qwazse

My council folks are pretty good about making the phone calls. They might be able to put you in touch with someone in your district who has had the same situation, and you can compare notes. If you don't hear back in a couple of days, make another call. This time point out how much fun the kid was having! Still, my knots are on working with the scout and his parents.

If it's the 11th injury, the one he doesn't know how to treat ... I'll take the knots!!!! Seriously, this is a red herring. First aid, especially wilderness first aid, requires a cool head and resourcefulness. If you have to THINK about how to stabilize an injury because you aren't sure how to tie off a sling, or shore a splint, you cost your patient pain. If the square knot is second nature, you can focus on your patient while the hands do the tying automatically. If you know what it takes for a lashing to hold, you won't build a rickety stretcher. The list goes on ... First aid is

I try not to laminate myself ... makes it hard to breath. I bought mine at the scout shop. I bet they can be found in most sporting goods stores.

Knots are not second nature. In this age of velcro and buckles, boys (and girls, if they never braid hair) easily forget how to tie them. I forget them constantly, and am pulling out my spare chord and working the ones I use least often. But, when I throw a tarp and some rope down and say "Rig us a Tarp/Tent/Changing Station/Latrine ..." or when breaking camp say "All guy lines in chain knots, please" youth who can't tie, lash, and splice waste my crew's time. Knowing your knots means I can count on you to get the job done when the rolls of velcro, belts, stays, and buckles are out

My collection of essential reading: Waterproof New Testament and Psalms Laminated Track and Scat Guide Laminated Guide to Edible Plants Laminated Star Chart It's rare that a weekend goes by without a youth asking to borrow one of the above. Other stuff (even my espresso pot ) may get swapped in and out depending on conditions. For example, it's swiftly becoming the season where orange pinafores get tied to any gear covering backs or heads.

Our troop will not countenance any glossing over of requirements. Boys come home with partials. We're fine with that. Cloudy all week? Nobody earns Astronomy. Too much lightning? Nobody earns Lifesaving.

Definitely drop SPL position until you have 3 (maybe more) patrols to coordinate. Use PL and ASPL. If you have a skewed age distribution (e.g. one boy over 16 and the rest below 15), consider letting the oldest boy(s) be Jr. Assistant Scoutmaster. A JASM has a lot more freedom to stick around with the old farts and map out the rest of his life, but then bunk with the lads, offer to teach a skill to the first years, coach the PL, etc ...

Hmmm Americans not interested in world affairs, who'd a thunk it? Aside from a very serious decades long crisis in geography education ... It's marketed to older scouts, of which there are fewer. You effectively go as a Venturing contingent, for which many SMs still have no love lost. We've just come off of a National Jamboree, which continues to only attract about 4% of eligible members. Wallets are drained. (Keep in mind that your most likely prospects from the BSA will have spent more to go to their own National event than it would cost them to go to the World Jamboree.)

So yours is outdated. Evidently someone took the time to come to conclude against conferring an undue sense of authority on a guard. I spent my guard duty while recertifying twirling a rescue tube on it's strap. A little tougher than a lanyard, but the only way I could think to protest.

Yep, trust your pros, because they always get it right ....

I'll have to ask our Eagle advisor before I make an informed vote. Maybe he knows he's a coach or not? I'm confused. Missed one too many roundtables I guess.

Yours probably doesn't have the section about how lifeguards shouldn't use whistles.

There is some chatter on "former JW" sites about how they are not allowed to join. Clearly, your boy's parents didn't get that memo. I think you need to talk to the parents about what they think the real boundaries are, then work with the boy. I think the requirements are worded so as to give you a little "wiggle room" with this. But I think it's important to avoid anything that seems like "trickery" to the parents. What's most important IMHO is that the boy understands what the PoA is, why it is important to most Americans, why his religion opposes the recitation of the pledge, and ho

When I was thinking of recognition, I was thinking of things less formal ... things like: "I really liked how your Foxes handled formations Saturday, would you provide the color guard for tonight's opening?" "Bears, since you nailed the knot requirements for everyone in your patrol (including the Turtles you adopted) last weekend, how about picking what our next challenge will be?" "Crows, that was a side-splitting skit! Will you be our program patrol for the month?" Sure you could have little totems for success in this, that, or the other thing. And the boys can hang them on their pa

Hurrah! Actually, those are about the right numbers for an enjoyable trip. More than that, and you have to start thinking about multiple contingents with different hike plans. That's really not as terrifying as it seems. It happened quite naturally even in your small group. There's always a good bit of planning with these things. So, yes, adults need to share the load. You also need to share your thought process with the boys and vice versa. Hopefully a couple of gung-ho boys will add this to their list of "do-it-again"s and partner with you in the next round of planning.

I'm not concerned about advancement as I am about accountability. Son #2 has been ASPL, SPL started evening classes on meeting night, and let us know in advance to let Son #2 prepare. He had soccer events on the first couple of nights (one event was optional IMO), I strongly suggested he call SM and his buddies to arrange coverage. (And keep calling until he was sure everything was arranged.) He didn't. Last meeting was SPL elections. Two other boys got the post until January. That's kind of what I expect from members at every level.

In this case, I would always give credit to the patrol that provides the largest contribution of members. E.g. They are not the Fox/Bear patrol on the campout.If there are 4 Foxes or 3 Bears they are the Foxes for the weekend. The Bears only get credit for participation if they represent as a distinct patrol. (If numbers are even they can decide among themselves or the SPL can call whose patrol they represent.) I'm not saying you have to build a whole system of awards or whatever to make this work. You just recognize the patrols by the flags the boys choose to fly under.

If it's always the same kid, maybe you have a problem. Maybe the boy actually does fit in with a different patrol. Or, maybe you have a real PL in the making. It's hard to tell this side of the internet. If it's a really young scout, maybe the SPL can keep one eye on him to figure out what the true situation is. I can't remember if I was in a patrol of one situation as a scout. I do remember a morning when the SPL taught me how to restart a fire from the previous night's embers. Just him and me ... none of my patrol were there (to the best of my memory). For the rest of my tenure in the tr

First, I agree with V that if you are not key three, expect modest change. (Or in my case, extreme push-back from the boys.). There is nothing wrong with a "patrol of one." You may not want the little guy camping by himself 100 yards away in mountain lion country, but for challenges, troop duties and such, he should tackle them on his own. If he loses, he can talk to the patrol mates who bailed on him. If he wins, he represents his patrol with pride. I met one boy on a campout, who was cooking an outstanding batch of asparagus because he didn't have any of his patrol mates around to fuss ab

I concur with Merlyn. Although one of my favorite songs is "Stretched on Your Grave" ... about holding on to your first love forever, Christ's teachings on marriage are pretty clear that the contract doesn't extend into eternity. "Lifelong" should be interpreted as the shortest time either partner spends this side of glory. Upon resurrection, those mortal contracts, although blessed by the Almighty at the time, are non-binding. This astounded his disciples, but I'd wager was pretty much a relief to their wives. Making sure there was a man in the house was their only form of social securi

Communication is such a drama killer. But, here's something to consider ... why are you being the middleman between your boy and his SM? There will be dozen's of decisions like this between now and project completion. The reason why we require projects like this is to teach boys how to manage multiple parties, including their parents. If something is unclear, do point it out to the boy and have him figure out what to do/who to call. Then the next day ask him if he did it. I know I hated that role of being the guy giving my kids those "little nudges" to talk to SM/Coach/Teacher/Pr

Take the BS out of the BS of A. I would tell the scout ... Put all three dates on the form with "Best date to be determined after consultation with businesses involved." Get those signatures ASAP. You might get feedback as to which date would be better from your district's perspective. Talk to the owners of the businesses about the possible fundraising date. Let them know you have yet to get final approval. This will help you know if there are goings-on in your community that will determine the best date for you. Determine what works best for everybody involved. Choose that date.

Although crazy, indeed, because of your unstable adult assigments, Webelos dens often visit multiple troops. Son #1 and I visited and camped with 3. Also if troops can partner for activities and still maintain their identity. In fact, growing up, my troop (with a Presbyterian church), did a few activities with an LDS troop.

tgr, where are the 11-13 y.o. pre-high school youth who would participate in her election? Does she want to be in OA? Or, does she just want to do the great things that Arrowmen do? If she organizes her crew to spend a night under the stars and a day fasting while performing service in complete silence. All without the fussing over sashes, etc, designed for uniforms which many venturers never wear ... would that suffice?