mashmaster

 

Really? In the grand scheme of things, this seems proportionate and appropriate. What did you expect, prison time?

The amount they pay is tiny. I would force them to community service in the park service cleaning toilets.

"I am not a tax professional so most likely everything I say is wrong" I'd actually like to know what the correct thing is.

 

My understanding is that you can't put a dollar amount earmarked for the boys. But you can assign an actual voucher for the boy. For example, sell $1000 in popcorn you earn a trip to super camp. So you can earn vouchers that have only value to do a scouting activities but they retain zero monetary value. Kinda like old disneyland E-tickets. This campout requires 1 voucher, another requires 8 vouchers.

I don't think this is skirting the issue, but still achieves the purchase. Thoughts?

"I am not a tax professional so most likely everything I say is wrong" I'd actually like to know what the correct thing is.

My understanding is that you can't put a dollar amount earmarked for the boys. But you can assign an actual voucher for the boy. For example, sell $1000 in popcorn you earn a trip to super camp. So you can earn vouchers that have only value to do a scouting activities but they retain zero monetary value. Kinda like old disneyland E-tickets. This campout requires 1 voucher, another requires 8 vouchers.

I don't think this is skirting the issue, but still achieves the purchase. Thoughts?

cool! I would put them in a shadow box at the charter org or meeting place.

Trail life is misguided. Instead of an original program around Christian values, they copy the BSA program and modify the names and terms. The families that have issues with BSA should join their church youth group and be happy.

As a Jew married to a Christian, I am sure I have a different perspective than most Christians here. Living in the south I am reminded daily that I live in the bible belt. Groups like Trail Life and AHG that are "christian based" don't make sense to me. We live in a multi-cultural society and it is important that our boys are brought up in an inclusive environment with people that are actually different from them. I have not had any complaints from anyone in our unit about our interfaith services because it is a learning experience for them.

 

I we lock ourselves in a room with only people like us that believe in the same things, the boys will be in a big shock when they grow into young men to be our leaders.

All you can do is make sure they know where all the events are. If you tell them they have to make a choice they will take the easier of the two options. For cub scouts, I would encourage them to come to the events and welcome them, whenever they show. Since they love Pinewood derby, maybe ask the dad to help plan the event next year. How does it screw with the den leader planning? The den leaders plan the schedule and make sure everyone knows when stuff is happening. Just let them do their best, the boy and his dad may have to complete stuff at home.

As a Jew married to a Christian, I am sure I have a different perspective than most Christians here. Living in the south I am reminded daily that I live in the bible belt. Groups like Trail Life and AHG that are "christian based" don't make sense to me. We live in a multi-cultural society and it is important that our boys are brought up in an inclusive environment with people that are actually different from them. I have not had any complaints from anyone in our unit about our interfaith services because it is a learning experience for them.

 

I we lock ourselves in a room with only people like us that believe in the same things, the boys will be in a big shock when they grow into young men to be our leaders.

As a Jew married to a Christian, I am sure I have a different perspective than most Christians here. Living in the south I am reminded daily that I live in the bible belt. Groups like Trail Life and AHG that are "christian based" don't make sense to me. We live in a multi-cultural society and it is important that our boys are brought up in an inclusive environment with people that are actually different from them. I have not had any complaints from anyone in our unit about our interfaith services because it is a learning experience for them.

I we lock ourselves in a room with only people like us that believe in the same things, the boys will be in a big shock when they grow into young men to be our leaders.

I'm sorry to hear it. It is not easy because people are always going to be unhappy.

We had ours this last weekend and it was awesome and cheap. We rented the school with costs us only $100 and we had a chili cookoff western theme. It was easy to put activities together without formal seating and the boys got to vote with tickets for their favorite chili. Total was around $400 for us. We charge $5 a person or $20 per family. profits go to Friends of Scouting.

so sad

Our kids love getting things at the Awards ceremonies. But we don't necessarily need belt loops. Heck, I go to town on the Fun Patch Section at the Scout shop.. We went to the nature reserve and went on a hike? bam hiking patch.. We helped clean up our charter org? Bam service patch etcetc. They can be worn on a brag jacket or if they make a blanket or something. They are like half the price of a belt loop too or less lol.

 

The kids just like feeling like their are receiving things. I am sure they will replace belt loops with something, I hope its some type of patches as the kids like the badges/patches better than belt loops here anyways.

 

I mean no boy joins cub scouts saying "I want to earn belt loops". They join saying they want badges and patches because that is what scouts get, what the heck is a belt loop?

I don't accept Facebook requests from scouts' date=' mostly because I don't care to share my Facebook posts with my scouts. I also don't just accept every adult request, I restrict my "friends" to a pretty small group of family members and actual close friends. The other reason I don't have scouts as friends is because I really don't want to wade through all the inanities that kid's Facebook posts can be. I monitored my own kids FB stuff for a while and was struck by the sheer volume of drivel.[/quote']

 

Thankfully, none of my scouts can legally have a facebook account since you need to be 13 or older. For under 13, there are actually laws about internet sites but I know nothing about those.

 

I only accept friends from people I would normally count as friends in real life. I also unfriend people that just annoy me with their views that are just plain annoying, I'll never understand why people think that others want to know their political views.

I concur, with all above, I never understood why some many people are so focused on the uniform. I've heard the arguments but I think too many make it the begin and end all to the program. If people push you on it, send them to us :-)

BTW, this is a great discussion. I love the open exchanging of ideas and feedback. It is so much nicer here than on other forums where people go rabid when their idea isn't chosen as best.

Like I said, I am not a lawyer. This was how our group including the Key 3 interpreted it. Obviously, we all have to do our best for the boys. They are guidelines not laws. Therefor we should use them as a starting point for our actions, we as leaders make decisions to best run our unit. They are there to help us attempt to do the right thing and protect all of us.

 

We had a public FB page for about 5 minutes until "friends" of half the scouts who were tagged in photos showed up to post "fag" this and "loser" that.

Wow, that is such a sad state of affairs. That is horrible.

We have a FB page that is closed and private, we haven't had issues with that. We do get people asking to be members that are clearly spam that I can deny access.

I don't think I would want Scouts following me on Facebook' date=' but FB, instant message and email are all trackable media. If you are carrying on a one-on-one conversation with a Scout, the records will back up what you talked about. Texting is not retrievable (or at least not easily), so I would avoid that unless necessary in an emergency. Seems to me that Troop websites or FB pages would be the place to communicate directly with Scouts. I don't really see the point in the requirement to copy another adult on an email directly to a Scout, but it can't hurt.[/quote']

 

 

I think the point is, even though it may be trackable, this helps prevent it from going to court to get the thread. It is more about prevention than prosecution. Like you said it can't hurt.

 

 

I've done research on this topic and recently presented a class on it at U of S.

I am not a lawyer, so all my info is just my opinion. BSA has their guidelines here: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources/SocialMedia.aspx

Basically think of YPT working on the internet as well. You should never email, private message, or instant message a scout directly on a one on one basis. If they contact you via this method, I recommend replying back with another party on the thread like their parent or another scout leader. This protects you, and you should mention that communication should not be to you on a one on one basis. Posting on a facebook wall is fine because it is public.

That is BSA policy, because of a very small amount of people that are terrible people. Always best to make sure that one on one contact is minimized as much as possible. Sometimes it is unavoidable but you should do your best to make it be visible to another party. This is no different from a scout approaching you in a non-scouting situation in person.

Anyway, that is my understanding from my research of the policy and from discussions with our Key 3.

I just realized something. I don't mind the topics of the Belt Loops. I think it's great that scouts can get together and play kickball or badminton and get something to remind them they did it.

 

USABILITY ... I just hate the belt loops. If my son earned 20, I'd have a nightmare trying to put them on a belt and put the belt in the pants and then somewhat regularly wash the pants. The belt loops would be in a drawer and never used.

 

PRICE ... Plus, the belt loop is too expensive. It should be a buck or less. And you get a pin and a belt loop for close to the same thing? What? And the pack pays once for the pin and once for the belt loop. What?

 

PRESENTATION ... When belt loops are presented, they are usually still in the card board with the plastic cover on them. Does not look nice. But it's the only way to keep labeled and somewhere to put the person's name. I guess you could tape it to an advancement card, but we don't do that. Just looks poorly presented.

 

Give me a pin or a patch. Heck, I'd like to see a patch jacket be more common.

In our pack we present them to to the boys at the Den meeting, they are announced at the pack meeting. But it is a more personal presentation at the den level.. If you follow the requirements for the pins they should be much harder to earn. I'm the CC so I do my best to make sure that they are earning pins for actually doing the requirements. I think the pins help the boys transition to the Boy Scouts where they have to prove they know the material to earn the Merit Badge.

I also think that the Tigers and Wolfs really enjoy getting bling, the webelos are too cool for loops :-)

blw2 ... nice list. I also fully agree with what you said. There is too much emphasis on detailed requirement tracking. IMHO, let the scout track it in his book or use the BSA scoutet sign-in. We use scouttrack.com and soarol.com. I love soarol.com because of the great features. ScoutTrack.com is loved by our unit leaders who are very much into painful requirement tracking. but it seems to defeat the intention of scouting and make scouting just more homework.

 

Anyway, nice list. We've used SOAROL.com for many years now. Life saver.

​What don't you like about scouttrack other than the 1990's interface? As a den leader, I like having an online place to keep track of the status of the boys progress and use it to discuss with parents what still needs to be done. I don't understand the homework part of it? I don't think that I change how I work with the program with my son, den, and pack based on scout track.

I'm not a fan of them going away altogether. I thing there are too many of them and the pins are too easy. I think they need to reduce them to things like Archery, BB, Hiking.... get rid of ones like Video Games.

Thanks, those are great ideas! I have had it go out via the email blast and got signups but no posts. I'll mention it at roundtable. I really like the idea of getting event coordinators to use the forums.for Q & A prior to the event.

Oops wrong forum, I'm not sure how to move it.

For my Wood Badge ticket I created a forum for our district. What do you think will be the best way to get people to start using it?