Jameson76

Note that most of the YPT intent is directed at and intended for Adults to setup barriers for abuse to youth. Some is there youth to youth, but it is YOUTH Protection The original post was about chat groups used by youth to youth. As has been noted, nothing really different than boys talking to boys, just in a new format. We as leaders cannot be expected to monitor and observe all conversations youth to youth whether they be in person, in notes, on text, PM's, phone calls, conference calls, etc. Yes it is about the PLC and if the conversation involved bullying or other topics that needed to be addressed, then same as if the conversation was in person, in notes, on text, PM's, phone calls, conference calls, the leaders could address the issue. If the unit sets up a communication medium (say instagram) then yes that should be moderated, all comments public, etc

So to be clear...one can be 17 and 11.5 months and sign up for the BSA, (SA??), on 2/1/2019. Then request an extension to work towards EAGLE and you would have until one was 19 and 11.5 months to get the Eagle (24 months from an extension request). No doubt this will make for some interesting camping and sign off experiences. Not sure how I feel about this

Reminder that all troops may not be able to and equipped to handle the wide range of Scouts that come their way. The leaders are volunteers, and they bring only their experiences with them to their roles. You have identified some issues your son. It appears he has some accommodations that have been worked out with the schools - One such plan was to "check for understanding" similar to his what is implemented at his school There may be some troops that have more experience with these challenges

So true So true. Already the DE's are positing about girls in the "pipeline" and not the actual number of real girls showing up to sign up. One pack in our area had 1 girl come, they are looking at options, DE reported 10+ "interested"

Remember (and you know doubt live this) that unit volunteers and professionals approach this with different agendas Unit volunteers will look to what quality program can I provide to the youth and what is the long term window (hopefully years) for participation with the youth coming to my unit Professionals see youth as a commodity and are mainly interested in the numbers NOW, this month, this year. Goals must be attained. If they can get the money (make the sale / ABC Always Be Closing) and add widgets to the spreadsheet, their job is done Cajoling or bullying a unit is doing what it takes to be successful. No issue with professionals, they are doing what they are being incentivized to do.

Feedback in our unit is the new YPT seems a bit overkill and heavy handed. Seems less the like old one..how to be compliant and adhere to YPT, and has now morphed into selling me that child exploitation is bad, we are likely all on board with that idea. Also children are in danger, predators abound, be fearful, be watchful, be vigilant Wonder how this will play with new leaders, hope it doesn't scare any off

Have fun. If the scouts are not having fun, they will vote with their feet. Keep the helicopter parents in the back and out of the way. Let the youth (with guidance and mentoring) select and be involved with activities that are engaging to them. If the program becomes more school and classwork to get to the vaunted Eagle rank, you will lose many of them Have fun, go outdoors and DO STUFF. Not for advancement sake, not to get this merit badge or that merit badge, because it is fun, challenging, and engaging. The advancement can be a byproduct of what is done, not the main purpose. Go hiking, go climbing, go canoeing, go boating, go through a gorge, go biking, play a wide game, do a lock-in with overnight video games and gym games. Did I mention facilitate HAVING FUN?

I did the flag thing when I was in elementary school. Principal chose two of us that were in scouts. We put it up in the morning and took it down in the afternoon. Fun part was running out of class when a storm came up...good times in the 6th grade, dodging lightning and what not. Well done young cubs

Who has time for all the record keeping and math?

Not a huge fan of massive troop "rules". Never had one, do not plan to have one. Once you have written "guidelines" one will need to follow them and then you get boxed into a corner. Sort of like the academic zero tolerance policies. Huge difference when a kid goes camping with dad and accidentally leaves an axe in the car as compared to kid who brings a knife to school to settle a score. One must look at intent and hopefully be able to judge and work with kids as individuals. We have a large troop and literally have only one written policy, and that concerns cell phones and it was written this year. Other than that, we try to follow the basic tenants of BSA policy. I mean Good Lord there are two huge tomes, the GTA and GTSS which are both 100+ pages each. If that is not enough for you, not sure an additional document will really help

Try to get a shirt that youth will actually wear outside of Scouting events. If they will wear it outside, they will wear it during We do a Class B shirt every summer, also for high adventure treks. Different color and use the dri-fit type. Over the last 10 years we have used the same front chest design. Then the back is emblems from the activities we do each summer. On outings we have multiple colors, but they are all similar design. I was pretty sure we had hit on a good overall design as I saw the shirts around town, in photos, and other places worn by our scouts. The dri-fit was a big hit

Interesting BSA registration fee is $33. Boys Life is $12 The BL is optional Personally I would find another council and tell them to bag the activity fee

I do find it interesting that a 14 year old cannot hold a full time job, cannot typically open a banking account without parental permission, is not able to enter contracts, cannot legally operate a motor vehicle in the US, is not able to consent for sexual activities, serve in the military, vote in elections, cannot purchase a gun, cannot buy liquor or beer, does not have a choice and is required to attend school, cannot fly unaccompanied without a parent or guardian authorizing, and other myriad of items they are not able to do because as a society we have deemed them not mature enough to handle these tasks and responsibilities..... YET....... This same 14 year old (or younger) determines they are transgender and everyone is supposed to be on board with this and accept that decision at face value. To question is to be genderphobic and discriminatory. Not saying there might not be reasons behind that decision, but seriously, this does call for a rational conversation and exploration and a clear understanding by the youth on the ramifications (short term and long term) of this decision.

Waaay Waaay back in the day we could do the school talks. This was for Boy Scout troops that made for a fun presentation. I was the DE and would travel to the schools with tents, backpack, etc. We would setup in the assembly area, then the classes (boys then) would come to us. It would be the local unit leaders, or their representatives, and myself. I would do the basic what is Boy Scouts, then the local unit leader would talk specifically about what the local troop actually did. Note this was early 80's so no mass crossovers, etc. We had good response because it was tangible Not sure we could do that now. Especially the axes and knives.

Best part of a conference call

Curious what you are throwing the tomahawks into? We have some, and have not found anything (other than large end cut logs) to throw into. Sort of tough to tote about. We have not found a good portable target. We have a knife throwing target, a good piece of basic 1/2" plywood on a frame works well. Easy to setup and move, load into the trailer. Rope of an area off and have at it. The light weight throw knifes are inexpensive and only need a tune-up on a grinder occasionally.

I'll take the under on that bet / expectation. Rather than 10 years, there will be "survey" and "groundswell of support" sometime in 2020 / 21 and we will be coed. The challenge will be ramping up any actual functioning girl troops or enough "linked" (wink wink) troops. BSA will need to decide how to effectively provide a good program and opportunity for the the girls coming out of cubs. Honestly it takes a minute to stand up a troop and get the institutional knowledge to have a well functioning troop. There may be some Girl troops and they will be new, then they will look over at the established boy troops in the same area with 11 outings annually, maybe 2 summer camps, high adventure, 30+ years of tradition, 10 Eagles a year etc etc. Why can't they have that now, it's not fair, yada yada. Not saying the requirement (though it might be) will be for troops to be coed, but it will be an option. Boy Troops, Girl Troops, Coed Troops will be the three flavors. Might be a hard sell to mandate coed for many years, though likely that is the way Boys Scouts...sorry Scouts BSA will be moving.

Wow..I read the web page on Scouting.org. Looks a good deal like some cobbled together Lean presentation. Wonder what BSA has paid for this expertise. Not sure why it starts with Roundtables (FB) and ends up talking about employees (Scouting.org) First the FB announcement was 5 paragraphs and literally said nothing The link to Scouting.org So..we have the mission statement The Polaris Method Making the BSA more Effective, Efficient, and Empowered Then we define the group(s) / key terms Stakeholder: the end user; the one who needs or uses our service or products. Value: determined from the point of view of the stakeholder. An activity that adds value transforms BSA service in a way that benefits the stakeholder. Efficiency: the single most important focus of the Polaris Method.Any part of the process not adding value to the stakeholder’s experience, is inefficient. We are always looking for WASTE to reduce! Empowerment: is key to sustaining The Polaris Method into the newly adapted culture of continuous improvement. Autonomy to make recommendations and changes drive this effort. Then we go FULL consultant and drop in the elevator pitch (which as has been noted, not a lot of elevators out in the woods)...honestly would have been more entertaining if they had called it the cracker barrel pitch or something The Polaris Method Elevator Pitch: The Polaris Method is a way of thinking and operating designed for efficiency, effectiveness, and empowerment. The Polaris Method is rooted in Change Management and Lean Management blended together with a Scouting twist for the BSA. Lastly we get some of the neat stuff Polaris will yield, but then I get confused as it refers to employees?? high employee trust, engagement, and satisfaction at the workplace employee mindset of proactively seeking positive and gainful improvements in all areas of work and customer service by modifying current standard operating procedures a streamlined approach to project implementations with consistent clarity, alignment, and collaboration ability to align the entire team to focus on bottom line goals and being okay letting go of non-high priority items, projects, properties, events, etc. new language and terminology that will make issues feel more solvable and less daunting Basically, looks like the DE's and professionals will be tied up over the next 18 - 24 months implementing POLARIS and that will be why they cannot be at meeting or helping units

Yep - Had a parent e-mail about some items, several e-mails. We copied them but directed the inquiry back to the Scout. Parent was main one asking again, sent a note just to parent reminding them that the advancement is owned by the Scout, they need to drive it. We want them to copy the parents, but we want to enable the scout to handle his needs. They backed off and the Scout is doing it now.

Sometimes you have to let the process work. We are in the southeast and going on an outing. Saturday looks good for weather, a little windy, but good. Conditions will deteriorate (maybe) early Sunday morning. Adults were communicating back and forth about options We had a group text with our SPL and ASPL for the weekend to consider options. Honestly they came up with different options than we had bandied about. Our thought was a day trip to do the activities (kayaking), then head back to the ranch. They determined to go and then make the decision about staying when we clear the river. They are considering the data provided, looking at weather channel, etc Their decision, so that's what we are doing.

When I started working with my current troop (now on 10+ years ago) the go to attitude was can't go down and interfere with the Scouts, they have to figure it out. I had (on my first campout) a good discussion with active troop leaders, explained sure you can. We are to observe and mentor. They explained the long time SM (who did not attend outings regularly) direct that. I knew him and felt it was a misinterpretation. Guess what, it was. They took "don't do things for a scout he can do for himself" as Hands Off. Take for example setting up a tarp. If they have never really set one up, how do Scouts know how to do it properly, tricks, etc. You can mentor and advise the PL on what maybe the next steps should be without impinging on their leadership. Again, observe and mentor. Same with tent placements, cooking, etc. Patrols can clearly function with leaders around, the leader needs to clearly understand their role. It is the Scouts patrol and not the leaderts. They are not in fact a "leader", they are are in fact an advisor or mentor.

Don't know much about the GS groups. There are some that meet at / are attached to the CO. We see them at Scout Sunday. It's hard to figure out who is a Girl Scout, then they put on the sash (maybe vest) and bam...Girl Scout.

So being British and all, maybe have them be sort of magical and then they are broken up into houses and have them hang out in a castle. That may have been done before...you should check

We do our best. The PLC (or Greenbar) meets monthly to plan the meetings, they cycle through activities by patrol at the meetings. For campouts the patrols cook and work together. They setup patrol areas (tarp / table / cooking) and all the Scouts meals are together. The leaders camp hopefully out of sight, but sometimes that is not possible. At worst well away. On campouts they do tent with friends or hammock in groups, not necessarily patrols. At summer camp they function in patrols for waiter duty, campsite duties, etc. The Scouts plan the outings and determine at the annual meeting what and where we will be going for outings. Yes the leaders make the actual reservations. At the outings they run the weekends, leaders sort of function as timekeepers. They handle openings, campfires, any issues, Scout's own service, police lines for cleanup, gear setup, take down, and loading. Not 100% perfect, but the patrol method is our underlying effort. If you come at dinner you will see 6 distinct patrol areas and 6 stoves cooking differing meals with Scouts working within their groups to do different tasks. No leaders involved, we just amble by and watch