FireStone

The product is solid, I think. From the conversations I have with new families, what we offer is exactly what they are looking for. Just yesterday alone I answered questions about how often does the Pack go camping, hiking, how do we foster independence among the scouts, teach them to be more self-reliant, become better problem-solvers, etc. That's what parents are looking for, what some of them specifically asked me about yesterday, and our product is exactly those things that they are looking for. I might argue that the appearance of the product has grown somewhat stale. It looks a litt

There was a post in a BSA subreddit recently where some girls in a troop shared photos of them having fun on recent outings, including goofy faces and sticking out tongues. The photos were criticized for this, but I thought they were really fun and showed the side of scouting that would actually appeal to kids. Getting outside with friends, having some adventures, and being silly. We need more of this.

Pre-covid we had increasing resistance to getting printed flyers into schools. Principals and the Superintendent frequently rejected requests to distribute flyers, even though it was our #1 marketing tool for a long time. Post-covid, it's even worse, because during covid the schools moved completely away from any sheets of paper changing hands, and school communications went 100% digital. So we are sort of forced now to lean on social media more than ever. What I'm trying to figure out is what form of social media reaches families the best. Which platform(s), what formats, photos, videos,

We need Mike Rowe in some nationwide BSA ads. 😁

Speaking broadly but locally, I'm kind of shocked at how little the local community knows about scouting. Got back from a National Night Out event tonight where our Pack had a booth set up. We got so many questions from kids and parents about programs for older kids, middle and high school age. We have 3 troops in town. And yet seemingly no one knows about them. None of the troops have any social media presence, 2 don't even have a website. The 3rd has a website with pretty much nothing on it. In doing some searching around online, I'm finding that very few troops in my area hav

Can Cub Scout families still opt to do advancement requirements at home, all the way through Arrow of Light? Got a family wanting to not attend meetings but still have their scout complete Arrow of Light. Not sure how this is even possible for the patrol-based requirements and the troop visit requirements, but someone wants to do it anyway.

I should have mentioned, I'm not even talking about giving an 18-year-old a hard time about it. These are 50+ year old guys wearing rank ovals.

The general vibe I'm getting here is that pretty much everyone has a preference one way or the other, but is also mostly ok with everyone doing whatever they personally want to do. Which is great. I like to say I'm open-minded about uniforms but I do have one thing I'm 100% against: Adults wearing Eagle rank patches. I've seen 2 people do it.

I brought this up in another topic and thought it was worth spinning off into a separate discussion, because I'd be interested in getting some other opinions on this. In my area there are some adults who are of the philosophy that the adult uniform should be minimal, displaying as few patches as possible. Many adults in one particular unit intentionally wear nothing more than the default patches that come with the uniform. The idea is that adults shouldn't be "bragging" about their scouting accomplishments, but rather leave the display of accomplishments on the uniform to the scouts.

If seattlecyclone is considering being a den leader, they should wear the uniform. AND help their scout look sharp. If they're going to be a helpful parent in the den, uniform is optional. I use my uniform as a conversation starter, for adults and scouts alike. For adults, I like to keep my training badges on my uniform, including a Baloo badge. Parents do ask about it sometimes, and it's a great way to let them know that we go out of our way to train leaders and that we put some time into it, we spend weekends in the woods learning how to be better leaders for their kids. For scouts

It's not the best phrasing but what I making the comparison to the general criteria where adults are supposed to intervene. Usually that is in scenarios where something is unsafe. So I used similar terminology here. I don't mean literally/physically unsafe/harmful to others, just harmful in general. Or let's say disrespectful is a better way to put it.

Adults are there to step in when something is unsafe. Not just physically unsafe but also socially, emotionally, culturally, etc. We're not supposed to stand aside and say "scout-led" to everything the scouts want to do. Certainly if something crosses into territory that is possibly harmful to people of a specific heritage, we are supposed to intervene. That said, I do think a line has been crossed if adults are blocking OA elections because they think it takes scouts away from the troop. Regardless of whether it is true or not (debatable that it excessively removes scouts from troop part

Scott still has some work to do on this. Articles are still circulating that read, "Boy Scout makes threat with rifle on social media to New York middle school." With no correction. I get that with school safety, reacting quickly is important. Too bad the media doesn't react as quickly to incorrect information as they did when they reacted hastily to the original erroneous report.

This is exactly what I'm talking about, what we should be avoiding. Equating all face paint to being Native-American-inspired is attaching cultural ownership of something that no one really has claim to. Putting color on your face does not mean it's cultural appropriation. It doesn't mean that when a football player puts black under his eyes, it doesn't mean that when a student at a pep rally paints their face blue to match school colors. It doesn't mean that when a den leader puts an orange stripe on a Tiger scout's face at a ceremony. Paint and feathers are not just part of native ameri

I think there's a big difference between "face paint" and "face paint that mimics specific tribal designs". And your example illustrates this as well. Face paint itself isn't inherently native american, but face paint intended to copy specific native american designs would be an issue. Obviously red body paint is problematic. Likewise, arrows, hatchets, feathers aren't exclusive to native american culture, but a tomahawk is, or a feathered headdress. My point is this: Are we going too far with stripping out anything even remotely native american from ceremonies, removing stuff that d

Agreed. I don't think a troop can call itself scout-led if the adults are opting not to allow the troop to have OA elections. Regarding ceremonies and regalia, I feel like there was a missed opportunity to re-work the scripts and reduce dependence on native-American-specific regalia and culture and shift focus to something more neutral without losing the all allure and mystique that makes those ceremonies so cool. Sounds like some lodges went all western cowboy themed and it misses the mark. I think there are ceremonial features that are more neutral than we realize, and they didn't

It's hard to watch. But it's necessary. The stories are told in a way and with a degree of detail that I haven't seen or heard previously, not in a more graphic way but as it relates to how the victims were impacted at the time and throughout their lives afterwards. And still today. And what the BSA was doing about it at the time. And the lengths to which a shockingly large number of people at various levels from CO to National worked to cover up abuse. Even making up stories about why some abusers suddenly left their positions, but still fully documenting that these people were committin

They had to do this. It was a real problem sometimes with a kid not getting AOL and being 10, crossing the bridge and then not being able to join a Troop, it created a gap in their scouting experience that wasn't good. Does it open the door to other problems with even younger kids joining a troop? Maybe. But the original problem still needed to be addressed. It had to either be this or set a rule to stop Packs bridging too early. Which, BTW, is possibly another problem worth addressing. I've had leaders tell me we should do the crossover in February. I think that's way too early.

Youth members also use this forum, can we please keep the conversations and language respectful of that? Scouting is local, always has been, always will be. And locally, most units operate without any cases of abuse. Nationally the numbers of cases are horrific. But keep in mind they are national numbers, spread over the better part of a century and heavily weighted towards decades in the middle of the 20th century. Today's BSA stands well above most other youth organizations in terms of training and resources to protect youth members. We have a lower incidence of abuse than most oth

I'm not but I'd like to look into it.

No, direct with council, it's mostly roster issues, account issues, stuff we can't even change at the Pack level.

The amount of time I'm spending this week trying to get Scoutbook issues resolved, I should be paid for this. 😖

Our Pack does a winter campfire in December, and Webelos dens have done winter cabin camping. If you have a big indoor space you could try something like a paper airplane derby. And we occasionally in Januarys have done a battleship overnight, but last year we couldn't. Similarly, we have considered doing a museum sleepover/overnight.

It's in 2 places on my son's shirt, one will be covered by rank patches (it's where his Webelos rank badge was). The other spot is where the Pack number was. He's going from a 3-digit Pack number to a single-digit Troop number, so it shows. I'll try to get it out if possible, but he's already a year into this shirt and the way he's growing, he'll need another size up in a year, so this is probably a temporary situation anyway.

They were badges that I sewed on, so off the shelf from the scout shop and hand-sewn on myself. No adhesive added. I might try goof off first. Thanks for the idea.