qwazse

I have not noticed any such pattern. In fact recent history is bearing out that our "slow and steady boys" are sticking with scouting, while the FCFY boys have left us for video games and such! I guess troops are like a box of chocolates ...

I assume the biggest problem would be in first aid, swimming, knot tying, and actual outing time? every kid has a different hang up. With my youngest son, it was getting off his seat and talking with one of several people in our community about rights and responsibilities. And, getting the price of the items on his menu. He knew how to make pizza, but he didn't know the cost of a cup of flour! I prohibited his mom from looking it up for him. After three years, he figured it out. That's why 'fish, you're better off helping the boys make their own schedule of what they want to do

I think you're doing exactly what I'd do in the situation. I wouldn't want to pull a good leader off the roster if they are in a healthy relationship. But it is something that could get blown out of proportion by a parent who only heard half the story from a 14 year old. We would hope that such a parent would call us first before making a phone call to our SE.

I think you're doing exactly what I'd do in the situation. I wouldn't want to pull a good leader off the roster if they are in a healthy relationship. But it is something that could get blown out of proportion by a parent who only heard half the story from a 14 year old. We would hope that such a parent would call us first before making a phone call to our SE.

5mom, I was referring to point 10 on the last page of BSA's youth protection policy: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/ypt/pdf/25-026.pdf Which many crews like yours turn a blind eye to if the couple in question are only two or three years apart in age. As was discussed in the following thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=283974

At the crew level, it is possible to have this kind of variety in the program (partly because the youth are more mobile and able to drive to the programs that interest them). But I still find youth gravitating to the group that has the most friends from school. As long as they're with their friends, they'll make the program happen.

I also wanted to add that this also helps you get to know which of the older boys in the troop are natural instructors.

I am diametrically opposed to the FCFY philosophy. I am adamant that a scouting year provide at least two opportunities to pick up each 1st class skill. But don't think about micromanaging this. in an active troop it's very easy to naturally follow this rule of thumb. Every month you ask your patrol leaders to identify a requirement that their boys have yet to meet. Then ask them, "What can we do to help those boys learn those skills?" 'Fish, in your case, this may mean by next month you show the natural born leader in your patrol your advancement chart and ask, "what do you guys want t

We don't do much special with ours besides give them to the boys. In the crew, I take great pleasure in giving them to to the girls shaking their hands, and saying, " Welcome to the boy scouts of America."(This message has been edited by Qwazse)

Beav, from another thread, oldest son is now an adult, so you could have picked up a bigger stone to throw.

The Thermarest's have outlasted any air mattresses we've owned. We have a variety because for a while my wife was having a hard time finding something that would suit her. I'm a sleep-anywhere kind of guy, but I still wake up sore if a rock or root finds me. A pad does take the edge off of sore hips.

Yep, everyone wears multiple hats in our troop, so nobody pays attention to your position patch when you raise your hand to vote. We've even stopped calling them committee meetings and started calling them parent meetings. That's partly because we lost a few hard-working families to a new troop in town, and adults who were hanging back need to step up. It's also partly because we want folks to realize they don't need a bajillion hours of training to have a good idea for the boys. But, generally, the SM and ASM focus on how we are taking care of the boys, activities they want to do, wha

I think Troopmaster spits out something like that for T2FC, at least we get something of the sort from our advancement committee. During meetings, we have patrol leaders sign off on scouts. Then they take their books straight back to the advancement chair, who brings her labtop ready to enter progress. Anyway it's not too hard to do something on graph paper. Or, we crank out a spreadsheet where the columns have the requirement numbers and the each row is a youth. Search advancement tracking online and you'll come up with a variety of home grown solutions.

Since I'm certified, I offered to pretest one year, but some boys weren't present so I had to catch them later. I think we still wound taking a few boys to the lake at camp for testing. I concluded it wasn't worth my hours of free time just so the troop could have an hour more to puttz around at camp. My time was better spent 1. helping those boys who couldn't pass in previous years work out the kinks so they could swim well. 2. Prior to a canoe trip, Testing those few boys who didn't make it to camp in the past year, and 3. Checking my rescue gear to make sure we could forestall

Finally got a look at this. My biggest problem with it is that it seems that youth cannot access it. If you want your crew VPs or troop SPLs taking responsibility for their trips, the fillable .pdf's seem like the best way to go. TL, check with your council, but I suspect one plan under your unit would suffice, especiially if you all are starqting from the same meeting point. Once submitted, send a copy of the plan to the leaders of the other units so they know the unit point of contact, etc...

Good Friday is no time to be blowing an April Fool's kudu horn! I think the council in which you'll be teaching is the one that will service the applications. Call their SE and ask them how to do this. Wouldn't hurt to find out who taught the last round of courses at the facility you'll be using. You should find out if there were any issues that came up and see if they were resolved. My council has a reputation for losing paperwork from courses done at summer camp! Happened to me two years ago, and I'm still trying to straighten it out.

All of those clear nights when I didn't need a tent, but went through the trouble of putting one up! So many stars, so little time to count them ...

G, Better idea (simply because someone out there loves paper): At the end of the online YPT, bring up a dialogue that asks non-members, "Would you now like to complete a BSA membership application?" It would then collect the info online, then let the user print it. It will leave boxes for info that needs pen-and-ink ( signatures, soc for background check, etc ...) , and print the YPT cert in the corner! User then turns it in to CC faith the registration fee. Get that adult app down to one piece of paper!

Or, Pack, we are fashioned in the image of a benevolent Maker, and are just trying to figure out how to reflect that before we muck things up too much. Either way, enjoy the show. Let's face it, sometime we scouters forget how the way we run the program may not mesh with a parent's world view. Reading how different folks react to a situation I may likely find myself in helps me choose a course of action in the real world that will be respectful to all.

SN, If this advisor is anything like me, he probably didn't make clear who the at-home contact was. In this day of cell phones and unlimited calling plans, the at-home contact isn't leveraged as well as they should be. But as is the case here, such a person could save a lot of unnecessary cross-talk.

Okay, there's a big difference between throwing a stop to an amusement park in the plans and, say, choosing to tackle a class IV rapids on the spur of the moment. Different units demand different levels of flexibility. Obviously if cost overruns are steep or frequent, it will have a long term effect on membership.

... if you took geocaching in you IOLS course, someone at your course chose to change the syllabus, and teach what they wanted to teach. There is only good old fashioned orienteering taught in both IOLS & OWLS.. The course was called SM basic at the time, and the orienteering chapter was garden variety map and compass. Geocaching was mentioned in passing. As was a comment on the two correct forms of the taught line (... if the knot holds when the line is taught ...). It's the little things, donchya know?

I know a couple of scouters that toss their "donation knots" in a drawer. For one guy, his uniform is the respect we accord him. (That includes being the brunt of many of our jokes.) He's definitely a 5-row guy who would rather not have the cloth get in the way. So the knots are simply not there. (He had a UC in his face once for not wearing them. It was kinda like watching an ant trying to stomp on an elephant!) On the other hand, I know a bunch of "5-row" guys whose personality shines through and it's like the knots aren't even there. Kids love working with them. To each his o

It's not a true "prisoner's dilemma" if you can't make your case to your other prisoners. In WB terms, it's a chance for the bead throwers to confront the axe throwers and ask them to play nice so everyone can get a slice of the pie. Remind them of the first point of the scout law, etc ... Or, they can offer the threat: "For the next rounds, we will throw axe until you show a gesture of good faith and throw beads. The round after you throw beads, we will throw beads. If you throw axe, will throw axe next round. Get the picture? If you want to lead, we'll let you. But you will gain

Out, Your situation sounds more optimistic than my brother's. (SM went AWOL with blue cards. Bro had to move on to college then sail a destroyer 'round Vietnam.) If you unearth your paperwork, give it a go. At the very least, your son should be handed down the newspaper clipping of your project. If this exercise only results in you doing that, it would be worth the trouble.