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This boils down to "letter" vs "spirit" kind of thing. If you've endured Eagle mills all of your life (or even a small fraction of your life), you switch into a bean-counting MC to prevent one more unfit candidate from skating by. If you are used to high caliber boys who are Eagle material letting an opportunity for recognition slip by, you are going to stretch the definition of BOR (or whatever single technicality is in the way) to make it work for that boy. There is little love lost between "bean-counters" and "stretchers" so don't expect the one camp to praise the other anytime soon. We probably endure one another more than actually win one another over. But if in the end every boy makes the most of his scouting experience, we all win.

A first-class scout is qualified to take his patrol hiking and camping. That would include teaching the essential knots, fire starting, and orienteering among other skills. So, I don't ask questions, I just look for the boys with that rank and expect them to live up to it. That said, I'm not against the boys coming up with their own systems of recognition, as long as the entire troop is amenable to it and the cost isn't ridiculous. It's just that our boys have made it very clear that they prefer a very utilitarian field uniform. Unfortunately, that excludes neckerchiefs. The boys voted against them more than two decades ago (about the time national started sizing them so small as to be little more than diagonally sliced hankies) and haven't worn them since.

I hate when this happens, especially to a family who is new to scouting. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about that woman if she is indeed 80 miles away. Maybe she is doing something important on a council or area level, but it sounds like it's completely irrelevant to your son's growth as a scout. If I were you: I would get to know your sons wolf den leader. Let him/her know what discouraged you about his first year. Ask if activities could be a little more engaging, and maybe offer to help with a particular activity your son and his buddies would like. I hope the program can work for you this year. Cub scouts added so much to my relationship with my sons and their friends, I couldn't imagine doing without it.

I wouldn't hold out hope that there will be a lot of reliable scientific conclusions from this. It's still anecdotal evidence. Chances are each report will include a finding by the state, but in terms of if the rate of assault actually decreased, I'm afraid we'll never know.

My first YPT course ('01) was taught by a fellow who was a former camp director and current member of the council camping committee. He had specific examples of how YP protected adults. (His experience seemed to indicate that scouts who tended to make accusations made them against female scouters.) He also had examples about how the buddy system protected kids, but how it could fall apart (e.g., older scouts vs. much younger scouts, etc... ). Anyway it was memorable because it felt like some of "the files" we're being opened for us, and the events weren't from someplace on the far side of the country.

Got JTE envy? Keep in mind that FB pages really shouldn't involve cubs, so this is an adult ego trip. Get together with your adult committee (this should include your Charter Organization Rep) and decide what you need to do. (E.g., contact parents and other scouters in your area announcing your new Cubmaster, talk to your DE about your charter's status, etc ....) And, let us know 'cause this is one for the believe-it-or-not books!

I would think you would want each boy to lead an invocation that would be acceptable to his own faith. That way, they can learn a little about the others culture. You should give the boys the right to opt out because their belief might be opposed to public expression of religion. Or, the boys are just plain shy. But, if your committee said "no", respect that. You've done that part of your ticket as far as you could. You are on the right track in terms of trying to hash this out at your roundtable. And in terms of helping boys of a particular religious persuasion earn their particular award. Also, regarding this, some folks have a thing against earning medals for their religious life, so even among religious families you should tread carefully. Your goal should be that the boy understands a little bit better what he believes, not that he acquires more bling for his uniform. Public schools are not supposed to charter BSA units specifically because of BSA's discrimination against atheists. Read the BSA declaration of religious principle an you can get a feel for why there'd be a conflict of interest. Again, this is a problem beyond the scope of your WB ticket, but it certainly impacts the boundaries your committee is setting.

We did one of those 17+179 day SMC's once. Same kind of kid as yours. Comfortable in the outdoors, solid citizen, no clue the bird was within his grasp. Don't remember how we did his BOR. I do remember his E-SMC was on the flight to Philmont, and the application Fed-Exed to dad who brought it to us at summer camp for the CCs signature a day before his birthday. For kids like that, boards will be extremely flexible. (Especially in troops where committee members do camp with the troop and observe the goings-on.) Obviously, that opens the door for a 17.5 y.o. slacker to fax in midnight blue cards insisting on an absentee BOR for Life, pointing to what you did for Johny Superscout, to which the troop needs a CC with some spine to say "Sorry, you ain't him! Show up or shut it down."

Thanks Richard. No intent to be cavalier here. Agreed that a boy's safety trumps concerns over liability (or even the economic benefits of a nation of boys behaving safely). With that in mind, teaching boating safety at an early age is important. Minimum boating skill may be essential for everyone in your family if they live near a body of water. The linchpin to successful training, however, is qualified supervision. So it's not just any boat, with any adult, on any body of water, in any condition. For some boys, that could be a trained parent or guardian, but for most boys that means a council / district event which would only go forward with qualified supervision.

BD it does not solve the problem, and is only a stop-gap. Mainly because because it is rare that venturing crews have a stable enough membership to be able to offer leadership year after year. So, the venturer you find today (if you find one) may not be able to find you his/her replacement in a year or two. We have not built a culture where the purpose of den leader is to "qualify to lead a den of cub scouts" on age-appropriate adventure. And we don't have the position of "senior den leader" where a young man or woman could replace the cubmaster. I'm not entirely sure we should. Comparing notes with my Czech friends, they wish for more senior adults in their program.

Have you ever wondered why none of those "horror stories" of denied claims came with a name, unit #, or council? Personally I have seen the coverage in action, and details about G2SS were never brought into question. Having the requisite paperwork in place did speed processing of claims, but lacking would not have impeded them. The 1st concern was to make sure our people were taken care of and if possible, made whole.

Most of the requirements are still part of trail to first class. NOT part of the skill award system: - Introduce a friend to scouting - EDGE It's a wonder we had any membership or learned anything at all!

Herein lies the true problem, not that there is misinterpretation with "canoe". Where is a Webelos scout supposed to use a rowboat, if not with a District/Council run event? This is what is not clear in the handbook. @Hueymungus Thanks, I will write to that e-mail address. I suspect it is skipped a lot too. ENV Well, when I was a Webelos, there was the Sportsman's club pond near our den leader's house, although most of the time our dads would drop us off to fish, after which we'd go to our DL's house and practice shooting his 38 special.

I was going to mention this in the other thread ... but would not have worded it with as much neutral language. So I refrained. Thanks for that posting the new position code. It says it all to me: 91U = Nine-to-one odds you're a cash cow to national. I'm inclined to encourage our scout parents to 1) drop from the roster or 2) sign-on as committee members - no uniform or patch required, or 3) get leader-specific training and replace me. Regardless, I will encourage them to get a myscouting account and take whatever training is available.

Question (just to round out the topic): Is Venturing YPT available for anyone with a myScouting accounnt, or only those registered with a Crew/Ship? I'd like to think the answer's "yes". But, my entire family being registered, I can't confirm it.

Online meetings are for individuals with strong vision and tight fellowship. If you don't have that, they will fail. It's just as hard to attend (really attend, with no distractions) online as it is to throw the kids in a car and take them to someplace that provides a baby sitter. How far apart do these people live? Got any venturing crews in the area? It's a long shot, but they might have a youh with the kind of maturity to handle lots of little ones. (Frankly, I'm coming to the conclusion we've got it all wrong with having parents be pack leaders, but that's another story.)

Just stopped at the Scout Shop, and they had some Jamboree gear for sale (Tents, Sleeping Bags, Totes, Power [?] Hats, Backpacks). I'm sure some of you have been getting E-mails. Anyway, I thought it would be good to have a thread about what gear folks picked up as a result of going to Jambo, and their evaluation of it. Maybe you could end with a price point as in "If it was on sale for $__, I'd buy another one." That way, if something in the back of the shop catches their eye, they'll be prepared to judge the sticker price in a thrifty manner.

Got a link? (Yeah, I know, they disappear almost as fast as you read them,) It's actually a really good idea. My chuch's young adult ministry has an outdoor component, and it seems to be one of the factors enabling college graduates to stick with us, or folks from out of town to find us. But with us, there is no upper age limit.

Sorry, venturers, looks like your stuck with the BSA freak show.

You could appeal to her son's more noble character and point out that it's a great badge to have .... Or just have her dicker with the good folks at Scouting Magazine: What about Scouts who started working on Eagle before 2014? Regardless of when a Scout earned the Life rank or began working on Eagle, unless he fulfills all the requirementsâ€â€with the exception of his board of reviewâ€â€before Jan. 1, 2014, he must earn the Cooking merit badge to become an Eagle Scout.

This is kinda like figuring out how to handle exchange students. If a boy transfers to my troop from whatever, and it matters to him, and our SPL/PLs can see he has the skills, I'd encourage SM and committee to sign him off as far as 1st Class. We'd have to negotiate specialty awards (like MB's or equivalent) one at a time. If the content matches, count it. If he completely forgot what EDGE means, but can teach scout skills, I'd definitely assign Life Rank! A lot of this might eventually involve sitting down with the boy and comparing lists. It might involve ignoring any smoke some lackey from national might blow in our face. But from where I sit, a first class scout, deserves the patch. doesn't matter what side of the border he lands on. Bottom line: I'm not gonna let the turbulence of our time keep from shining a light on accomplished boys.

Cobbler is just the "edge of the ladle" with these guys. Just on the tip of my tongue, they had: Baked haddock, pizza, shepherd's pie, rolled cabbage, velvet cake, apple pie, and much much more! The whole point of UoS is to provide a variety of instruction in a number of areas at several levels of experience. It is a knowledge exchange. I usually wind up teaching a course as well as taking a couple. (In addition to helping the Dutch oven guys with sampling and clean-up!)

Of all the types of outings where a boy can cook independently (simply because most backpacking meals are done in groups of 3 or 4 max). You'd think a troop would simply schedule more backpacking excursions just so boys would have more opportunities to work on the MB. [looking for the wishful thinking emoticon ...]

If repeat attendees schedule their courses so as to be available to "help" the dutch-oven cooking course test their results, then yep, same thing.

One of our troop's first Eagle scouts (of 40 years ago) came back for a visit and stopped in at a meeting. The boys really enjoyed talking to him. Hadn't done much in scouting. Retired, dropped in at his council office, and is now an SM for a special needs troop. It's generally a bad idea to judge a person before their whole life plays out.