mashmaster

Or give use the SM's email and we can berate him for you 🙂 Maybe the District Commissioner would be a better way though

fingers crossed for you.

I am sorry they are making him go through this. It could be so simple to just work with the scout to have the conference. sigh.

We have an annual district camporee. The OA reps from each troop plan it and the boys have fun. Typically the most fun thing is the big cross troop activity like a huge relay race or tug of war competition. And of course the skits at campfire. It is fun and relaxed. Very much boy led. Zero MB's or advancement done on that campout. 🙂

Baseball card sheets work great, I also take pictures of the cards.

I did a talk on this at our latest University of Scouting. The best way I have found to deal with this in a positive manner was to sign them up for leadership positions but tactfully assigning them duties where they ran stations or merit badges for groups of kids and were not following their son around. At camp, assign them a location to be at like the first year program or aquatics. Have them take pictures and report back to the leadership about what happened. At meetings they should be in back observing only.

Welcome back

In Texas you had to take the old one in person every year because of state law.

Duplicate thread

Honestly, I think it is very well done. It isn't for just quickly going through so I don't mind doing it in pieces.

They told me Sea Scouting is being tested internally and will be released when Scoutbook goes free.

And They will support Venturing and Sea Scouting in January too

I wish I could just hold a SM conference for him over a video chat with you to get this done, but alas ..... That would be no bueno.

Well honestly, that is his problem not your sons' problem. That is specifically putting more requirements on your son. If the senior scouts aren't going to campouts, he needs to figure out why that is. Having this requirement is clearly forcing a scout to go to something that he may not want or be able to to. The main goal of scouting is fun with a purpose. It sounds like the campouts aren't fun for the older scouts. And... your son is actually camping, so he is penalizing a scout that is doing what he wants. I would absolutely involve the unit commissioner on this, because the SM is entrenching himself into his way or the highway and not focusing on the needs of the scout. You should be able to call your local council and ask the receptionist for the contact information for your District Executive. The District Executive will be able to connect you with you unit commissioner or your district commissioner. The SM is not allowed to change rules of advancement. It isn't your sons fault for waiting until the end to ask for the Scoutmaster conference. It is reasonable for the Scoutmaster to say I can't do it right now but let's work together to find a time that will work for both of us. And that should be withing a least 2 weeks.

I guess I would point out that he is putting more of a burden on your son for advancement than is specified in the guide to advancement. I would include the CC on this mail and also the Unit Commissioner, since they can be useful to help advocate for the scouts. The SM doesn't seem to be putting the needs of the scout before his desire for having his rule.

sigh.....Good luck

I know that but I am hoping that this was just a case of the SM being swamped when asked and will get it taken care of after the email. I know from personal experience there are nights at scout meetings where you get 20 boys coming up basically all at once with something they need and you may miss some of those. The SM is human and most likely wants to do the right thing. And when you have say 20 boys all wanting SM conferences, even with ASMs handling them there is only so much time in the day and I know I don't like to rush through a SM conference so you never know how long it might take.

We are part of a small Sea Scout Ship. In a shot in the dark, do any of your units have a spot in the Winter adventure that might be able to take and adult and a scout or two? Just a thought.

Technically you are right. But I would assume a simple email to the SM saying that he would like a SM conference at Starbucks(or meeting) this week would just work. I hope. If not then I would push harder.

I would be fine if he said he prefered campouts but would be happy to schedule them with a scout if that isn't feasible. By requiring it at a campout, it is an artificial barrier of an adult making more rules.

So they are adding something to the rank requirements? I think a clarifying email to the SM and CC asking him the origins of that since you just happened to be reading the guide to advancement and didn't interpret it this way.

This thread has gone so tangent. what was the original post about again?

Interesting. I will be interested to see how many join other troops in the area. In our area, the LDS troops operate much differently than the non-LDS troops.

Thanks everyone. He will get through it. I would not be surprised to see others show up at the ship in the future. Probably will get a nasty letter from the SM how we are "stealing" her boys. But time will tell.

He has joined a Sea Scout ship and has been getting very involved their. It is different than the troop. My son has no issues dealing with the boy led structure and leadership. It just frustrates him to pieces when he has to deal with an adult that acts badly. When she said that he was making the numbers up when he had a record of it and showed it to her, he was done with her. He was trying to tell her about each line item in the list so she knew what he did and when. She basically didn't believe him (essentially calling him untrustworthy). He actually has pictures for each event so maybe that would convince her. Personally, I don't blame him for being upset and wanting nothing to do with her anymore. But since she is SM, he is stuck dealing with her if he is in the troop. His Skipper talks to him so much different.