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Although @Armymutt has grievances, and although others may suggest better or worse ways to handle this, we need to start with one bottom line: The COR wants situations like these to end amicably. That means, although the past cannot change, leaders in this CO need to prepare their unit to be open to people who aren’t contributing to the life of the unit. There are limits. The advancement method loses its effectiveness when conventions for account are skirted, but a simple conversation with the scout can clear up if he at least gave requirements a try. Morale erodes when one member sh

Our pack typically plans on paying for guests like troop leadership at the B&G, although many of those guests have donated time and $ to the Pack in one way or another. If the COR says you shouldn't have refused them, then that's it. You can argue about your "if it was some other family" hypothetical when one is at the door. Next year, pad your budget a little for such eventualities. The most important impact is when this scout may join a troop. If registered but have not completed 5th grade, it's at age 10; if not, age 11. If the youth is 11 already, it's a moot point. But, the

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

Our council kindly plays bad cop for us. They won't let us keep anybody on the charter who is not trained fro their position.

Scouters across the nation were clearly doing an end-around and dropping their registrations as direct contact leaders to avoid exorbitant fees. But just because they are now MBCs, many of them are competent leaders who are very helpful to have around. They are just making the registration fees more expensive for the rest of us. Sooner or later BSA would shore up that loophole. That’s why my troop pays for leaders’ registration fees. (It amounts to maybe an extra hour of the scouts washing cars.) I think it’s kinda dumb and make up for it by providing a little extra here and there, but it

False. “For decades, “ leaders of both sexes were required for overnight coed activities — two of each for coed wilderness activities where a crew should prepare for the need to split the group. Other than that a male advisor could certainly hold a meeting with a mixed group of youth, or arrange for another male adult to meet them at the range for a morning of firearms training. Not even 5 years ago, in 2018, this was extended to include “all meetings,” and the language became one-sided “where a female youth was present.” The latter was to perpetuate corporate double-speak that skirte

@InquisitiveScouter, keep complaining about it and those 19-20 year old ASMs will be reclassified as program participants. I want to make it clear how much of my life involves deeply personal one-on-one conversations with 19-20 year olds of the opposite sex. It is very hard for some young adult women to navigation their world — many are facing abuse, caregiver burdens, financial stress — and they open up about it to very few people. They often look for second father figure and, along with their friends, arrange a meeting with him. Sometimes that person is me, often I can rope a second eld

What it means @Eagle1993, is that if the proportion of females is nonzero, I could not meet collegiate adult Venturers for coffee without me finding 21+ registered female adult to join me. It effectively makes it pointless to be a male crew advisor.

One small suggestion … if it’s at all that important, a scouter shouldn’t have to click through and advance the video to find out what s.a.f.e. stands for. It’s also not clear how the checklist would have addressed the incident that inspired it. I would love its implementation to forestall death. But how does this do what the sweet 16 does not?

Art imitating life. From marines at boot camp “remembering all those orienteering lessons that I had tried to forget” during their night in the crucible to veterans who told me about how calm and fearless Eagle Scouts were when their platoon had to bivouac … I’ve heard this story multiple times in multiple ways from multiple people.

A capacity of 15,000 is about 2.3% of 2021 Scouts BSA membership, so this is a lean year. But … most Jambo-bound leaders had to choose between World and National Scout jamborees. A small minority have chosen to attend back-to-back events. That’s contributed to staffing shortages at Summit, and small numbers representing the USA in Korea. For wannabe staffers, I have suggested and will repeat … if it really matters, take whatever you would spend to go , maybe divide that number by two, and offer it to another young adult who should go. For example your limit might be $500, but the sco

Oh, for the days when completing an Eagle application was none of an adult’s business. … Just a scout, his typewriter, and correction tape! Thank you for trying to help your scout, but it sounds like you should just save the .pdf for him to complete the rest. Meanwhile, report your problem on the Scoutbook forums: https://discussions.scouting.org/

More details about his scouting career at 2:40 in the link below. I admire anyone who says “I am a Life Scout.”

Talk with the parents to see if they want their son cover the “why” of a restrictive sexual ethic.

More specifics on security risks here https://atlasvpn.com/blog/discord-privacy-and-security-problems-to-watch-out-for

A modest proposal for a new committee position: 1st Year (or as long as it takes) Parent Deprogrammer Requirements YPT, Troop Committee Challenge, Register Master the following phrases in multiple languages including any local dialects: Attend YPT. Talk about abuse, neglect, and bullying with your child. Know what to expect from us. Yes, your scout is welcome time to do something fun and safe with us for zero credit. When he/she requests it, we will rearrange schedules accordingly. The trail to first class is hard. The skills therein are dif

Think these forums, but invite-only with oversized emoji. What’s nice is it can handle voice messages and video calls. The dangers are the same as most social media type things.

FWIW, I posed the issue of pen pointers to birders on a trail group and to our ASM who is all about bird conservation. They felt that there was no probability of a stargazing instructor inadvertently misdirecting migratory foul. These are mostly PA and WV birders, and they contend with a lot of light pollution. A laser pen pales in comparison to airplanes, fracking towers and windmills. So, as always, your mileage may vary. It’s a big country.

Have parents sign up. When their sons are 13 they may sign on. I’m learning to use Discord because it was the medium of choice for my WSJ Troop. I have mixed feelings about it.

Do give them an ask. They will have to take BSA’s YPT, regardless of similar other training.

@FirstClass, welcome to the forums! As you can tell, scouters have no stomach for playing identity politics with religious awards. Having made the effort, a scout should proudly wear the awards for each faith he held at the time.

Setting aside that I thought turning Scout into a rank was pointless, now that it is a rank ... We had several AoL crossovers who were still struggling with square knots. That's not to disrespect the program. We had a dozen crossovers, about half of them knew their knots well enough to quickly demonstrate them. I think the pandemic was part of the problem. But, also, it's not in the nature of 10-year-olds to retain those kinds of motor skills. Scouts who are camping every month have greater odds of actually needing those skills. No rubber stamps. It's a good life lesson to know

First pass: A number of Audubon sites were recommending the use of higher powered lasers for dispersal. (Better than shotguns, I guess.) None were discouraging the use of pointers. I can’t find a Leave No Trace guideline regarding lasers of any kind, let alone pointers. Pilots don’t like them, but typically they are referring to higher powered lasers. Not pointers. I can’t find peer reviewed articles on the subject of lasers and migratory bird harm. I suspect that if a dead snot rocket by a stack of rocks could get accepted in the literature, a flock of laser pointer ad

It's a big country. So check with your location about laser pointers. Myself, I'm not a fan. But ... sticking with reference as one of the fundamental steps in teaching any skill ... bring that star chart. In daylight, use it to show the scouts what they should be able to find once it gets dark. Have a light with a red or green gel (or diffuser for that laser) so you can read the chart without disturbing your eyes once in a field. If it's planets you're looking for, have everyone sit on an east-west line in your observation field facing south. (Which they should be able to do once they've

The "holy grail" app would be one that converts pictures of a signed and dated requirements into scout book entries.