qwazse

No football was ever harmed in a game of British Bulldog!

Don't let this stuff overwhelm you. Going by the book actually frees you and your ASMs to focus on important things ... Like finding stuff for your boys to read to help them pick their next adventure. When I was a kid, I read Boy's Life cover to cover -- especially Green Bar Bill's columns. It seems that boys gloss over that stuff these days. So creativity can be stifled. Part of my job is leaving maps and brochures of state and national parks spread out on a table for patrols to "stumble upon."

Small town life: Thing about being the beer distributor's kid (and -- as part of his master plan, I now realized -- having worked there at age 11 over the summer): you couldn't go anywhere without someone telling your dad they saw you. If you didn't have tacit approval to be anywhere, it would come back to bite you by end of business that day. If for some childish reason, you wanted to fly under the radar, the best strategy was to hang out with friends of tea tot'lers. Their folks were less likely to have ever seen you before.

Solution: put the runners in bubble balls as they round the bases!

Last meeting, former SM and I spent as much time talking a crossover mom "off the ledge" about her boy going to summer camp as we did coaching the boys with fire starting and knife sharpening. Her son chose to attend the camp of the "old guard" patrol instead of the camp all but one of his den-mates were attending.

@@Adamcp, I generally agree with @@TAHAWK that an SM's best strategy is to stick to the standard BSA mantra. If the SM is willing to be flexible and let the boys self-organize with absolutely no stipulations as to which youth can be elected PL/SPL, he and his ASMs will have a more fulfilling adventure in scouting. This doesn't mean that things will be all roses. For a while, we had a time of it because the boys outright refused to segregate into patrols. They "liked each other too much." Deep down, I think this was a response to tragedy. And the boys needed to grow up and find their separate ways outside of scouting to realize they could still be united around their lost buddy. So, they aligned themselves on paper, and organized accordingly at summer camp, but by day 4 they abandoned their respective sites and set up pioneer bunks on the lake shore. Now that the youngest of that bunch are the oldest in the current troop, they see the sense in stable divisions.

I have never seen an adult-managed solution surpass a scout managed solution. Simple rules: no PL should ever be asked to step aside by anyone except the boys in his patrol. If things aren't working, the boys may propose a change at any time. If the boys involved in the change are in agreement, support them. If the Rat Pack patrol wants to continue with Frank as their leader until he ages out, let them, If Dean and Sammy want to take on six new scouts each and with them start two new patrols of mostly crossovers, give them your blessing. If the Panzer patrol really hasn't gelled, and wants to split and join the two pretty cool patrols, and everyone agrees, you win. If Jason is standing out from all the rest, would like someone else be SPL, and just wants to help the troop or his district, offer him JASM. It continues to amaze me the number of adults who believe every scout should have a turn at a POR with "Leader" in the title.

So much for those fire-starting contests ... Unfair advantage to patrols with pyromaniacs.

Bevenuto Guila! There are mostly adults on this forum. But I do hope some youth will go to your very nice website, see some of Carini 2's photos, and post a message to you.

Because, really, it's so much better when adults abuse authority. But, that never happens. Oh, wait, it just did! When we merged troops the young (and very conscientious) SPL asked me to sit in on a scout demonstrating a requirement. Scout did. I handed his book to the SPL and said, "Well done. You may sign it." The poor lad gave me a dumbfounded look and said "But, we aren't allowed to sign advancement." I said, "Well, looks like you just merged with the wrong troop!" I then assured him that he could sign the book, and I would inform the SM. The man already knew ahead of time how I'd be operating. He had taken the reigns from the boys after the PLs were abusing sign-offs the previous year. But with the troop doubling in size, he could barely manage the flood of boys coming to him for signatures, meanwhile his older boys (and ours) were needing some time from him in terms of SM conferences. He was ready to find a new normal.

My area exec told me we've shed a very large number of adults because of the mandatory YPT and state background clearances. I don't know how a charter that's held up by National will be added to the tally. I'm hoping after Pitt's finals week, I can get my 18+ y/o's to knock out that venturing YPT.

Part of the SMC is asking the boy who signed off on requirements and making sure I recognize the initials. It's not merely to validate the boy's progress, but to find out from the boy who did a good job teaching/testing.

But, when it doesn't, it can become a thorn in your side. I only give applications to adults who show leadership on my terms. For a person like this, it would take me a few months of ovserving behavior that offsets that first impression. The remainder of your advice is spot on.

Asking Yanks how to be subtle in Queen's English? You must really feel at wits end. Unless things have changed that much in three decades, Brits doing "blunt" was always lost on me. Anyway, with the SM patch comes a loss of subtlety. You really can't afford to treat adults much differently than you do youth. In the instance described, I would address the boys: It sounds like Mr. Helicopter has given enough for you three to get on. Would you mind if I stole him from you, and we let you finish up on your own? For the larger American audience, that roughly translates into: Why the blue blazes are you boys distracting my adult leader? Don't you know I need him to watch water boil? Now snap that tent up before we suggest to your PL that he/she should interrupt his/her nap to help you. Once the adult is out of ear-shod of the youth, you then explain the importance of letting the boys work the program and how you need any adult guests to be at the ready for emergencies, relaying football scores, and such.

We have bird houses all around our yard. Set them out for years. One that I built with Son #2 when he was just old enough to appreciate the concept, my starving-artist friend painted. Looks great in the lawn for all these years, never inhabited. Might have something to do with house pets! On the other hand, my 120 year old house with massive box-gutters, always has a nest or two in the decorative woodwork. I think in this old neighborhood, it's an avian buyer's market. Your boy certainly has the badge, so this is a matter of seeing if his interest will take this to the next level. He could put out an additional house every month. Vary the location. See which, if any, finally gets occupied. It could be a science fair project.

Nice thing about having a mom who stocked for Armageddon (and who had spent the last 30 years of her life feeding ravenous siblings), was that I didn't have to shop much. We all just volunteered to raid our respective cupboards. I remember shopping for some staples, but I don't remember collecting $ for it. Every PLC is different, and they need to define their style. If they review every month how the previous weekend's logistics served them, that will happen. But, that won't happen if adults intervene. Regarding prices ... our boys have smart phones and our stores have shopping apps! If I dare brag about getting a decent cut of meat from the local butcher, they can tell me how they can get it fresh-caught and flash frozen from Patagonia with a special code to waive shipping fees for half what I paid. They might even be able to have it delivered by drone to the trail head! I can't think of anything I can do that our scouts couldn't do better after a couple of tries. They just need the time "at bat."

Welcome to the forums! Let us know what your son's counselor says. If it's at camp, I should hope they try a little time bits watching ... Maybe at some houses the camp put up.

No, you wouldn't. The sheet clearly states "if worn" what should be placed on it. You lose points only if inappropriate insignia are on the patch. If the sash is not worn (presumably because you haven't earned the badges), you get the full five points.

These days, all naturally formed patrols are non-BSA.

Boots on the ground tell me they would not get resupplied if it weren't for Marine pilots willing to fly craft where Army and Navy pilots won't. Maybe there is a way to consolidate, but there is no reason to suspect it will be budget reducing. @@Beavah, remember when Clinton was first running, he floated a BTU tax that would replace income? Couldn't convince middle America that it would save them money or paperwork. @@NJCubScouter -- fun with tangents.

Do any of you teach the caterpillar method of hiking? Scouts proceed on trail spreading out until the lead has covered about 1000 yards or is coming on a hill. The lead then stops. Second scout advances about 50 yards past the lead then stops, 3rd scout stops 50 yards past the second, etc ... (In tight country or very steep climbs that distance might be 50 or 25 feet.) The lead only starts hiking once the sweep has advanced past the 2nd. Everyone continues, stopping when he has hiked that distance past the scout in front of him and starting only once the scout behind him passes and moves past the scout in front of him. Swapping positions while you're moving is okay as long as you commit to stopping safely once you are ahead of everyone and only starting again once everyone is ahead of you. A party of 10 might get spread out about 500 yards ... each scout always in eyesight of the next. This sets up opportunities to spot game, calm the group, rely on hand signals, give everyone a rest, and keep your fast hikers accountable to the slow ones. I've found this works for city youth who hike infrequently and are more intimidated about the woods than it does with scouts who have a sense that their buddies will be fine no matter what.

I know that. We all do (although truth be told, yoga pants ain't making it easy in this town). But these guys don't know you we do (or, would rather believe that all of us don't) respect the people they are meant to protect. So somehow you got to convince them that you're being a good neighbor as well as protective dad. Bringing back to topic: you could open with a story about how folks with zero-tolerance policies are demonizing our school kids who would otherwise grow up strong and do good for our country.

Not disagreeing with the insanity of it all. We've got some adorable girls in hijabs around here, and I know that it does nothing to stop guys from being, well, guys. I'm sure having put your time in in-country, there's plenty more to go on about. Just suggesting some honey over vinegar. Telling him you'll treat his women with the utmost respect if he can see it in his heart to do the same for yours will get you more miles in the long run. Buying the ticket home ... well we've found that doesn't necessarily end well.

I don't know about other parts of the country, but of grateful beneficiaries, community garden folks around here seem to top the list. A lot of neighbors, in spite of relocating here because of new jobs/school opportunities, etc ..., have lost their sense of place, and find it in these gardens. But they are often overwhelmed with no time to seriously improve their patch of land to the point of sustainability. Our scouts come in and hack at one particular problem, or simply mobilize the community ... get the ball rolling ... then at CoH's the person who donated the land comes and tells the audience how he/she almost lost hope in grandpa's lot being anything but everyone else's dump or parking lot. ... Counts for WAY MORE than service hours.

Oh, in case you haven't already, call your local paper. Especially if there was a reporter who covered the incident. I'm sure he/she'd love to follow-up at the awards ceremony.