EagleInKY

Nice. This one's a keeper!

I would suggest that you make sure that your committee and charter organization knows of the situation. If they are comfortable with her staying in position, then all should be fine. If they have concerns or want to seek the advice from the Council office, it's their call.

I'm not a psychiatrist, nor do I play one on TV. But these are some of my learnings over the years: - Don't let them call home. - Keep them busy. We get them to take as many handicraft MBs as possible. That gives them projects to do. - Partner them up with mature kids. Talk to those kids about encouraging him. - Make sure he's comfortable. Dry, clean underwear is important. - Make sure he's showering & using the restroom. If the latrine is freaking him out, work out a way for him to use a real restroom. - Don't mother him, he has one of those. Babying him will only make the situation worse. - Make sure he's eating. - Encourage the parents to send a letter or letters. (Hint, these can cause worse homesickness if they talk about things he's missing, such as his dog or Playstation). In those letters, talk about the fun they know he's having and how proud they are of him. - Don't let them call home... but if that does happen, talk to the parents first. And make sure they are prepared to tell him to "suck it up and stay at camp". The last one seems harsh. I actually had that happen once. The Scout told his dad that his stomach hurt. Dad told him to "throw up and get back to camp". The boy made it through the week and matured as much as any kid I had seen. If the parents had babied him and come seen him, we would never have seen him again.

Sure, if they want to do it as a special treat, I don't see a problem. I wouldn't want it to be the norm. For example, we've done "game nights" during Spring Break for the few that remain in town. Movie night would be a good alternative. As for the movie selection, anything within parameters should be okay. Inform the parents of the movie selection and let them decide if it's appropriate.

Beav - I agree with your approach too. We do something similar. My opinion of Summer Camp programs is very much like yours. We do not allow them to take certain MBs in that environment. I try to mask the reason however. I minimize the fact that it's a bad environment for the MB topic and focus on the idea that Summer Camp is a great time to do outdoor badges, like Canoeing, Archery and Pioneering, instead of Citizenships or Family Life.

Yes, you do need 5 boys to start a troop. Try to recruit some of their friends. If each brought in one friend, you'd have enough to get started. (You don't have to maintain the 5, just charter with them, and re-charter, of course). Also, talk to other troops in the area. Are there some older boy scouts that have earned Eagle and are looking for other things to do? You may find one or two willing to help get you started. They could be registered to your unit and get you the numbers as well. Plus, their leadership would be invaluable to getting the group going.

Yeah Semper, my guys sometimes pull out the watch on me. I tell them that I get a couple extra minutes at Courts of Honor. This was a little more "preachy" than usual, but there was a reason. It hit home with some (I hope).

We had an unusually bad year, due to an outgoing cubmaster that tried to sabatoge things. Started the year with: 70 Cubs. Less Web IIs that graduated (12) Lost over summer: ~(10-15) Roundup, added: 25 Attritition (new Cubs): (10) Attritition (others): (10) That leaves us around 45-50 on the roster. Usually we do a little better in roundup and lose a few less through attrition.

On February 5th, Scout Sunday, we held our annual potluck lunch and Court of Honor. This is my Scoutmaster's Minute I shared with the boys at the end of the day. I hope it is something you all can use: Today you face many important choices, choices that will influence the rest of your life. You are given many paths to go down, and as teenagers (or nearly teenagers), you are going to be making choices that will have an impact on how you live rest of your life. I want to remind you of two points of the Scout Law. We usually will ask you about one at a time, such as "What does it mean to you to be trustworthy? or "Tell me about a time you were Loyal". I want to combine the first two points together, a Scout is Trustworthy and a Scout is Loyal. Together, these words say one thing, "a Scout has Integrity". Integrity involves being true to your words, true to yourself and true to each other. It's a combination of being both Trustworthy and Loyal. Let me give you an example. Yesterday was our pack's Pinewood Derby, and many of you helped put it on. Many of us were cheering for Ryan, an autistic boy in the Bear den who came close to winning the championship last year. Ryan's car flew through the den unbeaten to get first place. He won his first couple of heats in the pack championship until in once race his car faltered. It wobbled a little bit and came partially out of the lane. It didn't touch any other cars, and did not appear to be caused by any outside influence, so there was no need to re-race. For a moment, though, I almost called for a re-race. I wanted him to win. But would that have been the honest thing to do? No, as a man of integrity, I have to stand for what is right. For as much as I wanted to see him win, I had to remember that there were two other young scouts who wanted to win just as bad. The next race, Ryan's car faltered again. This time he was in first place and about to cross the finish line. The nose of the car kicked out and it hit frame of the finish line marker. This time, an outside force influenced the order of the race. He clearly would have won. He took his car to the pit, a wheel had come a little loose. That was the cause of the problem. He tightened it up, and returned to race. And to win. He never lost again and he won the pack championship! We were all excited for him. It all turned out well in the end, and we maintainted the integrity of the race. As I said, you are faced with choices. Big ones like "Am I going to keep my body clean?" or "Am I going to drink, smoke or take illegal drugs?". And others, just as important are "Am I going to stand on my own?" or "Am I going to take the easy way and find ways to beat the system, cheat the tests and bend the rules without getting caught?". Or, "Am I going to live by the commitments I made?" or "Do I recite meaningless oaths by repetition and no meaning?". Scouts, you take an oath, to live by the Law, the entire Law. And when you blend all twelve points together, it doesn't look the same. Just as blending Trustworthy and Loyal together we find integrity. When you blend all twelve together, you find a true Boy Scout. A man the world will respect and honor, a man that will be a true success in life.

At our meeting "circle-up", if there were BORs, we announce who passed them. We do not mention it if someone was "deferred". Of course, you always risk that big-mouthed scout who says "hey, how about Billy???".

Trev - Yep, that's it. Glad I'm not on this island by myself. As CM, I typiclally saw the boys for about 1 hour or so a month, with all of them coming in at the same time. I'd learn them over time, but not to the level I do as SM or when I was a Den Leader.

Yes, they can serve in both positions. They are seperate units to there is no rule against it. I know of a few who have done it/are doing it.

Gee, what took you so long. We were beginning to think that was a bear hibernating out in the woods.

I saw an interview of a SF City Coucil member who stated essentially what Kahuna said. With pride, I might add. It had nothing to do with money. IMHO, he was anti-military, anti-war, and specifically anti-Bush.

Trev - I agree. As SM the responsibility to know the boys is much greater than that of the CM. I usually know all of their names within the first meeting or so, but I will have met with them several times before that. Being involved with the pack helps me in that way. I, too, know of a pastor that is phenominal at this. We moved away from my hometown when I was just shy of 9 years old. Our last Sunday was his first Sunday. This was also a church of 1000+ members. A few months later we were back to visit, and he remembered all of us by name (including this 9 year old). Through the years we visit from time-to-time and he knows not only our name, but many details about us. He of course now knows my wife and kids. He is truly amazing. No wonder he's been there for over 30 years. Pretty rare in any job, especially ministers. I wish I had that skill. (Is it a sin to be jealous of a minister?)

Our camp started something in 2004 that I liked. They have a bunch of notebooks with copies of the attendance and requirements check-offs for each area of camp. These are updated at the end of every day (usually by dinner time). They are kept in the Scoutmaster's Lounge. I or one of the ASMs will check it at least a couple of times to see how our guys are doing. And as for our Wednesday evenings, we have filet mignon. No joke. And it's cooked by the SE.

When I started as cubmaster, we only had about 20 boys. I knew all of them by name within a couple of months. I even knew most of the parents. But by the time we were 60-strong, I couldn't keep up. For the boys that joined at roundup (usually 15-20), I typically didn't get to know their names until rechartering or round-up. And there would always be one or two I'd struggle with. As for the parents, it would take even longer to get to know them. They didn't always show up (sometimes the mom brought them, sometimes the dad, etc.), and at pack meetings the boys sat with their den, not with the parents. It usually wasn't until they got their rank advancements in the spring that I started putting them together. Then summer would come and we'd start all over again...

Trust but Verify is a great attitude toward this. Our kids share a computer. It's in the "teen room" with their play station and TV. It's where they hang out, study, talk on the phone, etc. The teen room is always to be open and we can pop in any time. Plus, with two kids who like to antagonize each other (as brothers and sisters do), they do a pretty good job of monitoring each other's practices. There is big brother software that monitors what websites you visit. There is even software that can capture all of their Instant Messages. I've explained to my kids that I can put that on at any time (and they probably wouldn't even know it). Visit their websites that they create periodically and see what's going on. I've heard of parents learning a lot (sometimes shocked) by reading their kids blogs.

Ditto. We give them the info up front, it's up to them to do the work. We may prod them a little, but it's their responsibility. The only heartburn I get (and this is back related to Summer Camp MBCs) is that sometimes the MBC at Summer Camp signs everyone off as doing the pre-reqs, without any evidence or follow-up. I had a scout who I know did not do the pre-reqs get signed off for completing a MB at camp. I asked him how that happened. Turns out, he was late to class the first day. The counselor had asked "did everyone do the pre-reqs?". No ones hand went up, so he immediately signed everyone off for doing them. My guess is this happens more often than we want to admit.

Thank goodness it's not just us with this problem.

Like Ed, we encourage first year's to do lots of handicraft projects. It gives them something to do with their time back at the campsite. I've found this often helps with the homesickness bug. I don't like our First Class program at camp either, so we don't sign our boys up for that. We put together a MB signup sheet that has recommendations for each age, prerequisites for camp, and other notes (such as costs or difficulty). For example, we discourage taking multiple shooting sports during the same week because they all require extra time on the range. It's difficult to get the necessary time in to complete the badges. We've let scouts go against the recommendation, but there's usually justification for it. For example, sailing is recommended for older scouts, but if a scout's dad has a sailboat and he's been sailing for years, then he should be just fine. After we give out the signup sheets, we have all the scouts fill them out and turn them in. We then group them into similar interests. You'll find that the majority of your kids usually fall into their natural peer groups with similar MBs. (Probably because they already talked it over). Nevertheless, these become the "buddy groups" at camp. They get together and make up their schedule. Of course, there's usually a couple of "odd balls", that we have to work with to get their schedule in synch with others.

But Ed, that's not the BSA policy. (But please don't confuse me with your old buddy). I don't want to hijack this thread to discuss Summer Camp partials, my reason for saying it is that it demonstrates the lack of motivation on most of the scouts. Of the handful of scouts that do wrap up their partials, they fall into one of three camps. (1) The overachievers that follow through (oh how I wish we had more of them ). (2) The prodded by parents kids. These guys usually turn out well too. Mom & Dad just have to give them a kick every now and then. (3) The overprotected. I don't know what these are called. But these are the kids whose parents do most of the work for them and then pass it off as their sons work. I've got one right now that falls into this camp.

Opening (as troop) - includes pledge/oath/law, tell them what is going on tonight. 10 minutes. Skills instruction (can be age/experience-based, patrol-based, or sometimes the entire troop). Depends upon the subject matter, but usually 20-30 minutes. Patrol Meetings (prep for upcoming events, give info, etc.). Again, it depends upon the amount of time needed, but generally 20-30 minutes. Interpatrol activity (some type of game or competition. 10-20 minutes. Closing (as a troop) - 10 minutes Add in transition time and the fact that boys never complete anything on time, you easily use up the 90 minutes. In fact, they often run so long they don't get to do their activity. Once they realized they were the reason (not me), they started paying closer attention to the schedule.

To me, the big missing element is personal accountability/ownership. The scout comes to the meeting, does some homework, and has this little round patch handed to him in the end. That's the way many of them go. I realize that counselors can be tougher than that (and many are), but that is the impression many scouts have of the MB program. When I look back at partials from Summer Camp, I'm amazed and dismayed at how many don't get finished. I've got scouts that only need to write a single page report to complete mammal study, or weave a stool bottom to get basketry, or cook a meal to complete cooking, etc. It's amazing how they won't follow-thru to finish them. I could make it easy and line up all the MB counselors every week and let them check them off, but I don't see that as contributing to the best outcome of the program.

This is certainly one of our age-old debates. We do very little MB work in troop meetings, especially as compared to the other troops in our area. We do a couple of Eagle-required MBs a year, and it's incorporated into the troop program. For example, we designate a month as having a First Aid theme every year. The older scouts may work on more advanced subjects, like Wilderness First Aid or search & rescue techniques. The first year scouts will work with a First Aid MB counselor, who has worked with the SPL and PLC to integrate the MB into the troop meeting plans. It's also incorporated into the campout for the month. There is work to do outside of the meeting. Typically, CPR is done at a different time. Also, the sign-offs are done outside of the meeting by appointment. So, it's not a "be present and get the MB". Our district doesn't provide MB counselors. Most of our MB counselors are committee members or parents that have the skills to be the MBC. Therefore, a convenient time for them to meet with scouts is at troop meetings. It's not unusual for a scout and a MB counselor to spend some time together at a meeting checking on status, turning in work or getting signoffs. Sometimes we'll plug in 15-20 minutes in a meeting for "advancement work". Scouts can catch up with counselors or work on other rank advancement stuff at that time. We don't do this very often, but sometimes we'll do it a few weeks before a cout of honor. I also like the idea of introducing a subject at a troop meeting and then letting the scouts run with it if they like. We've done this several times. I've found, unfortunately, that the scouts seldom take the initiative to follow up with the MBC and do the work. But at least it is an attempt on our part to expose them to the program.