FireStone

I would always rather risk upsetting one parent than making the rest of the parents feel like we have no control over kids who are acting badly. And I've seen it happen that way, parents start voicing concerns about the ability of leaders when no one steps in to stop bad behavior. I think we often are tempted to worry about upsetting one parent and maybe even possibly losing one scout as a member of the den/pack, but we have to think about the broader group, and the potential to lose a lot more parents and scouts if they start to see us as ineffective when it comes to crowd control and discipline.

It's really interesting how even within a single unit there is so much variation in how neckerchiefs are worn. Just watch any video on YouTube of a scout troop and see how many scouts within one unit wear them entirely differently. Over collar, under, rolled, loose, high/tight slide, low/loose slide, tied in a knot, no neckerchief, bolo...

Oh come on. By that logic, I could go complain to my local supermarket that I tried to buy a gallon of water and got a gallon of milk accidentally because the containers looked the same. Even if, hypothetically, it were true that a parent unwittingly ended up at a BSA recruiting event instead of the intended GSUSA event, we're not really in the business of forcibly signing up families just because they walked in the door. Or holding them hostage once signed up, even if they made a mistake in joining the wrong organization. 😂

Totally agree. But I would also hope that the scouts would be able to decide that, and I'd trust them to make those choices in their votes. If it works the way it's supposed to, they should be voting for scouts who have been around long enough to prove that they deserve the vote.

What happened to the Patrol Method and "boy-led"? Seems like this is the perfect opportunity to put that into practice. Let all eligible scouts appear on the ballot and let the scouts decide by vote. Isn't that the point of these elections? I find myself increasingly frustrated by the adult interference in the BSA lately. I see it locally, a lot. A SM at a recent district event made the comment in front of a crowd that he actively enforces age rules for advancement, especially higher ranks. He admitted in front of a crowd that he blocks advancement unless a scout is at an age that he deems appropriate to allow advancement to that particular rank. To which of course a district rep had to jump in and say, "Well, we cant really do that, that's not what the guide to advancement allows..." But that's the culture with a lot of troops. Arbitrary rules.

I'm in-between these two looks. Tightly rolled, but loosely fit with the slide. I wear my slide about even with where my square knots are. I guess it's personal preference. In the UK style, slides (or tied friendship knots) are really low on the necker. And I've seen a little of that look coming over to the US. As far as I know, it's not any sort of uniform violation to not roll it. In fact in some old texts you'll see neckerchiefs worn like the scout on the right, not rolled at all. Personally I think the scout on the left has the slide too tight. I'm not a fan of the slide pulled all the way up to the collar. But again, personal preference.

One of the hardest things for me to get used to was reprimanding other people's kids in front of those parents. Especially other leaders' kids. Like @Treflienne mentioned, maybe someone needs to step in and do what everyone has been hoping the mom would do. In fact, maybe the mom is hoping for exactly that. We have a sort of un-written rule in our Pack: Whenever possible, another leader intervenes in a situation with a scout who has a parent leader in the Pack. So in my Den, if my ADL's kid is acting up, I step in before the dad/ADL does, whenever possible. It helps reinforce the roles of leaders, I find my own son is more likely to behave because he's learned that being the son of a leader gets him no benefit in terms of getting away with anything. He sees that another leader is always nearby, and dad can't save him from trouble. Treat this scout like any other, including a scout who doesn't have a parent present.

Would be interesting to know if any adults still have them after all these years. Are any of the Pack parents former cubs from the Pack?

My favorite items collected throughout my youth Scouting career are badges. I have plaques, certificates, various miscellaneous items, but the things that mean the most to me are the badges; rank, event patches, awards, mile swim, etc. Even the cub stuff, there isn't as much in that part of my collection, but the badges still mean the most. This sounds terrible, but the plaques are almost an annoyance. I appreciate being given them, where they came from, that people took the time to purchase or make them, etc. But they're these bulky items, and as big as some of them are, the little badges still hold the most meaning for me. My point is that I think the AoL badge will likely always mean the most to a scout. That's not to say "don't do a gift", just that the emphasis on a gift to mark the occasion might be overlooking the fact that the badge itself can (and should) be the most significant marker of that accomplishment and occasion for the scout receiving it.

I struggle to see how an ambassador to Scouting should be a perfect human being who makes zero mistakes, while we also use the Patrol Method and encourage kids to learn by making mistakes.

Why would there be a rule that disallowed family members from helping? The whole intent of the derby is that it is a collaborative project, it's not supposed to be done entirely by just a scout, nor is it supposed to be done by just a parent/guardian. I would think that a car build should have as many people involved as the scout wants. I'm struggling to figure out what reason someone would have for opposing a scout getting help from wherever they can. I've had scouts whose parents are just not handy, or in their first year just don't have the understanding of the event to confidently attempt to even build the car. So I help if I can. I had a scout and his mom come over my house, work in the wood shop, and build a car in about an hour that actually did pretty well. Mom was more hands-on with the build than I was, sometimes people just need some guidance. Is that cheating? Heck no. So what reason would someone have for being opposed to me helping that scout? Using that particular scout as an example, he ended up winning the bronze medal in our den, so I have to wonder if someone would be opposed to him getting help since without the help he wouldn't have even entered a car in the race and the 4th place scout would have been standing on the podium instead. But that's not what this is about, and I really hope that it isn't a bit of parents thinking, "The fewer cars on the track, the better chance my kid will win." But it could be.

Not even close to the same thing. And I can fairly confidently say that Bear would not destroy rock formations like that. There's no fair comparison between eating a frog and the recklessness showed in that goblin rock-toppling video.

I feel like there's an awesome solution in these two posts combined. A custom patch that says 2019-2021 on it so it's clear that it needs to be renewed.

So my pack charges $35 per adult, $20 per youth. It adds up quickly. For me, my wife, son, and daughter, it was $110. Not surprisingly, many families only went with the scout and one parent. It's a nice event at a catering hall, but it just seems excessive. And if the cost really is keeping some families away, it just shouldn't be like that. This might have to to go on my "we need to rethink this for next year" list. That list is growing quickly.

I know a Scoutmaster who loves the phrase "teaching success through failure." It's his view of what Scouting is, or at least should be, letting scouts learn to succeed by first failing, sometimes often, and then learning how to overcome that failure. Probably a long way of getting around to calling things "teachable moments", but it works for that SM and I see nothing in that philosophy that is in opposition to the methods of Scouting. Probably sums it all up nicely, really. I'm also just coming out of a family faith meeting in which a guest speaker (priest from a nearby town) talked about how he's a below-average priest, probably has some sins in his past that would shock the audience, and even today he sometimes fails in his calling, misses a cue to do the right thing. Kind of seems fitting given the topic at hand here. We're not all perfect, not even the people who we sometimes want to appear to be perfect and never make a mistake in what they do. It's kind of unrealistic, really, to expect that we'll always have flawless representatives of our beliefs for our kids to emulate. The point of what this priest was discussing was about vocations, and specifically how you don't need to be a perfect person to take on a vocation in the church. If we want a perfect person to represent Scouting, then we'll be without a representative. I can't think of a better example than Bear of what I expect from my Scouts. When we go out in the woods, we know these kids are going to make mistakes. I'd prefer to have an imperfect representative of Scouting and be able to point to him and say, "Bear made a mistake here, but lets talk about what he should have done, and what he could do now to fix it."

What's a common/reasonable fee to charge parents, scouts, and siblings to attend the Blue & Gold dinner? I think my Pack is on the expensive end, but before I mention what we're charging I want to get some unbiased opinions. Let me know what your Pack charges/charged and what you think is reasonable.

To be fair, Trail's End isn't exactly top-shelf product either. 😂 I hadn't heard about Country Meats. Will have to look in to that one. One of my "beefs" with popcorn is the steep prices of some of the products. $25 for a bag turns a lot of heads when your scouts are trying to snag some sales outside of a supermarket where a bag of popcorn sells inside for $3. $1 product I think would sell really well. A lot of folks who pass by a popcorn table are quite happy to drop a few bucks, even without actually buying something. I think my scouts would do a lot better with a cheaper product. I could imagine a lot of people dropping a $5 bill on the table for a $1 meat stick and saying "keep the change".

On the back cover of the latest Boys' Life is an ad for Jack Links and their fundraising opportunities for BSA units. More info here: https://www.jacklinks.com/boy-scouts-fundraising/ Anyone tried this fundraiser yet? If so, how did it go? It seems much simpler than popcorn. One product, a $15 box that contains two beef sticks, one bag of beef jerky, one bag of original tender bites, one bag of teriyaki tender bites.

It's sad that they're drawing these divisive lines in the sand. There are parents in my Pack with girls in both BSA and GSUSA. Are they going to make them choose? I've always been supportive of the girl in my Wolf den who is also a Girl Scout doing both activities. I ask her how things are going in GS and I'm nothing but positive about her experience and I genuinely think it's great that she gets to have 2 different scouting experiences. Now I wonder what the parents in her GS unit say, if they're as encouraging. I certainly hope so, but I have to wonder.

This guy is looking for you:

The "girl scouts" thing is definitely justified in being picked apart. We all have a lot of adjusting to do to the new language of the BSA, so calling each other out on missteps I think is necessary and constructive. Not just because of the lawsuit. I cringe every time we're at a Pack meeting with girls in attendance and a leader addresses the Pack saying "boys". At the Cub level we've been at this since last summer and we're still not getting it right. This needs to be picked apart.

I suspect therein lies the confusion. At a glance, buddy might sound like "2nd scout working on the same MB", but further review (like the above) clears it up. Hopefully it's just a case of discussing this with the SM to clear up the rule for all involved.

I wore this patch on my uniform as a youth from probably 93-97, only taking it off to put on the JLT patch. Over those years I had pretty constant requests to trade it or sell it. To this day I think it's the coolest patch I've ever seen, although my opinion may be slightly biased. 😁 I check eBay for these periodically, and there are plenty of Allamuchy patches up for sale, but never this one. If anyone has one or ever sees one up for sale, I'd be interested in picking up an extra.

I made the comment earlier that Scout rank is the troop equivalent of Bobcat at the Pack level. Going back to that comment, I'd add that since many Packs (mine included) bang out Bobcat in one meeting, I see no reason to be concerned about the rapid rank advancement at that level. If it continues in Tenderfoot, Second Class and beyond, sure I'd be concerned, just like I'd be concerned to see rapid completion of anything at the Cub level besides Bobcat. If it were me, I'd take a wait-and-see approach to this. Check out the next meeting, the 3rd meeting, see what's happening. Then decide if there's really cause for concern.

Why is it a "dumb idea"? You detailed why going to camp was good for you. But what's so "dumb" about a parent or adult leader wanting to keep their distance from their own scout, especially the first year at camp?