David CO

Yep, things have changed a lot. When I was growing up, the Jaycees were the largest and best known civic organization in town. They had over 200 members, all young men under the age of 35. About half were unmarried. Our little league fields were at the YMCA. We had many young men coaching the teams. The swimming teams were all coached by young YMCA men. Football was coached by teachers and dads. For a Catholic boy, basketball, wrestling, and boxing were CYO. The teams were usually coached by the priests and brothers. There were lots of opportunities for young men, both single a

I agree. There is a strong bias against both men and boys. When this anti-man thing started, someone did a great take-off on the Phil Donahue Show. His make-believe guest was the author of a book titled "Women Good, Men Bad". It was hilarious.

Our CO has a non-discrimination policy regarding the hiring of employees and volunteers. Choosing or rejecting someone based on their marital status would be a violation of that policy. Yes, parents will sometimes object to the policy, but that wouldn't be a good excuse for administrators to disregard the rules.

Being single has nothing to do with it. The same exact rules would apply to a married man with children. Strictly applying the rules, a married scout leader would not be allowed to have any one-on-one contact with any scouts who are not his own children. The CO chooses the scout leaders, not the parents. So I would say that the CO is trusting the children with you.

I have seen these water tube things. Some of them are very suggestive (depending on the shape of the nozzle). I have heard kids made rude jokes about them. Just the same, I don't think they should be banned as a YP issue. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. They don't look like firearms to me. They might sometimes be seen by some kids to simulate something else, but I don't think any kids think of them as simulated firearms. I have often seen kids in the pool using foam noodles as toy swords, yet BSA hasn't banned them. I guess using foam noodles for simulated sword fighting is bet

Do you think they are doing this to accommodate girls in scouting? My school does this sort of thing all the time. Almost all of the teachers are women, so they always gravitate towards the girl stuff. This has had a noticeable effect on our school enrollment. We have a 60/40 girl to boy ratio at the middle school. We start out even in kindergarten, but we lose about 15% of our boys to the public schools. Our Physical Education class is basically a girls class (in which the boys must participate).

I wouldn't know. We haven't attended any BSA camps for several years.

Correct. This may seem to be just a little bit ridiculous, seeing that they already live together under the same roof, but scout leaders really don't want to get themselves involved in making any value judgements regarding informal relationships.

BSA would do this if only they could find a way to turn free-range into fee-range.

Yes.

I stand corrected. Thanks for clearing that up.

I would be a little concerned about the OP feeling that he had been wrongfully exiled. There was nothing wrongful about his exile. The wrongful thing was his illegal drug use. So long as he continues to present himself as having been the wrongful victim of an exile, rather than the wrongful perpetrator of a crime, I would be very hesitant to take him on as a scout leader. It is not an attitude that I would wish to have taught to my scouts. His Eagle Scout rank would not be a consideration.

There are lots of people, myself included, who cannot do the job. Being a good scout leader is not an easy task. Not everyone can do it. It is nothing to be ashamed of. They say that there is no crying in baseball. Most of us would also say that there is no failure in scouting. You did your best. That is all we ask for.

Yes. I once had a very socially awkward boy on my football team. The boy understood from the get-go that it was going to be difficult, but he had made a conscious decision to bite the bullet and stick it out. It did help him to make friends with the other boys (who he might not have otherwise gotten to know). I think it is important to emphasize that this was his decision. It wasn't something that was forced on him.

You would be amazed at how many people apply to Catholic schools even though they have totally different religious/moral values.

You would think. But I have learned to not make assumptions about what a parent may or may not think is appropriate. A few years back, we had a fourth grader (boy) show up for a sleep-over in the gym without any sleepwear. Assuming that all of the parents would have the good sense to know that a Catholic school would not allow a student to sleep in the nude at the co-ed event, the teacher neglected to clearly state this on the flyer. I have never met a transgender person, so I really have no idea what they might expect in the way of accommodations. I have read (in the news) that the

I wonder how many women raising children in single parent households have passed this attitude on to their sons.

I've heard of that. I'm not sure if has to do with a change in students' attitudes. I think it might have more to do with the adults concerned about false allegations being made against the coaches and locker room supervisors.

Canadian scouts are like Canadian bacon. Though it uses the same word (in its name) as we do, it is actually an entirely different thing.

No. It isn't.

I expect a lot more notice if I am to plan a two-week summer camp. I would politely decline the appointment.

The boys at my school shower after gym class.

I agree that actual bullying should not be tolerated. My problem with the BSA policy is that it includes behaviors that I would not consider to be bullying. BSA has expanded the definition of bullying to the point that any scout could claim to be the "target" of bullying and any scout could be accused of being a bully. The bullying issue is getting to be a lot like gender identification. If a scout self-identifies as a "target" of bullying, then BSA will accept that he is a "target" of bullying. I have no advice for TheFlyingMum.

Not true.

No. The boys would be perfectly capable of camping on their own. The adults leaders are only there to comply with a BSA rule.