qwazse

When I was a young vagabond, one of the Italian grandmothers I "adopted" (excellent strategy for ensuring quality Sunday dinners, BTW) would say "America e' grande'!" (America is big ... in this context: vast). I never quite knew what that meant until I started really learning about the subtle things folks in different parts of the country did to make things work for them. The protestant reformation in a nutshell: Just replace "forced volunteerism" with "salvation" and "service hours and service projects" with "works"

Also, I suggest that you find another adult helper. Like Son #2 says, anything can be suffered if you do it with a buddy. (He was referring to a Venturing training course. But I think this applies here.)

This is exactly the stuff your SM wants to hear about, Your nephew will discover he's not alone. Scout camp is a great place for introverts. Trust me, I know, Even if you're supposed to always be with a buddy, you usually have your pick, and there's plenty of space for the two of you. I would suggest he add one more merit badge. He should consider something he would really like to try for the first time. Maybe a craft, so he could come back with a basket for his sister!

Has he asked to go? If so, that's a good sign he should go. If the troop is doing a camping weekend this month (and it's not some involved thing like 20 miles of backpacking) he should go on that to get used to these guys. You should also introduce yourself to his scoutmaster and other adult leaders. I always enjoy meeting our youths' families.

Why do you need to hand out a patch at all? Explain to the boy you have a special service project that is JASM-ish, but considering his young age, you will give him a focused mission.The "deliverables" will be those few items you fear will fall through the cracks because you're dropping TGs and are concerned that PLs aren't fully ready to take up the slack.

Some adult-led troops have an ASM dedicated to tracking boys through the early ranks. A youth who does the same thing is suddenly no longer the SM's assistant? Either you have a boy who is not a SPL or PL or Instructor who is really helping you out in a unique way to tend to these boys or you don't. If you do, pick a patch for him based on the character and maturity of the boy. If you don't, stop trying to draw lines that don't exist on your org chart!

This is where an SM earns his cup of coffee. If you have four groups of boys on varying schedules and trajectories towards 1st class on account of their different patrols or other things, maybe you do need 4 guides. If in each patrol there is a natural "guide" (may be PL or APL, or other) you might not need any TGs. If you have boys who instruct as well as guide, and maybe even do it for Star or Life scouts, maybe it's time to just pull out the JASM patches! In general, I'm a big proponent of assigning patches according to the work that's actually getting done, not to blanks being filled on organizational charts. This allows boys to do a little more accurate after action review. Based on what you've described, I'd lean toward no guides, a couple of instructors based on boys with particular scout skills, and a JASM if you really think one has the maturity to "look in" on new scouts in their respective patrols without disrupting the PL.

Thank you for your service to our boys. I feel your pain. The only solution is one with teeth. Don't accept payment (I.e., the scout's spot is not reserved) until all forms are turned in. Short of that, any scheme you try will always allow for a percentage of campers to procrastinate annoyingly.

The broader issue as far as training is concerned: who in the district has taught your leaders? Are your leaders going to roundtable? Are the boys seeing how other troops do things from time to time? This is a similar problem as the one in education where students are taught to the test. My most annoying dialogue as a parent: "But, Dad, that won't be on the test!" "But it will be in real life." Your bottom line: you want each boy trained to the pinnacle scouting experience of hiking and camping independently with his mates.

This was the "Tuesday Talkback" on Bryan on Scouting this week: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/06/09/can-sign-off-boy-scout-requirements/ There, he refers to this scout-cast http://www.scouting.org/filestore/scoutcast/resources/201601_6/SC_JUNE_Who_Can_Sign_Requirements.pdf (I like transcripts, others might prefer the audio available by following the other link.) You might want to refer your committee to that link before bringing up any discussion.

Thanks for the update! The scout copy is all the boy needs. If the troop drops the ball, turn it in with the application, say "the troop has the other half, you should get it soon." But, probably, by the time the boy finishes the application and is ready for his SM's signature, the MB paperwork will make it through whatever bookkeeping system your troop has established.

Congratulations on the boom in growth. It's a good problem to have. First, do not honor any ASM signatures on scout skills. Only SPLs, Instructors, and PLs who you have personally trained in how you want those skills to be demonstrated should be signing off. Secondly, IMHO, it's the ASM job is to "assist" the SM. If he isn't teaching at the level you expect, he's not assisting. Mention this to the CC and get this guy retrained to your liking. Thirdly, on every campout, assign these boys a site that they have to hike to, that you have designated on a map. Give them tarps and rope for shelter. Cache the ingredients for cracker barrel at a heading some distance from the campsite. After dark give the boys that heading and tell them they are to navigate to that location for snack. Coordinate this with the SPL/PL's, not the adults! In other words, if they claim to have mastered a requirement, expect them to perform it. If they can't, ask to revise their books accordingly. Carry white-out.

I get your point, or I would if I hadn't talked to a bunch of Muslims and a few Hindus and they sounded quite keen on sending their kids to Christian activities, schools, etc ... It's a brand they trust. Now my contacts are pretty fresh of the boat. Your mileage may vary if the discussion involves next generation Americans of minority faiths.

wouldn't work around here, they would take it to mean setting siesta rotations.

This seems like a violation of my rule #1 (don't ask for a rule, you'll regret it). Why are the parents doing this? Was their son a victim, and they are trying to protect boys in a similar situation? Or, was he a perpetrator, and they are trying to absolve guilt?

It's like I have an evil twin! I found school recruitment to be a disappointment. Check an interest box, sure. Phsyically move oneself to a meeting? Nope. The venturing handbook talks about synergism, well anergism could be the opposing force that's very real in the life of teens. (Don't waste time looking that up in the dictionary. But, if you've hit this problem, you know it feels just my fabricated word sounds!) My best venturers have come together by word of mouth. But, that requires there to be a "herder" in a group of "joiners". Is your gal a herder? Time will tell. The Mrs. needs to ask this girl if she has a friend who will want to join her on the next adventure, etc ..

So, let's say talking to the leaders gets you 120 degrees of the story. And I think it's very true that disengaged leaders give boys zero reason to crossover. You still have 240 degrees of story for each boy who didn't cross-over. That's a lot of work! I think E94 is in a similar position. Only, his biggest wedge is from the boys via his sons! Then he gets the leaders' views, but I'm wondering if they aren't particularly candid about why they can't trust the patrols to operate more independently. It would take a lot more time to crack those nuts! Then, there's the parents.Getting that 360 view's a lot of work!

Well, how we treat women in these circumstances has changed over time. Oooh! I know, I know .... Maybe scouters should instead ask the mom if the boys could come sit with her while she breastfeeds and she could explain what contemporary courtesies are due in such situations.

This kind of thing is an excellent project for a scout (probably one of your Explorers) to coordinate. It's a matter of talking to the cemetery CEO to confirm dates/times, determine supplies/ tools, contacting every potential unit in the vicinity, getting an advance head-count, communicating back to the CEO, identifying youth to lead a service, and maybe inviting local veterans to join you. I'm trying to sort out how to, in the next year, provide a clearing house for the different Memorial Day projects in our district. So, if for example, ours isn't convenient, a scouter could team up with troop X, Y, or Z. My personal challenge: assure that each project has a youth coordinator.

Like the old evangelist said: "Ain't nobody has the sense to knock on doors anymore." Or, in modern management speak "That 360 evaluation is the gold standard, if you can get it." Truth is, it's very hard to get that kind of thing. It's a rare day when Mom, Dad, the youth, and their former leader will be in the vicinity at the same time. In our community, the best bet is to spend evenings at the community pool in the summer. That seems to be when you'll cross paths with a Webelos' entire family. The closest I got to complete coverage efficiently was when two of our scouts visited the webelos den, after introductions, the boys talked to the youth, and the scouts' dad and I talked to the parents. Scouts and I compared notes afterword. Both parents and Webelos were on the same wavelength about our program. That den all crossed over ... TO THE OTHER TROOP!!!! But, it was still productive IMHO. It allowed us, and our boys, to see that a merger was the most sensible thing to do, no matter how hard it would be.

Welcome! It's just one poor beggar telling another where to find food! Look forward to hearing your after-action review (what worked, what didn't, what you'll do differently),

Well our boys are responsible for their own tents (tarps, shelters, open sky, whatever), so we keep our hands off assignments. Older scouts usually sleep on their own. Except for relatives, I don't recall boys bunking together with someone more Han a year or two apart in age.

I remember Nestle corporation formulated a "solution" years ago. It's fallen out of favor.

Not a tax expert ... FYI - charitable mileage may only deduct the cost of fuel (the IRS publishes the rate annually, 18 cents/mile was last year's, I think). The value of your write-off is dependent on your tax bracket. Higher income? The more it's worth writing off. Needless to say, the fuel efficiency of your vehicle comes into play. If you were by some miracle consuming 2 cents/mile and you were in a 20% tax bracket, the write-off would be more valuable than your reimbursement ... unless you have no scruples and will still submit for reimbursement to the tune of 29 cents/mile! Of course time is money. And you might earn those $ in the time you spend chasing receipts. So, as with most advice: your mileage may vary.

Great time to pilot the latest Cub program? Kittens?