SueM

I second the thought of checking with your council to see if there are any "benefactors" who might be willing to cover the cost. We have a Wood Badge Association in our council (I'm the treasurer) who will help cover costs for participants who need help, but we also have anonymous benefactors out there too, who will help if we don't have the funds too. If nothing else, check with your Chartered Organization and see if THEY can help with the cost...explain to them the benefits of the training to the troop/pack and see what they can do to help! Good Luck!! Sue M.

Wait a minute Ea..don't rush the Gilwell yet..you forgot I'm growing old and feeble and I can Staff no more!! So I'm going to work my ticket if I can! Sue M.

I honestly think that there is a place for both men and women to be involved in Scouting. Though I keep my son involved so that he can have other men as role models and learn from them..he doesn't get much in the way of male role models otherwise..However, I also have in my troop boys who live with their father only and I think having a strong female role model for the boys to see is also just as meaningful and important to their growth. Adult Association doesn't really limit gender. My son has never asked me to limit my involvement with the troop and although I do bring some of the usual "

Lauwit, Welcome to the forum and thank you for trying to do what you can for our youth!! I see many possibilities for you on a Troop Committee!! Much of the work that is done as a Committee member is done during the week and doesn't require you to be away for weekends, but at the same time is very important to running an effective troop! For example, the role of the Equipment Coordinator...working with the troop Quartermaster to keep the troop equipment in shape and making recommendations to the committee when repairs/replacements are needed. Or as the Troop Secretary..whos job al

Our theme for this month is cooking and one of the things I'm going to do at our next meeting is a demonstration for the boys of various things that you can make using only 2 or 3 ingredients..such as making drop noodles with just flour & eggs, or flat breads with just flour & water or even candy using just butter & sugar. These are things that they could easily make on the trail or at camp without having to carry a lot of "extra" things which are high energy and filling. Then, they decided that they wanted to have an "Iron Chef" style competition with the adults supplying ea

How new is new? IOW's how old is the one that you have? There were some changes made in the past 2 years, but I haven't heard of any new changes since last fall. I think that I remember that you -can- make slides from the DVD, but I'm not sure..I made my own presentations. The one issue that we had with the DVD was that none of the video clips would play outside of the stuff from BSA National at the start and the Communications one. Sue M. I used to be a Beaver

Personally, I think that the TCC needs to be done live and preferably to have as much of the troop committee as possible take it at the same time, to have the interaction that I think is necessary for it to really be successful. It's my philosophy when I'm presenting something at a training event, that we only get -one- shot at teaching things correctly so we need to make it count. I do think though that allowing time for group interaction is part of what makes for a successful experience for participants and although we do try to stick to a time schedule as much as possible...that if

May the great master of all scouts watch over and protect him and his family in this difficult time. I hope and pray for a good outcome for him and that his family is spared the pain of losing a child.

One of the things that my boys do is...We had a new Veteran's Cemetery open in our area about 2 years ago after years of effort to get it here, and our chartered Org. made a specific effort to get in from the start to do flag placements on the gravesites on Memorial & Veterans Day, so they enlisted the troop boys to do that. It gives the boys a sense of patriotic duty to honor these veterans like this and we've also gotten a fair amount of publicity out of it as they generally always do an article for the local papers and we help our Chartered Org in the process too. Sue M.

We had been using TroopMaster way before I took over as SM when I was the troop secretary..as a matter of fact, the CC and I sat down and went over all the troop pink advancement forms and entered everthing into it so we'd have the correct start of info there. When boys would come back from Summer Camp with their partial MB blue cards..we'd enter that info into it too. As someone else mentioned then we also kept track of when adults did their YPT and other training courses too. Now, as SM, I continue to keep the master copy..we've tried letting someone else handle doing the work, but it alway

Geez..what the heck is he afraid of?? It sounds like he has some paranoid fear that something might be going on behind his back and that he is afraid he is losing total control over the troop operation. I don't know how he could possibly enforce it! I'd DIE without being able to email my other leaders..I hate talking on the phone and I am much more a writer than I am a speaker so I often hold email discussions of troop issues with my ASM's! I can express my ideas much more clearly when I can sit and look at them and read them back to myself to see if I'm saying what I am trying to. It

The SM's main job is to train boy leaders and then get out of the way as much as possible and lets them lead...even if it is not a "picture perfect" job. He/she oversees the troop program and provides support and guidance for the boy leaders and helps them to provide opportunities for all scouts to fulfill their requirments, especially for those up to First Class, and make sure that the troop is using all 8 methods of scouting! He/she makes sure that the activities the boys plan are permissable under the guide to safe scouting and that qualified supervision and disclipline is provided for al

Lisabob, As far as the scout goes..mom and dad are well aware of things...Mom is tired of trying to get through to him hereself..she was there last week when we had the discussion with him and his brother about the fight they had the week before. Dad is a good guy..has gone through all training but is gone for months at a time on his job and I don't think he is totally sure the BSA program is "workable"...thinks that we expect too much from the boys!! Ex-SM stepped down because he was burned out..we looked for someone else for at least 18 months and no one would step up. I finall

Beavah, I do understand that concept..which is why I'm having such an issue with what to do. I've watched quite a few scouts who did not deserve Eagle (IMO) get it before I took over and I want to hold the boys to a higher standard than that. This is not a new issue with this scout..every adult MALE leader who has been in the troop since we've been there (these boys and my son came up through the pack together) has TRIED to do something with this scout..none have succeeded! Most have wanted to strangle him, and one actually DID grab him by the shirt once after being provoked! (anoth

Ed, That's exactly how I feel! To compound matters even worse..I've got the ex-SM who has recently returned and is now the CC who tells boys that all they need to do is (basically) "pretend" to get along with me until after they get their Eagle and then they can leave and be done with it!! He hates to see boys "get this far" and then not get over the final hurdle..and I have had several discussions with him already over these attitudes!!

Here's my senario and it really only touches on the whole issue...my question will be at the bottom.. In an nutshell (there's too much to get it all in!) Scout will be 17 in August..could have been an Eagle before he was 14. Comes to nearly all meetings campouts and most activities, so can't fault him there, however, has been a continual behavioral issue since day one at them all...he is a bully, is manipulative, has no respect for anyone (especially ME) and has made it his whole job in life to harrass my son, who is the current SPL. As a matter of fact, he and a few of the other boys d

Eamonn, I'm going to go a different way then most have so far... You didn't fail! As with many things when kids are growing up..sometimes they deliberately TRY to hate things just as a way of showing their independence and individuality. They hate to admit that they like the same things good ole dad does sometimes. But you know, in 5..10 years from now, it'll be a different story! When he has kids of his own, he'll remember all these times in a different perspective. He'll appreciate things differently and understand!! Don't give up!! Someday he'll come to you and say "Thank you!"

CNYScouter, That's pretty much what we do too, only over 2 weekends. The first weekend is NLE on Friday Evening and then Scoutmaster Specific all day Saturday. As part of the schedule on Saturday then, we divide them up into their patrols and they have a PLC and get the info they need for the IOLS weekend 2 weeks later...which starts out on Friday evening with the Health & Safety and YPT for those who cannot produce evidence of having taken it in the past 3 years (our council requires it to be done at least every 3 years) and then all the IOLS stuff on Saturday and Sunday. Our train

Thanks for the link emb021...I found this info there that I thought I'd post as it was interesting! Whether it is true for all councils is another story and granted..it was intended for girls invovled in Venturing to wear, not adults. sue "The Girl Scout Gold Award knot has no history, is unofficial and is only included to recognize girl's who have earned that award and are involved in today's Venturing program. However, I received this statement in an e-mail: "I have some good news for you. I did what you said about getting permission from my Scout Executive before wearing a

Ok...thanks! We'd looked through the insignia guide and I did try to check elsewhere online to see if there was possibly something obscure hiding out there..I can't remember exactly what color the knot was but it was made just like a regular BSA square knot and I considered that perhaps they had it custom made. That's a reasonable thought though in suggesting wearing the pin on the right pocket, especially considering how our council tends to be pretty liberal in allowing uniform "decoration". Sue M

I'm familiar with most of the BSA Adult leader square knots, but one of our local adult female leaders showed me a knot that her troop presented her with...She earned her Gold Award as a GS and they gave her a square knot to recognize that..I have no idea of where they got it or if it's "officially" recognized by BSA but was just curious..I mentioned it to a couple of other female leaders who were interested in finding the answer because they had earned their Gold (or whatever it was called in their time)too and I offered to see if I could find out the information. With so many women becoming

Jumping in on this a little late but while I don't think I see the need for a minimum age limit, I do agree that most 18 yr olds are not ready to grasp Wood Badge OR be able to fully commit themselves to working their ticket for possibly 18 months. I think that I would really have to sit down and talk to them about what is expected of them and what WB is about. As far as being "invited"..what our council does is to print out the flyers and they're filled out and returned in the sense of "I'm interested in more info about WB" and then they are sent an information package with overall infor

Rob, You didn't say if you were building a troop from the bottom up, or inheriting one that is already in operation...but, I agree with John in KC..one of the first things you need to do is start training yourself as much as possible. If your district/council does not have training sessions set up in the near future, go to your local trading post and get a current copy of the Scoutmasters Handbook and a Guide to Safe Scouting and start reading. Find all the online training (such as the Youth Protection training, Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat) and do them. Get a real feel for how

Fuzzy Bear, You're not required to "give back" your beads...you are only asked not to wear them until your ticket is finished. Sue M

Is this a self-imposed work goal? Or something that your job is asking of you? Much of it would depend on what exactly you are looking for with those goals. In WB, you will get a lot of things that help more with people management skills, project management, how to lead and teach more effectively. Now, all those things can certainly help you learn how to manage your time more effectively and how to hopefully get the best efforts from those around you. While you could look at the syllubus, I'd really advise against it. It would take away from the discovery experience for you in your own co