Mrjeff

With all due respect back atcha, this "causality" is what adults expect from Scouting, not the kids. Not everyone should be a Scout and its a huge mistake to turn Scouting into an everything for everybody program. Obviously the Scouting program has gotten so watered down so everyone feels comfortable and is never disappointed it is scarcely recognized as the Boy Scouts of America of just 10 years ago. And that is not a positive thing. This so called "causality " should be the result of enjoyable and FUN activities that will develop the "causality ". I have made this point from the begin

I agree, the decision has already been made. It was made by a committee of self serving adults without regard to what the youth members want. Nobody at any level has ever answered any direct questions about anything. Even face to face those people answer with nonsense and vague information. Exactly who are the native Americans who object? What particular tribe do they represent? What standing do they have within their tribe? Are they acting with authority of tribal leaders? If these questions could be addressed there could be validity in these concerns. Or maybe the BSA is worried tha

When I first asked " Why have Scouts" I said that I have never heard a kid say that they wanted to be a Scout because they wanted to be a good citizen, learn leadership, or become a good money manager. Every kid says that they wanted to be a Scout in order to "HAVE FUN" and its just that simple. Everything else is just a byproduct of having fun thats supervised and directed by adults. Unfortunately horrible people took advantage of their trusted position and bad things happened. Now Scouting is overregulated and common sense has been removed from the equation. Throw in some egocentric a

Unfortunately, another major issue is how people have embraced theidea of suing one another. If I went on a Scout trip and fell down and broke my arm I went home, explained what happened, got fussed at for doing something stupid and went back with a cast on my arm. Unfortunatly today the supervising adults could face a law suit, not just to pay the repair bills, but to make the unfortunate youth who was subjected to needless danger and negligent supervision in an environment that should have been known was dangerous and was devoid of any warning labels or cautions that should have been clear

I was traveling on I-75 and my mind drifted back to the days when I was a Boy Scout. We climbed, went swimming, chopped down trees, built campsite gateways and lashed together camp gadgets. We built fires, carved things including our fingers, slept in old canvas rents, played in the rain and snow and even went swimming in our skivies. If we got hurt someone fixed us up and we went back to what we were doing. We stayed up all night and chased each other through the woods, and most of the time the only adult there was the ole Scoutmaster. I also remember that our adult leaders were all part

Amen, amen, and AMEN!!! You hit the nail on the head. Thank you for sharing your insite!

I think that you have this absolutly and completly backwards and the proof is displayed in the decline of the whole Scouting world. The focus must be on the fun and the byproducts are all the things that adults think are important. I would hate to be involved in a unit that has this backwards. What a terrible and distasteful this would be.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Whats wrong with focusing on the activities prescribed for that age and let them grow into the activities for Boy Scouts?

The Little Guy Stuff refers to the children who are just too young to be Boy Scouts. Here's how I need it, a little guy joins Cub Scouts and is part of an inactive pack or den. Thats clearly the fault of the leader and in a couple of months they quit and never make it to Boy Scouts or Venturing. That's it, done, finished. Or perhaps they are part of the best Pack or Den in the world. They learn to camp, use a map and compass, even build a fire and cook. Great, after a few years of that they move into a Troop and stick around for a couple of years and get board with the Scout stuff and qu

Well, that may be how it should work, but I don't think that's how it does work. Food for thought: who would want to stay where they are not wanted; you can't really fire a volunteer; what harm can be done by frivolous complaints; whose version of the story do you believe and why; anyone can tell someone that can't play anymore, but by what authority; if the allegation is slanderous but false, whose responsible; how many times has a CC, SM, CM or District Committee member "fired" someone without proper authority? Unless it's a criminal offense I would tread very carefully. Personally,

Ok, gotcha, thanks.

I wonder just who the people are that think they can just kick someone out of Scouting. The example of someone going into a bar and using the phone sounds like someone really jumped the gun without asking the proper questions. That kind of thing opens another can of worms that could really explode into a stinking mess. The CO and CC are responsible for doing the hiring so it's the same people who are responsible for any firing. The patch police are bad enough without creating an ethics and morals police. I know that there are sometimes disagreements within the unit that can get pretty ug

Thanks, I'm failures with the Arrow of Light. So is an AOL unit made up of kids who have earned it, or are in their 2nd Year of WEBELOS and are working on it?

Everybody knows what BOAT really stands for: Break Out Another Thousand😂. And any boat owner knows that a boat is just a hole in the water into which money is thrown 🤣. God bless and Scout On my friends!!!

I'm mainly involved with the OA and Eagle BORs so please excuse my ignorance as I have been away from the Cub world for a long time. Could someone please tell me what an AOL unit is?

I always like to rely on personal experiences and real world observations. I've been in Scouting for a long time and I have three adult sons and two adult daughters who participated in Scouting along with two grandsons. Out of this group I have 3 generations of Eagles that include two sons and one grandsons. My oldest son started going to Scout camp when he was Cub Scout age, about 8 years old. He joined the Boy Scouts at age 11 and by the time he was 15 he had all of the camping that he needed, earned Star and quit. The other two were bound by the old Cub Scout rules of no camping exc

If the program isn't any fun, then nobody wants to participate. Nobody wants to do something that is a drag, tedious, unpleasant or nasty. In other words, it isn't any fun. The best way to keep something from being too much fun is to stop the activity before it comes to a natural end. Again this requires active and engaged adults.

It look like Eagledad, MattR and I share a grand philosophy as far as Scouting goes.

I agree that ignorance is not bliss and the role of the adult in Scouting is to reach the goals and aims of Scouting (wich the kids just don't care about) and do it in a way that's fun. It's just that simple. Although the concept is simple, the methods of doing this is not and requires thought followed by action on the part of the adults. I tell folks all of the time that I didn't learn very much from the Marines concerning living in the field. The Marines give you your stuff, say pack it up and let's go. Everyone is able to survive, but us old Boy Scouts knew how to be comfortable and th

First of all, I never suggested that Scouting should be "Just Fun". Also, adults who want to feel good about themselves should reevaluate their role in Scouting. Adults and youth alike participate because Scouting is fun. If the adults aren't having fun then the aren't either. If the kids aren't having fun then they simply quit and then the adults are no longer needed. It's not that hard to make planning a good menu and then shopping for food a fun activity. It's not that hard to make cooking a great meal fun. It's not that hard to learning about good citizenship fun. It's not that h

This is what I mean by adults overthinking, over evaluating, over supervising and overregulating a whole great big organization. Much of what is stated as fact are nothing more then someone's good idea that is not based on research. Rather, it's based on emotion and theory. The age old question of what forms a person; environment, social standing, education, early childhood development, nuclear family, diet, etc. By the time a child reaches Scout age much of their persona has been formed. With everything that they are exposed to and the pressure they feel as they try to establish their ow

I've been around troops who had their meetings by playing basketball and it was fun. Before they played ball they had an opening ceremony and patrol meetings where they planned their own meals without adult influence. If they wanted bologna and Captain Crunch every meal, then that's what they had. Has anyone ever taken kids to the grocery store and helped them shop for their food? If not, why not? They are expected to do things that they don't know how to do and once they know how to do it they enjoy doing it which spells FUN.

I've been around troops who had their meetings by playing basketball and it was fun. Before they played ball they had an opening ceremony and patrol meetings where they planned their own meals without adult influence. If they wanted bologna and Captain Crunch every meal, then that's what they had. Has anyone ever taken kids to the grocery store and helped them shop for their food? If not, why not? They are expected to do things that they don't know how to do and once they know how to do it they enjoy doing it which spells FUN.

I love that, too. And I concur with everything you say!

I disagree and I don't believe that the emphasis should be on anything but fun. Rather then make everything a lesson the adults need to focus on the fun and guide that in the direction that let's the other stuff happen. And just exactly what's wrong with an outside play group with uniforms?