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DadScouts

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Everything posted by DadScouts

  1. I think one of the silliest things I see, all the time, is some Eagle's photo in the newspaper for his ECOH with an Eagle medal and a Life patch on his uniform. It just doesn't work. We patch right after EBOR, GTA or not. Far too much delay for ECOH, or sometimes getting the certificate back from Council/National.
  2. Pretty much longer term sustainability is discussed for all projects where it applies. Project coach, local municipality always provides input on longer term maintenance for projects on their land, and as advancement I will point out / discuss as well. Many Scouts have already documented post-completion maintenance issues. Even with forethought it still can be a problem seeing projects several years later in some decline but that's the beneficiaries' ultimate responsibility. Just last week I approved a project in a state park near a three year old project for another Scout. I asked t
  3. Never heard of the practice. Our EBORs are "District" but the District insists on only one EBOR member and that person is a "representative of the District" and doesn't chair and is less active than other EBOR members. Usually 3 Troop Comm members and the District rep. As Advancement Chair after the SMC I meet with every Scout, review the paperwork (5 minutes) before it goes to Council and then I prep the Scout. I URGE and demand they have to remember 3 things for their EBOR; Don't be nervous, don't be nervous, don't be nervous. Our EBORs aren't as much BORs as life counseling sessions fo
  4. If others were SMH, like I was, this may help us all expand our vocabulary by one word today: Mensch (Yiddish: ×ž×¢× ×˜×©â€Ž mentsh, cognate with German: Mensch "human being") means "a person of integrity and honor."[1] The opposite of a "mensch" is an "unmensch" (meaning: an utterly unlikeable or unfriendly person). According to Leo Rosten, the Yiddish maven and author of The Joys of Yiddish, "mensch" is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, dec
  5. An Eagle Scout is: 1. An Eagle Scout before his EBOR. The EBOR is not even needed. 2. Is a full adult, regardless of his actual age. Period. 3. Is an Eagle Scout because HE WANTED IT - not his parents, family, or Scouters. (Peers helping him along is fine - that's what friends are for.) 4. Participation in Scouting in hours can diminish but his impact on Scouting increases, and does NOT decrease, after his EBOR. 5. Has CLEARLY demonstrated, often, a desire to assist younger Scouts rather than insisting that his individual advancement be the priority. 6. At some point in his project pr
  6. Look at the positives: 1. NO helicoptering parents! 2. Opportunity for the exchange student to educate the Troop on another country and their customs. If the host parents are not the best at paperwork and if you and your leaders are swamped with other Troop issues right now this is the perfect task to assign to a less than active leader or even a responsible non-leader parent and ask for help to get the issue researched and resolved. It is a limited scope ask/project so odds of getting someone to take it off your hands and resolve well are pretty darn good. At the end of the project wh
  7. Is the mom registered with the Troop? If yes.. There are adult mistakes and then there is adult misconduct. Call me a hardball, even with just a month remaining, but I would at least have a discussion with the Troop Committee about removing the mom as a registered leader immediately. Why bother? Coaches and players get ejected from games for misconduct before games start, early in games, late in games, and even after games have ended. Don't give her a pass and let this person be dumped onto another Troop without warning. (The Catholic Church did that with abusive priests and that didn't
  8. What I look for in an Eagle project is simple; is the project the Scout's idea or just something a parent or someone else told him "you can do ______ as a project"? A local state park has projects galore ready to go. I call them "off shelf / ready made" projects. Those proposals are a mess and typically weak. We try to help Scouts early on think of a cause they believe in, find an organization that supports that cause, and then just stand back and watch a self-motivated Scout get to work with just some mentoring and questions being answered on the process. For a motivated Scout scope and
  9. In 12 yrs maybe 20% of Eagles get Palms. Half one, half two, none more than 3. Just reviewed the list; pretty much the cream of the crop but NO parents pushing. Funny thing is I recall a few parents pushing for Eagle earlier just so kid could get palms and that pushing ended up being counter productive so it took the kids longer to get Eagle and none got palms. We assign a project for each Scout looking for a palm. Nothing major: mentoring Sr Patrol, writing up a job description for a couple positions, or mentoring Troop Guides with new Scouts for a couple months. It works well. La
  10. We do the standard Eagle kit and then buy a shadow box frame that hold the Eagle certificate and an Eagle medal. We buy a second stand alone Eagle medal so the Scout doesn't have to take the frame apart to wear his Eagle medal at subsequent ECOHs for other Scouts. Food, drinks, cake - all that is on the family.
  11. Our Troop is looking for an "opportunity" here. Chaplain Aide in our Troop, right or wrong, has been an underutilized POR that traditionally exhibits a low level of leadership. We're using these new DTG requirements to change that. Each Scout will sit and have a brief chat w/the Chaplain Aide and a short half-sheet will be completed that the requirement was discussed and met. Scout then takes the sheet to the SM for the SMC. The Chaplain Aide will be trained by the SM and Chaplain to make sure this does not turn into more than it should. At the very least the Chaplain Aide will learn mor
  12. Took EMT course decades ago in college. Worked 5 miles from a wilderness area for 4 summers. 2 of my kids became EMTs in HS. Took Scouts on a week long trek to a true wilderness setting where medivac helicopters cannot fly due to altitude so the military would have to be called in. I fully agree Philmont is not wilderness. I have been WFA certified twice. I think WFA is a useful course that teaches you a few things and one useful thing. If something happens out there as a Scouter - you are screwed. Don't treat something severe and the Scout dies. Treat the Scout, in ways you would
  13. I think "develop and demonstrate leadership ability" can be pretty clear. It is definitely not the Live the Oath & Law in everyday life bit. Like 98% of all problems, communication avoids them and lack thereof creates them. An Eagle Scout certainly can be held to a much higher standard of being responsible for reading the requirement. That requirement is mentioned no where in Scouting so the Scout can, and should, ask and should never ever assume. Most of our Palms are former SPLs. We reserve JASMs for ex-SPLs who served their term w/o problems, are an Eagle, and agree to and develop
  14. Had, under the old system (pre-"concept approval"), a hospital's facility and paid staff go through all the details to get exactly what they wanted out of the project from the Eagle. He did a nice job. Project went to volunteer hospital board of directors for the rubber stamp approval and the wheels fell off. Big disagreements between paid staff and board of directors. He eventually dropped the whole thing and did a project at a library instead. It happens. Part of the process. About 50% of project ideas blow up due to no fault of the Scout. (Employee leaves, property sold, insurance i
  15. I disagree. I think any 16 or 17 year old, who will be an Eagle Scout, is a year or two ahead of his peers in terms of maturity and leadership. As such I treat Eagle candidates as adults. If any idiot who can blow out 18 candles on a cake is an adult then an Eagle Scout who can blow out 16 or 17 candles is functionally an adult also.
  16. I don't know ScoutBooks. I do know Internet Advancement and Internet Rechartering. If the owners of both softwares are the same I will never ever even entertain looking at ScoutBooks given BSA IT department history. Troopmaster, despite flaws others say, old technology, etc. is absolutely wonderful. Half a dozen leaders all have somewhat limited data entries rights and every single member of the Troop (parents, Eagle alumni, old Scouter alumni) have real only full access to all records via their website app. Only medical records are restricted. The new Troopmaster Mobile appl
  17. Just heard our local camp, which has a robust MB program and prides itself on that program, is likely dropping Cooking next year. Just way too much to squeeze in during a camp setting. They have some tougher MBs as 90 minute blocks for all 5 days. Climbing is 3 hours a day.
  18. We record in Troopmaster all hours served on a project, including the Eagle Scout. We do not count the prep hours the Eagle spent on his project, just the "construction day" ones. We likely have a dozen service projects as a Troop per year, plus the Eagle projects. All have sign in/out sheets for Scouts/Scouters/parents. Parents who show up a lot could be ones we look to recruit as Scouters. (Sometimes outside orgs, like the charities, ask us later for the hours so nice to have them all.) If a Scout signs in without signing out - 1 hour credit. Ditto for those who sign out but not i
  19. LeCaster, sounds like you have a young Scout who struggled a little bit with his Star SMC with you and struggled a little bit with his BOR. But he "got it" and I'm not talking the checkbox requirements but he got the more important concepts that you were trying to make sure he understood. I see nothing wrong with a young Scout having a bit of trouble but overcoming it. He's learning. Better to be challenged than not since no one learns without being challenged. Will he get Eagle in a year? You think yes but that depends upon how much he grows and the bar is higher for Life and higher sti
  20. I may get flamed for this but this is what I do instead of using our council form that asks for Career Choices #1, #2, & #3. I have the Scouts write an essay. Give them a clear format and tell them in advance the purpose of the essay is to make his BOR more valuable to him as a life counseling session rather than waste time asking background questions on awards. I tell the Scout: 1. Essay is NOT, repeat NOT, a justification for Eagle so it should be brutally honest. 2. They have to answer 3 Questions in the essay: Who they were. Who they are. Who they think they want to be.
  21. All in the details. Ask for a SMC towards the end of a meeting or Friday night in camp? A come back tomorrow/next week answer MAY be OK, but should not ever deny a SMC, perhaps one of the most important opportunities in Scouting. Deny a BOR for a missing patch? Well walked an Eagle into his Bronze Palm BOR last week, noticed he didn't have his MB sash, asked him about it and he turned pale white. Told the BOR members in the room he failed and they could beat him up for the next 20 minutes for wasting their time. 20 minutes later they handed him his palm after some friendly ribbing, but a
  22. I agree the practical problems mentioned will, in 99% of all cases, either not be a problem or the problem is easily solved or decided upon. The "T" in GLBT? I am unaware that any state lets a minor undergo a sex change operation so that T is out. The others? A girl dressing as a boy waiting for that sex change operation is still a girl, so excluded. Camping with a homosexual adult? Well if she is lesbian no issue there, correct? If the adult is a male? Well, I don't recall our female leaders hitting on the guys or visa versa - and that is with both man and woman being straight
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