qwazse

Suck it up, Fred! The news cycle has moved on to my having to explain to folks that we don't really hate fat kids! By the fall it will be something else. What you do: Get out those pictures. Show them to the school principle. Tell them you want to replicate those smiles. Forget the table. Set up a tent. A fake campfire, whatever. Ask boys "Do you want in on this?"

Age 14, or age 13 and completed 8th grade. Some crews do allow "remote venturers" although it's a real challenge for a youth to stay active. I would touch base with your council Venturing Officers Association (if they have one).

Topics like this do come up around campfires. So it is nice to have a collection of opinions on the matter. At some point in their path toward Eagle, boys are asked to attend public meetings. Sometimes they do speak up. If they go on record, and the discussion happens to be about erecting a memorial, wouldn't it be nice to know that something you said may influence what they say?

S, you have a tough row to hoe. Don't write off the GS. Your local community might have some good people, and maybe some of them are up for a challenge. Challenge them! "... even when I was a GS, I always wished I was a Boy Scout ..." We get that a lot. This spring at an area meeting I met a venturing crew of special needs youth. The advisor introduced herself because we happened to have the same unit #. I was quite impressed with the program they cobbled together.

Plan based on what your boys really enjoyed in the past year, and you'll score well on JTE. If you did JTE last year, pull it out and pick the one thing y'all would like to improve on. Chances are a number of categories will follow. It's unlikely that the new JTE will differ from the old by much, so set your goals using last year's rubric and make plans to review them every three months to see if there's something new from national or council that would incline you to adjust any targets.

Definitely involve them all. I would try to get YPT for them as soon as you can. It's become a modern day parenting skill anyway. Do you have Internet where you meet? If so, see if someone can set up a computer for them to take the course during the meeting. If not see if a district trainer can come and give it to as many parents as possible. Encourage all adults to register as scout parents. But that's a secondary issue. With Webelos, two adults in the same room is a good idea. You are going to expect the boys to follow the buddy system, so you should model it. Obviously, if someone has to duck out for a few minutes that's fine.

All of your experience as a teacher will be welcome and helpful, I suspect. Keep in mind that scouting is a little bit different than school. It's one hour a week, not six hours a day. At this age, it's families getting to know and appreciate (and sometimes challenge) one another. In terms of "fixing", therefore, my advise is to be careful what you wish for. Putting boys together in a seemingly "saintly" group can result in some really bad behaviors.

Who shampoos? Not these folks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_poo

There are scouters who see us going to the British model. I'm not one of them. If our numbers of scouts had been increasing since 2005, I'd buy the argument. But BSA's number of venturing (presumably co-ed) units has been shrinking faster than any other program. IMHO the show of venturers at Jambo is to justify the "ruggedness" of the new venue. They may not deserve it, but that is what the green shirt has come to represent.

Sometimes websites are great at putting barriers between real people who should be getting together. Your son would be old enough to start on Webelos (that's basically the last two years of cub scouts). So if there is anything particular on the site pertaining to Webelos (or specifically Webelos I) that may be the person to contact. Definitely keep an eye out at school. But, also, don't hesitate to look into packs who meet a little further away. This can be a slow time for any pack, but if there are community parades (for example the fireman's carnival in our community is this weekend), take your boy to them. Keep an eye out for boy scout uniforms. The idea here is just to get your boy to meet other scouts. Even if they are older boy scouts, they might have a connection to their old pack. And if not, hopefully they'll be friendly enough that your boy will be encouraged by this.

Ways I traumatized my daughter: on the morning of her birthday took her shooting with the crew. She had less time to spend partying with her friends (although they wern't going to get together until late afternoon, and one of her friends was coming to this crew event)! Yep scarred her for life. She grew up to be one of the finest ladies on the planet, IMHO.

NWPAS, I sure hope you are too busy to be bothered with checking this. But, in case your are staring at your mobile device instead ... you can take one of the plays from one of my scouts' books. If you find a scout from another country or a soldier about your size, ask to trade uniforms. To of my boys came back with full sets of army digitals! If you find yourself at the head of a long Krispy Creme line (more likely if you are wearing army digitals). Buy a couple dozen doughnuts and start selling them to the folks who've been waiting for them behind you.

I'm not that bothered about the training issue. But ... The MBC paperwork that they lost multiple times. The CPR class that I took at University of Scouting, including the test I passed, but never get a certification. The attempt to get us to fill out a tour plan every time we met outside of our meeting place. The massive medical form -- seems to be the only thing growing in the BSA. The online tour plan that my youth leaders cannot access. The monkey-shine about no tour plan, no insurance. The revised national camp school guideline that says lifeguards shouldn't have whistles. The "blue card or bust" mentality. Folks, these are NEW things that my SM and his committee of 3 never had to deal with. If they did, would they have been scouters? These were can-do people -- journeymen, business men, college department chairmen, senior care providers, church builders, friends of jungle missionaries. If someone said "Wait, there's a form for that" at every turn and half the time nobody really cares about that form, do you think they would have maintained their Christian character?

Then she probably doesn't have insurance and she should be in jail. Some people have a genuine fear of "Big Brother" getting into their business. If they watch the news more than 2 hours a day, they'll be utterly petrified of disclosing common info like this. Or, they are sincerely tired of digging up info for what they thought was a simple favor. (If you could look at our family desk, you'd understand why that becomes such a task. (And, no I'm not gonna send you a picture because you might be able to scan a # and use it against my constitutional rights!!) Of course, some of those people are actually bucking the system. But we are off-putting to many to protect ourselves from the few.

And I thought it sucked when I got word someon called HQ claiming to represent our troop in opposition to the new policy. You win so much, it makes this Christian boy want to put on one of those hats of yours.

Pack18, venturing #s are down from last year as well. (http://www.scouting.org/filestore/AnnualReport/2012/324-168_2012AnnualReport.pdf page 25)..

Sorry JR. I should have warned you all that when the dog-days hit, there's no escaping the heat. The ridge-tops here just don't get that high (not that you want to be on a ridge-top in the afternoon with the kind of static that's in this air). Some of our prominent features are catching a lot of lightning strikes!

Definitely your boy should proceed has he planned with his counselor. The charting really only needs to be done on the scout's honor, but it never hurts to have a coach help. And while you're at it, ask the Sensei if he would like to be a merit badge counselor. Maybe not for your son -- who sounds like he already has another counselor -- but for other boys in your district. It might be mutually beneficial to have a scout go to the dojo.

Randy, let me answer this question in a little more detail: Yes!

Hey Stosh, they set up these nice drying racks for those wet uniforms!

Apples and oranges. The "personal" badges can be knocked of in 3 months, and "designated scouting activities" are not mentioned in the requirements. Most boys take a couple of years to rack up camping nights, so troop records are generally used so the boy can set reasonable goals toward completing the badge once he decides to do so. The counselor does not declare designated scouting activities for Camping MB any more than s/he determines which constellation is The Big Dipper for Astronomy MB The requirement is quite objective and not one night should require contortions of the English language to justify counting it.

Full disclosure: we do a lot of pop-tarts, no gateway, and hike a lot! Regarding meetings, suggest British Bulldog. (BD will love me for that one!) Regarding gateway, suggest something inspiring: http://www.lotrscenerybuilder.org/argonath.php Regarding cooking, leave a note: "Good morning: your pop-tarts have been relocated to the secure locations indicated on the attached map. Enjoy your breakfast hike! Alternatively, eggs, bacon and other fixings are in the cooler adjacent to camp."

Can he do water sports at all? Is the disability permanent? Or, does the boy's doctor have an idea of his capabilities? These kind of things will determine the type of activity that would be a suitable replacement.

It should apply equally regardless of DC or not, but it's the SM's call. If it's not in the normal responsibilities of the DC, I might count it. Then again, I might not.

fred, if these by-laws were about what constitutes a quorum or what needs to be approved by the CO, or special CO funds/facilities that the troop could use and how, etc ... that's adult stuff. I'm sure the boys won't care much about that (unless someones been holding out on an Olympic size pull under the church hall!). When it comes down to uniforming (and here I think Sasha is talking about details not in the BSA insignia guide -- such as neckerchief style, shorts vs. long pants, activity shirt style, etc ...), that's boys' stuff. Insight from the older boys is invaluable in this area. BSA does not have a policy on individual scout accounts. It encourages them without specifics on how to spend them or what to do when a boy graduates or transfers to another unit. So, I'm trying to guide our committee into procedures that are compliant to recent IRS opinions, and someone gives the treasurer and old Troop policy, that if we continue to follow it, would be deemed unethical by some.