shortridge

Yeah, the whole Scout-rank-by-color idea is ridiculous. If National wants to produce an Under Armor shirt with the BSA logo on it, fine. It's just like any other optional piece of over-priced clothing in the catalog. But leave the decisions about functional gear, activity uniforms, etc., up to the Scouts and their units.

The Powerpoint is here: http://www.nerbsa.org/filestore/regions/neregion/areanews/area5/ASSET_TASKFORCE.pdf

Realistically: Most kids at this age have memorized the Pledge of Allegiance (albeit with some quirks - "invisible, with liberry and justish for all"). They know their ABCs and can count. Unless a boy has a learning disability of some sort, there's no real reason why they can't memorize these things with enough helpful, encouraging practice. (The key being helpful! - not mom and dad or the DL browbeating him every time he screws up.) A DL and CM can help by making them part of the den and pack meeting openings. If everyone else around you is repeating the words, you'll pick it up really quick.

I would like to see that UN link.

BadenP, I agree with you on the "sacred trust" issue, 100 percent. < smacks side of head > Did I just say I agreed with him? Must be getting senile. lol... And I also agree with Eagle92 about how camps can change, and about support through the OA. What I don't buy into is the overall mindset that castigates people for attending OOC camps. Offer a better program and communicate it in an effective manner, and you'll get those units back. And the communication is key - I get embarrassed when I see some camping promotions efforts ... lousy videos with 10-year-old footage, brochures that haven't been proofread or spellchecked, Web sites that don't have updated info and are hard to navigate. That's entirely in the pros' bailiwick. After looking more closely at this case, it sounds like there are two major unanticipated capital projects that are just massive budget-busters (a leaking dam and failed septic system - ugh). I'm not sure how stronger attendance from in-council units over the last 10 or so years would have helped that, unless the council had built up a really strong camp maintenance fund or endowment. And whose council has done that?

The Northeast Region, with the support of the National Council, recently conducted an in-depth study of camping operations throughout the region. As a result of that study, they developed a list of the fifteen traits of successful camps, dealing mainly with finances, attendance, and proximity of other councils properties. A no answer to any one of the items was a red flag that something needed attention. We had nine red flags on the list. Additionally: Is anyone familiar with this study and its results, more broadly for NER? Or about the 15 traits of successful camps?

Supporting your council camp doesn't automatically translate into attending it. If the program stinks, the facilities are sub-par and the leadership poor, why should anyone go to a given camp? Scouts' summer camp experience shouldn't have to suffer just because of some misguided notion of loyalty. (The second part of the Scout Law does not require blind loyalty, folks.) Troops and Scouts vote with their feet, as they should. This may be a case where it really *is* up to the professionals, not the volunteers, to strengthen and then aggressively market their camp as a destination. Strengthening without marketing or marketing without strengthening isn't going to get you what you need, which is a full camp.

Maybe I'm just a little old-fashioned, but the talk of intentional group advancement work in this thread has made me a little uncomfortable. The way I see it (and I know this is a bit of a rosy-lensed view) it's the Scout's responsibility to advance, or not. It's his job to both complete requirements and keep track of what he's completed. The troop's job - and the jobs of the PLs, ASPL, SPL and other troop-level leaders, including Instructor and Troop Guide - is to provide a fun, exciting, engaging, interesting program. That program should ideally provide an organic, natural arena in which every Scout can - if he wants to - learn skills and earn rank. But no Scout should be passed along on a pre-formatted program meted out by others. I despise MB universities and mill summer camps, and in my mind, this concept of printing out reports, checking what requirements Scouts "have left" and organizing events for the explicit purpose of checking those items off smacks of just the same mentality. Knot Head wrote: "Star & Life know what they need and have to make a plan to go get it." I agree - but shouldn't T-2-1 Scouts also be coached on knowing what they need and making a plan to get where they want to go?

JoeBob, Any time someone's told me "It's for your own good," I look at them kinda squinty. It's never true ... not even when my mom told me to drink that awful cherry-flavored medicine! Re: the BSA's place in "flag lore," I'd have to disagree. Yes, some units, camps and local jurisdictions do perform retirement ceremonies. But it's not part of the program. Just because a few do it doesn't mean we all do. Trying to wrap that argument in terms of a universal practice just doesn't fly for me.

JoeBob wrote: If a father in BSA, a group which holds a special place in the lore of the US Flag (Flag Retirement)... Can you explain what you mean by this? The BSA does not have a monopoly on flag retirements. It's not one of a select few groups chosen to perform them. Flag retirements aren't even a mandatory part of the Scouting program. Someone could conceviably spend years in Scouting as a youth and adult and never even see a retirement ceremony. I'm just a little confused.

dg98adams, So how do you know to stress that? ;-)

Love the cold and love camping in the cold. It never snows around here enough to build igloos, but we get water bottles freezing overnight. It's a neat challenge to bundle up and stay warm. And besides, you can almost always add insulation and put more layers on. In the heat of the summer, there's only so much you can take off before the cops are called.

My mother, who works as a children's librarian, reports that Facebook has largely replaced e-mail as a form of teenage communication. They don't check their e-mail except maybe once a week, if that.

jet, In the example the OP provided - where a couple Scouts may be short a requirement or two for the next rank - updating a database after the BOR wouldn't really accomplish the goal of figuring out what they needed.

Oak Tree and Eagle92 hit it on the head. Keeping those records is the Scout's job, no one else's. No need for TroopMaster or any other adult-run recordkeeping software. He can create a backup record on his own by photocopying the pages from his book every couple of months. Cost? 50 cents at the local library. The Scoutmaster can get the information about what Scouts need simply by asking the SPL to ask the PLs to ask their patrol members. That's much simpler, time-efficient and cost-effective. Oh, and it strengthens the patrol method. Much better than having Scouts report to Mr. Jones with his laptop at the back of the room every time they get something signed off.

Kissing the flag? I dunno about that. An accident is an accident. Would you kiss someone's foot if you stepped on it inadvertently, or just say, "Ooops, I'm sorry!" and be extra-careful not do it again? But kudos to everyone here for not perpetuating the touching-burning bit of urban lore, or imposing other nonsensical, nonexistent flag regs on their Scouts. There's enough of that floating around among veterans' groups and other people who should really know better. Regarding teaching flag ettiquette in general, I've found that it's extremely effective not to mention the word "ettiquette." Instead, call the program "Rules of the Flag" or "Flag Use." Heck, I can barely spell the word half the time, and most Cubs aren't going to know what it means. To help my den understand how to properly raise and lower the flag, put it at half-staff, etc., my old den leader made a small-scale flagpole with a block of wood, a dowel, small screw-rings, string, safety pins and a tiny cloth American flag that we could practice on. It really helped us visualize on a Cub-size scale just how to do it properly before practicing at a real flagpole. I generally start off with a short talk about the parts of the flag and what they represent, do some hands-on flag-folding, then head to the flagpole. If you have access to some flags from the past to show how it's evolved, that's always very interesting.

cryskiel - Tangentially, I would also concur with comments in another thread and strongly encourage you or your husband to give up one of the two jobs. Even though you've got a small pack, a married CM and CC is not a good combination, IMHO. It can lead to even more drama despite the best of intentions.

- Instead of trying to outfit each of your Scouts in a complete older uniform, get a used mannequin and set him up with an old-style uniform - the basics described by BP, before National Supply was even a twinkle in James West's eye. You can get or make similar items for cheap. - The Scout stave used to be a huge part of the uniform. Make it a program emphasis for your patrols to create their own. Kudu's inquiry.net and some other threads here on staves/walking sticks have some great ideas on jazzing them up and making them very functional.

This may be a bit off-topic, but IMHO, part of the "commissioner issue" is that the entire commissioner system is, by and large, a foreign thing compared to the other organizational systems we're used to. From school to college to work, we're used to a top-down organization. Principal-teachers-students, president-professors-students, sports team owner-GM-coach-players, CEO-managers-worker bees. The idea of student troubleshooters or team EMTs is just not something we're used to. So few of us know how to relate to such people - and even fewer people know how to effectively operate in those positions, since they're without any real authority.

Both approaches sound like good ideas - maybe ask each Cub to donate a bear, and then do a collection drive. Given that it's a 100th anniversary project, though, you might want to wait until after the holidays to kick it off, to avoid conflicts with Toys for Tots drives, etc. You'll still have plenty of time in 2010 to get it going. You could always do a 'soft' start now and do the public drive next year. Don't forget working with the local media! If you can put together a kickoff event with the local highway patrol and have a trooper on hand who can talk about the importance of these bears, that would be a great hook for the press.

What would be the rationale for such a change? I don't get it.

Someone in another thread (I can't find it at the moment) recently said that the PL is the highest job in the troop. I really think that's the best way to look at things and approach troop structure - not as a troop, but a group of patrols that unite around certain themes and goals and missions. More the Confederacy than the Union, I suppose. In a troop without true patrols, or with very weak patrols that disintegrate and get melded into some sort of cobbled-together group for camporees and competitions, the SPL is going to be the top dog, effectively the patrol leader for the entire troop. But in the best-case scenario, I don't really see a need for an SPL. Thus, the PL's job is both the functional and perceived top position in the troop.

Thinking about this some more ... wouldn't it make more sense to require First Aid Merit Badge before tossing in a WFA course? That way they'd have the basics down pat. Right now, you don't have to earn First Aid until right before you get Eagle.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

I did appreciate this bit of candor in the article, however accidental it may have been: "And the new Boy Scout shirts have a pocket on the sleeve that is designed to hold an iPod." As far as Cubs doing some achievement work during den meetings, there's nothing new about that, from my experience. We always did some achievement- and activity badge-related programs as a den, whether it be physical fitness tests, knot-tying, building birdhouses or whatever.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

I may be reading too much into your post ... but it sounds like she might be looking for an adult male to mentor or be a "Big Brother" to her son in place of or to supplement his father. If that's the case, suggest she look into Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which can provide that one-on-one relationship. Scouting's just not set up for that. We can provide support, friendship, role models, group association and fun, but perhaps not what she's looking for. Youth Protection kind of precludes that type of thing.