walk in the woods

I'd argue that parenting is a different job than mentoring.

It's a little different for me. I'm in scouting to be the old guy, who isn't dad, who can empathize with what the boys are going through. Sometimes turning boys into men is just being able to listen, say "yeah, that sucks" and let the boy know he's not the first 15 year old to get dumped, or be scared to ask a girl out, or be told he's a geek for being in band, choir, scouts, or it's ok to be scared the first time your butt hangs out over the edge of a cliff before you rappel down, etc. The scouts will turn into men regardless of what we do. If we can ease the transition, provide some guid

To me, the above two quotes demonstrate the absolute value of single-gender programs for boys. While I acknowledge that 15 year-old boys can be undisciplined and they don't know how to handle the hormones running through their systems, they are anything but fools or foolish. They are just boys growing up. When our leadership starts insulting our core constituency I find it disheartening. Thanks.

Unless you believe the mission of the BSA has been changed with this decision. Then the appropriate, logical and mature response would be to resign gracefully and let the new leadership take the reigns.

I attended my council's meeting in August, was told the survey link would be sent to the email I used to register for the meeting but never received it. Other scouters at the meeting did receive the survey. I don't know what selection criteria was used.

I like it. Do the boys in the units know each other well? Are there adult ego issues that created the smaller units to begin with?

Maybe the appropriate question to be asked given this scenario is who is in the better position to correct the behavior, a female or a male adult leader? If the language is just boys "trying to be men" it might be equally effective. If there's an actual belief system taking hold I suspect the corrective would be more powerful coming from a male scoutmaster.

Actually, from what I see of 4H and FFA around my part of the world, kids in those programs get plenty of opportunities to lead, grow and learn.

Creek Stewart is an Eagle Scout, runs a survival school, had a reality TV show about surviving in the woods with multiple mentions of scouting on various episodes. He's been publicly associated with the BSA for the last several years. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/06/01/eagle-scout-survival-expert-hosts-fat-guys-woods-weather-channel/,

Well, not so much. Student was from The Atlanta area. If you look at the election results (http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/georgia/) you'll see the counties around Atlanta are blue to deep blue, just not enough to swing the state.

It's interesting, all the best possible marketing in the world isn't going to sell folks something they don't want, not in the long run. It's not clear to me what makes our competitors successful... 4-H: Few leaders, more parental involvement than BSA without the overhead, more independent work for the youth, dovetails nicely with FFA at the high school level, spot "adventure" programs, specialty clubs, etc. YMCA: Family oriented, wide variety of individual programs (see swimming, exercise, gym, field trips, summer camps, special programs e.g.YMCA BOLD programming from previous thread),

Wasn't this the Creek Stewart plan?

This may be true in the big blue bubbles, but.....

That's the problem though. I didn't grow up in an upscale community, but, I also didn't need a part-time job. However, my dad made it perfectly clear if I wanted gas money or car insurance or walking-around money, it was on me. It wasn't because he couldn't slip me a $20 on Friday night, it was because he knew how to force me to grow up. As far as the authors go, my relationship with my dad hasn't suffered over the years because he was my parent instead of my friend.

The proper spelling of neighbor and utilize? Which condiments are appropriate for hot dogs and sausages? (Hint, if it's red it better be chili!) In the event a bear or coyote wanders into your campsite, how many of your mates is it appropriate to trip to ensure a safe escape? I supposed I'd be most interested in what they are most and least looking forward to to doing/enduring. Which cultures they're most interested in learning more about. That sort of thing.

My 2013 Jambo contingent chose bolo ties over neckers.

Give them to a geocacher to swap into caches for trading.

If this is your 6th annual every kid in Cub Scouts today has had the chance to attend at least once. Maybe you've been too successful and packs are looking for something else out of the ordinary?

I suppose the counter argument is how many of those 50+ United Way chapters came back after the 2013/2015 membership changes? If they were only protesting the LGBTQ+ issue, then at least some of them should have returned. If instead they've stayed away, then we can't really say it's not related to girls or god(s). Just because the pressure isn't public and/or active, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Now that PC thinking is mainstream culture, activist campaigns aren't necessary to apply pressure. Even if there was no pressure before it became public the BSA was looking at this, there will b

The email that was forwarded to me had communications@@scouting.org as the From address and the header top of the message said "This message is being sent to all Scout executives, area directors, regional directors, commissioners and managers at the National Service Center." So I took it as a change from National.

The email I received about the YPT changes and Fee Increase also included this: So I wonder how effective the "minimal leadership" strategy will be going forward.

Agreed. The premise of the separate-but-equal argument is there are enough support resources available to make a go. It ignores small units. One of my packs has 20 boys, spread out over 5 dens. If Cubs went co-ed tomorrow I suspect we'd get 5-7 sisters and friends, spread out over 5 dens. Is this pack going to recruit leaders for single-scout dens when they can't get enough leaders as is for the boy-only dens? Not likely. The separate-but-equal arrangement will put many COs in the position of having to choose between turning girls away or ignoring the BSA's structure for the program.

I'd opt to break the overlap between programs. Make Boy Scouts the 11-14 year old program, focused exclusively on First Class Skills. Move Star/Life/Eagle and Merit Badges into the Venturing program. Let the 14 year olds that want to continue in scouting choose between Venturing and Sea Scouts. Everybody getting to Venturing would have mad FC skills, there's be a recognition program that Venturers might want to pursue, no more 13 year old Eagles, a chance to transition from Cubs to Venturing at a slightly slower pace, Venturing might be better positioned to work with a sister/brother

Well, if the BSA wants to partner with another organization for girls programs, especially in the Boy Scout age range, with award programs similar to Eagle, it would appear we have an opening for a new partner. .

Sorry, two girls isn't enough to form a separate troop. You'll have to turn them away.