thrifty

Doing this would also result in assigning a monetary value to the SM conferences if the troop works like ours. Every campout has a fee that's paid by any scouts attending. Of course we all want scouts camping but a scout would have to pay the fee and attend the campout to have the conference. Maybe the scout doesn't want to go on a specific campout or cannot afford the extra expense ($25 minimum for us) so a conference would be delayed one or more months until the scout attended? It seems like this rule has been made for no reason other than to force older scouts to attend campouts that th

Doesn't surprise me at all. I see that kind of attitude often with newer leaders that are only in it so their kids can Eagle. I believe in following the rules with a little common sense mixed in. That being said, I will also say that I despise the swimming requirements. My son had swimming lessons when he was younger but we are never around water. When it came time for his First Class swim requirements, he could not do it. We don't own a pool. Don't know anyone with a pool or any body of water. Wife and I are able to swim but do so poorly and could not teach how to do so. We end

A scout completed all of the requirements for a MB prior to getting a BC. Scout contacted SM for a BC so that he could meet with a counselor, discuss and earn the MB. SM was unhappy the scout completed the MB requirements prior to a discussion with SM. SM did not fulfill the request for a BC. (I am now repeating what I was told because I was not in the meeting) SM advised scout to decide on a counselor (maybe even contact one?) and then come back for a BC. (this is an SM of several years and I think he knows this is not correct) This is not a MB that has any unusual pre-reqs, it's not an

The old forum posts had links to the Bryan blog where it is clearly said. There may be no writing that says a blue card can be denied but there's no writing saying it can't? Here is the link to the blog that addresses this but it's 2013. I don't have a copy of '13 GTA and if it is directly said in that publication, why would it not be included in '17? https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/12/23/ask-the-expert-mailbag-merit-badges-blue-cards-first-class-requirement-10/ The excerpt from Chris Hunt, advancement team leader for the Boy Scouts of America.is below. "The polici

I'm looking at a PDF of the '17 guide to advancement section 7. I do not see anything indicating a scouter may or may not deny a blue card. Am I missing it? Is it elsewhere? Is it inferred? I'm familiar with the older forum posts and previous links to Bryan on Scouting but those are all several years old. What current item can I reference to clearly indicate denying a blue card is prohibited?

edit: I've also had the idea to look into adult team building games and share those with him. He's been to NYLT and I know they've done some stuff there. I usually roll my eyes when I have to do this kind of team game as an adult but I have to admit I recently did a few that were fun.

Thanks 'rat. I like what you've described but unfortunately the troop and therefore the patrols don't usually work like that. Too much adult interference. There's no theme and most things are left to the last minute. I think this is a great idea. This is the kind of leadership qualities that the wife and I emphasize to him and it would give him time to prepare. When he joined the troop a bunch of the older boys played cards at camps. When the older boys aged out the card games stopped. I'll suggest that. He also has some small travel type dice and camping games that don't get u

So my son will most likely be a PL for a 3rd time (not in a row). One of the things he does not like about troop meetings is how patrol time works. Patrol time is something that patrols do when nothing else is going on. For example, a 1.5 hour meeting to do a 10 minute camping meal plan would result with no other plans for the evening and the patrols would have patrol time. Because patrol time isn't planned and all of it is spontaneous, it results in the patrols just sitting around talking about the latest video games, etc.. Sometimes they review younger scout books but this isn't needed

I don't know why there is a problem with black robes. Black robes are cool!

How do you find these? Local news, dumb luck, random internet searches? I appreciate you sharing these for several reasons.

coleman, I'd rather not say what lodge just to be discrete but we are by the Great Lakes. I've never rolled up like a cocoon in a rain fly before. I will advise my scout that he may need to do that. I agree that the tough stuff is what I always remember. I've always enjoyed this quote, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." I have had my share of challenges in life and they have all made me stronger, even the ones that almost killed me. He plays it cool and laid back abou

Thanks for the responses. I'll send him with the rope and stakes just in case and if anyone has a problem he can blame it on dad. Not really worried about him getting wet, tired or hungry, I like to think he can tolerate more than most of the other scouts just because we do a lot of activities as a family. We just completed his 20 mile for the hiking badge a few weekends ago and he had no problem with that (but I was exhausted). "Burrito" style camping just didn't seem to me like what they would have in mind when asking him to bring the ground cover and rainfly. Makes me claustrophob

My son will going through his Ordeal in a few days. We both know that he is to sleep under the stars. The packing list includes ground tarp and rain fly along with work gloves, etc... Maybe I'm over thinking this, but it doesn't say anything about rope or stakes or anything else that might secure the rain fly. I assume it is ok for him to bring rope and stakes? It is currently scheduled to rain at some time during his Ordeal. The packing list is short, I wouldn't want him to get in trouble for bringing something he should not have. How does someone secure a rain fly without some sort of

We had a scout turn 18 and Eagle right before he left for college. There was no time for a ECOH. He was probably home for holidays and such but it wasn't until the following summer that we honored him with a small ceremony during a regular scheduled meeting. It was nothing fancy but he seemed happy and it felt right. He was not active in anyway after turning 18 so we didn't need to do it but he deserved it. In our troop, the parents and scout are responsible for most of the ECOH planning. The troop buys the cake. I've seen very fancy ECOHs and a simple one. To each their own but t

I've bought a lot of old shirts that have glued patches. Boiling the glue loose and gently scraping after pulling out of the pot has worked well on all but one. There may still be discoloration on the tan shirts but can't complain about free or cheap. Used troop shirts usually have sew marks from switching patches or stains on them anyway.

Our troop has been to the same camp for the past three years. It has a Root Beer Cantina twice during each camp week. The cantina is at the outdoor pavilion and the second day is when parents can visit. There is also a dance and popular music. I've only witnessed this once but there were lots of scouts having fun on the stage and dancing and cutting loose. I don't know how many years the camp has been doing this but it was before the more recent changes regarding girls in scouting. I don't like dancing but can it really be considered "girl stuff?" Sorry but I think this is a lit

maybe this will help. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/07/10/changes-to-eagle-palms/

Perhaps but considering this was for adults that are already registered as leaders or committee, wouldn't they already have an online presence? I don't know. I have been registered online for a few years so I don't know what anyone else does but every committee member we have was requested to do online training last year so unless they didn't do it then, they should have a login i.d. I think having training at the committee meeting is a fine solution and I hope it accomplished what it was supposed to. I think it's ironic that adults that are scarce at troop or committee meetings would all

I received an email from our CC requesting adults come to our next committee meeting because a district rep would be going through the training first hand so that adults wouldn't need to go online. I thought the whole point to having it online was for convenience but seems like a good idea if anyone showed up. I had already done the online training and was not in attendance.

maybe you can use some ideas from here. Their theme was Gladiators but I think it's close enough to medieval. https://longspeakbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MV-IP-2018-Spring-Camporee-Leader-Guide.pdf Somewhere during my many searches for ideas I found an old camporee link that had pics of the scouts in the roman tortoise shield formation with cardboard shields I think. Don't remember what they were doing or what link it was but looked like a lot of fun. Similar techniques are used in the movies to storm castles. If you are allowed to use water balloons or garden hoses, that

I may be taking this out of context but I felt the need to reply. There are many "liberals" that are not happy with the new direction of BSA including myself. There are also "conservatives" that I know that are thrilled that their daughters will be joining BSA.

Wow. Sounds familiar. I don't have any advice but you have my sympathy for what its worth. These types of situations are why my family stepped back from scouts and the reason I found this forum to begin with. We were dedicated and it was not easy but decided that our ethics and sanity were not going to be compromised by others.

Did you mark the dutch ovens somehow? I could never find a good idea on how to mark those so they could be easily identified.

At least they tried. definitely a lesson to be learned. we use an abbreviated year/number to designate how old the tent is. 18-01 for example. We just use black sharpie on everything. scouts receive whichever tent is pulled out of the trailer when they are standing there but this number is entered into the log so that the two scouts sleeping in that tent are now responsible for it. If they open it and find something missing, the first people to be asked will be the previous two scouts. Usually this would result in blank stares and I don't knows but it still emphasizes responsibility. D

only national forest in our state is over 3 hours away so not logical. I'm not familiar with nat. forest costs. Are you saying it's free to camp there? nevermind. just saw shortridge's response that they are free if camping is available. thx