WisconsinMomma

Our Cub Scout pack and I believe our Troop also will participate in Wreaths Across America at the VA cemetery in our city. I am not sure how Scout led our Troop service projects are. They do the same stuff every year.

Huh? If a single mom is intent on having a male role model for her son, she has many places to seek out and find a role model. Or maybe, her son will find his own role models, hopefully positive ones. A troop with a female SM may have male ASMs or other dads around. Or she may find another troop or a male role model through sports, school or other activities and relationships. I haven't seen anything in Scouting about providing male role models as a major purpose of the organization.

In retrospect, I will say that having female leaders has not hurt the BSA. A female Scoutmaster may be good or bad, just as a male might be. I'll be starting as Cubmaster for our Pack this month and I'm looking forward to it. My Wood Badge course director is female, she had an incredible, hard working team and the program was thoughtfully planned and well executed.

Our council has a patch. Then there are other council patches. I received a special edition one for a gift to FOS, and I just received two from my wood badge course. But, would you wear a unique council patch on your uniform, or stay uniform? What do you do with your extra patches? My boys have patch blankets, I keep my extras in the sewing box for now.

My husband has a similar hat from the Army that he modified and wears occasionally.

Since everyone appears to ignore the bylaws anyway, a repeal is not urgent. It's good to know however that there is more than one path to get the job done.

My parental attitude towards raising the boys is not really connected to Wood Badge in any way. I think it is a balancing act and will back off on making some of the decisions for the kids... but... I do make some decisions for them, such as -- put that computer game away! (that's a big one nowadays). The boys are sort of going along with Scouting and I don't know if they have any particular goals and desires for the program. While they generally like Scout things when they get there, they don't necessarily desire on their own to go. Both boys if given totally free choice would likely live on the couch with a remote control and an ipad, and so for us, Scouting is a way to pull them off the couch and put structure to some life skills. Nothing's perfect. Most of all I just want the kids doing something other than electronics. If I ask the kids to pick something and they pick nothing then we might pick things for them once in a while. Right now oldest is sort of working on family life and both boys are taking swimming lessons. The middle son says he wants to work on swimming and that's his thing, so that is good. Both will learn valuable things at the upcoming Electricity merit badge class, and then we'll see. I'd rather have them do something than not do anything at all. We can ease up on the kids -- and I like the process you suggested for the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge -- that sounds ideal. I have read some books about becoming an Eagle scout and there is a lot of instruction to parents that they must push and that the big three with the 90 day logs are a huge obstacle. It is interesting, most Scout parents I have met push their kids. I agree that as kids get older they will decide whether to go for Eagle or not. Some examples of pushing, a dad at TKD is always offering parenting advice and has said you must push them and drag them, etc. Looking at his kid, his kid has turned out fantastic, top of his high school class, a TKD instructor, doing great in college. A mom on our committee was reviewing a log of all the merit badges that had been earned by the troop over the last 10 years and said about her son -- I made him get all of those. Our retiring treasurer/former cc told us that his oldest son was pushed to Eagle at 14 and that then he let his second son take a little more time. At our recent committee meeting, a cooking merit badge counselor complained he hasn't heard from an Eagle candidate who is coming up on 18 and needs to finish. Should be interested in the kids' progress, or que sera sera? I've met a lot of pushy parents! I don't plan to be as pushy as those parents, but I may push a little. It would be very hard to let, especially my middle kid, do nothing. Today we were out target shooting with a .22. Youngest loves it. Oldest liked it and tried it, middle didn't want anything to do with it, but dad made him shoot one round. Middle didn't like it but survived the experience. Was it the wrong choice? That's really still our decision as parents.

Good to know. So that is the IH and COR, together, can change policy? I think I need to go read the troop committee guidebook...

Good to know. Thank you! So our chartered organization is a school PTO that seems to be pretty out of the loop, but the PTO co-president has a son in our troop, so she would be the "natural" COR. Probably need to make that more formal? We do not have anyone as a COR who attends troop committee meetings at this time. IH is institutional head, correct? Would that be the PTO president, or the School principal?

For me, I went to Roundtable once and it was a lot of people. I personally did not find a lot of value in Roundtable (as a Cubs person) and I wouldn't fault you if you wanted to skip out of some RT meetings. Wood badge is cool. If you go, just talk to your course director and let them know you have anxiety issues and I am confident they will help you and accommodate your needs so you can enjoy the course. If you are good with the boys that's the most important thing!

I love the idea of Patrol accounts. I would love to propose this to our parent committee and Scoutmaster. Can you give me some examples of how Patrols have used their funding and how much money the Patrols would get as a starting balance?

I think that with my sons' Troop, it's going to be a journey of baby steps to help the Troop become more boy oriented and less adult controlled. On the way up to our Thanksgiving spot, I chatted with my husband (an ASM) about the idea of throwing away the bylaws. His feedback was that -- no one follows the bylaws anyway so don't rock the boat repealing them. This may be a good suggestion, especially since the bylaws' amendment process is a 2/3 vote at 2 consecutive meetings. I have been attending parent meetings for a year, but I'm still "new". Is this the best use of time? So I asked my husband what he thought of proposing that the Scouts choose their own summer camp destination this year. He feels that suggestion is more meaningful. The troop has a deposit with the regular camp but that could possibly be refunded. The troop committee is imo, very adult run in how they plan outings. I think that if we can encourage the Scoutmaster to take Scout input (and the committee to back off), that would be a big and meaningful step. So I will pursue that. Maybe I will ask the Scoutmaster to have coffee? My boys like their Troop and it is our local troop. Another troop in the area is huge, giant, and unappealing because of its size and the other troop that is very nearby does not have a strong outdoor program. Maybe one bite at a time, the elephant of adult control can get eaten and out of the way.

The reason I am asking is that our fundraisers are generating less money than they used to. I am wondering if the Troop should charge families more in fees to cover their costs. Then again, I could just do the meeting minutes and not worry about it. Not my problem? So the issue is described as -- parents aren't interested in doing fundraisers. And the natural solution is -- then families pay more "dues". Do your fundraisers have buyouts?

OK, Stosh so give me more details on how this works. Let's say that in the year, the expenses are something like $300 for summer camp, $30 for BSA enrollment, $20 for supplies like patches and pins and Eagle gifts, etc. and $50 for other outings. Does the parent pay $50 to the troop for the supplies and BSA enrollment? Our Troop has scout accounts but honestly I am not up to speed on how those work out. We usually pay as we go for our kids activities. So for example, they have a camping weekend that's $25 a kid, and we'll write a check for $50 for our two kids.

Are there any nature centers in your area that have animals on exhibit that do not have admission fees? Or, could you ask a zoo or nature center for special permission for the Scout to visit for his badge? When my oldest did this badge this summer, we had an interesting time -- first, he had one of these little african frogs that we've had forever as a pet -- they live a long time. They're tiny and cheap and easy to maintain. That's what he did his log with. Then, I came across a painted turtle that was crossing the road, just as he was starting his badge work. We grabbed it, brought it home, and got a 55 gallon aquarium for it from Craigslist. (this was somewhat expensive. we got it sand and rocks and a heat lamp.) We observed it for about two weeks and then one of the boys took it out to our front ditch for it to have an outing, and after a few minutes unattended, it had made a great escape. It was very fun observing this turtle, but it was good that the turtle went back to the wild. You could also borrow a friend's pet if you know someone who would be agreeable.

Our CO is an elementary school PTO that is very hands off, and interesting, our district commissioner is the person who is listed as Scoutmaster on our 7 page Troop bylaws. Guess I'll focus on my jobs -- being a good mom, and making great committee meeting minutes. Honestly I don't want to make things messy, but it would be wonderful for the boys to have more opportunities to make decisions for themselves. What can I do to help make things better in the Troop?

Questions: Does your Troop have annual dues, what do your dues cover, who (adults or youth) determines the dues amount and handles collection? What is the relationship between dues and fundraisers in your Troop, and do you have any great ideas for fundraisers? Who decides which fundraisers your Troop participates in, adults or Scouts? Thanks!

Right, would it be fair to say that a BSA Troop operates per BSA policies? Is there a piece of literature that would be referred to? I am not sure if I should attempt a bylaws repeal with the parent committee, or a "repeal and replace" with something extremely simplified. Or, just go as is, assuming no one reads or really follows the bylaws anyway?

The Troop does a half and half payment for Scouts going to NYLT. They pay half up front and then the other half when the Scout completes whatever their equivalent of a ticket is for NYLT. I do not see a lot of what happens at Troop meetings, sometimes I go and sit off to the side or out in the hallway but it is my impression that NYLT is very good for the boys who went to it. The boys who went liked it and want to go back to staff it and that is all very very good.

Here is another piece of our Troop's bylaws that needs to go: A designated member of the Parent Committee shall keep a “cuss†box. 25 cents will be charged for every word considered by the troop to be a "cuss". Theft from the "cuss" box will be punishable with the return of the money in twofold. The money will be periodically turned over to the Troop Treasurer for the Troop funds. The "cuss" box is applicable at Troop meetings and all Troop outings. Doh!

Right. The problem I have with this bylaw is that it is dictating to a Scoutmaster how things must be done. I think the easiest proposal may be to eliminate this part of the bylaws altogether, and let a Scoutmaster do his or her job. If the Scoutmaster wants a new scout patrol, great, if not, great, and ideally the Scoutmaster is listening to the boys about how they want to organize. ETA: I am guessing our Troop could use more training on the patrol method. Changing this bylaw might open up some conversation.

Here is the language from our Troop bylaws. Any suggestions on how to re-write? How are patrols typically formed -- by the Scoutmaster? Thank you for any help. The older scouts are organized into 2 or more permanent patrols depending on the size of the troop. New scouts that have just crossed over from the cub pack will be placed in their own patrol for their first year. In the following January, the Scoutmaster or their designee will break up the new scout patrol and will distributed its members into the existing permanent patrols. ETA: I could just propose that the Troop eliminate all the bylaws and just operate under BSA policy! People would likely freak, but it might be interesting!

Eagle 94, sorry to hear about the New Scout Patrol being set up. I was just reading our Troop's bylaws and a new scout patrol is written into our Troop's bylaws! I could use some help coming up with a way to try work with our parent committee to get this particular detail changed.

My goal for doing it via a designated Troop fund would be to raise awareness and hopefully motivate a few people, anybody -- to go participate in Wood Badge. Any leader that gets trained will make the Troop stronger, and attendees still need to take time for the 6 days of training. I am not sure if providing funding will achieve the goal of getting more attendees to the course though.

I'm thinking about personally funding a Wood Badge scholarship program for adults in our Troop. Generally, it would get funded 1x a year in an amount to cover one attendee's Wood Badge course fee. Any registered adult in the Troop could attend Wood Badge, first come first serve. I could commit to funding the scholarship for approximately the next ten years. Does this sound like something that would be useful and appreciated by a Troop?