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Your one recourse is the boys who have stuck around. You could bring this up at a campfire where your older scouts are present and ask, "Why are you still camping with us when at any time you could have gone elswhere?" (No need to mention the other troop by name.) Their answers will stick with the younger boys better than anything you could say/do. That way, when boys from other troops ask them to transfer, the'll have a reason (besides the $1 fee) to stick with your program. Obviously, if the older boys point out something/someone you have not recognised as a reason for staying, be su

I certainly have had to bite my lip a lot when the boys (and young men and women venturers) were being chaotic yet not creating a safety issue or disrespecting anyone. But, I would reccommend two strategies besides "sit down and shut up." First, go on at least one overnight a year with your troop. If at all possible, bunk with a dad you may know well. (Or, if your wife goes on these outings, I'm sure she'd also appreciate your company.) Spending some time around a campfire with other adults can smooth over a lot of issues. Second, talk to the troop committee chair about what adult lead

Climberslacker, you sound like an SPL I can relate to! I remember being the only guy in high school wearing a uniform on scout day (decades ago!). I've since lightened up on this method after I realized how much it costs to keep two boys in class A's. Even after accounting for Thrift stores and a troop hand-me-down program, 1 full uniform = 1 wilderness backpacking weekend. So keep up the postitive reinforcement, and don't forget to thank parents for making the sacrifice to keep their kids looking clean and sharp. There's one other thing that I'd suggest. Make sure you're not overlooking

I love those mean troops. It may not help much, but the mom needs to know that her child also grows by "losing" from time to time. OA elections tend to be a sore spot. Given the age distribution of boys who go to camp, if you don't win the younger block, it's over. It causes a lot of soul searching. I remember one boy who talked to me after losing one. He had a laundry list of faults that I could have pointed out, but I had the wits (for once) to just ask "how do you think you can act differently to earn the respect of younger scouts next year?" On his own he listed exactly what I

Be it on the soccer field or in the back woods we're going to teach citizenship. Here are some of my suggestions to make it successful: 1. Have the boys go over their rights and responsibilities with a lawyer. If you don't have a leader or parent in that profession, invite one to come camping with the troop, and while he's fishing he can give the instruction (a couple of boys at a time so as to not disturb the fish). 2. Soccer units: same thing only have the guest present between games or drills. 3. Get the boys in the habit of packing a small notebook and pen/pencils on every outing.

I guess if National's taking so long to complete their crew uniform, I won't grouse over my crew taking three years to design theirs. (Their only specification was "not any of those shirts in the BSA catalogue".) As far as the boy scouts are concerned: I can't imagine a bunch of people saying "Gee, now that those shoulder-things and numbers are green instead of red, I'll let my boy join a troop!" I have heard folks say "If I have to shell out another dime to by different colored cloth, my boy's staying home." We make it very clear that as long as it was an official uniform at o

I remember as a youth watching a commercial where a guy was ducked into an alley at night to avoid some approaching shadows. He was relieved when he saw it was just a couple of boy scouts. Love to see that again! If the opposition at Goshen holds sway, we might have to convert a parking lot into a Scouting theme park instead of holding Jamboree, so hold on to that thought. Anyway, I think getting adults to put good troops in the spotlight is important. Our troop tries to get the local paper to every eagle project site and court of honor. At some of the larger projects in public par

I agree with xPanel that our forefathers brought us to this land knowing (to one degree or another) that they were setting aside certain standards of morality (e.g., "the King laws are God's", or maybe even earlier "the gods wouldn't want us to cross this land bridge"). So, we are subjected to a little moral relativism in the hope that we won't wind up fighting anyone else's holy war but our own. BUT that does not mean we do not set up a moral ideal for our children! Even the Christians listen to what the rabbi and immam says, and every now and then we try to learn something. Over our c

Let's not confuse "what is normal" with "what is moral". The preponderance of young males may have looked at pornography. (The current statistic is probably less than what's been stated in recent posts. Look up Master's and Johnson if you really care.) But, if I were to ask them if it is right to gawk at images of someone else's spouse in a compromising position, the majority would say "no". (Note: your girlfriend is not your spouse.) If I were to ask most charter organization reps, the overwhelming majority would aggree. So, the moral standard that we uphold (for adults and youth) is to

Regarding parents (or any of us, for that matter) who want to make this into grey area: Ours is not an organization that allows youth to skinny dip or otherwise expose themselves in mixed company. There are groups out there that offer such opportunities. (A friend, who happens to be a lesbian, said such was one of her more formative events.) Anyone interested in letting their kid to be "enlighted" while "eating tainted brownies," can find another youth movement. Most of our chartered organizations would expect us to tow the line. And that means removing pornographic images (be they of fr

I would like to know how this turned out for acco40. It's worked okay for us. Three of about six of our Eagles who applied through the troop this year had their POR with our crew. That fraction is going to drop now that youth who were never in the troop (i.e., the young women) are crew officers. We did have a bump when turning in the last application to council HQ. They were certain the boy had to have his POR through the unit he was filing his application. They said they never approved that sort of thing (even though they did twice already). I waited patiently while they called Na