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Curious take on your part considering many think you take on CO's is fringe/fanatic. Really, I have never hear of an IH that was not the head of the institution. But that does explain a great deal about your over zealous take on what a CO is.

yknot, I don't know what to tell you, it's a classic example of circular argument. Here, I will use your logic. I made a statement that you made a circular argument. You replied to explain/defend that it is not a circular argument. You doing so only proves you are wrong. That is a logical fallacy and a circular argument. But that is fine, we will just have to agree to disagree. Yes, the numbers have dropped. There are numerous reason that have been enumerated on this site and others. More dual income homes, more sports options, increased time spent in sports, more cl

That's a nice circular argument. So if you say something I disagree with, by posting a rebuttal I prove you correct? Here in lies the problem, youth have always had problems to deal with, they may be different problems, but that have always had issues starring them in the face. Do you think it was easier on the youth of the 1920's and 30's who lived through a depression, where the very existence of food and shelter was a daily question? What about the 1930's and 40's. where climate change was so bad parts of 3 states where just blown away by the wind, the constant thread of war. The 1

No we do not cancel for bad weather. We change plans for dangerous weather. No one has said there is never a reason to change or if need be cancel an outing. Being prepared is just that, being prepared to deal with bad weather and if necessary use alternative plans if weather is dangerous. No one said "never cancel". And it's a bad analogy. A coach can't say "we have a game scheduled 60 miles to the East, but there is heavy lightning there, so instead we are going to go 60 miles to the West where the weathers is great and play the game. A well prepared Scouting unit can. Fana

And who says the youth can't make the call to cancel? I know of a local troop that is big into hiking, their kids take great pride in it. Another that is into canoeing, and a crew that is big into backpacking. It's what they are excited about. The troops youth tell visiting cubs what they are about. Some of those cubs join that unit for that very reason. Other youth avoid them because it is not their thing. I know of a unit that has been keeping track of hiked miles for decades. They have board in their meeting place with milestones on it. Once a youth hits a milestone his name goes up o

Based on your post I am assuming it is a new or relatively new troop. You have some options. 1. Ask a nearby troop or crew to come and teach your troop skills. Older, more established units routinely do this. It helps their scouts meet requirements and it helps your troop out as well. 2. Ask the OA if they have some youth that would be willing to visits and teach skills. 3. Adults can teach with youth assistance. I see you are a Wood Badger, so you should have access to a number of adults that can come and train your scouts until they are ready to take on the training th

Oh, yes. We definitely had boys not prepared physically, But most still knew what they were getting into by talking to their troop mates. Girls just currently do not have that built in knowledge base for the most part. Additionally, most of those that were surprised we the adults - those that have had very little or no scouting experience prior to joining their current troop. Since they do not have other adults with OA experience, they just seemed to be taken off taken off guard about what the Ordeal experience is.

As we near the end (hopefully) of the bankruptcy and abuse case I want to look forward to where Scouting goes from here and what we, as volunteers, can do to help Scouting recover and hopefully thrive. Moving forward we will clearly have a leaner national structure, and most councils will have leaner structures as well. Some councils will not survive and be merged in with other councils. I am a firm believer in the Boy Scouts of America’s mission, aims and methods, and the Oath and Law. I don’t think there is any organization out there that does a better job of building character and

First, I was speaking of teasing between youth and youth, not adult and youth. Secondly, while boundaries are critical I would still disagree. I played college football for a team that is less than popular where I live now, over the years many of my Scouts have teased me about my team. Of course I tease some of them back about their team. No one is disrespectful and no feelings are hurt. I joke with some others in different ways as well, but they all know I support them ALL. Context is critical. I do not deal with every scout the same way. I am a cheerleader for some, quite me

It is true that youth are different today than 20 years ago, and 20 years ago they were different from 20 years before that, and so forth and so on. They are also, very much the same. What makes them different? My opinion is they are different because of the events of their times, or more accurately the adults reactions and attitudes towards the events of their time. Including the lack of reaction or even over reaction. I believe BSA has dutifully followed suit by over reacting in some cases. BSA has redefined once common activities such as youth only patrol hikes, certain pi

Not necessarily, the number of merit badges need, the number and mix of required merit badges have changed many times over the last 100 plus years of Eagle Scouts. Even Eagle projects only became required in the 1950's or 60's. (I cannot remember exactly when without looking it up)

Equity has indeed become a loaded term, and upstander is a relatively new term. One concern I have, as a society, we have started changing or expanding the meaning of terms and creating new terms as if that some how advances addressing a problem, and in the end we do very little to actually do so. Or even worse, these new, expanded and newly defined, terms become part of social and political tool boxes that have agendas attached to them that have little to nothing to do with solving the "targeted" problem. I frequently refer scouts and scouters back to the Oath and Law. If we

We have had 20 or so Girl Troops across the Council. My daughter was in both Troop and Crew at the same time. (so was my son). I would say the results have been mixed, just like Boy Troops. Some do well and some do not. Some observations of Troops I saw. Age distribution was very much a divide. The vast majority of the girls were with 11 or 12 (from Cubs or new) or they we 16 or 17 (coming from Crews) . Very few fell in the 13-15 age group. As a result there was a natural divide that made it difficult for some troops. Most of the Scoutmasters were females that came up th

An easy and cheap way is to use painters drop canvas (not splattered with paint of course). Cut a swath out that is about twice the depth of the longest knife and wide enough to accommodate the number of knives you need ( about the width + 4 inches for each of the knives you plan to roll laid side by side - I wouldn't put more than 6 or so in one roll). Lay the longest knife on the roll about about 3 inches from left edge, place it so that it is centered depth wise, then place the remaining knives about 2-3 inches apart so they are laid out left to right with the tips facing you. Once they a

I am not a fan of requiring earning Honor Patrol to count PL toward rank advancement. To much is outside of the control of the Scout. I had a patrol that would have not been able to achieve this and they were very good. It was a six member patrol of older scouts (5 of which achieved Eagle Scout), all had recently earned Star rank together. Their PL would have failed because none achieved Life Scout within the next 6 month period . They also had no chance to grow unless we broke up another patrol (in which case the PL's PoR would not have counted) so they could not grow. Now with the