qwazse

The leading church in this new denomination is an active contributor to scouting in my district (down and across the river from the proposed CO's district). But, the denomination gives its congregations latitude in youth program decisions. So, the issues come from folks who have never seen the benefits of BSA in their families or in any club they belong to. I figure they'll come around slowly. I sincerely doubt this divides the congregation. Parents don't change churches because they have to take their sons someplace different for scouts. In one sense it's healthy to work with a group of parents other than those in your own church. You get a good lesson in "no matter where you go, there you are!" I would like to keep the parents together, but that may just not be practical. Some live a bridge or tunnel away from each other. (That's how we measure distance in the 'burgh.) Some already have their boys in disparate packs. A promising sign would be getting them in the same room to discuss what's really important to them ... and getting the boys in an adjacent room discussing what's really important to them. @@MrBob, not in this section of town. A shame really since the college ROTC pulls together students at different schools, and the VA hospital is in this neighborhood. But there are some other civic groups and fire halls. Parents have options.

How to fix busted toes: tape them together until they're healed. Just saying, if together you all can get eight newbies (because the odds of a boy in the audience seeing one of his buddies in a shared presentation could be that much higher)... that's a rising tide to float both boats.

I can also see it backfiring. A committee member might ask, "So you felt that our troop wouldn't think you deserved to be Eagle when your transferred. What did we do to make you think we'd be so unfriendly? Why not at least try to have that SMC on your first campout? Did our SM seem unapproachable? Wouldn't a real Eagle jump at the opportunity to have a conference with his new SM about his experiences on the advancement trail?"

Six months? One week at camp is all I need. Heck, a morning fishing or five miles hiking with the boys gives me nearly all I need to know about each one.

Team up with the other troop that visits your middle school. Try to have an assembly in school, and at the PTA. (Especially at the PTA, bring some of your older scouts to impress the parents.) Have a flyer with info on both troops (meeting nights, locations, etc...). Obviously this works best if the troops meet on different nights and the locations are fairly distinct. Lacking success, make a plan for how you all will take care of the youngest boys as they age out. The end of the troop should not mean the end of scouting for these boys.

This promotion was at the request of members of the congregation who were parents of elementary school boys. They wanted it to be at their church thinkng that would be ideal for their boys. But, maybe that's myopic. @@Stosh, I'll add to their options that they knock on nearby doors. I'm torn between encouraging parents to start a pack on their own vs. joining existing packs in their respective neighborhoods.The boys do look cute together, but being their own clique might not be the best for them.

Well, the potential CO, who I said was a little cagey, tabled discussion of starting a pack until the spring. Enough parents and their boys had asked for it. There are no other units of any kind in the vicinity. I think we could grow rapidly. But the CO is a bit of a "crater church" -- families who join while students migrate to 'burbs.. So maybe another night of commuting was not gonna be worth it just to keep this cadre of boys together. The potential of engaging international families was there, but some internationals might be looking for a coed program as is available in their own country. The church staff was overwhelmed with the notion of one more program. The vote was split along the lines of folks whose sons (and one daughter) had been in BSA. But the tipping point seems like the membership policy ... this church being a group who just left a mainline denominations because of abandoning decorum to accommodate the perennial activism of those with permissive sexual ethics. The "we stand behind our sponsors right to select their volunteers" mantra just did not wash with them. Missed opportunity? I'm honestly not sure. I'd rather have an intentional CO (I think) than one who just says "sure, just turn the lights out when you leave."

'skip, a former advisor relocated to SC. She may know people. I'll send her the link to this page.

I don't consider it a nuclear option so much as a "reality check." And it helps guide a youth in more than just advancement. I've had venturers (especially those also in GS/USA) who were invisible to me and my co-advisors for years, except when it was time to sign-off on NHS hours for both time in the crew and their troop. We said "Really? How did your troop benefit from your service in the past two years?" Somehow, they figured making our numbers "look good" was a service. Since then, within the year they stop showing up, I give them a call, ask if it's okay if I drop them from the roster, and let them know it's just paperwork when they want to come back. To call him/herself a scout, I want a high-school age youth to give his/her fellow scouts a good few solid months each year. Then, if he/she is needed by a team or church or some tribe on the other side of a mountain whose medical supplies can only be hiked in, let us know (and send pictures.) My reasoning (and I have coaches who concur): an active youth who can concentrate on scouting for that long will probably pick up enough to improve their performance in other groups -- and academics.

That's precisely why we try to make clear to the parents that we have an executive committee to address these issues. A family's pride is often at stake, and they don't want their dirty laundry aired on some grapevine. Beyond discretionary funds, we have scouters who will dig deep if we tell them a kid is coming up a couple hundred short. They will be furious with us if they get word that a kid didn't make it to camp because of financial issues. My Aunt is probably the nation's oldest Campfire Girl. Weeks on end under canvas hiking the Catskills during depression-era summers. Immigrant family. No $. No idea who funded her. Lots of folks around here with similar stories. Big ticket scouting is a different issue. If there is no way a kid will come close to the first down-payment for HA or Jambo, then maybe it's wrong to put time and money toward that adventure when other things should be a priority.

Depends on the publisher we send to. Some, it's better to spell out special characters. You'd be astounded the non-sense character substitutions that wind up in galley proofs (even from stats journals). This old crow knows exactly how to stay on topi ... oooh, a shiny!

Thanks for the update! Glad we could help you with the paradigm shift. That's the idea. Getting a youth to be comfortable in his/her own skin. This is the right time to do it. Any later age and the mountains can seem, well, insurmountable! PS - I find myself envying my former scouts and what they can now do for themselves.

Discussion has been had and ignored by scouters all across this great land.

Rho Rho Rho your boat gently into the corner Eating aThanksgiving Pi!

Well, hopefully Mike is listening!

Naw, our highest-achieving scouts (in school or sports) are the ones with the most doubt. It's usually all the boy's cogitation, and drives parents a little nuts. Maybe it's because many of them are getting the BoR at about the same time they are applying for college. Sometimes those first few rejections have come in. So, that lot seems to need a little coaching. It could also be, that since the district members come to the unit and unit committee members are on the board, our scouts might be a little more sensitive to the fact that folks on the board already know the good, the bad, and the ugly about the boy. For a while we had a high rate of Eagles, so the boys might also have been feeling that they didn't hold a candle to the guy before them. Lately, our scouts have been more laid back about the process, and haven't been asking for as many tips. I think that's a good thing. The outcome is pretty much the same, I guess. Just giving the boys who need it a little more time, and a little less stress.

With transfers, we often touch base with former SM's. That usually has nothing to do with advancement decisions ... more about what the boy liked or didn't like ... if there's something we could offer by way of giving the kid a fresh start ... how the parents might contribute to our troop, etc ... Without hearing from the other SM, I'm not entirely sure how soon we would give him an Eagle SMC.

Now, for us cupcake scouters (sorry moderators), a former Sunday school student put me onto the shop where she works http://www.vanillapastry.com/. Well worth going an hour out of your way for a dozen of these.

Neither is closer to our house than the local bakers. For a while, my family would go out of their way for KK, but the time they got home, what was left in the box couldn't be distinguished from what could be had from just up the street. Same with DD's coffee. Good in a pinch, but not worth passing by local shops for. One up-an-comer that this town is enthusiastic about: http://www.peaceloveandlittledonuts.com/.

Precisely what I'm talking about. For a while here was a sporting goods store next to camp, that 3 or 6 oz. bottles ... Perfect pocket or hip pack material.

If the boy cannot name one scout who he's taught one scout skill, then he's not really even a Life scout (the concept, not the patch). If you get push-back that that's a back doors way of imposing an unwritten attendance policy, fine. Have him put forward the reference of one cute girl in his youth group who he's taught a scout skill. Oaths and Law aside, is his project a good one? I'd let him give it a go if it is. But, be clear that you haven't seen a lot of scout spirit in him, and if he has been showing it without you noticing, it's on him to tell you where to look. Your the SM? Right? You can refuse to sign his Eagle application. He has the right appeal. This is really not complicated. He's got 5 months to shape up. Let's see if the boy can finish strong.

I don't have too many helps, but for #1 the sport bottles of spray sunscreen work well. They are a lower SPF, but by virtue of quick and easy, are amenable to reapplication with less fuss.

If boys ask, we'll have a practice BoR with whatever ASMs are available.

Yes, when it comes time to build a trebuchet! Also, the best campfire stories come from well-read boys. Meanwhile, if it's recognition he needs, encourage him. To focus on the round awards if the oval is slow coming. Librarian is a troop position of responsibility. Given your son's experience, he may want to help the troop start a Kindle collection of scouting materials. Merit badges of interest: Reading, Signs Signals and Codes, Programming, Digital Technology, Geocaching. Finally, encourage him to make the next campout. I can understand an 11 year old being too young to make everything, camping every couple of months is a healthy goal.

I'll not whitewash things. One scout with limited resources, you all can pitch in (formally or informally) and make things work for him. If he shows enthusiasm for the program the reward will be plenty. If there are more boys like this whose parents really see the need for scouting, it changes your program. These are parents who will be working multiple sub-minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. They don't have a lot of time to give to the unit. Your budget and resources are constrained. More responsibility is laid on the boys, and they are presented with situations most middle-class parents try to shelter their kids from. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The "high adventure" is no longer to BSA's jewels, but a few days in some nearby state park. Maybe run your own summer camp on someone's grandpa's property, asking the local gun club to provide range safety officers, bringing volunteers FD and PD for certain merit badges. Other things like that. Or if one of your committee or a DE is good at grantsmanship, you get support for really diving in and serving the kid's neighborhood. So, yes, there is a little bit of "if you give a mouse a cookie" phenomenon when you do this. On the other hand, I don't think my sons and daughter have hurt for getting comfortable with the other side of the tracks. In fact Son #2 has a summer internship in a neighborhood that gives my SM the chills. (The Lord's work and all that.)