Beavah

Yah, hmmm... Good heavens, @@fred johnson. I confess I hadn't read da new Cooking MB requirements, not being a counselor for that one. Now I'm goin' to have to go look at all da other recent ones to see how badly we're screwin' this up across the board. I'm thinkin' folks on da various committees keep mixin' up the difference between teachin' and testin'. When we teach da skills of a MB, we might do a lot of different things, eh? Use "Myplate food guides" and discuss shopping lists and all that. Those are part of mentoring a boy workin' on a badge. Part of da whole "A Scout L

Yah, but has this really made a change? By and large, they still sign up and assign lads within-troop I expect. Da rest are from MB fairs or Summer Camp. Say it isn't so!

Yah, I think if yeh want to use Amazon as a fundraiser, you're better off usin' the Amazon Associates links as an advertising addition on your unit web site. Payoff is better. Just train your folks to click through your website when they go to buy from Amazon.

Yah, if yeh want affordable high adventure yeh need to stay away from the outfitter supported stuff, eh? Just run your own! The lads learn a lot more and grow a lot more if they're doin' the planning themselves rather than buying a pre-packaged trip from an outfitter or high adventure base. What part of the country are yeh in? Beavah

Yah @@caffeinatedmom, welcome to da forums, eh! Caffeine is what keeps most of us old critters goin' with a smile on our face! What you're experiencing is fairly normal for boys. Not just in scouts, in school as well. Boys will do the fun stuff and accept da challenges until they feel they're good enough, but they can't abide paperwork and busywork. Whether it's turnin' in homework or finishin' the last MB requirement, it's a drudgery for the lads. Speakin' as an older fellow who was once one of those lads, and who has had a few Beavah Pups, the biggest thing yeh can do for your s

Yah, hmmm... @@dfolson, I reckon this is one of those learnin' moments where the lad should be tacked to the wall a bit, but nobody out there in Scoutland is goin' to nail him to the wall. Just enough pain to learn not to push things to deadlines and expect everyone else is goin' to drop everything to help yeh out. So I wouldn't worry too much. An ASM can do da conference, or perhaps when the SM gets back he back-dates his signatures after a stern conversation, or we all quietly recognize that it's da beneficiary's signature that confirms when the project is done. Da SM signature only

Yah, only once can I remember doin' the hotel thing with a group. It was a few years back when da Federal Government was gettin' shut down, and the group got evicted from da federal campground the night before an early mornin' airline departure. Could have done da shuffle with local scouters to find a church floor, but the notice came so late and there were other "group dynamics" things goin' on. I'll confess Uncle Beavah quietly paid for da hotel and dinner that night. It wasn't the lads' fault, since they aren't old enough to vote yet. Figured one of us who was responsible for elec

Yah, it seems like da place where a council could contribute is in those camp badges where a troop might not have da resources or a counselor. Stuff like shooting sports or lifesaving, eh? Outdoors badges that belong at camp. That's why council camps and volunteers exist - to provide services to units that they can't do on their own. My feelin' is it should be a service to troops, though. That's what we council folks are supposed to do. When we make it a service to individual boys we're undermining the patrol, and the PLC, and the troop, and its adults. Now if this is somethin

Yah, I'm with T2Eagle, eh? I've seen adults try to offer boys forms a few thousand times. Probably best to stop and think about how annoyed yeh get by fillin' out somebody else's bureaucratic form at work before yeh push it on kids. We don't want the boys to become young bureaucrats, eh? We want 'em to become self-directed and self-organizing. If they decide they need a form, then yeh can help 'em with it, but not before. And yeh can only help 'em with it if you're actually better at shared Google Docs forms on your phone than they are. Beavah

Yah, hmmm... Whiteblaze is an Appalachian Trail site. Last time I looked, Philmont was a fair ways away from da AT. There's a Philmont email list already managed by USSSP, and a Philmont forum at BackPackingLight. Pretty sure there's a Yahoo group as well, plus da lists run by Philmont staff. As yeh say, it's unclear whether there's enough traffic to merit independent forums on the subject. Folks generally are interested only prior to or perhaps right after a trip. Beavah

Yah, hmmm.... Thanks for the info, @@meyerc13. I knew of the memo and MOU action, but I wasn't aware of how it was playin' out some places as individual parishes got word. That seemed the more likely case to me as well (in my original post). My guess was the merged CO had a better understanding of the nature of the BSA Charter and wanted to exert more control over its youth ministries. Problem was I'd think they'd be more likely to drop BSA Scoutin', or replace the whole committee. No? Yeh are likely closer to this than I am. Seems like the way they went about it doesn't fit i

Yah, hmmm... Gee, thanks, @@Eamonn. Nice to see yeh around! I thought yeh had gone the way of da rest of the Departed from da forums. Seems like there's only a few hangers-on from the old days. @@NJCubScouter, give me a break. If you were sittin' around a campfire and a fellow said he'd gotten notice from the church pastor that a few of their youth ministers had been removed for cause, includin' being "unfit" and not maintaining a "healthy environment", you wouldn't immediately consider da possibilities I suggested? Not necessarily abuse, but other things, eh? Like bullying t

Yah, hmmmm... @@Cubmaster35, if yeh are sure that the folks are good people and such, can yeh share what the pastor's real reasons were for removing them? Being "unfit" and not fostering a "healthy environment" coupled with an immediate removal and permanent ban are unusually strong actions for a church pastor to take with any youth program. I'm sorry if yeh found my comments unhelpful. I reckon we can all be more helpful if yeh can give us more information. Beavah

Yah, hmmm... Sorry to hear about da difficulties, @@Cubmaster35. Your handle says "Cubmaster", but you're talkin' a bit like da Cubmaster who was removed is a different person. Can I ask what your current position with the pack is? Yeh also don't provide any information on the possible reasons why your new Institutional Head (IH) has decided to remove the CM,CC, and treasurer. That leads us all to speculate, eh? Problem with speculation is that it might not be helpful to yeh, but I'll try. One possibility is that there was a confidential report of wrongdoing made to the past

LOL. I love @@Stosh's reply. No, @@SpEdScouter, there are no "rules" about scouts staying in hotels, eh? Why would yeh think there would be? What's goin' on? B

Yah, @@UncleP. I forget... is the lad on the Spectrum? I'm in the "don't worry about it right now" camp, but not the lie camp. At some point, yeh can drop a note to the SM and tell him what you've told us, eh? That the lad really doesn't have friends at school or in the neighborhood. Most SMs will understand and work it out with the boy. Really good ones will chat with his Patrol Leader and encourage some other boys from the neighborhood to ride by his place and invite him out on things. Beavah

Yah, this is da way things go, eh? As soon as yeh get one group of boys or adults on board, they have the nerve to grow up and graduate and move on to other things! Buildin' a youth program is a game of constant buildin' and rebuildin'. It's supposed to keep us young. If yeh do it well, each time it will be a little different, perhaps even a little better. Yah, this is just where you're at, eh? Like @@Eagledad says, adult fear is what yeh have to overcome. Gettin' frustrated by it is about as helpful as gettin' frustrated when a youth is afraid to try somethin' new. The

Yah, but if we ban everything that isn't safe in da hands of idiots, what's left? Besides, when yeh make things idiot-proof, Nature just develops a better idiot. Beavah

Yah, hmmm.... well, they're more likely to be good I suppose. You'd be surprised. Havin' done the camp visitation thing, yeh see a lot of different stuff. It's mostly well intentioned, sometimes super great, sometimes limping by. BSA certification is fairly cursory in some areas, and more about procedural stuff than workin' with kids stuff. Climbing I think is hit-or-miss in camps. It's safe, but yeh don't normally get folks who are real climbers teachin' and lots of things are checkin' off da required number of amusement park climbs rather than really learnin' the skill set. Shoo

Yah, hmmm.... I don't think I understand this, @@qwazse. Can yeh explain why yeh don't think da BSA's advancement steps are actually distinct steps, or at least distinct elements? Da problem with the teacher doin' the testing is that most of us are content to hear the echo of our own voice, eh? That's why if you're goin' to be a lawyer or a doctor or an EMT or an airplane pilot or lots of other things da folks doin' the testing are different from the folks doin' the instruction. IMHO that helps da process in a bunch of ways, eh? It keeps instructors from fudging when they hav

Yah, hmmm... Movin' to youth run and patrol method is a gradual process, eh? Yeh can't do it overnight. Takes time for the adults to get da feel for it. Takes time for the boys to learn and adjust as well. If yeh jump into this all at once, odds are someone will say "See! They can't do it!" and then you'll be back to square one. Give yourself and your fellow adults some time to learn, eh? Give the lads some time, too. Start with the boys who are really active and above First Class, and take 'em on a campout where yeh work with 'em on how to do instruction and help other boys

Yah, @@blw2, I reckon it's just hard to let go, eh? That's why I like to encourage troops to use their young men/alumni as ASMs, and to seek out others. Yeh need some 20-somethings (what other nations call "Rovers") around who aren't as fearful or protective as parents. An exercise I sometimes do with parents is to have 'em list out all the things they want their son to be and be able to do at age 18 when they go off to college or a job. Then describe where their son is at right now. Then yeh just draw a staircase that describes how to get there. If yeh want a lad to be independent at

Yah, @@Stosh, I think yeh are a bit confused, eh? Attorneys have to pass the bar in a given state. Physicians are licensed to practice in a given state. Priests and ministers are denomination-specific. It takes a conversion process and re-education to move around. I passed off your quote to a Jesuit canon lawyer friend of mine at breakfast this morning. He says sorry, mate, but da passage is referring to the various rites within da Catholic communion. Churches like the Assyrian Catholic Church and da Orthodox faiths that share a common sacramental life, and sprung out of the anci

Yah, hmmmm..... Sure seems to me that da Sunnis and Shiites care a lot about which they are, eh? Enough so that they've been sustaining a religious civil war across da Fertile Crescent for the past decade or more. I certainly know some Orthodox folks who wouldn't even consider a Reformed member a real Jew. Yah, I think sayin' that Catholics and Baptists have the same theology is likely to be offensive to both Catholics and Baptists, eh? They don't even quite recognize one baptism. Theology of sacraments, sola scriptura, theology of salvation, theology of church, approac

Yah, @@TryingToMom, welcome! As yeh can see from da various replies, lots of good scouters here (who are unusually dedicated by real-world measures) do things differently from each other. Sometimes different is just different. Sometimes, too, not every scouter is so dedicated that they spend lots of their free time honing their knowledge on internet forums or readin' hundred-page BSA documents. I'd say overall your experience in a troop from your perspective is not that unusual. Da Scoutmaster has a lot goin' on, and gets behind or messes up SM conference scheduling, notices fo