Hawkwin

It is interesting that you mention this. My GS daughter just had her first meeting with her new troop and the girls voted on the activities they would do for this year (planning meeting that is scout led, what?!?!?) and the girls voted to go camping. My daughter was one of the majority that voted for that activity. I was both shocked and proud of her.

Why can't a girl both like dolls and Easy Bake Ovens, AND hiking, camping and everything BSA? They are not mutually exclusive. Additionally, there is nothing inherently or exclusively masculine about the activities of BSA. My son just earned his Gardening Merit Badge. What part of that is exclusively masculine? Cooking is a required Merit Badge for Eagle, is that exclusively masculine too? And why is it sad that girls might like Star Wars too??? Why do you think boys need exclusive ownership of this sci-fi soap opera, especially the little franchised dolls? I've read the War Against Bo

Fascinating. Would love to hear from someone that has a more recent experience with Troops from that area.

For me, I signed up to be a MBC for those badges that we can't seem to find anyone locally. That way, my son/scout will not be limited by having a single MBC for the entire District (as we have found with Scuba) that is not responsive to emails or phone calls (he probably quit).

Well, as it pertains to restaurants and numbers served, we can certainly serve a lot more youth at McD prices than at Ruth Chris prices. I doubt many middle and lower class families could afford our organization if we went to such an exclusive model.

The only thing I can remember selling was candy bars, and not very many of those.

I had not considered that before, the burnout factor, but I can certainly see how it can be an issue. I know I had burned out a bit after being a Popcorn Kernel for three years in a row so my first year of boy scouts I basically did nothing as a parent/volunteer. I needed the time off.

One minor quibble. A "C" isn't considered average unless your program is graded on a curve or some other rank-based system; which the vast majority of school programs are not. A "C" generally means you have an error rate of 25-30% depending on the grade system. I doubt one would want any professional to have an error rate as high as 25-30%. Cs are generally not acceptable in my household. I was a B/C student and I want better for my kids than that. [And I am married to a teacher so I have little choice!]

You may have missed my opening paragraph where I stated, " It would be rather unfortunately for them to leave, especially before we have any idea if there will be a change or even what it would look like." I am in no way dismissing them but if they are determined to leave in advance of any announced change or the details of the change, then there is likely nothing we can do about that. My hope, as I also stated in the first paragraph, is that most of our leaders have more patience, grit, and perseverance than that. For example, the inclusion of gay scouts had no impact on my son's Troop. T

As someone that fully support the rule of law, it would indeed appear that this council is breaking the current rules. There is no way she could have taken on the role of a patrol leader without a violation of the rules. She may have "earned" a merit badge by completing the work but she should not have been "awarded" or received a merit badge or the Arrow of Light. Further investigation is warranted. A Troop should no more be providing her recognition for those accomplishments/education than they should be for an adult scout that has aged out of the troop.

Thank you for the clarification. If that is the case, then I would think that BSA-girls would operate in the same manner as GS - In order for their to be a troop at all, there needs to be a parent volunteer. In the grander scheme of things, that may not be such a bad idea. If enough girls want to join, then there needs to be a parent willing to become a trained volunteer. Without such, then no girls troop. That means BSA-boys do not suffer a reduction in leadership based on such inclusion. I don't think that there would necessarily be separate meetings or camping as that would be unnec

On what possible grounds could they revoke the charter? Are tag-alongs banned from participating in activities? I would think that as long as she is not doing anything that might create liability (e.g. being in a canoe with a scout without having passed the BSA swim test) then she would be free to participate. In looking at the various merit badges required for Eagle, I don't see anything that would directly violate a BSA rule. If you know of one, please share.

Perhaps such a response, "I will quit if you do X" in advance of any details, especially before any decision is made, says more about the quiter than it does about the issue at hand. It would be rather unfortunately for them to leave, especially before we have any idea if there will be a change or even what it would look like. Such a biased opinion does not seem to be one that is open to the opinion of others. I would hope that BSA has a greater percentage of both leaders and scouts that have more patience, grit and perseverance than that. I don't think I commented conclusively one wa

I don't understand your response. Are saying that it won't work due to a lack of leaders or space, yet you also state that instead of going to two separate meetings during the week it would add convenience. Just what doesn't work logistically? I am really confused as to what you are trying to communicate. I currently take my daughter to GS events and my son to BS events. If they were coordinated in some manner, I would have MORE time to volunteer instead of less.

This! We have dens and patrols for a reason. My preference would be to keep the dens and patrols gender-based (within those chartering orgs that want such in the first place) and the troops (again those want coed) would then get together at a troop level to be coed. Boys that want a boy-only experience could get that at either the den/patrol level or even at the troop level if they wish to belong to a chartering org that wishes to keep the existing restriction in place.

It need not be all or none. As someone recommended on another thread, let each chartering organization decide, just like they do today with sexual orientation. If Stosh and Ankylus do not wish for their chartering organization to allow for girls, then I fully support their decision, but then allow me and mine to do as we wish with ours. Our decision and inclusion should in no way impact their decision and exclusion. Perhaps Venturing is floundering for reasons other than gender. Perhaps it is floundering because their members are not part of the core program of BSA advancement. Perhaps

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

The congressional charter also doesn't include Cub Scouts, or co-ed Venturing yet we have such. My assumption is that we are not bound by any specific wording of that document. From the Bylaws: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/bsa_charter_and_bylaws.pdf ARTICLE VII. YOUTH MEMBERSHIP Section 1. Those eligible to participate in programs designed for youth and young adults shall collectively be known as “youth program participants.†Youth membership in the Boy Scouts of America is open to all who meet the membership requirements. Cub Scouting, Boy

Both the Gold Award and Eagle are promoted to E-3.

Of course the devil is always in the details but as you indicated with your first hand experience that it can be successfully done. Venturing has demonstrated that it can be successfully done. 90%+ of the rest of the world's scouting organizations have proven that it came be done. I don't see, and you don't offer any details, as to how it would be "destroyed" by allowing more. That simply does not logically follow. As long as the same standards are maintained, like they were for the first female Army Rangers, then we should be just fine. As a member of that older generation, we are jus

Just what do you think, specifically, would be made worse with the inclusion of girls? The mission of BSA is "youth" not boys, after all. My son is also a Boy Scout. I do not feel his experience would be made worse by the inclusion of girls.

On the back of their shirt like girl scouts. *runs and hides*

Decades ago when I was in college, I worked with an organization in conjunction with my business fraternity that seemed to specialized in this stuff and it would probably fit very well with scouting. I've not looked at it since then so I can't speak to how it may be different now: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/ Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. You might consider giving them a call or sending them an email to see if th

Totally correct. My wife ran into one of the parents of the new troop last night - someone I had personally called to request information (she never returned my call - I had to email the district person in charge), and her comment to my wife was, "I am glad your daughter was accepted into the new troop." The clear implication was that she could have been turned away if the troop did not approve. Upon further discussion, my wife got the clear impression that the other parents were emailed and asked if they wanted her before we were extended an invite. Makes me think that my daughter could h

You have my vote for the metric system. Ford was right, Reagan was wrong.