qwazse

I know of two youth in my crew who darn well better be sexually active. They've been married for a year! Otherwise, I make it clear that virginity is to be held in high esteem. But, I do believe that there's room for grace. More importantly, I ask youth to understand what their religion says about the matter, and live accordingly.

KDD, right you are. This is a problem. Tagging along with the troop is inappropriate. Sure, you can host a family camping weekend or two, but I think it has the potential to just remind a girl that "she's not one of us." Until the young lady can actually be part of a patrol, and follow the tracks that we've laid out for the boys, we're just playing a "separate-but-equal" game poorly. But, if my boys and the adults in the Troop had been willing to get over their hang-ups to welcome my daughter into the big woods -- even if POR's and rank advancement was not in the offering, I would have

I agree with Stosh. In fact my troop has as little interest in camporees as the crew does, so these big events where lots of adults are around to see how we operate when we're at the same place at the same time are few. But even before we had the crew, the older scouts, including SPL, were off doing their own thing (e.g., conditioning for Philmont, with our approval) during the day. We might see them at camp in the evening, then they'd break camp and be gone before daybreak! Only difference now, is folks who don't like it have green shirts to blame it on! But, I see it as a good thing. I

This breaks my heart on so many levels, I can't stand it. My wife and I endured a similar disheartening experience with our daughter. There were only a couple GS troop's who camped, and they were full! (Or they thought they were. I've never seen a BSA unit where there wasn't room for one more.) Our solution: 1. camp with the kids on family vacations, and 2. send them to a church camp which included a pool, a paddock, several field sports areas and lots of folks singing 'bout Jesus. In both of those situations we usually partnered with another family we knew who had kids our age. Other thing

I routinely take it upon myself, in these kinds of events, to herd SPLs back to their troop. But do keep in mind that even without venturing, SPLs and senior scouts often will find chances to stand off from the troop. Keep in mind that sometimes the SM finds opportunities for older boys to serve elsewhere so the younger ones begin to rely on themselves. That star scout, if he did well, now has something he can campaign on for the next SPL election. When my crew and troop plan joint activities, I ask them to think about their various leadership responsibilities and determine how their time

A large portion of my community is college bound, and I have yet to have a youth or parent come to me enthused about getting a medal for all of this. I've only met one youth who was in a ship and a couple of crews (at the same time), and the guy just loved earning medals! But, I don't think he did either program for the purpose of awards. (The cool uniforms, maybe.) Just like in Troops, youth get sick of participating if their folks are making it all about the awards. They don't get sick of a unit that accomplishes stuff like activities and cool service projects. So, I pitch pr

We've discussed this before. Many churches see VBS as a form of community service. Most of the families served are not members of the church. If you consider that religious education (of a personal nature) is prohibitively expensive for many Christian families -- even seemingly affluent ones, and the volunteer youth model seems to work well, then the boy's service makes sense. If on the other hand, the "outreach" is seen as just another religious exercise, then maybe the service aspect is not so relevant. (Although, there's nothing to say that religious devotion and community service are

One of my comments seems to have been misplaced. But, regarding your last question about SPL "management". It's okay to come clean with him and say you're just learning the position together with him. When I was SPL (many decades ago), parents would ask me if I could make sure their son learned X, Y, or Z, and I considered it a huge honor that they thought so highly of me. You just have to work at making a distinction between imperatives, requests, and strong suggestions. To help, get to know other SM's ASAP. Attend roundtables, find out who's going to camp when you are, and may

BD. Sounds like your talking about the venturing program. (Awards and recognition instead of advancement.) The one youth in my crew who actually pursued a bronze award was thrilled to be able to do the equivalent work of obtaining Star rank without the hassle of collecting badges along the way. I've kept venturing awards strictly voluntary. Only one in 40 venturers have taken up the challenge. And my crew still holds together. But ... I may not be seeing the numbers that other crews see because, since we don't have a culture of mostly everyone pushing through the gauntlet, my progra

"... 15 minutes with some rope a couple of times a week ... " You just nailed it. The skill that's hard to master is the one that the boy *will not take time* to practice. The infamous "pull-up" requirement: 1% of kids might have a real physical disability that impedes their improvement. The other 99% do not devote every day for a month to find a bar, reach up, grab it, and attempt to bend their arms. Swim tests: 1% kids who can't pass it may have a medical impairment, the other 99% never had training and practice. Fire: everyone wants to light matches. Nobody wants to gather kind

Yes, very important activities like playing online games,breaking the axles on their 4WD, working to pay for the next game system, guitar, threads for the school dance, fuel-injection system, bling for the girlfriend, etc ... I'm sorry, but the HS kids who I see making Eagle are the ones who are very active in church and band/sports, make high marks in school, attend the occasional dance or two, and maybe even pick up a nice girlfriend along the way. They show up at meetings, and call in when they can't make it. Even when they turn 18, are taking intensive college classes, pulling double-sh

I see you only returned the thimbles. Must mean you're gonna have them make compasses with the needles.

It falls under what the boys want. Many boys love to return from excursions to the same campfire as the rest of the troop. Our scout camp (http://heritagereservation.org/) offers day-trek programs that older boys can opt into. In fact, that seems to satisfy most boy's "itch."

CnM, it's that whole Catholic thing. JP's gotta judge something. (Sorry JP, but you did come off a bit harsh.) I will take obese, chain-smoking volunteers any day. Yes, I will nag them to lay of the cigs and red meat. (More because I need the encouragement as well, and because it really stinks to leave your kid at the trail head.) But at the end of the day there's a lot they offer the program. That said, I have no idea about xtra big and tall pants.

KDD, very simply: a first class scout is qualified to take his patrol hiking and camping. So, if a boy can tie a clove-hitch when asked, he gets that requirement. If he's comfortable enough to navigate his patrol through you're troops usual haunts, he gets that requirement. I know those tents seem unwieldy now, but he'll be snapping them up in no time. The other stuff (including positions of responsibility) will also come naturally. Oh, and there is a difference in swimming for enjoyment, and swimming for races. Most MBCs have to actually "slow the racers down" so they can relax and perf

I wouldn't drop a scout from the chart on account of their parents. I would demand that leaders get with the program. In fact, I told my crew committee to never meet in the absence of the Crew president. They haven't met for years, we muddle through. (Some folks here have the SPL sit on the troop committee. I have yet to meet an SPL who has the time and the patience for another meeting!)

KDD, you're talking about a truly rare scout. Bottom line (and this goes for adults too): the respect goes to the person who does their job. Last month we made it clear to the boys (most working on Star, Life, Eagle) that we don't care how long you've had a POR patch on your sleeve. If you've done no work, you haven't held the position. Period. Conversely, if you don't have a patch on your sleeve, but you've done 4-6 months of work making the troop run successfully we will make sure your POR is properly signed off, in spite of what bean-counting detractors say. We've instructed our co

My SMs (two consecutive ones over a period of years) were drawing fire because boys weren't advancing according to someone's timetable. (Over this time I had seen boys quit because of the unending emphasis on requirements. And those new-fangled trail-to-first-class courses produce boys who were no more competent.) What I ultimately did when SM #2 got this issue thrown in his face ... I made it very clear in a committee meeting: 1. that we (SMs and ASMs) were not doing 1st class 1st year. 2. that 1st class skills were to be demonstrated to a PL, not an SM or ASM or any camp staff, for s

Good luck with that. I just tried to PM you and got blocked!

Yep DS. It's best you do this as a district service -- not as a member of the pack. From the outset, it in your interest to have someone in the pack assist you (for example procure your classroom, bring refreshments, push paperwork, etc ...), and that person would take more of a role the next time the pack needs instruction. That person would be your pack trainer, even if for now he/she is basically your gopher. (You know ... go fer this, go fer that.) That way you make it clear that your doing this as part of what needs to be don in terms of commissioner service with an eye towards the pa

Good point. We've done something similar. I've always left it to the guy who values it the most to pick up the rounds. My leaders know that I drink on very rare occasions, and leading up to a trip is not one of them.

Youth sometimes see things differently than we do. In situations like these, I just try to suck in my breath and roll with it. Give the trek leader your undivided attention from here on out. Touch base with a phone call every week. Have him tell you what he knows about each boy completing any tasks assigned to them. Lead through him. So, for example, if there's an announcement to go out, ask him to do it. You'll follow-up on any omission. Ask him if there's anything specific he would like you to do for each meeting. Then, rewards. In my crew, "officer's privilege" includes th

I'd rather not, but assuming the ratios and depth were maintained ... We've managed to retain some very helpful adults by being a little flexible. This never happened, but ... Come back wasted? I'm sending you home as soon as you sober up. I'd rather hear from you and your buddies that you're checking into a hotel and won't be back until morning. If you keep your distance, I can take the heat from the res. director for your unplanned absence. Why? It's personal. Thanks to the family beer business, I grew up with plenty of drunks, I don't need my youth to have any part of tha

Campmaster should have said "I will run it by SM and the committee." IMHO it's yours and the SM's call weather he/she has to go back to the scout and say "sorry, I spoke out of turn." The only reason it would be the larger committee's business is if it was counting on those discounts being added to the troop treasury. (E.g., if it's a line-item on the "income" side of your budget. Or, your budget includes paying for adult 1 and 2 at the discounted rate.) Is the low attendance an issue? That's entirely the SM's call. If he's willing to work with the boy, you all should support him.

For the love of all that is good and right in the world: no plaques! How about a custom patch? Something that says "valued leader of pack ___"? I'm sure there's still a few novelties with "Leader of the Pack" on them. Also a picture with all of the boy's and their signatures would be awesome.