Nike

I'm going to always defer to the parents when it comes to home issues unless what's going on is abusive or illegal. I believe that most teens raised in a church or not go through a doubting/disbelieving phase based on logical questioning, teen alienation, or plain rebelliousness. And, I see no reason to kick a kid out of Scouts for questioning some rather big issues in his life. Some kids even go so far as to profess atheism to get attention or as an easy out of Scouts. I for one refuse to be the religious police until ordered to do so, and that's when I will have to dutifully resign.

Aren't the religious views and practices of minor children under the parents' purview? Such that if a Scout says he's an atheist and his parents tell you, "Sheesh, we've gone round and round on this. Just ignore him. He's a believer, and we take him to services all the time." And we've still got Bobby proclaiming his atheism. Whose word do I take? Does it change if he's 8 or 12 or 16? Yeah, BSA set this up reeeaaalll good.

I always get the sense that these type discussions are a vague veil covering the wishes of some to impose their orthdoxy and orthopraxy on the rest.

So, Merlyn, what are we supposed to do about certifying religious belief and duty to God? Ask everyone to declare after the opening? Make it the one mandatory SM conference and BoR question? If a question comes up about a Scout or Scouter, do we take them into a BoR or executive session of the committee? Have everyone sign an affadavit of belief?

I've been in troops where BORs were held as needed as well as on a monthly basis. Both methods work well depending on the troop culture. Quarterly BORs look like an awful lot of work and an awful lot of pressure on everyone. As others have suggested, you may be bumping up against problems that run deeper than BOR scheduling. I'd suggest your CC and SM have a sit down with the COR and civilly figure out what's going well and what's not, no holds barred. Present the list of things that need to be remedied to the committee and focus on not whose fault it is, but on what the solutions

Pasternak? What a weird pseudonym.

If you are on probation, and not jerking our chains, then you have a probation officer. If I were advising you in your troop. I would strongly suggest that you be honest about this whole situation and once you are off probation, get a letter of recommendation from your PO for the EBOR. You have a heck of a row to hoe on this. Finish your write up, but delay the EBOR until you're off probation and have proven to your SM and fellow Scouts that you have truly changed and are worthy of this honor. It ain't all about getting a "go" at every station for minimally acceptable effort. Good luc

Here is a link to the National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml? Hurricanes and TS are changeable things. We had school cancelled for Hurricane Grace back in 85. Grace bypassed VA and we had a fabulous sunny day out of school. Keep your weather eye out and err on the side of caution. You'll probably have an inbox full of e-mail by next week. As a Tiger mom, I'd want a decision by Thursday night.

Why don't you just send out an e-mail and ask what the parents think? If you have enough people who want to go, then go. This might not be a great Pack trip, but it would be a great Web II & Troop event.

Whenever GS vs BS comes up, everyone seems to get wrapped up defending their position and demonizing the other. By bringing involvement with the other organization, you bring perspective, experience, and resources. Instead of trying to figure out why the other is "that way," it would be more helpful to find common ground and introduce other concepts of organization to the Scouts, and let them take it or leave it. There is a lot that can be learned from both by both. Girl Scout Troops are generally much smaller than Boy Scout Troops with a much more restricted age range. As a group get

This looks great for my Star Scout and his older buddies. But, I wouldn't even attempt this with my Tiger and Daisy.

You know, some things are just best left alone. And this is one of them. There is a world of difference between professing and practicing.

We use Badge Magic only on the sash. Patches get sent to the tailor, but we live in Army communities, so sew shops aren't hard to come by. For some reason, I can sew really lovely, complex clothes, but patches thoroughly fluster me on the machine and by hand. My son would just use model glue. The $1.25 per patch is worth it every couple of years.

And what about those of us who believe in God, but don't attend an organized church due to whatever reasons? We can't earn a denominationally specific award.

AFter reading over some stuff, all I can say is that there is a serious disconnect between BSA policy and the real world. Popcorn could never be said to be selling itself on its own merits.

I would alert the parents that a meeting needed to be held with them, thier Scout, the Advancement Chair, people from district, and surprise everyone with a detective from your local law enforcement. This was stupid and absolutely positively NOT FUNNY. Boy needs to get that message, as do his parents. Be forewarned that you may lose a Scout.

If I could interject, what is the name of the publication which covers fundraising for BSA units? Is there one publication or is it spread around hither, thither, and yon? Not being Miss Smarty Pants, but we came up with a fund raising idea and I want to make sure we haven't gone completely off the reservation.

Well, CoG is based in Berkeley. Maybe if you contacted a local council or called. I hope you were able to recognize your Scout in some manner.

Covenant of the Goddess sponsors the Over the Moon award and Hart and Crescent for Wiccan Youth. It may not be approved by BSA, but there is something out there. Here's the link: http://www.cog.org/projects/hartcres.html

I did everything the net offered last spring while my husband was, once again, deployed. I took Scout Master Essentials last spring, too. I have yet to take IOLS becasue my husband is usually TDY in theater two to three weekends a month. Though I prefer being a committee member, we move so much that I want to be sure I can do whatever to ensure my boys can still participate in Scouting, even if that means doing Lone Scouts.

Pick up the mess, commit to sorting it, and then push forward. It may be that the time has come to close down this pack. On another note, I always like to mention legal liability when people don't want/refuse to do training.

GKlose, You know, you don't have to play the same game. If you don't like the questions the others ask, ask your own. If you are the one Committee Member who gives evidence about caring about the boy as a boy and about how he applies his scout skills and knowledge, then you may find yourself very popular amoung the boys. If you google "Scout Board of Review Questions," you'll find all sorts of "standard" questions used by many, many BoRs as jumping off points. They may help you direct the experience away from an oral exam and toward an engaging conversation.

GHB, Don't forget that Scouting is fun with a purpose. So, get out there and have some fun!

Have you considered getting the current Naturalization Exam questions and just quizzing the boys? Make it a game and then discuss what they thought of the questions, how the exam is administered, etc.

But, BSA at least *appears* to occupy this planet. I can't say that about GSUSA above the council level. And, because someone asked, at the 2008 National Convention in Indianapolis GSUSA was sending this out to vendors: 2.6 million girls and nearly 1 million adults members (99% volunteer) 1 in 10 school aged girls in the US is a Girl Scout 68% of US Congresswomen were Girl Scouts Approximately 50 million women have been influenced by Girl Scouts directly. ( I take that to mean 50 million females currently residing in the US have participated at some level and some point in th