qwazse

It sounds like your 3 oldest should move up to JASM, that will give them the free time to found a crew with their girlfriends! More importantly, it will give them the authority to guide the new PLs. Your basically training them to fill your present position. With any luck, one of them will have time to help ASM in the future. On the other hand, if your older boys have had their fill of intense leadership positions, they may want to go back to being "just this guy in a patrol." If they are willing to be good followers, that's OK. If one of your high school boys wants to have a crack

You raise a good question, sail. Should board of reviews in the venturing program different in any way from BS BORs? I would suspect Quartermaster would necessarily be different because the nature of the award is very specific. Silver is a nebulous entity. Not sure a BOR could be tested. Never gave it much thought because my crew is not there. Also, let's face it, we all come off as having a law unto ourselves sometimes. But any of you who have crews that awarded Silvers, what guidance have you given your committee?

Maybe that's as good a reason as any to encourage a target date for eagle of age 14 or 15. The probability of a boy having every scout skill, symbol meaning, and point of history in his head at the time of BOR is higher. Fact is, a 17 year old boy who forgot WT Boyce's name and knot or two, but is working on understanding his religion and his sense of moral obligation will get a pass from us. (At least at the SMC. We read the riot act and warn him to study chapter 1 of the BSHB before he meets the board.) A twelve year old, on the other hand, we might ask if he wants a do-over, mayb

Out of state? We don't even transport in state! On the flip side, there's no shortage of dead ash trees.

No BD! Don't ask! You know what will happen. The GTA seems to give units pretty wide lattitude, so actually I think most troops are indeed "by the book". Most boys are by the book. In fact I'm usually trying to get them to chill and not make requirements seem harder than they actually are. If something is confusing, I give my DAC a call. He'll research, and give me a call back. His answers have proven to be solid and when there was a conflict, the calls to national came down in his favor. So I'm taking what lattitude is evident at face value and running with it.

[laughing out loud] I've had parents say nearly just that about me!

Truth be told, I never read the AG. Most of what I know about comes from: 1. Going to roundtables and taking my DAC at his word. 2. The posts on this forum. It's amazing how far you can limp along on the plain English of the BSHB and the Eagle application!

Don't think Romans were into face paint. Took my daughter to a Steelers v. Seahawks game when she was 4. It was all I could to dress casual for a game. Football being near religion in these parts, I was raised to wear suit and tie for Game day. We were told never to dress like a player unless you were willing to play like one. Times change. We were also told to keep the good looking women in the stands with us. Don't parade them around the sidelines. But I think that was just a Pittsburgh thing to explain why we don't have cheerleaders.

Some folks seem to just want to keep the BS in the BSA! LB, no offense, but you sound like an DE used to reporting paper membership to meet the pay-grade. Just as I would never hesitate to confer an elevated rank because of an adult error in record-keeping, I would never encourage an SM to confer an inappropriate rank simply because folks managing the roster were not honest with themselves about purging it annually. The requirement is "show scout spirit." Those of us who did band + youth groups year 'round, or who had a son who lettered in 5 varsity sports + girlfriend + advanc

Ya know, it's the closest relationships that are generate the coldest glares. Learn from it as best you can. Make love not war! Ask for your most independent person to be UC of this particular unit. You'll want the CM to have someone who she can be frank with, and who can give guidance to both of you. Not merely be a voice over the Internet.(This message has been edited by Qwazse)

How are you punishing a youth by giving them proper recognition of their abilities? IMHO, SP and his SM were finally according this boy his proper rank. That is not a punishment. Making the boy do push-ups for every end-around his parents pulled ... that would be punishment.

COR may replace the CC or any adult leader, but that won't solve your current problem. As concerned parents, the CC and CM may still promote their agenda -- no patch required. Are the boys setting the schedule for the troop, or are you adults doing that? (I mean, it's awesome if the PLC decided that they want to cover a different Eagle required MB every two weeks, but it's rare that boys will do that. It doesn't leave much room for shooting, fishing, or wilderness survival!) Whatever, you have parents who want a different program than what your troop offers. Giving them a chance to

Our council does a haunted trail. Maybe something of the sort would suit your pack and be well within the reach of your den.

Beaver had managed to convict GClose about getting too involved in addressing a boy's advancement issues. Issues that seem to be reveal subtle character flaws in an otherwise fine young man. Beaver's contended that much of that dialog should have been referred to the SM. Now a few months ago I might have nodded my head in agreement, but at the last Eagle CoH that I attended, 5 mentor pins were handed out. The boy had a reason for each. One went to an MC. His reason: "There'd be times that I felt that I could ignore my mom, but Mr. ___ I was scared of him. When he told me something,

Tell me the scout slogan. What was yours today? All the best for you and the boys!

One step (I think it's a big one): make sure your 18 y.o.s register to vote. "it's time for you to start running my country."

If only I had a dollar for every hour an adult leader spent agonizing .... G&C, I could give you a list of other things to spend loosing sleep about, but I reckon the Mrs. already has one for you. I love your "let's make it happen" attitude, but that implies that both parties hold up their end of the bargain. The boy has until his 18th birthday to show he's holding up his end. SM Chris, let him know you will be happy to hold his eSMC on the night of his third activity. If he wants to push it through without signatures, I'm sure he can take it up with your district AC. For

Call BS on the BS and let the chips fall where they may.

1. Ditch notebooks. 2. Get a big old canvas, some ropes and spars, paint. 3. Help boys make sign that says: Troop ###, no notebooks allowed! 4. Watch membership double. 5. Have fun trying to keep a dozen boys organized.

Eureka teragon 4 served my boys and daughter well for 9 years. I think I'm gonna go through the effort of patching it's most recent rips.

How many youth really make good, thought out decisions about things that may not involve them in a few years without outside input. Actually, most of them ... If they've had to put up with the crap most adults have foisted on them for at least a season of camping!!!! As a practically matter, the SM tells our committee we should spend $ on equipment. Committee checks budget and adjusts fundraising goals accordingly. How the SM interacts with the boys to determine what is needed is between him and the boys. Committee never sees a written list.

IMK, Seabase does have a lot of novel stressors. Not sure if they would be triggers for PTSD. But, I've seen normal kids freak out over: being in 25' of open ocean for the first time, being only able to get 44' away from everyone else, being in a different part of the country with a different culture. Heck our stay in Miami Beach was tough on some who thought English should be the 1st language in their own country! To the OP, every campout I miss nags me to no end!

First of all, thanks for all of your service and hard work! I think you need to work to regain that civil relationship. Explain that your previous efforts were all in good faith, but overeager, to make the district work better for her her families and her boys. Then focus on other packs who would welcome you letting their parents know of district events. If your son wants to invite a buddy from that pack to an event, that's the only parents you should talk to. You could certainly invite every den leader and CC to roundtables, but that's it.

In BSA, the charter org has claim to the unit supplies, including $$s. If the charter org folds????

Our crew held it's court of honor this week, a younger sister (age 10) asked if she could help start he campfire. I replied affirmatively saying "Far be it from me to prevent a little one from lighting a fire."