CalicoPenn

Here's how the BSA defines it in Boy's Life magazine: A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property. That's pretty much the way I remember it from back in the dim ages. It doesn't say thriving, prosperous or successful (though it's one of the tools that can lead to being thriving, prosperous and/or successful). I does include the concept that Scouts carefully use property (I include equipment as property). Thrifty is a multifaceted concept, but the BSA uses payoi

I don't see a conflict between Stosh's statement and the Scout Law. A Scout is Thrifty talks about a Scout working to pay their own way - not planning and managing fundraisers. Unless you have some older Scouts with little to do, I have no problem with the parents planning chili or spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, etc. as long as the Scouts work it. That being said, an opportunity like those available at the Green Bay games might be too good to miss, even with the age restriction - so I would try to find some kind of opportunity for the boys to "earn" what the parents raised - some

So according to that study, it's a better process to switch 2 and 3 around so that the sanitizing solution is used before the final rinse. This not only gets the dishes cleaner but also rinses off the sanitizer

Your 17-year old son would hate my rendezvous tripod - no wrapping and frapping for me - I set up the tripod poles (fallen branches from local trees - you would collect them and break them up for kindling), then tie them together. I had a Boy Scout call me out on it once - my answer was that I doubted that a mountain man was going to take the time to do all that wrapping and frapping for something that he's going to use for less than a day.

More manufactured outrage from social media outrage-a-holics (did anyone else notice that the Boys Life is a subscription copy and not a newstand copy? You can see the printed address on the cover). My response to those who are outraged? Suck it up and get over yourselves. Girl's Life magazine follows the same grand tradition as Seventeen, Teen, and other classic magazines for girls. It does so because it sells. It sells because, like it or not Mom and Dad, your precious little snowflake who you've been telling all her life can aspire to be anything they want, is interested in these t

Hershey, Welcome to the forum, It's not 1-2 weeks of delay - it's now September, his son has been ready since May - that's 4 months - and that is unreasonable. His SMC and BOR should have been done in May - there is no excuse for not getting it done. Hershey, Your son is in a Troop that is doing it wrong - they have strayed from True North. Requiring a presentation to show Scout Spirit is not part of the requirements - that is this Troop and it's adult leaders playing the "we know better than National and 100+ years of their experience" game. As for the ASM refusing to

Lisa, Welcome to the forum! Based on a quick look at the National website, here's what I take away from it. National is changing the Roundtable formula to provide more supplemental training for Cub Scout Leaders - training in areas that are often part of the Cub Scout program but aren't necessarily part of the monthly Pack Meeting Theme. Instead of spending time in September giving people ideas for October's Pack Meeting Theme (ideas which are often taken directly from the program helps that Cubmasters and Den Leaders can read for themselves), Roundtable would now spend time giving i

Read the Poughkeepsie article - keeping in mind that I really dislike the media, a prime example of why I dislike the media can be found here - the reporter quotes the policy from the website but gets it wrong - she uses the term Law Enforcement - the policy uses the term Local Authorities. So she's using quotes on something she has paraphrased. Granted, that's not the point of the story but it's sloppy and should be pointed out. That brings up an important point though - changing those words from local authorities to law enforcement changes the meaning of the sentence. Something to c

NJ, I could be way off base here (and perhaps some legal beaver, errr eagle can chime in) but I think there is a principle in the law that posits that a restriction doesn't necessarily serve to keep others out but rather to make sure certain classes/activites are in. In this case, it would mean that just because the charter uses the term boys, it doesn't neccessarily mean "only" boys - that the BSA could include girls and adults, and the restriction here would be it must always include boys. If the BSA were to stop serving boys and serve only girls, then that would be the violation o

Cubmaster 35, I have a couple of questions: First- who did this pastor send this letter to, and do you have a copy of it? While it's nice that you're trying to find a way to rescue this Pack, the first thing I would be doing is protecting my reputation. The three of you that are the target of that letter should be talking to a lawyer and demanding, through that lawyer, that the Pastor back up his accusations. Second - hve you spoken to the families and told them you and your leadership team are no longer involved (because as of that letter, you aren't) and are they willing to fol

This is something that the unit folks in the district can kill - fast - if they have the will to do it - but it will take most of the units agreeing to stick to their guns to be effective - simply refuse. When they hand you the re-worked forms, you hand them right back and tell them calmly and plainly that you will not be presenting this to your unit and that all adult leadership of the unit will resign immediately leaving no unit at all, if they don't go back immediately to the national registration scheme - multiply that by all the units in the district and "poof" - this idea will die.

Use the same rules as you would any camping trip - adults and youth don't share rooms, etc. Just think of the rooms as indoor tents. That being said - you might want to put together a few internal rules of behavior - few things are more annoying than a bunch of teens running up and down hotel hallways room hopping and hollering at each other for other hotel guests. It wouldn't be out of line to gather in the parking lot before everyone gets their room keys to recite the Scout Law together and place a bit of special emphasis on A Scout is Courteous, reminding them that this means more tha

More and more art museums are showcasing product design (as well as crafts) as art.

Turning STEM into STEAM is an idea that RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) developed back in 2012. They are really trying to tap in to the non-scientific zeitgeist of inspiration and imagination that is just as important and the hard sciences to innovation and technology - whether that inspiration and imagination is internal to scientists or whether it comes from outside influences, especially certain disciplines of the arts like film. How much more exciting and inspiring to youth were the space launches with Walter Cronkite's play-by-play announcing. It's a shame that after the first

They got Garrison Keillor to tell tales about Lutherans from Lake Woebegon and tell Lutheran jokes on Public Radio, declared victory, and are quietly enjoying hot dish and lutefisk fundraising suppers.

Let's keep in mind that the original merit badges weren't also part of rank requirements - you didn't need to earn so many, or certain, merit badges to advance in rank - these were all extras beyond rank. For those unfamiliar, back then in 1911, the top rank was First Class. Star, Life and Eagle, when first intorduced were NOT ranks - in fact, they were much more like Palms - they were awards for earning a certain number of Merit Badges - there were no required merit badges - if you earned 5 Merit Badges, you were given a Star award. Your rank was still First Class.

They whithered away when Councils and Districts, with the wink and nudge of National, started accepting Troop-only Merit Badge Counselors as acceptable practice - once that gate was open, there was no way to stop the practice from becoming Only-Troop Merit Badge Counselors.

I though I felt a disturbance in the force - and sure enough a post by Beavah agreeing with my position on the CA, and certainly written better than mine, I think. Then I see all the titter-tatter, back-and-forth arguments about Christianity, Catholocism, Protestants, Lutherans and what is a denomination and what is not and realized that was the true distubance in the force. If someone wants to believe that the Catholic Church is not a denomination of the Christian religion, that's fine with me, provided they are Catholic and talking about their own faith. Unless they've come right ou

Define "Classic" I graduated high school in 1979. The only books I would consider "classics" that I read for school were Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) and Romeo & Juliet (again, Shakespeare). In college, the only book I read that might be considered a classic was Walden. Everything else I read would probably be considered "Contemporary" (though some might now be considered classics like Elie Weisel's Night.) or short stories. By 1976, literature classes in a lot of the "top tier" hgh school districts (read well-supported by taxpayers in white big-city suburbs) were following th

Talk to the District Advancement Chair and start the process to file under disputed circumstances - if your son feels he has completed his POR and the SM is refusing to sign off on the POR, his SMC, etc., do NOT go to a new Troop and have Scoutson work a POR for another 6 months - that could, and likely will, be seen as an admission that perhaps the Scoutmaster was correct in refusing to sign off and if things go sour in the new Troop (and that sometimes happens) you've closed the door to a disputed circumstances BOR. Definitely meet with the new SM and explain the situation but make it clear

I know I earned my first Merit Bade - Dog Care - before I earned my Tenderfoot Rank. The Scout rank was new when I became a Boy Scout - my Scoutmaster just handed the badge to me as soon as I crossed over - he figured any Webelos coming in to his Troop that had earned the Arrow of Light already knew the stuff and he didn't want to waste time. The answer though is that yes, a Scout can earn merit badges before he earns his Scout rank - but even with the "enhanced" requirements, it shouldn;t be dificult to earn the Scout rank in under a month.

And they won't learn this lesson if they are barred from participating as a Chaplain's Aid because their form of prayer is a deal breaker for adults who are likely to see it as a much bigger issue than the boys will.

Rain, Rain, Go Away Come Again Another Day Rain, Rain, Go Away Little Joey Wants to Play We've all said or heard this verse, right? It's pretty inoffensive. Unless someone recognizes that it is also a form of prayer that isn't part of their tradition - then someone might take offense. I don't understand what the issue/problem/bother is. Ok - maybe that's not quite correct - it's probably more accurate to say I don't understand the mindset that would say there is an issue/problem.bother with a CA ending a prayer with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" There are twelve poin

Red Cross Water Safety Instructor certification has always been considered "or equivalent" in our council - but check with your own council first to see what their legal eagles (legal beavers?) have to say.

Something struck me as I've been reading all of this - the Scout has said that he is done with Scouting - that he is no longer enthusiastic about it and now just wants to get his Eagle and get out - never to be involved again (and never is an awful long time). At this point, I agree with the notion that it is time to get out of this unit - but I also agree that it would be unfair for a new unit to be expected to pick up the slack for this unit - At this current unit, this Scout has very good grounds to apply for his Eagle base on disputed circumstances - and this is the route I would now t