Krampus

Where I live the local city, county and other government-run food banks went belly up. If not for churches, synagogues and other religious groups collecting food the hungry in our area would have gone without. When you talk to many churches the ONLY reason they can run such a program is due to the non-profit status. Take that away and you are left with either the government doing it (fat chance), private enterprise doing it (but not for a profit, so why bother) or people doing it out of the goodness of their hearts AND having to fund their work too (again, fat chance). So I would not call all

@Basementdweller: Ill-informed because many seem to what to throw up their hands and say "I can't deal" rather than learning how to deal with the issues. As I said in the post, we think nothing of learning WFA so we can do back-country stuff or becomming NRA certified to run a rifle range, so why not become attuned to how to deal with kids with mental challenges? Answer: Because it is hard and not as fun as the other stuff...but for the kid in question it may very well be the difference between him continuing to be like that or finally changing. And yes, as long as you wear the uniform it *

I am with TwoCub. You put that type of time into something and the parents essentially pull their kid from your Den with no reason. Then they appear to even duck Pack meetings or events? Lord knows why they are doing it but volunteers who put that amount of effort in are going to take it personally. But sure, you do not dwell on it. You move on and chalk it up to them being prats and go on with what you do best.

Reason #583,773,230 for not living in California....and I was BORN there.

Spot on! And it is not just kids with Aspergers that show these signs. However, there seems to be a high correlation to kids who have Aspergers and EBD. I was taken aback by the generalization being used around Aspergers as if the two (Aspergers and EBD) go hand in hand. Also, I have seen Scouters put themselves out there to learn all sorts of "fun" skills, so why not learn coping skills for kids with clinically diagnosed disabilities so you can help your Scout understand and help this kid? That was my point to those seemingly wanting to wash their hands of such issues.

Would the leaders tolerate it if the kids were calling them "the fat ASM" or "the dorky ASM" or "the bald ASM" or stuff like that? I get the "guys being guys" mentality, but this is not a sports team we are talking about. Scouting is supposed to be about higher ideals. I always challenge my guys to be the one in school who stops people like that from picking on other kids, to sit with the kid who has no friends and try to be his friend. What ever happened to a Scout is a friend to all? Ask the kids being called those names and see how they like it. My bet is they don't. As leaders we

Remember this is the same organization that requires you to fill out a new application for every role you hold in Scouting, rather than simply adding the new role(s) to your existing profile. Their new "toolkit" is worthless and does not work. I recently retook my YPT but I did not show up in their new tracking tool. Go figure. We keep track at the troop-level using Troopmaster and having our volunteers submit to us their training completions. We also track other training in TM. We then reconcile with the myscouting tools later....which are usually wrong.

Dropping off a car for PWD but not being there? What's the point? I'll bet he does not come to Pack meetings either. Sounds to me like the parents have some reason to dislike what you did or may simply disagree with your approach. Whatever it is I would not let it worry you. You cannot drag Scouts over the finish line. At the Cub level it is a joint effort between scout, parents and their leader. If the parents want the scout to complete the requirements they should get with the CM and make that happen if they don't want to do it with you. Personally, I would be cordial to the folks

My Council provides free patches with Internet advancement report from BSA. HOWEVER, they will sell unit leaders (SM, CC and Advancement Chair) the patches Scout through Life. I have a "stash" of rank patches and award just-in-time right after a BOR. The boys still get a second patch at the next COH along with their card. As long as I bring a report from Troopmaster showing the awards and BOR dates my Council is cool with that. Now, I am in a BIG council and we have a few shops. The "downtown" shop is a bit more stringent on insisting on BSA Internet advancement forms. The ones outside the cit

Adult leaders do what parents do: We observe, we evaluate and we teach. You will hear the term "pearls of wisdom" used frequently or "controlled failure". We use something called the EDGE method when we teach the boys -- and when the boys teach each other. EDGE stands for educate/explan, demonstrate, guide and enable. After that we continue to observe and drop pearls of wisdom as we travel (i.e., Jonny, you can tell the pancakes are ready to turn over when the bubble form on the top...but that smoke might mean the gas is up too high). The "controlled failure" is when Scouters sit back and,

@Twocubdad....I work with computers, networks and all that technical stuff but I cannot build a damn thing with wood because to me 2 5/8 and 2 3/4 are close enough to each other. ;-) I have the patience to program a data base but not to fit two dove-tail joints together. I would wager you are MUCH smarter than I am. ;-) Think of data bases like a drawer of tools. If you are organized, every drawer holds a different set of tools. Each tool is used for a different purpose. Combine tools and you can do many different things. Knowing where the tools are and how to combine them, well THAT is t

Gotta say that half the posts here are pretty ill-informed when it comes to working with Scouts with disabilities. We have a boy who is higher functioning autistic and three kids with Aspergers. I wish I had mroe Scouts like my autistic kid. He is polite, always says "hi" and really works hard. Yes it is a bit like herding cats with him but his friends in his patrol really help him. The Aspergers kids are the same way. Yes they are a handful at times but never more so than any other "normal" kids we have. I think the person who said earlier that putting labels on a kid makes you look at t

Because not every Scout owns a smart phone, ipod or ipad. So for those who don't the troop is there. It is not often we buy them, but sometimes we do.

I suspect the troop knows what they are doing. Or then again, maybe not. I know people who try to excuse away the copyright law by saying they are doing it for "educational purposes" or since their troop is tax-exempt they are somehow immune to the law. They look to be a small troop so maybe they are not aware. They are using Google Docs so you think they would have something like YouTube where they can identify third party copyrighted content. I sent them a note so maybe they will take it down.

A few years ago there was a website that had many of the MB books online in PDF format. However, they were forced to take them down by BSA which, as pointed out above, was likely for financial reasons. Ironically, many other BSA publications are freely available (like the troop program guide) online directly from BSA. Our troop encourages scouts to donate their MB books to our troop library. When we have a large number of scouts taking a class (i.e., at summer camp) we will purchase a few books on behalf of the troop and put them in our libaray. We have a database which our Librarian uses

Lost in all of this is the message being sent to the OTHER Scouts in that troop. If it is known this guy smoked pot (and perhaps did it more than once), got caught and nothing other than a stern talking to and a few meetings with some counselor was the result, exactly what message are we sending to THOSE boys?

We had a similar issue. The PLC was running on auto pilot just doing what they guys the took over for always did. Total treadmill. First PLC of the new leaders I told them to through out the rule book and plan the mtgs and events for fun. Did not care if it took 30 mins or 2 hours of time. told them we had budget for a few things and gave them some seed ideas. Next thing I knew they had planned a few archery outings at the local range, night-time orienteering sessions where pizzas were hidden in the woods and the patrols had to navigate a few courses to find their stash, mouse-trap car derb

Packsaddle, these are two very different issues: Assuming there is evidence he did drugs then: 1) No Eagle. Too many rules broken as well as laws. And as was pointed out previously, likely not his first time smoking the stuff. 2) Saving the soul. Of course you do this. but at this point the unit works with the CO and parents to get the kid help. But, IMHO, that's where it stops officially for the unit. You want the kid to get straight and to not become another statistic, but the unit has a duty to the other Scouts to make sure the unit is a safe place. If the Scout gets help and comes bac

Fred, I think we all agree that we try to fix the situation. But that fix is to register, pay the back dues and complete all the paperwork that makes you a legitimate Scout. Barring that being done ANY other action is against BSA policy and is an insult to the kids and adults who DO follow the process. Of course no one is going to tell him his mom (and previous troop leaders) were clueless and caused this issue. But Eagle cannot be handed out unless process and rules are followed. To do otherwise sends the message of "Don't worry about the rules, Timmy. Someone will always fix it for you." At

For me this is similar to another thread where an SM was trying to build up his troop's leadership and getting no takers. I would say you should get your CC and others on the committee to help, search the Net for a script for a COH (you can PM me and I can send you ours), show the Scouts what they need to do and jointly plan it together. The fun part is there is no right way or wrong way to have a COH. Most of it is just like a regular Scout meeting except you have more awards.

Ok...so hypothetically...if the kid did smoke dope...he has broken the law, broken his oath and promise and should not make Eagle. How's that?

I think some of you need to read a bit slower. I see many people talking about IF it is true. This is speculation. I don't see too many here hanging people for no evidence. They are talking about how they would handle the situation IF it were true. Don't see anything wrong with that.

Exactly. The whole "pot is legal in WA" argument is not entirely true as you point out.

How about: "Your mom was an idiot and cost you a wonderful award so after four years of work you have nothing to show for it" Award To give the kids ANYTHING -- unless he joins, pays back dues and goes throught he process -- is a mockery of all those other hard working kids who work their butts off every week to actually follow the rules. At some point in this country we have to try to stop fixing people being stupid and let the consequences fall where they may. Otherwise we will be wiping this guys butt for the next 30 years or more. No thanks! No Eagle. Move on.

BDPT00, let's not confuse illegal activity (pot smoking, shoplifting) with things like sexual activity or cheating which are more moral or ethical issues. For my money if ANY scout does anything illegal he cannot make Eagle right away because he has failed this requirement inherent in every rank: "Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life." Also, any Scout I know to be dishonest would have to work a while to earn back that trust. No one has convicted the kid. People are engaging in conjecture if he is OR isn't guilty of the offense.