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Growing up, we had an ASM who called his boys "honeybunch". He was a coal mining, rugged, salt of the earth in a coal mining county. His boys were pretty scrappy. Nobody dissed anybody over it. As I mentioned in another thread, Middle Eastern custom requires terms of endearment in conversation. Omission would indicate a sense of superiority along the lines of master-slave relationship. So we grew up speaking to kinds of English: one with a lot of extra verbiage like "beloved", "beautiful", "darling", etc... around family and old country friends. Another short and to the point around An

There's something to be said for that kelly green. Or any shade of green in a shirt. DeLorenta gave the boys the short end of the stick there.

J. A lot can happen in two years. Usually the Cubmaster makes those contacts. He might simply give you a list of troops in the area. Troops might look up your pack and contact him. But here's what you can do ... 1. ask your CM for den chiefs. he should be able to touch base with the SM in your CO about identifying boys suitable for each den, with priority given to Webelos. There's nothing like. Boy Scout to help with all the Boy Scout material you'll be learning. 2. Appoint a male ADL and get him trained. That will allow you to delegate a campout with any exclusively male adult troops.

Yep, if you've got inept, spiritless fellows for FC scouts, your problems are bigger than elections!

Yep, that puts in perspective. That's what we're shooting for: almost by accident achievement!

DS, I've known dads who did exactly what you did well into their son's first year. Mark my word, at some point you'll have a parent who you will have to wean from their son. Hopefully you'll be more tactful given the experience you and your son had.

If the policy is immutable, I would still let your parents know if there is a dad who wants to visit with his boy, he may. Explain why you can't go on the outing with that particular troop. There's nothing awkward, folks need to learn that much of scouting is local and the people who have been putting a lot into a unit hold sway on how a number of things are done. If you personally enjoy hiking and camping, I suggest you and your husband camp with troops who would welcome your company. If you are just putting up with the rocks and bogs for your son's sake, this troop may still be an op

10+ mile day hikes or 3day/15+ mile backpacking trips are not (nor have they ever been, I think) routine for most troops. I'm not saying they shouldn't be if all your boys are well-conditioned and don't have weekend commitments. But, most of our work schedules only allow for so much time off, and the Mrs. wants part of that, and we always have newbies clamoring for a week of summer camp. So, shorter than MB-required hikes and backpacking trips are the norm. It's a unique group of boys who will say "Hey, let's pick a peak" and cover those longer distances. Hiking and Backpacking MB's a

Ya know, when my kids were arguing, I told them that ideally they should begin addressing each other "Oh beloved brother/sister, ..." if they really cared about the point they were trying to make. They never did to each other, but I think that it rubbed off outside of the home because folks would come up and tell me about how respectful they were relative to other kids their age. That stuff is learned. It's part of communications, not citizenship per se. And I wouldn't expect the average American 12 year old to be very good at it given the overwhelming education in the media. Disne

Also, DS, a 5 mile hike is part of First Class requirements (under the navigation category). A patrol could plan a 10 mile circuit just visiting each other's houses. For a boy who's been swimming and boating every day in the summer since age two, sure the MB could be knocked off in a morning. I say get those kids signed off and on their way to life saving and later BSA guard. Other boys may take years to finish the badge.

What the SM would have said: "Here I am am a volunteer for the finest young men in our town, and I have to come up to nine people just to tell them the boy's opinion was his own and not that of the the BSA."

The closest definition of "secure" seems to be Webster's 3a : to get usually lasting possession or control of So, purchasing is not necessarily implied. If he "plants the seed, grows the wheat, harvests the grain, grinds the flour" like Little Red Hen, that would count too. So would raiding the cupboards (with mom's permission). So would coordinated raids of each patrol member's cupboard (with respective mom's permisison). (Remember most grocery stores are a good clip away from home these days.) In other words, sign if the boy shows up with all the ingredients and isn't scroun

An exceptional troop in my mind: 1. Camps a lot. 2. Boys take lead. 3. Parents let them lead. 4. Practices and applies first class skills regularly. 5. Boys are active until age 18. The % and the age distribution of Eagle attainment doesn't factor into the equation at all. Maybe I'm biased because a goodly portion of the boys who stick around our troop do make Eagle, but I'd love to see more of items #2 and #3 from our boys.

if you can't recognize there is a baseline difference between the personalities of men and women, then you are either not being honest with yourself, or you live in a different universe than I do. D, You want to pretend that anyone who opposes you is in denial, and use that as a claim to dismiss their assertion. But, in my post I clearly affirmed we all have experienced [that difference] in a general "baseline" sense. This means that I can recognize that difference. Therefore, I am being honest with myself, and we do live in the same universe! In this universe in which we both l

Our boys love hiking (the activity, not the badge)! Half of them would have it if they just met with a counselor and did the paperwork. A couple of them actually do. Seems to me the one sure-fire way you could make a boy hate hiking is to make him walk 10 laps around a track. I bet even our Philmont veterans would quit after lap 2! I don't know what "MB day school" your boys go to, but my son has been working on swimming MB for 3 years! He's a fine swimmer too! Just one req. well within his ability. But, nobody's going to coddle him and call a counselor for him or adjust his camp sche

Even in the OP's case, I see room for a mature SPL to handle discipline. It would be along the lines of: "The 1st years are intimidated by you guys because you seem dead set on making their lives miserable. What gives?" [Hollow explanation by perpetrators follows.] "Here's the deal. You are turning those cans of bug spray in to me. I will secure them until such a time as you are deemed trustworthy for their use. You are inviting the 1st years to this table now and apologizing for being jerks. We are going to let them know that they are our brothers and we want to be kind and courteo

D, I'm saying there is a baselilne general personality difference between a man and a woman That, my friend, is a pre-judgement. You are taking what we all have experienced in a general "baseline" sense and declaring it as justification for disqualifying a particular individual. There's no good-old-boys network. We ... promote the all-male environment. A rose by any other name ... Your insisting that you don't need a 5th wheel (of any sex) is an indication that you're content with the lock you all have on things. And I can't blame you. New ASMs can be divisive and getting them

D, Thinking about your stance a little bit more, it seems you have several issues that need disentangled: 1. Your prejudgment that sex differences adversely impacts a youth's upbringing in a scouting environment. For example you don't think you'd be as good a leader of young women as another woman. Well, I can speak to my experience as a crew advisor that the girls in our community have their choice of units with different leaders. A few of them feel strongly that "I'm the guy." I don't think they're mistaken. For other young women, my co-advisor is "the gal." I don't think they're mi

Who better to teach that then a good man? The best teacher. And that is very hard to determine without a trivial run. If y'all have pitched camp 300' from the boys, I sincerely doubt your gender will impede their growth. Our experience with moms in camp has been largely positive. But we haven't had a mom asking to be ASM either. We've never had a problem with too many ASMs. There's always room for one more.

Appeal. The most significant question in your case is why didn't you hold a position with your troop (or crew, if you were in one)?

OG, How dare you propose that "Reference" be part of your teaching method! Don't you know that our boys are being taught that skill acquisition begins with someone explaining it to them? If it's any consolation, at the venturing level, the line is "research the following references ...", or "call this expert ..." (who might actually live down the street from the kid). You'd be surprised how many youth set aside pursuit of an award for because I hold them to that step! Now, I'm the first one to say I don't like the cost of the MB pamphlets. But, if the boy or his folks haven't m

I think one of the challenges is to show parents that they have opportunity to offer something truly unique. It's not that sweeping floors is bad, but what youth really need from adults is their knowledge and experience. I had a boy corner me at the last meeting wanting to discuss Eagle projects at length. If I was busy doing what any boy could do, I would not have been available to him to serve as the sounding board he needed. Let those parents know they may be losing sight of where they may be really needed. Tell them that stepping back and observing helps a lot. One of my crew d

The natural progression is to grow where folks tell you you fit in, and then settle where you figure you can serve the best. I found one challenge (more in Boy Scouts than cubs) was setting aside my vision of things from the troop I grew up in and adopting the vision of the troop my son lands in. That's a few years down the road for you, so just enjoy your children now and pitch in on whatever tasks are at hand. I would suggest that you get to know the Boy Scouts and Venturers in your community. (Some of them make good babysitters when they aren't on the trails!). You'll meet a few

E - You mean someone had been picking up for their cubs indoors? Wonder if DS's parent had been doing that all these years. There is no reason, starting at age 6, that cubs can't be responsible for clean-up at their den and pack meetings. That includes sweeping and mopping, if necessary. You might need parents to follow-up, and make sure things are polished. but clean-up is part of the activity (as I say to the Mrs. when she gardens 'till she drops and I'm roaming around the next day finding tools left out in the rain)! Of course I caught a couple of boys in my crew feeding my

What dg98 said minus the troop van and adult leader training ... but we will reimburse SM or whoever pulls the trailer. We provide volunteer drivers instructions for getting reimbursement for fuel, but since most of us would be driving someplace on the weekend anyway, we don't bother. We also stock up on incidentals, but that usually comes from camping fees (which average $12).