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What you are arguing over is documentation. What if all of your boys decided not to go to a BSA facility this year, but they all got comprehensive sports physicals? Or, maybe the practice they go to has a doc that waives his fee for scouts if he can just print pertinent medical info from his database, set aside an evening for each patrol, review and updates each boys status, clears them to participate in whatever, and with parents' consent, prints everything in a binder for you -- with a separate sheet of med schedules for your contingent's health officer? Would you still want national to

Did it tonight. SM gave the boys present a paper and pen and said "Give me a list of two patrols." There were some points of contention, but the boys worked it out.

One more question now that I've reviewed your post ... Do you mean the "primary" adult? Or, are you talking the 4th-string driver. Also, what is your average distance to your "insertion" or "extraction" points? If it's just those longer distance trips that are a chronic problem: have a plan B location that doesn't involve transportation. Some of the hikes that I plan, actually involve thinking through with the boys alternate insertion points. Once I did have to fall back on a "Plan C" because of heavy rains the week before.

Thing is Brew, if you factor in a half-dozen vehicles on top of the other dozen needed to haul the boys and gear who show up on time. That's more ruts in the road, and may be the tipping point for any farmer who would let this troop pack on his/her property. You want to know ahead of time how many boys you can accommodate with minimal intrusion on your site. I agree that making this a patrol-managed issue is the way to go. Two meetings prior to the trip, each PL reviews the permission slips then during the meeting sounds off how many will attend, who their drivers will be for each

What a disappointment. Encourage your son to have a servant heart. If he does that, the sash will become secondary. That's the Order in a nutshell. For the rest of you folks who want to warn that there's two sides to every story, I want to say that I've seen our very good lodge make poor administrative decisions. That happens. Sometimes if youth don't step up, and adults have no margin to take up the slack, troops will not have elections. Or, parents will be perplexed. Whatever. We're all learning, I guess. But it takes years for candidate scouts and their units to get over missteps li

Another guide might require a different medical form (or none at all). But, the general principle remains the same ... http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/...k_factors.aspx

Having a Presbyterian CO, you'd think we'd be required to. But we don't. The troop has had a series of CC's who've moved things along quite nicely. They come with a prepared outline, you may request an item be added to the agenda in advance. There are unwritten rules of decorum. Folks don't speak for more than a minute. (For me this is really, really, hard.) Everybody get's a chance to discuss. We settle on a motion, then if everyone agrees (or, at least, is willing to concede), we move forward. The last crew committee meeting ended in a pissing match years ago, so I said "Don't conv

Get the CC's (and if possible, COR's) perspective on all of this. If he agrees with the CM, your GF needs to decide how she really wants to serve the pack. Bottom line: we expect scouters to uphold the 5th point of the scout law. That includes use of "please" and not blindsiding fellow scouters.

We print minutes for the committee members to review and approve. We post the minutes on our website for everyone else. (Needless to say, personal information is not recorded in minutes.)

I've stomped and spit nails. Apologized for it shortly thereafter. About half the kids stayed on the advancement track. Telling someone that they are not a first class scout is a positive conversation. You set the bar, watch a kid climb toward it. Like I said earlier, you don't bring up a list of past wrongs. (It sounds like 2c did this.) You lay down expectations of what you want to see, and provide opportunities for a boy to show it.

Well before the event, circulate a permission slip. My SM had a generic one with blanks for activity and departure and return dates and parent's signature and the boys filled it in at the meeting. They then went home. At the bottom of the slip was the parent's signature and a line that says "I can provide transportation for ___ boys (check all that apply) __ to __ from the trip. I do something similar with an online trip for the crew.

Bonjour Dee! Your English surpasses my French! BSA demographics are different than yours (Troops are 11-18 year old males, Crews are 14-20 year old co-eds) which may limit the usefulness of some of our advise. Maybe the Brits among us will give you some age-appropriate objectives. (To be honest, I find that 12-14 age group very scary and am glad all of my children have passed it.) But, where would I start? First, I would talk to my co-leaders and ask what they envision. Who are the adults that will be helping you? Do they have the same concerns as you do? Also, is it possible for y

I've seen a lot of narcissism, so I have every reason to consider this boy is credible. I hope your CC or someone has the stones to run interference with the parents for you. It's sounds like he's heard your opinion on the specific issues. Definitely no need to go there again. Just remember, there are probably plenty of adults who will waste words on him. All you have to do is point out what needs to appear (more kindness, courtesy, helpfulness, whatever) no excuses. We have a boy who's admittedly antisocial, we make it clear to him that we understand and don't care. His succes

Y'all can stop talking about us old crows as if we're past tense. I was assigned to one of those "9th patrols." Just got to sing it at a roundtable beading with my three other patrol mates last night. Last month, I loaned all of our props from my WB to a 7th grader who was depicting Poe for her class project. Add that to the "why woodbadge" list.

Well, you could read him "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" ... deadpan ... Just like Edwards did. Or you could tell him what you like to see in a First Class scout (the concept not the patch) ... "Would you be able to demonstrate that kind of character over the next couple of months?" Refer to our discussion of scout spirit. Look, we have bad kids in our troop, but until they at least apologize for and fix the messes they create, they ain't advancing. Don't waste words. Speeches are for the enthusiastic.

So ... how do you interact with youth who quit the BSA vs. youth of the same age who are members? They both said that oath and law once. Let's assume that it wasn't some religious epiphany or denial of citizenship that drove him/her to drop, but it wasn't some extenuating circumstance (relocation financial/family troubles). Scouting - in spite of your best efforts to keep it totally youth led - just cramped his/her style. You see him/her around, or they're still your FB friend ... whatever. What changes in terms of your expectations? What stays the same?

What national is not doing, is envisioning the pinnacle scouting experience as hiking and camping independently with your friends. If that is not the vision, then the patrol method is just a hypothetical method, one that may be abandoned if it doesn't meet the SM's ends of developing character and leadership in post-modern society. For example, if one envisions the pinnacle going to Jambo or some HA base (which likely only will draw a portion of youth enrolled and necessarily require 2 adults for every 10 youth), then patrol is a helpful, but non-essential method for the average scout! They'l

Barry: Thanks for the confidence. I found a guide that she could practice with. If she thinks she'll have too many problems, I'll sew marks in her end so she'll know what aligns where. KM: I wound up using nylon rope for that very reason. Besides, it matched the dress better (and sets off the whipping that matched the bridesmaid's gowns). I still fused the ends a little, and they may catch. TT: S3: I showed them a number of alternatives. They stuck with this! Thanks for the reference! I'll add that to the Ecclesiastes 4:12.

Tangent alert (but I can't resist)! As an afterthought, the new venturing summit award should have a silver vulture on it's device. Vultures are found at higher altitudes than eagles!

Oh, we get this on so many levels. But, here's what you are missing ... If a program succeeds at a district level, a council will do its level best to make sure it perpetuates council-wide. The arms of a council are its districts. A district without a strong, permanent, volunteer leadership structure is considered "broken". When it comes time to do push-ups, it won't rely on that broken arm. The council "helps" by encouraging volunteers to assemble around strong district leadership who include in their plans solid arrangements to pay for staff time spent promoting events (instead of, s