qwazse

You phone company should have records of these incoming texts. (Or at least be able to archive them for you in the future.) Are you sure this isn't part of the scouts signature line? I had one youth who's messages to me end with "~ wierdo". Turns out he had chosen a default emoticon for which my phone did not have an image. So, instead of some goofy looking face, it spelled out the text! It is imperative that you confront the boy and his parents immediately. They need to understand that you welcome these meaningful "on record" conversations with boys, but sometimes a boy doesn't understand that texts are *not* private in that they don't disappear, sometimes a boy is trying to say something important but winds up being hurtful because he doesn't know exactly how to say it, sometimes a boy is in serious trouble and needs help. You, the boy, and the parents need to figure out which it is. You can make it clear that texts are fine, and you'll keep a record of them to help sort out problems in the future, but you also expect a certain level of decorum. Explain to the boy that you are responding to him the same way as if an adult friend would start behaving this way. But just like you'd demand an adult friend to straighten up immediately or get help in this situation, your demanding from him some respect and a full-out attempt to get at whats wrong promptly and peaceably. [if I'm a little sensitive to this, it's cause one of oldest son's former classmates committed suicide last week. There's no indication that anyone "missed" any signs, but we're all just a little on alert.]

If you can score a kayak paddle or too, you might find them useful for your gaurd boat who may want some extra maneuverability, our the newbie who needs a little help.

SW PA has a lot of camps within 2 hours drive. I think 7 different councils are within 90 miles of Pittsburgh.

First, congratulations for your hard work and success. I've never seen it done before, but I figure his/her next of kin will gladly recieve it on their behalf. Just attach the pin to a thank-you card. At your court of honor, read your card before giving to the family member. If they aren't present, read the card anyway and make a commitment to take it to them at the next opportunity.

We had one scout scour E-bay for stuff he could re-sale to the boys. If you ever put a trading post on two legs, he'd be it!

Thanks E, They are a stellar bunch of kids. But I'm not one of those grade inflation types. I'm also not inclined to go belly-aching because it's harder to corral older youth and their parents toward a common vision. Fact is, if they operate just a little bit more like a unit, they will that much more of a blessing to the youth in their community. JTE is just a map of where you are. You still have to decide if you want to go anywhere with it.

In the late 70's in my troop, the SM handed out skill awards and MB's (I think) at meetings, and badges of rank at CoH's. The SM would ask the SPL, "Are there any who have achieved __?", boys were called up in order of rank awarded, and the SPL lit the corresponding candle on the "advancement trail". There was no notion of 1st Class - First Year, so waiting a couple of months until the next CoH was no big deal. I might have known of one scout who was awarded TF and 2C on the same night. And it impressed us all to see it done. I think we also awarded TF to Life rank advancement at Eagle CoH's as well (as a lead-up to "the big show"). It was a big deal when we got that whole "advancement trail" lit up!

We have several camps to choose from, and troop and crew combined pick them as locations 2 or 3 times throughout the year.

Finally got my crew's key-4 youth in one room on the same night. Had him fill out the form. We didn't even meet bronze! Guess that means you all can ignore every word I type on this forum! But just in case you don't ... I asked them what they thought ... here are their general impressions The form stinks. We're still a good crew. We break the mold! Training is a big issue. The adults have not taken VLST and only two of the youth have ILSC. Youth protection stragglers are delaying timely submission of our charter. I made it clear that they are a good group of kids and they have adults who love them. I'm not about to leave and look for a gold crew to advise! Still, when they elect officers next week, they need to realize that they should devote a little more time than they have in the past to the life of the crew. I suggested they pick one weak category to work on for next year. Even if they don't wind up bringing up our total score, they will at least give the crew a different emphasis this year. And, for high-school age kids, variety is the spice of life.

Two BCSR camp staff sailed with us this summer. They said they love the place.

I think it is pretty much the natural order of things that when we complete our SMC with the boy, we walk him over to the AC so she can record it and line up a BoR. The older boys know this drill and will do it themselves. As far as training is concerned, we prefer that parents observe a few. Time training should be spent on more challenging material.

Wow! A whole topic just about me! (Except the ex-mil thing, and the $1000, and if it seems really important I have a pair of vintage BSA shorts and dark green hiking socks.) Be up front with the guy. Say that his one shortcoming in your eyes is that he won't throw on a pair of trousers from National Supply. But if he persists you'll try to dig deep and bear it. Your leadership is more likely to be undermined by some knot collector in complete field dress.

Where three or more committee are gathered, there we may have a BOR. They seem to take pride in being available to the boys, dividing and conquering if necessary.

1Hour - that's more PM than we have in our average-sized troop! One year our senior scouts where a bunch of scholar athletes. It made for a leadership vacuum in the fall. The younger scouts filled the vacuum with hardly a complaint. We did have to shy away from extremely rugged activities because the maturity just wasn't there for sufficient discipline. (On the flip side, the football team's defense was the smartest and fastest our conference had ever seen.)

Jblake makes a good point. If you and a couple of others are investing a lot of volunteer time towards council venturing (that means time away from your crew), then the SE had better giving you a serious allocation of staff time. You should have a big say on who that is, and request a change is it isn't working out. That staff had better be able to connect with the top youth in your council. The VOA officers will need a lot of respect and support.

E61, excellent application of acronyms. Doubt any'll stick, but I'm at my coffee break chuckling subtly. That said, our advancement chairs probably do deserve a regular dose of flowers and chocolate! Ours tries to make it to every troop meeting so boys can register their progress with her. We do advancement-as-you-go, and that spreads most of the traffic over the year (think of that fortnight spread over one evening a week for 14 weeks). The CoH is basically a handshake for patches that should already be sewed on the uniform. There is a little pile up the week or to before CoH, but that is usually trail to 1st Class kids who we nudged two weeks earlier to wrap up those last couple of requirements to make mamma proud. Unless the boy is special needs, he does the showing PL's or MBC's signatures. No parents involved. Event if the boy has special needs, usually an ASM (not the kid's parent) will do the mediating. IMHO your Mrs. is within her rights to demand the SM's and ASM's run a little more interference for her. Parents need to see her as a resource for their boys, not a back-door to go around whatever they don't like about how the troop operates.

What would happen? A few troops would do it on their own as they always have. The rest would pull together, start a capital fund for a sweet piece of property, recruit full-time staff to develop/manage it, encourage boys to become counselors for a pittance, and adults to make annual donations to offset the cost to individual campers. They might even come up with a fancy name for themselves like "District X, Friends of Scouting!"

mn: Outdoorsmanship = Citizenship At least in my mind it does. Learning to respect the land you walk on puts you a good ways down the road in learning to respect the people who depend on it.

Lowering an "energy footprint" is conservation minded, but comes off a little too abstract for LNT. LNT is teaching your neighborhood kids that nobody else wants to find out what kind of candy they got at the corner store by seeing the wrapper on the side walk. Sure Johnny loves little Suzie, but carving her initials on that oak in the town park is not as cool as bringing her back 30 years from now to see a healthy unmarred tree still growing. At least, that's what the LNT mentality is all about.

E.F., my 14 y.o. is a PL and does not have a cell phone. Life for him is so much easier that way. He had one, but kept leaving it at home when we expected him to have it. I might think of reactivating it in a month or so, but HE PAYS FOR EVERY PHONE CALL AND TEXT. (I'll probably throw $20 every few months for emergencies and the hundreds of commands his poor mum will throw his way.) You have to understand that camporees hopefully attract the total diversity of troops in your district -- and the probability of one with a "no cell" policy is high. And remarks like "Where in the world are you coming from?" will come off as a little arrogant to a troop whose kids who come with mostly "have not" experiences. That said, your ideas sure sound like fun. They would be more suited to a venturer's event (where the age-range is more conducive to full-featured cell ownership). But, if every troop at your roundtable says they'll make sure each patrol has one active cell you should plan a little something.

We had one scout (a First Class First Year type, by the way) drop out because he wanted more time to play his video games. I kid you not. That's precisely what the boy said! On the flip side, one younger brother signed back on after being away for a year becaus he wanted to come backpacking with us. He came, enjoyed the hike and is sticking around. needless to say he's not the FCFY type. As far as numbers we're down to 18, which I think is as low as I've seen it.

Our council provides us a lot of support, but I think that's partly because we have a lot of volunteers who support venturing. Some things that we get ... Access to facilities for annual events for all the crews in council. Teleconferencing facilities. (We are still working the kinks out, but this month it made it possible for the VOA to phone in from different locations on a particularly bad night for kids to be on the road.) Space in the council newsletter. A web page for the VOA. Up-to-date membership stats. As far as not having a VOA, it's a shame we make it sound more weighty than it needs to be. The crews in council need to work together to promote themselves. If all you have are four crews in council, and each crew hosts one council-wide activity, that would make for a busy year. If the kids exchange numbers and make plans together, that's your VOA.

Sorry to hear of your loss so close to home. We've had to endure a few of our own, and not a one of them sets well. These boys grow into your life, and they take a piece of you with them when they pass on before you.

All the advice here is good. I would also suggest something like this to the irate parent: "It's clear that that this was more upsetting to your son than he let on. Make sure he knows that I'm always here to listen to his concerns -- just like our committee chair is available to listen to yours. So in addition to the things that I told you I will do differently the next time, do you or your family have a way that we can herd our boys in the right direction? If so, please consider lending a hand on our committee. We need your input!" Of course, you may owe your CC an apology if this parent has a more permanent chip on his shoulder and does follow your advice! But, we can only solve one problem at a time!

I can add to L-bob's laundry list. Shoot, some folks have typed some prejudicial stuff about venturers on these forums, and I have to suck in my breath and remember that most of you haven't had a sit-down with the youth in my crew. There are only a couple ways to deal with this sort of thing. 1. Let your actions speak louder than your words. That is, have fun camping and hiking. And if a cuss-of-a-magician's little old lady happens to need help across the street, lend her a hand. 2. If you are ever welcomed into a dialogue say "I really feel sorry for you, because it sounds like you're missing out on a lot of great stuff." Actually, I've only seen #2 done. Myself, I like debate too much to be that compassionate with words. Lately, I've worked on keeping my mouth shut and focusing on #1. It seems to help.