. We don't award for brushing our teeth or peeing on a tree.

Had the a new cross over in tears at our spring court of honor because he didn't get a baggie full of awards. Really????

My point is........I believe their is too much bling in cub scouting, and when a boy joins a troop and gets a rank patch a summer camp patch and maybe a merit badge or two at his first court of honor, they think it isn't worth it.

I disagree baggss.

Yes Yes I am familiar with the crew rules and Youth Protection. What I disagree with is it becoming a family outdoor adventure. That was never the intent of Venturing.

So what we have is Venturing becoming the new Cub Scouting????? Family camping and all...... Not a good thing.

Nice reply 99

Another dad searching for awards for son.....Nice.

Under the auspices.......Patrol outings and Merit badges both require SM's Approval....... So hiking and biking for the merit badge is under the auspices. So if the Cycling MBC is ok with counting the short trips to the corner kwikie mart for slushies toward the merit badge then I am good with it too, I have no other choice, other than report that MBC to the district on the complaint form.

Scouter 99, I told KDD earlier to fix his troop.....Not abandon it....Or have his son invite his patrol on the ride.

I cannot tell you how many hundreds of belt loops and pins I pick up off the fellowship hall after the pack meeting.

The boys don't care......the parents do.......

I think I maybe partly responsible for this, because I posted on bryan asking why there was no nose wiping or I didn't cry belt loops. Because we have them for everything else.

The boys know they are meaningless. The bb and archery are complete jokes, sit thru the safety talk and shoot a few times and you have earned it.

Glad they are departing. A good lesson to learn early in life: every experience' date=' or newly learned skill, doesn't always result in a gold star, belt loop, patch or pin. [/quote']

Great idea! Maybe that should be the new Cub Scout Motto! I'm sure it would really help enrollment numbers.

You sound just like me......I need to share a cigar and beverage with you sometime.

The only thing that would make this thread any better is if shaggzzz told us he was a life scout waiting on his board of review.

How typical......No follow up from the OP......

I'm interested in following this conversation. I'm thinking forward that it might be in my future to spin off a crew for my CO..... just maybe.

I like the high adventure idea.... seems like it would be a lot more fun for the kids.

and as the father of two girls I'm intrigued at the idea of letting girls in. My middle daughter is starting with GS this year, but I'm just not seeing that pan out in the long run. She's sporty, and I think down the road she might get something out of an outdoor program.

This is where many leaders fail. It becomes a couple of families Cub Scout style.

So no response barry????

You are not here for the boys.

Currently you are stroking your own Ego as Self proclaimed super scout......

Didn't you post last week that you took the role of SPL from the lad an assigned jobs to the PL's at a training session????? That was way out of line.

So I will state you are involved for you and no one else.

Not meant to be mean but a wake up call to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you have lost your way

You are not a neutral Party when it comes to this unit. Your opinion is biased. Scoutmasters get sick and in a thin program outings get canceled. A Shame some of the ASM's or parents couldn't step up and give the SM a weekend off.

You should NOT be their unit commisioner or involved with them in any manner. You are super biased against them and are too deeply involved in the CO, Troop and Packs politics.

You need to back way up. This is not your scouting journey.....yours was over when you turned 18. This is your son.

Have you ever wondered how your shenanigans are impacting his scouting adventure????

I will go further and suggest you disinvolve yourself with your sons troop. Your a roundtable commisioner, I suggest you concentrate on that and let your son have some fun and HIS ADVENTURE>

There are a lot of things in BDs post that would concern me about the big picture of his program if I stayed within the bounds of Barry's world, but without seeing his in person, it would all just be conjecture. I must admit the discussion of BD having to turn away recruits seems in conflict with the discussion of the SPL who doesn't want to participate in the program. Its better for me to just consider the SPLs behavior to be the real issue and not a symptom of bigger program issues.

 

I do admit that letting the scouts off the hook for discarding a campfire brings up all kinds of red flags for me. But again I've done this long enough to know walking in others shoes lights things up a lot. I'm a very different person than BD, so it's appropriate that I would run a program different to achieve the same results.

 

Barry

There are a lot of things in BDs post that would concern me about the big picture of his program if I stayed within the bounds of Barry's world, but without seeing his in person, it would all just be conjecture. I must admit the discussion of BD having to turn away recruits seems in conflict with the discussion of the SPL who doesn't want to participate in the program. Its better for me to just consider the SPLs behavior to be the real issue and not a symptom of bigger program issues.

 

I do admit that letting the scouts off the hook for discarding a campfire brings up all kinds of red flags for me. But again I've done this long enough to know walking in others shoes lights things up a lot. I'm a very different person than BD, so it's appropriate that I would run a program different to achieve the same results.

 

Barry

Not sure why a formal campfire program missing is a red flag. They would rather play ghost in the grave yard, man hunt, sniper or capture the flag. I am good with the PLC's decision.

The SPL was sick. just that simple. He maybe getting a bit burned out as well, he is at the end of his tenure. But he had the flu when I stopped by his house monday evening after the troop meeting.

Not sure what your reading into it.

In My opinion, OA is basically a good old boy network run by adults trying to recapture some unrealized aspect from their youth, numbers is all that matters, which details they deligate to underlings who have little knowledge as to what is going on. my son was elected last year, never contacted by oa, somehow the other 4 boys were. He finally recieved a letter less than one week before the last callout, what a joke. At the top levels of oa, they're quick to get back to you, at lodge level, its hit or miss.

Blame your SM......he should receive this info at the roundtable and it is generally posted on your councils website.

His departure or absence would have not been missed. He effectively avoided me for more than 20 hours, the remains of the weekend.

The big issues was his holding court and distracting the other from the jobs at hand.

Try here

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/programupdates.aspx

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/program_update/pdf/2015_Program_Change_Overview_Cub_Scouts_Boy_Scouts.pdf

page 11 in the pdf

Well he is sick....looks like the flu...He didn't make the meeting tonight.

 

So the conversation was.....It happens, you should have spoke up and we would have got you home where you can rest and work through it.

 

Mom was giving him the evil eye, I am guessing that was not what was said.

He still should have said I am not feeling good to day ASPL could you take these duties......

With the way many of the boys home lives are there is no doubt they like being away on weekends.

Yeah, just get out. A letter to the SM, CC and the chartered organization on your way out wouldn't hurt (make sure all three receive it). Don't worry about whether the issue gets solved or not. That is not your problem. Perhaps a copy to the UC for whatever that is worth.

 

Perhaps your son can maintain some contact with his friends in the first troop and tell them how awesome his new troop is and why. If the new troop is better, perhaps some of them will make the switch, too. For my part, when an SM was apathetic (or in this case, perhaps pathetic would be the appropriate word if he is letting the CC run the show), when boys and their families bailed, it got some notice and the issue gets handled. But in the end, move on and don't look back.

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions.

 

As for my son's friends, many of them know about the issues but are afraid to stand up to the bully scout. They don't want to be an added target. It is easier to just go with the flow than to create a bulls eye on their own head. They don't bully my son, but they don't stand up or stop it either.

 

This first troop is obviously not a boy-led troop. Every adult who was attempting to create that atmosphere has been gutted from leadership/committee. It is not even a SM led troop. It is a CC led troop. She is a former Pack CC who refuses to change to Boy Scout leadership ideals. The second troop is wonderfuly boy-led, parents/leaders have their role in the background, the CC rarely comes to actual meetings (although he shows great adult leadership on some outings), just doing his job in the background. Even though it is quite a drive, the change to the second troop will be inevitable. He already registered in the second troop this year as his primary troop; the first troop is his secondary (multiple) registration. Council doesn't care which troop he gets his rank in, he just chose the first because that was where he had gotten his other ranks and wanted to finish to his Eagle there before moving on completely to the other.

 

Yes, the parent/CC accompanies already her son to each and every meeting/outing/etc., however due to the fact that she is not by his side the entire time, he is allowed to continue his behavior and is usally skilled enough to not get caught most of the time.

 

For the three friends that my son is really close to, he does do things outside of the troop with them. But there are so many kids in the troop who are more than aquaintances but less than close friends. He unfortunately won't be seeing them outside the troop. But really, the decision to move has basically been made by my son. I have been fully supportive of whatever his decision has been, and it's been his to make. It has meant driving to two troop meetings a week, two PLCs a month, numerous outings for one troop or the other. He hasn't had one leg in each troop; he had been fully planted in each troop and doing a surprisingly great job. He started pulling his PORs out of the first troop as a way to spend less time with the scout. Scouting is just his thing, much like other kids fully invest themselves into football or other sports.

 

MattR - I'm not sure what you meant about my "son not wanting to confront the problem". He had a few discussions with the scout who said there wasn't a problem and acted innocent. My son went to his SM and an ASM to dicuss it. If you have any other suggestions on what he should do, he'd be more than happy to hear them. (He wasn't about to go to the CC as it would have only invited an adult bullying him. Recently a more senior scout sent an email out to the Troop requesting that the troop start doing more activities/campouts/etc as there hadn't been anything going on that didn't get cancelled for two months. It was a very well worded, repectful request meant to get the attention of the scouts and any adults who would have to volunteer to go with them so that they could discuss it at an upcoming meeting. The CC responded, replied to All, with a scathing email to the senior scout.)

 

As for changing troops prior to his BOR, all of his Eagle stuff had been turned in months ago. We didn't know that changing the location of the BOR was even possible. The Eagle BORs are done on the District level. The second troop is in a different district. Is that even a possiblity?

 

I guess the biggest question is do we do anything about the harrassment, especially the sexual comment, or does he just move on and let it go?

The school failed to take care of it so he did. when I was called into the office I told the principle we tried it her way and she failed him. so he took care of it and stood up for himself.

I seem to remember reading as I skimmed over the thread, that he was originally staying so he could finish his duties as scribe. Seems like an honorable thing to do.

I can also sympathize with the idea that he's got friends there, and a lot of history if he's worked all the way up to his eagle BOR.... and yes, maybe friends since Cubs. Not an easy thing to walk away from I'll bet.

So this doesn't seem odd to any one else on the forum???????

 

 

we have a boy who has been harassed to tears, joins another troop to get away from the harassment, yet retains his membership in the first troop.......

 

I gotta say what the heck.

 

 

Serious games being played by someone and I am not sure it is the CC and her scout.

 

 

So what do the other parents say????

Ya know if it was my boy, I would have grabbed him by the arm got a bit of private space and asked him. So tell me exactly why or what your crying about......Your gonna let little billy foul mouth upset you, Billy foul mouth is putting you down because you have more going on and he is jealous. He needs to put you down so he feels better about himself. So he called you gay or queer or stupid.....well are you????? I am your dad and proud of you... His words can only hurt you if you let him.

Don't get me wrong it is disrespectful.......But I would hope an Eagle candidate would have enough self confidence that name wouldn't bother him.

My son an his pals call each other gay and engage in typical teenage name calling and nicknaming. Occasionally feelings get hurt......ya know what they get over it.

Sounds to me like Troop 1 failed the lad, Just like his so called friends. I know my son's patrol are thick as thieves and would with out a doubt deal with someone picking on them.

Let me say there is much much more to the story than we are getting here. I think that scouting and the tear shed are just surface of the issues here.