Nike

Are any troops establishing a wear out date for the numerals so that everyone in the troop has the same color troops numbers?

The requirement to collect and mount 50 different species seems to imply killing them. (I don't know how to mount them otherwise.) I have had Scouts tell me they don't want to kill insects, especially butterflies and moths. They don't believe it is environmentally aware or respectful of life, and I agree with them. Is mounting photos, taken by the Scout, of fifty different species acceptable? And, why is this the only life study badge which encourages permanently removing specimens from the eco-system? Who should I address this to at the National level?

B&G should be a party with balloons, skits, songs, and fun. Ditch the sit down catered food and do a spaghetti dinner or a bar-be-que, which will take some hardy folks on the grill in certain areas in February. Or, get rid of any pretense of real food and just have a big cake and a huge sundae bar.

Lake Occoonee (sp? Not from GA) looked pretty full when I drove over it Tuesday. Or try to Augusta canal parallel to the Savannah. In fact all the way up 20 to 95 the water looked pretty good.

Wash your hands with no guilt. Y'all were really nice to even do the BoR and spend so much time on it. The kid's an ungrateful, spoiled brat. You tried. He failed. Make him a learning oppurtunity for the rest of the boys.

As this thread is beginning to point out, half the religions recognized with religious emblems would like to permanently do in the other half. This mental compartmentalization is part of the ongoing problems brought up by the DRP.

If nearly an entire Troop has gone south on the uniform, then what else aren't they doing? Patrol Method, boy led, rubber stamp SM conferences and BORs, fly by night Merit Badges, safety? If the uniform is the only thing out of whack, maybe a group picture juxtaposed to really sharp looking units could prod the boys and parents. To battle non-uniform uniforms in our troop the PLC came up with this: after the opening, the first thing SPL says is, "Whoever is out of uniform, step forward. OK, you guys clean up tonight." And, the boys who otherwise look perfect will admit to wearing whit

Re: Needle and Thread NO. Neither will I toss the lipstick and mascara because someone ground them into the bathroom carpet (Yeah I know oxymoron) while I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Nor will I stop wearing perfume because that was experimented with too. Look I can sew and embroider, but when the DH has been gone for all but eight months of the past four years, you take the shortcuts.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have to get this stuff up because the house is under contract, and the buyer (OK the husband) is a difficult, Type A kind of guy.

Long story short: There is a four year old sticker maniac involved. Now we have Badge Magic stuck to a vinyl floor. Any suggestions?

I agree whole heartedly with Lisabob. Do any of us REALLY want to delve into what the boys are up to with the girls? Unless one privately confesses it to me, my answer is an unequivocal NO! Once a boy has fathered a child and baby is here, I would be very interested in how he is managing his life when he came up for BoR, and it would have some influence on my decision.

1) I would like to see "Adult Volunteer" added as a registered position. I have tons o'ASMs and tons o'MCs who I can't drag to training even if I did offer to cook a three course meal for lunch and dinner. (Don't get me wrong. I am really glad that we have a plethora of adults Scouters in our Unit. But, with the new Quality Unit patch dependent on adult training in item #1, it bugs me I can't unilaterally move some people into a different position.) 2) Cooking for Eagle! It's what most of our Eagle candindates suggest anyway when we ask what badge they would add. 3) Get a better

I sat on an Eagle Board where the entire project was funded by Dad, and it was a hefty chunk of change. I truly regret not asking if the Scout attempted to fund raise with community and civic groups in the area, however we got down in the weeds about technical issues and the absolute lack of proofreading in the Eagle Workbook. I almost got out the red pen. (We use a Word file format.) If you've beaten the bushes dry, don't worry about it. You can always work it off with yardwork, babysitting, or some other way to "pay back" your parents, and hearing that would impress me as an Eagle

My son's troop just got back from Camporee where my husband approached several of the people wearing Bonner paraphernalia. Everyone raved about it, and they were from several different troops. Depending on the time of summer, you may get a good breeze most of the day. Our troop is looking forward to it with great anticipation. We even got some of our boys to do Coastal Adventures. I have e-mailed several times with their e-mail contact and he has been very helpful.

Concur on all points. Our troop has one trip per year, the annual ski trip, that is open to all family members. However, if a non-registered parent wants to go on any other camp out, he/she is welcome, stays in the adult area, and heavily recruited as a volunteer and FoS. Non-registered children, and that includes Cubs, are not permitted on any trip other than the ski trip. If you can't get the boys to choose different trips that might not be so appealing, maybe you can reserve a campsite that "only has" enough room for the Scouts and the adult leadership.

If I am the Tiger Den leader, earning my Tiger Den Leader knot, can I use this same year to count toward tenure for a Scout or Venture knot? I'm not double counting activities/requirements. With multiple boys, I find that I am potentially in a Pack position, Troop Postion, and Crew position all at the same time, and its not the same type of position. I once heard someone say that the total number of years you had knots for HAD BETTER (imagine a bitter, snarling threat) equal at least the total number of years you'd been in Scouting as an adult. Just wondering, Nike

What does a Lion Cub do as opposed to a Tiger?

Well, as the deadline for submission looms (Feb 07) maybe people will get a little excited. Our DE came right out and said our district was the guinea pig district for beginning to review these forms. I have to say that this form is completely without direction and encourages low-balling. I understand its purpose is to get units to put on an acutal program instead of just hitting some paperwork deadlines like the old QUA, but still, we had absolutely no guidance on this and neither did the DE or the guys and gals at Council. We're winging it this year.

There is a need for separate Boy and Girl Scouts at all ages. (As a high schooler, boys around scout meetings would have been a total nightmare.) However, at the older ages when some girls would like to be just as outdoorsy as boys, there needs to be a program, which Venturing can fill admirably. It's a shame that GSUSA and BSA can't jointly sponsor Venture crews, but then the institutional characters of the two groups at the national level are further apart than just Venus and Mars. By the way, when I came home from camping trips in cadette/senior scouts, I was filthy, sticky and ti

Our troop has tons o'active duty and retired types as leaders and volunteers. They don't try to impose military precision or order on the boys as this is a boy run troop and the boys know it, won't let the adults forget it. What is great about these guys and gals is that they are used to pulling teens into adulthood. They also know how the mind of a kid/young adult works, whereas this is my first enocunter with teens since I was one. And frankly, I can give the very same advice to my son as the retired SF colonel, but he's got the credibility whereas I am just a mom.

As far as I'm concerned, Girl Scouts has been going south since they ditched the Hospitality badge. (Yes, I have mine. EVERY girl in my mother's troop earned it. You couldn't escape without one.) I believe that firstly Girl Scouts were seduced by the Women's Libbers and the SuperWoman syndrome of the early eighties (Anyone remember the Enjolie commercials? No, not the third line.) And, in trying to expose girls to so many male dominated avocations and vocations, they forgot that girls are girls. They also began to wander away from an outdoor program at the summer camps in my area of Virg

Our troop has our own necker, and all member (M, F, youth, adult) get special patches when they hit so many nights of camping with the troop. However, the older boys like to use "neck adornments" such as bolos from special camps, things they've made themselves, etc in place of the necker. It's accepted except for BOR.

Maybe in well run troops using patrols and having adults around only for safety and sanity checks, there isn't a problem. Perhaps the reason enrollment is declining is from general societal ennui and the increasing social isolation many experience. Perhaps too many adults get frustrated with boy run units, take over, and the boys turn off mentally, just like in English class. Perhaps it is because Scouts is frequently seen as an exclusive, white, middle class activity obsessed with earning ranks and badges, not as a dynamic organization meant to develop boys physically, morally, and ethical

Before a council gets really wrapped around the axle about fines for lack of training, they should re-examine the training calendars. Sure, lots of people just don't want to do it. And, lots of us have suffered through awful corporate trainings, and this doesn't look much different. In my council, they offered the leader specific training for committee members one time (1, yes 1) for the entire year in the middle of summer. Secondly, the training isn't modular enough. I could go to New Leader Training and Youth protection, then leave before the break out for Cubs and Scouts, but I w

"Elvis has left the building." (in regards to shirt collar size) I say the same thing every time my boy is running half dressed to get in the car five minutes before Scouts starts. (Takes two minutes to get there but we have to cross an exceedingly dangerous road, that's why the car.) I asked said scout what he would change. Uniform: Keep the tan shirt only for special stuff and wear a polo. Merit badges: They're fun. Advancement: It's OK. Outings: I like them. (His troop camps every month except July/August) Well what would you change, boy? "I like it the way it is." M