ParkMan

Good point - but one I'd add a little to this. I attended once and have staffed a few times now. In anything, if you go in with really high expectations - you are bound to be disappointed. Wood Badge is leadership training course put on by volunteers. The volunteers are typically some of the more experienced trainers in the council and have a wealth of Scouting experience. In our council the volunteers work really hard to make it the absolute best course possible. But at the end of the day, it's a Scouter training course put on by volunteers. On the flip slide - if you go in w

I loved my Wood Badge experience and really took a lot away from it. I think it's fair to say that I embraced the opportunity to learn new things, meet new people, and challenge myself to grow as a Scouter. I'd encourage you to do the same. And yes - it's a metaphorical fire hose.

I'd contact your district executive. He/she can walk you through the process of creating a new Venture crew.' But, the best thing I can suggest is to learn about venturing and see if the program is something that would be appealing to your youth. Both Scouts BSA & Venturing offer programs for youth at the high school level. They each have different programs that will resonate with different youth. I'd encourage you to learn more about Venturing and see if it sounds like a good fit. A nice place to start is to go through the BSA online training for venturing leaders.

You're question makes me want to ask another: Is it better for the youth of America to have Philmont going in this direction? On the one hand, it seems a good thing to increase access to the facilities at Philmont. More families being inspired by the location seems a good thing. That inspiration for kids can then lead to a greater involvement for them in the future. I liken it to the National Parks. My family goes to lots of national parks. Those locations have I'm sure inspired my kids which I hope will lead to a life long love of these places. On the other hand, when Philmont

I'm sorry you feel this way. I've been fortunate to have served in a bunch of unit and district leadership roles in my time in Scouting. There's a huge need for experienced, knowledgeable Scouters to provide leadership. In fact, most problems I see in Scouting today are due to that lack of such leadership. I'd LOVE to have more experienced Scouters involved in our troop and district taking on roles where their leadership can really make an impact. Honestly, if I see problems in my little corner of Scouting it's often because there are not enough experienced Scouters engaged. (I know

I gotta admit. If I were going to PTC for a course, staying in the deluxe tents doesn't sound so bad. Nicer beds, better sheets - sounds good to me.

I've always felt that this is where experienced leadership shines. Those folks don't look at the latest marketing from national to guide their program. They look at the source materials, understand how it works, and then implement a solid program. When new folks show up, those experienced hands are there to provide some guidance. Ideas like Family Scouting provide some new ideas sure - but in those units will never harm the program because those experienced leaders know what needs to get done. I've read enough topics on this forum where packs or troops are facing problems. Many of th

I'm not here to defend the BSA. Both my son & I have had plenty of uniforms over the years. Only real problem I've had is the letters did peel off if I ironed them. They went back to embroidered letters and so that doesn't seem to be a problem. Clearly we all want to spend less, get more quality, and have them fit great. That's a no brainier and you'll get no argument from me there. For a $37 shirt and a $40 pair of pants, they seemed to work fine for us.

As does my wife. We're not made of money and most certainly don't want to spend more than we have to. Not in any way to challenge your perspective here. It just feels like I see these uniform threads and everyone says - uniforms are way too expensive. .Yet, when I look at the prices, they are no more expensive than a lot of mid-tier clothing. If the shirt or pants was $60, then yes - I'd say they are expensive. Sure, I'd love to pay $20 for a pair of pants - but since the BSA doesn't have Walmart volume I fear what would happen to the quantity. For something that lasts we a few ye

According to Scout math, I think you can argue: (0-0)/0 is the same as: 0/0 Since you can now factor out the common 0's, it's really: 1*(0/0) Since the 0's cancel each other this is really: 1 which is 1. So, according to my Scout math, you get full credit

Uniforms are not really that expensive. Shirt - $37 Pants - $40 Belt - $13 Socks - $8 Patches - about $10 A pair of Levi's Jeans are about $40. A shirt is generally at least $30 these days. I just bought some clothes at Duluth Trading Co. and paid $50 each for pants and a shirt. Sure, these are not Walmart or Target prices - but they are not really all that expensive when you look around at clothes these days.

Thanks for all the conversation today! FWIW - I always welcome the same questions over and over again from parents. I know that seems counterproductive - but every conversation with a parent is yet another opportunity to build a relationship with a family. In my book, talking with parents about what we do and why we do it is a good thing. But - again - I'd go back to my earlier point about cruise directors and communication. If you've got families confused about what is going on, then that says the adults on your team could be communicating more effectively. The answer in my mi

Sounds great. BTW - didn't mean to suggest you were not doing these things. It's just that these are things I found helpful. In fact that you're doing them may be why your the CC FWIW - I'm not a big fan of Facebook for Scouting communications. Since Facebook is essentially an "opt in" system, people have to go check it. I find that email in this era to be more like a commercial. People get them on their phones now, see the emails come and and then register they saw something on that topic. One of thing about email that a Troop Committee Member taught me was - one email per su

Good luck! As a former Pack CC here are some of the things that I think helped us to have a good relationship with parents. 1. think of the CC as the Pack's cruise director. I always felt part of my role was to help parents navigate the process. Never assume parents already know something. Always be ready to explain things. 2. the value of communication. We had a very active pack email list for parents. Something would go out to every family two or three times a week. Announcements about sign ups, service projects, pack meetings, etc... Parents are busy, so I always reme

Why not just have your treasurer publish an update periodically on how your pack does things? Our approach is basically - if you don't cost us money, we don't charge you. If you sign up and then don't show they we'll charge you. If you cancel with plenty of notice so that we can adjust we'll do that. When a new family joins, our treasurer take 2 minutes to give them an overview. What I mildly dislike about bylaws is that they hide the fact that Scouting is an activity run by volunteers. When I was Cubmaster & then Pack CC, I would get questions like "what is the pack policy on bu

Hi @greenreddew, If you were to do a survey of packs around the country, you'll find wide differences in whether packs have handbooks or not. Our pack had one, but only as a getting started tool for new parents. It covered basic questions like what kind of uniform to buy, where's the Scout shop, when are our meetings. It's really for those parents who like to know how things work prior to going to the first meeting. Most of what is covered there a parent would learn in the first meeting or two anyways. Our doesn't have pack bylaws. We're a large pack (70 scouts) with a lead

Point well made. I wasn't initially a fan of this Eagle project as there is clearly a political motivation here. The minute a Scout gets involved in a process that provides benefit to some and results in expense to others where the choice is made by a political body, the project is by nature political. While this cause seems pretty noble - so to are many others which can be seen as more controversial. Scouting has been through enough turmoil lately that we don't need even more political affiliation. Yet, I agree think Eagle projects could have even more relevance in the community

I read the topic a few times. At that point, I don't see a reason to let tell this person to leave the pack. What I see going on here is a fellow who feels empowered to do what he wants to. In this case, I would encourage you to assert yourself more forcefully. If he starts to counteract what we're saying as CM, simply let the guy talk, thank him for his comment, and then do what you were going to do anyways. Thanks Bob for your comment. Yes, as I was saying the Scouts need to wear their uniform to the flag ceremony. I don't think you have to take the nuclear option here.

I'd think that like anything you have to define the roles for these ASMs. As I see it, an ASM is generally there to provide guidance to the Scouts when needed. They are augmenting the SM's ability/desire to do that him/herself. If you're troop is at a stage where you feel patrols need some support, then naming an ASM to provide that support can work. You just need to be really clear on what patrol method is and how an ASM fits into that. However, what happens way too often is that we give an adult some role without setting expectations for that role. Then, since the adult wants to

It's an interesting form. For a small project and for an adult, the form seems like overkill. A five page form for 6 scouts to get together and spend a few hours on a service project strikes me as a lot of unnecessary effort. Any reasonably competent adult is going to know how to monitor a bunch of scouts using some light hand tools. These are generally the kinds of questions that adults ask themselves in getting ready. We don't write them down like this, but just about every one of these is something we do ask ourselves. Of course 90% of these questions an adult would generally find not

Mea Culpa. My bad. I was following the conversation and it came to keeping meetings fun. Read the comment about boring district folks and wondered what advice was out there for how a new Cubmaster deals with outside presentations like FoS. That's all.

Fully agree. I've been wondering of the OA would be better off by ncreasing the requirements and then combining chapters and perhaps even doing away with them.

Thanks for the feedback folks! I welcome more. I know many look at FoS negatively. As a leader in a big pack and big troop, I've come to understand that the council relies on FoS contribution to pay for services that we use, so we're happy to encourage our parents to contribute. When I got involved, we treated FoS like an obligation and our families could tell. As our leadership spoke more positively about it, we saw contributions go up dramatically. I recognized that families that enjoy Scouting are often happy to financially support it. So, I'm just looking for ideas how to do the

I'd be interested to hear ideas of how people have still accomplished things like FoS presentations, but kept the meeting fun and lively. Anyone ever tried sending the Scouts outside for a game while the district folks did the FoS presentation?

As a former Cubmaster who later moved on to a role in a Boy Scout troop - I really like this suggestion. When I was a Cubmaster I didn't get it. Our meetings had a formula. Yes, I tried to keep announcements to a minimum. Yes, I tried to add fun into the meeting. But, we had a very traditional flow of announcements, a skit or two, some awards, a skit, and then an activity. Watching a troop and realizing that a troop is "essentially" an older version of the pack, I'd get rid of pretty much all announcements. I'd make awards short and sweet - only presenting cloth awards. The meeting