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I think the general emphasis on immediate recognition gives us a sense that National's advancement team would rather us respond to scouts sooner rather than later. This makes sense. Three months may be a blink of an eye for those of us who wait for peer-reviews, but it is a long time in a boy's mind. Boys in upper ranks often are becoming responsible citizens and committing weekends to good things besides camping. So, if you're only available for upper-rank SMC's on troop camp-outs, you probably should find an ASM who you trust to handle the boys who aren't gonna be on the next couple of camp-outs.

I think it's fair to let the scout know that you will have to talk to a parent. (After all, your "salary" comes from parents and not the taxpayers.) How he responds may give you some warning of what hazards lay ahead. It's also fair to let him know that you've never come across this way of dealing with life, so a simple "okay, fine" might not be an immediate offering.

This whole thing precipitated because the GS/USA narrowed its lane to deny many girls some desirable programs. I would rather endure the semblance of co-ed if it lets the one "side" see that the other "side" is playing from the same book. If Venturing is any indication, girls in Scouts USA will avoid any whiff of being pandered to. Any girls who ask me to SM their troop better be prepared to only by the "boy's" book.

Um, @FireStone, this week, our state's Catholics are reeling from the unveiling of the ramifications of a very broad, seemingly -- at the time -- rational, "don't tell the parents, let the Bishop handle it, he'll tell parents if they need to know" mode of operation. Of course, what we don't know is how many boys and girls were protected from abusive parents by honorable priests who used their calling to provide sanctuary as the Church intended. But, the general consensus is that creating a space where youth could be shielded from their families also created an opportunity for some malicious adults (sometimes as a group -- so much for two-deep ) to insert themselves and reap havoc. That havoc to those youth outweighed any benefit to many other youth. Requiring teachers in NJ (or most other states with similar policies) to work a "what happens in school stays in school" strategy might not sound like the good sense that it seems to be making in your neck of the woods. Perhaps we should not draw too many parallels between agents of the state and other institutions. But, if that is the case, then one cannot argue that it is 'rational' to have what is required for such agents be required of a volunteer of a CO to whom parents willingly entrusted their child with an expectation of transparency.

Almost on que, another international example from Bryan on Scouting I like how some of the in-country volunteers were also scouts from that country.

Props to everyone for not making this about membership. It's not. Let's also not make this about abusive parents. Impulsive decisions are part of adolescence. Great parents can have impulsive kids. In fact, most parents have impulsive kids. That's why we spend a lot of time training kids about fire, knives, and a whole bunch of other harmful things. In the process, we often see or hear from an impulsive youth in ways that make us pause, not because a given impulse is out of the ordinary per se, but because we think it could be part of a larger constellation. Or, because we think that impulse will result in a culture clash. Either way, if all evidence points to the scout having decent parents, talk to the parents and the scout in the order that makes sense. It's okay to be honest that you've never dealt with anything like this before, and you're not sure the scouts' friends have either. So, just like with knives and fire and a host of other fairly innocuous things, you don't necessarily want to cater to the scouts' every wish, but you don't want to kick him/her to the curb either.

I think Barry is concerned about some more nefarious https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria The worse thing one could do is think glibly "Oh, here's a budding LGBTQIA." When in fact there is a youth who is trying to quell some more brutal dissatisfaction.

3) The conferences on campouts seem to be less rushed, more relaxed, and more reflective. The SM may simply want each boy to get the best upper-rank conference possible, and his experience has led him to realize that this policy promises the ideal personal growth discussions.

Don't ask for an advance on trouble. What you are dealing with today is hard enough.

There's no guidance from BSA that I know of. I like @TMSM's answer. But it will set you up for more interaction with the PL on how the boys are dealing with it. Not necessarily bad, unless they decide that bullying is the way to deal with it! But @Eagledad's is right that understanding what the scout's parents are going through is important. It's fair to let them know that you're a little blind-sided by this, and ask them if there's anything going on that you've been missing. Your CO might want to come down on this as well, so let the COR know (probably without naming the scout, for now). Like any issues of moral weight, it's going to take some listening to figure out what the scout is really after.

It doesn't hurt to ask, and I hope the SM can flex on this. But the reality is that we tend to do that kind of flexing for 17.4 year old Star scouts and not 13 year old First Class scouts. (That said, we wouldn't ask the scout whose conference got deferred to wait an entire month.) However, if this were my son, I'd ask his patrol to plan a camp-out on the one Friday or Saturday night that he's free. If the SM or I can't chaperon, he could invite two other scouters to camp at a distance. (FWIW, this is a standing offer that I personally put on the table to the patrols in my troop.) Invite the SM to drop by for dinner, dessert, or breakfast and the SMC.

You all need to lighten up. My SM never held personal growth conferences for upper ranks during meetings. We'd usually walk over to his house on a Saturday. He'd pull his advancement records out of his shoebox, and make sure his book and ours were synced. I often help the SM conferences at meetings with scouts because there is simply too much going on that demands his attention. This policy allows your troop's SM to get good quality time with the boys. Embrace it. There's nothing that prevents a scout from having his SMC with an MB outstanding or maybe a week or two pending in his leadership position . If the boy has exigent circumstances that prevent him from making it to wherever the troop is camping, the SM will flex. Otherwise, respect the man's time, and enjoy this unique opportunity that he is offering to your boys: an ideal setting to reflect on their scouting career .

So one of the fun things about being a scouter is watching young men follow in your footsteps, or maybe not ... I've told you all about how some times we wanted to grab the "Eagle Project of Troop ###" banner that often hang by some of our more public works, grab some spray paint, and add a footnote: "we take bad kids." Just like can happen in land navigation, a scout can choose to take "the long cut" into adulthood and all you can do is watch. Especially thanks to social media, there are a few moments you wish you could unsee, but there they are. And there you (or your wife, or your kids) are helping a young adult and his wife and kids make his new "patrol" to the next mile marker, then the next, etc ... But, when your family is wondering how some furniture is gonna get hauled to your lake house, you tell them to ask their friends with trucks, and they say, "but we don't have friends with trucks", and you say, "Um that interweb thing on your handhelds?", and they give you blank looks, then say "Why don't you FB your friends and see if that actually works?", so I do. Guess which former scout actually responds? Anyway, he was happy to take that odd job in exchange for a day by a Great Lake with the family. I had to also try and fix our grey-water tank. (Which he had never seen, but having worked a couple of fraking platforms, he grasped the concept right quick.) So he helped me pop the concrete lid and jimmy the pump, and when we saw that the check valve was shot, Mrs. Q offered 50 bucks to help fix it. He went with her to get the replacement pump while I mowed the lawn. When they got back, he jumped right in, and between the two of us, we got ourselves a septic system that had 90% less stink. The moral of the story is two-fold: 1. Those scouts who try your patience may be the first to lend a hand in a pinch. 2. If you try your SM's patience don't take his forbearance for granted, it may not be tomorrow or even next year. But, sooner or later you may find yourself at the bottom of his latrine. Revenge is best served cold.

This seems to be a natural next step for the Troop Webmaster position of responsibility. Any very good website requires a team effort. I've offered such leadership opportunities to venturers, and they passed because they knew what it entailed. I know of one from our troop that involved collecting children's books for World Vision Relief and Development. However, the shipping warehouse is just down the road, so all of the work effort was local. I've read of other projects where with a global scope. The fact is, some of our fellow citizens are involved in relief work in far-flung parts. The scouts who they know get invited to participate in some small way and their world-view expands. In return, some of those scouts would naturally desire their Eagle project to benefit the charity that opened their eyes to the needs of a hurting world.

Great link, @The Latin Scot. I suppose it's comforting that parents won't see anyone from LDS nudging them to swamp our units with their little ladies -- in spite of this statement on the very same link (emphasis mine): It's a big country. And a lot can happen in a year.

@ValleyBoy I have seen more scouts with a paperwork mish-mash that I'm just waiting for my district advancement chair to approach me at round-table and tell me to have my scouts clean up their act. These scouts are often the boys who drift into meetings only when they need something relevant to advancement. They wouldn't admit it, but I suspect the boy and/or his dad who you talked to were intentionally running an end around the committee. I think independent project plan review is good learning experience for scouts. We need to get it out of our heads that Eagle should possible or even probable for any scout getting reviewed by the district.

Oops, I just used "Mormon" on the other thread. Gotta get out my PC correction tape!

@gblotter, not trying to poke the bear. Just want to have know the range of what scouters are planning to do. Suppose your father-in-law stumbles across a CO that says, "Great, but we also have these five girls and a teachable Mom ..." Will he flex for them? Or, will he move on to the next CO? Are you enthused about the new LDS offerings? The global focus impresses me. Looks good on paper -- like something I try to arrange for my church's youth. But I'm getting an apprehensive vibe from folks at street level. I have a friend who is in the LDS church and he always touches base with me about scouting. Even though his son never was involved in it much, he seems a little disappointed about his church loosing the scouting program. On the other hand, they've always had a tough time garnering the leadership to make a great troop. (This probably explains why his son was more involved in soccer than scouts.) I haven't had a chance to talk to LDS kids (scouts or otherwise) to hear what they think. My guess is if even 10,000 of them nationwide want to join a troop -- for whatever reason -- we volunteers will have to scramble to make it work for them. Part of that would indeed include making sure they get their Sabbath fulfilled in an honorable fashion. I could imagine some troops hosting a patrol of LDS 1st-years that would go easy on the camping requirements so that the boys' could fulfill their religious duties.

From the aquatics safety https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss02/regarding supervisory personnel Not sure how much of this quote could apply to YPT. But, none of us should be strangers to BSA telling us "At the end of the day, your judgment is needed to make this work."

?? show me where in it explicitly states that as a condition for starting an Eagle project.

@carebear3895, ground truth: which group has opportunities varies by location and has nothing to do with a nationally recognized rank. BSA lost two of my young relatives because their SM refused to make good on the promise of scouting by overriding youth leadership frequently and often, and scheduled outings as a second priority to MB weekends. The boys visited TLUSA which seemed to be enjoyable, but there were other problems ... specifically, I don't think their sisters would ever be invited on activities. (Pity, because one can start a fire in a rainstorm with natural materials. Good to have around.) National rules about air-soft battles and height limits on pioneering towers didn't help.

Wow! Folks are a bit on edge. Remember, that chances are that by virtue of being scouters we would probably enjoy each others company around a campfire. The truth is, a troop/pack who never worked with young women before (be they tag-alongs, venturers, rogue GS/USA troops, etc ...) may disappoint parents who thought that was the unit's best feature for their boy(s). Parents had some frank conversations with me last year over this very hypothetical ... and our boys have been exposed to venturers and female scouts from abroad, attended weekend camps with girl scouts, etc ... What looks to some of us like a long climb, looks to others like a slippery slope. As to 'Skip's reference about big-ticket scouting, keep in mind that Jamborees are attended by <2% of registered scouts, HA's by <5%. There are scads of other youth conventions in the country -- especially Christian ones that would appeal to TLUSA -- and some of those have worldwide gatherings.

@DeanRx thinks this is hard. @Hawkwin thinks it's easy. The truth is probably somewhere in between. One solution -- if mom's are slow joining -- is to have one of your leaders become a trainer, and figure out how to deliver YPT training and accept registrations in the field.

@jsychk, welcome! And thanks for all you do for our boys. I've heard lots of positives about TLUSA from boots-on-the-ground. Their professional leadership -- some of them former BSA pros and well-versed in competitive marketing -- has allowed doublespeak to promulgate without retraction (latest example: allowing the implication of a "two week sex party" in reference to the World Scout Jamboree to stand). The world needs more good scouters who will stand up for one another, even across organizational boundaries. Like in "good old days" when boy scouts and girl scouts or campfire girls (at lest in these parts) camped together from time to time. Tip from an old fart: If you all are in it for the Eagle, move on sooner rather than later. The national recognition that comes with all the hype is simply not worth it. Whatever club your boys join, challenge them, "If you never earn the recognition that they offer, will you still be happy you joined?" That's the first sign that they're gonna garner fun memories!

Welcome! And thanks in advance for your service to the boys (and girls?)!