SagerScout

On the volunteers issue, visit the local roundtable and seek out some older Boy Scouts with fond memories of cub camp. If you're lucky, you might even get a parent or two with them. I know my son (15) is looking forward to volunteering at cub camp this summer, as he's passing up both a church retreat and a beach campout to attend. And don't rule out the boys that seem a little ADHD, might not be a leader in their own troops yet - they are often very much in touch with what's fun and what's not, and can do very well in a leadership role with younger kids. Just be sure to make your expectatio

Thanks, Bob White, I was indeed confused but am no longer. So does the venture crew require a CO and a separate charter?

OK, I cannot conceal it. My whole idea of naming the adult patrol is to try to get the adults to focus on their own knitting so that they will get out of the boy's way. I can't imagine competing with the boys as such, although if they choose to take it as a challenge that our tents are up before theirs and our area looks neater than theirs, that is perfectly all right with me. We don't really have a functioning patrol with elected leadership.

OK, guys, fess up. What is the name of your adult patrol? Geezer patrol? Dunlop Patrol? (patrol flag clearly showing an adult with what dunlopped over the belt...) What's the best name y'all ever saw? Because I want to steal it. julia

OK, Bob White's response inspires a question that has always bugged me. Two-deep leadership equals two adults at patrol meeting. OK, I'm down with that, it's just like the girl scout rule. But for a merit-badge counseling: Two-deep leadership can equal one adult plus 2 scouts. Now, that seems OK to me too. But it isn't the same as the other two-deep rule. What's up with that? And while we're on the subject, how exactly do patrol meetings without adults present occur? Most of the parents in our troop would never consider letting their boys attend a meeting without a parent ar

One of the young men in my son's troop wants to start a Venture crew. It makes sense for several reasons, I think his main motivation is the opportunity to involve girls, but he's also 16 and looking at only a couple more years as a boy scout and he doesn't want to give up the "fun" yet. (I'm having fun as an ASM but he doesn't know that.) His older brother is 17 and the "end" is near for him also...we think his Eagle COH will be this summer, and although he's not going anywhere yet, I'm too aware that the months add up to years in no time. We have other scouts in the troop in the 14-16 ag

If you can find a thrift-shop pair of shorts the right color that will go on ok - without having to zip them up, we're just worried about the rear view - it's a matter of about 20 minutes with a scissors and sewing machine to put in a maternity panel in the front. You don't even have to do a very good job since it will always (we hope) be hidden with your oversized shirts. I modified some less-than-favorite jean shorts this way eons ago when I was pregnant and it was very easy.

I'm in the camp that says good on you to this boy. I am wondering how much adaptation of requirements was given for cycling, hiking, and camping. My son, who only has asthma and NOT c.f. (thank you God, we thought he had it for a while as an infant and it scared me to death), has problems with the physical rigors of these and a few others. I know that alternate badges are offered for Eagle for those who cannot meet the requirements of a badge - but that would mean he hasn't earned them all. Just curious. It does not seem out of line for him to have earned all the other ones, sin

Also a Certified Industrial Hygienist (small world, eh? - thanks for explaining it) I used to work as a wage slave, spent 9 years in a consulting firm that did gov't contracting for DOD and spent other years as a corporate SHE director (safety, health, environment). Now, I work out of my house as an independent consultant, still quite full-time or perhaps a bit more than full-time. My 15 year old Star scout is home schooled - thankfully, he doesn't need much teaching intervention. My 13 YO daughter is in public school; and my 19 YO son is in jr. college but still living at home. In my s

Eagledad - In a lot of ways, in our society as it now exists, I think it is easier for a woman to model self-sufficiency and independence and camp skills - the "masculine" traits - than it is for a man to model the nurturing traits more often associated with the "feminine" side. However, it can be done to everyone's benefit. One of the finest Girl Scout leaders in my area is a dad. His wife is sadly quite severely disabled with ALS, and it has thus fallen to him to be the Girl Scout dad for his daughters. He's great. His troop loves him. His daughters are growing into some of the sw

bmchugh - You are right, I was responding to a later posting than your thread-starter. The conditions you describe are just about exactly what I described as those that would make me feel discriminated against. Johnsned's post explicitly said that the sleeping arrangements were described in the course materials, which to me was the salient point - it offered fair warning and would allow you to make your own choice. At any rate, congratulations on rising above this disheartening experience and finishing your ticket anyway. julia

I second the advice to go to CPS, if you are quite sure that the council will not respond.

Now, now, scouters. Even though I personally am fairly thin-skinned about the female discrimination thing, being female and all, I don't feel offended by the conditions Johnsned outlined, for the simple reason that he says it is stated in the course information. Warning given - like it or not, there it is. I can choose to attend under the conditions described or I can choose to stay home and try to make the next course. Either way, it's my choice. Thank you, fellas, for your support of women in the BSA, and I do appreciate it, but as far as I personally go you may reserve your outrag

Parents should not be directing troop activities at all. Neither should you as scoutmaster. If that is your concern, I'm guessing you have reason to worry that this is already occurring. Your biggest concern should be how to convert the parents from leaders to support staff so that the boys have a chance to be the leaders.

A scout in our troop was told by the Eagle board in emphatic, no-argument-allowed terms that neither he nor any other boy in the troop was to touch so much as a powered screwdriver in the completion of his Eagle project. Manual screwdrivers only. I am not making this up. This is the same council that jumped on us for failing to have 2 adults in the living room supervising scouts - age 13-16- that were watching TV on a break from a troop garage sale. The adults were manning the sale in the front yard, 10 feet away. I'm not making this one up either. Since said project involves

We were told this also when my son was a Webelo. It didn't make sense to me after reading the fundraising guidelines, which I thought were fairly clear about providing goods or services "at a fair price." That said, we followed our council's instructions and went on the "donation" basis. And were surprised to find that we made enormously more than we would have had we established pricing -$200 in a matter of a couple of hours, on probably no more than $75 worth of cupcakes, brownies and such at normal bake sale pricing. Yes, a few folks (mostly young children) scammed off with giving a

Our local Baptist church is a stong supporter of Scouting and hosts the local roundtable.

Our CO, a homeschool support group, is "morally supportive" but is a shoestring operation itself run by and for people who are for the most part struggling to get by. Contrary to popular belief, homeschoolers are NOT usually independently wealthy, many if not most are one-modest-income families rather than one-good-income families. My family is not the norm as we have one-and-a half incomes and one of them is pretty good, making us positively wealthy in this outfit. So while they hold the charter, they are not chipping in with change or recharter fees or anything like that.

We just finished the GS cookie sale and I have to say, pushing those cookies is a heap sight easier than selling popcorn. The troops locally don't keep a big % but the council does very well indeed. And even a small percentage times a couple thousand boxes can add up for a hardworking troop. Didn't describe mine this year, but hey, we'll just go cheaper places. It is absolutely true that people seek you out - my former employer from 1999 tracked me down for his Trefoil fix (and that's not even the most popular cookie!) Meanwhile, my son struggles to sell even a minimum quantity

I was hoping Bob White would have an actual book answer. I know the book answer in Girl Scouts - it goes by age, period, regardless of developmental delays or the reasons for the delays. I have a Senior Girl Scout in my troop who is significantly delayed (she's 16, reads at maybe 2cd or 3rd grade level), doesn't matter, she's still a Sr, wears the uniform of a Sr., works on IPP's like a Sr, is a Program Aide like a Senior. Activities are modified to fit her abilities - she doesn't read well, but understands oral language much better. So other girls read stuff to her when necessary. Wri

I know not all parents are like me, but MY kids had to learn to swim comfortably in deep water without aids such as noseclips or goggles before I let them go out in a boat or to friend's swim parties. It was a parental requirement, not unlike the requirement to do homework or clean their rooms. My reasoning was that a panicked child can manage to drown with a flotation aid on, and a calm one can survive even without particularly good swimming skills. That meant that they had to get over the wet face fear. My three children accomplished this level of competence at the ages of 4 (first

Oh, yes, and I did experience more than one incident in which a more sensitive female could have taken offense earlier in my career: 1) Theoretically competitive interview for a field tech service job - asked repeatedly how my husband would feel about me having to go out "drinking with the boys" to help the chemical company's tech service operations. My competition - a man - was only asked how he'd feel about a 10% raise? For the record, my employment history at the time had three five-star reviews on it with maximum raises, he had several reprimands for various offenses including two

I'm female and hopefully less likely to be punched out by a drunk. I might out-and-out say it " That's NOT funny." Or I might use the frosty glare approach, a more refined version of communicating the same thing. Irrelevant who said it. On the last situation, of course Joe honors his real bosses' instructions and observes the Jewish holiday, after first doing his best to cover his absence to do his duty to his employer. If he gets a black mark on his review, he climbs up the management ladder as far as necessary to fix it. If that doesn't work, there's no end of attorneys willing to hel

The games and physical activity at the first of the meeting may actually be working against you as many kids that age have trouble settling back down. Their slow-down switches are disconnected. I suggest you re-structure the meeting in this way: Make sure the body of the meeting allows a reasonable level of motion. This means boys change their positions in some way every 10 minutes, 15 at the outside. In other words, stand at attention for flag, of course, then on one foot for announcements, then sit down for craft activities, then allow them to work standing or sitting or crosslegged on th

Glenn- you sure sound like a nice guy! Thanks for being concerned for the comfort of your women volunteers. Here's how I see it as a woman volunteer myself - I think Laura's points are valid - a mom in a sweatsuit wrapped in a sleeping bag is not likely to stir the fantasies of any teen boys, and in an emergency situation such as a blizzard coming in and extreme cold common sense should prevail. However, for routine winter camping, I think female scouters should "Be Prepared" with their own lodging and sleeping gear. I don't wish any boys or men on this forum to take offense, but