69RoadRunner

As long as you're not using flippers or something like that, I can't see the type of suit disqualifying a scout. YPT rules say to wear a modest swimsuit, IIRC, so I don't wear the competition style one I use at the gym and go with boxer style. My competition style suit isn't bad, but I've seen guys wear ones at the gym that are so tight you can tell their religion.

"Take less, do more" - Gossamer Gear slogan I hear you. I'm trying my best to be smart about the gear they take. The thing that shocked me was that the scout who was telling me this said the SM looked at it like a badge of honor. Yikes! 😖

I don't think it requires anything more specific than being physically capable of providing the required adult supervision for the scout activities. Also, you can be a scouter with limited physical abilities as long as there are other scouters who can do what is necessary. There are different ways to contribute as a scouter.

Technology is changing the definition of lightweight. REI has some light stuff, but if you want the best, lightest stuff, you have to go to the cottage industry like Zpacks, Mountain Laurel Designs, Enlightened Equipment, Gossamer Gear, Tarptent, etc. There are compromises. You trade away durability for less weight. Also, Dyneema (formerly Cuben Fiber) is not cheap for tents and packs. Silnylon is light and and a reasonable price, but don't expect it to last decades. For those reasons, many of these things are not appropriate for scouts, but a scouter can consider them. I plan

Two years ago I did the mile swim at summer camp. You had 2 choices, 4 lengths of the small lake followed by an escort in a canoe/kayak or doing a ton of lengths in the roped off swimmers area where the lifeguard could see you. I couldn't get an escort during free swim, so I did the ton of shorter lengths. I swam a mile and earned my patch. I believe both meet the requirements. 100 or so years ago when I was at summer camp as a scout, I recall that they had you swim the perimeter of the pool rather than the established lanes.

Search Backpacking Light for lots of advice on stoves and gram weenieness. 😀

The scoutmaster conference is for the benefit of both the scout and the scouter. However, I see it as a requirement on the scouter's side more than the scout's side. We have a duty to get that done. Any time a scout asks me about a conference or completing a requirement and I have no choice but to delay it due to other troop obligations, I feel bad. These scouts have done their work and have earned the advancement. We need to do our part and not be a hurdle.

I'm tempted to email and ask how they determined that people become untrustworthy after 72 hours but are fine before that. Also, how is their trustworthiness restored when a new scout year starts.

I do believe they have to do this as Webelos, but I would think it should be OK if they did AOL requirements while at the one rank. It's frustrating, I know. There are Scout/Tenderfoot requirements that scouts already did in Webelos but have to do again. We don't skip anything, but I wish we could give them credit for what they did in Webelos. I understand it's important to know they can do the skills and work on them as Boy Scouts.

Who determined that your scout was suspended for 6 months, Council or the troop? As mentioned above, it should be investigated by Council and they should be the ones to determine if there's a cease participation situation. This club the boys tried to create might fall under the "no secret societies" aspect of YPT, but I'm not sure if we have enough information on that. The preferential treatment aspect is a problem, but I think separate from the cease participation issue. We had an incident that allegedly happened at one of our final campouts in 2017 that only a few parents kne

BSA apparently thinks non-registered adults are like Gremlins being fed after midnight. In the 73rd hour they all turn into predators. I suspect this was some sort of committee compromise and they all agreed that 72 hours was good.

In this case, there's no mention of suspecting any abuse. There's no reason to avoid talking to the parents. I would think that saying, OK, your child goes by a new name. Our troop is a boy only troop as per the rules set by BSA. Your child is welcome to stay in the troop, but other than the name change, nothing else is going to change. Your child has to be declared a boy on any paperwork with BSA to be in the troop. For YPT issues, your child must be treated as a boy. If that's acceptable, then let's all carry on.

I understand this, but it's not like a scout has that many advancements that pull him away from patrol time. There have been some meetings where we've had to say there wouldn't be time that week so it can be postponed a week. Now if we're right up against a CoH, we'll do everything we possibly can to complete it in time. If the scout did his part, I do NOT want adults being the holdup for him receiving the advancement that he earned. We all have different schedules, but for us, it's a lot easier finding time on meeting night than a Saturday morning.

Good grief, don't make life more difficult than necessary. If a scout earns a rank, you want him to be recognized at the next CoH. Don't intentionally do things that could possibly delay it. I agree that communicating to the SM that this is wrong is the challenge. I can only say that if we were doing something wrong and a scout politely brought it up to me, I'd treat the scout with respect, investigate the issue and openly acknowledge my error. I have no problems telling the scouts that I'm imperfect. I struggle with some knots and I'll ask the ones who are good at it to show me.

Then we should be awesome because I'm almost desperate for adult help. The current makeup of our troop is making it easier to step back a bit. We had a situation that did not involve any adults that resulted in several scouts leaving the troop. It was a shame because much of it was rumor and none of us know what the true story was. Anyway, it resulted in us skewing much younger and required more adult involvement than ideal. Now we're getting more leadership from the scouts and I hope they're enjoying the experience more, too. As for too many irons in the fire, no doubt about i

Scouting has to compete with other activities. It's part of life today and we have to adapt. I think a scout can still gain a lot from scouting even if he's not able to participate in everything. If the scout is in a leadership position, particularly SPL and PL, then we require them to be committed to the troop during that period. As others have said about the merit badge, we're there to provide guidance and encouragement. The merit badge counselor is responsible for ensuring requirements are met. Rather than quitting, is moving to another troop an option?

Well, you could say you're gender fluid and during scouting events you identify as female.

I support requiring adults who are supervising scouts to take the online YPT. There will be many who don't understand the importance of looking out for situations where a predator is seeking to get a scout alone. Looking at what the Catholic Church is going through again, I don't think this requirement should be ignored. The training is not that difficult or time consuming to do once a year. You can disagree with aspects in the training, but completing it is not a hardship. The rules that are idiotic to me are allowing 2 female adult leaders for an all boy group, but not allowing 2 male a

We'll do something similar. We'll have vehicles at the campsite, so younger scouts don't have to carry a full pack, just a day pack.

Thank you for the ideas. Here is our plan, but as Russell Ziskey said, Custer had a plan. We're doing a troop backpacking trip in September. We'll make it flexible based on abilities and camping in a primitive campground site that can handle our not so big troop. The Philmont shakedowns will be just for the Philmont crew, but if there's room on a trip, younger, capable scouts can join. So it won't be separate patrols. We don't have enough age eligible scouts to even completely fill a 12 person crew, including adults. I joined Potomac Appalachian Trail Club to rent one of thei

Our troop has mostly done car camping while I've been involved. We're going to Philmont next year, so we'll be doing several backpacking trips during the scout year to shakedown gear and make sure those who want to participate are physically capable (including adults, of course). I hate being involved in events that don't have down time for scouts to have some fun on their own. It's easier to bring stuff they can do when car camping. Card games is one good light, compact activity. What other things do your scouts enjoy?

A side note on the importance of earning Eagle. When we went to Sea Base this year, 2 of our Eagles who just aged out went with us as adults. In the airport, someone noticed that one was wearing his Eagle badge and because of it, bought the crew a dozen donuts. So Eagle is all that and a box of donuts.

We had a scout do his eagle project a week before his 18th birthday. He has a mild learning disability, but he did complete everything just in time. I hope that he'll get better about not procrastinating, but he didn't complete all of his required paperwork for Sea Base this year until the night before we left. I was close to telling him to not come to the airport, but he made. it. For some scouts, it's difficult to convince them that they need to make completing these things a priority as earning that Eagle is something you carry for life.

Huh? My point was that this changes harms something that is important to both my wife and daughter and I'm not going to contribute to that. BSA is free to make this change. I'm free to not be a part of it. Others are free to be a part of it.

I haven't heard if our CO has said anything. They likely don't want to be bothered with the creation of a girl troop. My wife is a lifetime Girl Scout and leader of our daughter's troop. Girl Scouts is very important to them. I've told our CC that I want no part of something that will be harmful to something that is very important to my wife and daughter. Anyone who says this isn't harmful to Girl Scouts is lying or incredibly naïve.