pargolf44067

Based on several posts by lots of people on this forum, as well as personal experience, it appears that we have a significant issue with attracting volunteers at both the Boy Scout and Cub Scout level. What do you think happens down the road when those of us that are volunteering now (with or without kids in scouts) decide we have had enough and leave? Do you think there will be a natural evolution of people that will volunteer, perhaps boys that were in scouts and are now becoming adults/parents that will backfill? Or do you think BSA will have to do something about it? I am just curio

For fear of running afoul of @LeCastor , going back to the initial post, I think it would be an interesting merit badge. I know a few people who brew, but I know nothing about it. I think it would be kind of cool for the boys to brew root beer or sarsaparilla. I wonder if the boys even know what sarsaparilla is!

I think with what @@packsaddle went through, he has every right to his feelings, whether we agree with him or not. He is just saying that he feels that alcohol and drinking are bad and he doesn't agree with it. I don't necessarily agree with his absolute feelings on this, but I think he has the right to have those feelings. And to compare his feelings about this to feelings on whether a gay scouter should be involved seems kind of out there. He didn't say, at least that I saw, that people who drink shouldn't be leaders in scouts.

@@LeCastor, The outgoing SM actually replaced me and saw how the troop was working when he was ASM and I was SM before. He changed things to a point where we really weren't in patrols and it was becoming boy led. When I agreed to come back, he and I had some discussion and I asked questions about the patrols and how the planning was being done. So I think he kind of knew that I would be going back to how it had been done and was more than willing to help facilitate that. He is staying on as a volunteer. He still has two boys in the troop and he really enjoys working with the boys.

Well, last night was my first official meeting as the returning SM. We had a parent/committee meeting that I gave my report at with all the events that were coming up, while the SM I am replacing was working with the boys. I think the old SM knew some of the things that we had done in the past were going to get resurrected and he was great about it. The boys separated themselves into two patrols. Although we supposedly had patrols, they never sat together or camped together, so this was an important first step. They even came up with their patrol names (one of them crazy sounding to me,

@@packsaddle, With your experience, I think you have every right to your feelings whether they're absolutes or not. Sorry that you had to go through that.

When I stepped in this time, I made it known to the troop that it was for an interim period of 12-18 months, and then I will step away for good. I fully admit part of me stepping up is selfish because I didn't want to see a troop that a really involved group of leaders and I put a lot of time and effort in to start to come apart, which is what I was afraid was happening. There is another leader that was really involved at the same time I was SM that is also helping me out. However, at some point in time, I believe that the parents do need to step up and get involved with their kids for this

It is the committee's job to find someone, but I can see why you have a vested interest in helping to recruit. Stosh, I understand where you are coming from, but based on what blw2 is posting, as well as other posts that he is made, I can tell that he feels a lot of responsibility for the group and doesn't necessarily want to leave the group high and dry. I am the same way and that is why I stepped back in when our SM had to step down for work reasons. So it's easy to say as of xx/xx/xxxx I am done, it's hard to actually do this. I am not sure what kind of parent involvement you have

Stosh, I have to tell you, I really don't know of any troops around here that are as boy-led as your troop is. I like to think that my troop when I was involved the first time was pretty well boy-led and patrol based (and it was compared to what it is now), but I was never to the point that you are. And in all the discussions I have had at RT and at Klondikes and Camporees, I haven't seen or heard troops as boy-led as yours. I hope you take that as a compliment because I think for the most part that is the way scouts is meant to be, I just don't think most troops are.

When I was SM for my troop before, I had a great group of parents that volunteered without being badgered. We had more than enough parents that would be willing to go on campouts. Since I have stepped back in I have noticed it is harder to find people to volunteer. We get a lot that volunteer for the background things, COH refreshments, committee secretary, etc, but for the last two campouts it has been the same three leaders going and two of us didn't have boys on the campout. I can see that this might be my biggest challenge going forward. There are some things that haven't been done

Stosh, I would agree on most camporees, but the older scouts in my troop absolutely love the Klondike Derby. In a lot of cases, it is one of the few campouts that they will make the time to go to. The boys are very competitive and as they got older, they learned from the older scouts how important it was to them and that "tradition" passed from year to year. I could be wrong, but I think it has to do with getting out in the cold weather (and northern Ohio has some pretty cold weather) as to why Klondike is so popular but the fall camporee isn't. We occasionally go to our district campo

And we can't get our associated pack or other packs in the area to return our calls about providing them!

We used to make scouts (or adults) sing for their stuff if they left it behind, but we don't anymore. However, at our summer camp, if you leave something behind in the dining hall (or various other things, like it's your birthday) you are supposed to "Kiss the Moose" or do some other similar thing to one of the other items hanging around the dining hall during a meal. It is supposed to be all in good fun, but I have seen kids get really embarrassed about having to do that. And this is a council run summer camp that does this. So it sounds like there are inconsistencies on this topic across

That is a very good point. My kids had agendas, too, with no training on how to use them. Maybe the time management piece is valid but all the budgeting and financial information to me seems a little more geared towards older kids.

God bless you! You have to have a tremendous amount of patience to deal with 1st graders all the time for 8 straight years. I have a friend of mine that was Cubmaster for a long time after his son moved to Boy Scouts. Just the hour I spend at Blue and Golds for crossover ceremonies drives me crazy with all that chaos and running around of little kids .

Herein lies the real issue. Bobby is a Star scout and needs a PoR for advancement, so he becomes the troop historian because he needs the position. He doesn't really go on many campouts at all and never brings a camera with him when he does. Tommy is a Second Class Scout and also would like to be the historian because he really enjoys photography and he goes on most of the campouts and he usually takes a lot of pictures when he goes on the campout. In our troop we elect positions (I know that's not 100% correct but it's better than the SM picking ), in other troops the SPL or SM (in an adu

I think you have to blame the parents to some degree. The issue with the MB Counselors is that I know I have been harassed and harassed by my District Advancement person to volunteer. I have yet to do so, but I'm sure I have made no friends because of that. I do blame the MBCs that volunteer and then do a crappy job of rubber stamping (to quote Torchwood) a blue card, which I know has been done before. I have to admit my younger son went to one of these because when he was younger my wife kind of pushed him to sign up. Once I saw what was done at these things, I told my wife that I didn't

I'd have to check records, but that is probably true in my troop as well.

You and I are in total agreement on this (assuming the sarcasm for your levels of Eagles ).

Stosh, not disagreeing with you overall on your initial thoughts, and, in fact, I strongly agree with having a camping requirement. I am just making a point that I think 20 nights per rank would be especially challenging. Yes, as they get older they need to manage their time better and the more camping they do also continues to build on their leadership skills as well, but I think you can get similar results with 10 camping nights per rank. Sure some boys that do High Adventure (heck, Philmont alone could get you the majority of the nights camping at 20) could make it easier, but then you h

My issue on the signing of MB Blue Cards is that we have parents (both currently and in the past) that have somehow gotten a hold of blue cards and had their boys start merit badges without ever discussing with the SM. When the parents do that it circumvents troop leadership (both boys and adults) and it makes scouts less fun for their sons. How much fun can it be with your parents making you do so many merit badges every month. When I was SM, I would sign all of the blue cards and have conversations with scouts on those that I had potential concerns with (such as a first year scout taki

Mozart, thanks for the ideas. I will try and incorporate this in our process for next year.

Interesting thoughts Stosh. I think it would keep older scouts involved longer. I think there might be issues with the 20 nights of camping as boys get older especially as they get jobs and more involved in HS activities, so I think there should be some camping requirement but 20 nights at each rank might be tough. We do have some of the same issues with boys being fairly uninvolved for a while and then deciding (in most cases with parents' persuasion) that, hey, I think I want to get Eagle!

That's an issue in our troop as well in that guys serve their PoR for their time and in some cases do nothing. For instance, our Historian and Quartermaster are older kids who rarely camp anymore. Maybe the QM can get away with that if they do other things with our shed and trailer, but how is an historian supposed to document campouts with pictures and descriptions if he rarely goes? One thing that I am going to do after I step back in as SM is help the boys understand what the positions entail and show them specifically what is required for each position. I am not sure that has been done