mashmaster

From my experience it really depends on how well the Webelos leaders prepared the scouts and parents for the transition to Boy Scouts. many seem to run at the cub level which is still very parent led without preparing them to being a hybrid or scout-led and parent-led. For example, Webelos should have Webelos only campouts where they plan the menu and cook it. But have a parent help really review and help teach them how to menu plan and cook. The parent should be within ear shot and let them do with a review after each step. If they do this a few times, the scouts will figure it out. Th

I don't understand or believe this. As a Sea Scout Skipper and a leader for a Crew, the are truly Co-Ed. They get along great. We have had male leaders and female leaders both great in their own way. It is sad that they aren't even considering it. I think they should have Troops that can be co-ed, all male, or all female. Why not have the option?

Young men and young women.

So I have been given a lot of awards in scouting. More knots than allowed on a uniform, never thought much about them and kinda blew them off. Well tonight at our Bridge of Honor, I was awarded the Unit Leader Award of Merit. The thing that makes this stand out to me is that I was nominated and recommended for the award by my scouts. That makes it special to me.

IMHO, If it is the scouts calling, I think it is a good thing. The Webelos scouts especially in this current disconnected time, might think it is pretty cool that an older scout is calling them and interested in them joining their troop. Whenever possible, I encourage commination to new or prospective youth for our Ship to be contacted by one of our scouts.

There is a local troop nearby that is the definition of an Eagle mill. Every week there is more email and promotion of past Eagles "So and so what our 250th Eagle scout, it's his birthday". "Come to our meeting tonight and earn the XYZ Merit Badge" That troop has zero youth that know how to advocate for themselves. They expect to get Eagle and have everything handed over. I have the immediate distain for a Troop that starts the conversation with "we have had X Eagles last year, this year, ever." I want to here "Our scouts love camping and going on high adventure"

I have an appt March 23rd.... I am glad I at least have something on the calendar

I hope they at least bought cake for the scouts 🙂 That's a lot of cake. Cake makes everything better

IMHO, the things the scouts are going to remember aren't the awards, they are the adventures, experiences, and trainwrecks of campouts/meals. The scouts need us (even if it is only for transportation) but they really do remember everything that happens on the adventures. If you talk to someone in their 50's that is an Eagle scout, they will note talk about their Eagle rank. They will go on and on about Philmont/Northern Tier/canoe trips..... My son will talk your ear off about World Jamboree, Sea Base, the canoe trip on the Buffalo river. But if you ask him about Eagle rank (he is alm

He never said he was anti-Woodbadge. And he isn't beating up Woodbadge. He stated that very clearly above.

We aren't bashing Wood Badge, we are bashing the attitudes SOME people have and protray about it.

<Ramble On> Yeah, I get the Cult reference. There is a lot of it. It is comparable to Eagle as well. There are a lot of great scouts that never got to the Eagle rank but yet are phenomenal scouts. Conversely, there are a lot of Eagle scouts that aren't. Advancement is just one of the methods. The critters are like astrological signs, you are assigned it randomly. I understand while in the course why you adopt your critter just like you are supposed to adopt your patrol name. But afterwards...... who cares. I do think that Wood Badge is good training, but there are a

Not a board of review, but somewhat related. When I was Scoutmaster, I had one boy that I didn't pass off on the Scout Spirit requirement for Life rank because of attitude and actions from the scout. I explained to the scout why I was doing it and what I expected to have him change to get signed off. He understood and expressed interest in changing his behavior. An hour later I received an angry email from his parents about how what I did was unacceptable and that I needed to pass him off. I refused and let him know I am happy to meet with him and the committee chair. He showed up w

IMHO you are correct. And Tickets like Eagle Projects have become more and more watered down over time. Some take it seriously, others take it to say that they have taken it. I know someone who was a WB course director and he was graded on how many completed their tickets by the time the 18 months were up. And was pressured by other volunteers to lower standards on the tickets that people have.

I try to not be judgmental. I fail many times at that but I try. <Rant On> Way too much focus on getting Eagle and collecting Merit Badges. I wish that Scouts and Scouters would focus more on the Leadership, Service, and adventure part of the program. My son's project is currently about 300 hours in and getting close to being finished. He actually used this line during his review with the committee about his project plan "I want to build a park, not just a park bench". His words not mine. I do recommend to my scouts that they choose a project that they will

I have attended a few of them. Personally I find them boring and I would prefer they just come to a unit meeting to hand it to me. Or maybe hand out the award at a camporee. None of us do it for the awards, we do it for the kids and the conversations around the campfire.

Thank you!

I am happy it is moving to a pure PDF. The current document has caused us numerous headaches trying to use them. While you are at it, do you have input on the Quartermaster project workbook? That PDF has sections for pictures but you can't add pictures into those sections.

I guess I wish that Summer camp was based on the adventure and fun rather than merit badges. That is the difference I see with camps geared toward Troops vs. Crews. The Troop camps talk about how awesome the adventure is but you are focused on picked your 4-6 merit badges and spend time sitting in a class or walking to another one. They aren't with their troop or patrol. So it is focused on the merit badges as the outcome of the camp. A camp geared to a crew is focused on what they will do as a group and experience. They can typically earn merit badges along the way but that isn't pr

And you can't trust camp blue cards either.

I am happy the see the #1's. The #2's are acting like #2 IMHO. YPT doesn't take a long time and is important to stay up to date. It takes 1 hour online and is good for 2 years.

So tomorrow I am teaching how to make a monkey's fist keychain over zoom at our local University of Scouting. I asked one of my Sea Scouts to help me teach it. It should be interesting to see her try to help teach adults. It will be good experience for her 🙂

I think this is a good thing. Taking and re-taking YPT is important for BSA as BSA is already is deep with a history of poor decisions surrounding youth protection. This is an easy step to take care of and an adult should be able to take the YPT class online, it really isn't hard to take IMHO. Agreed people need to reach out to them for keeping current with YPT and registration, it isn't a hard task but someone needs to do it. If you have an expert that you really want to talk and present to the youth about a particular topic, you can bring them into a meeting with other trained lead

This is great!