gwd-scouter

I guess I'll be the first to admit that I haven't read ANY books this year. I do read newspapers daily and news magazines weekly. Oh I used to read all the time - books galore. But, as I prefer to read in bed, my arms are not long enough now to go without those dreaded reading glasses, which are uncomfortable because I like to lay on my side while reading. I've been meaning to read the new Harry Potter book, but it is too cumbersome to read in bed because of the pain and frailty of my wrists and fingers due to arthritis. Summertime reading during my vacation at the beach? Well, I wasn't able to find any $10 drug store reading glasses that are also sunglasses. Besides, too many other distractions to pay attention to on the beach. Then, of course, if I spend my time reading books I may miss the latest celebrity news, toy recall, or political scandal. Let's see....can I come up with any more lame excuses to make myself feel better about the fact I haven't read a book this year?

I've always been a fan of Snoopy and was thrilled when I received a gift of the Beagle Scout figurine like Eagle90 mentioned. I have a comic strip from 2001 on my office door that shows a line of presumably Scouts arm-in-arm like the Rockettes. One Scoutmaster saying to another, "I said, make these boys into a troop and put them in line, NOT a "troupe" and NOT THAT KIND OF LINE

Jambo, I'm sorry but I am not sure what your post is asking or commenting on. Are you suggesting that I took control of the weekend by being the "guiding force" rather than relying on "immature 14 year old youth." While I may have only mentioned the 16 year old and 15 year old that ran the weekend, I'm am extremely proud of our corps of younger Scouts (2 of whom are 14) who I see as the next wave of leaders in our Troop. Sorry if I have misinterpreted your message, but I've read many of your posts that have been very critical of efforts by those Troops that support and work toward being scout-led.

We held our third annual planning campout last weekend. Each year brings more boy involvement and less adult involvement in coming up with ideas. As I mentioned in the thread about boy-run/boy-led, the weekend was chaotic at times, but I'd like to share the good stuff. This year was particularly gratifying. We now have a good spread of ages in our Troop: oldest is 16, youngest just turned 11, with ages 12-15 filling in the rest. We don't have the meeting for just the PLC since our troop only has nine guys in total. So, they all come. What made this year different than the past two was that the 16 y.o. and our 15 y.o. SPL (PL in reality since we only have one patrol), controlled the planning and managed to keep the other guys focused. Without going into long boring details, I will use a couple of moments during the meeting that I overheard as examples of how the day went. Guys were talking about trips they took this past year, what they liked, didn't like, and wanted to do again. Everyone agreed they wanted to go skiing and caving again and put the trips on the calendar for February and March. That's when the more mature reasoning skills of our 16 y.o. Scout came in. He talked to the guys and noted that we did both those trips last year back to back, both being a bit expensive, and wouldn't it be a better idea to spread them out and have a few less expensive or even free trips in between. Then, 15 y.o. SPL mentioned that would be a good idea but they also should plan to do some fundraisers so that cost wouldn't be such a concern. Also, the enthusiasm of our older Scouts for more adventurous activities is spreading and they have planned two backpack trips and a canoeing/wilderness survival weekend to an island in one of our State's beautiful mountain lakes. After the planning, everyone went swimming in the lake. I was a bit worried since no plans were actually made for what to do during free time and I thought they would get quickly bored of just splashing around in the lake all afternoon. Shouldn't have been worried, they had a great time together. That's the thing I've noticed that is so different from our old Troop. The older guys actually DO STUFF with the younger guys. At one point, we adults watched as our two new Scouts practiced rescues with a couple of the older guys as the "drowning" victims. Beautiful! Shining moments. They are thinking for themselves. They put together a wonderful calendar for the upcoming year. Can't wait to get started.

I can't really say what is typical in our Troop. We've changed so much these past few years. I will say that in the past, most guys in our Troop were made 1st class within their first year. I say "made" because our new guys went through the Pathfinder Program offered at summer camp where they were instructed on almost every requirement from T-1st. The problem was that they were instructed in these things, didn't actually learn or demonstrate themselves, but were signed off after camp as having completed the requirements. Lot's of 1st class Scouts that didn't know a thing. I speak from personal experience here because my younger son was one of those "pencil-whipped" first class scouts. I can give a clear picture of what's happened the past couple of years. In 2006, we had four Scouts join our Troop. First guy joined in March 2006 and just had his 1st class BOR, so that's about 18 months. Two more joined in May 2006, one earned 2nd class this past June, the other is having his 2nd class BOR next week. Fourth joined in July 2006, is second class and only has a couple of requirements remaining for 1st. He has been a very active Scout, always reading his handbook and will reach 1st class sooner than the others have. This year we got two new Scouts. Both just completed their requirements for Tenderfoot and have SM conferences next week, about five months since joining.

In the past three years of reorganizing our small troop, our Committee has been basically thrown together with whatever adults were willing to step in. A paper committee. Our CO is not interested (and never has been) in selecting and approving leaders for the Troop, so filling the positions of the Committee has been the function of the Scoutmaster, not just for the past three years since I've been SM, but since the Troop's inception. My main focus for the past three years has been the boys and getting the Troop to a place where the guys are making the plans and carrying them out. Recruiting has also been on the top of the list of things to do and we've had very limited success in this area, but the future is brighter for the upcoming year. Now that the boys are on their way, I've been working toward getting a Committee together that will actually do something and take the burden of me. So far, we've recruited a Committee Chair, Treasurer, and Advancement Coordinator. With our small troop these are really the only three positions we need at this point. Still working on the COR, but with no help from the CO, this continues to be something of a problem. We are having a meeting in a couple of weeks with the new Committee to talk about their responsibilities to the Troop. Already our new Committee Chair is excited about the job. She has been (sort of) doing our Advancements, but that's not really her bag. She has expressed interest in organization behind the scenes like organizing recruiting, fundraisers, etc. and I think she truly is better suited to that. One of our new Scout's Mom is taking over advancement. She had said she would like to know more about what goes on in the Troop and wanted to know what she could do to help. Ditto for new Treasurer. So....this is the first time we actually had folks WILLING to work on the Committee and asking what they could do to help our Troop. The future looks promising. Edited to add: I forgot to mention, over the years we've had two men whose sons are now in college continue to serve on our Committee in the capacity of doing BORs. This has been enormously helpful to us since in the past history of our Troop, the ASMs did the BORs (thrown together at the last minute with whoever happened to be at the Scout meeting that night).(This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

shrimp and grits

Last night, some of our guys decided they wanted to work on Pulp and Paper merit badge. Has anyone on the forum ever done this badge? If so, do you have any information for the requirement on making a sheet of paper? I've seen a few websites with directions and it does look like fun.

John-in-KC - are you implying something about my age? Heh heh.

Kahits, I think we've discussed this before, but our troop has been in a similar situation as yours. Last year, we were working with a Pack that had one second year Webelos Scout. He went to Den Meetings with the first year Webelos, but felt a bit left out. We sent the Pack a Den Chief to work with this Webelos Den. After the blue and gold banquet at the Pack, the Webelos Den seemed like they just weren't going to do much more of anything for the rest of the year, so we helped out this single 2nd year Webelos Scout by having him attend our Troop meetings. He was not registered as a Boy Scout because he was not yet 11 years old or finished fifth grade. He was very close to finishing his arrow of light requirements, but needed outdoorsman activity pin and to attend Boy Scout meeting and outdoor activity. What better thing than for his Den Chief to work with him to complete these requirements? He did and had a arrow of light ceremony just for him at the end of March at which time he officially joined our troop. I will say this was a very special boy, not easily intimidated by a bunch of older Scouts, and maybe not like most 10 1/2 year olds. He was alone as the youngest Scout for several months but we just added another new Scout in July. They have become very good pals. The benefit we are about to reap from working with the Pack I mentioned here in addition to another I haven't mentioned, is that now after a couple of years these Packs are larger and both have 4-5 boy 2nd year Webelos Dens looking at our Troop to cross over in the Spring.

Though Class A and Class B are not the correct terms, they are well-recognized so I'll use them here. What I (Scoutmaster) wear: Class B (Scout shorts/pants, Troop T shirt, belt and socks) to regular meetings throughout the year. Summertime exception voted on by PLC: Troop T shirt and any shorts desired to Scout meetings. They generally play Ultimate Frisbee at the end of every meeting or even for most of it during the summer, so casual uniforming standards apply from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Class A (Scout shorts/pants, tan shirt with proper patches, belt, socks, and neckerchief): Throughout the year for SM Conferences, BORs (even though I don't sit on the BORS, I wear the full uniform on those occasions that we have a Scout having his BOR), Court of Honor, and other times when directed by PLC (special visitors, having our meeting at a public place such as attending a County Council meeting, etc.) I also wear the full uniform (without neckerchief) for Roundtable meetings and other such adult leader meetings or trainings. I own a full female Cub Scouter uniform (yep, that wonderful yellow blouse) that I don't think I'll ever wear again since I've been out of Cub Scouting for several years. I have one tan BS short sleeved shirt with all proper patches affixed, one pair scout shorts, one pair old style long pants and one pair new switchbacks. I wear the old style pants for formal occasions simply because I think they look better, but wear the switchbacks for everything else requiring full uniform.

Had our annual planning campout this past weekend. Chaotic as always, but eventually the guys made their plans for the year. Before they began, I introduced them to the G2SS and they passed it around and made comments "Oh, here's where it says we can't do (fill in the blank)." Yes, they FIRST looked up those things they've been told they couldn't do. They have another spelunking trip on the calendar and someone looked that up in the guide to make sure they were following the rules. White water rafting prompted the guys to ask the adults some questions about our qualifications. They decided, yep we can do that. Further reading in the guide - ah, too bad, can't go jet skiing the next time they camp at the lake. They had interesting discussions about the use of words like 'should' and 'must'. (reminded me of some of the threads on this forum). They are growing up and taking charge. Still miles to go yet, but we're getting there. Thanks Barry for the suggestion.

EagleDad, it had never occurred to me to hand over the G2SS to our PLC and let THEM look up what they can and cannot do within the BSA guidelines. What a fantastic idea. It also keeps the adults from having to be the wet blankets and saying, sorry guys BSA rules say you can't do that. Having our annual planning campout this weekend and I will have the G2SS at the ready for the Scouts.

Hmmmm. what does it really mean? In our troop it has meant something different for the past three years. Three years ago, I stepped up as SM and with that the idea that I wanted to turn our troop into the boy-run/scout-run (whatever) model of a Boy Scout Troop. Now three years into the progress, we are still in process. Yes, we've had success in our older boys taking responsibility for the troop (in reality, that means, the former older boys are now gone and the new older boys have learned over the past three years). The new older scouts in our troop learned from the spoon-fed model we've had in place and slowly back-off of over the past couple of years. We've finally sent a couple of buys to Council NYLT training. So far, I've seen good results from that and our current SPL is taking more charge of things. But, the reality three years into our progression is that the boys "know" it is their troop and the they "know" that they are responsible for what happens during meetings and outings. Yes, they have done very well in taking over their troop, but many things are still "suggested" by me, their Scoutmaster. We have our annual planning weekend coming up this weekend and I know they will draw on the success of the past year and come with great plans. They have learned that the adults all subscribe to "if we plan it, we can do it." What I have learned most about the boy-led troop is that is depends on the boys you have, their level of commitment, and that is an ever changing process. As the SM, my challenge is to mentor the new crop of leaders, year after year, to help them run whatever troop of boys we may have at the time. THAT! is the biggest challenge. A troop is ever-changing with new members coming in and older members going out, and we as Scoutmasters must keep up with and adapt to the changes. The vision is there and I thank members of this forum for helping me through my first years as SM. It's the vision thing. If the adult leaders can all get on board with the vision for the troop, then success can be there. Our adult leaders are there now with the boy-led thing and are willing to let them fail (yeah, that's REALLY hard still). My goal is that within two more years we will have someone tapped to be the new Scoutmaster of the Troop and he/she will be taking over a troop that is functioning well, recruiting new members, boys leading the Troop, and one of the (if not THE) best troops in our district.

Most of the time, our campouts are two nights. We do run into problems on occasion in the fall with marching band. Our three oldest Scouts (one is my son), who are also the three current leaders of our Troop, are all in marching band and have to attend Friday night football games. Dad of one of the Scouts offers to bring them out to our campout after the games late on Friday night. This isn't much of a problem if we are local, but the boys miss the campout entirely if we aren't. Or, as these three have suggested a few times, we leave very early on Saturday monring. We try very hard to plan our campouts around the boys' schedules. We are a very small troop and it's difficult having three of our Scouts absent plus the fact that they are the leaders and most experienced. Their absence really forces our younger Scouts to learn their stuff and take charge. This fall the boys have a game on the Friday night of our annual planning weekend. Since we are camping locally, they will come late Friday. Our District Camporee is scheduled at the same time these three have a competition in Georgia on Saturday - they won't be able to come to the camporee at all. So it goes. We have worked hard for the past three years reviving this troop and we will continue to have an outing each month, even if only three or four Scouts can go. It does make it a bit difficult for me, however, when time and time again I take the Scouts camping and my son can't go.

Thought I'd pop in and update on younger son's experience working at camp. For the first two weeks he worked in the Trading Post, and as a CIT sent to other departments on occasion to help out. He was transferred to Ecology Department for the third week where he remained for the rest of the summer. He loved every minute of it. No longer considered a CIT and even though he was unpaid, he became a full member of the staff, participating in staff night out each week, and having his name stamped on the "leather" which is made each year and displayed in the dining hall bearing all the names of the staff. Normally CITs only work for a few weeks and are not listed. He has already signed up for next summer.

This summer our PLC asked if the Troop could work on Cit Community merit badge during troop meetings, since six of our nine Scouts had not yet earned the badge. After summer camp in June, our remaining summer meetings until school starts are very unstructured - mostly socializing and playing Ultimate, so I asked if they really wanted to spend time on a classroom type activity. Yes, that's what they wanted to do. So, the PLC set aside time for three weeks to cover many of the requirements. We do not have a merit badge counselor list and each Troop in our District calls on its own to work on merit badges. I know, it's not the way it is supposed to work, but that's the way it is here. Since I had counseled Cit Community in the past, SPL asked if I would work on it with them. We looked over the requirements (which have changed a lot since I counseled the badge years ago) and worked out a plan to cover the requirements. The boys laid on the floor and poured over maps of our town, locating all the public buildings. They each had their own map and the activity turned into a game of who could find such and such building first. They spent one meeting talking about what it means to be a citizen. Younger guys were a bit hesitant to speak up, but in the end all of them got talking and it was so interesting to hear what these young guys had to say. Given a "homework" assignment of watching a move, they came back the next week to talk about what they watched. They really enjoyed this and it was so fun listening to them talk about the movie and their reasons on how it fit the requirement. It was interesting to me that none had watched the same movie. Fortunately for our guys, our town was in the midst of a battle over some land owned by our Commissioners of Public Works who had promised to give it to the Community to be turned into a park, but later decided to sell the property for commercial development. This led to weeks of newspaper editorials and several town meetings. Our guys really got into this and attended the public meetings, talked with some of the key players, and had discussions/debate amongst themselves after. This issue is not yet resolved, and even though the Scouts completed the requirement, they are still keeping up with the news. The Scouts have not completed the badge, each having to perform eight hours of community service. The Scouts know that this will not be done as a Troop activity, but rather each Scout is selecting his own organization to work with. I have already heard from some of them about their choices and they seem eager to get started. So, while I agree that working on merit badge requirements as a Troop activity is not something that should be done regularly thereby turning Troop meetings into a classroom, I do think there are times when it can be done well and kept interesting for the boys. Of course, it must be their choice.

Thanks for your input folks. The young man in question here was the last of what I've referred to as "legacy" Scouts in previous posts. While he certainly did more than any of those that have already aged-out of the troop, he didn't show up for any troop functions during this last year leading up to his 18th birthday except for those times he needed to talk to me about something. Then, it was as though since he showed up, I had to drop what I was doing and pay attention to him. Yes, he had completed his POR satisfactorily and he had been active in his troop, so the fact that he wasn't around for a year was not a problem for his advancement to Eagle - he had been signed off on those requirements. I just got the feeling that his time was more important than my time. Sorry if I can't put this into words very well, but here's an example, certainly not cause of lack of Scout Spirit or anything: When I stepped up as Scoutmaster 3 years ago, I made it very clear that I preferred to be addressed as Mrs. Buchanan, not by my first name as our previous Scoutmasters had done. To this day, that Scout (and only that Scout) calls me by my first name. That, to me, is a sign of disrespect. Oh well, he did the work, he did the requirements, he got his Eagle.

Our recent Eagle Scout candidate was closing in on is 18th birthday. I made arrangements with him to stay late after a Troop COH to do his Scoutmaster Conference. After the conference we were going over his application and he had many things yet to fill out before I could sign it. So, he came to my office the next day and we finished all his paperwork. I saw our district advancement chair at roundtable a couple of days later and mentioned that I had a candidate ready for a BOR. Normally, our advancement chair does Eagle BORs on the same night as roundtable, but he was willing to schedule the BOR for the next week so this Scout could actually get the BOR in before his 18th birthday (yes, I know the BOR can be done after, but we were hoping to do it before). Scout emailed me the following Monday and said he had spoken with the Adv. Chair (Scout's mother knows the Adv. Chair) and they were trying to schedule the BOR for that week. I wrote back to the Scout to let me know when it was scheduled so that I could be there (obviously, I can't sit on the Board, but I am always there waiting in the hall as a show of support for our Eagles). Anyway, the week passed, then the next week passed while the Troop and I were at summer camp, and then the week passed after we got back. No word from the Scout, so I figured the BOR just hadn't been scheduled yet. Husband was at the movies last week and ran into the Eagle Candidate. Turns out, he had his BOR and took his paperwork to Council Office himself. Still, no word from him to me about any of it. While I admire the Eagle's initiative, I am greatly disappointed in his seemingly lack of respect for me by not even letting me know when his conference was scheduled, that he had his conference, or how it went. Has anyone else ever had this kind of experience. It's a first for me.

Regarding the over/under colar thing and Kraut-60s post. I have read about turning the collar under and wearing the neckerchief on top as many Scouters remember from their collarless shirt days as Scouts. I like the way it looks too, so I showed the guys in our Troop. None of them like it. They all opted for the under the collar method and that's what we all do.

We are still struggling with PLCs. Our troop is about 10 years old and only since last year have the boys actually held monthly PLCs - forget monthly, they never held them at all in the past. Boys tried to have their PLC before regular Scout meetings, but that never worked and they accomplished nothing. So, they decided to have their meeting on the first Monday each month instead of a regular Troop meeting. This has been working out well and at least they manage to come up with agendas for the three weeks leading up to whatever outing we're having that month. We are a very small troop consisting of only one patrol, so our leaders are the SPL (really the PL, but the boys like the title SPL better), ASPL, Troop Guide and JASM. The JASM is the former SPL and the first leader in our troop to initiate the PLC. In the past our SPLs never held the job for more than six months. Basically, had the title so POR could be signed off. This guy had the job for a year and was instrumental in turning our troop around. He has been an enormous help in keeping the new leaders focused on their task during the PLC. He is 17, our current SPL is 15, ASPL and Troop Guide are 14. We also have a Quartermaster but he does not regularly attend the PLC.

I re-read this thread after returning from summer camp. I, too, have and have had my share of over-protective parents that won't volunteer for anything but show up immediately if they perceive their son has received some slight of has been overlooked for something. I can deal with that. But, what really gets me are those that think I do Scouting as my full time job and have all the free time in the world. An example from our family night at summer camp. We had quite a crowd this year and all the families were asked to bring something for our meal. One Mom did a great job of coordinating with all the families so we didn't wind up with a table full of cookies. After our formal assembly, we headed for our campsite. The boys had already set up tables and all the food was put out. Then, everyone just sat around. Husband got the charcoal started for burgers and proceeded to cook them. Everyone else just sat around. I began to open up containers and did ask two of the Moms to help. Well, the response I got from one of them was unbelievable. She proceeded to tell me how she just got off work early and went to the store to pick up cups and plates (because she's so busy that's really all she could possibly contribute to family night) and then drove two hours and then stood in the sun and heat during the assembly and she just needed to sit down and rest. What the heck? And I've just been sitting around in air conditioning sipping beverages for the past four days? I can deal with the overachieving parents, the helicopter parents, but it really burns me to get such lack of appreciation for the work we as leaders do for other people's children. As for my husband cooking the burgers - yes, he's been at camp for four days too. Finally one of the Dad's came over, grabbed the spatula and said to my husband "I think you should take a break, have something to eat and relax, you've been working hard this week."

Don't know if this really counts as a camp prank, but we had a bit of fun at summer camp this year. Troops are always doing something during assemblies to get themselves noticed - perhaps as a way of getting to go in to meals first. Our little troop is always in full uniform for assembly, so this year I suggested that we might have a bit of fun on Saturday morning. Yes, sadly I had to suggest it - our guys are still a bit uncomfortable with the fact that I WANT them to come up with this stuff. So, Saturday morning for assembly we all came down in our pajamas carrying our pillows or stuffed animals. I must say, the guys did a great job in selecting the pajamas to bring. When it came time for our troop report (all present or accounted for, sir), the guy in front made the statement then all the boys yelled "it's too early" and fell to the ground "asleep" on their pillows. That last bit, they came with on their own - a proud moment for me! Many laughs all around and the guys were very pleased with themselves.

Back from summer camp and pleased to report that boys followed the SPL's rule that everyone showers every night. They tromped off together in twos and threes and hit the showers. Most of our campsites now have their own shower houses, but the site we use still has the old eight head open shower room for the boys. This year, I heard the SPL comment to the guys after the first night that they must put some soap down their swim trunks and scrub it around front and back when they shower. I did not see the demonstration, of course, but heard him in the cabin say "see, like this." I certainly got a good chuckle from that.

Back from a wonderful week of summer camp. Our four new Scouts did not attend the Pathfinder Program, but rather took merit badge classes that they were interested in. All took swimming and all but one finished the badge. The rest of their days were spent on such things as woodcarving, leatherwork, art and sculpture, nature, Indian lore. What they seemed to enjoy the most were reptiles and amphibians - especially going on a hike at night and "frog stalking." We did not put on a formal new scout program ourselves as were had originally intended. Rather, the boys spent their free time playing ultimate in the meadow, volleyball, exploring the creeks, swimming, carving their woodworking projects, playing games in our camp site, or just generally hanging out together. Our older boys had their share of adventure as well and provided such marvelous leadership and encouragement to the new Scouts that the other leaders and myself really had nothing to do. Our SPL told the boys about the Honor Troop award and they worked together to earn it. SPL went through the OA ordeal so passed the leadership to his assistant. First time for the assistant to have such responsibility and he did it very well. We went rafting on Friday morning and had to leave by 6:00 am. His decision the night before (and I didn't know about it until it was happening) was to get everyone showered and in their bunks by 10:00 - a full hour earlier than usual. What really surprised me was that the other boys all followed. After our first night when I mentioned to SPL that the American Flag was still on the pole at 10:00, I never again had to remind him to lower it at dusk. Even if I wasn't in the campsite, I'd come back some time later to find that they had taken care of it on their own without any leaders in camp to remind them. Raised it in the morning on their own too. What a marvelous week. This was the first time I can remember that I never heard "I'm bored," "I hate this merit badge," "there's nothing to do," or other similar comments. Also, for the first time, EVERY Scout said he couldn't wait to go back again next year. We all came back from camp exhausted, but happy and re-energized, and looking forward to our planning meeting in August to make the calendar for the next year.