Chippewa29

When permission slips are handed out at troop meetings (I'm assuming that is the way most troops still do it), do the Scouts get the permission slips handed to them, or do the parents that are there take one for their son? My troop has gotten into the habit of handing out permission slips to adults that are there first (we have quite a few hang around the meetings), then if a Scout doesn't have a parent there or come pick him up, he gets a permission slip to take home. What systems do other troops use to make sure this important piece of paperwork gets taken care of?

I've never heard of time limits for certain positions. In our district and council, there are elections for year for those positions (volunteer of course, not professional). Our district likes to keep bringing fresh blood into those positions. At the unit level, it really depends on the unit. Some will have elections for the committee positions each year. As for the SM and ASM positions, they are on a continuing basis until the person either resigns or is replaced. I feel that a Scoutmaster should serve at least 5-7 years. Ideally, a Scout should never have more than two SM in h

I'm afraid that the subject of the thread has been misconstrued. I am not talking about picking and choosing potentially good Scouts from potentially bad Scouts or excluding a kid because his parents are drug addicts or he is a sickly, weak kid. What I am saying is this. If a troop is going to commit its resources to working with a Scout, there should be some reciprocal commitment on their part. If a Webelo is thinking about crossing over and doesn't think he really wants to do it and isn't willing to commit himself to giving it a real chance, then why are we insisting on signing the k

So, would it be better to have this scout feel obligated to keep coming for six months, and be miserable the entire time? I think a Scout who decides to commit to joining the troop should commit for six months. He may not have a great experience his first couple of meetings and first campout (when kids cross over in February and camp in March, there is a chance for really bad weather), but it is nothing that should make him really miserable. However, I do agree with you and a couple of other posters that things should be communicated very clearly before the crossover occurs. I don't think

Some very good points so far. I would like to respond to John's comments. I believe you misunderstood the meaning of the term "selective" (it's possible I didn't communicate it well). My only criteria for recruiting a Scout is two things: 1) that he is willing to submit to the troop leadership and follow the program established by the PLC; 2) that he is willing to make an honest commitment for a reasonable length of time. The only time I have ever stopped recruiting Webelos to join our troop was when a den visited us on a campout. The kids were very rude and disrepectful to both

One of the other adults in my troop (a very dedicated, educated Scouter) brought up an idea that I hadn't really thought about. I thought it would be a good discussion topic for this forum. Each year, we get X number of Webelos to cross over. For some troops, that is five, for some it is 35. Most troops plan on losing a certain percentage of those new Scouts within the first couple of months. In our troop, if we can get the Scout to get active for that first summer, they will usually stick around for at least the next three years. The other point where we lose Scouts is when they go

When do you collect the money for the event? My troop has had issues with that on and off over the years. We once had a campout where four of the nine Scouts who signed up didn't show. Of course, we didn't know until after the food was bought. We had way too much food and not enough money to pay for it (none of the Scouts paid ahead of time). By the next year, we were collecting money ahead of time. This time, we had twelve Scouts signed up and paid for. Five didn't show up for the campout (including two or three of the same no shows from the previous year). The next Monday, their

I'll have to agree that I often post to see if my opinion is shared by other Scouters. There are times when I'm wondering if I'm doing the right thing or not. However, there are times when I'm genuinely perplexed by something and need some opinions on what I should do. It always feels good to be able to unload and feel a part of a community where we can frankly discuss things. It would be nice to do it more often with the other Scouters that are local to me, but you don't always want to be discussing your issues with people that are so close geographically.

Eagledad- Thank you for your post. After I read it, I wanted to make sure I thought about what you read and what I intended. I took absolutely no offense to your comments. They were very well said and made a good point. I thought it over some last night and wanted to respond in more detail. The Scout in question has never really wanted to be a part of the Scouts. It is something his parents make him do because his brother enjoys it so much and has gotten so much out of it. This Scout enjoys some of the activities that Scouts do. However, he doesn't like to wear a uniform (he ar

Hello everyone. Thanks for the great replies. Lots of good opinions going both ways. We got back from summer camp on Saturday. Summer camp went well for the most part. The Scout in question did better than last year. He lost his temper a couple of times, but instead of blowing up at one of the other Scouts, he just kicked a tree instead. The Scout is still very immature and not a team player, but he did manage to get along with the other Scouts. The big thing I was concerned about was that he signed up for three merit badges that his dad said he wanted to do(basketry, art, and woodcarv

My troop has an interesting situation this year in regards to our summer camp roster. We have a Scout in the troop who attending summer camp but has attended nothing but one Court of Honor since summer camp last year. This 14 year old has been a member of the troop for over three years and has an older brother in the troop. He was semi-active for about a year (at about 1/2 of meetings and activities), but the past two years or so, has barely attended anything. In 2005, he went to two campouts (summer camp and a Canadian camporee we attend each year), two troop meetings (where we did

Next year, for the first time in five years, my troop will have Scouts aging out. Three of them have been in the same patrol since 2000 and are the group around which we've built the troop (now three patrols). Their patrol has eight members currently. At this time next year, they'll have five, with another one aging out in 2008 and the rest in 2010. About the same time these older Scouts age out, we'll be getting new Scouts crossing over. The question is this: do we add new Scouts in with the older Scouts in the established patrol? Or, do we just form a new patrol and eventually let t

I feel that getting to know names is critical to making each Scout feel important and wanted, especially when they are just crossing over. In my troop, I make every effort to get to know the kids names as we are recruiting them. They feel great if when they show up at their first troop meeting and I know their name. When my troop was smaller, I knew every kid, their parents, siblings, etc. Now, I know all of the Scouts (within a couple of meetings) and at least one of their parents (providing they ever show up for a meeting or COH). If a troop ever gets large enough to where the SM doesn'

I'm happy to say that after 5-6 years of work, my troop has a full range of Scout ages and ranks again. The Scouts in my troop that are very active are able to get their First Class within a year. We've gotten a good outdoor program going with solid attendance. However, we've been so focused on what I call Phase I (getting to first class) in recent years, I'm at a little bit of a loss when trying to find stuff for our older Scouts to do. While our younger Scouts work on their basic skills, the older Scouts end up doing one of the following: 1. Planning for a campout 2. Working on a m

I personally don't think that handing out pushups is a great solutions to disciplinary problems. If you really believe that push ups and other forms of physical activity are corporal punishment, then in order for a Scout to get his Tenderfoot, he has to have corporal punishment inflicted upon him. When doing physical fitness testing with our younger Scouts, I've had some who don't want to do it (usually the ones that are the least fit) and I've made them do the pushups, sit ups, etc. Is that really wrong? My favorite punishment was about ten years ago when on a campout on a hot summer

I just filled out the poll and added my recommendations for lower costing uniforms. I am a firm believer in having as official of a uniform as possible, but when the uniform costs go beyond what most people would pay for their dressy clothes (and well beyond what they would pay for their kids dressy clothes), something needs to change.

I had a similar problem a few years ago. Getting the kids to make decisions was like pulling teeth. After a while, I figured out why. It turns out that each year, our troop would do a planning session in January. Lots of ideas were generated. However, the calendar generated by the Scouts was rarely the one carried out. The SM and a couple of other adults would go through and decide "they don't really want to do that", "thats too much of a hassle", "theres another event this month that would be better for them". After a year or two, the kids knew that whatever they decided would be c

One other thing I forgot to mention when I posted before: In the early years of Scouting, many of the Scout leaders were single male teachers or ministers. These were men that had more time available to help the kids since they didn't have families of their own. Often, they were looked upon as good role models who were still able to relate to the Scout age kids. They were adults, but not parents, so the Scouts could be a little more at ease around them. The way I wrote that, does it make sense?

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. This is the first time I've been on the forum in about a month, so having a good thread where I could give some hopefully good thoughts is a plus. I'm single and have no kids. As some of you long time posters know, I am the SM of my troop and am an alumnus of the troop. I wasn't very active while I was in college (I helped out a little in the summers). When I finished college and started working, I missed going on the campouts and helping out. Plus, I've never been someone who enjoys hanging out in the bars and clubs on the weekends. I got

Sorry. I just noticed the URL in the first post. It must be my Delayed Intelligence Syndrome acting up again.

What is the web address to get in the lottery?

Is this for 2005 reservations or 2006 reservations? My Scouts are interested in going for 2006. Are we too late already?

I'd like to get some specific information on how troops score their Honor Patrol systems. I know that most use attendance, advancement, etc., but I'd like to see some specific examples so I can see how they are weighed against each other. Also, what does the winning patrol get for their reward? Please post a link to a website if it is listed (I found a couple of different troop systems). Or, if you'd like, PM me and I'll write back to get the details. Thank You in advance.

Joni- Trust me, I feel your pain. Some of the experienced posters on here can confirm that a couple of years ago, I was going through the same problems. Our former SM was a "do it my way or the highway" kind of guy and pretty much ran our troop into the ground. I took over about four years ago with six Scouts and those kids never made decisions for themselves. Obviously, we got very little help from the few parents we had (they didn't feel they were wanted). The former SM, his wife, our CC (his sister-in-law), and I pretty much were the adults in the troop (I am a troop alum from yea

I'm looking for a overall troop checklist to help us in better planning the campouts and making sure we are getting things done far enough ahead. There used to be a link to a troop website where they did a T-minus program. In that, certain actions needed to take place (hand out forms, make reservations, etc.) If anyone has a checklist like that, please send me a message or post your website/email. Thank you.