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Scuttlebutt at Jamboree was coed Cubs, parallel track for middle school (Scouting), which would feed into the current coed Venturing.

 

It seemed to be a forgone conclusion the Eagle would be offered for both tracks. But that was admittedly speculation (as if the rest wasn't).

 

There was also discussion that initially there was talk of a phased approach starting this Fall, but that was scrapped for one time COMPLETE change next Fall.

 

"Family Accessible" was discussed repeatedly and regularly emphasized that it was meant to allow families to have an opportunity to bring Johnny and Jenny to the same chartered organization, perhaps the same meeting night and place. But it was not intended to be the same unit (though it was agreed that will likely occur in reality). The concept of Webelos style family camping was always shot down and made clear that was not the intent.

 

Not sure how much, if any of that is accurate, but the talk was consistent across multiple groups, if that means anything.

Edited by HelpfulTracks
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Not to resurrect a tired thread but....   Over the weekend I finally got the latest issue of Scouter and got to sit down and read the article on 'Family Camping'. It was so jarringly out of place in

That's my breaking point. I'll happily integrate girls into Boy Scouts. I will not lead a family camping program.

Maybe there isn't.  If every rumor posted in this forum over the years by people who say they heard such-and-such from "top guys at council" or "someone from National" turned out to be true, the BSA w

Not to resurrect a tired thread but....

 

Over the weekend I finally got the latest issue of Scouter and got to sit down and read the article on 'Family Camping'. It was so jarringly out of place in any scouting magazine given the audience. It made no sense to me beyond: 'take the whole family camping, hooray!'. It barely referenced scouting at all. Smacked of a new (and poorly thought out) magazine change than a policy change. Don't get it.

 

Feels like New Coke all over again. Is it just me?

 

No you were not the only one.In fact I commented on how it was not really an appropriate article for Scouting magazine since it focused on family camping instead of patrol camping for the 11-16 years initially mentioned, and that BALOO covers a lot of the materials for Packs to go back and teach to their new families.

 

Another reason why I'm worried about "family Scouting."

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Not to resurrect a tired thread but....

 

Over the weekend I finally got the latest issue of Scouter and got to sit down and read the article on 'Family Camping'. It was so jarringly out of place in any scouting magazine given the audience. It made no sense to me beyond: 'take the whole family camping, hooray!'. It barely referenced scouting at all. Smacked of a new (and poorly thought out) magazine change than a policy change. Don't get it.

 

Feels like New Coke all over again. Is it just me?

 

I felt the exact same way when I read it.  It was like reading an issue of Outdoors magazine, not Scouter. 

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Not to resurrect a tired thread but....

 

Over the weekend I finally got the latest issue of Scouter and got to sit down and read the article on 'Family Camping'. It was so jarringly out of place in any scouting magazine given the audience. It made no sense to me beyond: 'take the whole family camping, hooray!'. It barely referenced scouting at all. Smacked of a new (and poorly thought out) magazine change than a policy change. Don't get it.

 

Feels like New Coke all over again. Is it just me?

Yup, me too.

 

Hope you and yours are well in Tampa. Hopefully your shell was not hit too hard by Irma.

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Has anyone else got an email from Scoutstuff.org about 'Camping with the Fam," or seen their Family Camping Events promo on the homepage? Grant you most of the gear they are pushing has the Cub Scout logo, but they are pushing family big time.

 

I think the decision has been made.

 

On a different note, I may start backing away from the troop. There is a wilderness survival camp out and we have one family saying they will attend. If the Cub was a Webelos, i'd be cool since it's A) Meeting Castaway requirements, and B) It's recruiting. But the little brother is a Tiger, and ran around interferring last time. When I talked to the scouter heading up the trip about it, he had no problem with the family attending. When I mentioned it's going to be interesting with the family staying in a  survival shelter, the comment was "Leaders can stay in tents." I was always taught that the Scouters do the same things as the Scouts.

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Yup, me too.

 

Hope you and yours are well in Tampa. Hopefully your shell was not hit too hard by Irma.

 

We 'got a glancing blow not a punch in the face' as our Mayor said. Was a long, exhausting week; quite terrifying at times. The turtle house only got minor damage and never lost power but go a block or two in either direction and poles down and trees hit houses. But everyone knows we got really, really lucky. The boys and I really used our scout skills the last few days especially those 'outmoded useless knots' to help tie things down.

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Has anyone else got an email from Scoutstuff.org about 'Camping with the Fam," or seen their Family Camping Events promo on the homepage? Grant you most of the gear they are pushing has the Cub Scout logo, but they are pushing family big time.

 

I think the decision has been made.

 

On a different note, I may start backing away from the troop. There is a wilderness survival camp out and we have one family saying they will attend. If the Cub was a Webelos, i'd be cool since it's A) Meeting Castaway requirements, and B) It's recruiting. But the little brother is a Tiger, and ran around interferring last time. When I talked to the scouter heading up the trip about it, he had no problem with the family attending. When I mentioned it's going to be interesting with the family staying in a  survival shelter, the comment was "Leaders can stay in tents." I was always taught that the Scouters do the same things as the Scouts.

 

'leaders' can stay in tents; 'LEADERS' are in a survival shelter like the scouts. It's called taking one for the team.

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Has anyone else got an email from Scoutstuff.org about 'Camping with the Fam," or seen their Family Camping Events promo on the homepage? Grant you most of the gear they are pushing has the Cub Scout logo, but they are pushing family big time.

 

I think the decision has been made.

I have not received the email but I see what you are talking about on the scoutstuff homepage.  The so-called "Family Camping Events" are really just days that they are promoting for the sale of camping equipment under the guise of "family camping." They call it "GET READY FOR FAMILY CAMPING DAY", which I interpret to mean "GET READY FOR FAMILY CAMPING" day, as opposed to Get Ready for "FAMILY CAMPING DAY". In other words its just a gimmick to sell more camping stuff,* and also to get you to physically go to the National Scout Shops (as opposed to just buying online) where they hope they can sell you even more stuff. I don't necessarily see a programmatic aspect to it, unless I missed something.

 

* I almost called it a "sale", but a "sale" is where you can buy something for less than is usually charged, and I see no indication of that here.

Edited by NJCubScouter
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My two cents...

 

The new boy patrol is something that my troop discussed, but never implemented. I can understand National thinking that Scouts that earn First Class in their first year tend to stay longer, but I think that we're just rushing them along. Do the boys really get anything out of being forced to earn First class in the first year.

 

I start every new year talking to my parents and explaining the program, and how it differs from Cub Scouts and why that is. My go to line every year is "I would rather your son stay active in the troop for seven years (11 thru 18) and at our last Scoutmasters conference say he enjoyed his time with us than be pushed earn his Eagle at 14 and drop out because he hated the program. While your son may not have made eagle, he would have experienced leadership opportunities, made lifelong friends, developed positive traits, and learned skills that will serve him for the rest of his life

 

I feel the key then is not rushing scouts to first Class, but offering a good program. Scouts will advance at their own speeds.

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My two cents...

 

The new boy patrol is something that my troop discussed, but never implemented. I can understand National thinking that Scouts that earn First Class in their first year tend to stay longer, but I think that we're just rushing them along. Do the boys really get anything out of being forced to earn First class in the first year.

 

I start every new year talking to my parents and explaining the program, and how it differs from Cub Scouts and why that is. My go to line every year is "I would rather your son stay active in the troop for seven years (11 thru 18) and at our last Scoutmasters conference say he enjoyed his time with us than be pushed earn his Eagle at 14 and drop out because he hated the program. While your son may not have made eagle, he would have experienced leadership opportunities, made lifelong friends, developed positive traits, and learned skills that will serve him for the rest of his life

 

I feel the key then is not rushing scouts to first Class, but offering a good program. Scouts will advance at their own speeds.

Very well said.

 

We do a new scout patrol for the first 6 months with 2 older scouts being Troop Guides.  Then they get integrated into vertical patrols where there are always a mix of ages in the patrol so they always have someone to ask questions to or to help.   I would rather scouts not even think about ranks until later on in scouting and focus on the basics.

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I can understand National thinking that Scouts that earn First Class in their first year tend to stay longer, but I think that we're just rushing them along. Do the boys really get anything out of being forced to earn First class in the first year.

 

I start every new year talking to my parents and explaining the program, and how it differs from Cub Scouts and why that is. My go to line every year is "I would rather your son stay active in the troop for seven years (11 thru 18) and at our last Scoutmasters conference say he enjoyed his time with us than be pushed earn his Eagle at 14 and drop out because he hated the program. While your son may not have made eagle, he would have experienced leadership opportunities, made lifelong friends, developed positive traits, and learned skills that will serve him for the rest of his life

 

I feel the key then is not rushing scouts to first Class, but offering a good program. Scouts will advance at their own speeds.

 

I agree that there is no need to rush. But it is can also be an easy goal to reach if the troop is focused on teaching scout skills. First Class rank is an achievement of mastering the craft of Scouting. If the troop (and I mean youth), are learning, using, perfecting and teaching other scouts the skills of scouting then First Class will come naturally and more likely, sooner rather than later, because they are doing & having fun.

 

If I had to pick to change only one thing about rank advancement, it would be replace all the words 'explain', 'tell,' 'discuss' with 'show,' 'do,' 'demonstrate.' More do, less talk, and ranks will be achieved without much thought to the process.

Edited by HelpfulTracks
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How to insure they are in a patrol with their friends?

Well, we don't insure that.  We do let them tell us if there is a scout or three they would like to be in their patrol.  Our most senior boys review those and do a great job trying to do their best.  We we able to match them with at least one of those choices.

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