qwazse

Have them present their hike plan in writing, give them the tour plan to fill out. (One of the scouts might be willing to do this on his computer, so give them a paper copy and send them the link to the pdf in an E-mail.) This will help them make sure the adults are trained, transportation is accounted for, etc ... If the plan is solid, support it. Judge the plan based on what you've seen of the boys' abilities. (E.g., if it involves stopping at a water hole for a swim, and the 2nd class scouts have never swim tested, and neither of the adults is qualified to supervise aquatics, send

We don't always have that 300' and even if we did, first-years would roam. The important thing is that the adults use the same budget constraints as the boys.

When I get a chance I'll talk to the USMC recruiters I know. But, I'm pretty sure the word is out among the boys. (Not so sure about GS, I'll ask the one gold awardee I know if she was aware of the perk, and if so when she first learned of it.) I also wonder if more uncommon awards get researched by recruiters. Although frankly, the point of the venturing awards is to direct youth to the appropriate national certifications that stand on their own. The bling, once earned, is largely superfluous.

This is ABSOLUTELY NOT the work of a troll or April Fool's Day joke. I am a REAL mother of a new Venture scout with a REAL problem. ... I believe you're a real mom. You make new-mom mistakes like not calling him a "venturer" and calling his unit a "troop"! This weekend is the start of spring break for lots of youth, so it's the perfect time for a 4 day trip. (Kinda wish my crew had pulled something together.) But, even if you are a very clever troll, the issue isn't that far off the beaten path, and if it saves somebody else grief by us mulling it over here, then of trolls,

brings up the dilemma -- Scouts will definitely be eye-balling our food. And we will most definitely NOT be cooking for the entire troop. No dilemma, our boys have had to eyeball my shrimp scampi on fettuccine Alfredo. No samples that weekend because each patrol had plenty of opportunity to set their menu, and my son knew what the "old farts" were planning to cook. Plus, that group of dads were a cracker-jack patrol. The ones who didn't like to cook were more than happy to clean up. Our dishes were dry before the youth patrols' dinners were even served. Now, it is nice to sha

BD, I'll do you one better. With the boy I described above, Bio Dad shows up to visitor night with home-wrecker. (Did I tell you how much I hate visitor night?) She tries to make nice to us, and I think we all take things in stride. Let's face it, we've had step-parents do a lot of good for our boys. But as dinner progresses she's more withdrawn. Next day, CC tells us the lady was a co-worker from his old job. Following day, BioMom, comes to pick up homesick Jr. Escorting her back to camp I spilled the beans about BioDad bringing the GF, she was really livid until I said, "Don't

c21, You've been scammed! I have never had to pay for a youth in my crew who also wanted to be an ASM in a troop! We usually primary them with the troop and multiple them with the crew.

or if I go with him, which I really don't want to do as he is ready to be independent of mama and daddy tagging along. This is a common misconception among parents of adolescents. It's true we don't want a parent to be an imposing figure in the boy's age-appropriate interactions with his crew or troop. But we absolutely do need caring adults who will get to know us and the other youth in the unit and be physically present to help us think through situations like this. Having already contributed lots of time and money to an organization does not mean that I can go it alone, even th

VMom may be well within her rights to call council headquarters directly. "Units are responsible for enforcing Youth Protection policies. The head of the chartered organization or chartered organization representative and the local council must approve the registration of the units adult leader. Adult leaders of Scouting units are responsible for monitoring the behavior of youth members and interceding when necessary. Parents of youth members who misbehave should be informed and asked for assistance. Any violations of the BSAs Youth Protection policies must immediately be reported to the

This kind of planning could kill a unit. Yes, we've had to fall back on plans B, C, and D. Yes, we've had cost overruns. Sometimes, the "separate quarters" rule requires a little creativity. That's okay as long as communication is clear. But ... I've canceled outings over an inability to provide adequate coverage of adult leaders. I'd expect any other crew advisor to do the same. At the same time, the youth may be perfectly safe. But, talk to the Crew's committee chairman or the charter org. rep. If this is a common occurrence you don't want your boy in this crew. If t

Then he's on the right track, regardless. The things he records for advancement purposes, IMHO, should be those that he is most proud of. If the SM/ASM is having issues signing of on the boy's favorite project, make sure he's recorded a list of five or so "pinch hitters" that he can call up. I'm a huge fan of "double-dipping" by the way. You can find why in other threads. But that's not the case here.

Nice rant 5yr. Honestly, it will take years to clean up this mess for all the reasons you describe. There should be a simple online registration for MBCs who are active members of BSA units and whose YPT is up to date.(This message has been edited by Qwazse)

Actually, her father asked the question. "Would you like to be a venture scout someday?" (No, I didn't correct the guy. He was recruiting for me!) The awards that a Venturer could earn we're on a poster on the wall. I don't know if she made the connection at the time, but she never did ask if she could earn Eagle. There were plenty of GS patches to be earned at the time! When we were kids, I had no clue what the Exploring awards were. So yes, I'm sure our girlfriends felt they deserved access to Eagle. Some of them certainly did the same caliber of service and activity. I'm sure 10 year

Because scouts serve without seeking reward. If every good turn counted for some advancement, they wouldn't be good turns!

BP, Maybe the notion of AHG leaders going to WB and getting lectured on interfaith services bothers you. But as far as I can tell it's the only way to begin to address your concerns. What you really should be worried about is there's one more document out there that calls them "Venture Crews" instead of "Venturing Crews"

BP, Maybe the notion of AHG leaders going to WB and getting lectured on interfaith services bothers you. But as far as I can tell it's the only way to begin to address your concerns. What you really should be worried about is there's one more document out there that calls them "Venture Crews" instead of "Venturing Crews"

BP, Maybe the notion of AHG leaders going to WB and getting lectured on interfaith services bothers you. But as far as I can tell it's the only way to begin to address your concerns. What you really should be worried about is there's one more document out there that calls them "Venture Crews" instead of "Venturing Crews"

Chazz:If you are ever at a Pack meeting where WEBELOS are crossing over to troops and you see sisterly siblings there, ask them if they would be interested in doing the camping, hiking, swimming, etc. and maybe becoming Eagle Scouts like the boys. Just maybe you will hear the demand. Been there, done that four years ago. The girl's now in my crew working on her first bronze award. Her older brother is chipping away at those last few Eagle MB's. I'm just not seeing the demand from girls for Eagle as long as Sliver (which has a the bird on it and the same color ribbon) is available. The

Trustworthy - to me is that people can count on you to do the right thing. Not just what you say. The lady in your life may or may not get the verbal approval she's looking for (because even after all these years, it's hard to tell what the right answer is ), but she'd darn well better know that you're not going off giving approval to someone else who doesn't deserve it!

Interesting question. I grew up in a troop where patrols lasted indefinitely. Flags were handed down till they were worn and tattered. New youth were divided among them, except for one year when we were swamped with crossovers, and I was asked to start a patrol. Making the flag was serious business because it had to be one that would last! My sons' troop patrols last a year, roughly. I think it's a shortcoming. There's no investment in flags or yells. They can rename themselves, but they always seem to "forget" their patrol name. They fall into shape for summer camp, because that's o

From my experience ... Lacking someone to push the kid out the door ... You need one parent or older brother willing to drag the kid camping. And the other willing to cooperate. Which means you need to get in the face of each family member and emphasize that they are missing the opportunity of a lifetime to get to know their son and some potentially great friends of his. I've had one mom gung ho, and the dad fussed over the boy until he got homesick. (I hate parent night.) After going over issues with the mom, I said "I can't tell you all how to co-parent. But, you owe it to the la

My TG and I were cut pretty much from the same cloth. So we had an amicable review of goals. How some of mine were so dependent on others that they probably should have undergone a fourth revision, which ones I may carry forward, which surprisingly did not wash with my youth, the "real tickets" that I wound up working instead of the one's for WB, etc ... We pushed paperwork, then had some "good old boy" talk about trucks and high school in the sticks and practical jokes. I'm trying to think of an appropriate venue for beading. One guy in our patrol did it after his troop's court of

For $20 you're probably right. That'll do. For more durable storage of your best knives and sharpener, you may also want to consider an 18" length of PVC pipe with the cap glued on one end, a 1/4" hole on both caps, and a 24" rope through each end with a pigtail knot tied inside each cap. For the family, I do something similar to jblake. My good knife is in my camp box, with the blade covered by a folded piece of cardboard a little wider than the width of the knife. The camp box is useful if you have moms who want to be sure of a flat cooking surface, drying rack, comforts of home

Are you not just postponing the inevitable? If you don't have new scouts coming into a troop, where are you going to get new venturers to join a venture crew. As discussed above, not necessarily. But even if it were so, and no new youth were brought into the unit. If a half dozen boys stick together until they are 21, doing four unique adventures every year, I bet you'll have 6 youth grateful to you for "postponing the inevitable."

There was this judge in SW PA in the 19th century who asked to be buried on the WV border. That way, if the devil came for him from East or west, he could hop the state line and Old Slewfoot would have to get a warrant from the other jurisdiction. You're on the state line. Use it to your advantage. If you were asking to bunk with a 14 year old, we might have issues. As I explain to adults who make a fuss about YPT, the more leaders who understand how we operate and why, the easier it is to make good decisions. Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies!