Platypus96

ScouterAdam- The only reason we are both in the same den is because I'm aging out part way through the year, and my friend ages out much later. We have both stepped down from troop leadership to let younger scouts take over, so now we are going into a weblos 2 den. I don't remember much if cub scouting, and the den leader is inexperienced, so I'm looking for ideas to implement. Thank you all for your responses so far, if you can think of any helpful suggestions, please let me know!

This is a question for den leaders. If you had two 17 year old eagle scouts in one den as den chiefs, what would you expect them to do? And if they did that, what else would you like them to do? How much of the burden can or should they take on? Thanks in advance!

Packsaddle, I am sorry about that remark. I feel I let my anger get the best of me. So to Peregrinator and everyone else, I apologize for that attack. Peregrinator, I am sorry, but I do not know what atheist regimes you are referring to. Could you please explain that statement? As for people Not having the right not to be offended, I'm not sure what you mean by this. I am going to assume that you never went through the process of losing your religion. Please correct me if I am wrong. But for those of us that have, it is a very long process. It often includes learning a great deal ab

Peregrinator, from what I have read here, you are indeed a bigot. No atheist (that I know of) condemns an individuals right to practice their religion however they please. However, they do condemn it when the government attempts to impose religion on them. Now, you may think that saying group prayer in school, or even just seeing a prayer banner in the school, may not be an imposition. You are wrong. When an atheist (especially one in school, who is often a teenager and just discovering his lack of a belief) sees that banner, it is a big sign reminding them that a large number of people around

"..You can not tell anything about a person just by looking at them..Every Flap looks the Same for each member so when OA members see a Flap they Say Lodge Member.." Did you ever think that that may be the point? After the ordeal, all candidates become full members of the order, regardless of the honors they later achieve.

Honestly, I didn't really want to touch this topic at first. There is just so much wrong in the op, I didn't want to get involved. But I can't help myself. Maple, you are a kid in a boy scout troop. Act like it. The best place for a socio- governmental experiment is not a group of scouts that are expecting you to lead them on fun camping trips. To treat them as such would be a disservice to them. If I was in a patrol that ran like that, I would leave it. The best way to lead your peers is to let them lead themselves. Instead of making presentations yourself, you realize it needs to

So I was talking to a friend of mine earlier. He is the SPL of a troop that I left a few months ago. Apparently at his last meeting, he said something along the lines of "pay attention guys, because you need to learn this stuff to help you be an eagle scout one day." Well, after that, his SM pulled him aside and said that he couldn't say stuff like that. According to him, you can't tell the scouts they can be eagle scouts, because it "just isn't a possibility" for some of them, and he doesn't want them to get false hope. Is that OK to tell an SPL? He can't encourage kids to be eagle scout

I've always thought this argument was ridiculous. From my point of view, there is only one reason a scout would listen to music or play on his phone on a trip, and that is boredom. So you have two possible problems there. Either he is using it when nothing is happening, and it is entirely unreasonable to be upset at its use, or the program for the trip is not keeping his attention well enough to get him to put down the phone. I remember the first time I put on headphones at a scout function. I was patted on the shoulder, looked up, and another kid said "Really? You're gonna listen to your iPod

I think the SPL can be useful in certain cases. In my old troop, it was essentially just a puppet for the SM to run the troop while pretending it was boy led, all the way up to rigging the elections to avoid scouts who could actually lead. Now in my new troop, it's much better. We are in a situation where we have two older scouts, and then 10 scouts 13 and younger. Me and my friend are the SPL and JASM. As SPL, I work directly with the two patrol leaders. I guide them and try to teach them leadership skills as best I can. The SM is great. He watches and listens, then gives me and the JASM idea

So, I have been asked to play the part of Meteu in a broken arrow ceremony this weekend. I have never actually seen one, and no one else I know has either. Do any of you have any advice to help me do the ceremony better?

Just wanted to throw out that in my lodge, the vigil nomination letter is read with the name omitted, so the peson is judged on their actions, not their popularity. However, the one year I was a member of the voting commitee, I recognized every person that came up based on what they had done. People who are known to the scouts are normally known for good reasons.

Hey everyone. I understand that this is a topic that has probably been done to death, but I'm an SPL and my meeting plans have been getting rather stale. I need fresh ideas, and I'm all out, so I'm calling in the brain trust. Please post interesting meeting ideas, ideally with a skill or set of skills to be learned and an interesting activity to go with it. To give some background, this is a new troop made up of all first class or above scouts, and we hope to win our first camporee in a few months. Anything to help us prepare in a fun way is appreciated. Brainstorm!

In my lodge, we have never had any special borders or backgrounds for our lodge flaps. Everyone gets a flap after the ordeal, and you can buy as many as you want, whenever you want. I believe they cost $3. We do have special event patches. When we have a contigent going to NOAC, or Indian Summer, or even Jambo or Philmont, we make lodge flaps to sell as fundraisers. These are normally two piece, full pocket patches, rather than just a flap. I recently bought a set for our NOAC contingent. There were four pairs, each denoting a chapter and a ceremonial principal. I had to buy them all, just

It pains me to see that so many adult leaders take away an amazing opportunity from the scouts in their troop. I'm not interested in trying to persuade you that the OA is a good program, or that everybody needs to be active in it. But when I look at the amount of friends that I have met through the OA, I realize that it has made a huge impact on my life. Over the past few years, I have spent more time with friends I made in the OA than with friends I made in school. They are scouts like me, and the fact that they have been chosen to represent their troop to the OA and the fact that

jrush, I think you might have missed my point. I don't think Eagle Scout's should be in the OA because it is a great program. I just think that any scout who wouldn't be elected by their own troop into scouting honor society should hold scouting's highest rank. I was pretty much trying to think of a nice way to say that eagle scouts should be approved by their peers. Actually, I like that idea. If scouting was left up to the scouts, then instead of the current EBOR, all eagle scouts would have to be reviewed by a commitee of scouts from their troop. Scouts of all ages, and all ranks. It would