qwazse

Actually, it is the responsibility of the scout. He should know what he needs to do to round out his skill set. He should speak up at meetings and ask to navigate the next hike, or plan a day at the pool for swim tests, or whatever. The PL may keep the unsigned blanks of 8 books in his head, it's a nice service, but it's more important that he knows that the boys have what it takes to enjoy the next event. That may be mastering a T2FC requirement, but it may be something else.

The DofE award is not limited to youth in the UK. Consider it for your scouts!

I used mock as well. But certain high-performance fabrics are worth having in your pack. Borrowed one piece of polypropylene, and was hooked. Bought one piece a year thereafter until I had enough stashed in my go-bag to cover my hide with a wicking layer.

If that's the worst of his worries, he's in a good place! Troops change and adjust faster than their documentation. Often, it's parents who press the issue. In my case, I never allowed my kids to even own these devices until they were earning enough to pay for them. Even when they were older, I regret not charging for the gas they use to recharge them during camp! I know, times change ... I would advise your son, to Let the SM know about what's bothering him. Thank the SM on your behalf for taking care of him. Tell him how to assemble a "wilderness kindle." Go to the trading post, buy the book that interests him the most and a reading light (if he doesn't have one) and spare batteries, open both during lights out. (This is how Son #2 made it though many many campouts.) Ask the SM if there's a counselor for reading MB. Also, reminding him of the 10th commandment can go a long way. Hang in there, Dad.

Welcome! And thanks for your service to our boys. Keep in mind that most of the skills acquisition should occur on outings. If the boys are constantly solving problems to that require skills, they will master them. These schedules help, but the handbook is as good a guide as any. Ask the boys to pick the theme for the month, based on the chapters in their books. Also, put the responsibility for sign-offs on the youth. Train your patrol leaders on when and when not to put their signature in a boy's book. This really gets your program moving along, because you can routinely ask PL's "What hasn't been signed off in most of your boys' books?" and follow-up with "What can we do about it?" When you get to the point that a PL says "Johnny needs land navigation for Second Class, can we go on a hike?" That is when the program gets exciting!

Ah, the beauties of patrol cooking. Even when camp was crowded ... the adults' table was at least 50' from the boys. Beverages any way you want it. The poor SM has to slog to leader's meeting. Staff were always welcome guests.

There are no dead posts, just not enough new insights! Therefore, @HopefullyEagleSoon your opinion matters the most. So, here's a question, if troops were allowed to be co-ed, but didn't have to be, would your problem be solved? For example, I know a Czech scout who in his district has one all-boys, one all-girls, and his troop is co-ed. (Remember, the post that started this thread was about an all-female group.) Or, do you think this might make things worse? P.S. - Yeah, an outdoors-woman is cool. But Son #1 basically converted his into just that. So don't write ladies off just because they never have camped out. Just focus on important stuff (like, Is she rich? Can she cook?), be a decent chap yourself, and the rest will probably fall into place.

No experience. But to motivate thinking: Define small. (Few people? Short time frame?) What's the connection with OA? What else will be going on that day?

CP, I'm filing that away. A friend who drags his family to ren-faires has his boy in our troop.

In Venturing, wenches wield sledgehammers. Solves multiple problems.

Well, you all know how to do summer. Brexit weather for sure! Mind the winds, and if you still are giving it a go tend to hypothermia!

I must say, that when at age 12 I arrived at the scout house for a work day. I thought it was the coolest thing that the SPL showed me how to nail drywall and use a mitre saw. With that in mind, consider that our service projects should be geared toward vocational training in the broad sense. That is, scouts aren't apprentice carpenters, but some may one day be while others will be the architects designing the plans, the engineers designing the tools and materials, and the executives determining if they should build their next warehouse. All of them will benefit from holding a hammer in their hands. So, when selecting tools for a project, it is wise to think if you can make do with several post hole diggers. There'll be opportunities to work a power auger when they have a better sense of the forces at play in moving earth. So, age boundaries are useles. A 17 year-old just picking up a power auger never having dug a hole (let alone used one before) is much different than a 16 year old who's been running his own landscaping business for a year and had a proven track record of reading and following safety instructions when grabbing a new tool.

I'm on on the sidelines with this. But I am impressed that they are giving it a go.

Why isn't it a BSA group?Half the kids not allowed to consider BSA as for them until graduating 8th grade or turning 14? Got an atheist in the bunch? More beureaucratic red tape? Potential CO would rather not align itself with BSA? Some other group got their attention first?

I know of several hikes where such compliance would have done me good. All such injuries were acquired when I was an adult! The list comes from OSHA guidelines. Some of us think there is a large gap between what could be required for employing youth, and what is needed for youth in volunteer organizations.

You thought correctly. Most of us here know that finding new words for old issues does little to make things better.

http://www.nerventuring-bsa.org/#!program-initiative/x6j61

I'd be inclined to agree. But then, I have a very low view of the bean-counting attitude that BSA's paltry requirements have inculcated. But it's not merely that. Many of the scouts who I've talked to are uncomfortable counting church-related service for their hours. And my lot has never been told by anyone except the Good Book that heavenly rewards are withheld if works are cashed in for earthly reward. One real plus for scouting for my boys (and me and Mrs. Q) was the collection of "older brothers" they got to know a year or two before starting high school. Same happened for me as well.

Tangent #1: So, what you are saying, @@blw2 is that if BSA were fully co-ed, they might have a better trained scouter? Tangent #2: What are you doing (organization participation wise) to be a better father-of-girls? For me, scouting helped a lot. That's partly because the fellowship involved time with a lot of dads and moms with daughters. as well as GS leaders and Venturing moms. Most all of the formal training was as relevant for my daughter (and, later, daughter-in-law) as it was for the sons. Edited to add: And a lot of the boys who might have thought of dating daughter knew how well I sharpened my knives and axes.

Are you asking if a national standard electronic medical record listing positive history first (name of condition in bold, history standard font, treatment regimen in italics), followed by treatment measures to be avoided in a box, then cleared conditions as a footnote, would be easier for a clinician to parse? The answer is yes. Could this be produced by a parent and doctor (with notes from both merged and sorted by level of importance) using a common program? The answer is yes. Could updates be made annually (say, moving a cleared condition to the concerned section or vice versa) and the thing still be readable? Yes. Could it be made secure? Within reason, yes. (But the truth is, the more standard something is the more readily it can be "trolled" by someone with ill-intent.)

Thanks for your service to the boys, and welcome! And please, ask questions! If you don't we will waste thousands of posts on minutiae that applies a very select few!

But, that's where we're trying to put the cart before the horse. The COs in a particular district should see themselves as partners trying to serve youth in their respective communities. Only they can draw the lines that define their communities. We are not in a position to tell David's school if their catch-man area for scouting needs to be more or less broad. But neighboring COs should be getting together (maybe with a DE/DC providing survey info) to decide if collectively they are covering the needs of all of the youth who could benefit from scouting. Then they have a moderated discussion about if one or the other CO should broaden their reach, or -- lacking an existing CO who can do that -- discuss about other community groups who should be offered the privilege of sponsoring a unit.

Fact is, in a boy's scouting career, only one long-term stint counts for Camping MB (be it Summer Camp, Jambo, or an HA). So, the only real reason for one of your scouts to pitch a tent in this case is if he thinks he'll never do a week under canvas or stars in the future. Of course the real reason to pitch when the troop has a cabin: the aroma of all your mates!

We did do that one year when we had a lot of parent's attending camp. I think there was still a rotation for guests at the patrols. (E.g., eight adults ate with the old goats, four were invited as patrol guests.) Regardless, the boy's cooking was no worse than the dad's, IMHO. The one thing that I noticed in the dining hall scouts: more songs, skits, and goofy dances.

Sounds like a trap. First parent to speak up gets that committee position nobody else wants! Tell them you are gonna spend the $ on cool neckerchiefs that will trade better years from now when your son goes to a World Jamboree.