ozemu

My daughters birthday is 26 Dec. The 25th is known as Ashleigh Eve in our house. BTW what is the Yule thing? I've heard of Yule tide (don't know what that is though - just hear it from the tv) But a Yule log? And is it really referred to in greeting? And of course Halloween trick or treaters just get a 'wrong continent matey' response from me. Humbug!

What is really impressive here is that she helped at all regardless of her training. Being surrounded by lots of people to whom she could defer, adults, officials etc and yet she still got going. Maybe her training was very good - automatic response not needing much thinking, or maybe she is just that kind of confident person. Can Scouting claim any of this? Yes - we attract the right sort of young people We train them We coach them in character we expect an adult response because we get them to run things from an early age. Good job Lindsey.

Thanks everyone, I had made the assumption that meetings in BSA were weekly but only because that is what we do. Our meetings are 2hrs long is about the only difference. Becasue we have four school terms of 10 weeks (or so depending on State) we get three two week school holidays and five weeks at Christmas. Scouts generally do not meet during those breaks. ...and summer camp just doesn't exist outside Troop arrangements and they are rare. We (after I read about BSA Troops doing it in this forum) camped every month except Dec-Jan for about three years. It was great but lot

An unbeatable add would involve: below average camp food, some cheap plastic drinking cup with an action Scout figure printed on it, a simple logo like 'just Scout it' lots of well groomed Scouts with no pimples laughing and doing essentially nothing or poorly groomed muscular Scouts looking very serious, black clothes....doing absolutely nothing a focus on looking like every other adolescent, laughing (or looking angry) and doing ....nothing some obese and not too bright adults with Scouts running rings around them...but the kids would not a

Pls excuse my ignorance. I saw the thread on Cub meeting frequency and am wondering if Scout Troops meet weekly as we do here? Or do you have some other arrangement? Been on this forum for years and never really thought about it. In Australia - I don't know of a Troop that does not meet weekly and camp about eight times per year. Just curious - thanks

Whoops. Re-read your last post nwscouttrainer. It looks like you and the other new Scouter are onto it. If it works you will be doing everyone a service. Good luck.

The problem as I see it is actually a gift. Getting along with each other is a main part of Scouting. This behaviour is a gift for us to explore that in detail and very personally. Scouting is not about MB's and camping skills (gerat though those things are). This behaviour should be the focus of the Troop/Patrol and the SM and ASM's should have it as priortiy #1. If they haven't (as it seems) they are missing the point and that would be enough for me to vote with my feet. Just how to address this depends on variables. But conflicts are such a great way to explore human

I am no longer the SM here but when I was Patrol camps were routine. At least two or three per year per Patrol. What they did depends on ability. There have been a bunch of other Patrol camps that involved adults being quite close. These Scouts were aged 11-14 years as we max out at 15 over here and they go to Venturers. This is what Scouts is really all about. For the more remote camps I talk through with the PL the various problems that might be encountered so they are prepared with a plan. I also speak to the Scouts involved about their responsibility in keeping the event s

Small patrols of members under 15 years really don't work very well in my experience. Unless there are four or more on camp the chores are pretty hard to get through. They also tend to get on each others nerves a bit. That could be due to the chores or not enough personalities to make it interesting. Not that small Patrols cannot work - it's just harder for those involved. If however the small Patrol is expecting new members that is different. They can hang in there getting the Patrol system working in prep for the recruits. I would advise the SPL to look at the numbers who get

lol, that was funny ustbeeowl. one and a half hours drive from one end of my district to the other. Not sure about the distance in miles. about 100 miles maybe. Nearest scout shop is in teh next state. 2 1/2 hours drive. We get everything by mail order. There is an outlet for uniforms an hour and a half away but mail order is more practicable. I won't talk about number. One - I don't know exactly, two it's notmuch

I was an Australian Army survival instructor. Your shows will end up on our tv in 2008 very probably. It's a bit like that. Our training was for when people were not coming to look for you. The expectation was that everybody else would be too busy for search and rescue. So it was very low tech. The final ex was with knife, trousers, shirt and hat with boots. No socks etc. They pillaged our survival kits before we left and there was very little of any great use left. One bloke lost his boot laces because they were made of parachute cord - way too useful. Eight days later

Well said Bob T. There are a whole lot of good messages in what you said at Scouts.

Cub-Scout-Venturer 8-17 years of age Scout Leader - now that is interesting! 3yrs + 1 yr + 18mths + 3 mths + 3 yrs + 7yrs = 15yrs and a bit. Most of the first few appointments were while I was still in the Australian Regular Army so I was posted around a bit. Whenever I was given command of a desk I would find some Scouts to go outside with.

oh that's good! Well done acco40.

No I can't. I'm studying psychology and can't find anything much on the university database internationally but I thought perhaps there was something in BSA that was not available to academics. Psychology is a bigger in the USA than ina other places as I understand it. So I figured there is a greater chance withing the States than in other places. I'll try WOSM too. What I'm looking for is the psychological result of the Scouting method. There is heaps on education and as far as Scouting goes there is an amount on experiential education and the effect of various outdoor

Wow, my daughter earned and wore the Indian Lore MB. It counted toward her rank advancement. She is not even in BSA! Dunno how it was organised in the States by our exchange host but I am starting to appreciate that it might have been difficult. Thanks mate (no names no pack drill) Shhhhhhh

People are people and we make mistakes. Stops us being cyborgs and getting a bit too proud. They made a mistake. They recognise that. They are adults and adults make decisions about their lives. Doesn't sound like (given the public airing of the mistake) that they will co-habitate again regardless of other peoples rules. Maybe everyone should get over it and let them get on with their lives. Given that the camp was not disturbed through the night I really can't believe that anyone would do anything other than have a quiet word with them in the morning.

I posted elsewhere asking for pyschology research on Scouting and was offered a suggestion (Credit to Calico)that has more to do with hotdesk's question. If interested try: 'Value of Scouting' and 'A year in the Life of a Scout' at: http://www.scouting.org/media/research/

Thanks Calico, BSA does have a research section on its www. http://www.scouting.org/media/research/ Not quite what I was looking for but pretty good nonetheless. Any other clues anyone? Maybe outside BSA? (This message has been edited by ozemu)

Are any of the forum members psychologists or students in that field? The is a wealth of educational psychology material but I am not aware of any specifically on Scouting. Is there some psychological materiel somewhere in the archives of BSA?

Great question hotdesk. Using the 'environment effects behaviour' arguement the answer is yes; depending on the way the Troop runs itself. Which has been said already. Some Troops will foster more life-skills activity than others. Working towards anything (Eagle, OA, MB's etc) will encourage a Scout to learn more useful life-skills that otherwise might seem like a bit of drudgery. Good leaders (adults and youth) will do the same but with more driving by others than self motivation. Using the 'you are born with predispositions' arguement the answer is again yes; but the likelihood

Hold on there Slouchhat. A great idea but there are some issues with that. Insurance and the cost of working out things like badges etc as well as a lack of training support could all cause a lot of work and expense. I dare say that the USA is not as flexible as Germany with its various Scout organisations. Mom is probably better advised to piggy back on to another existing organisation (not BSA or GS I suspect) and run a co-ed outdoor program via that organisations structure. Personally though Slouchhat I agree with you in principle. Girls love Scouting the way boys do i

Yes - I was wondering about the MB's bit. Not having any summer camps to observe I really can't comment there at all. I am a staunch Patrol System type. Rabid really. But returning to the topic. Would self run camps not facilitate greater emphasis on the Patrol system? Even a few small Troops I would think would be able to maintain the Patrols as unit. Personally I can't see more than about 40-50 Scouts doing a week summer camp here. Being small means - no dining halls! You know what I mean. Small groups would not require the same facilities. Quality over quantity. I

Gold Winger I made that comment without thinking too much about it. What I disagree with is that the Patrol system takes a pretty big hit when a Patrol does not need to work together and feeding is a self motivating teamwork project that gets done at least three times per day. Not so with dining halls. I understand from Beavah's post that the Patrol system was not a feature of summer camp. I really can't fathom that. I suppose it is efficiency with numbers over effectiveness with small groups.

Sounds like work Beavah, I am the Operations Manager at a School camp site Our Region (Council) has one property in its 600 mile length. Lots of halls owned by Groups (Troop/Pack/Unit/crew combinations)but just one camping property. We don't go there often. We normally rely on canvass surrounded by cows or nut trees. Dining halls sound fairly repugnant. And to run a camp I fill out a single four page form and fax it to one person. But going for a week with other Troops and focussing (in part) on MB's still sounds attractive. If we get going do you want to come