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Our Future is Still Bright...If We Allow It to Be


LeCastor

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I have a success story in the making!

A female Webelos - the only one in her pack, recently visited my son's troop to satisfy one of her AOL requirements. She visited us from the next council and county over. As the den leader for my daughter's AOL den (in yet another council and county over in the other direction), we invited her join us at our den meetings. She earned her Looking Back Looking Forward elective with us at our last meeting and will be joining us tomorrow to satisfy Build a Better World #4 - when we are visiting with yet another local pack who has invited the local school board president.

We are finding ways to make things work.

It is a great feeling to know that our little act of kindness to her has made her feel a greater part of scouting. We are hopeful that if we start a troop in February that she will be one of our founding members.

Me: "Valkyries Approach!"

Den: "Lead the Way!" (Patrol Yell)

Edited by Hawkwin
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Must all forums are generally negative because the format was built as a resource for seeking information. Think of how many forums you visited just to learn about a subject. Folks with successful experiences don't generally seek to brag to the world. We come here to seek solutions, so the causes of the situations get a great deal of attention.

And a lot of the program has changed in  the last 30 years. My passion is "boy run" "patrol method" scouting, so I came here in my early days to learn more about how to implement patrol method. Now I hang around to spread the fruits of my experiences. 20 years ago the Patrol Method forum carried easily 25% of the total Scouter.com discussions. Now, it gets maybe one a month. That in of itself is indicative of how the program has been changing.

But, I'm so starved for a patrol method discussion, I might have to ask questions under a different name. Hmm, what name should I use. Kudu? No, no, that one sounds to much like a musical instrument. Beavah? No, no, that just sounds weird. I know BOBWHITE! Oh, wait? That name leaves a bad taste for some reason, I don't know why. Thinking, thinking........

Barry

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Last night we held our final troop meeting for 2018. Ours is an LDS troop that will go out of existence one year from now. We used last night's troop meeting to motivate by highlighting the Scouting journey that lies ahead in 2019, both in terms of rank advancement and outdoor adventures. We anticipate up to 14 new Eagle Scouts in 2019 (in a normal year, it's just 3 or 4). We compared our 2019 troop activity calendar to a rock band's farewell tour schedule. We will be revisiting many favorite camping destinations from past years. As we moved month-to-month through the calendar, their excitement escalated to cheering as each new campout was revealed. Next summer we will attend two premier BSA summer camps, plus a backpacking trip. We unanimously agreed that our troop will go out with a bang - not a whimper. We will not just finish the race, but we will do it in style.

How's that for some positivity?

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27 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

I'm so starved for a patrol method discussion

Then start writing. Seriously. You know it. You enjoy it. You want to share it. I mean this in the most respective and appreciative way I can. Write something that we can point people to. Write something that will not only explain how to do patrol method but why.

One of the problems with the usual writing is the authors are trying to keep things short and not get into too much detail. The result is overly vague and not useful. It also has no emotion. We all get goose bumps when a scout first conquers his fears and starts leading his patrol. That needs to be conveyed in order to get someone to understand why. It does not come across in a description of ethical decision making. You have tons of stories and those stories are what grabs people. It's passion that turns people, not claptrap written my committees.

And don't tell me that it's all out there because if it were then we wouldn't see someone, like NotEagleDad, write something like:

35 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Now, it gets maybe one a month. That in of itself is indicative of how the program has been changing.

I knew this other guy on the forum, I forget his name, but he always used to end his posts with "I love this scouting stuff." That's what we need more of. There will always be bad stuff, there's little hope in ending that. But it's the good stuff that will change things. In fact, I love this scouting stuff would be a great title, rather than something that contains the word manual.

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12 hours ago, Sentinel947 said:

m we've put on, the lives we've changed. I'm grateful that the transition has gone mostly well, as we all know, it can be dangerous time for a troop program. I'm thrilled to see new parents step into roles on the Committee and as ASM's. I'm disappointed that for me, my time with my Troop has just about come to an end, but I'm optimistic that the Troop will continue to do great things for our Scouts and our community. I hope I've made a positive impact on the Troop, because it's definitely changed my life for the better. I know I'll continue supporting Scouting in different ways going forward, and I'm excited to see what my next chapter in Scouting will look like. 

Isn't that why we do all this after all? 

20181219_193817.jpg

I don't know how much of a religious person you think of yourself, but your last paragraph reads like a prayer. 

We've known you on this forum since you were a scout. I've enjoyed watching grow into the man you are today, and I am excited for the man you are becoming. 

Thank you for opening yourself to us and sharing a bit of your life. I must admit, through the years I have you found as inspiring to this forum as much as you have inspired those who are personally involve with your scouting ambitions and experiences. You truly live up to "Loving this scouting stuff".

Barry

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7 hours ago, Eagledad said:

I don't know how much of a religious person you think of yourself, but your last paragraph reads like a prayer. 

We've known you on this forum since you were a scout. I've enjoyed watching grow into the man you are today, and I am excited for the man you are becoming. 

Thank you for opening yourself to us and sharing a bit of your life. I must admit, through the years I have you found as inspiring to this forum as much as you have inspired those who are personally involve with your scouting ambitions and experiences. You truly live up to "Loving this scouting stuff".

Barry

I'd consider myself fairly religious. I guess you could consider it a prayer of sorts. I do ask God to help me identify what is will is for my life. 

I appreciate your kind words. I should also thank the many members of this forum. I've learned a great deal of things about Scouting and life from my time here. I will still be dropping in from time to time here, but like my Troop, I'll have less to contribute as I scale back how much time I spend on Scouting. 

 

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I think we, as Scouters, are generally a fairly humble bunch. We don't do it for the recognition, and when things are going well we tend to just privately be happy about things going well and try to maintain the positives in our programs. When things go badly, that's when we turn to others for help, and on an Internet forum looking for help means shining a big old spotlight on the negatives. 

I think we do mention the positives, but we often don't start new threads about them. I'm pretty sure I mentioned our wildly successful recruiting effort in my Pack this year, doubling the Pack size since June. Which is great, but again, I'm not going to start a thread about it. When I look at what's on my desk at the moment and I've got that stat about Pack membership alongside an ongoing issue of bullying in the Pack, you know which item I'm more likely to bring to this forum. 

There is a lot of good going on, and it does often get overlooked here. But not because we're a negative group, we're all doing what we can to improve our units, and that means asking for help with problems far more often than it means pointing out the good things we see happening. 

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