Beavah

Yah, I expect what the lads want is just not to be bored, eh? Nuthin' worse to a boy than to be made to sit still for an hour or more while adults do things. Doesn't necessarily mean they want to lead. Does mean that they want to do something. That's what I think @@Eagledad was talkin' about. Yeh can be very adult-led, but with the boys developing as live-action helpers. That's not boring, eh? Yeh know you're the guy to get the flag, yeh know yeh have to wear full uniform, that sort of thing. There can be lots of spirit in bein' a follower under adult leadership. Look at any spo

Yah, hmmmm.... Except that's not what da fellow did, eh? What was actually said was that Protestants and Catholics are two different religions, not that Protestants aren't Christians. Hate to tell yeh mate, but Catholics are in a different religion than I am. Only thing wrong about da statement is that there are a lot of different religions within Protestantism. So if a fellow says that two snowflakes are different when they obviously are, and another fellow insists that they're not, what does that make the other fellow? Not bigoted, I don't think. Perhaps just confused?

Yah, hmmm... I confess I prefer units that allow their boys to pray authentically, accordin' to the norms of their own family or church practice. I think it does a better job of buildin' the sort of reverence, respect, and understandin' that we want the lads to learn. It's truly inclusive, as long as each boy gets his turn, and da encouragement/validation to pray personally. Or yeh could do it all at once, and make a truly Joyful (if cacophonous) Noise unto the Lord. Prayer can be personal or shared by a community of common belief, but there's no such thing as generic prayer, and

Yah, the impetus to write more long and legalistic stuff is always control, eh? Yeh want to control folks with lots and lots of regulation rather than hire good people and trust their judgment. Sometimes it's because somethin' bad happened and yeh want to "fix" it with a policy rather than educate folks (or "fire" folks), even though policy rarely "fixes" anything. To my mind Merit Badges work best when yeh have a counselor who is genuinely competent in da field, and yeh let him/her decide what's important for a beginner to learn and be able to do. Who cares if not everybody in da count

Yah, this is the point that many folks affiliated with a single troop seem to miss, eh? There's no such thing as One Universal Scouting Program. There are lots of different local scoutin' programs that together make up a brotherhood. Mostly that's based on the abilities and predilections of the lead adults, eh? It's also based on what the boys and their families need or want. Lots of times, different units don't even agree on da outcomes for lads that they want to see, let alone da style and methods to get there. Tight CO affiliations often come with a sense of purpose and outcomes; lo

Yah, @@blw2, take it from an old furry fellow who has seen lots and lots of kids. Relax. Your lad is 12 years old, in his first year. Go back and read "ages and stages" from your BSA training, eh? Boys that age aren't lookin' to stand out, they're lookin' to fit in. If in his first year of Boy Scouting he's accomplished that, he's well on his way. He's got friends, he's goin' along with the fun, he's watchin' and learnin' and gettin' comfortable with the way things work. He's growin' neurons! Da other stuff comes with time, eh? Give it a few years, and you'll wonder where th

Nah, boys missing events is just life, eh? Sometimes boys have families. Sometimes they have other activities. Organizational behavior literature assumes a business environment, where everybody is expected to be there every day. The British Army I'm pretty sure is an environment where everybody is expected to be there every day. Green Bar Bill wrote at a time when Scoutin' was often the only organized youth program in town for most of the year. Sometimes, things change. It'd be interestin' if folks commented on what their actual attendance rate is. We'd all have

Yah, @@John-in-KC has a good thought there, eh? I like EBORs in the field. There's just somethin' nice about an EBOR around a campfire. Changes the tone of the conversation for everyone. B

Yah, hmmm... Thanks for da thread merger, @@NJCubScouter. @@zuzy wasn't at camp, so all we're gettin' are hearsay second-hand reports. I reckon even if we deposed all of the lads and adults at camp we'd have a whole mess of conflicting opinions about what was goin' on. After a lot of work we might get down to there being good evidence that SM grumped at da SPL on Wednesday, that SPL mouthed off once on Thursday, etc. Those things are "facts", but are they useful? This isn't a problem of internet forums, it's da reality of Scouting in the real world. Even if we were sittin' there

Yah, I like to see 6-8 lads in a patrol in the field. Makes cooking about right primarily; also gives yeh a couple of guys to hang with when you're pissed off at one or two others. That having been said, I think in da modern world for most troops it's best to have slightly larger patrols than that. Attendance figures in, eh? If you're a fairly typical troop and your attendance averages 60 - 70%, then the ideal patrol size becomes 9-12 so that yeh average 6-8 on a campout. If yeh just go with a patrol of 6, then odds are once yeh factor in attendance you'll have Patrol Collapse Disord

Yah, hmmmm.... There seem to be two different threads on this, eh? I posted a response over in da other thread. Short version: I'd let him have a great time learnin' and growin' with the new troop, and go for Eagle there. I think it will be good for the boy, and good for Scouting, and be more meaningful all around. Long version is over in da other thread B [Moderators note: The threads have been merged, so the long version is above - NJCubScouter]

Yah, sure, and understanding takes effort, eh? Understandin' isn't dictated by the word choice of the speaker, it's dependent on the effort made by the listener. Lots of us have worked with boys of various backgrounds and cultures, international scouting, kids with disabilities and all the rest. It's really easy for boys to get upset sometimes... "Why won't he act normal?!" (talk the way I want him to talk, act the way I want him to act). The way we teach lads to deal with Aspergers kids or kids from other cultures is to teach 'em about the perspective and challenges of the other f

Yah, @@zuzy, depends what yeh want to teach, eh? I'm with @@John-in-KC on this. Not being around to witness the boy's behavior at camp, I'm inclined to believe that a teenager who has decided to leave da troop after some struggles with the adults might have behaved a bit like a teenager. Given the history and the lad's Aspergers, it's also not hard to imagine the adults not respondin' well to their perceptions of "attitude", so by no means is it all on him, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't learn from his side. So I'm thinkin' that there's stuff for the boy to still grow from, a

Yah, hmmmm... I'm not sure it's ever productive to tell/suggest other people how to write, or talk, or whatever. Seems like da better thing is to work harder on listenin'. B

Spun off from: The Senior Patrol Leader is In Charge Yah, figured I'd spin this off from da other odd thread that was gettin' all confusin'. The topic is "Patrol Method Made Simple". Everyone gets one post to offer practical advice to a well-intentioned scouter who has had a year or two in da program and is steppin' up to be Scoutmaster. He/She wants to use Patrol Method effectively. Give your pragmatic, practical advice on how to set that up. Assume a typical troop of, say 22 boys on paper, 15 active includin' three high school aged boys, plus 3 crossovers from one pack and t

Yah, hmmmm... Is this Patrol Method or youth leadership? Seems like trustin' boys to be capable and to run things through happy chaos is youth leadership. Patrol Method is about breakin' up bigger troops into smaller independent functional groups, eh? That can increase opportunities for leadership and such, but it does lots of other things like leveraging identity and competitive spirit, increasin' opportunities for followership and smaller contributions to da group, allow for a degree of specialization, etc. I think we get confused sometimes. I know this thread is confusin' m

Yah, if we make Safety #1 then I reckon we'd never go into the woods, eh? Certainly we'd never drive there. All things in balance. Might be that if we want better trailer safety we should stop carryin' lots of heavy gear into the field, eh? Just, you know, go campin' and not glampin'. And for goodness sake, have a fresh set of drivers come for camp pickup. Six nights at scout camp can be a sleep-deprivation experiment. I don't see any upside in confrontin' other parent drivers or backseat driving from the car that's a half-mile back. Leastways, not beyond "Hey, Joe, how are

Yah, hmmm.... I'm with @@Eagledad on this, eh? There are lots of ways to make an ice cream cone. Sometimes, yeh only have da ingredients for a banana split. By and large units sort out roles based on their vision and the needs of the kids. Strong units often invent or re-invent roles and structures as the boys themselves feel the need or the desire to innovate. The point is to give a scope for youth growth and development, eh? A scope that the adults can understand and support. All the rest is just noise. Now, I get where @@Stosh is comin' from. I'd say that in general, a

Nah, real snow is dry. Too cold out for it to get wet. I reckon the best campin' is when yeh can fling your cup of hot coffee into the air and it comes down as caffeinated snow. Now that's real fun for all! B

Yah, just depends, eh? I hear what you're sayin', and I agree with you for drivin' through town or on the highway. Discourteous too. In town or on the highway in most cases help from neighbors and strangers is ready to hand. At the same time, lots of us live in states with remote areas and winter, eh? Spots where phone reception is poor or nonexistent, GPS reception not great (or digital maps not accurate), road signage minimal, and most importantly help is not near at hand. There are times when stickin' together is da safest practice, because yeh need buddy vehicles if yeh get i

Yah, I reckon that's what most everybody says, eh? We all know that our troop, council, etc. does it best. Especially if that's the (only) one we're intimately familiar with. I don't mind a diversity of approaches. It allows us to reach more boys, use more adults with different skills effectively, respond to more local conditions. Scoutin' grew up in this country in part because of that diversity, eh? The more we push for a one-size-fits-all regulatory monopoly, the less mission-focused (and smaller) we keep gettin'. Beavah

I reckon it depends on whether yeh care about doin' what's safest and best for the kids and for other drivers, or whether yeh care about "what holds up in court". Courts are places we resolve disputes, eh? Better if yeh avoid disputes in da first place. I totally agree with @@Stosh, eh? Towing a trailer is somethin' that requires experience... especially a well-loaded scout trailer goin' to camp with a bunch of kids in the car. Experience with trailers generally, and some experience with your own vehicle and that trailer. It's not somethin' yeh can learn from readin' @@RichardB's

Yah, hmmmm... My question, as always, is "Is this really a service?". The BSA is in da service business, eh? We're providing materials and Helpfulness to organizations and volunteers who want to use Scouting. How is it a service to ask (or worse, "expect") volunteers to do this added paperwork? How does it make da program better for the kids? 10-12 outings a year, plus some day trips and service projects and such, times roughly 40,000 troops, plus packs, plus crews, plus posts... Hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours dedicated to fillin' out and updatin' this form online

Yah, this is da issue, eh? Folks goin' lots slower than the speed of traffic aren't what people are expectin'. They force other folks to make sudden corrections or lane changes, and cause accidents. We all have to decide whether puttin' other folks in danger with our behavior is OK, even if we're able to get away with it without wrecking ourselves. By and large speed limits in da U.S. are set too low, sometimes contrary to state law in order to enhance local revenue. Speed limits seem to have relatively little effect on either driver behavior or safety. What's most important is goin

LOL. Yah, @@T2Eagle, yeh got me there. That's a hard document to locate, eh? Point 15 on a page of small print on a document almost nobody will ever access. I wonder how often anybody actually lives up to Point #1: 1. We will submit changes to notify the local council in the event our itinerary or activity changes. Somehow I can't see 99.9% of da units out there botherin' to call or email the council every time the itinerary or activities on an outing get modified. Can't imagine what da council would do with that if it happened! I reckon this is a bit like those units th