Sturgen

im less worried about checking the packs and more worried about your adults, why are they doing so much, if it wont kill the boys let them make a mistake or two, i would ask that you rething your one winter campout, why not say 4 or 5 that way they learn quicker, as an adult leader it is your job to keep them alive the best way to learn is through mistakes and i promise you when they learn that jeans arnt a great idea for a winter hike, they wont do it again, from the sound of things your at a scout resident or other type of camp that you can drive into, so you have a saftey net of a car so if

may i suggest ventureing, if the boys are still interested and are a life as of 18, they should still be able to earn ranger, very similar to the eagle rank, although it may be attained at 21, this is a great program for older boys and girls 14-21

I use a version of this as a speach for special flag ceremonies (dedications, first flying of a new flag, last flying of a soon to be retired flag 4th of july, etc)

Here, here. Please sign my name up, being one with strong opinions, that have managed to anger both with a single post (thank you, thank you) i have noticed that alone they simply criticize and recite BSA policy, and together they repeat each other while slinging insults for kicks and giggles

I must admit now that my "revolutionary" beliefs tend to bring up issues like this often, which i guess was kind of the point of me bringing this up, i, to an extent, wanted to see if there were any other individuals in scouting with opinions comparable to mine, a little background on my troop, although i would rather not mention the number, it is located in the western region and has long been this way, for atleast 35 years, since the current scoutmaster took the postition for a brother who had a son in the troop. from that date untill the mid 90's he was the only acting scoutmaster at which

The board of review is lead by the SPL and the board is composed of everyscout over the rank of Scout, the new scout patrols scouts go into another room with thier instructor who tests them on their basic skills durring the board, each scout has a vote with equal weight, and adults have no vote or right to state whether a scout should go up in rank although they may ask questions of the nominee, normally the Senior Patrol, JASM's and any other scout will ask the nominee a question or make a general comment good or bad, then the scout is asked to leave the room, all but the adults and JASM's lo

i guess encourage would be a better word than prompt, at 11 a kid is going to need help, they cant really bike across the city with several hundred dollars in checks to pay, but if the scout is the one doing the work, the planning, and taking responsability for his actions then he is the leader, if a leader or older scout check their work and help them come to a better solution if need be then that isnt leading that is teaching

note that i have no problem with prompting from mom and dad, i have an issue with doing by mom and dad, now i continue, since in one case the scouts parents were not there and had little concern with camp, mute point, in that case i as a 16 yr old prompted him, of course you are going to need to hvve an adult drive them to the scout office to file papers and pay, and in some cases put an adult signature on something, but these boys did all of the accounting for every penny and every form, they made sure that we had dads going, that we had enough transportation, permision slips etc. i acted as

Let me try to address each concern seperatly: why is it wrong to evolve rules from how they were founded its been done before, merit badges are constantly becomeing easier, i remember reading that dads could earn the eagle rank, i do forget when this was but i think it was 40's or 50's, life evolves, back when scouting was founded, kids had to grow up alot faster, a 14 yr old was expected to have a job and be able to care for himself, this is no longer true as to how this "screw up Boy Scouts advancement program" i would like to know, it does change it, but if we presume boy scouts is

Sorry Bob, that is the way it works, and in 10 yrs in the troop personally and with the head SM's 30yrs, i have only heard of one case of favortism in this model, which is nothing when you consider this happens twice a year, and in that one case the other adults and i reminded the boys of why we hold these boards of review and held a revote and the issue was solved

I just thought i would see what people here think, and stir up some debates. What do you THINK the min age for a scout to EARN the Eagle Rank should be? Personaly i am proud to be from a troop where you do not have a choice but to wait untill 17, almost 18, but i am fine with 16 yrs of age. But as an Eagle, i find it insulting to see 12, 13 and 14 yr olds running around wearing the patch and or badge when they cant even tie a square knot, or even better they cant remember much about thier project because "[thier] mommy handled all of that stuff" as a star scout i have taught many a

I know someone is going to jump on my back for this so here it goes. How well do scoutmasters really know the boys, to be blunt, not well at all, you dont see them at school or for the most part outside of scouts, but guess who does, the other boys, leave it up to them, for the ranks of 2nd class and up let the troop discuss in an open meeting with the scout present how he represents scouting, ask him specific questions, in general i have found this takes 2-3 hours for a troop of 30, granted its alot of time but well worth it and it can be split up into a couple of meetings

It works i have seen it, i have also seen 12 yr olds lead 16 yr olds, it happens all the time, atleast for the boys in my troop, there is no reason why a scout as young as 11 or 12 cant lead a weekend hike, bike, or paddle. pressuming that they have an older scout advising them and a scoutmaster not getting in the way (ie just make sure they get home alive) i can name three young men in the past 5 years who at the age of 14 (or younger) lead a fifty mile or longer hike, 2 12 yr olds that organized the entirety of going to res camp, yes that includes the daily scoutmaster meetings, collecting t

Im a strong believer in the new scout patrol, with an instructor, the patrol is still able to function, with a patrol leader and his assistant. and the instructor insures that the scouts learn the basic skills of scouting. usual in my troop the instructor has final say as to when the new scouts move on normally around 2nd class, sometimes earlier, sometimes later depending on thier maturity and skill level, if your lucky then a new scout patrol can move up as a group into a middle patrol position, to simplify the issues with names, my troop has all new scouts as pinetrees, if we have a large n

Having worked for 4 years at a scout camp, all in "high adventure" areas i have found the best thing to do is offer as much as you can for both younger and older scouts, along with a few things for the dads, granted some handycraft badges are a one hour sign off but those are the requirements, and sometimes having that 11 yr old earning 6 or 8 badges his first summer will keep him in scouting for life, but most camps also offer a vast majority of the required badges as well as other experiences, Im partial to COPE and would suggest it to all old enough. As to being experts, i would agree it

In my opinion it is best to stick to your area, if you are from the plains design your regalia in a plains motif, or even better take the time to study local tribes/nations, museums do wonders, im not saying copy, make yours unique to you or your lodge, find or let a totem find you or use your lodges, i cant speak for all areas but some tribes/nations can be very helpfull in helping you design dance wear or cerimonial wear, some will even help you get materials, but whatever you do stay away from hollywood

As an ASM in the troop i grew up in, a completly boy lead troop, i have found the best thing to do is let them make mistakes, in the long run its not going to matter if a trip doesnt go off with out a hitch, as long as they learn from the mistakes, be there, make sure they dont fall off a cliff and all will eventually go well, I am constantly remided of the most important lesson in scouting i ever learned, There are 4 vital points to scouting that LBP set forth 1) teach the boys to be skillfull 2) teach the boys to lead 3) let them lead 4) never do anything a boy can do if these po