EagleInKY

2CD - Agreed. Our troop also encourages First Year scouts to take Swimming at SC, for much of the same reason (good Eagle MB, SC & FC requirements, poor FY program). We are fortunately enough to have an EMT on our committee who teaches First Aid MB. SO, we organize First Aid Training in the Fall, as soon as things get settled back in after the sumer. (Note, I know I'll catch some heat for working a MB into our program, but we try to integrate it into troop meetings as well as a campout. We also try to use it as refresher time for the older scouts.)

When I was a scout, there was a priest at camp that told the story of "Lindercella" each year. It was a play on words of Cinderella, I think I spelled it right. I don't remember how it went, but I remember all the boys loving the story. The priest has long since deceased, and I have not found anyone else that has the text. Has anyone here heard of it?

I'll take the easy answer... BOTH. Some Merit Badges are for the continued development of basic Scout skills. First Aid, Citizenships & Camping come to mind. These are Merit Badges that build on basic scout skills and try to take their understanding to a deeper level. Other Merit Badges, Atomic Energy is a good example, offer a chance for boys to learn about areas that they have never been exposed to. Or, to enhance their interest in a particular area. An example of each.... One, we offered a MB day last winter. We offered two different MBs for the boys to get started on. The MBs were Photography & Atomic Energy. There was one boy who wasn't interested in either, but decided to come anyway and signed up for Atomic Energy. He loved it. He completed the requirements within a few weeks. I have another boy that is interested in landscaping as a potential career. He's only 14, so his mind may change many times before then. But, he wants to earn the Landscape Architecture badge. He's trying to find another scout to buddy with him, but hasn't found one yet. That's a great example of a boy wanting to enhance his interest in a particular area.

FOG & Dog - I would assume that it's for the same reason that many schools have changed their mascots. It's not PC to be a southern rebel. And people can't seem to distinguish between that kind of rebel and any other kind.

Great point, Bob. I'm not addressing the pros and cons of the NSP. I don't have enough experience to give a valid opinion. Our troop is just over 1 year old, so last year all of the boys were a "NSP". We just didn't call it that. This year, without enough mature, senior boys to serve as a Troop Guide, we decided to operate in a somewhat "blended" program. Some activities are oriented around them being "new scouts" and others they are integrated with their patrols. Their PLs are - in effect - serving as their troop guide. But, to the point that eaglescout03 made, I concur with Bob's thoughts. By now, you should know that leadership takes many forms. Some is given by title, but other forms of leadership are granted by respect, knowledge, charisma, size and, yes - age. One of the toughest jobs in life - whether you are an athelete, a plumber or a businessman - is to lead those that you don't have direct control over. We often have leadership opportunities that don't follow the normal chain of command. In fact, sometimes we have to lead those who should be our leaders. The patrol method in Boy Scouts is one of the best places for a young man to learn and practice these skills. Back to our troop - our first set of PLs were elected based on size and "most vocal". Both PLs were relative failures. But were they..? While their leadership experiences were not positive, and they made many, many mistakes. The boys learned that they needed to elect someone who could lead them, not the person who was the biggest, baddest or loudest. Hence, in their second election, they elected the most mature boys, the ones that, IMHO, set the best example of living by the Scout Oath and Law. These PLs are doing a great job, and the patrol members are doing a much better job of following.

Some of our boys love telling stories (some scary, some funny). The boys seem to love it. It tends to drive the adults away, though.

John, I was able to save one out of Troopmaster in .rtf format. It doesn't match it exactly, but it's something to go off of. Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.

Well, that certainly complicates things. Then, yes, I would probably push for the election to take place before camp.

I agree with you FOG. Bob hit it on the nose.

54 - I'm not sure what you're asking in your post. But, I wanted to comment on one point. The Patrol Method is just one of eight methods. Another one is "Association With Adults". I've had SMs that take a totally hands off approach to the troop - to the extent that the boys don't even know him or that he exists. They do this under the guise of "this is a boy-run troop". The adults are just the "folks who drive us to the campout", and that's it. I think those troops are doing a dis-service. The boys need the association with adults. They need to see how they lead, encourage and care for them. The active involvement of a caring adult can make a profound difference in the life of a boy. So, don't think of adults as just the drivers and money handlers, but an active part of delivering the scouting program.

We ask all families of boys who join the troop to provide one adult in a leadership position for the first year. Most of these become committee members, while a few may become ASMs. The purpose is so that they will understand what it takes to run the troop and to gain an appreciation of Scoutings Aims & Methods. They get to serve on BORs and participate in activities according to their interest level. Overall, I believe it strengthens their commitment to Scouting and will help reinforce it with the boys. Now, if a parent says 'no', would I kick the boy out. Absolutely not. Thankfully, I haven't run into that yet.

I agree with the posters that the SM is in error. This is not the time to "throttle back" a boy's advancement. If he felt he was advancing too fast, he should have attempted to handle that with the earlier ranks. Side note - I'm all for slowing down a boy who appears to be hell-bent on being the youngest eagle in the history of mankind. I've seen some boys (usually with an agressive mom or dad standing behind them), that fit that description. A SM has some latitude in slowing the pace down and making sure the boy is developing his leadership and service abilities in addition to signing off on MBs. With that said, this is not the time to do it. He should have handled it at Star & Life, then he would not be in this situation now. Talk to the SM, escalate to your council if necessary.

FS - Actually, for advancement, there are requirements for the items you mentioned. Now, if a boy doesn't want to advance, but just "hang out", then I guess you are correct. I'm a uniform bigot. I believe in the method and try to enforce it in every way. I expect (nice word for require) Scouts to wear the uniform. I've never sent a scout home for not wearing a uniform, but then again, I've never had a scout not show up in uniform without a reasonable excuse. I believe if we set our expectations high, encourage them to live up to them, and set the example as leaders, the uniform problem mostly goes away. As for a requirement for wearing a uniform. I believe the Scout Spirit requirement certainly applies. If you have a scout who doesn't want to wear the uniform - for whatever reason (other than financial) - I think you can approach it from the stance of it not demonstrating scout spirit in his actions.

I'm with Red Feather. Allow the "2nd in command" to step up. That's part of the job of an assistant. If he performs well, the boys will likely elect him as the next SPL.

I just went thru New Leader Essentials and Scoutmaster and Assistants Specific. What an incredible waste of time. I cannot put my finger on the problem, but I've seen this too. In fact, the reputation of the training is so bad, it's impossible to get people to go to it. I'm trying to get our new ASMs and Committee members to get trained, and it's like pulling teeth. I don't know if making it mandatory is the answer, but it would at least keep me from being the bad guy that keeps hounding them.

Mich - "As a Life scout I want them to have a larger leadership role in the troop. I will accept PL, Troop Guide, ASPL or SPL if they are ready. ... When it is time for eagle scout, I think they need to be an ASPL, SPL. " I don't know how you can get away with this. The book clearly identifies the positions that qualify as leadership for rank advancement. It even leaves it a little vague as to allow some other leadership opportunities (imho). My concerns with this approach: - Not all boys are cut out to be an SPL. They may be great "servant leaders", and that's fine. The troop needs Instructors, Guides, QM and Scribes in order to function. - For some troops, it would be impossible to allow every boy to be SPL, unless their terms were only for a couple of months. There's a large troop near me that has 6-10 Eagles per year. It would be impossible for all of those boys to be an SPL. Case in point - I served on an Eagle BOR a few months ago. A great young man, 17 years old, had been in Scouting since he was a Tiger. He did a great job in his BOR. His project was a good project, and he showed leadership in it. However, he never served in the traditional positions that you listed. He had held a couple of troop positions (Historian, etc.), Instructor and "troop webmaster". I asked him why he never served as PL or SPL. He had a great response. He said that he didn't have a desire to hold a "power position". He enjoyed serving the troop in the background. He especially liked working with the new scouts, teaching them Scout skills. I thought this was a great response and demonstrated a maturity that many boys who crave the power positions don't have. "I explain to the boys that I will not sign of their time in leadership position just because they wore the patch. They need to do the job as defined in JLT book. " I agree with you there. I see boys get away with this all the time. It's something I'm trying to deal with in our troop.

Our council provides these forms in our recharter packets. They are turned in at the same time. I don't know if that is standard or not, but it's a logical time to do it.

Well said, Eamonn. We expect our guys to wear the uniform, simple as that. Now, if a lad is coming straight from soccer practice, and he has a choice of being 5 minutes late in his soccer uniform or a 1/2 hour late in his Scout uniform, then I'd rather see him on time. But I leave it up to them to make that judgement call. We ask new boys to have uniform pants within a month after they join. If they join in the spring, we ask them to get shorts, and delay purchasing the pants until the fall. We don't ask them to buy new items. Just that they are in decent shape. There are plenty of sources for "gently used" uniforms.

Ed - You're right. Sometimes in the desire to be short, I'm not that accurate. I still agree with you. :-)

Your insurance coverage extends to anyone that is being recruited to join scouts. Therefore, you are safe to invite them. If you are travelling, make sure you include the total number on your tour permit.

I'm w/Bob & Ed on this. Unless it says you can't, then go ahead and use it.

Hey Bluegrass neighbor. Our troop was asked to help organize our district camporee this year as well. One of the ideas they tossed around was an olympics theme. Some of the initial ideas involved combining olympic & scouting themes, such as have a scout skills relay (patrols run from station to station, competing in different skills), an olmpic torch lighting contest (fire building), etc. They are still in the early stages, so I'll be watching for ideas as well.

The "Email tax" is in the category of urban legands that have been around for years. Do a search and you'll find it in many websites. However, the possibility of an e-mail tax is closer to reality today than it ever has. With the moretoreum on Internet taxing now expired, states could invoke forms of taxation. Although most "experts" feel that it is unlikely. The UN once proposed a tax that would help develop 3rd world countries. That has since gone by the wayside. So, to the best of my knowledge, there is no e-mail tax currently on the books. But, as always, we need to keep our eyes out for what our legislatures are considering. Numerous articles, here's one: http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20040404-100435-7381r.htm

FOG - You're lucky. Most of the posters that would take your bait only live in the Issues & Politics section. I won't tell them if you won't. ManyIrons - Thanks for the link! That's an awesome story. I wish others would pick up on it. Great Scoutmasters Minute story, our guys take what they have for granted. They may complain about having to clean up after a meal or earn toten chip before carrying a knife, but at least they don't have a dictator trying to shut down the movement.

Great post Eamonn! I had a scout transfer to our troop from another one. He had essentially dropped out due to what I believe was a general lack of discipline in the other troop. The adults pretty much let the scouts do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn't interfere with their morning coffee. In our planning conference, he suggested lazer tag. I vetoed it due to the G2SS. He pouted and complained because his other troop does it. I pointed out to him that the reasons he left that troop had a lot to do with them not following the rules. We can't break a rule because we don't like it, because the next guy down the line may have a different rule that he doesn't like. If we all pick our least favorite rule to break, we would have a mess on our hands.