Ankylus

I always noticed a distinctive vibe from the GS, from the organization, the volunteers, and the parents, that men were not welcome. It's like they think the men are all just perverts or potential molesters or something. That's fine, I don't want to be any place that I am not welcomed and I have enough commitments for my time. But I did miss being that part of my daughter's childhood and I think I had something to offer in the camping aspect of the program. As noted in another reply, none of the mothers wanted to take the girls camping. Well, if they had let the fathers do it, then the girls wo

One of the primary reasons my daughter's GS troop disbanded is because men weren't welcome and none of the mothers were willing to go on the camping trips. A single data point, but I think it's not much of an outlier.

Count me in the camp (ah, a pun...no pun intended) that considers this "radical". However, I don't consider that to be a criticism in and of itself. Sometimes "radical" is what is needed. I just don't think this is the time or place. At least not yet. For one thing, from a purely practical standpoint, I think there are too many vested interests in the BSA and the GS-USA and too many political ideologues to really let it happen in any effective way. And these people are both inside and outside the respective programs. For another, I think it would be almost impossible to create and mai

We routinely have several married couples on outings in our troop and they all share a tent with their married partner. Nobody has ever had a problem with it, and we sometimes have as many as 60 to 80 on an outing. It never occurred to me that anybody would object. We did one time on a cub scout outing have a divorced couple who wanted to share a tent. I mean, they had once been married, then they divorced, and they were in the process of reconciling. They came to us and asked what the rules on the sleeping arrangements were. I told them that the rule was that unmarried men and women were

I agree that consistency in understanding and application are difficult here. I know of a troop that calls itself "boy led" while the SM assigned all the leadership positions in the troop, including SPL. I think that is wrong and I do not think that is "boy led". The boys just have no voice in that. But I also think that I do not have all the answers, nor am I always right. The truth is, to make a program as large as and like BSA to work, you are going to have to have some ambiguity in place and trust that the volunteers will do it correctly. Will there be abuses of that trust? Yes, we tal

Our council (1) manages our 3 or 4 council camps, (2) maintains our 3 or 4 council camps, (3) provides training resources and opportunities for both adults and youth, (4) provides a useful interface with the national organization for the Eagle Scout application process, (5) helps manage maintain online advancement records, (6) supports the OA chapter with facilities and resources, (6) performs some useful dispute resolution services from time to time, (7) before 4/1, provided us tour permits that national required for our outings, (8) interfaces with other organizations (such as the Red Cross)

Howdy! And welcome, from Texas.

It's not impossible, just very difficult. We very recently had a scout who earned all the avaiable MBs, including the 4 centennial MBs. But it was a very close thing with his 18th bday.

Late to the party, but here's my $.02. From my experience, I suspect the troop is concerned--rightly or wrongly--that the Eagle rank be earned rather than gifted. We are all familiar with the 14 yo Eagle scout, who came into the troop, whizzed his way to Eagle without learning anything, and then left to pursue another entry on his resume for college. Your son's avid pursuit of MBs may have set off the alarm bells with this particular troop that he is going to be, you know, one of those. You have already left the troop. But another tack you could have taken was to pursue the Eagle requ

Requirements vary by faith and denomination. In the United Methodist Church, the award is by nomination only, and you must be nominated by a third party. I have only ever seen the adult award once in the UMC.

Howdy , and welcome from Texas!

Stupid is as stupid does. If they don't want to come to the US, fine. They can stay in Canada. There is plenty to keep them occupied in Canada. Ever been to BAMF? They have wonderful resources for their program in Canada.

Our council has officially done away with them.

Many troops have a "uniform exchange" where scouts donate old uniforms for other scouts to use. You might see if your new troop does.

The protagonist of the movie "Moonrise Kingdom" is a "scout". Not a BSA scout, but clearly a take offf on the BSA. I understand it was based on a novel, and so that novel might be something like what you are looking for. Some of the subject matter in the movie was not appropriate for young teenagers, however, so if the goal is to turn it over to your children or the troop or somebody you ought to vet it first.

Indeed, a necrothread...OP was in 2010. Thanks for the pointer. Embarrassing miss on my part.

I absolutely agree with all of that.

All the links in this thread 404'd for me. Maybe this thread sparked a run on `em!

There's wet, and then there's wet. Much will depend on how hard and continuous the rains are. But here's some suggestions. 1. If you can get a fire going and keep it going (at least more or less), there is no substitute for that. This, of course, is at the mercy of the rain. But periodic, brief showers should be doable, especially if you can keep a stash of dry wood somewhere. 2. Put up a large tarp or fly, or move into a pavilion or some other shelter where people can congregate. These kinds of conditions are much easier to bear if you have someone to share some fellowship with. Also,

Sam Houston Area Council actually has the seed of a scouting history museum. You might reach out to them to see if they are interested. Their website is shac.org. Alternatively, national might be interested in them for an archive of some sort.

One thing you might consider. Once a year we have the scout's parents execute a "privacy statement" or something. I forget what we call it. Basically, it provides several options, each representing a different level of disclosure. Some parents are OK with first names, or pics with no name, or full names, or in the newsletter but not the website, or whatever. We provide them the opportunity to tell us exactly what they are comfortable with.

Howdy , and welcome from Texas! My family were scouters in the Nacogdoches area...lots of places to camp up there.

Howdy , and welcome from Texas! Sounds like you will have a lot to contribute. Looking forward to it.

Howdy , and welcome from Texas!

Howdy , and welcome from Texas!