wadahoot

My son has the opposite problem. He'll be 18 by World Jambo and not able to attend, at least as a Scout. I'm looking in to him being a young Scouter, but he's disapointed that he might have to work it and not be able to completely enjoy. Does anyone know about what kinds of jobs 18 year olds would do? He is one of those lucky regarding National Jambo, though, and he knows it! He was 12 and went last time and is 16 now and Senior Patrol Leader! They leave for Gettysburg and DC at 5am Friday - he's excited!

ConcernedScout I'm totally impressed by not only your obvious concern, but your stick-to-it-ness in following through with this situation that seems to be a bit of a moral dilema within your church. Kudos to you! I'm SHOCKED if the leaders truly have less that a year's experience (and that's the average?!). One step that could be taken right away, is for the elders to start a rotation where one Scouter has always been there longer and has 'trained' the newer adult ... in other words, stagger their terms of serving. Not the end-all, that's for sure, but a first step while research is being done. I'm of the opinion that, other than leadership difficulties, the fact that the boys 'have' to be in Scouts (if I understood that correctly) is a really dangerous situation. My son's Cub Pack and now Scout Troop have lost Scouts every year that don't want to continue the more advanced the outdoor situations become with age and experience. And lastly, I would concur that Utah and other mountainous areas are much more rugged and true wilderness situations ... it's kinda hard to fall off a prairie! Best wishes! Anita Indianapolis

We have Frozen Squirrels Slackers Evil Smurfs Godzilla Silly boys! =)

>>I'm consider keeping my son in Scouting and work with him to get his Eagle and get out. Doing things the way this troop is doing Scoutng the Eagle Badge has lost all its meaning. My wife thinks I should pull myself and my son from Scouting as he is just not getting the things that we wanted him to get out of the program.