TMSM

No, its has always been segments to get to the Medal. So nothing has changed but the availability of the medal.

The patches are there but not the medal.

My college roommate was nicknamed 9 Finger Louie. In high school him and his buddy were goofing around - while he threw up a stick his buddy would try to cut it in half mid air with loppers. No need to tell the end of the story and a reminder that no tool with a blade is idiot proof.

We still play dodgeball, the PLC meets by themselves and patrols have meetings outside of the troop meetings. We also play laser tag a for our Christmas meeting.

I suggest using Program Features with new scouts troops to provide a framework. The PLC can learn the skills be fore the meeting and they can be the ones to teach the troop. This takes more time but allows for a more scout led troop, SM should learn the skills on his own and be ready to help if needed.

As someone who advocates for the rights of boys I have to say that not going co-ed is the right thing to do. I have polled many of my SM peers and they feel the same, that is a place (and possibly the last place) where all boys have their own space. We have a very strong GSA community and so we see very lttle interest from girls. I know most of my peers here would step down if they had to deal with co-ed and those challenges and are here to make a difference if a boys life not work with girls. There are many other places here that cater to girls (girls that code, GSA, Girls sports, etc..) so t

My son actually brought this Nationall Outdoor Award Meda idea to me (SM) and said this is what his goal was. He worked with our Awards Chair to help him understand what each segment was and encouraged other scouts to go for as many segements as possible. As an older, 16, scout it gave him a reason to go to summer camp and to look outside for training. Many of the requirements come from earning a MB and then participating in those activities but the other parts were hard for him to complete. WFA - 16 hour training was hard to schedule aroung sports and troop activities. LNT train the trainer w

The New York Time has a better explanation of what happened to Ota Benga. Wikipedia tends to see things with todays lens and not what it was like 100 years ago. Ota Benga was free to wander the zoo as he pleased. Sometimes he helped the animal keepers with their jobs. In fact, Hornaday described the African as being “employed” by the zoo, though there is no record he was ever paid. He spent a lot of time at the Monkey House, caring for Mr. Verner’s one surviving chimp and bonding as well with an orangutan named Dohong. Contrary to common belief, Ota Benga was not simply place

Our troop increased 10% in the last 6 months but we expect to only get half the number of Webelos we usually get. Packs are way down for now but without the ability to meet that is expected. The pandemic will be over soon enough and every needs to have a plan on how to regain those lost boys who have missed out on joining scouts.

Actually diversity and inclusion have been proven to not be effective with many global studies disproving this theory. I think the reason is that that these terms are too high level and allow someone to play with the meaning of diversity. Its easy to point to a specific use case where it does or does not work.

Thanks I am trying to help the CC recruit but he is more focused on me checking out and is looking for a new SM. My argument is that the CC should build a strong committee first then look for an SM. I have assured everyone that I will stick around until they can find the right SM(or tell me I am done)but I do expect growth in the committee. I am also currently growing my ASM team from 2 to 4 and most are good at letting the scouts run the troop. We have about 80% active rate in our troop so the scouts are happy, they can lead themselves etc. Our treasurer ages out in 3 months, no outdoor chair

I am currently at 1 and 3. The District person is obviously not doing their job. Troops should work hard to keep good SMs and a strong committe is key. SM who wants a strong program gets trapped if things gp wrong. Parents always blame me when things go wrong, always. CC needs to step up and take ownership for lack of volunteers this should not be the SMs role. Batshit crazy parents are persuaded to change to a different troop by the SM in our troop because CC has no backbone.

We had a succession plan when I was awarded the Unit leader of Merit Award but that was 4 years ago and my replacements son quit scouts and all of my ASMs are CubMasters. My CC has given me a hard time here and there over the last 6 years regarding me getting the scouts to do the right thing at the right time (I am not their den leader) so it looks like we may swap positions and have him learn the hard way how hard it is to be SM at times. If you were going to sell someone the reason to become SM what would your pitch be?

We open and close as a troop and then breakout into patrols for skills training. We then do inter patrol competitions using these skills. Then we close as a troop.

We take a $100 non-refundable down payment to get on the list and then 2 months later ask for $400 more. Once they have paid $500 they rarely change their mind and can sell their spot to others if needed.

I agree we are not getting the full story. Council reps will go to bat for any scout if SM is not following the rules. My guess is that K3 has a definition of "active" and the scout has not met that threshold. The reason the SM is holding back the conference is because the scout has not met the active qualification. You need to put together a weekly timeline where you felt you were active and non-active and then ask for 5 minutes of the SMs time, go over this and get a better idea what you are missing, if the SM demands that 6 months are continuos get it in writing. The send your timel

Our troop started Zoom meetings in March and continued until the end of May. We used a breakout room feature zoom has to put everyone into a patrol meeting after we did virtual flags and announcements and then returned at the end of the period to do a SM minute. I have been polling the scouts and they have had enough virtual meetings. They prefer to change the troop meeting day to Sunday afternoon so they can get outside and do some kind of scout skill. Once we have elections next week the PLC will plan out the next 6 months that will include 1 and maybe a maximum of 2 Zooms per week.

Sorry that $760 per crew per night. so 6 nights for 8 crew = $570. For 6 crew = $760. All camping gear is included tents and cooking gear but not sure about stoves.

We paid $300 per person - 6 days on the water, canoe packs, kevlar canoe but no guide. This includes gas money to and from Chicago (1200 mile round trip). NT is $760 and includes a guide, tents, packs but not gas money.

I could not agree more with your comments.

A scout is thrifty but the tan shirt is a good first step to thinking about joining ScoutsBSA. It allows them to start distancing from the younger pack members and feel like they are growing and becoming more independent. As a Webelos Den leader it is part of your duty to help them bridge over to a troop and to prepare to take on some personal responsibility

Our trip last year to Sea Base was also filled with "activities". We went to Munson Island and the scouts enjoyed most of the program - fishing, kayaking and snorkleling were great but almost every night we had a campfire and sang cub scouts songs and 3 or 4 repeat after me songs. These campfire programs were fun the first night but grew tiresome and the scouts wished we could just hang out or go night fishing. I am sure there is a purpose for these over the top programs but I also think they are overrated.

Our troop is currently meeting outside in the church parking lot on a weekday and we are running low on daylight (Chicago area). Our plan is to shift to more activities on the weekends and end our Tuesdays meetings until its too cold to be outside (December 1). From there we will resume Zoom meetings but I am not sure if we will continue this every week or go 2 times per month. We are getting about 25 of the 35 scouts to attend on a regular basis so its hard to just shut them down.

I am good with letting National starve for funds. We have may non-profits offering these types of nature outings and fees but scouting is all encompassing and offers many opportunities - National is just bad at marketing, they have free volunteers doing most of the work, free experts, free locations but cant seem to stay in the black. If your son is quitting boy scouts ask him why he is cheating his future self. Why not learn how to lead, how to teach your peers, how to overcome hardship and how to recruit new members. This lesson is not free and not always fun but it will always be of

I am sure you are correct. These boys I went with dont really care about program and just want to go and explore on their own. Its a bit more like doing Baldy and Tooth of time without program. We did the exact same route, in the same place doing the same activity and eating the same food, sleeping in tents or hammocks, putting up bear bags, portaging and paddling. They were glad to miss the sing after me songs, opening and closing campfires etc.. This is not to say NT is not worth it just that our crew didnt need this to have a good high adventure.