gcook1

I just need to vent. I'm constantly amazed at how technologically backward BSA is. Our council website says you can go to MyScouting and submit tour permits online. Great! Finally! Submitting documents online! Welcome to the year 2000!!! I'm on MyScouting... Unit Tools... There it is at the bottom of the page. A description of the great feature of submitting permits online. Is there a link to the actual page? Nope! Any clue whatsoever where you can ACTUALLY USE THE FEATURE??? NOPE!!!! AUGH!!!!!!! I'm giving up after half an hour of searching a horribly designed website. Thank you so much, BSA, for making things so much easier for volunteers to work with you (insert heavy sarcasm here).

Hi everyone, I'm scoutmaster for a troop of about 65 registered Scouts with about 30 "active" scouts. We're a boy-led troop. Since my active scouts are almost all 13 and younger, it's a huge challenge. The Green Bar has decided they want to do a Skills Challenge night once a month. The idea was that each patrol would come up with a skills challenge. They would teach an adult their challenge, so the Scouts could go through the challenges and compete against each other. When the Senior Patrol Leader showed me what they had come up with, I was disappointed. I was a pretty disappointed in what they came up with. After thinking about it, I realized the problem is that they don't really know what to do for challenges. So I'm thinking I'd like to put together a kind of list for them to pick from. I'd encourage them to come up with their own ideas. But if they can't think of something, they could use one of the pre-planned activities. But since our troop hasn't done many skills challenges and I've only got a couple years' experience...I'm realizing I could use some ideas myself! So how about some help from my fellow Scouters? Please don't just suggest "something with first aid". I know that. But if you could give me specifics... like stage an unconscious victim and the patrol needs to determine what the injury is and how to treat it. That's my one idea...what have you got? Thanks for your help!!!

I'm not sure on official BS policy. But in our troop, once you're 18 you're considered non-registered and no longer in Boy Scouts as a Boy Scout. If a Scout wants to continue as a Scouter, he fills out an adult registration. I like that approach simply because it gives us the opportunity to talk to him about expectations. He's an adult leader now, not a Boy Scout. We talk to him about what that means. How he'll be expected to make adult decisions. On outings, he's part of the 'Fraid Knot' patrol...our adult patrol. (get it? What they think our answer is too often...'fraid not) So, for instance, when a Scout pulls his cellphone out to call his girlfriend on an outing, the Scouter is expected to take it away and turn it in to the Scoutmaster.

Well, thanks everyone for your input. It's been interesting! After getting very little sleep last night, I thought I'd put an update in for anyone interested. First of all, the Scout's dad is our troop treasurer. I "thought" I knew him fairly well. I wouldn't call us close friends, but more than passing aquantances. My son and his son go to the same high school. So I called him last night. I asked him if he had read his son's draft. He had. I asked how closely he read it. He said "This is about that sentence, isn't it?" Yes, it is. He proceeded to absolutely BLOW UP! Totally lost it. Screaming at me, how could I possibly think that was serious? It was a JOKE! He read it. He thought it was funny. How could I possibly think it was for real? I tried to explain I knew it was a joke. A rough draft of an Eagle project isn't the place for his son to practice his comedy routine. He totally does not get it. He couldn't stop yelling long enough to hear a single word I said. This is the fun part of Scoutmaster, isn't it???? Anyway...I don't know where to go from here. Dad doesn't understand what's appropriate and what's not. Now I see where the son gets it. (This message has been edited by gcook1)

oh, I totally agree with C). I'm sure in his head he was being funny. I guess I'm just wondering if he's really ready to work on his Eagle. Should I just have the talk about proper timing of humor and let him go ahead? Or does this demonstrate he needs a little more maturity first?

Hi everyone...I'm a Scoutmaster who needs some unbiased opinions. Yesterday, I received an email from our advancement coordinator. One of our Life Scouts had emailed him a first draft of his idea for his Eagle project. It was obviously a first draft...missing a lot of information. However, there was one section that bothers me greatly. In the Project Description, he described his project...who it benefited, what he was doing, etc. But the last sentence was a doozy. "I strongly suggest you approve this project. If you do, you will find a nice paycheck under your chair and if not, you will find a small needle in your arm full of cyanide that I have the power to activate." So I'm thinking a) what an incredible lack of common sense and maturity to put that on the form. b) complete lack of respect/understanding of the Eagle Scout project and rank. I'm not signing off on this kid's project. This is a Scout who is 15 and a Sophmore in high school. Yes, I would count him as one of my more immature Scouts. If someone's doing something "un-Scoutworthy" on an outing or at a meeting, he's not leading but he's most likely participating. What would you do in this situation? My initial reaction is to let him and his parents know I don't plan on signing off on his project and he's got a LOT of maturing to do before I'll consider approving any project he proposes.