scoutergipper

So how would you reconcile being "morally straight" with a practicing, unmarried gay Scout or Adult Leader?

Girl Scout councils across the country are selling off their camps and membership has dropped precipitously in many areas.

We are also separate, although we frequently have Patrol cooking competitions where Adults who can afford to spend a few days in the hospital serve as Judges.

I sign everything personally. Illegibly, but personally.

What part of the country?

We use the school year as our "Scout year." Here's what the Scouts set for 2013-14: Do a Troop High Adventure. Increase visibility in the neighborhood. Find more "outside" service projects (i.e. not on campouts).

I hope you're not teaching your Scouts to be so cynical

Has the "be active in your Troop" requirement been signed off? We encourage our Scouts to come to an Adult leader as soon as this part is complete for sign-off. I very, very rarely sign off anything at the SM Conference for any rank advancement other than Scout Spirit and once is a while if they've finished the last Merit Badge they need for it recently.

"Please note that there are zero camping requirements for Star, Life and Eagle." This is a bit of a mis-statement. While there are no direct camping requirements, there are implied ones in the POR and "Scout Spirit" requirements. If you have a POR that you are using for one of these rank advancements, you CANNOT demonstrate leadership on a campout or at a Troop meeting you do not attend. A Scout who does not camp, or who infrequently camps, is not showing proper Scout Spirit. While it does not seem to me this particular Scoutmaster has a leg to stand on in this situation, a Scout mu

"Approved by your Scoutmaster" I have always taken this to mean "pre-approved" rather then a "hey, I did this six months ago, can you sign off" requirement). If they didn't ask before the event, they wouldn't get a sign-off from me.

I emphathize, and wish I lived in your area, as I'd show up to help you out. What you're doing is really important, and it is appreciated even though it probably seems otherwise a lot of the time. Your Troop seems to me to have wayyyy too much Adult involvement in the wrong areas. The Scouts should be deciding where and when they camp. If the Adults can't pay the freight, and the Scouts won't raise the money, guess what? Everyone stays home. I don't suspect it would take too many "getting really excited followed by complete failure/disappointment" for them to get the message. I

We just did this - opening opportunities for our older Scouts so they don't feel they're are stuck as "babysitters" or kept from doing fun things by a younger Troop. Also going co-ed as we will be the only one in the District. Recruitment's slow, but we'll get there. It's funny how people have such different DE experiences. Ours was over the moon about the new Crew and attended a couple of meetings in a single week getting all the paperwork filled out. Oh, and we signed up a female adult who's not part of the Troop and won't have a Scout or daughter in the Crew so we're covered from

Can't do that if you have a co-ed Crew. Have to have both genders of Adults along if both are along in the Crew.

You'll have to pry my red shoulder loops from my....

In these parts, B&G and Cross Overs are completely separate. My Troop provides Cross Over ceremonies for any Pack in the area that wants one, so there's no "meeting planning" the Packs need to do, unless as Eagledad says, they want to do the AOL ceremony at the Cross Over.

That's an interesting take. So once a boy has completed all the requirements, he can't do "Scouting" anymore. We should come up with some other name, I guess.

Anyone who criticizes this mom's perspective would do well to study how well the philosophy of "from each according to his ability to each according to his need" has worked in the real world. Three years ago I instituted a shift away from a plan where the handful of willing Scouts raised all the money while the lazy majority waited for their goodies to be delivered because the willing Scouts were quitting over the issue. Unless you're going to provide some consequences for those who won't either pay up or fundraise, they will sponge off you as long as possible.

There's also a Youth Protection component of Adults being Facebook friends with youth. The Youth Protection guidelines protect not only the youth, but Adults as well. It is not very easy to make a false accusation of abuse against an Adult who has another Adult with him or her at all times. It is a short-sighted decision to friend a youth as that gives an Adult access (through Private Messaging) allows contact with the youth without "two-deep" and makes it easier for a false accusation to "stick." We also have a policy that no Adult should email a youth without also copying either that y

If you're up for some travel, the SS Odyssey up in the Puget Sound in Washington State is a great experience. Not sure they do any snorkeling (water is pretty cold), but the boys run the ship from rigging sails to standing overnight watch.

I don't think you understand the meaning of the term "heterosexual."

I'm pleased to see this discussion, because my Troop has had a similar trajectory to Basement's, growing from 11 to 33 in 2 years. Our internal discussion has revolved around similar issues - how big do we want to be? My personal view is that I don't want to be walking around at Summer Camp, see a Scout and not be sure if he's one of mine. I can see the Troop at 50 before that happens (and I think recruiting this spring will take us over 40). However, I really struggle with my primary issue, which is this: what is my moral responsibility to boys in Scouting in general? It seems to m

Lacrosse is really picking up in my area.

Only a small handful of people you will meet understand that value of the program the way you do. This is because they have no personal or direct experience with Scouting. What they do know or have probably only heard about is Eagle Scouts. It's an incredible brand. Eagles are still held in great respect, even by people who don't really know anything else about Scouting, certainly far beyond those actually involved in the program.

I agree. I would be disappointed in a Scout who had his parents bail him out. While some small portion might come from parents, my view is that the vast majority should come from outside sources, and that all the money should be raised before the project starts.

What an interesting idea! BD is right in that your boys are unlikely to be asked to do much meeting planning for at least a couple of years once they reach Boy Scouts. But once they actually become Patrol Leaders or APL's in their Troop, they will need to be able to put together an agenda for a Patrol Meeting and then lead that meeting. Gaining more understanding of their responsibilities once they reach the Troop would think would also be very helpful. These boys are used to just showing up and doing what they're told with no real input to the process. Getting some sense of how things wo