Brewmeister

Not true; both youth and adults can be members of multiple units.

Yes, if you offer backpacking, climbing, scuba, canoe trips, shotgun, on a regular basis, word will get around, and high adventure parents, district/community/friends of friends will volunteer for those trips. These are adults who want NO part of typical BSA monthly campouts. As for regular recruiting: Consider a Facebook, YouTube, and Web presence: We get a slow but steady stream of Scouts who transfer to us from standard Troops. I plan to add Google+ soon. Also, we make sure that Scouts earning the 1st Class "tell a friend or lapsed Scout about Scouting" requirement, to bring

"Discuss with your counselor the injuries that can happen while practicing law...."

It's not an issue of girls versus boys, it's a matter of A) limited time (15-30 minute slots) and B) the fact that all kids (girls and boys) like bling to take home from camp. Hence the small/crafty objective. Yeah, it will be a big age difference, but such is the nature of a service unit camp.

I keep reflecting on the new merit badges being introduced in coming months and those that already have come online. From game design and digital tech to CAD and mining, the emphasis seems to be on vo-tech. Now, the BSA is making a big push toward STEM, it would seem. Parents seem to think this is great--gives the boys a "chance to explore a bunch of different careers and see what might interest them," at no or low cost. Career exploration has long been part of merit badges but it seems that "Prepared. For Life." is more about the latter than the former. Less and less about scoutcraft an

There's an event coming up where some of the troop have volunteered to teach some girl scouts--primarily younger, most will be younger than 12, as young as first grade--some basic skills including knot tying and/or lashings. Haven't decided on one or the other. It's time-limited, probably 30 minute segments. We don't want to do a pioneering tower or something large; we're thinking small and something that could be started and finished by each group. Ideally we could come up with a small craft of some sort that the girls could take home with them. I've been wracking my brain a bit with th

JoeBob, yes it does. So with a top quilt or unzipped hammock inside it's full coverage. My son manages to wiggle himself into a sleeping bag but I'm not always quite that coordinates.

If Boy Scouting were indeed simply an "Eagle Factory," you would think that there would be a much higher percentage of boys earning Eagle. Instead it sits at 7% in 2012--a year when boys were particularly motivated because of the centennial. Most years it's about 4%. Granted, a higher percentage than in the 60's, but hardly indicative of an epidemic of "high-speed, low-drag" mediocrity. When I read comments about adults who earned their Eagles back in the glory days of scouting, and how inadequate everybody that has come after them is by comparison, it sounds like the most petty bunch of

Both my son and I use hammocks and love them. The cons are well stated above. A down underquilt is an essential investment against the cold but will set you back some serious cash--more than the hammock. But it is worth it for the comfort, and the weight when backpacking. One con to add is that I find I have to use the porta-tree more frequently in the hammock than in the tent for some reason, and others have reported this as well. Try to avoid drinking water long before bedtime.

BD, is it possible for you to ever simply answer a question without making a snarky comment about how poor you think someone else's program is? I mean, we know that you're God's Gift to Scouting, that goes without saying, and your troop runs the best program around, but just save us from it all once in a while, eh?

It appears national will be doing more support for and promotion of the program so perhaps all is not lost with Venturing yet. The awards are being revamped but I don't know of any venturer who actually cares about the awards, unlike the awards focus of the Boy Scout program. (Can you imagine if they revamped BS awards to change Eagle?) Clearly a program that is still struggling for an identity, but it is still a relatively young program. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/05/28/venturing/

Venturing changes in 2014: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/05/28/venturing/

Answer to question: yes

Who'dve thought that so many scouters were enamored of scouting traditions in paperwork!

Searing the forums for "electronic blue cards" doesn't pull up anything interesting. Filling out these cards in triplicate...seems so 1970. I finally got smart and printed an address label I can put over the "counselor" part for ones I sign. It would just seem in the age of the mobile interweb that there would be a better way...

As is correctly pointed out by Pack18Alex, the Star of David is not a religious symbol. That would be idol-worship. It is an identifier and, in this case, an identifier with legitimate historical context. As was mentioned in the comments of the article, arguing against the star in the design of the memorial is akin to arguing against a display of chains in a slavery memorial. The irony in this demand by these anti-religious zealots is that the Nazis were also anti-religious--not just anti-Jewish. (However, the Nazi party could not attack Christianity directly as it did Judaism, although exa

http://dispatchpolitics.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2013/07/07-17-13-freedom-from-religion.html Discuss...

Obviously you haven't met our girls.

Everyone involved in this case--prosecutor, defense, family--attested that this case had nothing to do with race. The FBI investigated and found nothing to do with race. Yet the race industry has seized on this moment to claim it was a racially profiled incident. In his address, Obama had the opportunity to speak to this, to offer words of healing and soothe a nation. Instead he chose to double-down on the race card and, unbelievably, insert himself personally into the situation. It was narcissistic, arrogant, and wholly inappropriate for a president. But sadly typical of this regime.

Dens tend to stay together. It is up to the leader(s) and the boys/parents though. If numbers dwindle they may recombine. There is no set formula. In our Pack I also highly encourage leadership to change after 2 or 3 years to avoid burnout. Doesn't always happen. As far as stepping on toes, I have yet to find a DL that would not welcome constructive assistance, but there could always be an exception. There is no limit to the number of ADLs a den may have, and even if you are not a registered ADL, as an "Active Scout Parent" (remember that spot on the youth application?), feel free to step

As always it depends on the understanding of adult volunteers of how the program is supposed to operate and their commitment to how things are supposed to run. Adult led scout troops are easier on the adults to stomach as well which is why they drift that way, and the only reason adult-led troops stay together is because the rotating crop of former den leaders care about getting their Eagle parent pin. Venturing offers no similar golden ring for mom and dad.

If by first year you mean Tiger Cubs, all Tigers have "behavior issues." For that matter so do Wolves, Bears, and Webelos. They don't want to sit and listen. So part of it is ensuring that you have an active and engaging program. Now, you may have some unusual behavior problems in there, I don't know, but often it's just the normal chaos of 8 year olds. As to "Who do I need to speak to?"--speak to the den leader and volunteer to be an Assistant Den Leader!

Oh good grief. How big of an egomaniac do you have to be to allow anyone to make a statue of you?

BSA doesn't promote Venturing enough. Simply a wonderful program. Venturing solves most of the adult problems that everyone complains about in these forums. No helicopter parents or "high speed, low-drag" adults looking to move their child to the next rank...it's a pure program of youth-directed activity. Our council had a Venturing provisional camp at the same camp, same week, as "regular" boy scout camp. The boys were working on basketry and fingerprinting merit badges and sitting in class while my daughter was out rock-climbing and whitewater kayaking...just for fun...

10 latest merit badges: Digital technology Mining in society Animation Signals, signs, and codes Multi-media Computer-aided design Advanced computing Sustainability Programming Game Design Hmmmm http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/merit-badge-calendar/