Krampus

I would have liked to see more cooking take place. Three home meals, two patrol meals and two trail meals is a bit light IMHO. Challenging scouts to make homemade trail meals could have been worked in for at least one meal.

To be honest I don't see much difference. The "myplate" thing is silly. Had to dumb down the food pyramid? I read somewhere how much money was spent on that and just sighed. Still would like them to make the trail meals a bit more difficult. These days it is mostly boil and eat.

I'd love to do a pot-luck style event, however, this would not work in my area. There's too much going on all around so the COH is just one event of many that day.

This is where EDGE comes in. Our unit took a while to implement it, but we built a program where the T-FC program (meets 1-2 times/month) mapped to the unit calendar so that skills being taught in T-FC were built in to the games or skills being done by the unit as a whole. For example, if T-FC was doing knots, the unit's meeting would be pioneering projects for that month. This way the T-FC Scouts had to learn, show and teach their knots during T-FC *AND* during the Scout meeting. The Instructors don't sign off until these guys can demonstrate that they really KNOW these skills.

I'm not an attorney, but as I understand it this is how these "Friends of" COs work. A group of parents form a 501©(3) and establish the organization structure of a non-profit. I believe the organization hold liability and the people in charge have the fiduciary responsibility. I'm not sure if there's any personal liability though. You'd have to ask a lawyer.

This is a key issue that many in Scouting have been discussing for years. We seem to get the real quality leaders at the Boy Scout level, but early CS leadership seems to be the adult that got cornered in to doing the role. We then have really poor training and tools to hand them to do their job. I remember my Tiger DL days. I had no clue when the committee met, how to plan a meeting, or anything else. Google was my friend. I had one older DL from another den take me under his wing and help me. When I left 5 years later I had developed the "in a box" idea where each new DL got a box with the program helps book, 2-3 "ready to go" meetings complete with games, skill or fun project (tied to a requirement), etc. I think BSA used to offer these too. One would think UCs would develop something like this for their units.

Sounds like a training and quality control problem. In an ideal world the PL or Instructor would sign off on demonstrated requirements. Not sure why an ASM would want to push through scouts who don't know their stuff. He should be working from what you tell him you want, based on how the PLC wants the troop to run. If the ASM is going rogue then reign him in.

Don't sign off on the skill until it is passed. SA? Scout Advisors? In my unit, part of "participating in an SMC" means demonstrating your core scouting skills. If you can't you come back. How can you participate in anything (class, sports, scouts) if you didn't do your homework? Again, then don't sign off until they KNOW it. Use the EDGE method. When those boys can TEACH the skill, they've mastered it. Yup. Sounds like no one used EDGE. Who is teaching classes? Who is signing off on things? Sounds like THAT is where the problem is.

Pulse. Breathing. Willing to jump in. Willing to get trained. Good attitude with the kids.

My thought exactly! That's the SM's call, not the ASM. Maybe if he didn't cancel so many meetings there wouldn't be the need to have 12 "ASAP" Scoutmaster conferences. I sure as heck would make him take half of them (with another leader) so as to split up the workload. In my unit we do this: Scouts request the SMCs, not mom or dad but the Scouts. The SM or ASM will sit down (two deep) and conduct the SMC. We try to do them within one week of the request. We don't like to take meeting time to do them so we usually do them 30-60 mins before the meeting. After the SMC we hand the Scout a sheet of paper that shows them how to: Request the BOR. Send in the updated pages of their book so that they are recorded in TroopMaster. How to prepared for the BOR (we cover this in the SMC but we give them sheet to take with them). Our advancement coordinator usually tries to schedule the BORs within a week or so of the SMC. These do happen during the meeting. If we have a large number then sometimes we have 2-3 boards going at one time (all with trained folks conducting the BOR). All that said, if I have been too busy and not able to get an SMC done, I have been known to meet a Scout (and parent) at a coffee shop or donut place and hold an SMC. This is usually if I have been travelling and I have made the Scout wait longer than I like. My *personal* feeling is that Scouts should not wait more than two weeks for an SMC *unless* the volume is such that it delays their conference.

@@Stosh...very true. We have a recent SPL who came off like "Joe Manager". When he got in the role I had to stop the PLC from wanting to impeach him after two months. Nothing got done. Met with him, helped him plan, worked on objectives and how to reach them, provided the tools with examples, etc. Nada. Zip. No one home. Wanted the title, could not be bothered with the role. The next two guys who took over have been TREMENDOUS!!! Still shaking my head at what else I could have done to help the kid. Just did not want to engage.

Implied in my response, but I agree. We all know that different boys will be different types of leaders. My own Scout is not SPL material. He is a teacher. He is an instructor, guide, mentor and shower of "the how". He's poor at management and administration. He can deliver a kind teaching message but not when it comes to PL-based process things. He's patient when instructing, not so when advising a PL on why his patrol is not being properly managed. The key, IMHO, is to find how each boy can be a good leader...then help him find the position where he can work on BOTH his strengths and weaknesses.

A leader should NEVER point out something a Scout is doing wrong in front of a group or other Scouts. NEVER!!! How would she like it if you dressed her down in front of the Pack or the Pack Committee. IMHO, if I were Pack Chair, I would have a "come to Jesus" meeting with her and remind her of her role, how to act and treat the boys and ask is she can do that. If not, show her the door. My two cents.

I am losing a group of similar quality this year. I have "raised" them from Tenderfoot to Eagle. All were PLs, SPLs, JASMs and two ASMs. All are leaving for college this summer. Going to miss them. My challenge is to turn out yet another group of such leaders.

Sounds like that DL and her husband are off on their own and not working with their parents. My scout will be the first to say I held him to a higher standard than I did the others in his Den. If the DL and her husband are not doing that, and focusing on their scout's bling, it is time to find another leader IMHO.

@@qwazse, I get that. Yes, the lodge is stuck in 1952. If you want to invigorate a program you make it sound exciting. These guys are the insomnia prevention unit. 20 seconds and you nod off. What cannot be conveyed is the intensely monotone delivery. Stunningly bad.

Adult oversight is not a bad thing. It gives them a chance to coach....minimally. We've all heard that adults should give "pearls of wisdom" to allow the PLs and boys to make informed decisions. So there's nothing wrong with that type of adult input. Nothing wrong with the adult leader monitoring what goes on, how patrols are behaving, etc. They can then get with the PL AFTERWARDS and counsel them on what went well, what didn't and how to handle in the future. We allow them to lead, succeed or fail. Then we advise on how to fix...or kudos to what went well.

You can practice a bad speech as much as you want, but it will still be a dry, boring speech. Our OA guys come in, read a dry speech, show a dry video and then ask for OA dues and try to promote our local camps....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Why can't they show up in regalia? Why can't they collect dues AFTER the election? Why can't they simply collect dues online? Why can't they have a non-boring video that highlights how cool our summer camps are (OA-made, boy-made, not depend on Council)? Our lodge has been doing the same presentation since God created woman. Any wonder the boys shutdown?

The system is in a state of hold until recharter is updated. Only Key 3 have access and any new training won't get updated in the system and linked to your unit until recharter is over and the system cut back over. You can still print out or use your expired card. Never had reason to use it in 10 years.

We had a similar issue this past summer. Evening hike from camp to event post then night hike back. Had the crew post a glow stick at camp. Dropped a pin on my gps and marked it on the topo. Starry night so took my heavenly coordinates and lastly timed the hike by segment on my watch. Suggested the crew stop every .25 mile and look back to see the terrain and stars at key points. Crew got lost but found their way back on track several times. I knew where we were the whole time. Stars are your friends.

Yes I've been convinced by great speeches. Sadly no one in OA In my area is capable of that.

During recharter the BSA system is still using 2015 data. It won't get updated until March or April. Physical cards are not mailed until June or July. Of course they expire 5 months later and Ground Hog Day starts all over again. Your dues at work.

TC's tend to have a lot of drama and dry stuff.

In fact, I think if you look at the attacks that have happened at Philmont it was as a result of poor bear protocol. If I am not mistaken, the 2013 attack near Baldy was of a Scout who took a Snickers in to his tent to rest and relax. The bear wandering around caught the smell and went to take a bit (of the candy bar). It just happened to be in the kid's hand.

I try to always know where I am. As the adult leader I am the guy the lawyers will come after if something happens. I have the training and skills to know. Topos and GPS waypoints are your friend.