boomerscout

Boys Life magazine had all kind of plans for DIY gear in the 40s and 50s. Make you own tent, sleeping bag, pack, messkit, bowsaw, stove, and so on.

One wonders how Lewis & Clark covered half the country without having an REI available.

"what do you do when the advancement issue openly pits boy v. parent?"

we stay out of it unless he/she is openly chewing out their son in front of the other boys. If that happens, we quickly, but politely, tell them to knock it off.

We attempt to get them to understand that some merit badges, such as the citizenships, are geared to boys having finished at least ninth grade.

We may offer to custom tailor a program for their son depending on how many troop duties they (the parents) will volunter for in order to lighten our load.

We generally leave the kid alone. We will encourage him to attend any training sessions we offer; this is one time a group in a classroom mb program may be in order.

My biggest gripe: parents who expect a stellar program to be offered to their sons without any involvement on the parents' part other than opening the checkbook

Oh, this is an easy one. First: when the parent is making his request of you, call his son over to take part in the conversation. This shouldn't take more than five minutes; let them do all the talking and reach their own consensus.

Second: Ask Dad what two days he is volunteering for at camp since you are short of experienced trainers, camp cooks, etc

Addendum: Can't think of anything more boring, as an 11 year old, than to get dragged inside a museum in August. Now, if you could visit a fire tower, and get permission to climb up to the top of the tower, that would be something different.

new Scouts with less than a year of being Scouts. First, you need to decide how the requirements are going to be earned. Do they really have to learn and understand the material, or do they just attend a demo and then get signed off? If you're going for real learning, then a good T to First will take the entire week, and there won't really be time for merit badges. These Scouts, young, don't need so much summer classroom; they need fun in the out-of-doors.

Don't forget that T to FC in itself has a lot of first aid to learn and practice, as well as first time cooking requirements.

So, camp needs to be on a swimming lake (no leeches or swimmer's itch). What is camp? It is swimming. There should be a horse livery nearby for a two times ride, a shooting area within reasonable driving distance (start requesting loans of .22s & archery equip & targets). Sleeping in tents -- of course! There should be a mess hall they can use to practice Scout skills in case it rains. Fields large enough for a daily wide game. If enough pass their swim test, then a canoe livery near for a one day trip in very calm water. Do you have a lifeguard/water safety instructor lined up?

While I've claimed there won't be time for merit badges - unless some of the Scouts are very near First Class - the hiking merit badge would fit in well, especially if you can come up with a different trail at least every other day. Can you find a nearby naturalist to teach the plant identifications? Someone to show how to find the North Star and the simpler constellations (ex. Orions Belt)

In your case, I would postpone the first aid mb until fall or spring, and take it with the Red Cross or at the Y. (And have a review of T to FC first-aid a week or two before.)Most eleven year olds - the new Scouts - aren't ready for the pioneering, cooking, orienteering mb

It would be great if you could have a nightly campfire with patrol skits, songs, storytelling. This may require dragging an outdoor fireplace with you if you can get advance permission from the landowner. And, a place to cook outside once in a while

There should be someplace to hike to for a primitive overnighter with different starting times for each group of 3-4.

Coming up with a patch to hand out at the end of the week would be great.

These are little kids. Make the program fun instead of ambitious. The SPL/ASPL need to start training the trainers now -- shakedown cruise, and all that. Good luck! Have fun!

The chicken was a training aid. If you could do the chicken, then you should have no trouble with a grouse, quail, pheasant. An emu may still be troublesome.

Kids of Scouting age embarass easily, and seem overly sensitive to peer ridicule. They may skip your camping because they don't have the "proper" gear as shown in Boys Life.

Otherwise, to make camping more of a draw, post pix of the last trip on the troop bulletin board, get an action shot posted in the weekly paper.

Also post pix at your stationary fundraiser. When Mr. & Mrs. Smith ask why you never have a shot of Johnny, tell them he never bothers to camp.

Other than that, some just don't like to camp. That's just how it is

Naturally, not all new Scouts will need to take every module of the first year program due to previous signoffs. There needs to be other stuff they can join/do on a walkup basis - as desired.

an hour a day is not enough; half a day each day is more feasible. T to F covers an awful lot of new material to some who have never seen it before. Getting everyone organized for a ten mile hike, and then doing the hiking can take a half day. Demonstrating fire building, and then having everyone gather tinder, kindling etc and lay the fire can take half a day. If the particular program module finishes early, then the Scouts need not stay the entire half-day

Pioneering is not for most first year Scouts - too many knots and lashings all at once (therefore soon forgotten). Plus, many eleven year olds are not yet strong enough to handle the logs & spars. Ditto first-aid mb; learn well the basics & practice & practice them the first year.

You also need to build in time for a week long how-to-swim school, basic instruction in rifle & archery so they can earn these second year, running the easier compass courses. They'll also need practice time for what they've "learned" before they are tested.

Rewards (to keep motivation up) are rank advancement, of course, although this needs to be tested by their troop (on the last day?)& not just signed off by the instructors. Mid-week presentation of totin chip, fire chip. The earning of one or two easy mb so they have plenty of free time for horseback riding, area wide games, open swimming, war canoes, archery, riflery and just communing with nature. Teaching CPR certification would be nice; another card to bring home from camp.

because of the importance of the position, and the training needed, only PLs and APLs - past and present - may run. We (adults) may suggest to some that they put their hat into the ring. Election is troop wide; all Scouts get a vote

"Other prices are rising too - high gas prices drives inflation"

Nah, this is what the government would like you to believe. In truth, the government causes inflation by inflating the money supply (eleven trillion over the past two years - more or less). More dollars now chasing the same amount of goods causes all prices to rise. Diverting cornland into fuel doesn't help either.

Anyway, lose the trailers. Trailers increase costs: buying the trailer, maintaining the trailer, paying for the extra insurance, increasing fuel costs, increasing wear & tear on the tow vehicle. Worst of all, trailers promote a type of backyard camping.

Put the patrols on a total weight limit so you can get out on the trails. Take all the winter emergency gear out of the trunk. Skip one month's campout; instead take the bus to the city park to go on the ethnobotany walks with the naturalist two different times. Have the Dutch oven cookoff at the local park - combine it with a tree walk given by your urban forester, a wide game and some advancement skills. Adapt as necessary for your local conditions.

between the mummy & the rectangular is the semi-mummy; you might try that. For real cold weather I use two ground pads over a plastic ground cloth -- one is full length, the other hip length. If you don't have far to hike, you might try getting yourself up off the ground; there are some lt-weight cots with six inch legs (still need an insulating pad under you.

If you don't like a bag, you might try a quilt with a foot box over you.

I'm sure you already know not to wear clothes you've worn during the day to bed. Try a turtleneck shirt with a hoodie sweatshirt and a stocking/toboggan cap

the 25 foot rule seems to be a better than nothing rule to get people to stop dumping the waste at the shoreline -- where they'll build up into mounds of waste at the more popular fishing lakes that will visually turn people off while stinking to the heavens

I've viewed the sites of several national & state parks, and they all had diferent answers. The one I liked best: hang the entrails up in the brances of a tree near the shoreline so the birds can eat them.

So, if in shallow moving water, throw the entrails into the water to provide food for crayfisn, turtles, catfish, etc. unless park rules differ.

if in still water, do not throw the entrails into the water -- takes too long to decay. If the area is heavily fished, such as with a group of 6 to 10, too many entrails in one spot can cause a localized dead zone from lack of oxygen.

Do not (any longer) leave the entrails out on a rock. Gulls frequently beat the eagles & otters to the entrails. Gulls have become overpopulated, and are believed to be destroying native loon populations by eating the eggs.

Do not bury entrails in the Boundary Waters. One reason is that there is no soil in many areas. Second is that buried entrails aid & abet earthworms -- an alien introduced species (by fishermen who thought they were doing a good deed) that is slowly but surely killing the forests by eating the forest litter those trees depend on. I've read elsewhere that the earthworms are spreading ten yards per year. The suggestion is to canoe 150 yards downwind from camp, walk into the woods, and leave the entrails on the bushes. If buried, the larger animals just dig them up, while out in the open the little guys have a chance.

As always, the local constabulary has the final say. I still like burning the waste at the cooking spot - which is 150 plus yards downwind from the campsite. If near the truck & near home, I suppose I could pack them out and use them for garden fertilizer - just as Squanto taught us

I would never throw fish guts into the water because of eutrophication; many fish and other aquatic critters live near the bottom.

Gather them up at your fish cleaning site, put them in a paper sack lined with dead leaves or pine needles, etc, canoe back to camp, and burn them.

The purist approach is to find a rock or reef well offshore, place them on the rock for the birds or turtles to eat.

I feel certain that the 25 ft. limit was so passers by wouldn't be able to see them

when I did this as a wee lad, the two of us walked 20 from the suburbs to downtown Detroit. When we arrived at the Wayne State University campus, we had lunch in the faculty dining room (my friend's Father was a prof); after lunch he drove us home.

Well, you didn't exactly get a phone call, so that part was OK.

I liked your method. The only change I would make is to tell them when they crossed over that they would eventually be forming two patrols - one of 7 and one of 6. Give it time to simmer, so to speak.

is the full dress class A uniform even practical? I would have a miserable time wearing it while hiking x-country; I'd be too worried about the briars and burrs tearing and ripping off the patches and pins to really enjoy myself.

So, to overcome this, the Army issues two uniforms - one dressup for ceremonies, and one utility for when there's work to be done. Of course, this would be overkill for children.

A much better uniform, methinks, would be similar to what Nathaniel wore in the movie the Last of the Mohicans

Not knowing any better, on my first trip to the Boundary Waters, I wore cutoff jeans, dark blue tee, sneakers without socks, straw cowperson hat. I had a great time

A couple of tips:

1) Use decent washing mitts. Those wands that are screwed onto the hose end, often with a revolving brush at the other, do a lousy job. They may remove visible dirt, but do little for the road film covering the car. They are also known for putting hundreds of micro-scratches into the finish, which is why many won't have you wash their car

2) reserve your calendar slots now. Holding the carwash at your church, school, fraternal org just doesn't cut it. You want to be where the traffic is, and where people are in a spending mood -- this means in front of the big box.

for the size you need (Wow!), perhaps you could find a 50s Scoutmaster's uniform (or Junior Assistant Scoutmaster's) and adapt/modify it as needed. The hard part would be adding the front pocket flaps with the red piping at the edges

The summer uniform -- Scout shorts and short sleeve shirt -- had little difference aside from the patches

Don't forget the economy sized neckerchief; it was a rectangle that the Scout folded on the diagonal

Most all hobbies cost money, and the Scouts need to be made to understand that. Our first year Scouts are told not to buy any uniform pieces until it's time for summer camp due to sudden growth spurts. Their first priority is to start assembling gear. For Scout tees we screen print our own -- much cheaper and enhances troop cohesion.

Our uniform closet is located in a spare room at a Scouter's home - keeps the uniforms clean, and the Scouter has time & daylight to check for mising buttons, etc. She does go after the Scouts to donate their outgrown uniforms - even from other troops as we have been known to donate to them. Any uniforms we find at charitable thrifts are generally free to us because of all the community projects we do (including for the thrifts)

When our troop is feeling flush, we do present each new T'foot with a (new) Scout shirt, necker, and troop numbers/council strip. The patrol presents the patrol emblem as a further bonding effort.

After that first summer camp, we tell each Scout that we expect a full uniform, and that he is to set aside a dollar a week so he can purchase what pieces he needs.

Boys Life frequently ran money-earning articles in the 40s and 50s. They are available for viewing online.

For those who attempt to slide by with "little Johnny needs to give all the money he makes to his family as they are destitute", we have their own peers show them how working for yourself brings in a lot more of the moola than working for wages. Therefore, problem solved.

We hardly ever tell prospective Scout parents the total first year costs as it is likely to drive them off. It is sometimes hard to get them to understand most of these costs are met through trade, barter, troop fund-raisers, patrol fund-raisers, and the Scout's own efforts.

Car wash season is soon here -- Hooray!

"I'm kinda thinking about wearing one on my collar to show my support"

No, you must follow the rules. The stamping out of individuality and self-reliance requires eternal vigilence. Scouting is too serious an undertaking to waste time on fun.

Imagine if our Boys started dressing in other than the official leggings and knickers, and tossed aside their campaign hats for a totally silly & useless field cap. We would have anarchy, total anarchy, in troops nationwide.

(I do wear a light-up Santa head, during December, at indoor Scout functions)

parental involvement? When the kids are home, they're buried in an Xbox. When they're not in school, they're with their friends where their real learning takes place.

How to improve education? Make it necessary in their lives. One way is to abolish all long-term welfare so they understand learning is necessary to get ahead. It's all about motivation. Of course, our educational system will need to become more flexible to meet different learning styles.

The country also needs a better vocational program; at present it is often a baby-sitting dumping ground for kids who don't want to be in school at all. Let kids leave school after 11th if they go right into a real apprenticeship program.

No driver's license without a pass on a school leaving exam

You overlook the world this child-bozo inhabits. His schools teach self-esteem, feeling good about yourself, and "making the grade" as the most important goals. Lying, then, is just another tool to get ahead; it's cool!

"In the real world, you don't need to set up tents to have a place to sleep. You have a house, and when you are travelling, there are many fine hotels everywhere in the world."

When he gets older, if he gets older, his bosses may be non-American (increasing globalization) and not perceive lying & cheating in the same ways his peers view things. He will then definitely need to be able to pitch a tent as he becomes one of the homeless.

"too simplistic & too idealistic"? He stands for nothing; he is still a child thinking he should be the center of the universe. He hasn't, yet, any real purpose in life. People mature at different rates; he may have unknown brain damage or a birth defect.

SCOUT SPIRIT What is it? How do we measure it? How can we get more of it? How do we get our Scouts to pay more attention to it? Why cant the BSA give us a more tangible definition of it? How do we know when its there and when its not? Is a rank-directed Scoutmaster Conference or Board of Review the only place we talk about it? What do we do when we think we need more of it?

These and questions like them have been coming into this column for a bunch of years, now, and Ive tried to do my best in offering insights on these important issues. Perhaps its time to put some real focus on it

Scout Spirit is simple in concept: Live by the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life. Meaning honor your God by whatever name you choose and your country, extend your helping hand to others, and steadfastly improve yourself in body, mind, and principles. But its simultaneously vague, because it doesnt say do this or do that Our founder, Baden-Powell, put it even more simply, and possibly more obscurely, too: Were not about being good; were about doing good.

The wise Scoutmaster knows that we cant cut a hole in our Scouts hearts and stuff this stuff called Scout Spirit in there, or inject it into our Scouts veins, or spoon-feed it to them. But the wise Scoutmaster knows that, as our Scouts primary role model, living daily by the Scout Oath and Law is paramount, and one of the ultimate keys to success.

We do know what not to do We have lots of laws in our cities and towns, counties, states, and country that tell us what we cant do. But the Scout Oath and especially the Scout Law are unique. Unlike even the Ten Commandments, these dont tell us what not to do; they point the way to whats the right thing to do. Thats a darned sight more difficult than not doing something, because it takes personal, individual judgment to, as the legendary Davy Crockett is reputed to have put it, Be sure youre right; then go ahead. Its also been put this way, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, but pretty correctly nonetheless: Conscience is the voice that tells us what to do when nobodys looking.

So, what can we, as Scoutmasters, do to help our Scouts understand and internalize whats right so that they, on their own, can get it right and then go ahead? Here are some ways. Pick what will work for you, based in part on your troops size

The Scoutmasters Minute is the most important public opportunity you have to make a difference. Every one of your Minutes can focus on a different aspect of Scout Spirit. Your first twelve Minutes are a slam-dunk Just tell a brief story focusing on a point of the Scout Law. The next handful can focus on the ideals contained in the Scout Oath. By now, youre on a roll, so just keep going. Maybe youll pick a point from a recent sermon you heard, or maybe its from something on the news the night before, or even from a popular TV show!

One of the reasons why we still remember Abraham Lincolns address at Gettysburg is that it was 268 words long. It can be entirely spoken in about two minutes. Use this as your model for your Minutes. Youre not there to lecture, or even to moralize. You have an opportunity, each week, to deliver a succinct, powerful, dramatic message that can have immense lasting power. Thats why its the Scoutmasters Minute.

Have a Troop Movie Night, or, like the old Saturday Matinees used to do, run portions of a movie over several troop meetings in succession. Here are a few that are real winners for what were doing here:

Follow Me Boys (starring Fred MacMurray, with Kurt Russell as a boy actor) gives splendid opportunities to talk over stick-to-it-iveness, the relationships between boys, the Scoutmaster-to-Scouts relationship, and even adult mutual respect and love.

Miracle, (Kurt Russell again) by focusing on the seminal Who do you play for scene.

October Sky, with follow-up conversations about setting a goal and sticking to it.

Remember The Titans (starring Denzel Washington), about race relations and teamwork.

Akeelah And The Bee provides some marvelous opportunities to reflect on honesty, doing whats right, parent-child conflicts, boy-girl relationships, sticking to your dream, and even respect toward adults.

There are many others, of course, and these can get you started.

Patrol flags (NOT made by Mom!) and yells. So fundamental, yet still so very valuable about reinforcing the essence of Scouting, which is all about the patrol. Baden-Powell put it this way: The Patrol Method isnt a way of delivering the Scouting program; its the only way.

The Scout Benediction: May the Great Master of all Scouts be with us till we meet again. Not just at some meetings; at the close of every meeting. And never without the friendship circle.

The opening ceremony, with a twist: The spirit patrol (rotated each weekyou do remember this from Wood Badge, yes?) not only leads it butto get startedtheyre asked to make it their own by injecting something into it that hasnt been done before. Maybe its a recital of the history of an earlier flag (the Betsy Ross, or Dont Tread On Me flag, and so on), or maybe its inspirational (why red-white-and-blue what do these colors symbolize) or even informative (which star is our own states star).

A Troop yell, cheer, or chant. My own was Troop 5, Troop 5, Busy as a bee hive, Yes we are from Troop 5, Troop 5 B-S-A RAH! Your PLC is charged with doing this for their own troop! Then infuse it into every meeting and outing."

-- slightly abridged from Ask Andy