gwd-scouter

We have a small Troop of 11 Scouts. This is really the first year that we've had the full range of ages and ranks and very distinct skill levels. Everyone is going on a backpack trip this weekend. All will arrive together. Our four older Scouts (ages 14-17) will head off on their own (no adults) to one of the longer, more adventurous and strenuous trails. Our middle group of Scouts and the new Scouts will be working on the 5-mile map/compass hike and nature identification. They've set themselves up into 3 teams with a more experienced Scout helping a new Scout or two. The planning for this trip was done much the same way. Buddy teams were formed (of 2 or 3) and menus made for each group. On the Friday before the trip, the guys will get together and in their teams they will inspect each other's backpacks to make sure they have everything. The group of older Scouts has really outperformed by expectations. They have done all the preparation for their group on their own - even being sure to call the guy that wasn't there Monday to make sure he's OK with the menu they planned. So here's an example of everyone going on the same outing, but having somewhat different activities: more advanced Scouts have a chance to do their own thing, middle group of Scouts are teaching and helping new Scouts. It took us a long time to get here, but I'm very excited about the direction our Troop is taking.

Summer camp a couple of years ago. New Scout wasn't feeling well when he went to bed. I was sitting up late in the campsite when the Scout appeared, walked calmly to the trashcan and vomited. He looked up at me on his way back to the cabin and very seriously said, "sometimes a guy's just gotta barf."

Vicki, we present the rank pins immediately as well. Our Council Office is over an hour's drive and won't sell the rank patches without an advancement form, so it just isn't feasible to drive up and back just to pick up one award. We present the actual patch and parents' pins at the COH.

Bad manners displayed by one Scout's Mom. This Scout is newly appointed as Troop Guide in our Troop. He is very smart and knows his Scout skills, but he has a lot of learning to do in helping others and leadership. He's one of those guys that always has an excuse for why he doesn't do things or follow through and his Mom is ready to defend him at every turn. I knew it was going to be difficult, but I really thought it was time to help him grow. A couple of weeks ago, his lack of planning resulted in the consequence of having to take a tent home to refold and return the next week. He wasn't excited about it, but he understood it was his responsibility. His Mom made a huge scene in the parking lot. "Why does he have to bring this home?" "I'm not putting this thing in MY car." "She's just picking on you." "There are other Troops around." The next day I got several emails from a few Scouts, parents, and leaders that were there for the parking lot scene. They all said essentially that it wouldn't be much of a loss to let the Mom go find another Troop. They may be right, I've had many conferences with this kid and then listened to his Mother berate me for it, but I have actually seen a change in this Scout and I'm not ready to throw in the towel. A couple of days after the parking lot incident I got an email from the Mom. About a month ago I mentioned NYLT coming up in June and how it would benefit her son. She rolled her eyes at me and said she'd think about it. In the email she just sent she asked about when the deposit was due for NYLT. No mention of anything that happened Monday. I really want to work with this kid, but am getting very weary of Mom. How can I possibly help her son grow and learn as a Scout and in his POR, most likely resulting in hard lessons for him, by having to worry about his Mom making a scene.

CE stands for Common Era and is becoming more frequently used instead of AD, as is BCE (before common era) instead of BC.

Our Troop hasn't been around very long and is always small so our numbers don't make much of a sampling, but here are our stats: 2001 - our first Eagle, age 14 1/2 2003 - 3 Eagles all aged 16 2005 - 1 aged 18 + 1 week (at BOR) 2006 - 1 aged 18 + 1 day (at BOR) 2007 - 1 aged 17, 11 months and two weeks (at BOR) Looking at one aged 17, 11 months this summer; another aged 15 1/2 in the fall this year.

Hmmm, putting Monica on Hillary's shoulders. Put someone on McCain's shoulders (how about "W") and then televise the chicken fight. Great fun for the campaign season.

Lauwit, I would disagree that the Uniform Method is the lowest of the eight. I see them as all being equal in importance in the development of our Scouts. You'll read many posts that remind us that the uniform is not required to be a Boy Scout. True, but then one could probably argue that none of the methods is required to be a Boy Scout. A Boy Scout does not need to advance to be in a Troop. A Troop doesn't have to have patrols. They could do all of their activities indoors. The guys don't have to have the opportunity to work with other adults. Scoutmaster could run everything thereby negating the need for leadership development. Personal growth? Well, a guy could be happy to sit around indoors, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and have others tell him what to do and still be a Boy Scout. Of course, if the above was an actual description of a Troop, I think it would hardly be recognizable as a Boy Scout program. The eight methods all work together. To me, they all have equal importance. For example, if a Troop doesn't try to use the patrol method, the guys miss out on opportunities for leadership development. If a Troop doesn't have a program that challenges the Scouts to learn new skills, get outside and practice those skills, and then advance in rank, when and how would personal growth happen? The uniform method is certainly the most visible measure of how a unit is working on all eight methods and I use it as sort of a barometer of how things are going with the Scouts in our Troop. Several years ago our Troop had a waist up uniform method and even that wasn't consistent. The adults didn't care about the uniform - it's too hard to get the guys to wear it, they would say - so they just didn't bother to try. The problem was that a lot of things became too hard to get the guys to do, so they didn't try that either. Advancement was a check mark in a book. Adults planned everything and did most of the work. Outings were down to about five a year. Merit badges were only those worked on at summer camp. Weekly meetings were a social gathering. PORs were a title and a patch. The Scout Oath and Law were merely words to be recited at the opening of meetings. We've worked on all of those deficiencies and our Troop is in great shape these days. We are a small Troop so we only have one patrol at the moment, but we're attracting attention as having a good program that does something every month, has no other rules other than the Scout Oath and Law to guide us, encourages advancement by providing the opportunities to do so, provides chances for the guys to work with adults outside of the regular Troop leadership, and trains the Scouts and expects them to perform in PORs - all of which leads to personal growth. Oh yeah, we look good while we're doing it, too.

Asst. to the Director of Genetics Institute.

Uh, le Voyageur - the tall hat is a mitre, but the yarmulke (zucchetto) is worn underneath, and is different colors - white for the Pope, red for Cardinals, violet shade of red for Bishops.

The Pope, Cardinals and Bishops do wear a yarmulke as an acknowledgment of Christianity's roots in Judaism.

Men were expected to remove hats whenever they went indoors, not just for church but anywhere. That's what I learned growing up. That's what my brothers learned. Sadly, that courtesy just isn't seen anymore. I wonder, though, if it is more prevalent here in the South. Everywhere I go I see men and boys indoors wearing ball caps. In fact, it is unusual to actually see a male around here without a ball cap. It especially bothers me in restaurants, but as long as my guys are following what I learned was customary courtesy I guess that's all I can do. We do have a restaurant in town, not fancy shmancy but nice, that has printed along the bottom of every page of their menu that ball caps are not allowed in the dining room. The first time I saw that I wondered to myself why in the world the owners felt it necessary to print the statement.

But, OGE, if you had stood in bed you run the risk of bumping your head.

"Thank you, God, that no one broke anything on Saturday's ski trip, Amen" - last night's meeting opening prayer.

Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?

My memory is not what it used to be, but didn't Geraldine Ferraro's tears as Mondale's running mate cause the talking heads of the day to say that because she was a woman she just wasn't strong enough for the VP job - see she's crying, that just proves it. Now we have Hillary "crying" and so many are saying how wonderful it is to see her softer side. Times change. I like that about Hillary waiting to be King. I've not been able to put my finger on just why I dislike her so. She probably would make a good president, but something about her just rubs me the wrong way. I know, not the best way for me to choose who to vote for. I thought for a time that I could give my support to Huckabee, but I was very much bothered by his statement about changing the Constitution to match God's standard. I've been a voter since 1976. I can't remember ever feeling excited about casting my vote, but rather cast my vote as a vote against the other guy. Obama makes me feel inspired. Listening to him makes me feel that great things are possible once again in this Country. Probably not the best way to determine my candidate, but at least this year I was happy and eager to vote in my State's primary and sincerely hope I'll have the chance to vote for him again in November.

Thanks LisaBob for clearing up that delegate thing for candidates that suspend/withdraw from the race. I listened to the news, but none of the commentators was very clear about delegates going as uncommitted to the convention. Makes sense. It is indeed amusing to watch all the kvetching from the likes of Coulter, Limbaugh, and the Republication party. I thought their party loyalty was stronger than that. Did anyone catch the little item about McCain's vote, or rather non-vote, on the economic stimulus bill and giving rebate checks to social security recipients and disabled veterans? He'd look bad no matter which way he voted, so he just didn't vote at all.

But Gern, I used to ride one so does that make me a manly-girl? Of course, since I don't ride anymore perhaps I've been reformed.

OK, Pappy, that's it. I've been tolerant. I've been mostly bemused by your posts. But now you've gone and done it. Insulting Den Mothers - the nerve! By the way, the current term is Den Leader as there are quite a number of men doing the job these days. Yep, I was a Den Leader. Proud of it. Proud of the boys I helped moved toward becoming Boy Scouts. I can firmly attest that they did not suffer any gender confusion under my leadership. You may now resume previous programming. Have a nice day.

News reports say Mitt is suspending his campaign not quitting altogether. It means he keeps his delegates for now. I remember John Edwards said the same thing in his press conference about suspending, but never heard more after that. Did Edwards eventually just quit the campaign? Where did his delegates go? Honestly, I don't know what it means that Mitt keeps his delegates. Do those delegates just vanish at some point? Do they all get turned over to McCain? How about if they'd prefer Huckabee? Ron Paul could use the help... Gotta go, I think CNN is using that amazing telestrater...another new word for Websters. Hello, my name is gwd-scouter and I'm a politics junkie.

Now that last post just HAS to be bait. Wait Vicki, I'll join you...

MLG - You bring up an interesting point about scheduled BORs. A couple of our new ASMs went to training a few weekends ago and came back asking why we don't have regularly scheduled BORs (their trainer said that's the way to go). I explained that we schedule a BOR when a Scout is ready. Yes, scheduling conflicts can arise and, yes, it would be much easier for the adults conducting the BORs to put something more regular on their calendars, but that means a Scout may have to wait for three months until the next BOR comes up. Not fair to the Scout in my opinion. Maybe it's not such a big deal for the guy going from Tenderfoot to 2nd Class, but consider the guy going from 1st Class to Star to Life to Eagle. Since his time as active in his new rank cannot begin until he has his BOR for the previous rank, making him wait for months isn't right. As I said, this is my opinion and how we do it in our Troop. The newly trained leaders I mentioned above understood and agreed and in our case we will continue to schedule BORs when needed.

Speaking of food - an idea we've had floating around for the past year is doing another community service project involving food. The plan is to grow vegetables as part of the "Grow a Row" program. There is a very nice area behind the building we use for our Troop meetings. I believe the CO could be persuaded to let us do this since they seem to be more responsive to our (their) Troop. Guys would take turns tending the garden over the growing time, harvest what comes in, and then donate to our local food bank or soup kitchen. The guys are very interested in trying this year to propose the idea.

Courtesy. Something I've been dealing with a lot lately it seems. It may just be the winter blues, but I am getting increasingly upset over the lack of courtesy shown by some of our Scouts and, worse, their parents. Of course, the lack of courtesy on the parents' part explains a lot about the Scouts. Recent example: Our Scouts know and are reminded often that they must attend the Troop meeting and pay any money due immediately before a weekend outing. Or, if something comes up and they can't be at the meeting, they must let their PL know. We have a ski trip this weekend. Guys and their parents have known about this for months, and email reminders sent about when money was due, etc. Last night, one of our Scouts showed up and was talking with the other guys about the ski trip. Thing is, I've never heard from this Scout or his Mom that he was actually going, never received the deposit, nor the full payment that was due last night. When I saw his Mom in the parking lot after the meeting, she just said, "Oh I just don't have time to check emails, I'm very busy. Here's a check." So, why would this Scout even care about courtesy and personal responsibility in letting his fellow Scouts know if he's going on a trip or not - Mom doesn't? I completely agree with Ed on the lack of social skills in many young people today. All the cells phones, emailing, and text messaging, are causing ever decreasing sociability.

I had a Honda 350 in my late teenage years. Very fun.