qwazse

What we have, here, is a failure to calculate. My boys do this all the time. "We want bacon and eggs for breakfast." "So how many eggs should you buy?" "I dunno enough for all of us." "And how many of us is that exactly?" "6, maybe 8." "How many eggs for each of you?" "Two I suppose." "Okay so how many are we buying?" "Three dozen?"

"American Heritage Girls" they had a Memorandum of Understanding with BSA until last year's membership standards change. Then they weren't so understanding and withdrew their MoU. Folks on the ground generally ignored these national machinations, evidently AHG's "national" is not going to let that happen.

Gotta love this era of bulk discount food purchases! This is why everyone returns to the scout house and unpacks everything. It's part of the trip plan. We might set aside non-perishable, vermin-proof goods for the next camping weekend ... or even to cook the next meeting night. Perishables get divided up and sent to homes that will likely put them to good use. The CO has a food bank, and the boys have helped stock it enough that they know where things can be placed. But, we discourage that because someone might get it into their thick heads that they can take out as easily as they can put in! Anyway, CNY, your job is to understand what the boy is thinking. Then work from there. Obviously, it would be a good idea to do that through the SPL if he's the type of leader that can politely ask "why" and figure out amongst the boys what the best solution would be.

Welcome to Christianity's nasty divorce. Kids, choose your custodian wisely.

When it comes to questions like this, I don't ask if today's boys find it popular. I ask myself "Is it good for the nation?" Is learning about (and to some degree reenacting) the trials, tribulations, creativity, and resourcefulness of the peoples who worked this land before we farmed and industrialized it helpful? Will being exposed to this caricature of an ancient way of life (that in all likelihood differs from that of the boy's ancestors) enable a boy to be a better citizen? Will memories of those drum pulses, dances, and nights under the stars help the mind negotiate the sometimes barren world of STEM? Will even a cursory understanding of the many nations on American soil yield more knowledgeable voters? If the answer to those questions is affirmative, then trying to get an "outsider's inside view" of N/A tradition is worthwhile. And, honestly, until the college anthropology courses, O/A was the only place that provided any material for my curious mind.

Mentioned this in another thread, and realized it might not be commonly considered. Our troop has a spaghetti dinner. There are the usual advance ticket sales plus pay at the door. Furthermore, our CO purchases some of the tickets for folks who've been clients of our food pantry. That way, they get to participate with the rest of the community without anyone needing to know they are going through some tough times. However, some of these folks go out of their way to thank the boys for making their lives a little easier over the past year. However, the boys also visit local businesses to sell ad-space on the place-mats. They collect business cards or the company can E-mail their logo which gets forwarded to our printer (whose kids were in scouts or venturing and will generate black-and-white mats at no cost to us). What I like about this: although the product is a little more abstract, it is likely to be along the lines of the kind of job many of these boys will have -- especially the ones who are into game development and web design. Learning how to sell space for someone's good name is a skill in of itself!

You're onto something. The committee can help the boys by assembling a "short list" of people to contact for topics of interest. It really should be up to those boys to make those contacts. But you might want to say "By the way. Mr. __ said he'd be willing to drop by and show us some cool stuff if a youth gave him a call."

Wasn't able to post ALL day. (Until now, that is.)

Yep. Been there done that. Although I suggest tacking on a $5 surcharge for non-members. You can put it towards their crew dues if they join, or reduce everyone else's dues if they don't.

I suspect there's all manner of variation. Moreover, each SM has his own style. What I wrote comes off more formal than it actually sounded. In our district, SM/ASM leave the room during the review. Then the scout is sent out, and we sit with the scout while they deliberate. Then we come back in with him to here their decision.

I've done it once, maybe twice. I think I was pretty terse: "Good evening. It is my pleasure to present for your review Eagle candidate ____. He is a member in good standing of troop/crew ____. His current official responsibilities are ____. We held a scoutmaster conference on ____, and reviewed his Eagle application and project workbook (copies of which have been given to this board earlier) and found them to be in good order. The scoutmasters of troop ___ are proud of this young man's accomplishments. We will be downstairs while you review them and determine your recommendation."

I was specifically referring to how a scout chooses to advance (or not). It is important to do right by the CO, but most COs are really not bothered about the details of advancement. My CO wants our kids to grow up good and say grace at meals. I think your CO's requirements, although many, fall along similar lines. That may demand you set guidelines for program planning or even discipline, but not for advancement. Guidlines No! Training/mentoring: Yes! And, I provided an example of how a committee can be part of that process without taking ownership of the program from the boys. Your joint campout is another fine example. Without mandating it, those 3 boys got a vision of how important it was to be a 1st class scout (the concept, not the patch). The MC's task, then, is to recognize those boys in a way that other boys see how much you appreciated their hard work. Maybe ask the SPL for a minute during meeting announcements to give those fellas thank-you cards signed by the cubs. That's why I asked about the ILST course. It's not the "end all" solution for boy leadership. In fact, I have to sneak itin to my troop's activities since they hate the sound "class." But it gives the boys a handful of things they can improve upon, and gives them an idea of when and how to ask for help from whom. Other ways to mentor: a committee member might have access to a boardroom with touch-screen monitors and video conference capability. The boys might want to use that to talk to scouts from another part of the country or world. Someone else might be a party/event planner. The boys might go to them to see how their business works. Then the SM might ask the boys if anything they saw might help them plan the next troop event. The boys can visit a town meeting. Or maybe a toastmasters club. Your sales coach is an awesome resource. Teaching boys that they can learn something from other organizations is a great idea. We have a dad who coaches our boys in selling advertizing space on the place-mats for our spaghetti dinner. My point is that you don't want your committee get into the rut of writing policies that may work for a year, but bog a troop down for decades thereafter. Rather, you want them to get into the routine of being on the lookout for how to help each boy advance his God-given talents. Generally, if he does that, rank advancement will follow.

Sorry for taking your post piecemeal, but there are a lot of ideas that stick out on their own.

Tough nuts, eh? Looks like your high adventures are going to be anime conventions! Or start brainstorming ... It sounds like these guys are willing to help others, so try to find ways to challenge them in that arena. Explain that you want the boys to render Minecraft in 7D (that's 3D plus the other 4 senses). Those shelters might need some new construction, which might begin with a drive to collect tools or materials. Or maybe there's a Habitat for Humanity organization that needs help sorting supplies. (World Vision has their shipping facility near our neighborhood - it's been a great opportunity for our youth to learn about international relief work.) Talk to the health department and see if they can come for a meeting and talk about infectious diseases. (I'll give you points for super-coolness if you can find a Dr. or Nurse who came back from West Africa recently.) As a troop. Don't go camping anymore. Instead plan 36 hour search and rescue/disaster relief drills. Employ radios, search grids, computer networking, remote sensing, etc ... Give them a "patient" for whom they must set up shelter over night once they find him. The patient can be a wireless thermometer that has to be maintained at a certain temperature. Good luck.

Relax. This actually means you can challenge them to plan activities that don't require adults ... Day trips, service projects, scavenger hunts around town, geocaching, etc ... I'd suggest that you challenge them to arrange each activity with minimum assistance from adults and as scouts to figure out some way to couple community service or conservation with each activity.

This is just wrong. And it leads to frustrated and untrusting parents. Boys can wait until the Holidays or longer to get their uniforms. They can't wait for parents to get registered and as educated as possible about the program they are supposed to lead. So, L36, with the best of intentions, you all followed the wrong priorities. As a result you're overwhelmed and asking strangers on the internet for coping strategies. Get yourself to roundtables or call the leaders of some neighboring packs and get a feel for what your expenses may be through the end of summer. Then lay that out to your parents. Apologize for the blind side, and admit you need help thinking through what's best for the boys for this year. Everybody should count the cost. It might mean skimping on a few activities until fundraising or a fair payment plan has caught up with expenses. Don't worry about it, just take the boys out to the park a lot more and have a more humble Blue and Gold banquet! The kids have uniforms, find them a parade!

"Most" except for the adoptive parent of a kid with a stalker bio- parent. One of those, and your photo-editing burden can double. I would suggest, if your intent is recruiting, to have a very public page with ZERO pictures of youth. Just their drawings, PWD car, campsites, etc ... If your intent is to just communicate with parents, don't use FB. Use brief E-mails and phone chains with whatever short announcement and inviting anyone wanting more details to parent committee meetings.

Be very honest and up front with your adults about what you've spent so far, and what expenses you foresee. Then ask parents how they want to pay for them. (E.g., how much through dues, how much through fundraising, how much through "piggybacking" off of an established pack.) It is fair to admit that you were blindsided about registration fees. That falls to your district executive about not being clear to you about them. But they are going to happen every year, so everyone had might as well get into routine. F.Y.I. - The cost of scouting has increased roughly with inflation. But it hasn't been slow increments every year. Every few years there's been a 20%-80% bump in registration fees ... mainly (National claimes) due to the cost of adults' background checks. What you want to avoid: paying for other boys and families out of your own pocket. It's one thing if some friend of the pack makes a whopping donation out of the blue with no strings attached, but direct contact leaders who do that wind up sowing a root of bitterness.

Suggest to the parent pocket hand-warmers or wool or fleece blankets/scarves/socks for her extremities with poor circulation. The real trick with kids is keeping their bedding dry. Which often means shucking wet cloths before going into the tent. Or, teaching kids not to unroll their bedding until they have changed in to dry sleeping clothes. Even a t-shirt that was worn all day can hold enough perspiration to give you the chills at night, (Happened to me last night as I was sleeping out in my hammock -- temps in the 50s. Forgot to shuck the shirt I was wearing before going to sleep. Woke up chilled an hour later.) IMHO, because even body heat can work its way through cloths to melt snow or absorb freezing rain, 20 - 40 degrees F is much more precarious than -10 to 20 degrees F. As long as I'm out of the wind, I can easily shuck clothes in sub-zero temps, crawl into my bag with a wool blanket and socs (which may or may have a tent blocking the sky from me) and have a space warmed up enough for sleeping twenty minutes later. Never slept out in temps colder than that.

There are different, age-appropriate emblem programs for cubs, boys scouts, venturers, and even adults. So, yes, it carries over, but, yes, he can earn the boy-scout one as well. If he earns multiple awards as a member of multiple programs, he can simply display his accomplishments by purchasing the corresponding device pins and a religious awards knot. This lays out the gist of the program nicely: http://www.scoutinsignia.com/devices.htm

Or, as my troop/crew seem to call it, the "shortcut" to our next campsite. Below's a description of a "mini-rogaine" that our local orienteering club puts on ... http://www.wpoc.org/raccoongaine2014.htm My SM used to challenge us with similar courses. It was pretty much routine for one or two camping trips a year to involve something like this. We'd come back tired, hungry, and happy to hang around camp. I foist similar challenges on my boys to the point that they think it's a necessary evil of having me camp with them. I have since realized that not every troop does this. This summer I swapped stories with a young man -- son of my former SPL -- who moved around a lot. At one point his dad was SM/ASM and I asked how that went. He said "Okay, but he made us do a lot of orienteering ..." So, start a tradition. You have no idea how far it will spread.

A demonstration of various animals in your locality would be nice. Lessons on safety while fishing/boating would be important. How to rig a fishing line is something any boy might like to practice and learn.

CNY, Suggestion: Ask the boys how they could convert "magic" into a wide game. E.g., a night compass course with cards distributed at control points, camp inspection where patrols earn points that enable them to bid on cards of higher value, etc ...