Nike

One reason GSUSA loses membership is that its National Staff is completely divorced from its local volunteers in terms of values and vision. Just look at the new prgram they're rolling out to replace Studio 2B, which was fairly well rejected by the girls and troop leaders. If GSUSA wants to get its numbers up, then it needs to go right back to pure scouting basics, character through outdoor education and good deeds. Its advocacy/activism program, officially a curriculum, is already making the local volunteers nervous and wary, and it isn't even out yet.

Cooking for 1st Class! Here!! Here!! One thing I really dislike are the "timed" badges. Do this thing for ninety days. I'd make Family Life or Personal Management required. But, Family Life seems like a waste of time as it is currently written. (Then again, my kids have a pretty good, strong home life.) Add a choice of Wilderness Survival or Backpacking. And, add an arts or engineering badge requirement as well. Dump Personal Fitness.

Here is a link to a coup stick project. http://www.usscouts.org/ab/ab2.cgi?action=view_activity&a_id=56 If you google "coup stick" in images, you'll get some good pictures of what Plains Indian coup sticks looked like. Good luck, and I am going to suggest this to my son's Tiger Den. Boys love collecting odd bits of stuff with personal totem meanings.

The problematic word is "active." If a Scout is active simply by virtue of being registered, then what are we to make of "serve actively?" Serve while being registered? What of the word serve? Does this mean participate? Perhaps National should strike "active" from the requirements and change it to "registered," since this is what they mean anyway. Then "actively" could actually mean that the Scout is participating.

I heartily agree with dumping dinner. It's a party for Scouting's Birthday. Believe me, Cubs know what a birthday party should be. A dessert banquet with a big cake from the bakery would make them more than happy. As for Native foods and activities, if you have invited a local tribal dance group, contact them for ideas of foods or other things.

Even if you only car camp for the next year, you can still use patrol competitions to help correct deficits. Have a Troop Guide Grab Bag of scout skills, maybe even one set for meetings and another for outings. First patrol to get all its members finished with a proper skill display wins. I find food and relief from a dreaded camp chore encourages boys really well. And if your adventurous patrols chafe at car camping, let their PLs and APLs make that point in the PLC. While I wouldn't let my 13 year old go on a patrol camp out unaccompanied by two adults, if they wanted to do some

TheScout, Have you tried to start a unit in an underserved area? And BTW, not everyone in this country shares in its bounty. Parts of Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta will break your heart, or they should.

TheScout, try getting a job delivering papers if you aren't at least 18. This is now an adult job, not one for a kid with a bike to earn some cash. If a unit or district is in an economically depressed area, why shouldn't FoS money be used as seed money to get them up and running with basic equipment?

Our troop chose not to ride the Va Creeper because the trail crossed roads at some points. The boys rode the New River Trail instead. However, the troop camped and brought their own bikes.

I like the dark green color canvas pants better, and the belt is substantial and masculine The canvas fabric feels more substantial, so hopefully these will stay in one piece. My son likes the new pants. At our shop, the staff said there was a new sash that matches the new fabric. (If my older son has an Eagle Court of Honor, I'll get him a new sash.) Also, they are carrying the "old" switchbacks until they run out. The new shirt fabric did feel much nicer than the old stuff. I didn't like the color of the new tabs, but it might have been the lighting, and our troop's not changing

I would be so kicked out of that troop! And so would my son! He doesn't like it when the adults simply inquire what the patrol is cooking for breakfast. What's this "organized" troop's retention rate, I wonder.

Why not let the boys write a job description for the SPL to include his required/expected level of participation? Then they are selecting the candidate pool.

What do the boys think? What they want isn't always what's best, but they need to buy in.

I'm glad others have had such success with the Bobcat badge at such a young age. I remember when this requirement came in and a lot of Cub Scouters I personally knew were very wary.

Well, at least a kilt would be a conversation piece. There also used to be culottes. (Think of well flared ladies' pants that end at the knee.)

I just wanted to ask what others thought of having the Tigers earn thier Bobcat before they can start earning Tiger Beads. Up? Down? What are your thoughts. Full disclosure: This type of memorization is very hard for my younger son, though I do see the value.

There aren't any MBs available becuase our troop earned over 400 this summer and teh Scout Shop ran out while filling our order. Anyway, it is the end of summer with lots of Courts of Honor coming up, and this may just be a supply and demand issue. I do wonder about the sharpness of the color vision of whatever committee chooses fabrics. The greens are all just a little off from one another. My husband doesn't notice (color blind) niether does my son (also color blind), but my daughter and I do.

Thank you everyone for your answers. I have tried to think of why the boys would need to make the collection and can only come up with: 1)It is to illustrate the utter diversity of insect life in your own back yard, which is an admirable goal. 2) It's a lesson in persistence and accuracy. And OGE, though I prefer to use the male singular pronoun when writing instead of the horrid s/he, when I put on the Scout Uniform, I have a killer pair of 2 inch heels! I am going to approach the powers that be about this requirement and any movement to chage or adjust it. THX, Nike

I'd just like to know when they are going to put beltloops on the ladies' skirt.

How much of this could be avoided if *ALL* current BSA publications were on the web in PDF format and well indexed? Almost like a .... library.

Forgot about eating the fish, but then the Scout does eat the fish. He doesn't sling it in his closet to get manky or hang it from a wall until all the little bits dry out and fall off. (We move frequently so any budding entymologist at this house won't be bringing his collection.) I ask because boys asked. And, if I believe MB requirements could be changed or improved, who's to say I can't send National my thoughts on the matter? They're getting input from someone. Why not me? They are as free to ignore it as the post office.

Have the parents gone to the CO about this? The DE? Man, you guys have an open can of worms and a fish rotting from the head down. If your recharter is coming up, it would be a convenient time for everyone to take some time out and reassess all aspects of Troop leadership. If your recharter isn't coming up, it's still time to reassess Troop leadership.

It's so great to know I was ahead of the curve! I did this exact job...as the Membership Chair! I spent a lot of time with new parents selling the troop and reassuring them that there was a method to the madness. I also emphasized that if they had regular old questions they should check out the websites and/or approach the Committee Chair or another committee member since the SM and the ASMs were up to thier eyeballs in boys.

Personally, insects in my house need to die. Insects outside the house can go on about their lives. Sure it's an insect. Insects outweigh the rest of creation by logarithmic factors. But, this is still the only MB, that I know of, in which the boys are encouraged to kill something. We don't ask them to open up a frog or a cat or molest bird nests.

This would be an excellent topic for a Scout Master's minute, that lasted about 30 with lots of participation from the boys. You may not be able to "legally" do anything about one Scout, but you could make a real impact on the rest of the troop.