SueM

In our council, MB Universities are a 2 day event, generally with the first one in November and day 2 in January. This gives the boys plenty of time to get the other requirements completed.

I sometimes get upset at the District camporee events where the DE basically tell the boys they'll earn the MB if they attend and participate in all the events...but when you look at the events, there's no way that all the requirements are met. I think we're getting a bit better at that though..we're doing a Wilderness Survival one next weekend and the only requirement that won't be "required" to be done is the sleeping in a shelter...although boys are certainly free to do that if they choose on Saturday night as this is the perfect spot for them to do so. We're going to have overnight lows in the 20's though so I'm not sure if many will opt to do that.

Troopmaster DOES make easy work of keeping those things straight...as long as someone enter the information to begin with!! Ideally there should be a copy of the medical records that travels with the troop wherever the troop goes just in case you need to take a boy to the hospital...they'll want to see that signed authorization to treat!!

sue M.

tcherven,

I really like the idea of your bridge...especially incorporating the Scout Law into the design and having them build the bridge! Very inventive!!

The way crossovers have been done in the Pack that we generally pull from is the Cubmaster generally removes the the neckerchief, & shoulder loops first (and gives the boy a personal "goodbye" then sends him across the bridge and then he'll be met on the other side by boys from the troop, who will put his red shoulder loops on, and present him with a troop numeral patch and his scout handbook. At the end of that then I will welcome him and give the troop informational folder to his parents.

Sue M.

Thanks for your responses..I'll pass the links on to the WBA chairman. We are thinking of making one bridge for each district within our council and we wanted something that could be disassembled and transported easily..so these are a good start at gathering ideas..

...that's a good looking group of Webelos!..and bridge, ManassasEagle Yes..I'm in SE VA.

Sue M.

If you are using the Troop Program Feature manuals to help you plan your meetings, it's quite easy to pick out a Merit Badge "theme" for the month..which you can then use your meetings to plan the outing for the month from and know what skills need to be taught to each group of boys.

My boys like to and specifically ask to work on MB's during meetings, especially some of the Eagle Required ones like the Citizenship's and First Aid. We sometimes do work on multiple ones at the same time so that the boys who don't need one, can be working on the other..but that doesn't happen often. The MB work shouldn't take up the whole meeting though obviously.

sue m

Eamonn,

The copyright fee for WB was $15 per participant...that has now been changed to $400 for the entire course.

sue m.

Ok WB'ers and all you other dedicated scouters out there...my local Wood Badge Association has decided that as a project, we'd like to build a bridge for each District within our council so that when Webelos graduation time comes that they don't have to scramble for a bridge. (it'll also come in handy for the new modifications to the WB course too!!) Anyway..what we're looking for is bridge plans..especially for the kind that can be broken down into sections for easier transportation and storage. If anyone has plans for such a bridge, would you please contact me!!

Sue M.

I used to be a Beaver...

Yes, that is the way we do them too. The boy is awarded first, then he presents his mother/father/grandparent pins (if he gets those) and then he generally surprises a mentor if he chooses to award that pin. Not all boys do choose to do that but if he does..he should feel free to choose anyone he wants to..it doesn't need to be someone who helped him through scouting. From my experience, most boys see, give it to someone who they look up to for ANY reason.

Sue M.

One of my Wood Badge Ticket items was to research and participate in helping the family plan an Eagle CoH...we had a good many boys coming up and being a new Scoutmaster, I wanted to have some options available for the boys. The troop had archived quite a few of the past presentations and i also bout the Mark Ray book on the Eagle Court of Honor (which you can generally find at your local trading post!) so I had some reference materials to work from.

They ARE very individualistic and I would suggest that you first sit down with your son and find out what he wants...an elaborate presentation or a simple one...who he would like involved in it, etc. Some boys choose to do theirs at a quarterly CoH with the troop..we had one boy choose to do his at our annual Troop Outdoor Thanksgiving dinner. We also had one boy who a group of us did a "surprise" presentation to because he just wanted us to hand him the things with no fanfare and we felt that he needed at least SOME recognition. (he and his family go to the same church as I do and the CC does, so we did a simple presentation after the service with his mother and father's permission and help)

If you would like to email me..I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

sue m.

Eagle76

Congratulations!! What I see in your "list" is that you have already developed a "Vision" for what you think the troop should look like...and that is simply a BLT! I see many of the same goals that I had set out for myself on your list too..they were to become my "big" ticket item...taking over as Scoutmaster for 1 year (time for measurement purposes only)! What WB can offer you now is the understanding of the importance of Team building and how to accomplish that best within the available resources that you have at your disposal! You can not POSSIBLY do all this on your own. When you put together as strong team around you, you will be surprised at how quickly some things do happen...especially when you get the team to the point where you can truly share leadership with them and set them free to work on their own and know that you're all working toward the same goals..the same vision.

Believe it or not...my path down the WB path started when I too decided to take it on myself to teach the boys that there was something beyond eating hot dogs and hamburgers at campouts! I slowly got sucked into more and more things..and here I am now..the Scoutmaster! What's the saying...be careful what you wish for...

Best of luck...

Sue M

Please make sure that you come back and give us all an update when you go to your course.. Good Luck!

sue m.

The best description IMO that I've heard for what a "ticket" is, is a Contract that you make with yourself because that's exactly what it is. It a set of goals that you set for yourself, so that's why people tend to keep them private because their ticket item choices may also involve addressing deep personal things..like fear of public speaking, overcoming shyness, etc. When you set up your ticket, for each goal you have to answer Who, What, When, Where, How & Why.. If you have a strong Course..whomever approves your tickets should really challenge you with your choices..

sue m.

Yes..many people do get the same leadership type training through their jobs..sometimes in multiple!! But the benefit of doing it again through WB is that through the process of trying to come up with your "ticket" it makes you focus on how to use these leadership skill in the context of the Scouting program specifically and how you can be of benefit to your pack/troop..how to make them better either in your own current position, or as in my case..a position that I was moving into. It forces you to not only take a good look at your troop/pack and see what needs to be done, what improvements are needed, but to also look into yourself, to see how your own particular talents, skills and interests can be put to better use to make those improvements.

For me personally (and many other people too!) the skills I learned in people management etc. have helped me greatly not only in scouting but also in my everyday life! I've gained a lot of confidence and faced a lot of personal fears head on through my choice of ticket items. And as the others have said..the new network of talented and wonderful people that I have made is great!! I'm still taken aback with the amount of respect that I seem to get from many of the longtime scouters who I met at the course as staff members..I don't feel like I've done anything particularly "special" to deserve that respect..but it sure is a good feeling!!!

Do it!!

Sue M.

I used to be a Beaver

dan,

I should have clarified..in our council, we're told that it is mainly (not solely!) meant for SPL's or those boy who may be SPL's. I've had several people question whether or not a 12 yr old is mature enough to undestand it all..

sue m.

The NYLT course is basically Jr. Wood Badge. It teaches more of those kinds of leadership skills then the troop based JLT does. The formula for the week (or 2 weekends) though is basically the same as Wood Badge..you're divided into patrols, have a troop guide and yes, patrols plan their own campouts...just as you would in WB. It's a course though that is meant mainly for SLP & ASPL (or those older boys who may be in line to become one of those)

sue

Part 2 -

As I got the boys together to start our real objective for the weekend (talking about troop operation & troop planning) we started out with a reflection about what they had learned so far on the overnight and of course the overwhelming answer was how to plan better. They started pointing fingers at each other so I reminded them that this was not the right thing to do, but just to remember the lessons learned and do a better job the next time. It lead into the discussion on troop operations well as the 3 questions asked were What are we doing right? What is Wrong? What do we need to change? Boys gave lots of suggestions about what they liked, didn't like and I offered explanation as to why some things had to be like they were (as per BSA policies)

[i want to also add (before someone says something!) that my SPL was doing his best to lead this discussion..I had also taken the opportunity earlier to go over the new JLT earlier with both the SPL & ASPL...so I had them both open the discussion with sharing their vision for the troop and the personal goals that they had told me earlier with the boys who were there.]

We then spent the remaining time trying to plan a calendar..I didn't get it ALL done, but they were coming up with good suggestions for things they wanted to do and were also taking charge of planning them.

We're getting there....I am very happy with the progress boys are making..we still have a long way to go though..

**Part 1 - Long Post Warning** I wanted to share the weekend "epiphany" that my Webelos 3 troop had..mainly because we were so THRILL with it and also to offer some hope to those others out there who may be going through this too, as an example of how things don't happen overnight and take time and patiences...

Ok..I'm now almost 16 months into my attempt at transforming the troop. Several weeks ago as I was involved in the committee meetings, the boys spontaneously decided to plan a camping weekend..put together their menus, shopping list etc. Had at least one adult how said he'd attend. So in the pursuing weeks, I continued to ask the boys if they were sure they had everything they needed or planned for..reminded them that they needed 2 adults and to do a tour permit, etc. and made sure that those things were taken care of. Last monday then they went out and packed the trailer with no supervision. On friday morning I stopped to unlock the trailer and it was a TOTAL wreck!! Everything was just thrown into it, so when my ASM came to haul the trailer I told him that I had no idea what all was in the trailer but what ever was missing, the boys were to do without for the weekend...this was going to be an eye opening "guess what happens when there are no mothers at camp!!" weekend!! (even though i technically fit that description!)

So, they arrived on Friday night and cooked their dinner and realized that they didn't have ketchup & mustard for their hamburgers...fingers were pointed..some boys got mad..tried to convince one mom to go and get some..which she didn't do under threats from my ASM's...Next morning...they didn't have syrup for their french toast...more grumbling. Ah Ha!! we say...how can we solve this problem the next time??? Scouts reply "Better planning and checking food totes!" Ding ding...light bulbs have gone off!!

When I arrived in the morning, 2 of the first year scouts were around the fire. I had brought some breakfast for my ASM's as I was relieving one of them for the day. The 2 young scouts are hungry. I asked them who was doing the cooking and they told me who it was and that they were still asleep. I didn't say anything more to them but sat down at the fire with them a bit later and it was clear that they were getting more and more upset at being hungry and the cooks still asleep so all of a sudden they got up up and got a stick and both went and starting smacking the tents of the boys who were supposed to be up and cooking to wake them up!! Ah Ha again...Boys taking control of making sure that those who are supposed to be doing things are doing them!!! I'm grinning ear to ear by now!!

Last lesson was one in problem solving..since this is a local camping spot on the farm of one of my ASM's it's fairly close to town..but not too close. So the boys were determined that they were going to order Pizzas for lunch. I didn't really approve of the idea but hey..I'm telling them that I want a BLT so if that what they want...at first we figured that maybe they would not have the amount of money budgeted that they would need and I also did not believe that anyone would deliver out that far. We were also somewhat hoping that they wouldn't be able to get it so they'd have to eat PB&J sandwiches for lunch to reinforce better planning. So as they started to make calls to various places, they did find out that they couldn't get it delivered out there..so now they start working on solving the problem..Who lives somewhere where they do deliver and can we get them to bring them?? They call several people who are not home so no luck. Next attemps was to ask us if one of US would go an pick them up. Nope...only have 2 adults in camp and one of us can't leave!! (grumbling from boys about stupid BSA policies!!) Next one boy calls mother and tries to manipulate her into going and getting them she says forget it!! Finally another boy WAS able to get his mother to do it...it was hard to be mad at them for working so hard to solve a problem..so I'm very proud of them for succeeding.

Jerry,

Congratulations!! I've been patiently waiting for my Beaver beads since October! (it's a long story!) Anyway...your "nibbling on my share of the Beaver log" comment reminds me of something that we (the Beaver patrol) did at our WB course...we did the 2 weekend thing and we were the service patrol for the interim time, so we got to take the service patrol logs home. One of my patrol mates had the idea of when we came back on the second weekend, that we would make a duplicate of the service patrol emblems..only we'd use a piece of regular thread and 2 pieces of toothpicks or skewers. So I was the patrol leader during the interim and on the first morning back at the flag ceremony..when we switched things...I walked up to the SPL and carefully handed him our miniature version and very seriously said to him "..You know Sr....If you leave beavers alone with logs for 2 weeks...you have to expect that we're going to get hungry!!" and handed it to him...he almost doubled over in laughter!

I used to be...and

still am a good ole' Beaver!

Sue M

>But I agree with Hunt. Look at the overall ?>picture. Boy I know that I don't live the Scout >Laws 24/7/365. I don't think any of us do.

Boy...ain't THAT the real TRUTH of it all! Our society in general has become so unforgiving of mistakes that people make...it is sad IMO. It's tough to live up to "perfection" 24/7/52!! Though our job is to try and help boys make better choices in life...they also have to make mistakes sometimes in order to learn...just like we all did and still do every day!

I would be tempted to just ask the boy if he ever made a mistake that he totally regreted and would he make the same mistake again in the future!..give him a chance to explain the circumstances if he chooses to but without forcing the issue.

Sue M.

We are somewhat in a similar situation with a good number of "neighbor" troops. We also have failing troops who we are being encouraged to "direct" new crossovers or recruits towards to keep them viable. (It's my understanding the DE's also get paid by the number of active troops too) I had one of my adult leaders recently leave our troop (along with his Eagle Scout son) to go over to this troop to see what they could do to "save" this troop and then also took another boy with them. I hold no ill will against them because I also feel that if they are not feeling like they fit in with us, then they should feel free try somewhere else. In the broader community though, there is a general feeling that they should just let the troop die at this time...The CO doesn't want that to happen, but they have also basically been kind of a ghost entity within the running of the troop for so long they didn't even know the troop was in trouble! If the troop dies at this time...there's nothing to say that it can't be revived at some future date when the landscape is more viable for success.

OTOH, I am also possibly getting a boy into my troop from another struggling troop for the same reason (not fitting in well)...I feel bad because I am good friends with the Scoutmaster of that troop and I know he is struggling with numbers while we are not at this time. We had a nice discussion about it though along with the father of the boy the other evening because I wanted to be open with him about it and didn't want to blindside him with it and everything is cool.

sue M

Scouter 4321,

One of the things that I did from the start was to start "promoting" the BLT concept to the boys themself at every opportunity that I had from the time I took over as SM. I told them that this was my goal for them and just kept saying it. At first, they didn't have a clue as to what that meant or what was going to be expected of them, but little by little...as I took every opportunity that I saw come along to explain more about what it meant and "challenge" them to step up and show leadership and they are starting to do it! I'm 15 months into it now and over the holidays, the boys totally planned our annual nursing home holiday visit and while I was involved with the committee meeting last week, decided that they wanted to go camping this month and spent the meeting planning it and their menu! If they show the slightest interest in a project..jump on it and throw the challenge out to them to plan it and do it!

Yes..the boys will try and take the easy way out..but that's normal behavior for ALL kids! [And even us adults too!!] We as leaders just have to not LET them cop out. They need a firm understanding of what their responsibilities and our expectations of them are and then the adults have to stay on top of them (in the sense of encouraging them through the SPL) for a while to see that they are doing their jobs. Praise the efforts and progress they are making and give them even MORE responsibility and freedom and I think you'll see things start to click quickly.

Do your new elections...focus your attention on training your new SPL and helping him learn how to have the confidence to be a leader! Make a conscious effort to throw everything that comes up back to the SPL for his "approval". Try to keep all your ASM's on the same brainwave too as nothing slows down progress (IMO and experience) as a rogue ASM who doesn't understand or agree with your objectives for the troop!!

Keep looking for that "one ray of hope" at each meeting and pretty soon you'll see the sunrise!! Keep us updated on the progress!!

Sue M.

Lisa'bob,

I don't know if this will come out the way I intend but think this is one of those "which came first the chicken or the egg" type questions because is it really that prevalence is increasing? Or is it just that with more modern diagnostics and more people are -having- their kids diagnosed, that more are being given the label for their conditions and we're now just gaining a better understanding of the issues ourselves and encouraging more of these boys to get involved???? It is a complex issue, for sure!

I think that it's time for your CC & CO to get involved and do something about this situation. I would suggest that if you can, get a group of ASM's together who can oversee the other boys an help them work out a plan for completing their requirements, if that is their wish.

I tried to address some of these special needs issues within our troop committee meeting a few months back and got a statement from one member about how these kids just use these things "as an excuse for bad behavior"!...also have some ASM's who want to ban certain boys from camping trips because they don't think they should be "social workers" and don't want to deal with boys with issues.

Naturally, most of the parents who say these things also have "normal" kids though, so they they have no real idea of what it's like for these kids, or why they deserve to have the same opportunities and benefits from the scouting program as the other boys!

sue m.

Are you serious??? 5 Wood Badge Courses a year??? Our council only holds it once every 2 years and we still have difficulty filling the slots!

sue M.

This is my area too and I thought that I'd add that an arrest was made last night. I was not able to see the evening news but the last I had heard the police were still trying to determine if the 2 had witnessed another crime or why they were shot. The 2nd young man is recovering...

sue m.