Venividi

Perhaps they were a political statement about the the Vietnam era movie, "The Green Beret's"?

Troop and patrol meetings should not be spectator sports. Adults often unknowingly affect the boys just by being in the same room. With no specific job or role to fill, it is natural that they will start to have conversations among themselves, not realizing that their conversations contribute to noise leves in the room and are distracting. Suggestion: Have a discussion with the PLC about this. You should be able to ask questions that will help them realize that they could have better meetings without a lot of adult distractions going on in the room. Once they get to that realization,

Old guy, I took a look at the fishing MB requirements, and see that there are a lot of "discuss" and "explain" requirements. How I approach those requirements is similar to dg98's statement. Discussing is a back and forth conversation. It is not a sit and listen while the MB counsellor explains; it is not a sit and listen while the MB counsellor discusses it with another scout. To effectively have a discussion for the requirements that I see in the fishing mb list, you need a very small group. Otherwise there just isn't enough there for a scout in a larger group to add to a discus

Old_Guy, Welcome! You might start by reading the counsellor guide and training material for MB counselors: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/boyscouts/trainingmodules/meritbadgecounselorinstructorsguide.aspx http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors/MBCounselorGuide.aspx MB pamphlets are a useful resource for scouts. It provides information that helps the scouts meet the requirements. If they have other resource material to use instead, that is fine. You can't require any one to read the MB pamphlet, or any other material. You can encourage

I can't gather from dfolson's post what this scout is like, what he did or didn't do, what the culture of the committee and BOR participants are, the SM's personality and style, any more than any one else can from the distance of a forum description and request for feedback. Those in the unit know these things best. Those in the unit know what they want scouts to get out of their experience with the troop. I agree with those that say take a neutral position, listen, and help the unit move to become better in the long term implementation of their vision. I tend to have a different vie

Reminds me of a similar situation a month after my son joined a troop. A patrol of 3rd year scouts forgot to buy their food (the grubmaster forgot, PL didn't follow up to check on duty roster assignments, rest of patrol didn't think about it). Shortly after breakfast on Saturday morning, after missing cracker barrel and breakfast, the patrol approached the SM, and they arrived at a solution. An ASM took two scouts in to town for grocery shopping. You would think "lesson learned", boys were a hungry for a while, but fessed up to their problem and solved it. However, at the next c

If after SM conference there is no apparent remorse, then a suspension to give the unremorseful time to contemplate whether he wants either be part of the troop and live to the scout law, or to drop out of the troop. Then stick to it. You have the safety of the other boys to be concerned about.

Yep - human nature being what it is, you will always get a few scouts and parents that are looking for a way to get an award with the minimum effort possible. While that can work for the number of MB's required, requirements that are signed off, and other items that are ostensibly "objectively" measureable (i.e., either completed or not), there is that pesky scout spirit requirement. Some scouts and parents view that as anything short of being charged with a crime is showing scout spirit - they weren't bad. I once had a parent argue with me that it didn't matter that their scout was uncoo

Deaf scouter wrote: Scout working on Eagle so really not into planning. I finally stopped doing PLC with him as it was a dead end. ... I'm basically doing the calendar myself with their ideas then gonna teach them how to plan come fall. Deaf Scouter, An obesrvation - it reads like you are giving a bye to your oldest scout because he is working on Eagle. And since he isn't in to planning, you are stepping in and doing it for him (and the other scout that isn't a first year, because he is working on Star). I've got to ask - if a scout cant find the time, and/or doesn't want t

OGE, It wasn't intended to be a hijack, and if it came across that way, I appologize that I didn't express myself adequately. And I do not discount the possibility that I misunderstood / misinterpreted the point you were trying to make. My intent was to acknowledge in my response what I believed was your point about including opportunities for practicing scout skills into program throughout the year, irrespective of need for advancement, as I think that is an important (perhaps even the most important) part of this discussion. i.e. - focus on program, not advancement.

TampaT writes: We try to get the older boys to do some of the training for the newbies but they are a distinct minority...the older boys seem less and less interested and it affects camping attendance. Not surprising - advancement focuses on the individual - a "me" type of thing. It doesn't address moving the boys to "we". Questinon TampaT - is this with mixed age patrols or same age patrols? That makes a difference in older boys view of helping teach/train younger boys. Balance in methods.

A goal of FCFY is a bit like a goal of all boys making Eagle. Both are noble goals, but whether they are realistic, and whether they are in the boy's best long term interest is up for debate. BSA provides conflicting goals - 1) FCFY; 2)follow the 4 steps of the advancement method. If a unit chooses FCFY, then as Beavah and others have pointed out, the learning component cannot be done well, because it typically takes longer than 1 or 2 exposures to learn (and I am not talking about "mastery" here, just a scout simply being able to do by himself without coaching). If a unit choo

>But his den leader, who is a great lady, really only has time for the basic program. So no den projects. Hopefully they will be doing Whittlin Chip the next few weeks. But for him it's been slightly frustrating. DLChris, As a new DL, you understand more than most parents the need for parents to help out with den meetings/projects, etc. Perhaps you could encourage and/or work with your son's den leader to put together a schedule for the next year that assigns responisbility for projects and meetings to parents of den meetings on a rotational basis. Accomplishes 3 things:

I'll play. I'm assuming that you mean that the card was signed by the MB counsellor. When the blue card was not initially signed by the SM? when fraud was involved? So much is situationally dependent, that I doubt it is useful for people to guess or speculate the nature of your situation.(This message has been edited by venividi)

blw - I understand your point. I was referring to the ODL designed boy scout uniform. It is a dated look, though not enough to be considered retro (in my opinion).

I sometimes speculate (only somewhat tongue in cheek), that the real purpose of the uniform is to train boys to be obedient by requiring them to wear the "dorky" looking uniform. They are put in a position where they likely feel self conscious about the uniform because the style is so dated; and learn that it's OK to be different and stand out from the crowd. Perhaps that is how the uniform method advances the character portion of scouting's aims. Multiple threads on this forum provide many reasons why the style of the uniform need not change as fashions continue to change. There are

> If I had my way I would tell him to find another troop. But that is the easy way out. I disagree - this is not the easy way out, it is the difficult way out. People don't generally want to make waves, and thus let bad behaviour slide. Letting the bad behaviour slide is the easy way out. Support your SM. Inform the scout and parents that you support the SM, the committee supports the SM, and that obviously this is not the right troop for them, because they do not agree with the progam provided by the SM and supported by the committee. And that neither the SM nor the committ

Eagle92, I like your suggestion about mentoring PL's. My personal preference would be for a JASM to provide that mentoring.

As 5year said, do the talent survey, or ask around as to who likes to fish. People that like outdoors things such as fishing are likely to want their sons in cub scouts. Then ask that person or persons to coordinate a fishing derby. fallback alternative: Check if there is a fishing club in your area, and contact their president/chair. Some fishing clubs members like to share their knowledge with kids.

I'll offer a different perspective - my conversation with the SPL would be more along the lines of 'next time say "pay attention guys, because you need to learn this stuff because you will need it on a high adventure trip one day." ' I think that promoting learning for advancement is counter productive. People are more likely to learn and retain if they see a need in their every day life or future adventure. So I would start to look at whether the troop might be relying a little too much on the advancement method.

BD - The answer to your question (in my experience anyway), is that if you don't have adults willing to step up and go on campouts, then those same adults are not likely to be willing to step up and mentor scouts in the planning and runing of activities either. If scouts haven't been mentored, they are not going to step up and do things, even if asked, becasue they dont know how, and dont have anyone to help them learn.

> I use it as an opportunity to work on advancement with the scouts that need it,... Second Class - consider making this an opportunity for the boys to work on advancement with the scouts that need it. It provides the PL's and instructors with the opportunity to step up to their responsibilities, when thy would likely prefer to play games.

The first campout after I became SM, the PLC proposed an Unplanned campout - no activites planned, other than patrol meals. March campout after webelos cross over. Cabin camp. Having repeatedly hearing "boys decide", we had a campout with no planned activites. Was a total disaster. Ended up with a lot of disciple problems, because boys became bored and started inventing variations of games that were not scoutlike. Was a learning experience for me - realized that what boys say they want is not necessarily what they do want - in this case I think they preferred to avoid the res

Thank you twocubdad. I tried twice to compose a response that conveyed the meaning that you succinctly put into yours. All volunteers need to work towards achieving the vision of the troop in a "we're all in this together" kind of a way.

Beavah writes: I think it's just fine if yeh have a sit-down with the CC and the SM and yourself and express your concerns. That sort of thing needs to be voiced, eh? Folks sometimes need the push-back to help 'em suit up for the game and resist the parents who are pushing. I think this point should be emphasised. Units need frequent communication between the adult leaders to: a) keep everybody on the same page b) teach new adult leaders the expectations of the troop c) give the SM warm fuzzies/comfort level that the ASM's and committee members support meaningful expectations; i.