Tired_Eagle_Feathers

Oh I know what "equity" is supposed to mean. That's why I said: At face value, everyone should love equity - equality. The devil is in the details, though. If your idea of equity/equality means that everyone has the right to participate in something and give it the old "college try" with whatever they came to the game with, then sure, that's my idea of equity/equality. Everyone deserves a shot at the prize. That's equity to me. But today, "equity" has been co-opted to mean something else entirely. Equity now generally means "equity of outcome" (or sometimes "equity of opport

Our troop basically has an endless cycle of new patrols. New kids are put into new kid patrols. As they grow up, they stay with their patrol, and new patrols are created for the next incoming class of kids. The immediate effect of this is you have kids who don't know anything struggle to achieve anything. I think there are supposed to be "troop guides" but I don't recall ever seeing them in action. Mostly the new patrols just seem to flounder about. Watching them try to start a campfire without being able to interfere makes me want to chew my hands off. When I was a kid, new kid

I have been reading old threads here about the rechartering mechanisms that are now on the table due to the lawsuit. Seems many traditional COs are not rechartering and are instead reverting to rental agreements, and then in many cases troops become chartered through their Council. I assume this would mean that all the troop's money in that case is actually the Council's money. There was talk in the threads of setting up "Parents of X" corporations to charter the troop. Seems like this would be a smarter move to protect your troop's assets. Of course, you have to run a tight ship

I agree 100%

I was extremely dismayed to discover that BSA had created a DEI group, and have considered pulling my son out of Scouting because of it. Especially when they started pushing the new Eagle-required merit badge. DEI at face value sounds great. Who could be against diversity, equity, and inclusion? The co-opting of these terms has been ingenious. I believe DEI is sinister. Diversity inevitably starts having metrics. Metrics that presuppose some kind of quotas that should be met. This invariably results in punitive measures taken against whoever is not in the favored class. It's t

I don't really have an opinion on the national leadership of Scouting, but I will say that this is clearly just a way to dump/force negotiations on sexual abuse settlement claims. This is the way businesses legally shirk their financial obligations. Not really a fan of it but this is what businesses do. Doesn't sound incompetent to me in that regard.

It was never a big part of scouting when I was in scouts. About the only time we really encountered it was when we went to a regional event with other troops. I was not raised with a faith, and neither are my kids. This is becoming more and more the norm, and I expect that eventually Scouting will catch up with it to stay in existence, like they have with girl Scouts and gay members and such. Religion is rapidly fading in the United States. By 2035 there will be more people who claim no religious affiliation than people who claim a Protestant faith. And by age, it's even st

I am more of the "pick and choose" kind of Scouter. I like Scouting as a whole, but for me, I'm in it for the scoutcraft. That's what turned my crank as a Scout, and what I want my son to learn. Now frankly, I have considered just "leaving it", and we'll just go camping as a family. I was talking with my brother-in-law over Thanksgiving and that is what they decided to do. He tried Cub Scouts with his son but found it to "chaotic" and decided they would just go camping as a family. I think Scouting as a whole is a great organization when it hearkens to its roots in scoutcraft and lea

Nah, we're going to do our own thing. This weekend we have a pack campout. The pack does not plan any activities for the weekend other than meals and the campfire. So, my son and I are going to do our own thing. We are going to plan our own meals, and have our own campfire, and cook our own food, and work on lashing projects, like making a table. It's going to be cold, so we'll want an evening campfire we can actually sit next to. For my son and me, sitting around the fire is a time for relaxing and chatting, maybe singing songs. It's not a vaudeville act. The other thing that really g

I'm surprised they didn't go with MT and FT.

I think the acrobatics the organization is doing to try and not say the word "girl" is preposterous. You can be a girl Scout and not a Girl Scout.

One of the things that irks me so far with my son's Cub Scout experience (I was never in cubs, just Boy Scouts) is this pervasive idea that everything has to be comedic, or slapstick cornball to be "fun". Even during the BALOO training they emphasized that there should never be a dull moment during the campfire and if there is the leader should jump in with some kind of space-filling cornball thing to keep it "fun". At the last district campout last weekend my son opted to go back to our campsite and have our own campfire rather than go to the big group campfire. He finds the cornball n

My dad was poor as a kid. They had to borrow a bucket of water from the neighbors to flush their toilet. As a scout and made his own pack. Had a wooden frame.

We are supposed to be getting an REI here next fall. I think the actual solution to my carrying weight problems is to sneak all my gear into my son's backpack.

I remember when I was in Scouting that when I first started out I wanted to put every little cool thing in my pack that I could. In the end I tried to see how little I could put into my pack. When you think about it, you are really only going to be gone for a weekend. About the only thing you absolutely have to bring is water. Once we took Wilderness Survival, it really changed the way we approached food on hiking trips. We did not want to bring cooking gear beyond our own personal mess kits. And even those were sometimes forgone for a simple plastic plate and a fork. We didn't wan

I found this. I guess internal frame packs are the thing now.

So I dug my old backpack out of the attic and discovered that the nylon straps are disintegrating. The frame is aluminum and the bag part is fine. I can probably make new straps from leather. I looked online at REI and all the backpacks today look like a giant duffle bag with straps. Not at all what I grew up with. How do you attach a bed roll, sleeping bag, and tent to these new kinds of backpacks?

The South, particularly the rural South, is still very "outdoorsy". My question is, why weren't they (or were they) doing Girl Scouts before?

Looks like I was mis-informed.

Thanks for all the resources!

Just talked to my wife. Yes, I am a Girl Scout, but our son is not. But, he can (and does) go if the Troop Leader fills out the paperwork.

Yes, by one child going to a GS troop and another going to a CS troop we are basically doing what BSA considers "Family Scouting" right now, I suppose. But, I am also a registered Girl Scout, as is, I think, my son. Evidently it's up to the leader whether or not males can come on outings - they simply have to sign up for the additional insurance. I taught lashing at the last campout I went to. It was amazing - they did kayaking, canoeing, archery, fire building, cooking, and more, and they camp out both Friday and Saturday nights. Like I said, I'm not sure what advantage the BSA i

Oh there's no fear on that account. My wife basically pilfered all my old scouting handbooks to use for her Girl Scout troop. She is very hard core. The funny thing is (well, not so funny) that we do more activities when we go on Girl Scout trips (my son and myself also) than when we go on most Cub Scout activities. I'm kind of just marking time until we move up to Boy Scouts next year. Steve

I've been reading about the "Patrol Method" here. I always thought that we did the "Patrol Method" back when I was in Scouts, as we had patrols. But, there were always adults around, too. It seems the actual "Patrol Method" is extremely hands off. I'm not sure I completely agree with that. For example, a few weekends ago I went on a Weblos invite Boy Scout campout with my son. They were attempting to teach the Weblos how to start a fire, and failing miserably. Mindful of the "Scout Lead" philosophy, I bit my tongue for as long as I could, but finally went and brought them some tissue pa

Yeah, I considered some of the consolidation, but it seems to me that there isn't enough to make it worthwhile. Basically the pack meeting and the annual pack campout. My wife's big complaint (and mine too) is that as a Girl Scout Troop they were very gung-ho about getting certified trained people since my daughter started around kindergarten and they do way more stuff than Cub Scouts even dream about. My wife was so annoyed when she thumbed through the Weblos book and got so excited when she saw the pictures of kids in canoes only to discover that Cub Scouts can't actually use canoes