blw2

Yeah, I haven't really developed my ideas on this...but kindof what I was picturing was similar to Bear's current show. Mike Rowe might be a great candidate for it.... but similar to Bear's show where now he takes a famous city person out for an adventure....but instead it could be going out with a scout or scouts as guests on a real adventure maybe mix it up with adults who were scouts as a kid as guests along with the adventure, they could touch on all sorts of things....conversations about what scouting has done for that person, fun memories, all sorts of things.... maybe each episod

I still say they need to get a Bear Grylls type at the helm...even if not really at the helm as nothing more than a figure head.... somebody on a TV show doing really cool stuff every week. Somebody not acting...yes I'm aware of some of what Bear has been accused of, but I still believe he is capable and still does a lot of that stuff.... even if he is doing it now with a full production crew.... rappelling, minimalist adventure camping, and the rest.... somebody that has a respectable resume in the field, somebody that is very personable, very positive, and that can be an exciting role mode

I'll have to admit to not really reading the whole thread thoroughly The issue I see is Many of these "positions" really aren't positions. We have a historian, and a librarian, and many of the others....but these guys really don't do much of anything if at all. They are empty jobs, the scouts know it, so what good does that do anyone? I really think it's bad to try to have every scout in a position just becasue I think it would be better to let the scouts work it out and the PLC could help scouts that need a POR by helping them to find actual positions that need to be filled.....or t

I think at the WEBELOS age especially...but really for all ages..... they act up when they are bored ....Idle hands, and all of that..... You said the webelos are disrupting when other dens are getting awards? one solution might be to involve the webelos den in the award presentation.... they are, after all the older scouts that the younger ones would hopefully be looking up to. Give them a chance to be that role model we hope they are. Something I tried to do some of when I was CubMastering, was to involve the scouts more....and to get them out of their seats. Sadly, I didn't

I've been wondering the same.... Hope all is well.

that question "Is the program the SM is running beneficial/harmful to the scouts." is an interesting one.... something I have struggled with going back and forth for a long time. I read a while back in something that BP wrote that went something like this... every boy can get something out of scouting as long as the SM does no harm. ​I've flipped and flopped on the idea that "harm" is being done by not putting on the theoretical best program.... scouts are leaving, scouts don't get the full experience.... but I've settled on this statement form BP to mean that even without the mos

Agreed...... guessing, but I'd imagine my son would have been woo'd by some really cool structures in his first year or two of scouts.... Seeing the older scouts build some really cool towers and useful structures I'd imagine would seem really cool...especially when coupled with discovering a good scout lead freedom to come up with their own ideas and make it happen without too much too much adult influence and interference.... Who knows, that might have been just that one more thing it would have taken to trip his interest level over that threshold that is currently holding him back! so yo

yes ankylus, i have seen some of those things such as knot relay. In my thinking some of those types of things could really spice things up. I've even tried to put a bug in son's ear a few times to take it back to the scouts. He was even PL for a time, in the "NSP"...but he was young and not assertive in the PLC. In fact the way he tells it they blew him off about a thing or two, so he didn't bother with any more suggesting.... And I have suggested patrol outings and activities man times too helpfultracks.... again, he was never very assertive. Honestly, I don't think he ever really b

I used to read and listen to a lot of stuff over at scoutmastercg.com sidetrack .... but does anyone happen to know if Clarke is ok? I haven't heard anything new published in a while.... Anyway, he had a few podcasts and maybe some blog posts that talked about how there really isn't need for a lot of ASM's. His perspective was that all communications should be with SM, and if he was unavailable then the ASM would be his surrogate but the ASM was only to repeat what the SM said...nothing more. Maybe 2 ASM's was all...and one of those would be the "#2" sort of in grooming to take S

yeah, much of the things mentions don't happen patrols having a place patrols not meeting patrols not competing And when teh patrols do meet....it's to plan menu for campout, or to give the concept lip service.... This is a great example of something that does get done...but at a level that I would call lip service at best.... I have observed a few times when the SPL will call out "tonight, we will work on xyx" it's usually something like...help the new scouts with knots or, practice 1st aid skills.... Then it becomes a re-hash of things they have heard a thousand times. I re

but for advancement (or anything else really), shouldn't he be contacting his PL? (or I suppose in some cases perhaps you could argue to include the "instructor" or "Troop Guide" if you you used either of those, or maybe another more senior scout)

I posted this in another thread but it relates to this one.... I don't know how to link them.

reading Stosh's post about "it has been decided" and thinking about the thing I mentioned in my first post here about my wife's conversation with the other moms and how as many times as I've tried to brainstorm with her.... and also discuss how this could be good for our son.... and how the whole patrol method boy led thing works, giving them freedom to learn, fail, grow, and lead and how after all the hundreds of times I've made that point in many different ways.... but she never heard it. yep, I'm officially singing a different tune now.....family scouting is going to be just what

I've gotta say I would tend to agree with that idea of ditching weekly meetings at the moment. I know there's a trade off though....idle hands and all of that. Actually I'd say that is a small part of son's current attitude. He started feeling this way in the spring, missed a few meetings. Then didn't go to summer camp in June , then our troop take off the month of July (that's one of those adult steered scout choice things I think.... yeah sure, the scouts decided... but that's another story) Anyway, my point is he's had a long break.... and now talk of going back to meetings is ju

exactly what I was thinking..... yeah, It's a tough road..... near impossible for a single person to turn the big ship alone... so the "give up" attitude.... problems there... right or wrong he's soured on scouting...also he would barely look at other troops before because they were unfamiliar, no friends, etc.... surely wouldn't happen now. There are a couple of troop sorta near, one is a definite no, the other is a complete unknown, doesn't know anybody, etc.... Seems to me that advice would only work for a scout that is otherwise gung ho for scouting I have been dreaming

back when I read this book, I felt that it should be required reading http://scoutmastercg.com/far-good-new-scoutmasters-story/ along with this one http://scoutmastercg.com/aids-scoutmastership/ Otherwise, I'd think words form you affirming him would do him wonders.... I mean just a private "good job" every now and then just so he knows you are not questioning & judging him or what he's doing

a bit of a rant I suppose.... I have tired of dreaming for a program as it "could be" and seeing so many ways that the scouters squash what I would consider an ideal. My son has tired of scouts. He does not want to go to the meetings...says he doesn't want to go just to talk about what they are going to do. The meetings are boring...and I don't blame him a bit. I don't want to go either...and I have really stayed out of them all along anyway. I think he has given up too.... well honestly he never really felt empowered to try really do in the first place....even though i have en

no set rules as far as I know....email is encouraged although based on my experience and observations scouts just wait for a meeting generally. I can guess the reason for such a "rule" is because of the old fogey opinion that kids don't know how to talk on the phone anymore. It's correct I think....but then I'm an old fogey.... IMHO though I think it's a mistake to make hoops for the scouts to jump through Some of our scouters have set other hoops, such as a demand that the committee be emailed for a requested BOR 1 week minimum prior. Just a silly needless hoop in my opinion.

I can say that in my relatively short time as Troop Treasurer, we've had a few scouts now make eagle, and I have not seen 1 nickle from any of it. Not in or out. Honestly I have no idea how they are raising their money for the projects.

I couldn't agree more about the friend thing. It's one of the many nuances that i was trying to get at earlier....and it's so nuanced that it's hard to even put a finger on which ones will work and which ones won't.... I think this is another very interesting almost "outside" variable. I have often thought just how totally great it would be to have a scout hut. A place where the unit could have total access and total control. A place to hang up their pictures, trophies, treasures and finds, etc... instead, I guess we are more like what I guess to be the situation that most troops

good thought! I think it's dynamic, and extremely complex one small portion of it is great leaders......FOR the particular scouts/family/community what is great for one isn't great for another. Similar to how we all have people we like and others that we just don't. Some we get along with easily and some not so much...and for everyone that can be different. I think the variables are broad, and finely nuanced...including things like individual scouts cliques or groups of scouts.... does he have his core friends in scouting, or are some of his close friends not in

I thought this was going to be a thread about the girls coming into BSA Seriously, in my yard my nemesis is "torpedo grass" aka "bullet grass". It's an invasive, and I'm pretty sure it will survive a nuclear holocaust... If it were softer underfoot I'd be happy to have it for a lawn. To my knowledge though the troop hasn't ever done anything like this as a project but if they were to, no way could it be against bullet grass.

no backing for me.... in fact as I think about heading up to the mountains to do some, i've been considering doing some warm up hikes more local.... but it just doesn't appeal all that much to me even in the winter here.... sure there are some nice places, but... even just daily living, I keep reminding myself that I don't belong in Florida.... the topography is all wrong for me...the climate all wrong.... the architectural style of the homes is all wrong.... I don't care for the beach..... how did I get here??? Yeah, I've had a long standing personal rule against tent camping in the s

I am mostly pro coed and against separate programs.... but this disrespectful and awkward thing is interesting to me. I think it represents a) an example of how boys will be when let to be boys...and their aint nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong IMO with mens' clubs and the like as an extention to this idea... b) an example of some very un scout-like behavior So it is an interesting quoting to keep alive. On one hand there's no reason they can't get along together, they do it in school and elsewhere. I'd rather my son meet and interact with more girls that aren't his sisters and

General thought I have reading this thread.... when these comments come up about how this will ruin the program.... I wonder what the folks around the rest of the world think, with their long standing and apparently successful (at least in as much as much as the BSA is successful) coed programs From my perspective.... a lot of guys just want that too. I'm pretty comfortable that my son would agree. he doesn't care about the ranks really, he doesn't care about the meetings or hoops. From what I can tell none of them care about the rah rah patrol yells and the like... What he does c