Chippewa29

Ideally, I feel that a SM should serve for at least seven years. That way, a Scout will never have more than two Scoutmasters in their career. Like was mentioned before, this all depends on how the troop is doing. If the troop is not moving in a good direction or has stagnated, it is usually a sign that the top leadership needs to be changed (a group will reflect its top leader). No matter how long a SM serves, their should be a plan of succession in case anything happens to the SM. That way, the troop will have a minimal adjustment if the SM suddenly leaves for whatever reason. I can te

FScouter- When we do our COH, each rank is recognized individually. The Scouts in my troop have talked about how great it would be to get two ranks at one COH (when most everyone else is getting just one). As I've mentioned at some point, I'm still not entirely agreeing with the "new" way the BSA does the ranks up to first class. Back in the 70's and 80's, we had the skill awards and things were more separated. I would love to see them bring the skill awards back. Except for the experience requirements (5 and 10 outdoor activities), I believe the ranks are way easier to achieve n

sctmom- As you and the others probably haven't noticed, I do not post on these issues, although I do read them on a regular basis. If you would, please email me at chippewa29vigil@yahoo.com as I would like to get some feedback from you on a few things you have posted as well as get your perspectives on some issues I have regarding being a female Scouter. I hope to hear from you soon.

And the thing I meant to say by that is we should have a better system of helping the Scouts get their basic skills learned (and thus, finishing requirements) on a consistent basis so that any Scout who is active and puts in the work should be able to get his First Class by the end of his first year.

Also, with the new Scouts coming in (we'll be getting somewhere between 3-16), these Scouts now hitting Second and First Class will be doing a lot of the teaching of the basic skills (although the adults will still have to do some so the experienced Scouts can be working on their own things at times). I've been telling these guys this for the past year. My two older Scouts have done some of the teaching with the younger ones, but it was never done for them on a consistent basis (they both had two older brothers as Eagles in the troop and just kind of picked things up along the way) and was n

I agree with your sentiment, Bob. The requirements were very separate when I was a Scout back in the 80's. I still have mixed feelings on the change they made a decade ago. With the new system, I've seen some Scouts not advance for a long time, but then all of sudden get Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and First Class within a couple of months. When I was a Scout, very rarely did anyone take longer than 3-4 months to get their Tenderfoot. It seems to be taking longer now even though there are less requirements. A big reason we have a stall at the Tenderfoot requirement is the Physical Fitness

Bob- thanks for your concern, but I'm not talking about changing requirements. I'm talking about making sure the Scouts have strong standards to live up to (as the BSA intended) without having to be superhuman. For example, our previous SM thought a good uniform was the shirt tucked in. He didn't think it was necessary to wear the pants, belt, neckerchief, etc. except for a COH. Also, as I've mentioned in other posts before, my troop was previously 90% adult run. Our older Scouts weren't really leaders, but rather guys that just communicated the SM's wishes (he was good at a lot of thing

slontwovvy- Thanks for the info, but my friend finished up at Yale in 1994 and has since proudly sewed the red, white, and black of Chippewa back on.

I've got an interesting, but good situation in my troop right now. I have three Scouts that are looking at getting their Tenderfoot in the next week and could be finished with their second class requirements in the next couple of weeks. We have a COH on March 4, so the kids are scrambling to get their stuff done. If they finish both sets of requirements before getting a BOR for the one, do they have to have separate BOR for each rank, or if they do, how long does it need to be between the different BOR?

One requirement that can be used to prevent/delay the advancement of a Scout is the one requiring he show Scout Spirit in his daily life. It is kind of like the BSA's equivalent to a parent telling a child around Christmas, "If you misbehave, then Santa will put you on his list of bad boys and girls and not bring you presents". When I've done SM conferences with Scouts, I basically do three things. First, I ask them questions about how they feel about the troop, what has happened, and what they would like to see both for themselves and the troop. I'll also ask them some questions about oth

As far as I've heard, you are not allowed to be a member in two different lodges. A friend of mine went to Yale and had to drop his registration in our home lodge while he was active in Connecticut. We still like to kid him now and then about his traitorous behavior. He said it almost killed him to sew a flap from another lodge on his shirt. If you find a way to get around it, please post it. I hope to try living in another part of the country one of these days and couldn't bear the thought of wearing another lodge's flap (no insult intended, but the Chippewa Pride goes very, very dee

Going with the subject of the post, my suggestion for you has to do with the youth leaders. I learned this from a friend who built up an inner city troop while in college and have applied some of the same principles to my troop as we are rebuilding. Be careful about giving out positions to Scouts that aren't ready to handle them or having positions that are more honorary than needed. My friend's troop didn't have an SPL for the first two years they were in existence because my friend and the other adult leaders didn't feel they had anyone who could handle it. At first, they didn't have an

As the title says, I can't figure out how to figure out what my hat size is. I'm looking to buy an old field cap on Ebay and don't want to make the mistake of ordering the wrong size. I've got a beret from when I was a youth that still fits, but I can't read the tag with the size in it anymore. If I could ask the BSA to do anything with uniforming (other than make it more cost efficient), I'd want them to bring back the field cap (my original troop I was in for a few months wore those and it looked really sharp with 20 guys wearing them) and the beret (I always wanted my troop to swit

sctmom- Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of a Back to Scouting night if we have that happen again. If it brings back one kid, it will be worth it. I wish I could deal with a Webelos leader like yourself that took the time to really research what was happening with the Boy Scouts and making sure the kids in the den had options. Some of the Webelos leaders I've talked to act like we are trying to pull teeth when we invite them to a troop meeting or activity. Also, I'd love it if a parent who crossed over with their son said they wanted to sign up as a leader and be active

Another wrinkle has developed in the situation. Unfortunately, I couldn't get ahold of the challenge Scout's parents over the weekend, so I didn't get to discuss the situation with them. Our challenge Scout was sick and didn't attend the meeting on Monday night, but his dad stopped by to take care of a couple of things. While a group of us adults were sitting around talking, one of them asked me how we looked on getting new Webelos crossing over. I told them we'll get anywhere from 3-16 over the next couple of months. We went on to talk about how I wanted to grow the troop over the next f

With crossover season coming very soon, I was wondering how to get more Webelos to stay with Scouting. Every one keeps talking about the retention rate after one year. If my troop can get the kids to cross over and stay for a month or two, then we have no problem keeping them for a year or so. Our problem is 1) getting Webelos to cross over once their den has decided to join our troop; and 2) how to keep baseball season and summer vacations from destroying a Scouting career. 1. Only about 1/2 of the Webelos (15 packs within 10-15 minutes of the troop) in our area end up crossing over.

I've got two things to say in regards to wearing the complete uniform: 1. It needs to be done correctly. We've had Scouts that wear the uniform, but wear it very sloppily. They complain that they look like dorks with the uniform on. I just tell them that if they wear it like that, they do look like a dork. However, if they tuck in their shirts, iron the uniform on occasion, roll the neckerchief correctly, wear the shine the belt buckle and wear it brass on brass, and wear the hat correctly, then they look really sharp. 2. I've been Scoutmaster for almost a year now and I've put a lot

We've had a discussion in our committee meetings a couple of times in recent months about people taking on regular responsibilities. While the parents in the troop have been good supporters and really done a lot of work to support the troop program, I have to continually ask people to fulfill certain responsibilities. For example, different adults take turns handling the administrative aspects of our campouts, such as the permission forms, reservations, medical forms, etc. Each time we have a campout, I have to find someone to handle that. I've tried to get someone to be our outdoor progra

How do other troops split up the duties for their ASM's? I've heard that some have an ASM assigned to every patrol. Other troops have an ASM of program, ASM of admin, etc.

eisley- Do you want to trade? I'l throw in a first round draft pick as well. Our Scout just talks louder if he thinks we are ignoring him. His first act when he enters the meeting room (if he is on time, which is a 50/50 chance) is to come up to me and tell me how wonderful he is. Of course, unless I'm in the middle of talking to someone (which is often), I'll tell him "That's wonderful, good for you" or something similar. If I am speaking to someone or if he comes in during the opening ceremony (not unusual), then he usually will cut right in with the wonderful news about himsel

Something my troop did for about five years in a row was a day trip in canoes at our local river. The Scouts had to be 14 to go (no little kids) and the adults who led the trip had to be under 30 (no parents). It was much more fun and relaxed than a normal trip, as we didn't have as many "restrictions". However, I still didn't allow swearing and other things that they shouldn't be doing. However, a water fight or two (or seventy-seven) was known to happen within three minutes of our departure. We'd usually spend about 5-6 hours out there chasing and trying to drown each other. I was an a

I'd hope to have your "problems" down the road. It is definitely not unusual for Scouts that hit Life to slow down on the way to Eagle. My troop has had 12 Eagles in the past 18 years, only two of which earned it before they turn 17 (they were both 16 1/2). All but one of our Eagles earned their Life rank by the age of 14. We've also had two dozen Scouts get to Life but not get their Eagles. I believe there are several reasons for this: 1. High School Activities. Many Scouts are active in high school activities such as sports, student government, band, drama, etc. One of my buddies g

We've getting a bit on the heavy in the Open Discussion section as of late (some of those discussions may want to go to the Issues and Politics Section), so I thought I'd lighten things up a bit by bringing up this thread again. I was corresponding with our JLTC director recently and she asked me some of the things we used to do for ceremonies and traditions when we first started. One had to do with our end of the week banquet on Friday night. Once dinner was ready, all the participants would be in the dining area at their tables with the SPL at the front. The staff would then do a

DedDad- Yes, it is 2-3 times a month. I don't think it's something he plans, but he seizes many opportunities to bring attention to himself. If it isn't an "injury" (which is the 2-3 times a month), then we'll be in the middle of a skill session or planning and he'll just spout off (more than loud enough for everyone to hear) something about himself and doesn't stop until he's finished. I've found that if you let him spout for about 1-1.5 minutes and then continue on like nothing happened, that usually satisfies him for about 10 minutes or so (enough time for us to move onto the next a

Six ASM's???? Do any of you want to come work with me? I'd love to have some that could relieve me of some of my duties. If he trusts you enough to have the title, then he should trust you with the duties. "Responsibility without authority is futile"