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We see the same thing with boys. Some do better with the whole patrol in one tent. Some do better at singles. If at all possible, allow your patrol try a different configuration every month. You'll find every class of scouts has a different preference, and it's only through trial and error do they settle on their preferences. While we're talking about safety, however, single-person tents aren't without risks. A scout who doesn't know how to get out of his/her tent in an emergency sometimes needs a buddy to control the panic.

I missed this earlier. I had to deal with this misconception when I started being a crew advisor. These older girls -- especially A and B from your post -- aren't entitled to anything from you but a welcoming, oddly care-free, environment. There is no transaction to be made regarding advancement tips or tricks. When I realized this with my venturing crew, I began to see real personal growth from, and honest-to-goodness friendships with, my venturing females. Turned out it was the same thing that older boys were looking for. As far as advancement: The only thing you owe these young women is potentially 7 scoutmaster conferences, and your committee owes them 6 boards of review. I suspect your real challenge will be keeping your committee agile enough to have these promptly once requirements for a rank are met. They owe you all to live up to the oath and law, be first class scouts (concept, not patch). If they are all that, I bet you and your committee will have four chances by end of summer to review plans and suggest alterations. At those boards of reviews, it will be really important to ask what MBs the scout is interested in. That's where your CC will find out he/she needs to recruit other adults who could qualify to be counselors. That's the other thing you owe them. The contact info for caring adults. I agree about the comments about camping frequency, but I suspect Miss A and Miss B have sufficient connections to BSA camping opportunities outside their troop. Miss C would really benefit from a patrol that takes initiative and schedules a couple of overnights. A and B could help, but the YP regs might get in the way of their doing so.

@Scoutero0 welcome to the forums! I hope that you weren't discouraged about those check-boxes in scholarship applications. Just because an award isn't on the list doesn't mean it's not esteemed as highly. Eagle ranks are awarded in the thousands per month, and there has been an century-long campaign promoting it. That's why it gets its own box. Chances are, the old folks who are fronting the money for the scholarship were or knew of an Eagle scout. I talk to ex-military around town, and they tell me about how they watched the Eagle scouts in basic training excel. For some of these guys and gals they'd have only known First Class girl scouts. But, if a girl writes in her awards and can articulate the impact on her, she'll be on as good or better standing as any boy who checks a box. I was very proud of my venturers who earned a Gold Award. Some of them really got us all mobilized to do some neat bits of good in the world. If they had a chance to join a BSA troop, earn 1st Class, then transfer to my crew and earn Eagle, I don't know as I would have encouraged them to do so if they were active in a good GS/USA troop. My daughter was not at all pleased with the GS/USA troop that she could join, and she was not allowed to join the troop that she liked. She enjoyed our crew and our council's venturing officer's association. I encouraged her to try for the venturing awards, but her mind was on starting college early instead.

I am certain we lose a lot of high-speed low-drag parents and scouters at this section simply because it does not it does not give an explicit nod to the other methods of scouting. Competition between patrols are how scouting skills are honed. The outdoors is where scouting skills apply. Leadership development should revolve around scheduling time for patrols to "show off" their skills. To @Treflienne's question ... I don't teach scouts so much as put them in positions where they need to demonstrate what they should already know. That's because I think scouting is not a learning environment so much as it is an application environment. A lot of our sign-offs go something like this: Scout: "Sir, at the last campout I did requirement x as a part of activity y." Adult: "Did your PL/SPL see you do it?" Scout: "Yes, sir!" Adult: "Then why are you talking to me? Your PL has a pen." Scout goes to PL, who either sign off or talk to the SPL or an ASM about what he saw and if that was enough to qualify for passing the requirement. In other words. Neither I, nor the SM, SPL, PL or TG sit at the end of a finish line checking if a scout completed an orienteering course. A scout tells me what he tried to do, how well he accomplished it, and if he could do better. Now, some things, like aquatics safety are more like an oral exam. But that has nothing to do with rank advancement. A scout just telling me that he set up a safe-swim area is not good enough. That has to do with me feeling confident that the scout will be observant at any activity on the water ... and that he'll be able to spot any missing safety minimum and address it. Still, it's far easier for a scout to talk about a safe swim defense after he has been to an aquatics area.

Oh. If your boys are trying a club course, they usually have events at multiple levels. The 1st Class requirement is roughly the level of a standard white course. Challenge your scouts who've proven to be experienced navigators to move up to yellow, orange, then red/brown courses, in that order. I've seen some scouts make a full afternoon at a club event by completing a couple of courses at various levels. I don't move quickly, and I have Sunday obligations that often get in the way of me getting to the starting time right when it opens. It took me until my late 40s to free up the time to join a club and complete a red course. (It took a few times failing to complete the course as well.)

Disk-golf courses are a genius idea! In general: Do limit the physical obstacles until the scouts are comfortable working their compass. review 2nd class requirement 3.a. before every orienteering challenge. teach scouts to talk with one another and check each other's measurements. go over any controls that the scouts mess keep score. Don't think that one orienteering challenge is enough let scouts get discouraged if they can't finish a course the first day they try one. pass scouts if they can't find at least 80% of markers.

Rock climbers look for those "little rock outcroppings" (usually any bright feature more than two pixels) for potentially new runs to rappel from. Always field test the course first. Preferably have someone who didn't set it up run it. A 10 foot cliff might not show up on a map with 20 foot contours, and even if it does, your boys might not notice. You might need to mark an obstacle like that on the map. Standard markings for control descriptions may be found here: https://orienteering.sport/iof/resources/control-descriptions/

I'll be interested to read Dr. Warren's peer-reviewed article. It will be some time before that's published, and I hope it's not delayed by court proceedings.

Then don't send your scouts there. Threaten to resign your position if anybody on the committee promotes that MBU. Put it in writing. Copy your district commissioners and executives, your scout executives, and the course director. If you have a scout who does not seem to have grasped the MB material that he should have, follow the procedure listed in the Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.7. The problem isn't bogus MBUs. The problem is not enough scouters pushing back against them.

Even more peculiar about Fingerprinting ... As a scout, our troop did a town hike and stopped at the state police barracks. Among other things, we got finger-printed. The officer who taught us how to do that lived four doors down from me. I played with his kids. I never earned the badge.

Absolutely you and a co-leader may set up a course at any sizeable local park. Walk your park, find some nice spots to hang a flag about a square foot large (those cheap litter pick-up vests are perfect) visible from 100 feet from at least three directions. Mark them on your GPS. Plot them on a map. Set up the course in the morning, take it down in the afternoon. An easy free solution to mapping is caltopo.com. I use it regularly. You could literally map it. Use it to set up your course. Save it as a .pdf. Send it to your boys and tell them "Go!" My scouts hate me. But you may also ... Call those clubs and see if they have someone who would volunteer to set up a course for your troop. (In exchange for your best dutch-oven meal, of course.) Or (better) schedule one of their events at a location near you. Contact the ranger at your favorite scout camp. They often have several courses built into the camp. Contact your nearest state park. An orienteering club might built one or more permanent courses there. If not, the ranger might know where the nearest one is. Ask at your district roundtable if anyone has a scout working on Orienteering MB who would like to set up a course for your troop.

Welcome to the forums! To the first question: it depends. To the second question: it depends. No MBU is identical to another. If the objective of self-reliance is undermined, you are correct. If the event helps scouts be more self-reliant you are on base. The justification for an MBU is simple: it introduces a scout to someone deemed most qualified to counsel that badge. Take, for example, motorboating. You might have a dad in your troop who takes his boat out once a month, or you might have a retired grandparent who built or tested racing hulls, or you might have the captain of the coast guard. When I attended our district's MB Pow-Wow as a scout, I got to meet the counselor of a badge I was interested in, do cool stuff, got his contact info, then follow-up with him at a later date to complete the badge. Partial completions on the day of the event were the norm. There are some things that are done much better in groups. For example an officer of the court might want to demonstrate a jury trial. Well, he/she could talk to the scouts and show video, or he/she can get twelve scouts to sit in the juror's box, listen to arguments, elect a foreman and deliberate. It's all in the details. And if your MBU is not attending to the details, then send your scouts elsewhere.

@RememberSchiff we all know the whole point of the application and the workbook is to make life easier for adults. If we wanted to make it a better experience for the scout, these would be pages in his handbook, which he would fill out and submit personally, or ... take pictures of and send to council. They could also be fields in Scoutbook ... the whole thing (spare us the pictures) could be plain text.

No joke. A friend was planning a mom's weekend away. They hiked into their site and before they finished setting up their tent, a bear lumbered in and made straight for the smellables which were sealed in a dry bag. They didn't even have a chance to get it out of their packs, he did that for them after tearing everything apart because - well, he couldn't smell exactly where the food was. There's no way he tracked them to their sight. He probably didn't even smell the food! He just knew to make for a campsite along a trail as soon as he heard weekend cars and motorcycles winding up the valley. Dinner was being delivered! If he waited too long it would be tucked up and away.

We had an SM blow his F150 engine pulling our trailer off a mountain then punching it on the interstate. So wear and tear on a vehicle is no joke.

@dedkad, our patrol's fondue was a weekend camp activity. We never considered doing it at summer camp because by the middle sessions the critters were all too familiar with boys and the snacks that they snuck in.

Seabase FL has a luau for it's closing ceremony. An old submersible doubles as a playground. At Seabase Bahama's as a crew drove to the airport after a week's adventure, Captain Steve (RIP) would wave his hands over his head crossing and I crossing them. It was signal for snorklers to "come back to the boat."

My adult kids are all about the Venmo. Not sure how it would help a club or unit.

The other thread about the law reminded me of an online reference regarding the evolution of the aims and methods over time: http://www.inquiry.net/adult/methods/index.htm I thought there was a way we could grid out these buggers in the current forum software, but I'll have to dig a little.

'Shiff's reference is a nice matrix of the points as they evolved over the years. Also on that site: BP's Law and Oath with investiture ceremonies. http://www.inquiry.net/ideals/b-p/law.htm

If it is anything like the Eagle project workbook, then no. If it is a plain-old-asci standard (e.g. .XML), then yes. The scout could log on and download his/her own pre-filled app. In fact, as soon as the last req is completed and logged by the unit, an E-mail with a pre-filled application could be sent to the scout.

I agree that this phenomenon is firstly girls trying to look acceptable to other girls. Being able to turn boys' heads is secondary. It's almost universal. Once my crew (all boys at the time) visited a Christian commune for a holiday open-house, the community's women and girls dressed similarly. Dresses and head covering had the same modest cut, but colors varied (think 18th century with lots of greys, blues, tans, and purples). One of my leaders asked his host about the "uniforms". The host said, "We leave that to the women. None of us guys would dare touch on that topic." Guys do the same thing, but it seems to a lesser degree. For example, my buddies ribbed me when I was getting too tall for my jeans. It never crossed my mind that I should ask my mom for a new wardrobe. I figured if they weren't picking on me for that they'd pick on my for my purple converse all-stars. (The only outfit for which I never got smack from the guys, BTW, was when I would wear my scout uniform to school.) But more importantly, I never felt "on the outs" with the guys because of how I dressed. Same for my other buddy who always dressed sharp. I don't think it was the same for girls. So any discussion, IMHO, needs to recognize that there is a psychological phenomenon among women upon which industry capitalizes, and "civic action" on a girls' part could involve standing up for her school's dress code and, for example, asking stores to stock fashion that conforms to it.

I think they kind of cluster together, but this is just me. Like @SSScout said, they are tuned to the American ear of a century ago. Trustworthy, Loyal, and Helpful are for citizenship Friendly, Courteous, and Kind are interpersonal Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty speak to being mentally awake Brave, Clean, and Reverent speak to physical strength and moral rectitud. I don't know if there is any intent in the order, but it seems that I do see them appear in boys on a deeper-than-surface level in roughly that sequence.

Far be it from me to tell GS/USA what issues its girls and parents should address. It may be that this issue is confounding lots of GS Juniors, so their moms invited discussion. I'm certain some girls earned GS awards for tackling this issue in their school. So, maybe the organization provided helps to parents in similar situations -- suggesting ways that this could be a skills-acquisition moment. I've seen Bryan's blog write up similar topics on behalf of BSA and invite lots of discussion. But, I'm puzzled as to why someone payed for it to appear as a sponsored link on FB. Maybe GS/USA thinks that this was the kind of thing that would motivate others to follow its other posts? Maybe they just wanted to generate buzz ... good or bad? I guess, given that I posted here, they at least accomplished that.