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If your troop is doing all of the positive things above, then you need to ask yourself "what are Eagles here for?" We just told these boys they are "marked men". That they will be called upon to do unique things in our community and for our country. So, a boy gets his bird, then what is it time for? Junior firefighter, ROTC, EMT? Counselor for the church youth group? A mission needs to deliver medical supplies to a village accessible only by foot? The conservation researcher needs volunteers to help with a year round survey of game lands? The high school sports team is looki

Note that boy scheduling can be rough. Miscommunicated dates unrealized schedules, unavailable adults are par for the course. The grass isn't greener. Two many years of frustrated schedules, and parents do ask for adults to take charge. Then they realize the boys aren't having enough input and responsibility, and they cycle back.

Wearing a BSA uniform usually means you are attending a BSA activity. If the BSA activity meets the restrictions above than there can be no alcohol present. We're not talking about "usual" here. We're talking about needing to make a call (or replenish a canteen) and the SM needing to show some accountability by avoiding one-on-one contact. Obviously you need to respect any state laws, or bar rules!

Venturing committees at different councils constantly think of different ways to promote their program. Not a fan of the time-share sales pitch approach. We Anyway the distinctive activities are go-carts and pistols, but that's not what really sells the program to boys. It's the "who" as much as the "what". The chance to hit a tougher hike at Philmont one last time was a big draw for some boys aging out of the troop. Fellowship with girl friends was a big draw for some. The ability to create an activity to attract boys who aren't into troop life was a big deal. It's interestin

Welcome to the forums. It's a fun place for thinking things through. Now for an opinion from the beer distributor's son: There is absolutely nothing wrong with a scout walking up to a bar and getting a soft drink. In fact training a boy that he can go to a social venue and not necessarily order alcohol is a good thing. (E.g., Seabase Bahamas, the boys are expected to refill their water bottles from the bartenders at the local resorts.) You should expect adult leaders to not drink alcohol when in their official capacity with the boys. Uniforms are completely irrelevant. You certai

I'm on the pro- side of this one. At least for venturers ... My venturers stink at memorization. The always need "cheat sheets" when it comes time to say the oath in public. We work closely with our sister troop. It would be nice to have more than just the outdoor code in common. In another Crew with a close relationship to their troop, they go about memorizing the scout oath and law anyway. Don't get me wrong, I *like* the venturing oath and code.(Having been a late teen once upon a time, I get the developmentally appropriate word choice.) But, my youth could care less

in the history of man there has only been one person who lived without sin and he has been dead for almost 2000 years. Correction, dead for 0.01 years by all first century accounts. The rest of the time I suspect he's been helping the citizens of Sodom make their case on Judgment Day.

Considering my tent is no more than 2.5 feet high ...

I could see the UoS course now: "Gaydar Operations." Horizon, I'm sorry my word choice got up your craw. There are reasons for it, which I won't belabor here. Suffice it to say that there's trouble on both sides of the issue. Frankly, there will never be an operations manual on how to screen your parents for leadership roles. There's the application, reference checks, and that's it. I think we owe it to our fellow leaders to let them know what they may be up against as we learn of any issues that may disqualify them. We need to decide how we would act, and be honest and up front a

Yep, this group needs a little more guidance. I personally don't care about if an adult's on the roster, I would probably use their guest status as a carrot. Some thing like: "PLs, after the meal, I'm asking Mr. DeanRx to walk around your sights and inspect for cleanliness. At campfire/flags we'll gather and review any problems he saw. Tidest partrol gets a cup of candy coated almonds from my personal stash." I definitely ask adults if there is anything they'd like to help the boys learn and announce to the boys a time and location. (Usally someplace within earshot so I can still enjo

I can see a lot of kids (i.e. mine) scrambling to get homework done Sunday PM. Otherwise, great plan.

A little advice from the "seen it more times than I'd care to and am still talking to boys years later over it" section. Don't count chickens. Touch base regularly with the senior boys. Ask, "What did you do before? What should we keep doing? What should we ditch?" Respect those parents in the best way you can. Find high ground. Walk it. Like I mentioned in the other thread. If they boys do the talking, it will save you a lot of wasted words. Your son especially is studying your reactions. He might not understand why you put up with people who don't want you aroun

I if she would be interested in the trail to a Venturing silver award, I'm sure there would be an advisor who would welcome her to the "dark side." In fact, I might have the number of one in the Pittsburgh area ....

... scout wanting to ... signed off on by our SM ... That's all your committee needs to know. Don't tell the SM to steer clear of anything! This is why I never ask someone for a rule. They'll make one up for you. And for the love of all that is right and good about troop committees, don't you be one of those rule-fabricators! Your ship needs no barnacles on its hull!

... scout wanting to ... signed off on by our SM ... That's all your committee needs to know. Don't tell the SM to steer clear of anything! This is why I never ask someone for a rule. They'll make one up for you. And for the love of all that is right and good about troop committees, don't you be one of those rule-fabricators! Your ship needs no barnacles on its hull!

Have you met with your PLs? Have they told you what they would like to do? Do they understand the cost of the program they are asking for? You may want to consider having your SPL join you at committee meetings. Parents need to hear from their boys. It needs to be about the boys. What does your charter org rep say?

Yep, a lot of is don't get Texas. Yet, getting on good terms with some local ranchers and finding a way or hike a few miles in open country might be a fine change of pace. One thing that I saw a troop from Michigan use backpacking was lightweight patrol flies. I think four guys would comfortably sleep under them them. Two per patrol, around a campfire, and you have a rain break, but still that open feel so nobody's walled off from anyone else, That set up could be a cost-effective complement to the "bunk house" which you would use in a more public setting.

Most towns and parks where we live have capital for projects (grants, unfunded mandates that cover material but not labor). Same applies to churches. They are just waiting for that one person to rally community volunteers. The only question: is your boy that person? Our life scouts spend months trying to figure out what project they would like to do. Sometimes we can tell that a boy is grasping for low hanging fruit (perhaps to keep mom from nagging?), but his heart's not in the project. When the boy has something in his sights that he really cares about, it's obvious. Mom and dad may

As a result, the 20 plus hours she had already put into the planning and signature process will now not help teens in need. This is the saddest part, and probably the thing that your daughter needs your (and probably her dad's and brothers') help on. Was the project worth doing? If so, then she shouldn't back away from it. You all need to help her make it go forward medal-be-damned. We have made service-project development so onerous that some kids have lose the vision of what they are trying to do. Of course if she only cared about the bling and not the teens, that's a diffe

So in a nutshell, Stop whining about it and do something if you object to it that much........ That's kind of harsh, BD, asking the pro-sodomy folks to not be so, well, what's the word? Oh yes! "Gay" about it.

Thanks A.L., you give us an idea of the opposite extreme. Someone is not being coached. And, frankly, that where the SM needs to come in. Some SPLs need more phone calls than others. Some PLCs need to meet more frequently than others. Now your boys have a say in what's happening. Have they talked to the SM?

Mary and Nikki should have the same right to marry as Mr. CC and I do. Who said anything about marriage? In fact howarthe made the usual specious case in favor of fornication. And it's thinking along those lines that lets our COs keep a lot of their unmarried non-celibate leaders. In fact the language on the application was phrased the way it was for that reason. We are talking about opening the organization to every manner of sodomite except pedophilies (for now). Well, maybe CO's will want the person to be a little less promiscuous than the average sports coach, but that will be

The social morals of our society have changed since 1910. And one fine day, we will stop persecuting boys who bring pornography to camp. I won't be forced to drag an adult female along any time a girl in my crew wants to overnight. And the whole sex segregation thing! Please give us one less tent to haul ... The age segregation! My 21 y.o. co-advisor deserves to have the pick of any youth in my crew. Let's stop the hatin' and tell parents they need to teach their kids how to really live in the 21st century.

BD - nothing worse than a crew member (adult or youth) without her head in the game! The crew president and advisor should be grabbing that lady and doing a few forced marches every evening. If you know this lady and the situation is as bad as you make it out to be, now would be a good time to be as frank with her as you are with us. Hopefully the PSR staff will use good judgement with this one. Suzi, ignore BD. Families can make the core great HA teams! But you all have to get in shape and show a high level of teamwork. Working on fitness together is a great start. Doing hikes as a

CDinNJ, I don't want to minimize the grave state of our oversexed culture. But ... The most recent research indicates that sexting is pretty rare. That means vids are not likely to be home grown casually. That also means if they are from someone the boy knows, you've just stumbled across a big problem - abberrant behavior, and will need all the help you can to deal with it. We're not really talking about the boy being in trouble for trafficking. We're talking about a group of kids engaging in high risk behaviors that could result in injury or even death. If you are talking about