cocomax

All they really did was move the Boy to the back of the Scouts.

I will proudly wear a shirt that says:

   Scouts Boy Scouts of America

              GENIUS!!!

50 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

The endgame for the BSA is the end to the phrases "boy scouts" and "girl scouts" in conjunction with it's program.  It's just "scouts" now.

We don't say "girl venturers" and "boy venturers" - it's just venturers.  

I'd suggest that as a community, we ought to embrace the new term and own in.  Like it or not, it is what the program is now.   Seems like we ought to get the most mileage from it we can.

Oh no no no no. . .. 

There are all boy Scout troops and soon there will be all girl Scout troops. . . .  they are different things.

You will have to call one  an "all boy Scout Troop" and the other and an "all girl Scout Troop" 

In the near future. . . 

Caller: "Hello is this the Boy Scouts?"

BSA: "Yes, this is the Boy Scouts of America"

Caller: "My child wants to join the scouts, can you direct me to a troop in the area?"

BSA "Sure, what is your child's name?"

Caller: "Pat"

BSA: "Is your child a boy or girl?"

Caller: "Why, does that matter?"

BSA:  "Well you see we have all boy Scout troops and we have all girl Scout troops. . ."

Caller: "Oh, yes my girl wants to join the Girl Scout Troop, I guess, I will ask her .  .  ."

BSA: "No, we do not have Girl Scout Troops we have all girl Scout Troops."

Caller: "I am a bit confused, my girl wants to be a Boy Scout, but now you say she needs to join a Girl Scout Troop?"

BSA: "No, the program is called SCOUTS BSA, but your girl will be joining an all girl Scout Troop."

Caller: "What happen to the Boy Scouts? My girl does not want to join the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts have a more fun program and I saw on the news they were accepting girls now. "

BSA:  "We are still the Boy Scouts of America, we just changed the name of our boys program to Scouts BSA make things more clear. The name does not matter, it is the same program. The girls program is also called Scouts BSA and your girl can join an all girl Scout BSA troop. We just took what was called Boy Scouts and dropped boy from the front and added BSA to the back so the full name of the boys and girls programs is now Scouts Boy Scouts of America. So your girl will be joining an all girl Scouts Boy Scouts of America Troop."

girl Scouts BSA     and     Girl Scouts GSUSA

          are both things now. . .

The public will not be confused at all.  (NOT!)

I hope BSA comes out with a line of cookies to sell as a fund raiser for the new girls.

We could have flavors like    Scout Thick Mints,  Scout Island Caramels,  Scout Scottish Short Bread 

That would be swell!

The general public will see all girl scout troops, dressed nice, with skorts, leggings and skirts out hiking and camping and doing scout things and will call them "Girl Scouts".

The the general public sees a group of boys in scout uniforms doing scout stuff they will think of them as "Boy Scouts" and refer to them as "Boy Scouts".

The general public will not care about the brand "Scouts BSA", to most people there are "Boy Scouts" and "Girl Scouts".

The sad thing is the groups of girls out there that are reduced to wearing a simple sash or vest as a "uniform" that are stuck doing safe things like selling cookies and doing arts and crafts .  .  .    meanwhile the Boy Scouts of America just quietly lifted their brand name clean as a whistle.

When the general public sees girl Scouts, they will think of them as Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts started out as a mirror of the Boy Scouts. . .    now the girl Scouts are a mirror of the boy Scouts

GENIUS MOVE!  

Kids need the outdoors. . .

https://www.fastcompany.com/40565662/why-outdoor-nature-preschools-are-gaining-traction-with-parents

On the bright side if we can find just one outdoory adult women to take on the leadership role in ether the GSUSA or BSA Girls I can easily find several men that can provide a lot of experience and support and we can get a girls outdoor program rolling.

Our new local GSUSA troop of 14 girls is having a hard time finding a mom or any female adult that will take the girls camping. They are running into the problem of none of the adult women want to have anything to do with dirt, bugs or lack of flushies. The girls are really wanting to go camping.  There are many of the girl's dads that would be willing to take the girls out camping and hiking, but unless one of the moms steps up the troop will be stuck just doing crafts and no outdoory stuff.

Our Boy Scout troop of 8 boys has 6 adult men (all registered and trained) that are taking the boys hiking and camping.  None of the boy's mom's have shown any interest in going on any of the camping trips, most make a point at the court of honor talking about how they dislike camping.

I have talked to moms that are excited about their girls joining the boy scouts so that the men can do the heavy lifting and take the girls out camping and hiking, but I think we would run into the same problem the GSUSA troop is running in, a lack of any outdoory adult female leaders.

. . .  and the boys all say they will quit if the girls show up. . .

The trigger is on the handle, under the girls trigger finger. I know these drills well, I spent 10 years in construction.

The girl is operating the power drill. 

You can look at a porter drill manual if you do not believe me:
  http://pdf.lowes.com/installationguides/885911115216_install.pdf

6 minutes ago, qwazse said:

You mean the one that the adult is holding the trigger on? While the daughter stands behind with safety goggles, spotting?

All we see is conduct well within the intent of G2SS.

The girl is pulling the trigger. . .     the part that the adult is holding has no  on off control.

5 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

For those worried, at least one female parent/guardian is in the video, standing in the background with coffee.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/beyond-cookies-thousands-girls-becoming-cub-scouts-022746762.html

Looks like the scouts are having fun and the leaders are doing a good job. Power tools, YES!

 

Kids using POWER TOOLS!!!!   and you are happy about that. . . .   wow.

A porter cable corded AC power drill with a large spade wood drill bit is not a "craft drill".

Here is more news from the same pack, different article:

Christianna Wiechert, age 8, also hopes to follow her brother into Cub Scouts. Wiechert is also a member of the Girl Scouts.

“She’s been a part of both worlds since she was a baby,” said Christianna’s mother, ChrisAnn Wiechert. “The minute girls were allowed (in Cub Scouts), she said, ‘I want to do both.’ So here we are.”

ChrisAnn said Christianna, the youngest of four siblings (her two teenage sisters are both Girl Scouts), plans to remain involved with Girl Scouts. As a Girl Scout leader, ChrisAnn Wiechert stressed that Girl Scouts is not necessarily the “girl version” of Boy Scouts.

From the Article:

Tatum Weir agreed. She had been to a few of her brother’s meetings — their dad is the assistant den leader — and was eager to join.

“I thought it would be pretty cool because I thought it would be a good opportunity to do with my brother,” she said. “There’s a lot of cool activities.”

Asked what he likes about Cub Scouts, Ian Weir ticked off a short list: going places, nature, and “Tatum’s in it.”

“I was a little skeptical because it was me and my dad’s thing, but when Tatum got in it was even more fun,” he said.

-----

Sounds like brother and sister are going to the same den meeting and their dad is the assistant den leader. It sounds like brother and sister are having fun doing everything together. There may be two dens on paper (which is maybe why they have 4 boys and 4 girls ), but they are acting as one den. 

Breaking the rule on cub scouts using power tools. . . .

http://scoutmaster.typepad.com/ageguides.pdf

This co-ed den ( 4 boy + 4 girl )  is on a roll.

From The Article:

Tatum Weir agreed. She had been to a few of her brother’s meetings — their dad is the assistant den leader — and was eager to join.

“I thought it would be pretty cool because I thought it would be a good opportunity to do with my brother,” she said. “There’s a lot of cool activities.”

Asked what he likes about Cub Scouts, Ian Weir ticked off a short list: going places, nature, and “Tatum’s in it.”

“I was a little skeptical because it was me and my dad’s thing, but when Tatum got in it was even more fun,” he said.

-------

Clearly Mr Weir is the assistant den leader and Mr Pescosolido is the den leader.  We have 2 men leading a pack of 8 kids,    4 boys and 4 girls.

This breaks YPT rules as well as the no mixed dens rule.

So they have mixed boys with girls in the same den,  breaking the rules.

From the article:

In Durham, for example, den leader Tuck Pescosolido recently led a group of four girls and four boys as they built wooden toolboxes. As the project got underway, the girls raised their hands and waited to be called on, while the boys were somewhat silly, cracking jokes about flying airplanes when asked about drilling pilot holes. But once they settled into the activity, things leveled out.

"I didn't want to stereotype. But yes, I did expect perhaps the girls would be a little bit calmer, would be a little bit perhaps easier to manage in my role as the den leader, and to a certain extent that has played out," Pescosolido said. "But it's done so in a great way. It's not that the girls are sitting still. It's that they are very highly engaged in the task and they're less, perhaps, distracted by other things than the boys are."

------

And BSA sent me a newsletter just now with a link to the article, so BSA must be okay them breaking the rules and mixing boys and girls in the same den.

21 minutes ago, qwazse said:

Take no thought for tomorrow, for today has enough troubles of its own.

Sorry, I didn't write the rules.

I would rather. . . 

Be prepared.

Pacific Harbors Council executive Ralph Voelker might know something we don't. . .  Boy Scouts will be renamed Scouts. . .  which would explain why there is no name for the Girl's program yet. . .

He said:

BSA has four main programs. All of them, except for Boy Scouts, are currently welcoming girls, Voelker said. Boy Scouts, probably just called Scouts by then, will accept girls by Feb. 1, 2019.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/latest-news/article208649604.html

Pacific Harbor is doing fantastic with having girls join up  0.8% of their cub scouts are girls and they have skorts.

Here are some of the smarter comments from the news story comment section:

"Never in my life would my daughters be allowed to join Cub Scouts. That's what Brownies and Girl Scouts is for. Guaranteed liberal parents."

"This is heart breaking to me. As a single mom to a young boy I know he desperately needs strong male role models guiding him. He's just turned 8, this is the time he needs these men most of all, but now it's not going to happen. Why can't the girls have these activities in Girl Scouts? Girls & boys are equal, but that doesn't mean they are the same. And why would we all want to be?"

"If women need and deserve their own spaces, so do men. There is nothing natural about this sort of PC progress, and it WILL backfire."

"As a former eagle scout it does me well to know that I have cut off all affiliation with this organization."

"I'm a Girl Scout leader and simply put, the Boy Scouts of the USA have stuck with their traditions and life skills program model. GSUSA has lost their way by changing the program so far off course from what made it successful in the first place. They've become too progressive and pushing career focused programs instead of basic life skills like changing a tire. My daughters remain GS's because of our council's canoe team (15 and 10 years respectively) but in reality would have preferred the boy scout program. Also, when you see Boy Scouts you know it because they are in full uniform. As for Girl Scouts? Only at cookie time and even then it's simply a vest. They have so lost their way."

"Scouting will become so politicized it will close it's doors ."

"The purpose of scouting is not just to learn skills, such as rowing, cooking, etc. It is to prepare the kids to be responsible men and women in society. Having leaders of the same sex and boys bonding with boys (and girls in the girl scouts) is very important in developing their character and identity."

"Then it is no longer the boy scouts. It is something else."

"This is a great thing, and not because some people think it's PC. Boy Scouts has transitioned to a "family scouting" activity. It involves the entire family that is of scouting age, without the us versus them mentality. In the troop that my family is involved with there is involvement with Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts, without conflict. Our Boy Scout activities include parents, mostly boys and a few girls. So far, the girls are sisters of other scouts. As a mom of sons, it is heartening to see girls learning that skills that my dad taught me. These days, so few girls are taught those things and they are valuable."

"If only women were as capable as men at creating and organizing programs that cater to their specific gender. But alas, we found yet another thing men are superior to women at - mentoring and developing kids. Girls don't want to participating in organizations led and organized by women. Interesting....."

"Boy Scouts used to be a noble group, training boys to become good team mates, respectful men and self sustaining go getters. Now, sadly, it’s a shell of its former self."

"There is a great opportunity here for someone to start a new organization where boys can come together and learn traditional male skills."

"What's sad is the notion that girls can't do their own scouts good enough that they have to join the boys."

"Any parent of a 13 year old girl that sends them camping with a bunch of 13 year old boys needs to have their heads examined. I was in the Boy Scouts and later an Eagle Scout. It was a great time and we learned many life skills with the scout masters and our fathers. Having girls come to our weekend jamborees would only be a distraction. Why don't the Girl Scouts introduce some activities that the Boy Scouts do?"
 

Meanwhile. . .

http://theweek.com/articles/759527/rise-womenonly-coworking-spaces

Women only spaces are becoming more popular. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/beyond-cookies-thousands-girls-becoming-cub-scouts-022746762.html

You guys have got to read the comment section on this news story.

Going by the comments the general public is not on board with what BSA is doing.

A girl lead boy scout program will work fine.

A boy lead boy scout program works fine.

They can use the same content and there is room in the program for them to do what they are interested in.

When girl scouts started it was a mirror of the boy scout program and it worked fine.

It depends on the bear, the common black bear as a rule will not attack humans, all the many ones that I have seen have run away as soon as they saw me.  I have little fear of little black bears.

A grizzly bear will attack humans, they are well know for that. Menstrual blood is not a factor.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/grizzlybear-menstrual-odor.htm

Just give me a little online store that I can buy handbooks, merit badge manuals, patches and uniforms and our troop can continue on just fine.
We also need an insurance policy in place.

That is all our troop really needs to keep on scouting.