yknot

I think the answer is that you are not going to have them. We all know how far out many of those well visits need to be scheduled even in normal times. The idea of, once this is over, being able to get an appointment in a timely manner is probably not realistic. I know camp deadlines are approaching and many people are in a quandary. I see two options: 1) go ahead and make plans despite the unknowns as long as there is a refund policy in place at the camp or 2) accept that a decision to camp will need to be made at a later date than normal give all the unknowns. The next couple weeks to month will give us a much better picture of what the summer will look like. No matter what I would be in close contact with your target camp so that they know who might be coming if things settle down enough this summer. Summer camps of all kind -- not just scouting -- are going to have to be flexible about this summer. If everything is a go but current physicals are a problem, camps may need to schedule days for campers to come get a physical from a camp physician the way they do with swim tests. If it's safe to camp this summer, successful camps will innovate ways to get youth to their programs.

We've never had this kind of situation before and I think summer plans could be really disrupted. Health officials are talking about an 8 week containment period, which puts us into mid May. A lot of K-12 schools and colleges are planning to be closed until the end of the year. It is not clear whether distance learning will work and in some cases, where labs or facilities are required in order to complete coursework, it won't. It is not clear if COVID 19 will demonstrate any seasonality, i.e., get knocked back by the warmer months. Certainly it's circulating pretty well in the Caribbean, so it might not. Academic schedules are being affected for millions of students and teachers. Education officials are talking about summer sessions which could significantly cut both the attendee and staffing pools for camps. I would plan to go to camp, but make sure there is a refund policy in case your district suddenly tells you kids needs to finish Algebra l over the summer to be able to enter Algebra ll in the fall. A lot of camps rely on teachers, but if they are running summer sessions,. they may not be available to staff. A lot of unknowns. Make your plans, but think about the contingencies. We all certainly hope this will blow over in a month or two, but who knows.

I really wouldn't worry about rank advancement at this point. What's happening right now is going to be very disruptive to kids and families. Just focus on maintaining a sense of community and fun and keeping your kids connected to scouting. If they don't finish Bear requirements, for example, they are still going to be Webelos. If there is a huge disruption in scouting, BSA will have to allow an extra grace period for attaining Eagle. High school and college kids right now are faced with not being able to complete pre-requisites that will affect their academic courses. Scouts should be focusing on keeping kids happy, connected and engaged and not worried about a six month slip in the Eagle mill. In my opinion.

Because it's an outdoor program, I'm seeing ways to continue getting kids out of doors even if it's not necessarily advancement related. Camping is out but hiking isn't. You can easily maintain social distancing on a day hike. A lot of parents are going to be home with kids so two deep shouldn't be a problem. Buddy system can be parent and adult. Bird Study. Forestry. GPS & Orienteering badge components can all be worked on, some of it even in the backyard. Getting outdoors and away from other people may actually be the only recreational pursuit open to many Americans in the weeks ahead. If your focus is advancement, yes, you'll be stuck. If your focus is trying to help scouts come up with interesting things they can do outside in the spirit of scouting and the game, then you will innovate. Urban scouters will have a harder time with this but there are still parks or perhaps places within a close drive. In the words of someone else on here... that's my two cents on the subject.

It seems to me this unfortunate national health crisis could actually be an opportunity for some positive PR for BSA among the public at large. There are going to be about 50 million parents looking for activities to do with their home bound kids over the next few weeks. They should be made aware of and invited to google "BSA" and peruse its prodigious online resources. There are plenty of cub scout activities and scout merit badges that are fun and can easily be done at home or in the backyard. Whittling animals out of soap bars with a plastic knife, making trail mix with whatever snacks you have on hand, bird watching or insect study in the back yard, etc. Or, if BSA was on its toes, send out a daily digest of ideas that would work in a variety of settings -- rural to urban.

I can't find that brochure anywhere else except at that specific council website. Do you have a BSA original source for it?

I read all of the FAQs and still don't follow this logic. It is not unusual for Troops and even Packs to help guest scouts from another troop to join up in some configuration for desired activities that might not be available in the home troop. These arrangements by default can result in an ad hoc leadership role for a guest scout for the duration of the activity. These situations can include provisional camping, hiking miles, leadership opportunities like a Den Chief, etc. BSA does not have a policy expressly excluding girls from any of these opportunities based on gender. The only requirement is that appropriate leadership and YPT are followed on the part of the adults. The FAQs provided above also create and endorse clear opportunities where blended leadership might occur. They reinforce it in fact when they state that blended dens and patrols can operate at Cub and Scout Day Camps. Activities at such camps would naturally include leadership opportunities. The FAQs further reinforce that different gender dens and patrols can meet at the same time/place and engage in joint activities which again would naturally result in opportunities for blended leadership. Nowhere does it state that a scout of either gender couldn't, say, serve as Chaplain's aide for the duration of a joint activity. The precedents have already been set. Unless there is a clear cut policy that says girls and boys may not ever hold leadership positions over the opposite gender -- and BSA would be falling on its own bad PR sword if it ever issued such a statement -- where is the policy that a girl or a boy can't serve in such leadership roles? And as ParkMan said, why does this even matter?

I think the only sensible course is to leave the SPL position in place. You cannot remove a female SPL from a joint position that was previously given to a male SPL until the term runs out. You have to consider the optics on that. More importantly, the impact on the scout. However it happened, pushing the idea now that children are being irreparably harmed by having a female SPL for a few months is a potential PR debacle. I can see her being interviewed on CNN now. You'd have to be pretty process blinded to not see that. Also, I would not be so sure that National would have a cow over a female joint SPL. At some point, BSA is likely going to whip out another survey or press release and say that scouting families overwhelmingly want the option of blended units. I think the Bryan on Scouting post shows where the thinking on that is headed.

You have the right to refuse but that doesn't make it defensible and will only be the cause of the next set of negative headlines for scouting. Imagine if a DL refused a special needs DC or a DC of a different religion. It doesn't fly.

I am not understanding why a female scout can't be a joint SPL? It's a leadership position in linked troops. Assuming all adults follow YPT and youth follow all tenting requirements, there is no violation that I can see. It's discriminatory and not defensible. Can a female scout be a den chief or troop guide for a boy den or patrol? Of course.

The metal slides are a safety hazard because they can fall off and into things. We have been at outings where we have been told by the venue to leave them home or take them off on site for this reason. They are also a continual source of revenue for BSA because many cubs can't seem to hang on to them for more than a few meetings and they are another piece of the cub uniform that unnecessarily drives up expense. It's not thrifty. I'm all in favor of dispensing with them. There's a para cord version my son made and he wears that as a scout if he feels he needs a slide.

No. It's out of control. My son's advancement for a single rank was held up for more than a year for something not even part of the requirement, but scouters who are check box mad can do that. Since we're not rank, merit, or Eagle driven, we kind of ignored it. But in the meantime, he lost whatever enthusiasm he had for scouts and almost quit. Thankfully a new scout master has come on board and he's having a better time.

I think this is where I wonder if it really is over for scouts. I'm aware, given BSA's use of the term "youth" rather than "scout", that there is an expectation that scouters follow YPT whenever and wherever they are involved with youth, scouts or not. However, imagine telling a non scout parent that you cannot take a group of kids to a movie or let your son have them over to your house unless another adult is present because you are involved in scouting. The inference is that you are not to be trusted because you are involved in scouting. I have taken BSA YPT, and similar training through church, sports, a juvenile diversion program I've worked with, and other youth related organizations. I am very cautious about what I do. The training has also made me very cautious about what I allow my kids to do. All good. However, at some point, you have to use common sense. But when common sense puts you outside of BSA policy, that's not a comfortable place to be. And since I'm normally a rule follower -- to the point where people generally don't want me around -- I'm not sure I want to be a volunteer anymore and have to choose between following policy to the letter or letting my kid have a normal social life.

Yes, wash your hands long and often. However, scouters are among the most hand shaking people I know, so cease and desist for the time being. Little is known about this virus. Most recommendations are being extrapolated from data collected in connection with the SARS and MERS corona virus outbreaks. However, this new virus is demonstrating some unique behaviors so prudent caution is advised.

Just at a COH this weekend where everyone, very scout like, shook hands. Please tell your scouts to stop this for now.

I'm in a high cost area so that sounds dirt cheap.

Skeptic, I heartily agree. Just had someone contact me to day to buy bluebird boxes from scouts because they assumed we sold them as a fundraiser. We don't. Why aren't we doing that, and becoming known for that, instead of ... rip off popcorn that has nothing to do with any scout value, oath, or law?

Eagledad, I think you are largely right. However, things change and if scouts manages to survive the bankruptcy, I will always believe that some scouting, even if it is a morphed program to fit new times, is better than no scouting. There are kids out here that love this stuff and I hope there is always a place where they can find it.

It's the Outdoors mission for me. Outdoors is neutral territory no matter what your politics. There is a huge groundswell of interest among young kids today in the environment, but a lot of them don't know the first thing about it or have access to it. Why are we not capitalizing on this? Our program -- the ranks and the merit badges -- need an overhaul to get rid of the school and homework type drivel and to emphasize more outdoors related activities. There is so much that scouting does not get into or go very deep with, from wildlife biology to weather to water resources. People mock STEM scouts but there is a lot of STEM programming that can be done in the context of the out of doors.

I just want to clarify that I follow YPT religiously when I am in a scouting environment. What I am talking about is when my son is outside of the scouting environment and wants me to take him and a couple friends to a movie. Or if a couple friends want to come over and have a nerf war.

If you read his "bio", the character was a cub scout and his den mother taught him to "be prepared".

I follow YPT as closely as I can but I realize some of it is to cover BSA's neck. Sometimes you have to use commonsense or your child wouldn't be able to have a social life.

I would agree. I think they've got their own problems that they are trying to address by distancing themselves from BSA.

I don't think we should engage in any fights over which organization is more "safe" for youth. Leader and adult use and abuse of alcohol have been issues at plenty of BSA activities too. While it's all inappropriate, there are those who could argue relative safety. I don't want to go there, and I think it's beneath us anyway. I can't account for what Girl Scouts says. Good PR for us will be local. BSA has pretty much boxed itself into a corner. Putting a light on what our kids are out there doing every week is something we actually can do at the grass roots level. It's helpful to remember the real audience though. Parents and leaders love to post and see photos of uniformed scouts lined up at a COH or some other ceremonial event. Most kids don't look at that kind of thing and think they'd give their right eyetooth to join.

Eagle 1993, I completely agree with the idea to sell artwork before camps. Artwork sold to a collector or museum isn't lost; it will be cared for and cherished and there is nothing to prevent a future exhibition of loaned paintings being brought back together. Camp properties sold, on the other hand, will likely be developed and forever lost.