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Turns out that a regard for moral standards helps address the youth protection issue. There've been a number of times -- with my crew more than my troop -- when I've pointed out that "I'm not going to rattle off a bunch of rules. I know your religion. I expect you to live up to it on activities." So, yeah, I guess I play the morality card a little more explicitly with Venturers.

First, bless your families who participate. This must be a lot of fun for your boys. For my crew, I use Google spreadsheets, which allows me to create an online form for sign-ups. The basic data goes directly into the spreadsheet. I use this to collect general stuff (last name, how many can drive, what your paying for, etc...). PM me and I'll send you an example form. Second (since you don't have internet/power/computer whatever on site), whatever you use, stop online collection the week before. Print everything up on 3-hole paper, and have it in a binder for the trip. From the

Muslims believe in the resurrection ("So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)!" The Koran quoting Jesus.) They don't believe it was subsequent to a shameful death on the cross. By their own admission, they are decidedly not Christian.

Assuming that the quarters are fairly close (i.e. shouting distance/thin walled), I think you've met Y.P. requirements with two adults. E.g., a lodge with four rooms: - one room is for the male youths - one room is for the female youths - one room is for the male adult - one room is for the female adult. If you've got two cabins some distance apart, then you need more adults. If you're on a 45' yacht anchored in the tropics, everyone is sleeping topside. (Unless a storm comes, then nobody's sleeping.) Extra adults just take up space. You just make sure the sex's are se

No "official" order. Some folks are generally used to things flowing in a certain way. I think the response was designed to be completed before the awards. Hopefully others can speak to that. As with most things, individual design often involves a little bit of compromise. I've observed that the good Masters of Ceremonies will barely stick to the script, so you want to make an effort not to pull them too far from their comfort zone.

dg98 - For our Crew with male/female members, this means 4 advisers on an overnight. 2 female and 2 male. If you interpret housing as literal "house", maybe! At most events we get by with 2 adults. The lady pitches by the girls' tent(s); the gentleman, by the boys' tent(s). Married chaperons can pitch somewhere between. Most cabins have a separate room for the adult, and that is usually enough to take care of the YP issue. We only worry about 2 male and 2 female adults if we are in a wilderness setting where rescue might require splitting the group. Or if the group size is

BD Really?????? Honestly?????? Are WE that out of touch?????? It is here so you better embrace it or be left behind. Your scouts knows all about it. Sounds like a line from That Hideous Strength. I don't feel any obligation to embrace any technology that gives one the delusion that they are actually communicating when, in fact, they are not. (That said, I just rattled off an E-mail asking my Crew for the fourth time for responses for this weekend's activity.)

I wonder if Cub Scouts makes us lazy at recruiting? Our pack is very well run, graduates about 6 - 12 Webelos every year. This year they all crossed over to a different troop! Some folks on our committee were really wrankled because they thought we were "entitled" to those boys. Meanwhile, us ASM's noticed the boys who are sticking with the program were the ones recruited *by their friends* -- not the ones from our feeder pack. We encouraged folks to stop navel gazing and start knocking on doors. A couple of dads are putting together a recruiting program targeting school and churc

A.M., looks like you guessed wrong. All of your issues are well within the purview of the registrar, and if he/she says "this is how the paperwork will be pushed," we should all fall in line. It helps us all do a better job. Generally it's when someone "reads into" the Eagle application some restriction that is not there, that a registrar should defer to another authority.

I personally discourage the use of elsectronic social media by younger scouts. I have not seen our crew's FB group improve communications at all, so I am not inclined to stretch the rules for younger scouts to make it work in our troop. Our time is better spent teaching youth to routinely check a troop website. The boys in my troop who do use FB created their accounts on their 13th birthday. My youngest son actually refused to set up an account the week before his 13th birthday. I inform parents of these norms, but try not to get into details. For some families, it is very importa

How can I explain this? If we were sitting at a campfire and I were to tell you that every word we said (less voice inflections or hand motions or any of that other things that let us now this is a "safe" conversation) would be recorded and maid available for review ... would you change what you would say? Probably at our age, the answer would be "no." We've been burned enough by saying or writing things in a way that got everyone we care about riled up that we've learned to be more constant in our choice of words. Younger adults ... not so much. Yet they treat their electronic de

Bought my leather hat in for $30 a few years ago. Made in China (which explains the price), but the best piece of headgear I've ever had. Suitable for backpacking. Wore it skiing once (before the helmet regs). Looks good on the street. (I get compliments from everyone -- working stiffs to village people.) Give's me something to tip as the ladies pass by. The cloth band on the inside is starting to fray, may cost more to get a new one sewn in than what I payed for the thing in the first place. Best wallets I get are from an Indian merchant. He sells them for about $5, and the last almo

Twocub, the issue is not you giving a word of encouragement to your scout, or me texting my venturer which bus gets him from his school to the night's meeting place. Parents are generally aware that we do a lot of that "on the fly", and are grateful for it. The issue is a young ASM or crew advisor "just being a friend" by having repeated "deep conversations" with a youth and letting it happen over social media completely unaware of how it can be blown out of context. That casual conversation that would get completely forgotten at the campfire winds up logged somewhere for "the rest of th

I think it's awesome how you did this. Incorporate your "rainbinator" somehow (different color for each day?), and your program will never be forgotten. Beyond this syllabus, I think you will need to prepare a "lead a horse to water" minute lecture for the SM orientation. Let them know what (if anything) they can expect to get from you at the end of the week. As far as first aid kits, the few of our kids who don't have them already always raid the troop supplies. We figure it's better that they have a few bandages handy than we account for every dime. I'm sure the trading post wo

What twocub said. More importantly, listen to your boys now that the race is over. What do they say? Do they want to try again next year? Are they trying to build a similar track for racing their cars at home? If so, then you probably want to volunteer to help work on that track and rules/regs for next year. That will also mean talking to other packs in your district to find out how they operate. For what it's worth, that software is a hassle. A necessary evil, but a pain nonetheless.

Thanks for the legwork Oak Tree! Next time I see a practicing homosexual kid, I'll show him the door along with those promiscuous heterosexuals. Bart, love it! But, I was thinking of some seriously rugged leprechauns in a a treasure laden canoe shooting some whitewater through a rainbow caused by the mist. Anyway, I think a revamped service patch (more color, not less) and a snazzier website will get them more traction than a name change.

Ea, I agree that our registrar deserves props. I did lock horns with her once over an advancement issue, but she did me the courtesy of bringing other folks in on the conversation and a call went to National and back in that same hour. Multiply my issues times the thousands of scouters in council, and I can't imagine a day when her agenda isn't derailed by one crisis or another coming through the door! That said, I can imagine a variety of scenarios where someone like OGE would like a voice of reason from outside council. But, I bet that "voice of reason" will first ask, "Have you

Because some stat methods I was researching last week brought up stuff by economists ... 1. Devise an algorithm for managing credit default swaps. a. Write complicated equations to make sure it looks like you know what you're doing. b. Analyze some "hard data" using those equations. c. Report your analysis in writing. Make sure that for each sentence describing likely risks, there are two describing potential yields. d. Tell your counselor the importance of disclaimers like "Past yields do not necessarily indicate future performance." Explain the proper small font size. I f

RSchiff, right on about that separation of work clothes. Son #1 started his first week at the mill. Got assigned jacket and overalls that he promptly tossed in with his last load of stuff from college. It all came out smelling like a coke oven! Reminded me of grandpa coming home at the end of his shift.

I guess it's just more motivation for a crew to design their own uniform.

Never counted. But, really, I think cub leaders endure so much more than the rest of us! Bless the lot o' yinz. And if knots keep you in the game, let's make you a few more.

NJ - don't need a source to say it isn't there. Read the youth application. There's no declaration of sexual preference principle. I'm around enough "rule spouters" to know if it existed. (The side of my head would feel the book being thrown at me.) There are other threads that discuss the "hows and whys" of this stance. EA - I don't think the council president mispoke at all. The guy's a lawyer. Misspeaking in front of reporters is bad for business. (Not to say that council reps never botch it royally from time to time.) The reporter never indicates that she directly confronted the gu

Let me rephrase my last line ... Consistent adult-to-youth (emphasis on the singular) communication via electronic media with can be construed as direct contact. But, is impossible to prevent EVERY such transaction. Transactions that are logged at least leave a trail, but that's no guarantee of accountability. It's necessarily at the leaders discretion as to how he/she should operate electronic media to assure youth protection.

I've had to deal with the electronic YP allegation scenario. Of course it was 18 vs. 13 y.o. But the issue wasn't so much the medium, but the content that would be tolerated between two boys or between two men, but is unacceptable between a "man" and a "boy". It got swept under the rug for a year which made things worse. These guidelines aren't extreme, but they aren't easy to follow either.

The quote says nothing inconsistent with BSA policies. There is no ambiguity. Membership is not denied to youth who openly claim to be gay. Never was. Period. The quote does not discuss athiesm. (Unless I missed the memo that "orange" is the new euphamism for it.) The reporter uses the term "everyone." Davidson does not. This is a case of the 4th estate trying to stir up trouble where there is none.