qwazse

The question is not really what are you gonna do to fix it but whether this is indicative of what this troop interprets "boy-led" to be. Hard fact: boys do stupid stuff. (Like getting impatient and under-cooking meals.) They don't usually tap the resources at their disposal to avoid stupidity. ("Mr. SPL, are these eggs done enough?") Other hard fact: it doesn't kill them. Usually doesn't even make them sick. Piece of grace: usually someone notices (e.g. your friend's son) and won't let them live it down for the rest of their scouting career. This has a very strong preventati

I review go/no-go decisions with youth on Thursday night, and we work toward a consensus. (For the venturers I print up the NWS forecast and the hourly weather graph and put it on the table with no explanation and say, "Interpret." Then we work through the implications.) Unless: 1. My drivers don't feel up for it. (E.g. old tires + fresh snow + hills.) 2. The ranger report is truly threatening. 3. Conditions are completely the opposite of what we've prepared anyone for. Any of the above and I'm cancelling grudgingly the hour before! SM and I did so last month (impending ice sto

I'm usually in the position of insisting to a parent that lil' Johnny can't go because he did not qualify for x y or z! And this is one when parents are divided I take a long step back. If you're losing sleep, try not to wake the Missus! Bigger picture: his swimming ability is a problem. It must be overcome, because frankly, I don't see your troop backing off of aquatics anytime soon. When he comes back and you have a moment give him a "one of the things that everyone expects of a First Class scout is ..." lecture. If there's a seasoned instructor (scout or scouter) who

Thanks mom! Okay, given the gory details, MIB: Stipulate to the COR that you will take a leadership position when they replace the current CC. These folks have to understand that interviews are two-way mirrors! They often tell more about yourself than your candidate. For all intents and purposes, this means you won't be the SM or ASM anytime soon, but making your opinion clear may the wake-up call the troop needs to set it's compass true! The above sounds impolite, but you just felt the blindside. Just think if you agreed to that mish-mash position thinking "Oh well, I'll just

Scouts camping in a public area is nothing new. Saw some 1914(?) newsreel footage of some scouts clambering over a wall at a public venue (grass field and such). Lots of passers by watching. Pretty sure it wasn't backwoods. Yes, ball field camping should count. Yes, if that's all you do it's kind of pathetic, but if all you do is run off to the big woods and gnaw sassafras root with your venture patrol, that's kinda pathetic too. Variety is the spice of life. The point of getting into tent-camping IMHO, is to learn a little resourcefulness and not drain your wallet on lodging ev

I am FINE with my son going hungry because of say, not enough food (i.e. poor planning), but I am NOT fine with him getting food poisoning (i.e. poor supervision). Does that make sense? Sounds like we have a volunteer for cooking merit badge counselor! Okay, I'm from an ethnicity that eats raw meat. (We try to be on good terms with the farmer and butcher so we know what we're grinding into some awesome entree`s.) But, yes, boys and food are a big concern. All it takes is one kid not washing his hands after coming from the latrine! Generally older boys have learned this so th

We old folks like to play this "shades of grey" game. Don't let us do it. First of all, there's no such thing as "just a formality." Sorry nobody's told you that before, but now you know for future reference. Respectfully tell the committee, that for the sake of the boys you will either: 1. Wear the SM patch and do that job to the best of your ability. 2. Wear the ASM patch and help the SM do *his* job to the best of his ability. Finally, get the CC and COR on the line and tell them they are allowed to have qualms about you being an SM, in which case they need to offer the pos

pro) Venturing young ladies love Cubs! They might not care about potential suitors in uniform, but the little ones in those dress blues have an overwhelming "cute factor!" FWIW - Crew parents can find the youth leadership method of venturers a little disorienting. Especially when they see me setting up my hammock and taking naps while the youth are out running program. (They catch on when its 11:30 PM and I start making rounds doing "last call" and accounting for everyone's location!) But the same dad who is "just observing" one moment, will be taking some kids out kayaking at my

It's a balance. If your boys want to plan a trip to a wilderness recreation area that will involve a few days of hiking, then for the sake of conditioning your program is dictated by the hike-a-month club. Given that hiking is best managed in small numbers, it might not be a bad idea to fit in something that helps the boys connect with other youth in the area and gives everyone a change of pace. But, each of us probably receives dozens of suggestions/flyers/e-mails a month. Which ones should you offer the boys? My approach is to offer them any that will fit into the leaders' sched

I forgot about patch collections! Showed mine from way back around a picnic table, and that got the boys psyched! Power points sell to adults, patches to scouts. Not sure what sells to Venturers.

I'm sorry, but if someone is setting up a 3-D range for our boys in the Troop (or the co-eds in the Crew), it ain't gonna be no over-sized slug. It's gonna be the prey we find in the wild. And if even half the crowd is hunting age, we may set up a 2-D range with paper targets with images of animals. Never letting boys shoot effigies of people makes sense. There's a time and a place for that, but scouting isn't it. But animals ain't people. Cruelty is never teaching a youth what a kill shot is, how to make it at different angles, and what the chances are of success or failure. Huma

If the folks in your area don't have that financial wiggle room, don't bother promoting "big ticket" items! But if they do ... Our troop has a bunch of travelers. Always had. Some parents valued that sort of thing, so their boys were going to go somewhere for the summer. Why not Jambo or an H/A base? This is a wild generalization, but these families sacrificed having nicer cars, larger property, or some other amenity that's pretty standard for others in our school district. I don't know how that cycle started, but it is maintained by youth coming back and sharing their experie

Not gonna lie to ya Fish. CM to ASM is not always an easy transition. Our last three who crossed over opted for committe member or commissioner. (Either directly or after trying out ASM.) Putting up with all of the youth-led set-ups is a challenge. But each of those guys added to the life of their troop. So no regrets. And on the outside chance that one of them was ASM material over the long haul, it aw worth giving them a chance. Dive in. Be yourself. Adapt. I'm sure you'll do a fine job.

#5 - don't assign them to a job a youth should be doing like QM.... Agree in general. But if you have a QM with ADD or OCD, and an adult with some skills in logistics. The pairing might help transfer some skills the boy may need to manage his job and overcome other difficulties in life. Most boys don't know how to train a sales force, so if you have a new adult who is good at that maybe he can assist your popcorn kernel. Likewise, your boys may know how to treat for shock, but never having seen someone in it, can't play a victim very well. A medical professional may be able t

I bet the ASM's went around the table and based their decision on what they knew of the scout, the body of water, and their ability to manage the situation. If things looked good on paper, but they had doubts, they wouldn't have given the clear. For example, there's no way I'd ask an adult (or other youth, for that matter) to spend the day in a boat with a kid who has recently shown profound lack of discipline. Until he corrects his track record, that boy stays home no matter how high he jumped from, how far he swam, and how long he floated. So if you as a parent think scout may ha

I can see how this can play out: Cub-Parent #1 crosses over, gets up in the face of boys and adults about how disorderly meetings are. How things have to change or they will find another troop for jr. How, "boy led can't possibly mean what's happening here." SM or CC spend much of their time telling parent to chill. Cub-Parent #2: crosses over. Meek and teachable, ready to roll with the punches. But troop leader -- worn raw from the last experience -- decides to be preemptive, explain that boy-scouts is the next level up from cubs and the game changes, and maybe some time in the

Are you even involved in Venturing? Your posts say no. You know, BP, it's that sort of ad hominem rhetoric that leads folks to peg you as unnecessarily argumentative. The mission statement should really come from the Venturers themselves My OP in this thread, next to last line: direct quote from such a person. who have been directly involved with a successful crew. Define successful: prodigious numbers of youth in the same unit, or a half dozen youth who manage have unique adventure for a few consecutive years before going their separate ways? Venturing is that po

$180 for two uniforms is too much. Well, cut out a cup of coffee. You mean I could have had six more months of coffee if it weren't for this uniform? Dang!

I have been trying to propose this to my youth for football season: pick a location near the field. Camp there after the game. Even invite scouts from the opposing team if you know them. Heck, invite girlfiends to stop by the campfire until lights out. Rack up camping nights. Have fun.

Let the BOR be a teachable moment. You know that "Dogs love trucks!" commercial? Tell the boy "Scouts love paperwork!" But give him a reason based on the aims of scouting. Here's how I would do it ... If he completed the requirements, he should be able to tell you who signed off on each and when. Obviously he's not going to remember everyone, unless they were all by his PL. But, I'd ask him to try, and you all fill out a chart of the requirements while patiently listening to him. Then for the ones he forgot, you can ask "how do you think the person who signed off that requi

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It is religious division which creates suicide bombers (of the 9/11 like), murder and violence against those "different," racism, sexism, and more And here I thought it was rampant materialism and imperial secularism .... Pack, problem is that as hard as Buddhists tell me they don't believe in God (because they think it means something Jewish or Christian), they act like they believe in God in the original sense of the word.

compromise and cross-over the younger boys in February. That gives the AOL boys a chance to contribute to the life of the den. Meanwhile your troop (and any other for that matter) can invite them to activities. That way they can keep in touch with the two 5th graders who would have moved up. Best of both worlds! (This also helps get adults acclimated to your troop's culture before the date of transfer.) The boys who haven't earned AOL by Febrruary, have the option of delaying crossover until they've completed those last couple of requirements, or moving up straightaway. Sometimes, whe

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