qwazse

Like it or not, "assist with instruction" and "counsel" are synonymous in the minds of many. I wonder if there should be an "MBC's Aide" patch.

The nice thing about being a coach, is you get to dictate how you will do your job. The not so nice thing is that folks get concerned about scores and playing time at first, but boys will appreciate you best in the long run if you are fair and challenging. So be clear that nobody is going to get signed off on anything that night, but you are going to help them brain storm about the steps the need to take for some of the requirements. Then ask how many of they boys are interested in going home and working on the requirements, and make arrangements to meet with each of those who are interested. Regarding sex, my daughter's Jr. high youth leader encouraged her class to talk to us about it and report back if they had the following week. I was terrified, but grateful. Knowing that your parents are there for you for this thing is a really good idea for any boy to get into his head.

Enjoy your time, and may your boys excel in the face of "cheerfulness challenges."

As far as I can tell, there are two steps, neither of them instant. 1) Educate adults in your district in what to expect in MBCs. 2) Change camp directors. (You might try to reform the current one, but once that "can't afford it" mentality sets in, it takes a serious kick in the pants.) I have no problem with youth counselors who are given proper supervision ... Who know they can hand out partials and the CD has their back. ... Who know if there is an adult "expert" they can recruit him/her. I've helped with space ex, astronomy, and swim instruction during my stay at camp. What was my example? When I was a scout, my SM sent me to the SM in the troop camped next to us for 1st aid MB. He didn't pass me at camp. Dad had to drive me to his place with a buddy for further skills improvement. (That suited Dad just fine, because that town had the cheapest barber in the county!) Wouldn't it be great if your shy boys met one or two community counselors at your summer camp? That way, their first call to an MBC wouldn't be a cold one! Anyway, the program is only as broken as people let it be.

Once you conclude that your old tent(s) are no longer fit for service, Here's an activity for your scouts ... Have your boys set the tent up for one last time, their packs may be placed nearby (with covers/garbage bags on them), they "bed down" in their sleeping bags and put on blindfolds. You then read them this scenario: You have hunkered down in an isolated location. You didn't pack a flashlight, but it was no problem because the moon was out. You could easily bear-bag what was left of dinner, brush teeth, and go to bed in the twilight. Shortly after moonset, the sky thickens, and you awake to a torrential downpour. Fortunately the winds are low, so there is no worry of damage to the campsite, which is on a slope and should easily drain. At this time you realized that the waterproofing on has failed, and is behaving more like a sieve than a roof. Your sleeping bag is somewhat repellent; however, The floor of your tent is still waterproof, therefor a very large puddle is accumulating on the low side of the tent. The walls of your tent do seem to be doing a good job of holding humidity in, and your sense of claustrophobia and utter panic builds. [*]The mission: While blindfolded, convert your tent into a serviceable shelter that will withstand any further downpours. The tent may be further torn or modified. Note that draining the water is a good first step. Keeping the sleeping bags from getting soaked is a good second step. Hint: the bottom of the tent is bone dry. Expect the next downpour in an hour. [*]Scoring The timing of the event will be from when the mission is given until the boys are back in their bags under a relatively "dry" shelter. Award a point per minute remaining in the hour from the start of the excersize. 10 points for most dramatic tent exit. 10 style points if the boys remember to put on their rain gear 10 points for use of only the tent parts for the shelter. Any resemblance to a scouter caught off guard in his favorite wilderness recreation area is purely coincidental.

We have them from time-to-time. Each is unique. Some are effectively troop guides. Some plan a specific troop activity that involves complex coordination of patrols. Some take on a task that the adults have largely ignored. Being a youth-led movement, I suggest giving your JASMs a few "opportunities" and ask them how they would like to serve. Usually at this age, time is scarce, so I wouldn't require meetings unless doing so would be truly productive.

I read into it a little, presuming the boy's church was the CO (and would have an interest in its parishioners performing service like this be it via an NGO or otherwise). We don't have all of the details of the story to "connect the dots". It could be the boy's "inside the beltway" connections led him to think "community" on a global scale. In which case, we'd both agree that could be stretching the definition a little (although clearly his district advancement chair didn't think so). In general, I think it isn't a very thrifty way to deliver mosquito nets. Some of our Eagles have run drives for supplying 3rd would countries, but have done so through a relief and development organization whose warehouses are an integral part of our community.

So sorry to hear that. I would follow the lead of the SM and his family. The boys might all arrive at visitation together, they might offer to help at the service (directing traffic, ushering, providing lunch afterword, etc ...). The family might want them to be in uniform, or they might prefer religious dress. For many boys this may be their first funeral. Especially if they are a different religion than the SM, you may need to explain to them the appropriate way to approach the casket and how to introduce themselves and convey their sympathies to the family.

Nor do they have to ... "While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community." I think you may have substituted "or" for "and" in your mind. Not every project has to be community based - in the geographic sense. Many religious groups, certainly the Baptists, feel their institution is buoyed by their parishioners serving the needs of the poor in the farthest reaches of the world.

Have a product the public can trust, delivered courteously and cheerfully, with a spirit of helpfulness and loyalty to one's community. I tell my boys if they can provide that, they'll get approval. I've never had to factor in activist politicians who wanted to protect the public from making their own decisions of conscience. But, would encourage boys to convey that they are are brave enough to receive comment from the voting public in a friendly manner, that all they are asking from their elected leaders is to grant the public fair access to them to do so.

I hate when it rains on a parade.

There's not a quid-pro-quo. But, if you are not welcome as a vendor, why would you feel welcome as a volunteer? In the case of Montpelier, the two actions were not purely on opposite dimensions (fundraising vs. service). They were both forms of self-promotion. I honestly wouldn't be surpised if half of the scouts show up out-of-uniform to help anywhere they are needed anyway -- thus avoiding the political magnifying glass. If you've been made a spectacle of by virtue of your association, why would you subject your kids to more of the same just a couple weeks later? I've been in situations where I could have put scouts in the spotlight. (Fortunately they weren't political in nature.) It might have got us a couple of grand at a critical time. But, in each case I could tell the youth involved were not comfortable with the whole "poster-child" role. So, contrary to some very strong suggestions by adults, I steered clear of media attention.

Okay, the list of who should be directly informed ... SE, COR (and IH), CC, and all direct-contact leaders (SM, ASMs, Advisors, & associates). That last one can get pretty hairy. The list of associate leaders's can be longer than the number of folks likely to actually deal with the boy in question. That's why it's usually on the SM and Advisor(s) to pass it down the chain at their discretion. Likewise, CC determines if any of this should go to committee. You will find in situations like these, a scout is terribly uncomfortable with everyone knowing his faults.

Lest by the back-and-forth between diatribes anyone has lost the evolving story ... SE was notified, which necessarily brought in the cops, etc... CO notified (and, since it sounds like a fairly healthy community with an active grapevine, so was everyone else). All official boxes checked. Officially, the COR and CC can determine the boy's membership status: on the roster, off the roster, somewhere in between. Guess what? Once all of the official stuff is done, none of that matters. Boy can be banned from campouts/meetings/advancement or any combination thereof. MattR is stuck. Years of working with the kid trumps paperwork or degrees at the end of one's name. Trusted by dad, feared by boy, he is uniquely qualified to lend a hand. And, durn that third point of the scout law, it leaves precious little loop holes! Been there, done that, seen it done. Probably shoulda wrote the book. The real challenge is balancing time so this one kid's issues don't become all-consuming. You need to give the kid enough of your ear so he can tell you what's going on between his ears, but (and this is they only practical suggestion I have) just like finding a kid counselors for MBs, you need to get the kid to tell you who he can go to (besides yourself) to address each problem that's put on the table. And over time, follow-up to make sure those "counseling" relationships are doing what you would intend them to do.

Except maybe church camp or youth group or finishing school? I'm sorry, leading up to Feb 14th, my youth need to learn about winter survival. For being long gone, we got millions of boys getting a kick out of it. We don't have anywhere near that many girls in the wings willing to "mix it up."

It makes me wonder ... what if the borough councilmen in my conservative denied a neighborhood troop the permit to sell hot-dogs at our community fair because of last year's permissive decision? Would the SM feel pressured to say he was PEHMOC (pro-exclusive-herterosexual-monogomy-or-celibacy) just like the majority in our community, just so he could be on equal footing with his political elites?

Maybe it was terror? But, having already lashed spars onto 30' poles, dashed UPHILL to my tent in a thunderstorm, hopped electric fences in the rain, etc ... I hardly noticed it.

I wonder how much of the units' reaction is youth motivated?

I wonder if any boys will have advancement postponed because they were counting on those service hours?

So, the public doesn't have a right to know that he is proud of his families involvement in scouting?