Thomas54

We are down to 24 scouts. Nearly all are Life scouts. The 3 youngest are in 7th grade. Nearly all are in High School. We have been good at retaining the scouts just very poor at recruiting. We peaked at about 40 scouts in 2007. We lost 5-6 scouts almost immediately when the economy turned bad. This was mainly from relocations. We have been putting out about 3 eagles a year, so our attrition is likely on par with other troops. However, no cross overs from the pack for three years straight. Our pack is huge but as I have mentioned before in these forums the Webelos parents come

Well I made it through part 1 & 2. Not sure I'll ever finish part 3. I believe part 3 is on the public funding of the Boy Scouts. It's offense to listen to, many F-bombs throughout.

So really, the actual activity matters less than the structure. So a sheep sheering club that practices together and competes will be just as good at character development as ROTC.

Recently I was with a bunch of Civil war re-enactors. The Sargent Major talked to us about how he ran his program for boys between the ages of 14-20+. That the structure required by these events plus his dedication to the program really developed strong character within the boys. He claimed to have been given lots of compliments from parents about how their sons attitude/character had improved after being in his program. Two weeks ago I was talking to my sons wrestling coach and he said; give his program time and watch how much confidence my son will gain from the structure of his prog

I like what someone said last week. What are the expectation of the scoutmaster "that he have trailer hitch".

I have never had to define nominal, No one has ever asked. I had a scout come to me looking to provide cover from his parents who just wanted to buy his materials. I explained to the scout how leadership is not just putting a work detail together, that it involves goals and plan setting. He had planned to raise $400 at a car wash and he missed that goal. He had to plan another fund raiser. This time he sold pies. He eventually got there and I believe the journey was beneficial to him. I have mentioned this before that we are getting our butts kicked in recruiting by the troop te

I had a conversation with the SM from the troop chartered about 10 miles away. We compete for the same Webelos from about 3 packs. They have been kicking our butts. Anyway! The SM said that they allow the parents to fund the entire Eagle project from their checkbook. No Fundraising required by the scout. He said they checked with council and council had no problem with it. I tell him that our guideline is that mom and dad can make only a nominal contribution (which we have never had to define) but that the scouts have to raise the money themselves. He said that method take

We have fallen into the following: One is a buddy meal system. This is usually used on backpacking trips and canoe trips. Here two scouts get together to plan and cook their meals. The SM's approve the plan but beyond that there is no troop involvement. The boys arrange to buy the food themselves and agree to settle the cost. The campout fee does not reimburse the scout for their meal purchases. So if they have steaks on the list OK. Let them work out it with mom. Most parents seem to prefer this and will spend more knowing that its for their boy and his good friend. The se

As a scoutmaster I think of Webelos as Cub Scouts and our new cross overs (New Scout patrol) as Mini Boy Scouts. We have active 9th-10th-11th graders in our program. A 5th grader and most certainly a 4th grader is not at the same level. The programs are very age specific just follow the program. She should not elevate the Boy Scout program above what it is. It's sleeping in a tent without mom or dad and learning some cooking and cleaning skills. Besides, we teach these skills. Yea there is canoeing and hiking and bigger and father away camps but these age appropriate too.

Are you in a position, both professionally and personally to dedicate 10 - 20hrs per week to Boy Scouts?

Great park. The wife, kids and I did three nights there last year. Our troop is headed there in March. The park is unusual for Florida with many short stocky hills. The hikes are rugged but manageable. Not sure where you are staying at but the main campsite has a majestic overlook of the river valley below. The Apalachicola is big river that runs right next to the park. Will your scout fish, if so there should be some good fishing along the shore. Mainly catfish but scouts enjoy catching fish no matter the type. The tree that the park is named after, Torreya can be e

We are men/women of our times. Watch an old show, Ozzie and Harriet for example. The father was defined as a formal relationship. The man who wore a tie and was consulted on matters of Life. He was distant. He was the stereotypical if not the ideal man of his time. Now if you have had the opportunity to see the recent Pixar movie "Despicable Me" you will see a somewhat stereotypical man of his time. The man starts out as evil but grows into a father figure for three orphan girls. When one of the girls is cheated at a carnival side show, the father blast the booth into pieces w

Our PLC dedicates the first Meeting night of each month to a PLC meeting. The troop does not meet that night only the PLC. The committee is supposed to meet the week after to learn and discuss what the scouts voted on at the PLC. The PLC usually takes over an hour to get through all the stuff. I sit in on the meeting and offer advice and assist the SPL in maintaining order. Many scouts just are not ready to take leadership seriously. Bright boys who have been in the program for years and have attended NYLT will allow or even worse encourage the discussion to drift into computer gaming or o

I need a link to this and safe swim defense. I have taken both before but can't Google my way into finding these on line courses.

Some thoughts light weight stool climbing rope / gear (they may not use it as it was intended but cool to have) Personal tent or hammock Water purifier Backpacker's stove ebooks Survival books where something went wrong, think Everest into thin air or the guy with the stuck hand who had to cut his own hand off.

Are we saying the oil embargo in 1973 killed this camp? Is that why attendance dropped? It would be nice if there was an announcement on what was going to be done with the money from the property sale and the reduction in operating expense. My guess it will go into the general fund never to be seen again. Yea a roof or two will get fixed but otherwise the council will not replace this asset once sold. The money will be more or less treated as revenue.

I have a First Class Scout who has not been showing up to meetings lately. I want to write his mom and see if there is anything we can do. But there is background. The mom and dad had a bitter divorce while the boy was in Cubs. Nearly all communications are still through the courts. I know the dad does not support scouts because whenever there is a scout event on "his" weekend the scout does not show up. I have heard from the mom that the step-mom and dad have tried to encourage the scout to quit scouting. The mom has gone on every campout and summer camp that her boy has gone

And We are doing all the other things.

I spoke to the District Commissioner. He is going to switch the UC and replace him with a scouter who will serve both units. Thanks

At the PLC last night we got around to discussing one of the up-coming camp outs. It's a canoe trip that will last 3 nights on the water. The SPL and the Scribe both said they won't be going on this trip. When I pushed them on why, they said they couldn't hold it in for that long. I asked if they had ever crapped in the woods. They both said no. Both plan to get through scouting without doing it like a bear. How do I go about teaching this particular pratice?

Some of the posters asked if we are involved with the Pack. That answer is yes. Every year we schedule an a outing for the Webelos and then go the the pack meetings a couple of times to discuss it. But while this guy was Cubmaster he played games with us. We would send over a possible date in September for a February Webelos campout and he would not respond even after emails and calls. Finally in January he would tells us they have another event scheduled for that weekend. It would then be too late for us to change the date. He played dirty tricks as a CM and now plays the same way as a

So the Cubmaster from our charter's pack goes to a different troop when is son crosses over. While his was a Webelos he interviewed me for our troop and all he wanted to know was how soon could his son could get eagle. OK so our troop isn't match. Then they guy becomes a unit commissioner for the Pack but not for our troop (separate main meeting places for the two units). He spends the next two years steering scouts into his sons troop. Now he has Den chiefs from the other troop and is openly recruiting from our charter's pack into his son's troop which is from another charter.

We pretty much let the scouts pick the trips. Left to decide themselves they pick the biggest most adventurous trips (read expensive). They seek adventure. When asked about troop meetings, they crave structure and discipline especially in others. However these same scouts are the one who interrupt the speaker the most likely play and wrestle then to work on patrol boxes or patrol flags. I agree with the uniform as Bev mentioned. The scouts would likely change it to a mush more outdoor oriented uniform with out all the Christmas tree nonsense on it now.

double post(This message has been edited by Thomas54)

"Does that mean the new patrols are really leftovers?" To Bears you all look like leftovers.