WisconsinMomma

Well, ya can't get a shot for norovirus (although, people are working on it). There will always be a risk of illnesses at camp.

We need more trained leaders, not fewer, and so taking any new leader though Wood Badge is going to give them more experience than they had. We need new leaders, and we need new female leaders. Everybody starts somewhere! My WB experience was pretty clear in what we were doing. Just because some people don't do well in WB is not a condemnation of the whole program. I think my course from last summer was the newest course. Back to the specific female Scouter who is struggling with patrol-led, perhaps one of the other female Scouters could form a friendship and mentor her? Might n

Summer camps can, of course, make any rules they want within the law and within BSA policies, but if it's too much of a hassle / extremely restrictive, then not as many people will go to summer camp. Any PR problems with the BSA coming across as either pro-vax or anti-vax in the media would be a disaster.

That's OK. No one can force my family's medical decisions (and I have not shared what they are, other than me not getting a flu shot).

Talk to your council and camp directors about the issue. They are the ones who will set and enforce any policies on the matter.

I really don't want to debate vaccinations or start a debate on vaccinations when what we have in place seems to be working. Have there been any cases of Hep A or measles outbreaks spreading via Scout camps in the last decade? Do we have a problem or are we making up a problem so we can argue about it? Can a person vaccinated for measles get the measles? The answer should be, no. The people most at risk for measles are unvaccinated pregnant women and very young unvaccinated children. Can a person vaccinated for HepA get it? It's the same kind of situation isn't it? I

It is the right of the citizen to decide whether to vaccinate their children or not. In Scouting, this is going to be the decision of the camp owners (presumably the council) so most of us are not involved in these decisions anyway. Also, I'm sure there are laws related to how these issues should and should not be handled. When we want to encourage participation in Scouting, it is not a great idea to take on a controversial issue such as vaxing or not vaxing. Why open the can of worms? Parents can and should decide their preferences. Why make it even harder for people to enjoy c

Sorry about the misquote, I tried to find the original but was struggling. I don't think it's bad to seek out a hardworking spouse, but I think it's wrong to assume that the woman will be the cook, or that one spouse should pull more of the weight so the other can go play in the woods. There is a ton of sexism out there and it is something we need to be careful to avoid as Scouters. I also think it's wrong to push our ideologies on Scouts. The Scout Oath and Law are the most important lessons. Live those, associate with people with similar values and that's not a bad way to live your

It appears that one of the posts about criteria for choosing women who are rich and good cooks and seeing a woman working in a field and saying "that'll do" have been removed. I don't see those posts on this thread anymore, but they were here, and that's what prompted my replies.

Hopefully by summer this outbreak will have run its course. The council in your area will need to see what the laws say about the issue for non school organizations.

What information has the mom been given about the patrol method. Has she taken BSA boy scout level training? Has she been coached? Invite her to join the adults patrol then hang around your adults patrol campfire and start up the relationship. The 6 y.o. can hang with the adult patrol too. Or, find some other female leaders into your adult patrol so you have better coverage next time. People don't just know the patrol method. They need information and coaching. Send her to Wood Badge! It's hard to listen to the complaints that a) parents don't do anything, and b) parents do too

My boys use Osprey Ace backpacks and my oldest uses a Marmot Neverwinter sleeping bag. We got one of the backpacks on Ebay and the sleeping bag off Craigslist.

I have no problems running off a good old boy who does not respect the current families in the Troop or is an egomaniac. There is a reason why some people get nicer as they age, it's because they want to continue to be included and not sent off to the dust bin. A troop does not need a graybeard around to be successful. But if they happen to have a wonderful graybeard around, it's an asset. An elder who lives the Scout Law and is welcoming and kind to families is the kind of person you want around for a long time. All adult leaders are replaceable. Our troop is cycling through th

My oldest son has two brothers. They are siblings. They are all in Scouts BSA. Soon we may have older Scouts in troops with younger sisters in Cubs. That's Scouts BSA. We may have brothers in one troop and sisters in another troop. That's Scouts BSA. We may have Scouts with older siblings in Venturing. That's Scouts BSA. And here's the thing, when you have Dad as a den leader and Mom running the popcorn sale, and sister in Venturing and Brother in Scouts, then that helps make a family stronger. And it helps make a community stronger.

You know what's interesting is that we got new Scoutmasters this year (husband/wife team) and they have taken the training to heart. They are saying things like "you (Scouts) don't work for us, we work for you". They are moving the troop more towards Patrols than they have been in the past. Every local flavor will be a little different, but it's not like there's no hope!

I didn't say boys, I said good old boys, and you know what that means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_ol'_boy And I will add that any access to minors comes only with the permission of mom and dad, they are not the enemy. Scouting does belong to mom and dad and siblings, and we all have our roles and opportunities within the organization. I have three children in Scouting and I absolutely have influence in our troop. I have more influence than older Scouters whose children grew up and left decades ago, because it is my family and my kids. Scouting exists today because of o

It's not the good old boy club anymore! And I"ve been in Scouting for 5 years, thank you very much.

Here's the thing, it's not funny. My husband had a Chemistry professor who told him something like, "the taller they are, the more fun they are to ride." Is that a joke? Is it funny? Is it Chemistry? This is the kind of garbage that goes around and it's inappropriate.

It might be a much more valuable and Scout-like lesson to talk to boys about what they should give in a relationship, more than what they can get. What makes a relationship a win-win for a husband and wife, and there's a lot more to it than he's the paycheck and she's the maid. If I heard that you were teaching my boys about your vision of spouse selection we'd be having a conversation where I'd be asking you to stick to the Scout Handbook. You are welcome to have that conversation with your own children all day long but it's not your scope of practice to train mine in that subject matter. I

Rural India and the Middle East are extremely sexist. In addition to this dowry burning, in parts of rural India women are expected to burn themselves to death, and celebrated for it, when their husbands die. All of this is treating women as property https://www.smh.com.au/world/india-burning-brides-and-ancient-practice-is-on-the-rise-20150115-12r4j1.html https://scroll.in/article/874185/decades-after-india-outlawed-sati-a-temple-to-a-victim-in-bundelkhand-draws-scores-of-devotees I think it serves everyone better to make sure the boys and girls can manage their own cookin

This sounds a little bit like how wives are chosen and treated in the backwoods of less developed countries -- a woman is chosen as a worker and treated like a slave / donkey, and the man goes and finds beauty and love and spreads his seed around with mistresses. Absolutely ridiculous.

Right now I am shopping for Cubs, for the whole Pack, and it's all adult-driven so the online stuff is great. I am not sure why a Patrol could not have a meeting and go the online shopping together at their meeting, but this is a helpful service that's great at the Cub level.

Just wanted to share that I'm using WalMart online grocery shopping for our Pack camping trip this weekend. Placed the whole order online and I will pick up the whole thing after lunch on Friday. Many grocery stores have online ordering and it saves a lot of time. It's also convenient to plan and order from home and calculate things like serving sizes and cost comparisons on the computer. If I ever am in charge of grocery shopping for the troop, I will teach the Scouts how to use this method.

DeMarco is calling for reform so that no young person ever be allowed to ride along with officers alone. "Ride-alongs should have either two officers and one explorer, or one officer and two explorers at all times," he said. Yes.

Bystanders are also important in helping prevention. The new YPT training helps with this a lot.