HashTagScouts

My sons first year at summer camp, I told him he would be on his own, I would not be there. I did, however volunteer to be there the second half of the week (troop had a few adults that could be there the whole week, but others that couldn't commit to the whole week, so we had a rotation to give additional adult coverage during the week). That gave my son the ability to adjust on his own without me there, and by the time I got there he had adjusted enough to not need me or spend much of any time with me when I was. That could be a consideration for you to talk tot he troop about.

Or attend another troops meeting before 2/1. The requirement doesn't state "while a member of a Scouts BSA troop" or "attend a meeting of your Scouts BSA troop".

I've never met a scouting unit that requires the scouts to wear a Class A while on an outdoor activity, other than for a formal parade or flag presentation. At that, being in New England, the weather is often at a level where being outdoors is going to require wearing a coat, so you wouldn't see the uniform anyway. Additionally, that's often quite a lot to ask parents to have two uniforms for their kid, a short sleeve and a long sleeve. Especially when they are young and may only get a year out them before thy need to size up. Maybe look into getting troop sweatshirts as opposed to just t-

One unit I have spent time visiting with also meets in a church basement with similar height restriction. They had flag stands made (some one knew someone that had welding equipment), such that the stand is a roughly 18" x 18" piece of 1/4" steel that has a 2 inch diameter pipe welded to it at about a 60 degree angle to the base. That allows them to use a regular length pole.

Also look at what the "rewards" are for completing the survey- Scout Shop gift cards. That's your National office funding those...

Correct. Camping nights can be combined from amongst the programs, but the youth has to hold the rank appropriate to the unit that is electing them as a candidate: Scouts BSA = First Class rank Venturing = Discovery Award Sea Scouts = Ordinary rank

I'd actually like to see some of the elements of the Scouts BSA program better integrated into Venturing. Discovery Award- why wouldn't the First Aid MB satisfy the requirements of this award? Is it we are concerned that the MB isn't being taught quite as it should be? The personal growth requirements for "Development of Faith"- why wouldn't the religious emblem program suffice? Why not have some basics such as Cooking MB/Camping MB as required?

In an article just last summer, Sydney commented she was preparing to work on her project, the last step of to earning her Venturing Summit Award. Yes, right now it does feel to me as this has become a total "me first" statement, sadly. Troubling piece for me is the father commenting that she shouldn't be expected to work on this into college- uh, the Scouts Canada program is also for college age youth, and Venturing is as well- so, we have someone who wants to be an Eagle Scout and is also signalling that they want to be "done" with scouting as soon as they have it? Life is not about handou

It is a real position, and the photo is of the official BSA patch. You would need to go through your lodge to get it though, it is restricted and cannot be purchased through a scout shop.

Also bear in mind- a 13 or 14 year old doing Scout-First class is probably going to go a whole lot faster and smoother than a 10 1/2 year old doing it.

I would say that @qwazse is on the right track of "how we got here". The Explorer program was really set about as one of many attempts by BSA to have an older scout program, and at various times in its existence advancement was allowable in similar fashion as it is in Venturing today, at others times it wasn't. Eventually that was all spun off and became Exploring, and the concept of "Venture Patrol" within a troop began. I was around for those later days of Explorer program, and my CO chartered both a troop and a post. Heck, the spruce green shirts for Venturing came from the Explorer BS

The 2017 GTA states "All merit badge requirements must be met while a registered Boy Scout or Varsity Scout, or a qualified Venturer or Sea Scout. Accomplishments before joining, or while a Cub Scout, do not apply." The "qualified" item, while not explicitly stated directly alongside it, would be those who had earned First Class as a member of a troop/team. Venturing awards don't explicitly state "earn" any MB - and my read of Sea Scouting is similar. The Sea Scout Ordinary rank requirement states "Pass all requirements for the BSA's swimming merit badge", but it does not say "earn the

Don't have an issue with the concepts of coed- I am a Venturing leader myself. What I am speaking of in regards to the "marketing" is mostly internal- within district/council social media pages. By all means, go and recruit for your unit for sure. My angst on the perceived coed from some of these units is that the youth in the unit didn't want that- which isn't to say they are against females in Scouting- yet the adults were not listening to them. I've posted on this in the past- my son has no issue with female Scouts, he has worked with female Venturers/Sea Scouts on NYLT staff and camp st

I'm really not saying this to be negative and get everyone's ire, but 95% of the units in my area that are starting (or, as of today, have started) a "girls troop", it is going to be at the same meetings/same outings, SMs/ASMs dual registered to "both units". I would love to say that the practical, sensible thing is to have the established boy troop be helpful in getting the girls troop going (teaching skills, showing them how to use the patrol method) for a short period of time- however, leaders from these units have been very vocal that they intend to keep it they way they have it. Effecti

If you know any of the history, the wives of several of the BSA founders were the first supporters that turned the Camp Fire program into a national, then international, organization. They went in a similar trajectory as GSUSA, removing principles of faith from the program, outdoor programming became optional. They eventually went coed to help their numbers, but they are only in a small number of areas now. Up to a few years ago they had a presence here in Eastern MA, but no longer have an active council here.

If you read some of @Eagle94-A1's post about what "family" can do to a program, that I would say is a concern. I have posted similar experiences, so I have that concern. It isn't really related to females in our programs, so I don't want to place blame on that. Personally, I am very glad the hype will dwindle. Mostly because I wish national had put half as much effort over the past 3 decades promoting the program as a whole than they have for the past 18 months. Before now, you were fortunate you got yard signs, and a sentiment that YOU were the reason that numbers were dropping, b

Like many things, our individual discretion can be tested with such broad brush strokes that these reporting "guidelines" suggest. Two scouts getting into a verbal spar, with or without vulgar language, may be a simple disciplinary situation handled by the SPL/PL(s). Some may say otherwise. To me, the moment that the discipline is punitive to the point you are banning a scout, whether it is for one meeting, one outing (or more), take the side of caution and evaluate giving notice to council.

A deck of Uno cards is usually a hit. Most of the younger kids can pick up the rules quickly, so it is easily something that all the youth can play together. A parent donated an outdoor checkers game (similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Checkers-Reversible-Classic-Indoor-Outdoor/dp/B07H8XSD5H/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1548951238&sr=8-12-spons&keywords=outdoor+checkers&psc=1) which is good, and if they leave it out when it rains it isn't ruined. As far as desserts in-site, I would suggest looking at what the camp you are attending has scheduled. If

Regarding incident reporting, yes, I am with Ranman that the BSA does want any incident that involves violation of BSA guidelines or policies (such as those outlined in the GTSS), or inappropriate behavior by a Scout/adult, to be reported through your local council. You can find the resource info at https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/incident-report/ In terms of 'disciplinary action', that is very much with the involvement of the CO. It is my opinion that it is essential to have a great relationship with the CO and that the COR have actual involvement in the unit. I have had kn

Troops generally do look for as much help as they can get- however, that does not automatically mean they are looking for more Assistant Scoutmasters. Typically, only SM/ASMs are part of the outdoor program, and Troop Committee are not. Can't say all of what happened in your husbands interaction, if he had just generally offered to help, or was specifically inquiring about ASM (going on campouts). If the SM will be at the dinner, I would perhaps use that occasion to ask him if you can talk about where your son is at after the "suspension", how you feel he has grown from it, etc. You could

Wah-tut-ca Scout Reservation and Hidden Valley are two options not too far away in NH to look at as well.

I share a great deal with your perspective on how things should be. A lot of echos on things I saw going on in my sons previous troop. It took about a year for me to really see that no one else really cared for any feedback and the majority of the adult leadership were still Cub oriented and I was the minority. I just took to clamming up and keeping myself as much at a distance as I could from the adults, while still trying to be helpful to the youth. I endured another two years of it, and would have gone longer, but thankfully my son came to realize that how the troop was operating just w

I recommend swimming- they may not finish it, but if they don't do a lot of lake/pond swimming, it's an opportunity for them to get used to it. And I am not one who would recommend any boating MB to a scout that doesn't have swimming, so it closes a lot of doors for year 2, 3 etc. if they don't at least try for it year 1. Aside from that, pick one they feel they really would want to have (again, it may not get finished up in the first year, but that is OK- it's why partials are good until age 18). Then I would suggest they take a MB (or 2, depending on your camps schedule) from common MBs t

I agree with you that in true practice, most CO's are pretty much hands off as to program, but do understand they have some stake of the use of their facilities. In the BSA's eyes, they tend to operate as though that is not the case. Districts/councils should be concerned at least from the perspective of liability. If an injury occurred at a troop meeting in the church basement, for example, you can bet that the BSA insurance is not going to pay if another third party has coverage that could pay (the church) under a subrogation clause.

The stress here is obviously real, and I understand you are wanting to just make sure you dot your i's and cross your t's, but council has nothing to do here. Bottom line, this person is refusing to sign the application, and has thus not gone through any channel to be approved as of yet by council, so they have no dog in this fight at the moment. And do not let a unit commissioner tell you otherwise, they have no authority over you. As this individual has not submitted an application, and has not gone through background check etc. they cannot be a leader until they do so. I'm with @SSScout