Twocubdad

I can agree with that last point. Earning Eagle in the eighth grade is no better than dropping out in the eight grade and showing a few months before your 18th birthday to finishing checking the box. In both cases you've only been in Scouts for maybe 3.5 or 4 years. My goal for the Scouts I serve is to help them get the most they can from the program. That is accomplished over their full seven or so years of eligibility.

I think you're all overthinking it.

No, I don't have son's in high school. The Two Cubs are now both in college -- one sophomore and one junior. Both made Eagle, one at 16 and one at 17. My older son earned a couple palms and served as SPL for his jamboree troop the summer he was 17. My younger son earned 4 palms, aged out the middle of his senior year and was an active ASM (including summer camp) until the day they left for college. Through high school both played band and were soloists at the regional level. One also played football. Both took AP level classes and started college with more than 20 credit hours each. We

"Get your project over with ASAP" "Family Life, Personal Fitness and Personal Management are easier if you do them at the same time" "Environmental Science is tough. Get it at summer camp." "Get all three citizenships with Mrs. Jones. She's easy." "Personal Management is easier if you get it before you have a job" "SPL is a lot of work. Librarian and Historian will meet the requirement too." "Finish Eagle before high school." "I wonder why we haven't seen Billy since he made Eagle?" "Get it over with" is terrible advice. How about "Slow down. Enjoy your time in Scouting.

I'm seeing problems which seem to be cause by a rather short "time out" function or maybe I'm just being dropped I've not bee able to tell how much time you have before you are automatically logged out. If this is an in activity issue, apparently the system doesn't recognize typing a response as an activity, as I've been dropped while still typing a response. What I have noticed is while writing a response I'll frequently see the auto saved box light up in the bottom right corner. After some period of time, that stops and I get a "server error" box which requires me to click ok in the

Not in adult leadership positions.

It took me a couple passes through for me to figure out where you are coming from, BLME, but after letting your post sink in, I'm perfectly fine with your approach evaluating Scout Spirit. You've done a great job of describing those elements which should constitute Scout Spirit. But here's the rub, somewhere there is a parent -- actually probably a lot of parents -- when faced with their nearly 18-year-old son not being given the Eagle award to which they feel he is entitled, will describe your definition of Scout Spirit as "stringent and most probably artificial" or "nit-picking technica

My son is about one year ahead of MyBoy's. He is in his second semester of college. I can give you similar stories which are more than a year old, if it works better for you.

Did you laugh at the SM when he said that? It would have been difficult not to. The Chaplain is problem #2. Problem #1 is the SM is a coward and is allowing the chaplain to bully the boys. 100% guarantee that if a Scout does complain about the Chaplain, he'll find another excuse to do nothing. And it's a 90% likelihood someone has and he has ignored/blown off/justified his continuing inaction. As a prospective/new parent, you are in a precarious situation. Your complaints can be written off easily as "the new helicopter dad" whining. But in the fable it was a child who pointed out

My son called home from college the other day complaining about his physics professor. He just got his first test back on which he made a 55. Not to bad considering the average for the class was less that 50 and no one passed, according to the professor. And there is no curve . If he makes 100 on the remaining three test and the final he still makes a B. According to him, the test is a common on for all sections of the course offered by a number of different professors. Unfortunately, his professor covered only a portion of the material in class. The practice test his professor distributed onl

Great discussion -- finally! Barry wrote: "... it gives the SM (good guy) a lot of freedom to add or reduce responsibility to insure the scout is challenged without being overwhelmed." Exactly. When I first started as SM a good friend who had been a SM for decades told me his greatest challenge was to evaluate the ability of the youth leadership and to moderate his level of engagement depending on what the youth leaders required. It is the SM's job to give the youth leaders the freedom and responsibility to lead the program, but not to destroy it. We have a responsibility to ALL th

Two troops near us have converted to TL. One was a small unit which dropped BSA all together. The other a larger unit, but about half the Scouts moved to another CO and are continuing with BSA. We've gained Scouts from both.

So "reflecting badly" is now the standard? You mean worse than being a member of the bar association?

Fair and consistent are the by-words. It would be neither if we hold anyone to a higher standard than the lowest minimum. I believe it was Emerson who said "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind."

JASM in our troop tends to be "emeritus" status for former SPLs/Eagles still active in the troop who still want to be active and contribute. I try to treat them as -- surprisingly -- as junior Scoutmasters and give them mentoring responsibilities along the same lines as the adult ASM. Usually they choose jobs which interest them and those responsibilities at which they have excelled. The fellow who was a great Troop Guide may choose to work with the current TGs helping them plan their program with the new Scouts. Typically, I let them write their own job description. From what you've

Or maybe after the troop swim gets redirected to the splash pad, the boys will learn something about the consequences of their choices. Learning occurs.

I had forgotten your earlier posts where you wrote of the campout experience and the conversation you had with the SM. I think you've fulfilled your obligations to the CO troop, dude. If they ask for your input, offer it. Otherwise, stay out of it. Oh, and attach your UC resignation latter to their recharter packet.

Yeah, you being the UC is a terrible idea. As UC, you need to punt this mess to the ADC or DC today. But given your involvement (entanglements?) with the CO, I like qwase's advice with one tweak: first ask if they want your advice. A smart SM knows new parents and Scouts are going to be much more comfortable talking with their old den leader until they have a chance to build a relationship with the SM and the other leaders of the new troop. You could approach the SM (and I would include the CC) by saying as the DL for these boys you still get a lot of feedback from them and their parents

I think the advice YOU have been given thus far is good. Trying to talk your parents into changing their minds will likely backfire. You have to SHOW them and that means putting your head down and pushing forward with your goals. That said, I personally think holding your drivers' license over your head is a terrible idea. I am an Eagle Scout, father of two Eagles and have been SM for 8 years. I've frequently advised parents against it. My biggest complaint is it pushes boys to try to earn Eagle earlier than they otherwise would and, in my opinion, should. The times I seen paren

I get this a lot, although generally not from the SPL. The SPL usually figures he sought out the gig and doesn't have much of an argument. I must say, however, my guys are much better at it than your's.

What you have described is a reasonable amount of Adult Association. I think you're clearly on the encourage side of the line. I'm betting the whole "just want to have fun" thing is a ruse -- a cover for a lack of confidence, a lack of understanding of the process or embarrassment and being behind his peers. Seems to me all you are doing is providing him some additional motivation to engage in an important part of the program -- skillful Scoutmastership!

Does anyone charge them on late dues? Our troop charges $100 annual dues. We have a dickens of a time getting people to pay in time for us to complete the re-charter. We recharter the end of next month but so far have very few families which have paid. (Affordability is NOT an issue -- I'll go into that later, if necessary) The money really isn't an issue, it's the additional time and hassle of trying to do recharter with incomplete data. The deadline for paying is Feb. 1. We're considering charging a $50 late fee for payments received after that date. After Feb. 15 we're going

The Eagles I hold in high regard are those who live the Oath and Law, who stay with the program and give back to it, who show real concern and compassion for their fellow Scouts and those in their patrol and troop. These are the guys who take on extra responsibility and thrive on it, who do more than the minimum, and put forth sincere effort to do their best. While that is often independent of the parent's involvement, apples tend to fall near apple trees.

I've read the amendments and a little bit of the explanations. It will never happen. These amendments would result in massive reductions in the size and scope of the federal government. Too many people lined up at trough to let that happen.