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The advisor primarily helps the scout with project planning and implementation. My CoR (who also represented the beneficiary) was my de-facto Eagle advisor. My SM guided me to the application and (I think) a one-page list of points for writing the report. I had just learned typing lab reports (and go to the stationary store for correction tape and replacement ribbon), so that three page triple-spaced summary (including a single line drawing for cover art) made an impression. At that time, scouting wasn’t nearly as bureaucratic. Service hours weren’t being tallied by National as some just

On paper, I was son #2’s Eagle advisor. So, no, they aren’t required to work with someone appointed by the unit to serve scouts in hat unit.

Talk to the CoR, move to replace the SM unless he chooses to deliver the program as intended. The lack of discipline causes inherent risk, and -- as the boys are realizing -- erodes at the fun youth should be having. It's possible that the adults don't want to shape up, and the CoR is enabling. Take a load off you shoulders, turn in the CC patch and direct your attention to a troop whose members are trying to be scout-like. In this case, it sounds like that's the girls troop. I had to stop advising my crew because the majority of boys in it were not maintaining personal discipli

This 🙄! @BKS, encourage your troop to change its teaching model. Identify those scouts who have mastered some scout skills. Make them instructors. Then adults may sit back, enjoy some coffee, and demonstrate making gourmet meals for their fellow adults.

Technically, I was at work and saw them out my conference room window when they past their halfway mark. I got my afternoon coffee later. MB work -- unless explicitly stated -- is not a troop activity. It can be fun when it is, but that's not necessary. Meeting with counselors now does fall under YP. And, I wholeheartedly agree, that a good counselor will help the scout plan to the level of his/her ability. I think when there's that second person in the room, good advice is more easily retained.

Different scouts rank difficulty differently. Son #2 knocked out Swimming early on and did Hiking as an elective for Eagle. The 20-mile hike was with a buddy … no adult joints were ached in the process.

I suspect that sometime in the late 90s, your den leader made the same comment! You might want to give him/her a call.

Welcome, and thanks in advance for all you’ll do for our youth!

What do I know? The only thing I’d worry about her might be that her parent gets advice from strangers on the internet. A troop with 3-going-on-4 years of experience and 3 ILST trained … they are ready for this. It’s an advancement grey area, and the more this thread sits out there, the more we’ll find scouters who would treat this differently. It’s a big country. So, what really matters is how other scouts who she knows would like to be treated. Let her and her other trained youth leaders decide how they would like adults to handle service-hour tallies in honest-to-goodness grey

Regarding BSA’s track record of surveys with forgone conclusions, a recent conversation with a pro who is active in O/A leads me to believe that we may add this questionnaire to that list.

With all do respect, this is an over generalization. More importantly, it reverses the causality. With few exceptions, everyone wants to have fun, but — even with the offering of an insanely fun troop — not everyone wants to be a scout.

Who’s wearing the patch, who’s working on their advancement, and who’s applying for the award? It’s time to educate them about this possible leeway in their program. Seriously, this is not an adult’s problem. We need to spend a lot of time arranging safe travels, training for all manner of hazards, and putting coffee on in a timely fashion. These little quirks that arise because the advancement method has become verbose and complicated … they won’t bother us one way or the other. It’s the youth who know what each of them as done who will feel the emotional damage if they think either a) o

This might be one to float by your PLC. Ask if they think it’s fair that a Star scout earning Camping MB could use time served to fulfill 9b toward Life req 4, while scouts who earned camping while holding a different rank cannot. This could lead to a fruitful discussion about the morality of doing service hours for a reward. 😎

The “conservation project” for Camping 9c is implicitly done while camping and has no minimum time requirement. The requirement for life has three hour minimum but no context, and may be performed in non-consecutive intervals. I can’t imagine a Star scout so tightly managed that he/she would have to double dip, but I would be fine with it.

NO PLAQUES, PLEASE!!!

I’ve learned that every set of adults is different. When you have a contentious or unmotivated lot, it can be a hard slog. When everyone leans in a little, great things can happen … especially when the scouts start imitating those adults! I’m not beneath bribing adults who might lean in with chocolates or flowers. They are so precious.

I think this could be a part of the problem. Some lodges are in a rut with a lack of passion in mastering dance and regalia. It communicates carelessness and, dare I say, lack of reverence. And it’s a scary proposition. I don’t mind non-Arabs learning Arabic. I like that Queen appropriated a “b’ism Allah” in Bohemian Rhapsody. But, it crushes my soul on behalf of my Muslim friends when scouts rattle off translations of selected militant Quoranic verses to make a point — without taking the time to recite half a Sura in the original language. But, even worse, are folks with a one-line (or one

Speaking of universal values, all of Baden Powell’s published versions of the scout oath opened: On my honour I promise that I will do my duty to God …. In the context of his time, and with the role he played in the British empire, he chose a term that would not refer to the named deity of any particular religion. He might have also been familiar with “non-theistic” as a category that had begun to be first used in literature the previous century. The term “God” (yes, with a capital G) is not Christian. (Anyone who doubts that should invite their neihborhood Jehovah’s witness over f

Here in Western PA one camp maintains the the pow-wow grounds for a tribe, who in turn provide cultural opportunities for the boys in camp. Members of the Lenni Lenape regularly provide guidance on regalia. I'll let Pennsylvanians on the other side of the Appalachians provide examples of their interactions.

@KublaiKen non-theists and atheists do have different theologies. Non theism asserts that there are spiritual practices that benefit a person in some intangible sense without necessarily involving a deity. Atheists vary in this, but many assert that if the benefit is intangible, then the asserted effect does not exist. I.e., a person would be just as well off without it. This is why, in the first centuries, Christians were labeled atheists. They asserted that sacrifices to the pantheon (especially burning incense to Caesar) had no tangible benefit, and people were better off abandoning all s

@AwakeEnergyScouter Note that part of your comfort with the way WOSM presents its awards may be because Scandinavian countries have a long track record of service at WOSM. They often set the tone. The BSA intentionally steps back from WOSM programming. That’s partly because the American scouters involved in WOSM did not want to have undo influence based on their position as the largest financial donor. Also, many of us in America see WOSM as a way to connect with our cultural heritage. (It’s very interesting to see my scouts at Jamboree seeking out scouts from the countries of their grandparen

Sounds like you are about my Son #1’s age. I prefer the term “post-modern nomads” for your generation. Many people criticized it, but as I meet parents from this generation (and their children), I am very positively impressed. I’m sorry to hear about the internet grooming that you endured. I wish that scouting was a better solution for it, but I fear that we are a generation away from best practices in a world of high speed communications. I think BSA’s youth protection has it backwards. Youth need the presence of multiple adults online. Before leaders were restricted from being social me

On the flip side, I have friends and relatives who fretted over my kids’ involvement in a program as secular as scouting. (Sending them to public school probably added to that drama.) I guess one of the reasons I am a scouter is to breath some air outside of the American Evanjellyfish bubble. I insisted to my kids that their Christianity didn’t mean squat if they couldn’t live it out among non-Christians. Such friends were welcome at our table. Now adults, they are in many ways less secular than I am. Their friendship groups have narrowed into predominantly Christian circles. That bothers

@AwakeEnergyScouter, it depends on the social class of your neighborhood. Being able to monitor your child at all times has become a symbol of wealth. Even if you’re not rich enough for someone to kidnap your pre-teen, you’re supposed to act like you are. That said, there are forces that prey on children. Distributors of marijuana, for example, benefit from users starting in adolescence. Therefore, they recruit teen dealers. Nowadays they don’t have to entice youth on street corners because the information super highway takes them right to their potential candidates’ bedrooms. The child w

I like @InquisitiveScouter’s proposition. The Rev. Rick Warren tapped into something similar with the very well received Purpose Driven Life. It seems that it’s not just young people facing this particular existential crisis. But the problem remains that, although it may be true of scouting, it might not be unique to scouting. I just had a SM conference for a scout who was up for 2nd class rank. I asked him what requirement he found to be the hardest. He said the ones about financial management. I later asked him about the one he enjoyed the most. He thought a moment and said the same one