When a new thread starts, I sometimes try and guess who is going to say what.

Very often someone new to Scouting will ask about something that is a hot issue.

Some examples of hot issues are:

Paintball.

God./ Religion.

Uniforms.

Girls.

These are all covered in the rules/ guidelines or whatever you want to call them that the BSA puts out.

When a new person asks, I think we owe it to them to inform them of what the BSA rule is.

This isn't a matter of good or bad advice.

It has nothing to do with supporting or not supporting anyone. It is just informing them what the rules are.

We do discuss some things where there is no clear rules.

Cell phones a little while back seemed to be a hot issue.

The forum members seemed to be split about 50/50? And everyone seemed to have an opinion.

A little while back when I was trying to teach OJ to drive, I made a big thing about not going over the posted speed limit. Some time later he had been on the Pen-dot web site and seen that you didn't get a ticket until you were a few miles over the posted limit. To his way of thinking this meant that he could set the cruise control 10% higher than the limit.

So while it might be true that he is going to not get a ticket for doing 68 MPH in an area posted at 65 MPH, it doesn't make it right.

Was I wrong for not telling him about the 10% rule?

I don't think so.

None of us know what the people who visit this site take from it.

I really don't want anyone ever saying "It must be OK because the guys in Scouter.com said it was!!

Eamonn.

As for the advice one gets from others on this forum - you get what you pay for!

 

And, if you divide what you pay for by the number of posts submitted by the poster you get the "value" of that bit of advice!

I have to factor in the "pick your battles" factor. If the scouters are generally doing a good job, and the aims are being furthered, then in my opinion, there is little to be gained and much to lose in advising an inquirer that their ___(fill in blank with SM, CC, CM... )is doing it wrong and needs to be ____(admonished, disciplined, fired, brought before the DE, drawn & quartered, etc...). Many non-conformances are just not worth getting emotional about; and each of us have our own strengths and weaknesses in ability to effectively implement each bit of program. Each of us have different resources. Each of us have different images of exactly what constitutes character, citizenship, & fitness.

 

By way of analogy, my neighbor allows her children to do things that I would not let mine do. But her children are still turning into good people.

 

And there are some things that I would prefer my kids not do, but allow them to do anyway, because I see it as picking appropriate battle. For instance, I allowed my son to stay out past curfew on special occasions. Certainly against a city ordinance, but he understood the rational. Perhaps some may think that this will turn him into a juvenile delinquent, but those folks don't know me, my son, nor my parenting style, and their conclusion would be incorrect.

 

I think (again, only my own opinion) that responses that go beyond what the BSA policy is, and advise to consider such in the context of the whole cloth, and to be worked consistent with scout oath & law are the most helpful.