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Also, keep in mind this virus likes colder. dryer temps so freezing, frozen or cold is not good. Anything communal needs to be cooked.

All those ideas require a degree of interaction. I would have everyone pack their own MRE type meals that only need hot water to rehydrate. You can buy expensive ones but there are also plenty of things that work at the supermarket and are all light to pack and carry -- oatmeal cups, ramen cups, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, pasta mixes, etc. A lot of carbs but makes it workable for a couple of meals.

I've never done WB and any interest in it died the first time I watched a bunch of grown adults sing that kooky song at a COH that led to two of our newly crossed over scout families immediately pulling their scouts out, lol. However, I've known a lot of people who have gone through the training and are just great people and seem to have gotten something out of it. I think the point is it isn't for everyone and a weekend or two of training doesn't a leader make. Sometimes it only makes bad leaders worse because now they have a badge. While I didn't ever do Wood Badge, I and another per

Have you ever read "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking", by Susan Cain? It helped me understand myself and my own leadership strengths as well as be able to better recognize them in some of my more "quiet" scouts. The book also showed how we often make mistakes about what true leadership is.

It's an inherent conflict of interest. Most of the COs around here are the same. They are legacy COs and believe their responsibility is to provide meeting space and benign support. I know ours doesn't have any real clue that they "own" our unit. BSA, through the Councils, has been more focused on retaining units and membership than in building relationships with COs. It's not a priority. Short of egregious circumstances, they usually will not do anything to damage a CO relationship and risk closing a unit. This is not to say that there aren't model COs but they aren't necessarily

I don't think you failed. I just think it's hard to teach leadership in an organization where the structure completely muddles it. One very useful thing about this discussion is that it has crystalized how dysfunctional the CO structure is. If BSA were well led from the top down, there would be more clarity and accountability on how COs are supposed to operate. But it's impossible to manage up when there is nothing to manage up to because there is little to no accountability in BSA's separate management tiers. Every tier -- from CO to unit to district to council to national -- is operating aga

Here's another thing: Even just for what should be a routine thing you can't get a straight or easy answer out of national. Has anyone ever attempted to navigate the BSA Customer Service number? It was back in the day when I was so niave as to think a BSA policy was vague by accident instead of by design. I asked, "In this policy, does X mean Y or Z?" I thought it was a simple question. Turns out the person answering the phone wasn't actually anyone who could answer a question. She was very professional when she assigned me a "trouble ticket" and told me someone would get back to me. I was su

I would bet a lot of us have attempted to make things better by reaching out, but have had no success. I stumbled across this forum after years of calling and emailing Council and National and having numerous conversations to no effect. The coffee's always been out in our unit, but generally they don't really want to hear from you unless it's related to FOS or membership.

Wow. This is where your scouting hat has to be put over your Catholic hat. I'm Catholic, at least by tradition, and I've supported you on some of your statements because I know what it's like out there. But the diocese does not direct what scouts do. The scouts do. That's what it means by boy led. And scouting adults do not put youth in situations like that. Scouts is not a religious organization. It's a youth organization that honors the importance of religion. Many religions. There's no road map for what you are espousing.

A changed work world is why some parents have different attitudes. When I was a kid, my dad was the last home at night in the neighborhood. People thought he was a workaholic because he got home around 6 or so every night, except for end of quarters and tax time when he sometimes worked nights or part of a weekend. Never on a Sunday. My mother didn't work and I wasn't in daycare or aftercare. We spent a ton of time with our parents. Today, it's a struggle for many parents to get home by 6; most work a lot later, or have to work from home after dinner. Most work weekends. Many travel (pre

LOL the wildest friends I ever had were in Catholic school. Perhaps not outwardly destructive of private property but innocent faces often hid diabolical minds.

The problems you outline are largely attributable to the inherently dysfunctional organizational structure of scouting. There is little to no accountability in the scouting hierarchy. We have at least five levels of operation -- CO, unit, district, council, and national -- and little connection between them. In a corporate structure, low level employees with an issue generally at least have an HR department. There is no such function in scouts. We have four separate tiers with their hands out for fundraising and they are each only truly interested in or accountable to their own needs -- COs, w

This is an accurate and sad litany and is why scouts needs to stake out fresh territory in a familiar landscape: Focus the organization on getting youth outdoors. All, or at least most, of the pieces of traditional scouting can still be a part of the overall program but should not monopolize the experience the way they do now. All the aspects that have eroded scouting's prestige and reputation are linked to things like allowing rote advancement, an overemphasis on religion, and management by marketing instead of by scout values to take it over. Covid has been a crisis but it is also scouting

The Eagle or Else outlook is not a plus for scouts. The whole concept of pushing to First Class in the first year is a part of it.

While I am generally a rule follower, given what BSA is, I think some degree of interpretation is involved. Some of these BSA policies that seem so outrageous, like attempting to dictate what a leader does on his or her own time with their own children, are really there to give BSA plausible deniability for liability reasons. They know most leaders are not going to tolerate being told they can no longer take their kids and friends to the movies. But, if something happens, they want to be able to say you were not following BSA policy. Although the headline will still say "Boy Scout Leader Char

Any conservation project benefiting migratory bird populations would literally meet the terms of that requirement.

I don't understand how your council fees are so high. Councils aren't allowed to charge more than the national fees. Not everyone wants to attend Camporee. We almost never do. Maybe back out of Camporee as a cost saving measure this year. What is the real loss? Popcorn is not the answer. In our area, we can't even sell it. No one wants it. We've had to turn to other fundraising strategies. Precluding scouts from seeking donations or donations in kind from local businesses just means that scouting overall loses a lot of low hanging fruit. Businesses -- local restaurants, hardware st

There is also another goal besides the money. Anyone who understands the BSA organization understands that if there are headlines about COs having liability for these decades old cases it will be the end of scouting. As we've discussed on this forum, most COs don't understand their role. They think they are sponsoring units with space and some good will. Most do not understand they have any liability at all.

Liability?

I know the history is problematic. But the fact that indigenous people were here before us is still something that stills my heart and inspires awe, no matter how horrible the history. They were still here. They still need to have their stories told. We are lucky enough to live in an area that has some local history, some of it very colorful. Oral history about trails, encampments, token local characters. I did not like the native American appropriation in the scouting program including OA, but I did try to create a sense of wonder in cubs by taking them out to hike on trails that were here be

My opinion is that generic face painting on toddlers and young elementary kids is face painting. It's fun and they like it. Painting rank or advancement based stripes on kids that are entering the older elementary grades starts to feel a little kitschy to me.

Frankly despite past precedents and other bankruptcies I think we may be confronted with a lot of developments previously unimagined. However, it still comes down to who in reality would want to pay money for anything related to BSA aside from its physical properties.

Yeah, but I just don't see where the BSA name has any broadly marketable value compared to the GM nameplate or any other of the commercial brands cited. There's really nothing profitable you can do with the BSA brand even on a small scale. Unless I'm missing something. Maybe someone buys Philmont, Bechtel, and the BSA name and then tries to run a branded national high end resort style, high adventure program out of those two sites and you have to attend those sites or satellite sites to participate in the program and earn the credentials? But I still can't see how that would be hugely successf

From a business sense, I do not see where the IP here holds much value or to who. The brand is tarnished and muddled, the program appeals to a small and declining segment of youth, and it has no IT assets to speak of -- no working or revenue driving website or portal, no functioning administrative interface, no real social media presence to drive marketing. It is producing a tired print publication in a world where most print publications have expired because they are too expensive to produce. The actual advancement program and handbooks have value, but there are so many knock off programs ou

Join Scouts. It's really fun, especially for the little guys. I was not a personal fan of adding the Lion year but I know many people who love it. Even if scouts does close up shop, my philosophy would be not to worry about it and instead enjoy it while you can. And if it does fold, there are a lot of nature centers, watershed associations, and parks that run their own junior ranger type programs. I've worked with several so I know they are out there.