SagerScout

Tell me about your proudest moments as a Scout leader or parent - either proudest ever, or recent proud moment - Watching my son volunteer to teach six dozen Webelos how to tie knots at day camp this year was a recent proud moment. Can't decide on proudest ever - maybe watching him at a very stormy summer camp last year - dealing with his lightning phobia. Or it might have been when he made Star. Or perhaps when he helped his buddy with HIS spider phobia. I dunno.

Light saber training - how cool! Gotta remember that one! We just did 20,000 leagues under the sea, with ocean themed activities.

KoreaScouter - My son, age 15, has expressed some interest in martial arts. He's a chair-potato outside of Scouting, and has a history of both asthma and severe anxiety issues - both under good control now, with only occasional medications. He rarely loses his temper - his sister can do it, but no one else. Is it too late for him to start? What should I look for in a dojo?

Swimming stamina is a function of two things: physical fitness and stroke efficiency. If you have less of one, you need more of the other. More lessons, to develop stroke efficiency, is a great idea. The boy can and most likely will, eventually, be able to pass the swim test as written as long as unreasonable expectations about speed are not established, and those around him are just patient with his developing skills. And it will do him good to try, assuming he likes swimming anyway as most boys do and assuming his doctor agrees (which surely he does since he's going for lessons). Why

OK, I guess I am going to have to talk to the OA advisor, as so many smart people have told me to do. The Scoutmaster told my husband at the last meeting that it was "too late" for OA elections for a summer camp tap-out next month. He says elections are held a year ahead of time- can that possibly be true? My husband feels he was just stalling since we only have 2 or maybe 3 boys in the troop that are even maybe eligible, none of them the Scoutmasters. I hate to sound like a parent seeking recognition for my own son but frankly, I am. I think he's been a great scout and a great

Almost all the boys in our troop managed to come up with full uniforms, mostly because the troop strongly supports doing honor guard duty at a couple of local ceremonies (Veteran's day and Memorial Day) and full uniform is unconditionally required for these events. Having caused the parents to spend the $$$, the SM is not shy about telling the boys to wear them to get their money's worth! I personally am the proud owner of both the uniform pants and shorts - but I find them both stiff, itchy and uncomfortable despite having been washed and worn quite a bit. The fabric doesn't breath

> No, but over 700 perfectly legal immigrants from potentially "problematic" countries were detained - without charges, and without counsel - for periods of up to 9 months, including a well-respected local physician. All were released, because hey! they didn't do anything wrong and we figured that out. An additional number - I don't know how many - were deported because they had been found to have overstayed their visas. (This, I have no problem with - rules are rules...) In Tulia, Tx, a large number of black citizens were imprisoned on drug charges due to the testimony of one

My troop had a scout not have his rank confirmed - I think it was 2cd class. The boy is young, and I believe he was flippant with the committee (most likely due to nerves). They asked about his 5 mile hike with compass, and he had no memory of doing it - and had no explanation of how it came to be signed off in his book. A few months later he made the rank. On the Eagle projects, I was a little surprised at what was considered an Eagle project for the one that was approved in our troop. The boy raised some money with a car wash to buy materials and plants to landscape a nursing hom

Ryon - congratulations for your election to SPL and let me tell you, I'm impressed that you are working at this so hard and trying to get this situation figured out. Sounds like you're on the right track with the games ideas,and silvershark and Eagledad are both giving you good tips. But if I have to guess I'd guess you're having trouble getting your patrols to do some real basic stuff- like plan meals for campouts and junk like that. If that's right, let me suggest that you put your main chore-type items in writing and hand them to the PL's. In our small troop,same size as yours, we

Applicable for any BOR, IMHO - Best time as a Scout? Worst time as a Scout? One boy at first class BOR said - Best = summer camp, hands down .... worst = honor guard at Memorial day service ... 2.5 hours at attention in uniform in hot sun. He then went on to add that the worst time really taught him something about respect for the miillitary and their sacrifices, and he was glad that he had done it. His eloquence on the subject blew away the committee members.

I've stopped filling in the voluntary race disclosures on forms, not that I'm embarrassed to be white but that I'm getting irritated at being asked to file myself in a subset of the human race. My beloved step-daughters, all half Mexican-American (Astec - how DO you spell that?) lived with us during their elementary years. The oldest, who looks like the model for a Disney Indian Princess, was a poor math student in 4th grade despite good attitude and effort. Concerned about her, I asked for several teacher conferences and was assured that the teacher felt she was doing just fine.

From other posts, it's reasonable to guess LauraT7 wasn't trying to be rude. I'm sure you agree that your severe asthma is quite a different beast than the mild and easily managed asthma that some have - and perhaps LauraT7 has only run into those asthmatics. Still and all, it IS worth pointing out that asthma is a condition that (a) is generally not curable, and (b) has the unfortunate potential endpoint of death. As the parent of a child with moderately severe asthma, I don't mean to minimize the risk at all. On at least 3 occasions my son's been a lot closer to going home to God tha

Random thoughts - I agree with fboisseau, this is a problem parent. If she can be put to work in another area during your meetings, thus allowing you and your wife to deal with her son directly, I would be willing to bet that it will help. It's the same concept as having her drop him off but without the exclusionary message. Code of conduct - absolutely a great idea. The shorter the better. "No hitting. No spitting. No namecalling. Signs up, mouths shut." Consequences listed. First offense, second, etc. Written apologies are good consequences for serious boy-on-boy violence or i

In other threads I have come out strongly in favor of enforcing swimming as an essential scouting skill, period. If my couch-potato, asthmatic son can pass that BSA swimming test, any boy can if he's got both arms. For that matter, I would guess that many boys without both arms can still do it. All that said, but... a) If I read the original post correctly, the boy does in fact technically meet the requirements for the trip (has his swimming badge)? The first question is whether or not the risk is real or imagined on the part of the parents. If the parents do see the risk as sig

After our Report to Austin parade, I took my son and his buddy, both still in Class A uniform, on the trolley and out to lunch. In both areas, members of the public greeted them with interest and enthusiasm, and yes, with far more respect than most 13-14 year old boys ever get. The boys noticed the difference in how others responded to them. One of them, however, then came to the conclusion and stated that he didn't mind the recognition in another city in his uniform - but he still wants to be sure none of his friends know....

Thanks for all y'alls help. It honestly had not occurred to me to try a weekender at the camp, that's a good idea. I'll run it by my son and see what he thinks. He likes the kids in this troop very well, but wishes they weren't quite such, ummm, homebodies. Last year we went to an out-of-council camp because I was hoping the SM's sons would be able to go, and they have an easier time with the flora in that area. They cancelled at the last minute. This year I told the boys we could go whereever they chose, and one of the boys would have gone back to Karankawa in a heartbeat but my son

We are already taking the only 3 boys who want to go to camp. The other 6 will not go because of one or more of the following: they heard it is hot, the latrines are dirty, their parents can not go because of work, there might be bugs, they might have asthma problems (which objection does apply to my own son, but we don't consider it a reason to stay home, just a reason to pack drugs), and mom has never heard anything good about camp. There's little reason to go for merit badges as the troop provides optional merit badge classes with very generous counselors on a weekly basis. My s

Well, I posted a reply under the other thread. My son likes the boys in this troop and they like him. I agree that it would be easier to start fresh but, well, my son likes the kids. So I'm in suck it up and try to fix it mode - which is why my husband and I took 2 boys to camp last year, why we're taking a big THREE this year, and why I keep trying to informally teach the other parents on the methods of scouting so they'd know them if they saw them. So far it isn't working well but they're not running me out of town on a rail either. I was kind of hoping in uncharitable moments that maybe

Thanks, everyone. For the general information pile, yes, I'm both a registered ASM and a trained leader. I'm also a volunteer in the GS program, and a volunteer trainer for the girl scouts. The SM is trained, and a great guy whose feelings I would never want to hurt - but he's of a personality that rejects information received that does not fit his world view. I found out today that we've had 4 boys drop out. Wonder why? So we're down to 9. My son's patrol is only 4 boys - one of them is one of the scoutmaster's 3 sons- but I'd be tickled to see them go camp together, and am perfect

OK, last year I started a thread about convincing parents about summer camp. As it happened, we took 2 boys that year, and they had a blast. (See OA advice sought thread) This year, the same two plus one young scout are going. The reason I think we have such a poor turnout? I believe it is the scoutmaster. His attitude has strongly discouraged his sons from trying it - which has also, of course, discouraged all the younger scouts' parents from letting THEM try it. I mean, the LATRINES are FILTHY. He actually said that to the troop and parents the night I was trying to promote signi

Our troop of 13 has exactly one OA member, who became an OA member when in another troop. He is active in the local lodge. The scoutmaster's 3 sons, all Life Scouts of 16 and17, are not eligible for OA as not one has ever attended a long-term camp, and I don't know if they've totted up 15 days total camping - if so, barely. They have severe asthma and outdoor allergies. They've had alternate badges approved for Eagle. For practical purposes they are the senior leadership of the troop - the oldest is SPL, another is the JASM, and the troop really doesn't have a functioning PLC. Althou

I've evolved to a few pretty small plastic tubs with lids. Used to use larger ones but they're harder to pack in the van and cause wasted space. Plus, if you limit the container size you can get away with a lot less than you think. Just THINK before you leave. Recent addition to the plan is an inventory list taped to the inside of the lid, and lid/tub crossreference numbers in paint pen. Helps the scouts sort out and check contents when coming home, and speeds up packing going out. We use yellow stickies to note deficiencies that need to be corrected before the next trip, or if somethin

What splinter organization did they join? what does it have that GS doesn't? My girls like the 2B bracelet but haven't looked at what they need to do to earn charms at all. julia

I rather like the GSUSA answer to this problem. The medications and dosages are listed on the medical form. The meds and the form go to the first aid adult in charge, in their original prescription containers with accurate doses listed. That adult does have a responsibility for making sure the kids get it when they're supposed to, but there's not a big judgement issue involved since it's all in writing. When that adult is ME, I put each kid's meds in a baggie with a stick on label and record the date/time of doses on the label. Yes, I guess there's a responsibility thing there but gee, it's n

Packsaddle - In my observation, you are QUITE right that a good shot of protein and a few calories will improve everyone's behavior and temperament, including the scouters. My middle son had many, many problems arise at around 11 am. He'd then race to the cafeteria for his pizza-and-Gatorade fix. Then he'd have more problems around 3 pm. He's not ADD, he's got an anxiety disorder, but they have some commonalities. Many ADD kids can hyper-focus - my son does that to the nth degree. He'd get into trouble for not being able to switch subjects on cue. I'll never forget the day he got in te