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Pancake breakfast!

The above comes from the annual CO agreement. I would argue if the BSA wanted to stop church COs from proselytizing it would be documented here. In fact, the BSA specifically mentions youth ministry as a specific objective. My take: it seems that this point in the agreement was designed to promote Venturing. (I don't have any old charter agreements to be sure.) Venturing has and does sell itself to churches as a sort of "youth group, plus. ..." But, as some churches saw troops as part of their youth ministry, BSA figured that would apply as well. Many of us here think that teaching youth doctrine would undermine their program. The TL/USA folks feel that it amplifies it. One relative feels that he, in fact, has more freedom in his new-found TL/USA troop than he ever did in his BSA troops. I don't know how much that has to do with scouters in that area who emphasized advancement over outdoors, patrols, etc ... and how much it has to do with the lad now being mature enough to be trusted. But, the kid doesn't mind the doctrinal stuff. It makes him feel safe, challenged, and cared for. BSA allows more variability on that CO-troop relationship. So, serving up doctrine is an option, not an expectation. Thus, we might not see it working in our neck of the woods. But, its a big country ... Just like with the OP's CO. We don't see a lot of COs asking for monthly participation in other programs/fundraisers, so it comes off as odd. But just because it's rarely done does not mean it can't or shouldn't be done.

@mrkstvns your recommendation is awesome. There will always be exceptions. For example, although they disagree with the theology, Muslims expect Christians to talk about Jesus and read/recite from the Gospel. Their scripture promises that they will. It's a brand they trust. If that doesn't happen, they may doubt the sincerity of someone who calls themselves Christian. Conversely, thanks to our sworn enemies, many Christian youth know the lists of (translations of) Islamic versus that encourage violence. What they don't know is their context or how they are worked out in the more moderate Muslim's life. So, sometimes, with a diverse group, we need a little humility to ask ahead of time, "This is special to me, but if I shared it with the whole group, would it distract from your ability to honor God the way you see fit?" Many times the answer will be "Please, go ahead." Sometimes the answer will be "Please, no!" The goal is to get the youth to have these conversations with one another. Generally, if adults step to the side, these things have a way of working themselves out.

@mrjohns2 Welcome to the forums! And, thanks in advance for all you'll do for the youth. Returning, you will find that fire prevention has changed the way we do most things. We simply do not burn as much stuff. It's been found that large campfires actually harm trees. (It's interesting to watch over the years as campfire circles become wider because the trees around them die off - until nobody likes to set up campfire there because the grass grows too tall!) Tents are set further from fires. Depending on where you live, you may be under a complete burn ban for most or all of the year. Add to that the newer fabrics and the odds of a tent/tarp catching fire are low. Moreover, a troop that mostly backpacks does not keep much gear in a tent. Packs have covers, and in tree filled areas many scouts/scouters set up hammocks/tarps. Also new for many returning scouters is Leave no Trace (which used to be minimum impact camping). It encourages random placement of tents instead of the classic military postage stamp formation, or the patrol "four points" around a campfire.

Congratulations! You are n Eagle Scout.

@ScouterCC87 welcome to the forums, the requirement gives you options: (Emphasis mine.) Did this patrol start out as 5 scouts? If it has done all of those other requirements for national honor patrol, and it added a scout in the process, then the requirement is met. If not, they need to recruit one more member. To earn it again, they will have to recruit another member, but then they'll be 8 and all they have to do is maintain membership and complete the other requirements in the next quarter.

In general, we have not looked too closely at when the scouts cooked their meal. As long as it was a troop activity, we were fine. That being said, in things of this nature, I suggest you have your girls read the requirements together and ask them if it would be fair to sign off on outdoor cooking in these circumstances. Also, you may want to take advantage of the weather and demonstrate how snow is an abrasive crystal. Snowballs make excellent scouring pads.

My opinion is informed by an Italian exchange student, who insisted, "I am not a Girl Scout. I am a scout!" You could also say: "You are no longer a Cub. You are a Scout."

The practice isn't that unusual. Music festivals have also done split locations when demand was high. There's a bit of fun-with-electronic-telecommunications to have. Why not continue? It seems that scouts want to meet scouts from different parts of the country. Why not rotate? Logistics. And, more western troops wanted to come east with a chance to visit DC than want to go west with a chance to visit monuments there.

We tell our scouts that the CO (a Presbyterian church) considers the troop to be their ministry. As such, we help set up some of their activities/fundraisers with no thought as to money being exchanged. They make sure that there are extra doughnuts on Scoit Sunday. Everybody wins.

@DwightS, welcome to the forums! No rule against it. It could be appropriate. Check with the family. Usually when we do this we have scouts meet in a different location (e.g., a parking lot) near the viewing and walk in together.

For most camping activities, don't worry about materials. Comfort trumps tech most days. When you actually need technical cloth, don't worry about color.

Scouts+sledgehammers. There's a recipe for success. Actually Mrs. Q sucking us into hand-pouring our cracked sidewallk one year allowed me to helped a scout frame in the molds for 8x8 slabs for a project.

In many of the old guidebooks, the SM is drawn wearing a suit and tie. One wonders how much better youth would uniform if adults wouldn't!

Researched them. But never saw evidence in the field. All flying objects were identifiable. As to the likelihood of extraterrestrial life (especially the intelligent kind) ... well so far the only creatures producing measurable signals of their existence to far parts of the universe are homosapiens. Life in general here seems to produce an oddly oxygen rich atmosphere, but it's hard to tell who would have the tech to see it if they haven't even built tech of leaky radio signals. It's equally possible, however, that they did build that tech years or epochs before we were even able to receive and translate it. They have since learned (for reasons known only to them) how to not spill traces of themselves into the "great beyond." So, until more evidence is gathered, the notion that there's something out there has the same odds of being true as the notion that we are very much alone.

I think there needs to be some acceptance that Eagle projects involve lots of opportunities for one-on-one contact with folks not registered in the BSA. Contact with a district representative while the scout's parent is nearby should be the least of our worries.

I'll push back on that ... Leadership Development (through responsibility, service projects) is a method. Actual leadership (e.g., scout gets his friends to pick up litter, leads a school assembly in the national anthem, calls a buddy out on pushing drugs, etc ...) is the expected outcome. Personal growth as a method is embodied in the Scoutmaster Conference. In fact GBB's handbooks calls it a personal growth conference. The outcome is a young adult who can take is place among other noble adults in the wide world. Most of us would agree that providing the scouts opportunity for responsibility, service, and conferences with caring adults is a linchpin of the program. Other groups have outdoor components, high-minded ideals, uniforms, awards, teams, etc ... But few really strive for leadership and personal growth in the rounded fashion that troop life offers. That said, I see these methods as overlapping (e.g., to advance, you must attend to leadership and personal growth) and can't imagine one outweighing the other.

My barista, a senior, is my cookie contact. She hasn't been in the shop since she took my order. oh no! Maybe the cookie police have her in interrogation!

This old crow is happy to help!

We took our kids out of school to attend a wedding in Rapid City. Son #1 was assigned a lot of journaling. He had a lot to write about. We took a drive to the Badlands one day.

We woodbadge earners are fairly simple folk. The favorite memento from my crew for my beading ceremony was a picture with the first and only venturer in my crew to earn a bronze award. Even if you get him a book, I'm sure your CM would like a picture of him with your scouts as a bookmark!

FWIW, I also think a UC (or any of us who are friends of a unit) should critique positively when a new SM/ASM is by-the-book regarding advancement. It's likely that they are getting flack from someone for it, and if you don't voice your positive reinforcement, you may not hear that a leader may be struggling with parents on that issue. Sometimes someone from the outside can provide the necessary unified front before such parents. I've often found myself in that position, and leaders and parents have thanked me for walking them through the advancement method.

That black soot went away with most of our steel jobs. The debate is out as to if those stacks "seeded" more than "heated" the clouds.

Not presently, but we have in the past. Since we attend week 1 of summer camp (which is usually synced to the week after Pittsburgh Public Schools' last day) it has impacted us. Fortunately, in those years, our school district didn't take as many snow days as PPS, so it only cause problems for a minority of scouts. I can't remember how they resolved this issue. I do remember them camping with us, so either they came mid-week or were granted an early dismissal. (Being a good student comes with some perks.) For us, the serious issue is that it cuts into long weekends for backpacking, or spring break for high adventure. We just can't do last-minute camp outs on snow-days (although I'd certainly rather).

Yes. Without question. What's at issue is how to deliver that critique. I started advising a crew after being a seasoned ASM; however, I still felt inadequate. And I felt that I had to respond quickly to things that were coming up. So, I sought out folks who could give me a blunt critique quickly. And the venturing commissioner was pretty good at laying out "must do" vs. "must stop doing" vs. "take it or leave it" advice. And for the "must stop doing", I could go back to my youth next meeting, apologize, and promise to do better. I think this SM and ASM are in a similar situation. The only question is if they will take brusk advice, if they will allow such critiques at a committee meeting, or if they need a let's-sit-and-have-a-coffee approach.