rdclements

I helped organize a district webelos woods weekend camping event for several years. It was a lot of fun working with a scout staff group to develop and promote the program each year. My favorite part was at the kickoff meeting on Friday evening (cracker barrel) when all of the info and instructions were delivered by the scout staff. It was fun to watch the uninitiated adults try to come to grips with the reality that the guys in charge were 14-17. I had many conversations with adults who were uncomfortable with being nudged into the observer role, but some began to see that if an event fo

A couple of books that I recently re-read that touch some of the underlying causes of declining membership. Maybe we can spin off a book club thread. Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. http://www.amazon.com/Last-Child-Woods-Children-Nature-Deficit/dp/156512605X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277384929&sr=1-1 If you're over 40, you likely grew up playing outdoors from dusk to dawn in the summer. Youth today think of team sports as outdoor time, but we had a lot more outdoor time that was unstructured. There are

The behavior that you described from this man is not acceptable - in scouting or anywhere for that matter. What you have described is bullying and there is no place for it here. With your position (COR) and your husband's (CC), come certain responsibilities. The most important responsibility is to maintain safety for all involved in your unit, especially the scouts. Who serves as leaders in the unit is your decision. Sorry about the inconvenience, but that's the job. Go to the council office and have this bully removed from the roster today. Inform the head of the charter org, because l

Trying to convince a stubborn scoutmaster of anything is a waste of time. Realize that Venturing is significantly different from boy scouting. Venturing Crews can cooperate with Troops for some activities, but to be successful, the crew needs to have an independent program that attracts and retains members on its own. I have encountered many scoutmasters and other troop-affiliated adults who considered a venturing crew a threat to their membership. The reverse is actually the case. If older scouts in the troop are ready to leave, they will. Retaining youth in the troop because they don't

A few years ago in my council, there was a very public scandal about some of the pros exaggerating membership numbers - that is a whole other topic. When the council exec was let go, the local media reported his salary. Once that number was out, I heard from a number of folks who decided to keep their future FOS contributions for more unit-focused purposes.

I agree with you Bando. I would like to know why they felt this was a good idea. -R

I know a unit very well that has taken the policy thing too far and it has wrecked them. They started out with the best intentions - to put together a summary document for the new parents. Now everything is run by adults. The patrol method is dead. The Scouts do not feel drawn into leadership and problem solving because everything is already "in the notebook." Signing up for an outing requires multi-part forms or filling out an spreadsheet online. Merit badge classes are common - "You better sign up soon because this is the only CitNat class we're doing this spring." Now they are

I guess this shirt is meant to go along with the gray switchbacks. http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=UNIFORMS&C3=USHIRTS&C4=&LV=3&item=VENTSHIRT&prodid=VENTSHIRT^8^01RTL&

It sounds like a great oppty for your scouts to figure out a solution. What materials they need to carry, how to mark the areas, etc. Being a respectful neighbor with other users of the area is good practice. However, these safety practices work: on past outings it was not our youth who ran into trouble, but others in the area who needed our assistance.

Scout units don't need bylaws, or behavior contracts, or parent rule books, or whatever other names are used. Everything needed is already in the BSA leader books and training. Unit rules just encourage poor adult behavior. -R

When I was a youth member, there was a guy (Pierce) who claimed to be a Nazi and used to walk around spouting off about Hitler. Nobody would hang out with the guy and he eventually went away. A couple of the adult leaders were revealed to be in a gay relationship even though they were married with children in the unit. As youth, we didn't care, we just wanted to get to the next outing. As a SM, model the behavior that you want to see your scouts teach others. Spend time getting to know your scouts and then when one starts getting into extreme areas, you'll know if there is a need for

Your comment about discussing this matter with the committee concerns me. This can easily be handled through the Scoutmaster conference process and the good suggestions made in this thread. If this becomes a committee matter, you run the risk of damaging this scout's reputation beyond repair. You could also be inviting the committee to get engaged in Scoutmaster business and it only takes a day of watching this forum to see how that can go. -R

Safe Swim Defense is easy to apply to this situation; I'm sure that you'll be able to adapt to the conditions that you find. I don't get why a scout group would want to keep safety practices invisible to others. -R

A great source for ceremonial music is the US military service bands. Much of what they record is in the public domain and available for free downloading from their web sites. In addition to patriotic classics, they also have some great arrangements of popular songs, jazz, and some original pieces. It takes a little time, but you can build a great ceremonial music library for those special occasions. United States Army Band: http://www.usarmyband.com/Audio/army_band_mp3_selections.html United States Army Field Band http://www.armyfieldband.com/pages/listening/downloads.html

The BSA med form has a release to the unit leaders about dispensing meds, but I don't know if it has been tested. It is certainly a place to be really careful. While HIPAA regulations were created to address electronic medical records, any health information matched with an identity (name, address, SSN, etc) qualifies as Protected Health Information (PHI) and is covered. HIPAA covers any information about your past, present or future physical or mental health - including information about payment for care. Paper records and even oral conversation are covered. This is necessary because

Depends on several factors: maturity of the scout, how critical are the medication and dosing timings, preferences of the parents. You also need to protect the scout - not just HIPAA regs, but basic respect of privacy. A troop that I knew had a morning ritual at summer camp with a line of scouts waiting to see the mom (ASM) who was holding all the meds. Some guys were too embarrassed to stand in the medicine line so they begged their parents to stop the meds during camp, or chose not to come to camp. Neither was a good solution. In another situation, the camp staff was screen med

Many of the FRS/GMRS units have weather radio monitoring features that let you hear the recorded broadcast. Some also have alert features. It's helpful because you end up carrying only a single device. For a dedicated weather radio, the cheap ones (~$20) offer monitoring only. Expect to go double that to get alarm features. I have used the Oregon Scientific WR602 and the Midland HH54. Both are easy to use and offer alarm features. The SAME option is nice because you can select what counties you want to monitor for alerts. Obvious limitations are battery life, ruggedness, and ra

When I was a Cubmaster, I wore a different slide to each meeting. I tried to tie it into the evening's theme. Any little toy or trinket can have a PVC ring or pipe cleaner hot glued to the back.

I often give a Gerber multitool as a high school graduation gift. One of the young ladies in Venturing thought it to be too masculine of a gift item - until she got to her college dorm room and found lots of little things to tighten up and had walmart kit furniture to assemble. Her Gerber became the most sought after item on her hall. Congrats to your daughter.

Beaver's observation about loyalty to the SM is helpful to remember because these situations get personal very quickly. I agree with Nut, that a little chat with the SM is needed in order to determine if he understands that he is out of bounds. If that doesn't wake him up, then the COR/head needs to join the conversation so that it is clear what direction the church wants this to go. My church is also my CO, and would not permit this behavior. You need to get a clear determination that the unit leaders are acting in accordance with the CO mission.

RJ- When I was working with Webelos scouts, we did several rocket activities. We learned about forces and aerodynamics and learned about electricity by building our own launch controllers. We also made altitude trackers from plastic protractors, PVC pipe, and fishing gear - and learned a little math :-). We also learned about water safety while retrieving some rockets from the lake at camp. In addition to the online retailers already mentioned, and the Scout store, I've also picked up bulk pack kits and bulk pack engines at Michaels and Hobby Lobby stores. Check for online coupons f

Storm in a tea cup it might be, but if it's your cup it might be a pretty big deal to you. From the OP, her son is 15 and a Life Scout. We need to get that boy in a positive situation where he can learn and grow. In my experience, a Scout is a pretty detector of loser adults. I don't know if they should all be retired, but the losers that this poster described should be. There is far too much positive to be gained from scouting to allow petty adults to rob the youth of their potential. Getting rid of the losers makes room for other who get it. The youth are the largest group of volu

This discussion has roamed around a bit, but includes many valuable points of view to consider. Although your Life Scout should be more careful who he chooses to do battle with, this problem started long before the campout dish washing incident. The 'advisor' you described is a bully. Through his actions he has demonstrated a lack of understanding of the scouting program. He does not bring any value into working with youth and has earned his retirement. The CC has been managing by intimidation, removing and reinstating the SM and allowing himself to be influenced by the advisor bully.

I was aware of a similar event a while back. The routine was that patrols took turns being having the cleanup job after each meeting. A couple of guys shirked the job. In response, their patrol leader and conferred and decided that the patrol would serve again at the next meeting. The 2 shirkers got appropriate heat from their fellow patrol members for failing the patrol and the point was made. When it works, it works well.

Good suggestions about ordering online. If you have a busy unit, get a tackle box and keep a few of the most common items on hand. Then you're not rushing to fill an order to meet a deadline, just restocking. Many units do this so that they can present rank insignia as soon as possible after it is earned, rather than waiting for an individual patch to get purchased. -R