SeattlePioneer

That's what happened --- he got a three month extension and went on to complete his project and get his eagle in good style. Perhaps others could both be SPL and complete their Eagle. Good for them. Personally I suspect my letter got him the extension, but I'm just guessing about that. There might have been other letters and other reasons I didn't know about. Anyway, I'm glad he got the extension When the younger brother of this Scout was ready to turn 18, the dad again asked me to write a letter asking for an extension. I passed on that one seeing no reason for an extension.

> Yep, that's right. I don't have that experience and I don't PRETEND to have it. Scouts are expected to live the Scout oath and law. It's NECESSARY that they do so for Scouting to work. Frankly, from the description given this boy is disrupting the Scouting program and chasing boys out of the troop. Maybe you want to hang on to that individual, I would not. As I said, I'd counsel him and advise him that he needs to live up to the Scout oath and law, and if he doesn't he will be suspended from the program. That might be a week should a first incident occur, two weeks the second time and a month off should a third incident occur. Something like that would be entirely reasonable in my view. I would not be overlooking any more bad behavior.

Personally, I think the JTE is a useful planning tool. As Cubmaster, I've discussed it with our Pack Committee Chair and suggested that we meet to review where we are with it's various issues. Unfortunately, that meeting has never occurred, despite my suggesting it several times. So it's a planning tool we aren't using in and active sense, unfortunately.

My council has arranged partnerships with Boeing for a program on a specific merit badge that put the technical resources and personnel of the company behind a first class program for Scouts. I'll bet they had a terrific program. The CEO of Alaska Airlines did the same kind of thing with an aviation related Merit Badge. Scouts had a chance to talk with employees from mechanics and pilots to executives to get an understanding of aviation and complete Merit Badge requirements. If a company wants to get behind a first class program for Scouts, I welcome it! These were both terrific opportunities for Scouts! A former CEO of Boeing sits on the council executive board, and he may have been on the exsecutive board when he was Boeing CEO. Boeing remains warmly supportive of Scouting in this area.

I had a Scout who was Senior Patrol Leader the entire time he was a Life Scout. He turned 18 in November and a new SPL was elected. He was interested in completing his Eagle award, and applied for an extension in time to complete the requirements, mainly the Eagle project. I wrote the council advancement committee what I thought was a persuasive letter, suggesting he'd had a choice of being an excellent SPL or working on his Eagle, and chose to be SPL. They gave him three additional months to complete the Eagle requirements, which he did. Then there was the Eagl COH. I wanted to schedule that ASAP --- the family, including dad who was Scoutmaster, wanted a delay to get the family together. That was in 2007 --- still no ECOH. I actually e-mailed this guy a few months ago offering to do a Court Of Honor to award him the bade at a district officers meeting, but got no reply. Perhaps he will get his Eagle awarded to him when his son is in Boy Scouts...

Keep in mind that the rule of thumb is that one bad boy can drive six good ones out of a troop. Most troops try to hold onto problem children too long, in my experience. In Scouting, you need to have boys who are OBSERVING the Scout law. It sounds like this boy has had the chance to learn and conform to the Scout law, and isn't doing so. I would counsel him and warn him that unless he is helpful, friendly, courteous and kind to other boys, and trustworthy towards adult leaders, he will be suspended for infractions. Then I'd do it --- with increasing periods of suspension should there be repetitions. Start now. Seattle Pioneer

It's not unusual for an activity to begin as a fun event and then be flogged into a losing program. Time to revise this event into something more useful and meaningful. What role do the old timers play in the troop and how useful is it? There's a good argument for having long term commitments by adults to support a troop, and to have means to recognize such service. But tyhat doesn't mean boring people for 3-4 hours!

> Keep in mind that when they went from red tabs to green tabs for Scout uniforms they got rid of two pieces of red tape. I don't expect to see THAT happen again!

Sounds like a great formula to relieve parents from contributing to outings by providing transportation.

Our Tiger Twilight Camp is held at the same location as the Cub Scout day camp, but this is in the district and no more than a 6-7 mile drive from anywhere in the district. The first two evenings the Tiger Twilight Camp starts a couple hours after the Cub Scout Day Camp closes, so the Tigers can use any activity without interference.

Yes, I'm also appalled at the number of adults determined to obstruct the rules of the BSA by burdening the right of parents to observe OA proceedings. Frankly, I'd boot every such person out of any OA leadership position they might hold. The wisdom of that OA rule is illustrated by the attempts to subvert it illustrated on this thread.

Is anyone getting the impression that new programs are being "rolled out" and traditional ones modified so often that things are losing focus and coherence?

Wednesday, July 20th will begin my third stint as the Tiger Twilight Camp Director for my district. I have eleven Tiger Cubs and partners signed up, and I just sent them out an opening e-mail welcoming them to the program. Anyone else leading or participating in a Tiger Cub Camp this summer? Anyone done this and had especially good experiences they would like to share?

Hello Scoutnut, My aim is not to get pack and troop leaders to help with Cub Scout Day Camp, but to have Packs and Troops adopt activities at Day Camp as things they do and are responsible for as a unit. One unit may like to take charge of the BB gun range, another woodworking, another cleanup after the camp is over for example. My theory is that if units do that a time or two, they will take ownership of it and take pride in doing an excellent job at those activities. My hope is that would be more stable long term than recruiting a string of individuals to do such things.

Boy Scouts are supposed to be "thrifty," which means Scouts raising the money for membership, gear and activities. That's the ideal, anyway. Billing the parents for money isn't SUPPOSED to be the program.

As Cubmaster, I made up our monthly plan of meetings and activities, basing it on previous years with some modifications. I e-mailed that to the Committee Chair for comment, and she said "looks good to me..." I've therefore e-mailed it out to Den Leaders for comment, along with suggestions for changes in monthly activities we can make to avoid repeating the outings and monthly activities too much. Their comments will be welcome and may result in changes. After that, I'll likely e-mail that out to parents before our meeting at the end of July which is aimed at program planning. This provides a good deal of structure to that planning meeting. If people wish, they can tear it up and start over, but I think that unlikely. Mostly I think it will provide a structure that will allow people to suggest their own ideas and understand where changes are likely to fit into the program. This Is Cub Scouts of course. We don't mess around with "Boy Leadership" so much, except that the program is designed to serve the boys of course. Any particular methods Cub Packs use to collect program ideas from boys?

I would look for someone with proven leadership skills. You want someone who has a record of saying what they will do and then doing what they say. Best would be someone with aq record of working with the day camp and with a history of helping to make it work. So look through your various volunteers for someone who has a promising record. That also suggests that day camp leaders should be on the lookout to identify potential day camp leaders and to bring them into responsible positions where they can prove themselves and develop a commitment to the program. Personally, I'm experimenting with asking Packs and Troops to take charge of particular activities, with the expectation that they will continue those responsibilities each year. Scouting is best done by making packs and dens responsible for doing activities, is my theory. It's tough to keep recruiting people as individuals, but packs and troops have resources they can bring to bear in carrying out programs. That's my theory, anyway.

I don't think the CEO of a corporation and the CC of a Scout unit have much in common. The CEO has extensive real powers to hire, fire and give orders. The CC main job is to find a way to manage the Scout unit with the cooperation of parents and volunteers. Deciding that an additional fee would cause Scout families to drop out of the program seems like a good reason for reconsidering a vote. Before I'd lose several Scouts, I'd look at patching tents and extending their useful life, or finding another alternative.

Tell him that completing a Merit Badge as a Scout isn't adequate qualification as a Merit Badge Counselor and ask him for examples of the qualifications he has in a particular Merit Badge or two. That answers the question of why you are turning down his blanket application and invites him to explain which areas in which he has a measure of expertise.

Lions and tiger and bears.... Oh my!

Our District Executive has been the Camp Director the past three years. Last year he invited district officer to the camp in place of the August district meeting. The District Chair and I took him up on that offer, and were squired around on a camp tour, riding in a gasoline powered cart. I didn't think anything of it at the time (how quickly one gets used to such things!) But it doesn't sound like a good idea after reading this thread...

Hello ghermanno, It;s the adults and perhaps some Boy Scouts who will be building the monkey bridge and obstacle course ---- for the use of the Cub Scout Day Camp.

The main power of a Committee Chair is to persuade people to work together to present a quality program for youth.

A pack for which I'm Commissioner has been building a monkey bridge for years at it's annual campout. This year, it's being incorporated as part of an obstacle course for the Cub Scout Daycamp. After getting a chance to practice various parts of the obstacle course, Cub Scouts will be timed on their completion of the course, and give a name tag with their time to wear for the rest of the day. I encourage Scout Troops to help get involved on presenting an activity like this at Cub Scout day camp each year. It's a good service project and you can use it to invite Webelos Scouts to a troop meeting or activity. An obstacle course would be a good boy leadership type activity, and I'll bet a patrol or troop would have a real spiffy activity for Cub Scouts after a year or two of practice.

Few Cub Scouts do well with flag ceremonies involving marching, in my experience. I have two alternate methods I encourage: 1: Scouts open a flag, as large as is suitable. Each Scout and adult in uniform takes a hold on the flag with their left hand, stretching it taught while it's parallel to the ground. Scouts salute the flag with their right hand and lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 2: Scouts form a ring around a flag on a staff, each holding the flag with their left hand while saluting with their right hand. Say the pledge.