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pack: It doesn't matter that adults screwed up. Actually, it does. We are not teaching our boys unnecessary beaureucratic nonsense. We are teaching them to serve their community. I don't know this kid from Adam, but E92 says he's a stand-up kid who fulfilled the requirements until someone a month before deadline added a local stipulation. That stipulation should be overturned, and time should be put back on the clock for the boy to fulfill the requirement.

Our council operates like Scoutnut's, and it's pretty smooth. E92, sounds like you're wading through a mess. When this happens folks will tag you as trying to upset the apple cart. As necessary as that may be, you need to make clear to everyone that you are standing by a fine young man - and the book. That works both ways, point out to scout mom that expert litigators will take attention away from her boy's hard work. Really, the best way to do this is have council staff call National while you and your district advancement chair are in the same room. Everybody will hear how

One more idea to the brainstorm pile: Have the PLC do a skit on the process of earning a merit badge. You'd need at least three actors, one for SM, one for MBC, and one for Scout. The SM is stage right, the MBC is stage left. The scout's home/school/hangout is center stage. Open with the scout at home a little bored, so he decides to work on advancement. He finds his handbook and reads off the list of merit badges until he finds one that interests him. The scout goes back and forth between home, SM, and MBC. SM fills out a blue card and suggests an MBC. MBC demonstrates how he woul

We don't know how much they are "lying". Seems like the cards are all on the table. There's no telling how much the young lady is aware of it. But it sure does sound like "hiding in plain site." Considering how few cubs actually cross-over, there's even-odds that this will be an issue for her in two years. But, if it is, here's hoping the GS troops in her area will be a good fit for those 4 years before she's a venturer. (BD's experience parallels mine. There was simply no scouting for my daughter until she finished 8th grade!)

Al, I think your program is good. Leaning on the boys to "hand down" skills needed for particular badges adds to the life of your troop. But, it's a good idea for you and the boys to figure out what MB's they'd like to learn about, but nobody in the group has any skills. Part of your program could be inviting an expert to come and discuss his/her hobby or occupation. That should increase the comfort of the boys in contacting the MBC. What if you're troop doesn't know someone for a badge the boys are interested in? That's what district round-tables are for! In total, merit badge e

-fish's definition is closest to my working definition. Except we've got these beautiful hills, so you don't necessarily have to be driving, you can stop on a spot, and if it's on a grade, you will be moving! Anyway, I redeemed the day by taking my dog for a hike through the snow with a scout parent and sharing my espresso with his family. I said to his son, "There's nothing sadder than seeing your backpack in your living room!"

"Beautiful snow here, treacherous ice and freezing rain there." -- so my campingless streak is extended once again. The SM and I spun our gears over this one up until just now. We decided to postpone pulling out last night. Our departure time was set just at the beginning of the advisory yesterday, and folks at camp said that the freezing rain did not start until well after we would have made it to our cabin. We could have gotten there and been stuck until tomorrow which would have suited us just fine. Now, it's a sheet of black ice for miles around camp and nothings moving. The adult

So wether it be God, Buddha, Odin, Allah, Durga, or Zues.... I guess that's my hang-up. English speakers chose the term "God" to refer to the highest authority of any and all religion. Then Christians successfully pounded it into peoples' heads that this refers to a personal being with a Bible full of very specific traits. So what seems to me to be a perfectly serviceable word is getting tossed by the wayside. (Using SP's term, it's no longer the "mush" it used to be!) So, I go about telling my youth that part of their religious duty is to nurture their understanding of "God" by p

I think that may become a personal policy from now on dealing with Eagles Candidates and Scouts asking for money.....I need to see a hard copy of their project budget BD, that's what I teach my 3rd-5th grade Sunday School Students about any church they decide to join. Forget statements of faith. To know if they believe in what you believe, ask to see their budget.

Also, I agree with K that you don't have to rule out the 16 y/o's as PLs. But if you have a 12 y.o. who has the right stuff, don't be afraid to put him at the front of the line-up. I'd say you only have to really split 'em when you have more than 14 who attend meetings regularly.

Our troop is in Choaman's situation, although not dwindling down to 7 anytime soon. But our crossovers aren't hanging in there. (One First-Class-First-Year kid just left us for video games!) See if a couple of the the boys in your troop can get permission to visit the middle school classroom to recruit boys. Set up a campsite on the lawn, demonstrate a fun skill you all like to do. Show pictures, etc ... Pass out flyers, take down names. IMHO, that's your best shot at getting a bunch at a time. As far as organizing patrols. Leave that up to the boys. If your boys seem to be al

rhol - sounds like you're a fast learner. On behalf of the boys you serve, thanks for all that effort in training. Now you have to clock time. That includes helping Mr. Jim be the best SM he can be both at home and Jambo. It's time to get back on the bandwagon and encourage him to keep talking about "his" opportunity. Every staff adult and youth I've talked to has had no regrets about going in that position. So pursue that. Especially if your son is counting on you to be in the vicinity. And brace yourself. It's not any easier as crew advisor. On many adventures I've had t

This from a friend-of-a-friend ... I just brought my son to his first Wolf den neighborhood meeting in Cub Scouts. I noticed how "God" is in the Boy Scouts Promise that is recited before every meeting and asked if my son could be a member as a Buddhist. I guess scouting is my new arena for Kosen-rufu! I've stated my personal approach before. (That "God" in its linguistic roots was never specific to any deity, let alone a Judeo-Christian one.) But, clearly when we have a parent who wants to avoid any confusion (either in his son's mind or the minds of his fellow scouts) that doesn't

That text comes from the "An adjective describing Venturing:" What do you think the default should be instead of favorable adjective?

Finally started to put together some parts of my Woodbadge ticket. One was a youth-led recruiting effort that involved enabling youth to make a script for a classroom presentation. I put together a Google gadget that does that: http://sites.google.com/site/venturingcrew321/recruiting Let me know if you use it either by posting here or filling out the survey (link at the bottom of the above page).

A natural leader either pulls teams together. Sometimes you need to correct "where" they're pulling them, but mostly you need to set them up so that boys know there's something worth imitating there. And that's probably the best thing you can do for the kids who have to learn to be leaders. Keep them in the company of others who are a few paces down the trail. Then when you have a moment to reflect with those kids, you can toss out the managment theory question such as "What do you think makes __ such a good SPL/PL/QM? Do you think you could be like that?" Whatever you do, please

Ad hoc Patrols are a good thing. I'm with K on this one. If a self-selecting group of boys wants to go on an adventure, they don't have to be reorganized into their own patrol to accomplish that. Nor do they have to drag the unwilling in their respective patrols along. They do have to communicate with their respective patrols so that everyone knows whose showing up for dinner and who might be out on a conditioning hike/paddle/whatever until nightfall. I too, don't use the word "elite", because most of the "long walkers" are the farthest thing imaginable from "high brow". They don'

IMK: not bashing. Just pointing out to RP that his adults are employing a method that is foreign to Boy Scouts. If you're forming your troops into small groups and the girls are scheduling camputs every month, purchasing their own grub, packing vehicles on their own, and doing their own cooking and cleaning, then you're one peculiar GS leader. If more moms had that sort of vision for their girls, recruiting for my crew would be so much harder because the only unique thing we have to offer is a rag-tag bunch of boys!

Kudos to the CO for keeping their families so engaged! I've said it elsewhere, but NSP's should only last 5 months max. By the time summer rolls around, the PLs should select members from the NSP's to offset their losses from the previous year. This makes that "dwindle and merge" process a scheduled event. How activities are coordinated should be up to the PLC and adult leaders. But certain activities (backpacking along a single trail, for example) are ill-suited for a dozen patrols in the same weekend. Never experienced having to manage events with as many patrols as you have, bu

I few years back our council was loaded with "non-traditional" crews (mainly youth groups who signed on to take advantage of the unit insurance and little else). We purged the roles. If that drop in numbers kept our SE from leaving, hooray! He's a good egg.

The Girl Scout Troop method! Works wonderfully, except the boys don't LEARN anything! Aside from all of the leadership and planning stuff, they don't learn how to cook neatly. Why don't you have the adults clean up for the boys for a change? I know why! Because no adult wants to deal with the mess that a couple of boys will make in your campbox! Tell the SPL to make adjustments. Either put the boys in ad-hoc patrols or keep them separate. The general advantages and disadvantages of each have been discussed in other threads. But here are a couple of scenarios related to chow:

MT: We're still trying to figure out the implications of this Venturing District. But it maps with "facts on the ground." Venturers aren't as geographically locked as Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. They make tight associations with youth on the opposite ends of council (and area, region, nation, and world) and seek out activities in and provide service to districts other than their own. They have this proclivity to venture beyond district boundaries (go figure). We're just trying to tap that and make it work more smoothly for the unit leaders (who still are more than welcome to go to their lo

I think we can thank a bunch of folks who wanted to learn from repeated wrongdoing. (Indirectly I guess we can thank God for church fathers who centuries earlier insisted that the Roman permissiveness regarding sex with boys should not be part of anybody's culture.) YP puts us all on the same page, so without my SM having to ask awkwardly, my son and I will stick around until the last boy's parent comes and picks him up. It changes the culture. Is it enough to protect every boy from predation? No. But it certainly gives the Joe Pa's of the world a decisive course of action when p

Sounds like it is someone from your district with a specific agenda. You'll have to find them and ask where they got their idea from. In our council, all of the venturing crews are in their own district, which would make things even more complicated for our COR if he was to stay on top of everything that was going on.

That's it Scout and Pack, I'm turning y'all in to your respective COR's for unseemly internet innuendo!