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You should be able to promote him to an adult leader even though the application has not been turned in. (One advantage of being linked to a venturing crew: boys who are multiples can stay registered without extra paperwork. So, we have not had this problem in a while. Regardless, I still hand them the adult application when they turn 18.)

First, decide how you personally want to camp. No matter what the boys are doing on the opposite side of the field, set your site up to suit your style. Keep in mind that you'll have to be prepared to emergencies (e.g. someone forgetting to pack a sleeping bag, or back-up first aid kit) in a way that you would not necessarily think about when solo camping. Second, the boys need to get together and decide how they want to look in the field. My boys (and girls in the crew) take pride in using their own gear, so we are a hodge-podge of high-fashion tents to jury rigged tarps to natural shelters to open sky. We have patrol cook gear from over the years, but often boys use their own gear or I let my crew use my family camp box. Other troops acquire uniform tents/tarps, always set them up in a specific configuration and take pride in the leftover "postage stamp" of trampled grass when they break camp. "City boys" is an inadequate description to me. A lot of what you will do depends on the boys' social status and their parents' attitude about sharing from whatever they have. My troop (50:50 city:suburb boys -- with the occasional country bumpkin) is able to operate the way it does because we have a hand-me-down culture that boys adhere to even after they leave the troop. Other troops have parents who fret about being fair to every boy materially, so the troop winds up acquiring it's own gear and keeping careful account of it. And there are hundreds of variations. Your best bet is to get to know your boys, let them know about various options. Help them to understand the cost of things as best you can. (Cost includes maintenance, by the way.) And, give them a chance to decide for themselves how they want to operate.

That happens with or without these sorts of positions. I've only done this from the perspective of assisting the SM. I suppose if I were to request helper adults, I wouldn't call them patrol dads or advisors. I'd use the term consultants, and build a list for the boys similar to what I do with my venturers. They'd be available to the patrol for a particular program or activity. "Need kayaks? Talk to mr Stosh, here's his number." "Mrs X got trained and can chaperon if you give her advanced notice." That sort of thing. The main thing I tell adult leaders: Be available. Don't act until called upon. I'll have our coffee ready momentarily.

Not necessarily, MT. Our SPL/PLs have the option of extending an invite to our crew (or, any other unit, for that matter) for any troop activity. They usually don't. There's this illusion among scouters that it's like flies to honey. But boys ain't flies, and though generally sweet, girls ain't honey. My boots-on-the-ground experience concurs with BD. Bring it up at the PLC. The boys generally have a good sense about this sort of thing.

All of these ideas are great. Exceptional scout spirit, really, is not looking for a great fanfare or a plaque. You just go up to a fella, shake his hand and say "Yo, you've demonstrated truly exceptional scout spirit." Say as much in front of the whole troop, and you've made your impact. Sure, you could set up a special SMC and BoR, but really that's so you have an impact on the troop adults. And, maybe this boy needs to reflect a little, so that would be one way of teaching him how to do it. Then, like Stosh says, you invite him to join you in servant leadership. A "Dr. Who" award is a great idea. Finally, there's no equality with this sort of thing. This boy gets it. You don't have to give it to another boy or even hint that it is available to another boy until the next one comes along who deserves it.

My Son#2 didn't even stop for money. He realized that every patrol had a boy who would pay him to clean their griddle.

It sounds like you're on target for a barrel of fun. I haven't been to one in years, but the little gompers still talk about them around town. Ours is simply a pack meeting with announcements kept to a minimum and awards postponed until January. Each den makes a game and the boys split duties hosting their game or visiting the other dens' tables. They are all table games along the lines of a fireman's carnival (pin the nose on the reindeer, candy cane toss, marshmallow snowman building, etc ...) Every year is a little different. One year, the CM offered whip cream pies for the den who sold the most popcorn to throw at him. That was the most work (laying tarps, clean-up, etc ...).

Get that man one of those special white uniform shirts with the sleeves pinned down, arms crossed.

Sorry that things have turned so far south. First of all, James and Jacob need to read Habakkuk. A Godly man marries the woman his Lord picks for him, no matter what. But I digress. If I were SM, James and Jacob would be dropped until they can come back with soap in their mouths able to say "courteous" and "kind." Parents can pound sand or offer Dylan's mom a $20/hour job with benefits. Your UC should give them a New Unit Application and tell them to go find CO that will support their values and start their on troop. I don't even want to know what the driver was listening to. That's a whole thread in itself.

P18A, I suspect you all got derailed by an early Chanukah. Our pack has "reindeer games" and our troop usually ends with a Christmas party -- including caroling in the neighborhood -- on the last meeting night that the public school's in session (our CO is a church but the occasional non-Christian scout is always welcome and has fun regardless). That usually brings the "rats out of the woodwork" so you can confirm their registration. You need one more pack meeting this month. Something that might interest the kids, like "pie throwing at the CM". Get whoever is there but hasn't committed on a payment plan. The no-shows, call and tell them if you don't see payment from them in 4 days, they'll be dropped. For our crew, it's E-mails and phone calls to every person who does not turn in $ otherwise send in paperwork on or before "dues day". Which is next week. I expect several venturers will ask to be dropped from the rolls because of finances, and some of those will join up again mid year if there's an activity that interests them: pro-rated dues at the cost of a little more paperwork.

Good point. Boys this age need references for anything these days. Make sure he knows he can use you and that you would give a favorable recommendation. You could even draft one "to whom it may concern" for him. That way, he'd already have the particulars ready for any last-minute interview that may come his way.

First, bless you! It's a thankless job that would be simple if all the dues and yea's and nay's came at one meeting, but that never happens. If they are transferring to a troop, keep them on the charter. It will cost them $1 to transfer to the troop, but there is a lag in that getting done. Sometimes a troop will want them to see how it operates before deciding weather to sign on as a committee member or assistant scoutmaster. So, they won't have an official position with the troop even if they "crossover" on Feb 2. In the meantime, it is nice to have their BSA membership with the pack stay current. Making sure they have continuity in membership for those few months may save some grief in them keeping track of training. If they are not continuing in scouting, I would ask them what they want to do. For some people, that $30 (or what ever your charge) to stay legit for another month is a big deal. Again, it gives them a chance if, in September, they want to get "back in the saddle" to do so with fewer paperwork hassles.

Congratulations on having the fortitude to assume that at least one of your scouts was taking care of everything. Hopefully you'll have the same fortitude for all of the other scouts. Just because boys from everywhere else in the world do math better, doesn't mean our boys are excused from backdating their own goals and figuring out when they need to get what done. Well, sounds like he's a first class scout (the term, not the patch). I've known college valedictorians to proudly put "Boy Scouts, Life rank" on their bio sketch. Probably the best recognition you could give is to invite him to become ASM. If he want's to work on venturing advancement, he could join a crew and still have a couple of years to earn Silver (or, whatever that'll be calling it). But, I doubt he's interested.

Here's a novel thought: ***ask your boys what they want to do.*** Okay, so I don't know how to preserve my original formatting, but you get the idea. If they want to stay in the pack, there's gonna be a reason. Maybe there's an activity that they didn't get to do. Maybe there's something they want to do one last time. Maybe there's a troop they didn't get a chance to visit. You've trained them. Let them lead. You might just find yourself having fun.

Unfortunately, the memberid is nested within the councilid. Which means it's possible for folks in different councils to have the same memberid. That would be a fun nationwide game, finding your matching #s from every council.

I think the guidebook was designed to keep committee members from jumping down the SM's throat when he has a bad year due to weather cancellations, conflicts with Eagle CoH's, boys committed too many other activities, or boys that refuse to work the patrol method. It's on us SM/ASM's to kick it up a notch and never be satisfied with a committee that doles out compliments for rudimentary work. But, you can't really put that in a manual, can you?

Flammable votive holders! The boys will love it! Most troops are ready to welcome first-years anytime between February and May. Crossing over earlier does give the boys more time to make friends with the older boys in the troop. (Also, if it's a bad fit for anyone, he'll have a little time to try a different troop before summer.) They do miss out on cub activities for the spring. Although, really, there's nothing preventing the boys from participating in any of their favorite activities. But practically, an active scout won't have time to spare for both and there may be scheduling conflicts on top of that. Here's a novel thought: ask your boys what they want to do. In January, compare the pack's spring calendar with the troop's spring calendar. Have the boys understand if they choose one they'll probably miss the other, but let them know you all will support whatever they decide. Listen to what they think. Act accordingly.

Yes. One such venturer of mine ages out this year. Her first year with us, she was a multiple in our council and primary in the council where she served as camp staff. Second year she was primary with us. It enabled her to continue setting up area summits for us. Word of caution to your daughter: it is very hard to be effective spread too thin. We advisors will try an accommodate anyone, but sometimes a clean break gets the desired results.

So you want to make sure you're doing everything a committee can do for your boys? Ignore that goal. Set for yourselves a goal of camping at least once every month of the year. Some of those months could be individual patrol challenges to arrange their own outings. Given a couple cancellations for various reasons, you'll still wind up providing 8-10 camping opportunities of 1, 2, or sometimes 5 nights. You'll exceed the pathetic textbook objective by at least 50% and won't have that sleezy feeling when you wake up in the morning -- even if your are miles from the nearest shower!

Bacci comes to mind. You don't need a regulation set of wooden balls. You could use whatever the playground offers. Have a smaller "target" ball. Each boy gets a larger "shot" ball (or two if you have them). Throw out the target ball. Each boy takes a turn rolling a shot ball. The boy whose ball gets closest to the target without touching ("kissing" -- the translation of the name of the game) it get's to throw the target ball next. What's nice is you don't have to worry about boundaries (although the regulation game is played in a pitch resembling horseshoes), just make sure the target ball is in a safe location.

http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title

I'd say all over the Appalachian foothills. They might be driving back out to a remaining old parcel of the family farm. Or, there's a farmer happy for them to hunt a few coyote's off the property. (Or simply, set up on the far lot and spend the day sighting in rifles.) Sometimes with family sometimes on their own. I met one mom whose boys drove her nuts at the house from time to time, so she would offer to drive them to the edge of a wilderness area and let them walk off some steam for an afternoon while she waited back in the car. Back in the day, those boys could call an SM and make a plan in an hour or so and he'd be hauling us to a site of interest. Nowadays, the paperwork burden in this sad world makes that near impossible so parents are stepping in the gaps that the BSA has stepped out of.

Keep in mind that the BSA has a dress uniform for adults (blue blazer and trousers over a white dress shirt.) Of course, wearing that means you leave all of the insignia and knots behind.

Keep in mind I always operated from the position of *assist* the SM. And I had boundary issues (which ultimately led to my taking on crew advisor, but I digress). So, I never got bent outta shape if some other patrol's advisor wasn't around. I just assisted whoever, or reigned in any boy who was out of control. My PL just knew he could give me a call if I'm in a jam. Also, the tag-team works both ways. My venturers know that the SM is available as a consultant if they need him. The only down side of this is sometimes folks aren't sure if a given conversation is about the crew, the troop, or both.

I was asked to do this once. We were called patrol advisors. I simply told the PL "I'm here if you need me." From time to time I fielded questions about how to manage things. (E.g., how to look at advancement records of his patrol and determine the program he should promote to the boys. What to do when boys weren't working on advancement as planned. Etc ...) I would drop by their table near the end of breakout session and just say "Hi." Sometimes, I would boil down advice given on these forums for a youth audience! In general I kept my distance, encouraging the PL and SPL to work together. I suppose in this day and age, it would be nice to have one adult who could be counted on as an available "leader of record" for patrol overnights, etc ... Bottom Line: it's the details of the thing that matter. If the ASM is expected to take a huge role in every patrol meeting, it's a problem. If he is more of an observer/advisor it's not such a big deal.