SSScout

Came in late, but to summarize the good advice I've heard here and on other threads: 1) Not every Disruptive Scout can be "saved". Think of the safety and success of the Troop first. 2) Keep to the Scout Promise and Law and use that as the standard to hold the Scout to, and to point out to him as to his problem areas. 2A) Include the parent(s) in all your considerations. Often the parent has no idea what is going on with their urchin. 2B) Get agreement with the other Scout Leaders. Make sure they also see what you see. 2C) Include the SPL and other boy leaders (if they haven't come to you first) in your considerations. Often they see things you will never see. 3) When it comes time to say "no more", you notify the Scout, his parents, the COR and the DE and include the reasons, be specific. 4) If you learn the Scout wants to transfer to another Troop, and you have the opportunity to speak to that Troop, you might want to do that. 5) We are not mental health counselors, but sometimes we can be the shelter/sanctuary that troubled Scout might need. That said, protect yourself and your Troop. 6) Remember the "Youth Protection" guidelines. The evidence of child abuse takes many forms. In your desire to help that troubled Scout, you just might need to make a report to Child Protective Services. 6A) That said, remember to protect yourself from unwarranted accusations. 7) As Bob the Tomato said, "it's for the kids". You need to be there for the Scouts that can use you. See you on the trail....

Gee , it's nice to see the topic covered in the Faith and Chaplaincy forum. Oh, wait.... Seriously, it can be a good thing or a bad thing , depending on how one views our Constitutionally guaranteed freedom to believe (or not) as we are led . There is, in this new (or not so new) requirement, no requirement for the Scout to justify or defend whatever his faith requires of him/her or how he/she has fulfilled that faith. He/she only need to voice some connection between his/her faith and her/his actions. I like the previous "I follow the Scout promise/oath and Law" response. Very appropriate.

Julie Seton , Ernest's granddaughter, recently spoke at our District RoundTable. She just happened to "be in the neighborhood" and our RT Asst. Commish met her at another BSA presentation, and she graciously came to our RT. She has republished some of her grandfather's books, among them his autobiography , Trail of an Artist-Naturalist: the autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton You can contact her thru LinkedIn.

If Scouting is important to YOU, as an adult (regardless of being your son's parent) consider taking the training for ASM (two pieces, indoor and IOLS), besides the YPT. With that, you will have the imprimatur to participate fully in all parts of Scouting. Next, maybe Woodbadge, and then (perhaps) serve as a Commissioner. Your boy will be doing his thing with his gang (Patrol) and advancing as he will (I sense he will!). You, on the other hand , will be fully occupied and will be able to stay out of his way, but be able to support his (and the other Scouts!) efforts. See you on the trail!

I like the previous comment about "getting out of the one and done mentality". In a successful Boy Scout Troop, there are activities scheduled every month, if not every weekend. The Scout (and his family?) always have the option of attending or not. Hikes, campouts, movie nights with the Patrol, etc. it is up to the boys to plan and the adults to support. The Webelos Den is intended to be an introduction to this "boy led" culture ("you mean I can do that?"), but it doesn't always happen. One three mile hike and no more? Surely there is more than one park or neighborhood trail they can explore. Schedule them, with input from the parents (school calendar?). Let the boys decide if it would be fun, and let them convince the parent that it is a good thing to put on the calendar. Find another creek to pull crawdads from, another museum/zoo/historic ship to visit. Get a good tree ID book for yourself, or from the library, or enlist an uncle who can talk about how trees are important (?Scout Troop?) and point out that hickory or white ash (baseball bats!) along the trail. Scout Leaders are about OPPORTUNITY, not NECESSITY. All you can do is OFFER, and teach: By example, and instruction. What they miss is their lose, . Don't blame yourself too much. Oh, and go to RoundTable in your District. You will find sympathetic Scouters there, both successful (you define!) and trying hard to be. Learn from each other, enjoy each other's company. See you on the trail!

Any Council Camps up for sale?

On you it looks good. See you on the trail!.

Good to see the old gang back again... "Ya gotta have Heart!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry8CpIg2fvU

Wow, the lengths some will go to meet girls....

"BSA Breaks Ground on New Welcome Center for Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve" http://scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/bsa-breaks-ground-on-new-welcome-center-for-summit-bechtel-family-national-scout-reserve/ Thank you, Ruby family....

And likewise my congrats to the nascent Eagle. Does he sew on his own patches? :-)

Councils ARE the CORs. How would National justify that change? Council mergers are orchestrated by National, but the Councils are by definition (so I thought) separate corporate entities, incorporated in each particular state, yes? That is where Chicago and Owasippe got in to trouble, with National coming in and insisting that the Council Execs be replaced to National's satisfaction and trying to force the sale of the camp. How's Nantucket doing?

"Zealous Parenting , and its Fallout" /Emma Brown, Washington Post, Monday 19 October 2015 "Julie Lython-Halms noticed a disturbing trend during her decade as a dean of freshmen at Stanford University. Incoming students were brilliant and accomplished and virtually flawless , on paper. But with each year, more of them seemed incapable of taking care of themselves." http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-stanford-dean-explains-why-helicopter-parenting-is-ruining-a-generation-of-children/ar-AAfyij9 "MOMMY! That professor won't PASS me !!"

The Summit is one more opportunity. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer cherce, as the carny barker said. Brings up the problem visited in other threads: Promotion and use of Scout properties. If BSA had the membership to truly utilize the properties we have available (Philmont, Council camps, Owasippe, Bayport, etc. ) we might not have the problem of sell offs. Then again, if BSA promoted itself as the young person's outdoor adventure outfit, rather than the good citizen education outfit, we might have a chance to BE the GCE outfit by means of being the YPOA outfit.

Regardless of who "owns" the camp, it takes a large stretch for most Scout councils to think about and promote the use of Scout camps and reservations to non Scout outfits. School District "Outdoor Education" programs, college ecology studies, movie sets(!), private ceremonies and conferences, etc. We have a privately endowed park nearby, Sugarloaf Mountain, (Stronghold Foundation) that is open to the public for picnics and hikes. On weekends, when it gets busy, they charge a nominal admission. There is always a Guard, and a Patrol that keeps an eye on things and they are not shy about calling the police for troubles. Scouts use it for rock climbing training and Philmont training. They have an active volunteer group that runs nature study classes and ecology activities. Nantucket? Where would one go for a more natural beach area? Could they charge an admission and keep an eye on things? If it was not the flash and bling of the super touristy areas, I bet they could run it like a State Park and make it go when it was not a Scout Camp. Wood Badge? OA Ordeals? Beach camping? Reservations would be months, nay, years in advance....

If we sold heads of lettuce and Ranch Dressing, folks would complain about the species of lettuce (Ice Berg, Bibb, Butter, Red Leaf, Romaine....) and brand of dressing. It is candy. It is See's candy. It pays for Scouting. Should we insist that the staff in Irving sell more than the rest of us to prove their Loyalty? I want to see our (and they are "our") staff promoting Scouting and the activities (camping, hiking, canoeing, etc.) of Scouting to prove their value and worth.

As the RTCommish, I try to run my RT a bit like a Troop meeting. We open with a small flag ceremony, official announcements, then the "program" or breakout trainings. Time for closing, I give a short "SMMinute" ( might be humorous, might be more serious) which I generally read from a source (lots of inspirational, Scouty resources available) and then Scout Sign, recite the Scout Promise and "God speed home".... I also send out a weekly email that serves as our District Newsletter. I include a "teaser" at the top, a thought provoker, which also seems to present itself to me from many sources. Religious gospels, native American writings, Ernest Thompson Seton, Khalil Gibran, William Penn, Gandhi, Daniel Webster, old Scoutmaster Manuals, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Service, Baden Powell, Groucho Marx, some guy named anonymous, I find lots of inspirational stuff. My 1952 vintage Fieldbook has a lot of Greenbar Bill quotes. Even the most modern BSHandbook has some neat words to consider. "One finger cannot raise a pebble" =Hopi Indian = >>> go and discuss teamwork, cooperation, the need of the hand to use all the fingers AND the thumb to be really effective. Last time, I read a short story where the "moral" was not , as expected , that you could not lead a horse to water and make him drink, but maybe your job was to make him thirsty so he would seek his own water.

"Follow the money..."

Courtesy my time in the County Government, I have had lots of leadership training. Specific to my duties, and general. I took courses in college in the psychology of teams, culture of associations, and other sociology and such. I have "taken" WB and staffed WB, and talked to folks that have done WB in my Council and elsewhere. I even met a man that has a "hobby" of taking WB in many places around the country (he said this one was his 12th when I met him! He just liked comparing them and and camping out in various places. No, he was not a National Staffer)). Does it compare with the other training I have participated in? Sure, but this was Scout training, which gives it a different feel and point of view. However..... WB truly depends on the staffing. The WAYC game not withstanding, it can be very variable. The syllabus may be "standard", but the way it is done is never the exact same. One Wowser course may be followed in the same council by a sorry I came course. It can be a time to renew your Scouting Spirit, it can be a time to learn some new techniques or be reminded of old saws. One problem is when the Scouters come expecting to be told how to Lead Scouts, when what they are being taught is How to Lead and Work With Other Scouters so They can Let the Scouts Lead Themselves (Patrol Method?) . Doesn't always happen. Cost? Well, it should be a bargain, I think, but the length of time does add things up. Two long weekends of camping (cabins? platform tents?) , food (I thought we ate very well, and the staff did the cooking for the students!), materials (lots of handout and books to take home for perusal), space rental, usage of "things", souvenirs (yeah, patches, neckers, etc.) it adds up. It can be considered in light of "Cognitive Dissonance Theory", if you like, but most folks I have had contact with viewed their time as well spent and useful.

Our District sponsors a "Buddy Hike" Day. Every Troop is encouraged to invite Webelos to join them in a hike around a local reservoir , it is about 3.5 miles. We can get 50 or 60 (or more!) Scouts that way in one place at one time...Nature study is encouraged, bring a bag lunch. If all you do is "hike", one can do 3 miles in an hour. I am a guide for a local Parks' historic trail, and the 3 miles we do there, with stories and q&a takes about 3 hours!

Go to HDepot or HarborFreight and buy a 12'x12' or 12'x15' tarp. Make or buy (!) a dozen pegs. Make or buy (used?) four 4' poles. Sufficient sash cord. Lay out 12x 5 floor and stake out. Fold over the tarp, 4' up, put the poles in to hold it up, two poles on the outer corners, guy ropes out to brace it, you have a ground cloth and "c" shaped tent covering. Enough room under for your sleeping bag and pack, if you are not more than 6' tall. Custom fit your grommets. Write on the edge (in marker) which way the long edge runs, where to fold and stake for future reference. You can even set it up in the rain, by putting your pack and gear in it while you stake out the poles, etc. Inexpensive. The Troop of my youth made our own tarp tents: 8 mil black plastic (hard to find now), and one of the dads obtained a special mil-spec duck tape. We cut the plastic in 10x10 squares, lined the edges with the tape (two sides), ran a reinforcing line of tape down the diagonals, and set grommets in the edge every (?) 2 feet and at the corners and at the 3/4 position on one diagonal , so we could set it up in the "explorer" configuration. Dining fly, put two together for a BIG tent, cover gear, shelter two small scouts, etc. With care, one of these could last two seasons, and then it was a ground cloth.

'Would you tell me please,' said Alice, 'what that means?' The Meaning of a Word.... 'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.' 'That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone. 'When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.' 'Oh!' said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark. 'Ah, you should see 'em come round me of a Saturday night,' Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to side, 'for to get their wages, you know.' (Alice didn't venture to ask what he paid them with; and so you see I can't tell you.) "" ""

Had a doctor's appointment this morning . Checked in, sat down and looked to the magazine rack. Sonofagun, , BOYS' LIFE! First time I have seen that mag in a doctors waiting room! And it had the doc's address on it! AND it was this month's issue! AND they had a few past months' issues there too! Now there's a good sign of Scout promotion! Somebody gave the medical office a gift subscription, when I asked, they did not know who.... Thank you somebody! Now, where else could we give a gift subscription to?

A discriminating taste: "I refuse to belong to any club that would have me as a member" = Groucho Marx =

MtIBS: It was good to know your mom, if only by internet. She will be missed, I am sure both "here" and "there". I am also sure that her legacy is already being appreciated, tho it will no longer be added to. Please accept our prayers and condolences. Good Scouting to you!