qwazse

@@ianwilkins, one doesn't need testicles to earn Boy Scout ranks. One just needs to be male. There is no ban on eunuchs. You continue to be in denial that we are saying the same thing. This is not a discussion of changing a single requirement for the award as it is offered to Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Lone Scouts. So, your reference to "ninja warriors" seems to support granting deserving women access to due recognition. A percentage of 1st class scouts (by virtue of fulfilling the requirements just for the fun of it) are not eligible for the award simply because lots of other people think they should be denied the path to that award. There are special interest who would like to change things in the face of youth apathy. So we come back to ... How will any boy in your troop be dishonored if a girl in Kalamazoo were to get the same award? -- and on the flip side -- How will a deserving girl in Kalamazoo be dishonored if any boy in your troop gets an award that she can't? Any answers to either of those have been less than satisfying. The more important questions (and harder ones to answer): are boys missing something important because certain classes are banned from attempting a program designed for them? And, do boys lose interest in scouting because certain classes are banned from that program? Right now, I lean towards "no" for both. I'm not sure what data I would need for me to lean towards "yes."

I dropped in on the troop meeting, and the troop guides were explaining positions of responsibility to the boys. Adults were quietly in the back of the room. There's a lot that that unit could be doing better, but they are good at giving the boys the podium.

Although I've come to believe that there is no good reason for banning certain classes of Americans from scouting advancement, there aren't compelling reasons to lift those bans. Any reasons should center on boys, and speculate on questions like these: Demand. Who among banned groups are asking to participate in Boy Scout advancement? Certainly none of my female venturers or any girl scouts who I know. Stakeholders' well-being. In other words. Is it good for the boys in the program? Yes there's a lot of talk about co-ed. But even if it were to happen as ubiquitously as it did in Scout's UK. Boys would still be our major constituency. Would-be stakeholders. Is the notion of a nationally recognized award attractive to boys who are not in BSA? Would more boys be interested scouting if their sisters or girlfriends could also earn the same rank. This might be an issue for some, but I'm not hearing it. Girl scouts are more concerned about being denied programs that common sense should dictate their organization provide. I have an great niece adopted from a 3rd world orphanage who simply does not get why American girls her age aren't "allowed" to light campfires (which she does with flint and steel). Like my daughter, she envies all the camp-outs her brothers go on. Female venturers just want respect. For example, I've known advisors and scoutmasters who've dealt with boy scouts telling a girl that any award they could possibly earn would never compare to Eagle. (For any of my scouts reading this, thank you for being bigger than that.) The ones who are mastering wilderness adventure or sea scouting know they are "all that." If the boys around them give them their due, that's award enough. The fact is, an award like Summit or GS Gold means a lot to recruiters. But even if that wasn't the case, what Eagle means to potential employers or recruiters shouldn't be a consideration. What it means to parents shouldn't be a consideration. What it means to youth (both in scouting, and considering to be in scouting) is what matters.

Good questions, @@thrifty. Where adults can help boys in situations like this is after action review. (I.e., asking what went well, what didn't go so well, what should we do differently?) It's not just a matter of sitting in a room waiting for someone to come up with the next big thing. It's enabling each scout to evaluate what their decisions and come up with better strategies over time. If there's a health and safety reason to decide about summer camp, then sure, involve the committee. If not, then what's he harm of letting the boys live with their decision? Worst case scenario, they change their minds and lose their camp deposit.

Patch suggestion: how about a blank patch that they design themselves ... Maybe with stamps of leaves or insects. Activity: collecting leaves or fungi that could be used for stamping!

If all your boys have IEPs which require it, then you have bigger problems.

Welcome, and good luck in your search!

We train our scouts that a module of their backpack should be a "go" bag. That smaller bag (with toiletries, change of clothes and maybe a laundry bag) is what would go with them to their hotel room. On our backcountry trips, the go bag is suitable for carrying only what they might need for a day hike -- in case they settle on staying at the same campsite for a couple of days. Needless to say, if the boys are into climbing or caving or swimming, the contents of those go bags changes drastically. Depending on the location and how secure the parking lot is, you may want to ask for storage for your gear. Or plan on stacking the packs in a couple of closets.

Being surrounded by urban development is no excuse. Camp Guyasuta is an outstanding camp surrounded by greater Pittsburgh neighborhoods and serves BSA and sometimes school groups. Developers have to mitigate for wetlands loss. Camps and reservations can be part of a city's green solution.

Thanks. Writing a note as we speak. I've seen a lot of folks drift off of the Google satellite complex (among others) for their coffee-house meetings (which by the way are really neat to overhear, if a tenth of it is true, there's some spiffy stuff coming down the pike). I have never met a one in a Nascar racing team shirt. Usually one pen/mechanical pencil at a time. Sometimes none. (You can always borrow the barista's. Write on a napkin, then photograph it.) And when he was our SE, I only saw him in the blue blazer or venturing green. So, it's likely your FOS will have to gamble with some other scouter.

Laurel Highlands Council's Heritage Reservation offers a truck program. Well worth considering for older boys looking for whitewater, climbing/rape,king, and backpacking, Float a Kodiak challenge by your older boys http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/08/11/take-look-kodiak-challenge-hands-leadership-training-scouts-venturers/

To your question: boys can and do join troops (or Varsity Scout teams, or Lone Scouts) at age 14 and make Eagle. There is no time requirement for first class, so as soon as they participate in the minimum numbers of activities, service projects, and campouts, they can be at the same rank as most of the other boys by age 15. BSA has bent over backwards to assure that nearly any young man in the USA (and in some places abroad) has access to its advancement program. It has jumped through as many hoops to ensure that even the most able young woman cannot.

@@ammocanman, welcome to the forums! This is precisely why we don't talk about supporting particular scouts in committee meetings. The executive committee, if they need to, would get people's opinions one on one. I hope your situation improves, but as a son of a disabled dad, I can assure you that knowing I had to live within certain limits did me nothing but good. Your boys will grow up fine. Hopefully some of your fellow adults will too.

You can't imagine how much I wish I could tell you I had no experience in this sort of thing ... But I can assure you that what you've done is plenty. Let your older scouts know your plan. Maybe your SPL could be the master of ceremonies and introduce everyone. Matt is right about the maintenance. But maybe what you could do is encourage the boys with a scoutmaster minute. The tree will grow, and likewise they should let the memory of their lost friends grow. They should also be quick to love the grieving parents. Stay in touch. Keep an eye on the tree. If the plaque needs repair let you know so together you can make a plan to fix it. And just like the tree you expect them to grow, and when they're grown come together underneath this tree, take a picture of yourselves, and give it to the parents.

I think I we call that a camporee ...

@@Zaphod, I'm sorry to hear about your son, but hopefully he is finding other things that motivate him. "Boy-led" is significant in as much as patrols are guided toward independence. It seems that a lot of the "chaos" means little if it is not mitigated by boys spending real time in small groups whose vested interest is having each member well advanced.

Let's see, three espressos on three walks to the library to get at those back-issues or an online subscription? Time to get the walking shoes on.

Because of the fine print! Under "powers" the charter allows BSA to - do any other act necessary to carry out this chapter and promote the purpose of the corporation. Under "Restrictions" there is no statement as to limitation of membership.

Regarding Canoe orienteering ... one year it felt like that Mile Swim on the lake took everyone an awful long time. So, I grabbed my compass and took bearings from shore landmarks (including controls set by Green Bar Bill when he set up a land-nav course on the reservation) to the lap buoys. Then went back to the topo map of the reservation and triangulated their position on the lake. Multiplied distance between buoys by the # of laps everyone had to swim, and told the aquatics director that he should either fashion mile-and-a-half patches or reduce the number of laps for the remaining sessions of the summer! River/lake navigation is a really important skill. So, I have two words for your contest: Laminate maps!

I'm just not seeing the demand. I had girls who hung out with boys in our troop about as much as anyone could stand. Not one asked to earn even one MB. Same talking to the vast majority of female venturers (with one or two exceptions). At this age, there is so much more value in professional certifications. About the only time I can think of where it might have been worth it to a girl to have earned a MB was at a council camporee when one of my female venturers wanted to take a scout sailing and the aquatics supervisor (female, BTW) insisted that the girl had to have small boat sailing MB. I happened to be canoeing by (dropping off the scout who wanted to sail with her) and intervened explaining the catch 22, and that that particular young lady had three summers of sailing school. (I have no I idea if there were any other such qualified young women from other crews who were turned away.) And frankly, as a crew advisor, I find Eagle rank advancement to be a bit of a distraction. I offer it to the boys, and I'm kinda glad none have taken me up on it. But, as a result I'm dealing with fellows whose time is split between two units. That's not all bad. There's a decent exchange of good ideas when it's working at its best. And everyone seems happy with the awards they can get outside of Venturing. So, any evidence that I have suggests that enabling the trail to Eagle for the few female venturers who ever might consider it would cater to the 1% of the 1%.

Supporting the notion of single sex education having value, here's some fodder from the DC-area public school district about their new all-male prep school: http://dcps.dc.gov/page/empowering-males-high-school This is hitting the news wires this week. In one radio interview (http://www.npr.org/2016/08/24/491170171/new-all-boys-school-opens-in-washington-d-c) the superintendent being interviewed noted that the district has had a girls' school for quite some time and it never received the coverage that the soon-to-be-opened boys' school is having. A good reminder that, as we may discuss this from our own personal perspectives, there are special interests that would push the conversation in a particular direction.

Catapults that launch marshmallows. (Although you may want to use ping-pong balls ... less sticky.) Ask your boys what their favorite indoor activity was.

You might want to try a middle ground with the rafts. Last summer our boys lashed together the ribs and keel of the craft and wrapped a tarp around it for the hull. Just enough duct tape to pull the folds tight over the keel (and put the name on the hull). It won the camp "anything that floats" competition that week.

It must have been a hot week for the boys to think of air conditioning! Interesting no mention of radios or electronic devices ... so there probably wasn't a major sports event that anybody missed watching ... or a major release of a movie. Doesn't sound like the troop had much home-sickness (no mention of "free" telephone calls)!

So it looks like our crew is down to One female adult participant, One make adult participant, One female youth, One male youth, Two adult males Two adult females (one more available, one less, neither wed to the males). Now there's a whole lot of glass half empty/full going on that I won't bore you with. Let's just say the above want to at least try venturing, so I'll give them the time to do just that. Typically this lot is interested in backpacking, at least all of them say they like the concept. For today's question: if one of each of the above comes on a trip, how would you arrange shelter? My answer (I think) would be "what shelter?" That is, individual minimum impact hammocks or tarps with a unisex digger hanging from a tree. Longer term, maybe rig a shower bag behind a wall tarp. But it might help me have a right attitude if I hear other suggestions.