mashmaster

30% of my leaders are female already so we are ready

I hope in 2019 it isn't different troops for genders. I guess we need to wait for that clarity.

There are already women in OA, so I don't expect this to be an issue.

The fallout will be interesting. I for one think it is a good thing but I know many disagree. I will do my best to welcome any youth into scouting that wants to follow the Scout Law and Oath.

RIP, condolences to his family and friends

My guess is that what they meant is that the references must be sealed and opened at the board of review, not the people giving the references. Those are typically destroyed afterwards so the scout doesn't see them.

Long term, I would have him help staff an NYLT course to see how the boys really can do everything (or most things). Is the SM willing to take input from you? If he is, maybe have a frank conversation with him about staying in his lane. He may not realize what he is doing and give him advice to discuss with the SPL ahead of time about what he would like to see happen and afterwards review what happened. If he is unwilling to take input, there isn't much you can do without getting the CC and COR involved. Good problem to have about the size, but what I have seen is troops that get

I always have lemons for cooking. Lemon zest and/or juice brightens up most dishes and gives them a fresher taste.

We have done a mega training the last couple of years with IOLS / OWLS / BALOO as a weekend together. It has been very well attended and people get a lot out of the experience and networking with out leaders at different stages of their scouting experience. We camp at a church so they have access to clean bathrooms, coffee, and Heat/AC. Arrive Friday evening, leave Saturday Evening. Also combined with the training we get give aways from local outdoors stores so they walk away with door prizes. It is amazing what some people will do for something free.

We use luggage tags for each tent. Labeled with a number. The QM logs who took the tent.

Nice! We have a scouter that taught EMS people. It is funny when the adults try to tell him how to take care of something while he is quietly treating the issue and sending them on their way. He just smiles, and listens.

One thing I will mention is that sometimes youth misinterpret what is really going on. More than once I have heard my son tell mom after the campout that it was horrible, no fun, and others got special privileges. When I have photo evidence of him with the world's biggest smile on his face and overheard a conversation with an ASM to him that he twisted around to being yelled at. 13 year old brains work different than our old ones. I don't know if that is what happened or not in your case. If the leader is planning it and calling the boys out he needs to apologize and potentially move

Well, we don't insure that. We do let them tell us if there is a scout or three they would like to be in their patrol. Our most senior boys review those and do a great job trying to do their best. We we able to match them with at least one of those choices.

Have he asked his Scoutmaster for any help to find a merit badge counselor? Usually the merit badge counselors can help them with resources for the merit badge. EPrep is best done together with an expert like a firefighter or EMS, Firefighters are typically trained in that as well.

Very well said. We do a new scout patrol for the first 6 months with 2 older scouts being Troop Guides. Then they get integrated into vertical patrols where there are always a mix of ages in the patrol so they always have someone to ask questions to or to help. I would rather scouts not even think about ranks until later on in scouting and focus on the basics.

I see other camps that my neighbors send their kids to and the differences are incredible. They cost $1000's, the kids sleep in air conditioning. Most of all they are more like week long parties, no learning or specifically no learning to do for yourself. It is a blast for them but I also see that many of the same kids expect things to be given to them and can't bother to be courteous. My choice is to send my kid to Scout camp.

My position is that camps have focused on the rewards "merit badges" rather than the experience. The boys shouldn't come back to tell the parents that they earned X merit badge. They should come back talking about what activities or experiences they did. When I think about camps that I went to as a youth it is the experiences I remember. And in my experience, most merit badges at camp are given because they are present rather than earning them. Not all, but most.

The pack I still help out at does boy talks. I think they really aren't that helpful. The key is having a great relationship with the principal of the school. We provide service back to the school like the flags in front of the school and a clean up of the playground. He lets us email a flyer to every parent in the school and send home flyers as well. The final think is being friendly with the PTA president. This year they got 40 new scouts between the spring and fall join scouting nights. There have been down years with only 5 showing up with doing everything else. The school siz

I have the position contracts that we have made, I am willing to share them if people are interested.

I totally agree, I have put together a requirements contract for each position that the scout signs. I admit it is hard to come up with quantitative things for some of the positions.

Yeah I agree on these points. Our SPL, ASPL, QM, and PL's do a lot of work and there are clear expectations for them. The Troop Guides as well. The Librarian, Historian, and Webmaster is much more of a grey area and we are a small troop. The book calls out the position as a POR for rank, but they are much less work that the other roles. Being new and small our Librarian is less about books than being the file cabinet for all the duty rosters, attendance forms, recipies, so he just carries the library with him. It is necessary but not involved. The webmaster role is even lighter of a rol

Qwazse, what are your thoughts on the POR that require a lot less work and leadership like (Webmaster, Librarian, Historian, Bugler)? I know they qualify for ranks but how do you get them to do work that really shows leadership for Star, Life

Welcome! I am in Texas as well. A bunch of us here are from the great state of Texas. Where abouts are ya?

There is nothing wrong with the scout doing things with their parent and documenting it. Then discussing it with a different merit badge counselor. Nothing says that a counselor has to be the one that did it with the boy.

I am also in Texas. The week we went it was hot but not insane. It was cooler than when we went to Hale in Oklahoma last year.