Vicki

My father, brother and I took his daughter and my son on their first backpacking trip two summers ago in Colorado. It was a blast! We did it again last summer. She's a great camper and up for it any time. Her mother has no interest, which shows in the GS troop she's in, since mom is a leader. At least she gets them to the local equivalent of our council camps for their larger gatherings. Of course, teaching a girl to pee in the woods is a little different than teaching a boy:

Pack, I ain't touchin' that one with a ten foot pole. Vicki

Hey, doing pretty well on the claptrap front! Bear in mind, I am talking about youth here. As long as adults are providing appropriate mentoring and examples in settings related to youth, I'm good. I've been known to wander down a trail or two by myself just to hear the aspens whisper. Water is a whole 'nother animal, I evolved on land. I love water - Scuba, swimming, whatever. My choice is to not swim alone. But, as others point out, when you are old enough to make your own choices, have at it! (Seriously off topic, my problem is when adults aren't willing to take the consequen

"My Scout is 12, and in spite of his successful completion of the Scout swimming safety test, he is not allowed to swim alone in my pool, in spite of his argument to the contrary, he is a weak swimmer. As a result of his passing the test, he has become *over* confident in his abilities." Engineer, you may not have meant to word this quite the way I read it, but this is a "soapbox" issue for me, so here goes. No matter how strong a swimmer may be, he or she should never swim alone. Period. Until the day when we have gills, water is not our friend no matter how much fun it may be. A

As John was with me earlier, so I am with him now. I applaud your taking the high road as regards your son and I certainly understand why you might choose not to press the issue. However, going forward, please do not let this matter slide. Once a quarter is not often enough to do Boards of Review, especially not in the lives of teen-age boys. It is not spoiling them to consider what is age-appropriate. I would also suggest that it subtracts substantially from the feeling of accomplishment to have to wait too long for a recognition. We're losing enough boys as it is without introd

NE-IV-88Beaver - what difference does it make? In view of the assumptions others have made concerning this scout and his troop in this thread, this is beginning to take on an unpleasant tone - as do so many of these threads. Vicki

My first concern - in the context of your troop structure, I would certainly go ahead and hold the Board of Review on the 24th. If you hold your meetings, and the Board of Reviews, at the same time, he will have completed four months in rank by the end of the meeting, right? I know it's a very fine point but the scout should not be penalized for the troop's recognition issues. My second concern is that you appear to be holding Boards of Review too infrequently. We do them at the drop of a hat, I understand others do them in a more structured way, but four times a year really isn't often

To add to what mds3d posted - Buddhism isn't necessarily a religion, it's more a way of being that some who practice it regard as a religion and others don't, depending on which branch of it they practice. There are Christian Buddhists, Taoist Buddhists, and Shinto Buddhists, as well as atheist Buddhists. But Christians, Taoists, Shinto(ists?) and atheists don't necessarily define themselves as Buddhists. Vicki

"I wonder what that says to the Jewish scouter. or the Buddhist. or the Muslim." Bando, I've known a Jewish scouter that got very upset he felt an evangelical prayer had been "shoved down his throat." I knew another who was pretty philosophical about it. Can't tell you about Muslims. I don't consider myself a Buddhist anymore but you're never really not a Buddhist once you embark on the way - my reaction is, "ah, well, that is their path. How interesting." Vicki

"if an SPL came to a meeting and said "this is what the CC is telling me to do and it's not fair because of X" it would be seen by many to be disrespectful - though it really isn't in the view of the SPL because he's questioning a "rule" that he doesn't believe is a rule or should be a rule. So this isn't something that he should bring up to the committee but rather directly with the CC or SM. " Exactly, Kathy. That's how the game of adulthood is played. Sounds like your committee is doing it right, for the most part. I think I'm still wary of involving the SPL in committee m

Well, and that's part of the inherent unequal nature of the relationship - a youth cannot play adult power games without appearing discourteous or at least disrespectful. Which is why we have to go out of our way to be mature about it and try not to put youth in these situations - especially intentionally, which is how this looks from my vantage point. Vicki

OK, so my initial reading was "why on earth would the SPL attend the committee meetings?" I had never heard of that before. Reading the e-mails, OK, I can see some logic behind it. But, Lisabob, I heartily disagree with the idea of a)making him appear in uniform if none of the adults are in uniform and b) making him submit his report thirty days ahead of time if no one else has to do it. That's just ridiculous. Not to mention that that means he's writing next month's report the day after the meeting? This smacks of adults playing power games with youth who aren't armed for it yet.

Interesting discussion. As I think about it, the only time sleeping in has been an option is the occasional scout at summer camp who has decided to take it easy on the MB front. Usually an older scout, a "been there, done that" kind of thing. On weekend outings, there's always somewhere to be or something to do - especially departure morning. That's cold grub, up and out. Adults don't generally do the "wakey wakey eggs and bakey" thing - that's up to the youth leadership who can make it very difficult to continue to sleep. We don't drop tents. Vicki

Ah, yes, name calling. Always a fun game when nothing else comes to mind, eh? Vicki

Jet's right - "I disagree with our going to Mars at this point in time. It is a silly next step. The Moon is simpler with more immediate benefits. Then with materials mined on the Moon we can set up at L4 or L5, then we might want to start for Mars. Resources, knowledge and lebensraum--the sooner we get at least one egg out of this basket the better." Read Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. So is JoeBob - thinking about China makes this paranoid's skin crawl. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Heinlein again - in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a w

Knew something was working when I got my first "there's been a reply" e-mail! Then, the site didn't 504 me...THEN, it loaded almost immediately! WOO-HOO! Thanks, Terry - very much appreciated. Vicki

Hey, Trev, let's not start insulting old married couples:

Personal story - actually happened. The troop I served prior to my current one convoyed. Period. Until...we were on our way to Shiloh, TN and approached a four way intersection with a stop light. Scout cars 1,2,and 3 go, light turns red. Scout 4 car runs red light and almost gets broadsided by a semi. Scout 5 car was me - tail-gun Charlie, so to speak, stopped at the light with gaping jaw. When we next pulled over, scout 4 car driver says, "I was concentrating so hard on staying with the car in front of me, I didn't even see the light." I don't know what they do now, but for aw

Ed, mellowing out? Even with ketchup? Ain't gonna happen - but nice thought:

Hey, glad somebody mentioned the notification button - thought I was going crazy (no comment please). I checked it twice on the "tax write off" thread and noticed I'm not getting notified. So definitely something hinky going on. I'm with eghiglie - free time cut WAY back. Vicki(This message has been edited by Vicki)

hotair, I think I'll stick with what I wrote - on a practical level, we have been talking about churches as CO's. There may be churches out there that file 990's, but they don't have to and I don't know of one that does (because it means listing your top donors). Before anybody goes looking to prove me "wrong" I will cede that they probably do exist, just not within my experience. So the IRP is most likely a moot point. In any event, I will tell you that any form I received that had the CO's EIN on it went directly to the CO's treasurer (for instance, the form reporting interest if w

The truth is closer to what BadenP says than what Beavah posts, but the topic is one that gets complicated fast because very specific language and terms are involved that are not completely understood by those using them (no offense intended, other professions have their language which I don't understand). However, tax court is the only place where disputes are definitively settled and accountants are a lot like lawyers - you can find conservative ones and liberal ones, it's all in your tolerance for risk. I tend to lean to the conservative side. Tax deductibility of donations should no

>a hole punch that you drive through the leather with the mallet. > Linda, that would be an awl:

Eagle, I feel your pain. I've at least missed a wedding anniversary, his birthday, Father's Day (twice), and my birthday. That's what I remember, anyway. I know he loves me, but I do remember he wasn't happy:

John, Lisa - mind-reading is so fundamental to most large organizations that you don't even NEED to put it in a training module. The BSA is better at requiring it than most what with troop, district, and council habits/norms/policies that not only contradict national's but are sometimes even internally contradictory. Putting it in training would, I think, defeat the purpose of weeding out those who either don't possess that particular skill or are so thin-skinned they take it personally. That said, to CNY - in your son's shoes, I would apply what I call my Chinese water torture techniq