DougWaterfield

It's amazing how moving a topic like new pants can be, especially in a mostly male organization! I am very happy with the new pants and had a chance to field test them at a campout last weekend. Despite the dewey mornings I was dry and comfortable. I also did not notice any problems around the campfire even though I was playing chief cook and bottle washer. I have a question though, if any of the supply folks are still reading this thread. Will these pants be coming out for the Venturing uniform as well? I am starting a new crew and I don't want to even buy the standard style if

Count me as another "Life for Lifer". I did have parental encouragement up to a point. My dad was our Scout Master and I can never thank him enough for doing that. We even went through an Ordeal together and joined the OA. Over the last few years I've certainly learned a lot about what he did for my brother and I. I say "up to a point" because I think my father burned out on Scouting. We had an active troop, one of those that was mainly interested in camping over merit badges and rank. For several years we were doing really well and were growing. Then we seemed to hit a slump. We

Count me in the "rollercoaster" crowd. There are times I love it and times I wonder what I've gotten myself into, especially lately. I started as a Tiger Den Leader last year after being away from scouting since high school. I had a great year though I certainly struggled at points. I got to work with my son and other boys in a setting where I felt I made a real difference. Definitely a personal high point. This year has started out really well and my core group of boys have made me proud. I had pleasant visions of seeing them through to AOL and beyond. An even higher point. T

(sorry for the repeats, not sure why that happened!)(This message has been edited by DougWaterfield)

(This message has been edited by DougWaterfield)

ScoutNut - you're correct, an opening ceremony with the PoA is not a program requirement. Once I looked back at my early notes I saw that it was "highly recommended" by my Pack. This is the sort of thing I hope to continue through our Den Leader meetings -- we can share program ideas and discuss things like how meetings should be conducted. On the other hand, the PoA does come up in several requirements of one of the Wolf achievements. Assuming the TDL moves up with his den, he'll have to deal with it next year! My Den has one of the boys lead the PoA every week to satisty one of the

I would suggest that you somehow make it part of their training. Whether or not they have prior Scouting experience, they need to be trained as DL and ADL. If you work it into that context it may be more acceptable to them. If you have a regular Den Leader's meeting, have a topic on how meetings should be run. Make sure that you emphasize why the PoA is important as part of Scouting (doing your duty...). Same thing could be done for the uniform issue. If the indirect approach does not work you may have to sit down with them to discuss it. If you do, I'd suggest that you make it clea

Last year was my first year as an adult leader, after being away from Scouts since high school. My older son was interested and I certainly wanted him to be in scouting. I was also looking forward to following in my Dad's foot steps, who had been my SM and OA mentor years ago. We all gathered at a recruiting meeting at the elementary school and -- after the usual spiel and paperwork -- we were told that someone must be the DL, and that person must be chosen that night. Adult applications were handed out. I was certainly interested but thought I should get my feet wet first, so I signed

As others have pointed out, the main thing that we should do as Scouters is make sure that we are being the "local heroes" by doing what we can to provide leadership and vision to our units. We may not be able to change the world but we can certainly make an impact on our own little corners of it! Having said that, I too have concerns about overall direction. Here is my reasoning. Scouting is a movement. That purple crest we all wear signifies the fact that it is, in fact, a world wide movemnt whose goal is to help young men become outstanding citizens. Movements are usually