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Now, see BD, that's where you're being poud foolish. Put a hitch on the church van, pull the trailer, and you won't need the pick-up truck.

MB, what bothers me about your lodge is that you haven't mentioned the *lodge chief*. Your young arrowmen need to give him a call and let him know that they would like to provide this service for your troop an any others as time allows. Frankly, this whole conversation should be between the youth, and you, your "expert scouter", and the advisor need to take a step back, encourage communication on the youth level, and support whatever decision the Chief and his officers approve. Chances are, your boys will like the results, and they don't, they can suck it up for now and run for office nex

In terms of what boys want, I can offer a sample of 1. About half the boys in our troop who could join our crew don't. That could be for a lot of reasons, but one is certainly that they have enough women in their lives already.

I guess it would fall under: Conduct the Scouting program according to its • own policies and guidelines as well as those of the Boy Scouts of America. -- Annual Charter Agreement.

Way to act like a pro e92. The note refers to monkey bridges. The crux of which cannot exceed 5'. That means the stays are gonna be at least 10'. So, you would need to contrive an 11' rig to support the stays. That's about the proportion of the plans shown. The boys cannot work at that height. (Unless they are properly supervised and harnessed.) But they can certainly build a tower that tall. (Hint, the Egyptians didn't build their obelisks upright.) And once erect and proven stable, they are certainly allowed to climb it!

Gotta say, KM, you seem right on target with a group of 13-and-under boys. Note-taking is a very strange and foriegn act to them. Can I suggest something a little unconventional? For things like attendance, etc ... Teach them a knot language. Instead of taking attendance via check boxes, have a colored chord for each boy into which the scribe ties for each meeting. You would keep this in a scribe's box, which would also have a calendar, etc ... You need to put your thinking cap on to figure out how to make this symbolic. You might have different colored beads or totems for chores and

BD, my "ghetto" kids are like yours. I feel very fortunate that the wealthier kids in our unit respect being tight on funds and maybe that's why they don't push big program ideas that only half of us could afford. I think they take a little pride in having adventures that don't break the bank. Week before last, SM had them put together a collage from a stack of this years' photos. At the center: the sign at a Dolly Sods trail-head with warnings and pictures of unexploded ordnance. That trip set everyone back maybe $25. (Boys who didn't have their own gear, were able to borrow -- thanks t

I know a number of parents (myself included, at times) wish the boys would want to take a big trip to the Indianapilis 500 like they did in the past. (I missed it the time our troop went.) Boys aren't interested. They want to take a trip on an extended weekend to go back and hike the West Rim trail of the PA Grand Canyon at a fraction of the cost of Indi. (We only did half of it a few years ago.)

IMHO (and keep in mind I've only been and advisor for 7 years and have watched about 8 crews very closely, others have more experience). The challenge of Venturing: vision. How do you boys see yourselves? As a venture patrol of the troop? A leadership team? A youth group? An outdoor club? A chance to "catch up" for your friends who missed out out scouting? Sometimes when you go down at list you realize: "hey, we could just do all those activities as older guys in the troop". Sounds like that's where you're at now. Sometimes you say "what about pistols? Go karts? Our girlfriends an

I've done this on several occasions with my crew. To make sure everyone's aware, give a call to the SM of the troop you're sharing a campsite with to let them know your situation. He might even loan you an ASM buddy for Saturday morning!

Reb, I hear you. I just know -- from camping with Jr. High co-eds outside of scouting -- that things don't always run smoothly. Sex differences get in the way, and most scouters would rather not deal with them. High school youth have begun to accept those differences and work with them on their own. (Some youth make terrible decisions in this process, that's why adult association is a critical method of Venturing, but generally awesome ideas result from the different perspectives.) Thus the Explorer and Venturing programs and BSA's broad mission statement. But harsh reality: makin

Reb, I hear you. I just know -- from camping with Jr. High co-eds outside of scouting -- that things don't always run smoothly. Sex differences get in the way, and most scouters would rather not deal with them. High school youth have begun to accept those differences and work with them on their own. (Some youth make terrible decisions in this process, that's why adult association is a critical method of Venturing, but generally awesome ideas result from the different perspectives.) Thus the Explorer and Venturing programs and BSA's broad mission statement. But harsh reality: makin

Wow. It's like my crew has an evil twin! There's a lot here, but I want to suggest two things. 1. Do your job maybe a little bit more, but lean on other folks to do theirs. If the books are balanced because you've fulfilled your treasurer role, take responsibility for your pet activity and be the chairperson for that. Your one guy, get him trained and make sure your supporting whatever activity he wants to do. An attractive crew is one where a handful of guys actually take care of one another. 2. God bless your SM for wearing a second big hat, but a different adult leader in that positi

Wow. It's like my crew has an evil twin! There's a lot here, but I want to suggest two things. 1. Do your job maybe a little bit more, but lean on other folks to do theirs. If the books are balanced because you've fulfilled your treasurer role, take responsibility for your pet activity and be the chairperson for that. Your one guy, get him trained and make sure your supporting whatever activity he wants to do. An attractive crew is one where a handful of guys actually take care of one another. 2. God bless your SM for wearing a second big hat, but a different adult leader in that positi

Did one when I was a scout. Lot"s of fun. Way safer then leaving those sticks lying around for someone to beat someone with or that rope for someone to lose hold of while trying to climb with! Time depends on skill, if the boys are cutting down their own sticks, making their own rope, etc ... My suggestion: have the boys work on the ladder at a meeting. They'll get faster with the lashings as they go along. They will also get a feel for how tight things have to be, and the teamwork involved. Then they'll have an idea of if the tower would be a half day or full day project. Safety? H

In our boy's dens, everyone paid dues up front for the supplies we might need. Special costs, everyone pitched in ahead of time. If people didn't pay, we didn't do. No problem. The boys really didn't mind just going out and playing catch. The way my crew operates is that paying dues keeps you on the mailing list. Other stuff is on an individual basis.

Still using Picasa. It now is mashed up with Google+ photos, which has advantages and disadvantages. For example, you can share an album with overlapping groups (circles) pretty easy. On the other hand, integrating a sideshow into your website may work for some devices, not others. Also I don't post volumes of photos. I do like shutterfly's stuff.

This question came up as my newest youth was reading the BSA application. (I like this kid ... real VP Administration material.) She asked me what non-sectarian meant in the middle of the meeting. I used the "showing no preference in relgion" definition and went on to point out that we want you to bring your faith to scouting and we believe you'll grow in that faith as you see others express theirs. She didn't have any questions about the rest of application. Which brought something home to me. Most of us grew up hearing about the Irish and Lebanese civil wars. In college I met many

DeanRx, no excuse. I got plenty of the opposite sex in my crew, and band and drama still attracts youth away. It's one thing to make music together, it's another thing to spend nights in the wild ...

TJ, until you see it for yourself, you may never believe it. But when you are the adult trying to get a unit to "gel", sometimes it's nice to not have the sex differences in the equation. Other times, it's a lot of fun.

Hey JAR, Did you have any Jr. High girls in the mix? Just saying that if you did, you may have been able to answer your question. Although I'm a crew advisor and love all the co-ed stuff, I don't like the "prom drama" that can seep into some of our outings with other crews. Just this weekend I was dealing with a young lady who was trying to make it "all about her." I managed to do it courteously, without having to wake her advisor, and my crew was glad for it. I might have had to have been uncomfortably blunt if the group was a few years younger. So, I can certainly respect GS

If the doctor says there is a physical disability, get a waiver for the requirement. If not, I'd be satisfied if a scout makes an honest effort to improve. That means grabbing a pull-up bar every day for a month. Try asking the boy ... This pull-up thing, do you think you showed improvement? Would you like to really try hard on this one and we'll see next month? If this is the only thing keeping you from Tenderfoot, how about knocking off some second and first class requirements while you work on this one?

S, Congratulations. It's a confusing dilemma. I get the collar thing. Personally, I would have preferred something mor abstract .., like a little star to sew on your position patch. You could simply decide to reserve the pins for a dress jacket or a patch vest. But, when in Rome ... Since we don't wear our uniform much besides meetings I've gotten used to a pin on the collar. If I don't want to be bothered with a shirt with too much bling, I throw on my venturing uniform. (Which, by the way, has stirred up some issues of its own. I may post about it when I cool down a little.) A

Mc, I have no idea why a private group would be unauthorized. Somebody will alwayss complain about something. Has this parent complained about any cub scout signs in the lawn so yours and other COs? Many of this have the date of their meeting night. That said, I would try to be respectful about how most folks are doing things in your area. Check with your DE or go to roundtable. By the way, don't expect FB to be any more efficient than a well managed mailing list. If you really care about covering everybody, make sure you still send snail-mail for one or two big eventts.