qwazse

don't worry, there are plenty of yanks who wouldn't know either!There is a Chemistry MB, just not an advanced one. The official list is here http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx

From my days as a PL ... Material: used pillow case. Medium: spray paint. Method: stencil. Cut from a paper bag. Case slips over staff sews tight. On tac on the bottom, tapped in with back of pen knife. Done at summer camp, day 1. Do differently,: turn in spray can to SM. Scouts like to make flame-throwers.

Stosh, I think CP is saying that seeing "Eagle" on a kids resume, HQ will presume he's qualified for a position without considering if he actually is gifted in that area. I've seen that happen.

I'm sorry, did I offer a reply that you didn't like? I have been advising a crew for a few years and in spite of being enthused about the awards program myself, have gotten strong push-back from my youth. So I've dropped the discussion with them. They love meeting other venturers in the Area, they love challenges, they love service, but they couldn't possibly care less about the awards -- the exception being one young lady who earned her religious bronze. I have, on the other hand helped other youth as they worked on these awards, but have yet to make a single court of honor. I also keep in touch with pro's and volunteers on a regional level. So, if they bring up the topic, posts like yours are about the only thing I have to go on. I wish you had replies from other folks who were a little less ambivalent -- one way or the other. You didn't. That doesn't mean my reply constitutes a troll.

First, the personal axe to grind: if things turned out differently -- say a 21 year-old UCed three units whose SM's learned to better implement the patrol method on account of his experience with (and enthusiasm for) it -- you would no doubt open this topic with favorable words and an equal controversy. The commissioner corps is what it is because senior scouters across the nation have abdicated their responsibilities. Some have only UC'ed units in which their boys were members. Some put on the UC hat without taking off one or more other hats. Finally, some have tricked otherwise knowledgeable scouters into thinking that UCs are part of the unit key three instead of the Unit leader, the CC and the COR -- or that the UC could double in one of those positions for any length of time without the unit collapsing. So, I would tell a young UC that he's been set up for failure. His 7-10 years of experience in troop life is no match for an SMs 15-20 years. For him to have a chance of success he needs to ask to be assigned to one smooth-sailing troop for every two distressed ones. What he learns from the one, he passes on to the other two, letting everyone know he's operating off of limited experience but lots of hope. They can take a pass on following his advice, but he will promise to give them the best advice he can. He should wear no other patch. This should be his only volunteer role. No filling in for SM, CC, or COR -- not even for a day. Anything else he may do (say escorting a crew to Philmont or working a camporee is just for fun), otherwise he gives every other committee a pass. His best volunteer time time is to be invested in finding out what might ail his troops, how they are fixing it, and going to roundtable to learn how different SMs solved different problems. If he does not do that, he can turn in the patch. I would tell all of this to the young UC for one simple reason: to take the BS out of the BSA. If he knows he's been given the short straw, there's an outside chance he can make good. If everyone at HQ has been giving him attaboys for just signing on and that's all he knows, he won't stand a chance.

Guidance tech is awesome, but it pays to be a Luddite in that and other areas, for example ... Every now and then I grab my espresso pot without checking that it has all five parts. This is especially embarrassing when we have a bunch of Webelos dads to entertain. (Not that someone else wouldn't bring along their crap coffee, but it's important for new parents to make a fully informed decision about their troop ) Well, my fallback was Arabic coffee, which with a patrol kit coffee pot, wrap for insulation, patience, and very steady hand (grains float freely then settle to the bottom ... the trick is keeping them there), can brew up quite nicely in the wild. It payes to know first principle thermodynamics.

A lot of the details about what fundraising will work and what style you need to adopt will come from the people in your community. For example, everyone expects our boys to hold a spaghetti dinner fundraiser weather they need the money or not. Even though that particular church is no longer our CO, they would like the boys to hold it there. Most scouting is local. Go figure. I would recommend this little exercise (you might be buying quite a few folks' coffees): Look up your classmates who were scouts (even if it was just for a couple of years) in your troop, and see if a few of them can get together for an hour to talk about old times. Let them know what you are planning to do, and ask them if they could talk to you about what they liked about your troop and what they didn't like. Ask the boys who were only scouts for a short time why they left the troop, and those who were there until aging out why they stayed. Hopefully there weren't any terrible skeletons. But you might hear a few things that went on that you never noticed as a boy. Those will inform you as to the kind scouter that you may want to be. Maybe you'll be a lot like your former SM, but maybe there was some adult who you never gave much thought, but made a world of difference in your buddies' careers as scouts. If so, it might behoove you to get to know that person. There might be things your SM did that were really off-putting, or a situation or two he didn't handle well. By now everyone ought to be able to understand both sides of whatever it was, but it will help you learn generally what your troop will need from you as an SM. And, if you can't provided it, what you will need to ask from other adults to make troop and your district be the very best they can be. And from that meeting, you might just get one or two volunteers.

Okay, we've settled that you need to get a flowers and chocolates weekly subscription. Choose a different catchphrase about parents. You're asking them to give up their boys for entire weekends now. The results you're offering will take years to realize. Things aren't settled by an end-of-season box score. Parents who may not have served well on the pitch may be exactly who you need on your troop committee. You will need: A troop committee chairman whom you that your back and who will have the stones to tell you when you suck. A charter org rep who has a pulse on he people who own your meeting place. ASMs who live up to their title and are really yor assistants. A unit commishioner who will help you set obtainable goals. You and the wife and kids need to get up in those beautiful hills you all have in your backyard. If that ain't happening, you're doing it wrong.

Congratulations on having such a great son! I think you're talking about Scoutmaster Essentials. I would sign him up and let the District Trainer know what you're doing. It makes sense that you want your ASM to be on the books as a trained leader as soon as his application can be accepted. They should be able to credit your son for the course the day he takes it regardless of his birthday. Heck they credited one of my venturers for earning WB when she was 11! (I think her dad was more than willing to give her his beads as a crank gift!)

I don't want to understate the importance of discouraging bullying and teaching our youth to put a premium on graciousness and distance themselves from those who take pride in malice. But ... First, we need to be very careful about the causal chain in the lives of suicide attempters. There's a lot about depression and hopelessness we don't understand ... Especially in youth. It sometimes drives children to prefer situations that draw abuse. If someone's being mean to me, I have justification for my feelings. It allows me to reinforce my negative emotions and spares me from making the effort to face down my demons. For example, normative kids use social media to allow friends to challenge thier thinking. In doing so they become articulate in defending ideas they value. This empowers them to think in ways that promote self-preservation. In such contexts, pathological kids withdraw, find a narrow circle of social or behavioral situations that allow them to contemplate self harm, and they only announce any intention to a wider audience when it is too late for those potential harm-preventers to act. So, our job as adults who have survived such depredations is twofold. First, teach and preach compassion. Second teach and preach tough-as-tanned-leather meekness in the face of troubles. Or, like Momma told me when I was being bullied (after hanging up the phone with the bully's mom), "Stop crying so much. Get big."

I'm beginning to think 'schiff's 1 cent is worth more than face value. I could see an SM minute (maybe father's or mother's day, maybe at a CoH). Talk about the old days when some adults were allowed to work rank advancement and some dads would earn, say, Bird Study with their son. Then offer a challenge "Boys, have you ever asked your folks if they had a favorite MB they wanted to do with you? Maybe even if they didn't want to be the counselor, they would like to go through the reqs with you and maybe see if the counselor has something cool to teach you both? How about going down that list of badges with your folks tonight and see if there's one that may suit the both of you? Report back to me next week." With all of the discipline we need to exact on adults these days to keep the youth in charge of the program, this would be a nice reminder to parents that their role is no less diminished.

Lots of examples of boys with hats inside : http://www.inquiry.net/uniforms/hats/inside.htm Even as far as removing it outside, there is regional variation. When watching a parade, in some parts, the hat comes off of men's heads as the lead color guard passes. I always demonstrated that to the boys. I've observed that the rule is enforced more stringently (with sergeants-at-arms going ahead through the crowd reminding them of the protocol) in the Southeast US. (Maybe more in small towns vs. cities?)

A "well seasoned" scouter stopped in to our meeting this week to help an older scout on his MB. It happened to be when the AoL den was visiting the troop. Turns out one of the cub dads was a scout in the troop when that scouter was SM! Names to faces ... I think that's the hardest thing about this gig.

I'm pretty sure that for my mom and dad (and, in turn, for me and the Mrs.), the SM (warts and all) was one of the best people my kids could spend one hour a week plus a weekend a month with. Regarding our boys who didn't make FCFY ... it wasn't the troop. It was usually one requirement. For one or two: the exercise; others, land navigation; others swimming. One scout, the lake just got into his head. We arranged for him to do it in a pool ... he said "Nope gotta pass it in the lake," and it took him to his fourth year at camp. I think the fact that everyone stood by each other regardless added value to the program. The boys who did make FCFY? Well, there were video games to play, ... One other thought. The boys who got homesick at camp and went home for family night. We lost most of those. I think a lot of other troops did too, 'cause the camp dropped family night from the program -- no complaints from the scouters. How 'bout you all?

So, let's run with the thought experiment. What if every parent (well, at least one for each scout) was strongly encouraged, for starters, to counsel just their boy in one MB of their choosing? Pick any from the list. In fact Home Repairs allows Either a parent or the merit badge counselor may supervise the Scout's work on any Home Repairs requirements. Maybe you could ask the parent -- if he/she hasn't registered with the BSA -- to touch base with an established counselor to show him/her the ropes. Might this help nurture the pool of qualified counselors?

@@blw2, Each troop is its own little experiment. Sometimes the stuff national puts out meshes with what we've seen and we say "Oh, yeah!" Other times we just go, "Huh?" But even within one unit, after a few years, you get a sense how things go and along come a bunch of boys who defy your expectations. One anecdote that may be of interest to you (and I've reported elsewhere on this forum), because most of your parents will have an "advancement pump" primed: In our troop, when we pushed "1st class by first year" the same percentage of boys advanced to higher ranks and nearly had the same age of obtaining Eagle. When we dropped that program and let boys advance to first class whenever (although we try to encourage boys to at least knock off one rank per year), we still had the same relatively high percentage reach Eagle. We did not have any different rate of drop-out among those who advanced to 1st class in one year vs. those who took 4 years to earn it! My takeaway: tweak the program, if you must, at the skills and activities level -- not at the rate-of-advancement level.

I forgot about the following lively discussion: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/10/29/tuesday-talkback-when-should-scouts-wear-hats-indoors/

Well, although it might sound like you should, you are not to wear it at any candidate's political rally.

I think you read (or someone read for you) a little bit more into the YPT. You could certainly have the event with demonstrators who have not taken YPT. They just can't sign off as counselors without district's approval. Unfortunately, if there is a charge of an actionable offense, the plaintiff's lawyers won't just go after the offender. They will go after anyone who hasn't performed due diligence in screening him/her. (And they will target the biggest pocket!) We all trust our people ... until one of them hurts a kid. Then we trust nobody.

I didn't understand this was a "ship has already sailed" scenario. From such parents whom I've known, I'm pretty sure you would be thrown another "straw man" in short order. I think we're about the same rate of loss after one year from former cubs vs. non-cubs. The difference? With former cubs, it's usually the parent's decision over the boy's objection. With non-cubs, it's usually the boy's decision over the parent's objection.

I'm not admitting anything one way or the other. Mrs. Q says I used my kids as an excuse to go play in the woods. We'd all best not disagree with her. When I come back from adventurous trips (more often now in my kids' absence) she thanks the youth and younger ASMs for babysitting me! I think for the parents 'schiff is dealing with, it may boil down to personal pride.It will be interesting to hear how he puts it to these parents and how they respond. They want their name somewhere on their boys' advancement. They don't realize that the price for acting like a scouter to one youth is being a scouter to all youth. That's a heavy price, and I never grudged anyone who would not pay it. Most such folks wound up making sacrifices in other arenas for my children so it all evened out.

Yes, we are in a hot mess in the Keystone state! On the flip side, other activities also recognize the state clearances. So, once we have them, they go a long way.Still it's a far cry from when a DE put a person's name on the MBC list with just a smile and a handshake. However, it doesn't sound like just a paperwork phobia. It sounds like folks who've confused having a special hand in their kid's advancement with having their name signed in triplicate.

Maybe selfish, but it's not their fault that BSA adds the paperwork/training burden. My knee-jerk: if you are not willing serve any boys in the district (or at least your troop), then you're not ready to sign-off for your son. That is not to say that you cannot do the required activities together with your son. After the first meeting with the counselor, do those activities, then let the counselor sign off on the other stuff! When I took my kids on their first rock-climbing expedition, we hired a guide from an outfitter who had certified MBC counselors. I had fun making him espresso against the cliff face while he went over reqs with Son #1, and Daughter and Son #2 imitated him. (I'm not sure if Son #1 ever turned in that blue card.) Sons learned new knots and Daughter learned it's all about the coffee! Since then, even if I could counsel the badge, the Mrs and I sent the kids elsewhere for the counseling part and only hung around for the "fun stuff."

And from the BSA ranks, "scouts" would include younger venturers age 14-17, male and female (as shown by the cover picture on 2019WSJ's site. The WOSM hosts for the event will be Scouts Canada, BSA, and Asociacion de Scouts de Mexico, so hopefully that will make for a larger pool of young adult volunteers to staff the event (and, no doubt, and interesting work experience). It is not clear what, if any, cost adjustments will be made for volunteers. The GS/USA is not part of the WOSM, and the World Jamboree is not on their calendar. However, the folks who I met returning from Japan expressed strong feelings that these bureaucratic hurdles be overcome.

I've found that all of our Eagles (the ones who've asked to have a CoH anyway) were sufficiently charismatic. I'd agree that a scout who lacks spirit would be a poor seller of the advancement method. But, I am referring to regular CoH's as well ... I hate to say it but our boys were mainly inspired by the treats afterword. But, maybe there are some things that boys out there do that actually make an impression on the younger scouts.