SSScout

So, from Scapoose.... Welcome to our ecrackerbarrel. We have eritz, ewheatthins and epretzel sticks, not to mention the echeddar and esmoked brie... Help yourself. What's on your mind tonight?

Great! Is this a National channel, or only local? How to convert to Verizon?

"...like minded Scouters..." HA! Well, some of us might be "like minded", but stick around long enough, and you'll meet enough "UNlike minded" to make your time well worth the price of admission. Welcome to the eCampfire... Pass the emarshmallows.... here's an old ecoathanger you can use...

He is eleven. He is in the 5th grade. He qualifies for Boy Scouting. If he can earn his AoL by the end of school, award it with a smile. If not, he should still pick out his Troop, join and attend summer camp with them. Do the crossover ceremony when and if appropriate, whether one boy or a dozen. Mark his "graduation" from Cub Scouting with some small pomp and circumstance, whether at a Pack Meeting, or Pack picnic, or formal OA exhibited "bridge". . He cannot continue in Cub Scouting in sixth grade, barring any extenuating circumstances. I believe your local UC and DE would be of the same opinion, but ya never can tell... Thank you for your service to your boys.

Oh, yeah, I saw lots of "Knotty Pine Racer" stuff awhile back, but this is all Oh-Fish-All BSA hologram logo labeled. I find it interesting that this whole rack is dedicated to Cub PWD parts. What's next... REI or LLBean selling BSA branded backpacks? Buster Brown BSA shoes again? Mebbe made in the USA... ummmm mebbe not.

We have a arts and crafts store in this area named "Michael's". Went in to get some craft material, and consider my pleasent surprise when I see a BIG Pinewood Derby display! Eyecatching! Official BSA material! Precut shapes! Multi color wheels! Axle aligning tools! All kinds of stuff! More kindsastuff than at the Scout store I visited just last week! All with the BSA holo logo on it! WooHoo! And (here's the good part), the display had partially empty hooks, indicating some sales! I unfortunately did not have the time to ask the manager about it, and my asthma always reacts when I'm in there anyway (too much fake flowers and greenery). Anybody else see any Scout stuff anywhere else besides the ScoutStore?

Knot tying competition: Set up a bar (?lashed to chair backs?), and label it's length with knot names. Each patrol lines up and each boy ties ONE knot on the bar to fulfill that name. Time the time to tie all 4 or 5 knots, divide by the number of boys to get the Patrol average. Award something to the winners, candy bars, free time at camp, trophy ribbon for flag, something. Blindfold the boys in teams of two. Set up a tent blindfolded. Same time competition (if they get finished!). Set up a scavenger hunt, inside or out, use nature theme or any other theme. Patrols meld the individual boys answers for a Patrol answer. Neckerchief slide workshop: learn how to make a turk's head , or carve some kits and paint them. Have a contest with awards and prizes during/after the next CoH. Ask the local school's art teacher to be the judge (impartial). Ask the local ice cream place to donate some coupons as prizes. McD's will do this, too. (PM me for our Troop's rules). Camp cooking: out in the parking lot, set up the stoves and cook dinner for the Troop parents. Make it an annual thing. Boys only, no parents allowed. Kim's game. Patrol cmpetition. Set up a display, large or small, of many various items. Cover it so it may be revealed and then covered again. Each Patrol is allowed to view the display for 15 seconds and write down what they saw. Winner is most accurate record of what is really there. (one tie was broken by remembering if the pocket knife was engraving face up or down). Now you see it: Like Kim's game, but in reverse. Set something openly, but in a different place or setting, in the Troop meeting space, and when the meeting is over, ask if anyone has SEEN it.

I had a SM way back when, (that is, way back when I did not realize what was done behind the scenes) that trained and trusted his PLs and SPL and ASPL. The rank cards I have in my Scout daze shoe box are mostly signed by the senior Scouts of the Troop, only sometimes by the adults. Did I know the knot? Sure, at least once. But then, we practiced it, setting up tents and dining flies. And also at Troop meetings, where the SPL etc. set up tasks and Patrol competitions so we could try out our skills and REALIZE how much we had forgotten since last month! Scoutson realized this when I told him "Tautline hitch, please" when lashing down the package of insulation to the top of the van. Or setting up the clothesline (environmentally sound laundry!). Or rigging his sailboat last summer. Looking back, I realize that thru my Scout career, I learned at least six different forms of "Artificial Respiration" and then "CPR". Each time, I learned a newer, more effective type. Each was demonstrably better, more able to acccomplish the task. The one time I was called upon to use that skill, I was the only one there who knew and I was glad I had practiced it when I had the chance. Knots, fire building and safety, signaling, CPR, knife and axe, plant and animal ID, dressing for the weather, being prepared ("why , for just any old thing") , it all has a purpose and a use. You just don't know when you might be glad to have that skill in your "ability toolbox". The skills are there for when we might need them, and need to be "tested" occasionally , just in case. We call this PRACTICE. Challenging the Scout to REMEMBER and USE the skill is easily as important as first teaching and testing him on that skill. The REAL test can't be predicted. Will the Scout pass THAT test?

Seattle, this is what it's all about. My only quibble is the title of this thread, as this is not an "alternate" , this IS the PWD as it should be: Boy centered, not just 'win' centered. And, yes, some dads will try to make it a live-my-life-thru-the boy. Best way around that is, as always, have a "unlimited" class. KIS MIF as always.

So we waded thru the chartering process, the DE and Council are happy, the DE calls and sez he has the Charters for the units I commish. Goody. I pick'em up. Now I call the Church Pastor, the CO IH (!) and say, " Howdy! I'd like to present you with the Charters for the 4 Scout units the church sponsors " and she says "Huh?" and we go and have a really good conversation. For the first time in many years, I arrange to have a formal presentation at one of the church services (sorry, didn't make Scout sunday). Correlate and coordinate the leaders (CM,SM,VCPrez., SShip Skipper) and have a nice Scout talk about the units here at the church. Each speaks alittle about their part, and the Pastor accepts the Charters (suitable for framing) and presto! We have a new presence in the CO. Shake hands with mucho folks afterward. How do YOU do it? Or wish it were done?

Since I have learned about the GS model, I have marveled at how successful they have been. As I have come to understand the BSA model, I have marveled at how much trouble we sometimes seem to engender. Once upon a time, I was a CM. We were going to have a JS night, so we rented the elementary school AProom and then thought, hey, let's invite the GS to join us, Brownies and Cubs, fun, more the merrier, recruit Scouts, right? Contacted the local GS leader (who was also the PTA president), made the invitation, and she said, quote, "oh, no, we have enough Girl Scouts, we don't want any more". I later learned of the one GS Troop, one number, one leader model (local Service area/Council "owns" it) and when compared to the BSA franchise model saw the wisdom of making a local organization responsible (no matter how closely or loosely held), I marveled that the GSA has existed as long as it has. BSA Scout units are by definition, multi age, self replicating entities. My home Troop is approaching 60 years old. RARELY does a GSUSA unit exist more that 10 years. The Daisies and Brownies are the unit that exists until (1) the leader(s) quit (it happens) and no one takes up the reins or (2) the original girls tire of the leader's program (they define it, not the national org) or (3) the girls graduate. Then that Troop ceases. Definitely, the BSA model is superior, as to local control with national standards. I think Mssrs. Beard and West had the right idea. GBBill, too, but that's another thread.

What Calico said..... Again, the first time customer is easy to get: past use recommendations, past reputation, special offers, pep talks, personal needs (however perceived), any business (and Scouting IS a business, even if a volunteer one) can get the FIRST visit. It's the SECOND and THIRD and FORTH visit you want. And that is obtained by good service, value for your money, meeting the customer's expectations and needs. In Scouting, we have two customers: the KID and the PARENT. Each has a different expectation and desire. The kid wants fun, a little adventure and perhaps , later, pride in accomplishment and skills gained. The parent wants (?) a sitter service, better behavior (thru our requiring responsibility for one's actions), outlet for energy, skills gained (cooking? knot tying? history learned?), and later, pride in their urchin's maturity gained. I hope. If the server (the dragon lady) is NOT serving these needs, but instead serving her own misguided desires, then guess what? the customer goes away, or finds another place to meet their needs: Heritage Girls, Yawana, Campfire, YMCA, wherever. Do the deed. Find this lady another job or just say"thank you for your past service" and give her the (metaphoric) Gold Watch. We know we have a good product. "They" know we have a good product. But if the product is corrrupted with a poor interpretation or other distention or misinterpretation, "they" will not come back. "If we build it, they will come", but they don't necessarily have to stay or come back .

Beat me to it. See the attached link for a neat compendium of PB video...

* Not that your Cub shirt has the same instruction tag, but I recently purchased a shirt that had the following "care instructions" on it: "Remove clothing article before washing and ironing. Wash in water, warm, with mild soap. Iron if needed, cool setting to avoid melting cloth".

Mebbe not so far fetched. Scout met animal ID requirement by cellphone picturing birds and tracks and signs to show to ASM. Not just in person any more... *sigh*

Here it is again.... If you own a restaurant, you don't so much worry about attracting the FIRST time customer as making sure they come back the SECOND and THIRD time and tell their friends about your beef stew. It's the same thing here. It is not so much why the parent might want the boy to join, but why would the boy want to STAY in Scouts? A boy doesn't join Scouts to "learn to make good ethical and moral decisions". Good googamooga. He joins to have fun, to have some adventure, to get dirty and pee in the woods. He joins because his buddy has told him about the white water raft trip he went on last fall. He STAYS because he went camping on the AT in the spring and got wet and exhausted on the canoe trip. If he learns to make ANY kind of decisions, whether they are ethical or moral, it will happen because he will be the recipient of the result of any BAD decisions he makes. Us adults should be there to be life guards, not so much tour guides. The Patrol Method is hard to implement not only because the adults won't leave wel enough alone, but also because the boys don't believe it when it is offered to them. From school, to parent, to community, everyone seems to tell our kids "no you can't". And they wonder at the lack of personal responsibilty exhibited by many kids at older ages.

Why our Troop doesn't sell PC: 1) Don't want to compete with Cub Pack (council champs!) 2) PC not perceived as Boy Scouty. PC is Cub Scouty. 3) Long time tradition of Christmas/holiday tree and wreath sales (use to do fresh, hot, donuts door to door on a saturday morn) 4) FoS promotion perceived as appropriate fund raise, as ALL goes to Council, to support camps, etc.. 5) PC product perceived as waaay over priced for what you receive. Better PC for less at Safeway, donate cash to Scouts directly (seems to happen alot at the sidewalk sales). Definitely perceived as a donation, as reported by CS Pack. 6) Even working with the Salesmanship MB, the boys still prefer the wreath sales. Prices are comparable to local store sales, but product seems better and prettier. 7) Scoutship does big spaghetti dinner once a year. Folks in the community look for it in October each year. No need for PC. More fun, too.

Oh, sore point indeed. Both I and Scoutson bemoan the lack of outdoorsy stuff in the present BSHB and FB compared to the older versions . I xerox pages out of the 1952 ed. of the FB (thank you, GBB) for my IOLS presentations. The council recently declared they would not reimburse for copying, but would do it for me for free, all I have to do is email it to the DE, and he will see to it. So , I learned how to scan, file, order, and divide the sent pages (too big a file for one email). Guess how that went?I still had to copy a bunch, reorder/collate them, staple them and three hole punch them. Even if the boys in the pictures look like they came from "Follow Me Boys" rather than "Glee", the pictures of axe use and fire building are classically simple and illustrative. The pages I supply are, in the words of my IOLS director, "value added". And then we have the OTHER IOLS director who wanted me to teach the Totin' Chip to our adult Scouters and then award the Totin' Chip to them. When I noted that adults cannot "earn" youth awards, she said that was not a concern, that the adults should have the "experience" so they can help the youth better....

Winningest adult unlimited car: Take standard PWD block, cut diagonal from front bottom edge to top rear edge, making a wedge. Round front corners, sand smooth all around. Install suitably polished axles and cleaned up "detailed" wheels, graphite/moly disulphided as allowed. Find a BIG bolt, about 3 or 4 oz. all by itself, and glue it far back on the top rear of the wedge, balanced such that the front wheels barely touch the track surface. Adjust bolt size to weight specs. For appearance sake, one can drill a hole in the rear of the wedge to accomodate the bolt. Watch it roll.....

Yes, a good feeling is understood and appropriate. Sounds like Comishoner material to me....

*sigh* See previous postings about redistricting "to better serve our youth". We are recreating three chapters out of one big one. Lodge (council) is, I think, unaffected. I say recreating because about three years ago, the reverse happened. We wish you well, brother.

Example.... Instruction.... working as a team.... learning that my goof off affects others.... mom won't be there to pick up my pieces when I'm grown.... taking pride in my own accomplishments, no matter how mundane or small they may be.... pushing myself a little bit farther (a LOT farther?).... I sub taught a PE class today... The first four periods were fun and the kids were cooperative. First three periods, they played table tennis in a tournament set up and the last two periods , we played a neat game called "blind volleyball". Problems began in the last period of the day. The boys did not want to cooperate or play by the rules. Girls (yes, it's coed, middle school) just followed along, so 15 minutes into the class I had to say "that's it! Boys to the lockerroom! Girls to your lockerroom!" I sat the boys down on the lockerroom floor and laid into them about everything from respect for themselves to mom and dad's taxes to why folks laugh at things to irrelevant comments to paying your way when you are grown and why are you HERE? (three possibilities)? And why are you so interested in Ted's footwear? Is it important for everyone to pay attention to YOU and not the teacher? I could see all of them were really surprised by my reaction to their "youthful exhuberance". Meanwhile, one of the regular PE teachers listened in the next door glassed in office. I could see some of them took in my diatribe with some seriousness, some kept giggling about it. "Hey , we get your message, can we go back in and play some ball?" What do you think? To some of them, this was truly a new thing. A sub teacher with an attitude and expectations? Detention? Hearing instructions? Following them? Doing what was asked AND expected? Me? Yes, you. I found I actually felt good when I was done. By done, I mean the end of the school day. I quit when they had 5 minutes left to street dress and get ready to depart school. The regular teacher told me I did good. He said, yeah, some of them "got it" and some never would, but I did the right thing here. PE class? A taught subject? Learn teamwork, handeye coordination, following instructions, having fun doing it, language arts, responsibility for one's actions, self control, helping others along the way, ... almost sounds like Scouting....without the camping.(This message has been edited by SSScout)

"Boys, I know sometimes you might think my Scoutmaster minutes are BOOOORRRRRiNNNG, but tonite I need to ask you an important question. When you email, or text someone, do you express yourself there the same way you would face to face? Or do you say things differently? Use, ummm, stronger language? Maybe try to act more, say, grown up because you think you can and not be called to task for it? Texting and email and such are NOT anonymous. Your name, your "cred" is attached. You know, the words you use, ANYWHERE, reflect on your reputation, doesn't matter whether they are vocal or electronic or on paper. If you are the source of words, say what you mean and mean what you say,but be ready to OWN them. Be ready to DEFEND them. Be ready to take the CONSEQUENCES for them. A Scout is Trustworthy and THAT means I am what I say. Now, go home and tell your mother you love her. Good night."

E: The flag will be put away in the Scout drawer, or framed and hung on the wall, or sewn onto the back of a jacket or.... The WBC that I staffed got "gifted" by some of the participants, but it was all privately done. One fellow made keychain wood pill holders (for lack of a better term)for all 20 of us(!), wood-burned with the date and WBC# . I received an engraved plastic garden trowel from one man who said he really liked my bugling (I was on QM staff, too). Several of the TGs received the signed patrol flag. Such was neither encouraged, spoken of nor decried. We accepted them graciously and said good bye and good luck to everyone.

"Well it ends" No, it doesn't. Even from the postings on this thread, I know it will not end for you. Scouting isn't about the beads (contrary to what you might observe). Or the patches (bumper sticker: "Will work for colorful scraps of cloth"). Or the singing with folks we've met along the way. It is for the boys, and you know that. This is just a bump on the road, and not a major historic marker to stop and read. I join with the others here and bemoan the lack of Scout spirit your WB staff seem to have exhibited. My WB TG was anything but non-supportive. When I thought I had most of my stuff completed, he emailed and phoned me many times to fine tune the result. When I didn't think I had finished the final ticket, he assured me that I had, that I had done all I could, and what I thought was a lack of finality was only a lack of appreciation by the rest of my District. Strange to tell, I signed no final papers, only received the certificate (wallet card, really) and arranged for beading at an upcoming Troop CoH. Use your talents, have fun, and wash your hands before meals....