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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 ...

The OP's is a small pack. So, don't write off "tried and trues" like hot-dogs (still can add chili), marshmallows, and mountain pies (if someone in your families has a couple of irons). Reflector oven baking is a good thing to teach in small groups as well.

Your son has the right to be angry. But he needs to decide what his next move is ... Quit scouting (or at least stop gunning for Eagle) because he's learned that some scouts are frauds. I hope he doesn't do that, but let's not fault him if he does. However, when he does he should make clear to his SM why he is doing so without naming names. Confront the scout and tell him he should be ashamed of himself for "gaming the system". That he has nothing to brag about, that the medal is not worth anything unless it's earned, and that he should tell the SM so they can figure out how to make it right, and so the SM can give those counselors "a talking to". Tell the SM or CC of the incident of fraud. They are under no obligation to sign an Eagle application or any further advancement. We had an instance like this. The CC refused to sign. We felt no obligation to tell the boy about the appeals process. Do nothing. After all it's only a patch and some bling. Who knows? He might need to cut corners down the road. Just tell him not to brag about it because he now understands how bad that makes other boys who take the "long cut" feel. Happy scouting.

A little wood work would be nice. I would apply Stosh's suggestion by having the PL go down his/her group's set of 1st class skills, find out who's weak on what, and make an activity plan that beefs up the most common weak spot. If it's pull-ups, so be it. Submit a plan to the SM for you all to meet at the gym (maybe arrange for two-deep youth supervision ). I would not find it fun, and that would make it hard for my mates to "servant lead" me. But that would really put us in the place of our youth.

It's not the content that's the problem. It's the window dressing: the thinking that all girls want out of life is to be a Disney princess and therefore need to be "lured" into fields by presenting them with a "feminine" touch. At a certain point, girls rightly become insulted by the patronization. (The above picture was from a young woman at a local college who at first assumed the Science Center was responsible for the gender bias in the program titles.) There are (and have been for decades) young American women who marched into the most desolate parts of the darkest continents to heal the sick or restore wildlife. There are women in my family who can shut down a refinery, reconfigure it, and bring it back online in a weekend. Some are trying to figure out how to leverage engineering skills to pay for med school. MY MOM ROLLED STEEL. These women, their science isn't stylish, but it saves the world and builds the nation. Why would they ever want to bring their daughters up through an organization that doesn't provide a vision of true grit and pioneer spirit? If the GSUSA wants more girls, they need give their constituents a vision of something greater than "Hollywood scientist." Trust me, the GS moms who "get it" see this drivel and cringe.

I find my venturers, with their insane school/sports/work schedules, tend to hanker for "just a campout." Or, as one VOA President put it "Structured unstructured time." For example, there was this lovely 1000+ foot wooded climb in back of the camp where we were this spring. I basically said whoever wants to bushwhack it show up at 1 PM. About half the crew (all boys from our troop) did. The other half took a hike down stream and found "the perfect wooden bridge" and watched clouds drift overhead the whole afternoon.

This is where you nail your position patches to the wall and say "Who wants them?" There's plenty of literature out there about who appoints youth leaders, and it ain't the committee. It's not on you to find a policy to the contrary, it's on them. To combat this ... Here's what I did (as advisor of a crew, but I would not hesitate to do it for a troop full of boys in this circumstance): I required that no committee be held in the absence of the crew president. It's very simple: youth leadership starts and ends with the direct contact unit leaders, otherwise don't have direct contact unit leaders. If your gaggle of old farts wants to push some boys around, then there'd better be a carrot for that stick. I would suggest the following amendment to your by-laws: No amendment to the by-laws may be voted on the day its motion is submitted. SPL and ASPL have full veto power over every motion to amend by-laws. The amendment must be proposed, given a review period sufficiently long enough for the PLC to meet and discuss it. Then brought up for a vote. The SPL/ASPL must be present for the vote on the amendment. At each change of youth leadership, each amendment may be reviewed and the SPL/ASPL may submit a motion to rescind any amendment that they and the PLC deem to be ungainly. In other words, if they want to play SM via parliamentary procedure, you want it in writing that they will act like an SM.

PD, I have a funny feeling that this scheme didn't just pop into the CM's head. So if it comes down to litigation, the BSA will be on point for this. But, I've seen these guys manage catastrophes, and dickering over age is not part of their protocol. Besides, come rechartering time, they'll get a $1 and change from the little gompers for unit accident insurance. And this group poses exactly the kind of risks someone would be glad to underwrite!

First, tell folks to "kill the drama factory." If you lose a 6 year old in the woods, the BSA registration is the least of your worries! Second you all can come clean with your district executive that you have a group of kindergartners whose parents (with a little help from the pack leadership) pushed registration through. Then ask if the district or council can help to plan suitable programs for the boys. Thirdly, if you think you're going to have this problem next year, ask council if there's anything you can do about it to officially recognize those boys as BSA members. If not, ask your charter organization if you can operate a "pre-Tiger" program under their auspices.

I would put it the other way. If you are not scouting properly, you're possibly undermining STEM. It's not merely the science-related MBs that make BSA already "STEM oriented." Keeping "mentally awake" is the obvious direct connection to STEM, but "Duty to God and my country" implies that there is something out there greater than yourself, and being mindful of "the other" opens you to discovery. that there are people who need you to amass skills and understanding to tend the resources at our nation's disposal. [*]"Physically strong" implies that you understand how a body works, and you apply what you know to build and maintain it. [*]"Morally straight" implies that you are willing to ethically channel the technology at your disposal. Scouting, in its purest sense, puts demands on observation skills and resourcefulness. When I was teaching Girl Scouts orienteering last month, I had them figure out their pace and work on some distance conversions. One girl moaned "This is Math!" To which I replied, "Funny how it followed you out of the classroom!"

Or, the cubmaster or committee chair manipulated the dates so they would only have to muck about with registration once for this group of kids. Run a suitable program. You'll have to think about things like weather these boys are ready for resident camp or should they wait another year. Correct the birth dates within the next year or so. That way the boys won't be pressured to cross-over to scouts too soon. Or -- this is highly unlikely -- a 17 year old won't have problems on his Eagle application because on the books the registrar thinks he's too old.

Unless the geniuses are true champions, then playoffs ...

It starts with the moms. They need to believe that it's good for their girls if they pick up the outdoor skills that their baby boomer moms neglected to teach them. Mrs. Q believed that our daughter was right to be bored with her brownie troop learning homemaking, that time with dad in the wild lands was a good thing, that forgoing some school dances was not antisocial. Every depression era campfire girl and girl scout I've talked to said "Of course." It was a darn shame that the one Troop with any sort of outdoor "roughing it" attitude had full membership. Because the GS do hone those leadership skills.

A little of both. At the district/counsel level, it sounds like you have "scope creep." The addition of the cub camping event, while fun at the time, ate into time and personnel dedicated to round-up and cubmobile. Lacking more people, something's gotta give. At your level, you now have boys spread across two units. Maybe you are growing more into troop activities. Or maybe you would like to try to operate more on a district level and help them set priorities. Well, if either's true then you need to delegate your cub responsibilities. Maybe you are really good with helping your pack run, then stick with that. Show up for your older son's activities when the troop needs a driver or a 2nd adult. Regardless, you have to let some stuff go. Accept that fact that in most of these circles folks are going to make decisions that are beyond your control. Scout cheerfully!

Funny how the inspection sheets aren't scored pass/fail.

My SM and I are so thrilled when female adults hit the trail with us, we've concluded that this is not the hill we'll be dying on. However, our moms generally hang that uniform up in the closet when they take on troop responsibilities. If they were to ask, I would give them the policy, but also direct them to the variety of BSA dress uniforms for adults. We haven't had any who were really up for ASM (again, we haven't found one who really wanted that position), I'm of the general philosophy that committee members do just as well without the uniform, and therefore this is a non-issue for us.

Well, hmmm. I've lost love one's to smoking related illnesses. It ain't pretty. Lot's of stories about regretting ever starting the habit. So yeah, if you love someone -- be it adult or youth, blood family or otherwise, call them out on it. For their sake. But, I enjoyed every moment I spent with those smokers even if some of those days as a kid meant giving them a moment and putting up with the 2nd hand fumes. They were good to me and helped me grow into what most folks considered a fine young fella -- nonsmoker at that. So I never fretted much if my little ones saw someone they respected smoking. Smokers can do right by your kids. If all you're worried about is the effect on little Johnny, seems to me you're putting up a hedge against the wrong enemy. In the grand scheme of things, the Good Book teaches that it's not what goes into a fella's body that puts him in peril, but what comes out of his mouth. I don't think the evangelists were thinking of burnt tar at the time of writing that.

Agree with Merl., here. Never liked the BSA marketing rhetoric. Cub Scouting is not meant for boys/families bent on Deceit, Disloyalty, Self-service, ... and Irreverence. Says so in the fine print. Boys/families fitting one exclusionary category may resent being lumped in with those fitting another category, but neither should be blindsided by this tripe.

Seems odd to me to throw dimes down on these particular MBs. Did he think the counselors in his neighborhood were inferior? I'm not against classes indoors. As a scout I went to MB pow-wows on a local college science department -- the counselors were professors; and the opportunities, great. I could understand "citizenship camp" at a national monument during a reenactment week or where the instructor was a judge or ambassador or retired general or something ... and the boys might actually hike over to a hall and observe a hearing, I could also see camp staff who are scouts from another country teaching 'World under the CD's supervision. But, IMHO, there has to be a point to it. Something more than mere convenience for the scout and his parents.

Let's hope not. When they are no longer racy, they will lose their impact. The point is to use whatever will get someone's attention and hope that it motivates self-examination more than it may motivate some other survival-neutral behavior (say, silicone implants). And I think that's where we have to meet the young scout who instinctively feels uncomfortable about this. Telling him we're trying to get everybody to not be shy is presuming that there is something wrong about his inhibitions. Admitting that he may rightly be embarrassed -- but our society is making a trade-off in order to forestall death -- helps him to deal with the conflicting roles caring adults play in this world.

Of course I watched the video. All of the little uniform aberrations were so distracting from the seriousness of the the topic.