cocomax

The parents are stepping in to make sure their kid has an advantage over the other kids and to make sure their kid wins. They end up spoiling things for everyone else. As a kid the victory is not as meaningful when you know your parents did it for you. In our troop the boys have to do almost everything themselves and we loose the contests most of the time, but the boys can see with their own eyes what is going on. The boys in my troop would rather do things themselves and loose than have it done for them. I do not understand why some scouter parents behave the way they do.

Please step aside Helicopter Parents there is a new, even worse form of parent taking the field. https://www.weareteachers.com/lawnmower-parents/ I know some scouts that are near getting their eagle that have their mom stepping in and speaking to the scout master and SPL on the their behalf, for easy things like if they were or were not going on the next trip.. I have seen moms acting as a buffer between between merit badge councilors and scouts, to really help speed things up. I have been to Camp-O-Rees where at 2am Saturday morning a group of dads were busy building the

It sounds like your pack is doing a good job welcoming the girls. At this point, we are so far down this rabbit hole I would like to see BSA hit the gas, not the brakes. I think it would would be great if BSA removed all pictures of boys from their web site and all magazines. Only show girls, and make sure most of the girls are people of color. Go all in. Focus only on girls and female scouters. Go in 100% and see what happens. Do it for at least a year or two. I have reached a state of peace with what is going on. I have reach a state of acceptance. I try to only worry ab

Yes, when a boy wants to join the Boy Scouts and does an google search to find out more, maybe try to find a troop, they will most likely end up on scouting.org. You are right, I do not know what the big picture of what is going on a large scale. I just see a tiny piece of the world, and my piece of the world is not at all like the rest of the world. I will have to wait and see what happens. Boy's Life said many months ago that they were going to change their name this October to "welcome the girls to scouting" . . . I am wondering if they are still still have the guts to do s

The boys notice stuff like this, even if they don't say anything. What boys will do is walk away from scouting or never join in the first place. Some moms notice stuff like this and get very upset, more so then the dads. Our troop is having to deal with moms that want to pull their boys out of scouting over this even though our troop will not be changing any. It seems like recruiting is extra hard this year, the near by troops are down to 2 or 3 boys, a few years ago they had a lot of boys. I do not know if it has anything to do with BSA focusing on girls. The Girl Scou

How to do a teaching presentation with a small group: Know the subject really well. Take a bullet point outline of the subjects being covered. Bring interesting props. Bring hands on materials for the people to work with. HAVE FUN!!! Walk around in front of the group and make eye contact from time to time, with one person at a time, talk to that one person, in a loud but kind voice. Value each person. Allow extra time to allow members of the group to talk about their life experience on the subject at hand. If you can work input from people in the gro

It almost sounds like you are trying to shame me, point out you are better than me and telling me what to do. Interesting, I do get that a lot, I have can come to expect it. Men like me are not wanted by my district, I was even told so by a high level at district wood badger when I offered to help with district level training. So, my troop is my family, they want me around. The Girl Scouts call on me from time to time to do training classes, and they are always joy to be around. I would do it for free, but they almost always give gift me with smiles, patches and cookies. I have a

Once the patrols are trained and up and running that is when the real fun begins.

Let me tell you what GSUSA is doing right, at least the GSUSA here in central California. BSA could learn a whole lot from them. The GSUSA Camper training was amazing, even and old mountain man like myself learned a bunch of new things, like cooking cookies in a card board box over a camp fire, really, I got to do that, it was so cool. The training was FUN, I would go back and take the course over again just because it was so fun to spend time with two old Girl Scouts, that were like the Bear Grylls and Green Bar Bill of Girl Scouting. They were super stars of scouting, radiatin

One moment that stands out was I was sitting there with a knife, sharping stone, map, compass and GPS in my pocket. Just 100 feet away was my truck filled with camping gear and my back pack ready to go on a 3 day hike. I also had 2 more GPS, a box of compasses, and a satellite messager I was prepared to help. At the "ice breaker" I explained in detail my life experience and having lived in the woods all my life and I got a pretty odd reaction. The instructor only asked in a harsh manor , "But do you have any BSA training, have you been to wood badge?" I felt like I was stepping on our ins

It was IOLS, The evening was all leave no trace, all flip charts. In the morning we watched a guy cook us breakfast over a large camp stove and we ate on paper plates. We had a class on the flag and posting the colors that was all flip charts. Next class was on wood tools, we got to look at axes, saws, and knives (but not touch), we learned the safe way for a scout to use an ax is to hold the ax against the wood and hit the back end of the ax with a hammer. The instructor told us that there was no way to sharpen a saw and she did not know how to sharpen an knife so we skipped that. Next

The GSUSA organization is a wonderful group. After taking GSUSA Camper training, I can tell you it was light years better than my BSA Outdoor training. My BSA Outdoor training was 90% flip charts, and an obsession with leave no trace. . . we were taught to always hike in groups of 5 or less to minimize impact on the environment, wear special soft sole shoes to not crush grass or worms, walk on rocks when possible, always pack out your used TP and Poop in zip lock bags, always carry a bear locking canister, use window screen to screen the dirt where you camped to gather all the micro tr

We are already there. . . Two years ago there was a camp-o-ree that for the events they had stations set up with pop ups and folding chairs were the scouts were taught a subject using flip charts. Packing a back pack, leave no trace, basic first aid, and navigation were some of the subjects taught. Patrols were awarded points for paying attention and answering questions at the end. After finishing one station they would rotate to the next station. I asked around why they were running things that way, without the boys actually doing anything and was told it was modeled after Wood

Do you know who all the "weak leaders" who let this happen? They are almost all men. Do you know why they let it happen? They are all afraid of her. Do you know why they are afraid of her? Because she is a woman. Why are they afraid of a woman? I am VERY afraid of women like her, does that make me a "weak leader"? I do not have the skill set to even begin to deal with a women like that.

This wood badge trained mom used the fact that she was a woman as the primary weapon to take over the pack, troop, crew and district. . . being a woman has been her shield. No man can do that.

So true!!! My wife does not want me out camping out in the woods with young females, for good reason. If I mess up and destroy my life by crossing the wrong female. I destroy my wife's life as well. I have to stay safe so that my wife can stay safe. I always have to think of what is best for both myself and my family.

Bad male scouters and scouts I can deal with very easily. When dealing with very bad female scouters I do not know what to do, maybe I am just not brave enough to face that storm of emotion and anger. My first instinct is to RUN. One false accusation from a angry female and your life as you know it is OVER.

This mom was given a district level leadership position. I have seen her decide to have a important meeting, to discuss future district events with only a 2 hour notice and then the next day berate and attack everyone on facebook for not showing up. . . She was also the one that organized and canceled the last 4 district camp-o-rees on the day of the event for strange reasons, like canceling the event for "weather" when the temps are 80 high and 50 low at night, no wind, no rain, no smoke and clear. I am not sure why she has so much power at the district, her doings have run off ma

The worst example of things gone wrong is a near by troop with 56 scouts had their scout master driven off by a mom (wood badge trained mom). This mom's husband took over the job of SM, and she is on the troop committee. She changed things so that the cub pack, troop and venture crew all meet at the same time and the place in the same room. The venture crew which includes girls, is treated like part of the troop and is her way of going co-ed. The scouts and crew are required to run the cub dens to make things easier for the parents. The scouts do not get to have meetings of their own.

What I am seeing around here (in my district) are the new women scouters do not have to follow the rules. They can change any aspect of a troop, pack, training program to match their own personal wishes, they do not have to follow any rules. Men are not allowed to say anything, out of fear of an emotional outburst. Good men are being pushed out, attacked and dismissed. Anything a women wants is pretty much allowed and is extremely destructive ( when it is something that openly breaks the rules, and/or drives away the boys). and things are just getting worse and worse. . .

What is an unconditional scouter? Unconditional means, simply, without conditions. Without rules. Without expectations. All our relationships, even our relationship with scouting, have conditions attached. Married couples all rules of their relationship. There are limits. No healthy relationship is unconditional. There is a mental rule book for their relationship. That way, both partners know the parameters and the conditions by which the relationship will remain intact and healthy. When you’re feeling hurt, angry or confused in your relationship, it’s often because you feel one o

I am a registered adult (male) in a Girl Scout troop with 14 girls who all want to go camping. I have gone to GSUSA outdoor training and qualify as a firstaider. The troop has been around for 10 months. I would love to take the girls camping, I have been in the BSA for a total of 15 years as a boy and adult leader. None of the adult female leaders want to go camping. The female leadership of the Girl Scout troop has decided that no males (including registered adult males, like myself) are allowed to go camping with the Girl Scout troop if they should ever decide to go camping.

What BSA should have done was come out with girls only program with its own name. (That was the plan last year.) The press release should have read: The Boy Scouts of America is introducing a new program just for girls ages 11 to 17 called "Scouts BSA". All girl troops will be able to take part in fun outdoor activities and earn merit badges and girls can even earn the rank of Eagle Scout. This new girl's program will mirror the boy's program in every way possible. The Boy Scouts program will continue as it is with no changes. Instead BSA has caused confusion, hurt feelings

Well, I can tell you one thing after reading the news today and polls and comment sections and twitter, facebook, minds, youtube and gab . . . The Boy Scouts was a really well loved group by most of America, I read so many wonderful things about the Boy Scouts, many men that were glad they were Boy Scouts as boys. Many moms that had nice things to say about the Boy Scouts as well as the Girl Scouts. The general public is taking the end of Boy Scouts pretty hard, as they say you do not realize how much something meant to you until it is gone. The Boy Scouts will be missed, they

The boys are going to run with "Scout Me Out", trust me. It will be their battle cry.