Stosh

Off colored verbiage has been around for a long time. At some time or another every Saint has said something with too much inappropriate emphasis. Shakespearean plays have much to offer. It's at work, it's everywhere. Swearing? Everyone used to have to do it on a Bible to give testimony in a trial, now they just drop the Bible as if that did anything magical to the situation. Everyone know what S**T means? Sure scat Every time I call someone a young pup, no one gets all that excited about it. And the people who get hung up on it are generally well versed in the usage of such words. Heck, (Oh, my, can I say heck?) my pre-school kids picked up on these words and brought them home having heard them somewhere. No, in proper company it is best to avoid such language for the sake of using it to offend is probably not going to score a lot of points on the Emily Post Scale. It might do better to pay attention to how words are used rather than just grabbing at words along the way thinking they are showing a sense of maturity when in fact just the opposite is displayed. I find that being dressed down by someone who is exceptional articulate is more intimidating that hearing someone having a childish verbal tantrum. So are we talking about swearing or are we talking about offensive language? One might wish to articulate their thoughts using words and using the right words properly. Or dang nabbit, someone's going to be offended and you'll need to go the soap routine. Now 50 years ago, the soap wasn't too bad is you held it just right, but that pump of the liquid "stuff" has to be .nasty enough to make a sailor swear.

1. One of the reason why my PLC never really matured in my previous troop was because the patrol members didn't want other PL's dictating what they as a patrol could or could not do. I don't think my PLC ever really made a voting "decision" on anything. Our patrols rather enjoyed their autonomy and didn't like "outsiders" saying they couldn't go to a new summer camp if they wanted to. Although I was off having coffee and jaw jacking, I did hear after a PLC meeting that 3 of the four patrols wanted one summer camp and the older boys wanted to go somewhere else. They voted, the older boys said they wouldn't be going to camp that summer, nor would they work to help pay for summer camp camperships. The vote was immediately rescinded and everyone got to go to the camp of their choice. The PLC ended up being more of a communication between patrol mechanism rather than any ruling body. Just because we were boy led, does not mean it was a miniature youth replica of adult control. It seemed to work for them, at least other than that minor voting issue which was quickly corrected, it never needed any adult intervention to make it work. At least no one ever said anything to me about it.

I go out in nature to enjoy it. I don't need to know how it works. Hot feet cooling off in a flowing stream, propped up against my pack, watching whatever the science name they're called clouds floating by on a sunny afternoon of hiking? A bird is soaring over looking for something, a meal maybe, I don't know and I don't care. It might be an eagle, or a turkey vulture, or a hawk, well, it's a bird anyway. Looks pretty. The mountains over there are made of .... well.... looks like rocks and dirt..... yep, rocks and dirt. There's a LBF growing out of a crack in the rock next to me. Some kind of bug is flying around it deciding whether or not it's gonna land. LBF = little blue flower. The bug? It doesn't look like a bee so I should be okay. The wind is picking up from the north, or is it more the west? Can't tell. Wet finger doesn't help. This NOVA "stuff" is great.

The interesting thing about it is that I have started over 40 units from scratch. I did work for an Iowa council back in the 70's setting up Explorer posts and since coming to my current council I have started 2 crews and a troop. Or maybe I could just go with the charm bracelet idea..... or maybe the beads like they used to do for Cubbing. Or a patch for every unit so I could have a memory quilt. Ooooh the possibilities are endless. Your idea about the little tent pins is nice, but I don't want to walk around looking like a state park campground on the 4th of July Weekend.

For the boys that want to go to Jamboree, Philmont and Summit and sit in a classroom?

What if you ARE the priest, rabbi, (minister), etc.????

In my troops, the answer is honestly a YES. My boys know that there are no terms or limits to being a PL or any other officer in the troop/patrol. If they are selected, they can stay as long as they wish. If they are not doing their job, they are replaced by someone who will, so it is a demotion. However, a lot of the scouts use that as a wake-up call and start tending to business and eventually will be reselected into that position if not in their patrol, in another patrol watching out for a good PL candidate to pick. It's a bit of a competition kind of dynamic working in the troop. Boys working to be good leaders generally get put into the leadership positions.

Seriously I have no idea where my WB necker, woggle and beads are right now. It's been years since I wore them. I have two rows of knots, no service stars, a temp patch indicating Scoutfest 1993. Seriously, what does one do about the new unit award when they are working on setting up their second and third units?

It's reminiscent of BSA scouting of 50 years ago. We haven't progressed since then, we have digressed. I have done similar things with my church youth groups. They are co-ed as well and with less restrictions have a great time as you well know.

What's ironic is the mixed-aged patrols that offer a NSP option do nothing and know little on how to support it. Thus it fails. It's easy to blame the system at that point. On occasion I have had a purely NSP with a functional TG do well. I have had NSP select an older boy to be their PL along with a functional TG do well. I have had a stray boy or two here or there come into the troop and slip into a patrol relatively close in age to theirs. As it stands right now. With a new troop start up, I do not have the option of mixed age patrols to offer my scouts. I am experienced in all types of patrols so I really don't care what option they pick or get stuck with.

When I approached the church as a CO, I made it quite clear that the BSA troop is not an outside organization renting space in the church. It is an outreach ministry of the congregation and should be supervised by the youth and evangelism committees.

Yep and it costs $1 and is worth nothing in the long run. If the insured motorist pays, you get 100% of the repairs paid for. With uninsured motorist, YOUR insurance company deducts $100. I did get his driver's license revoked and got hm off the streets. He also had to pay heavy fines for being uninsured. My wife was pregnant at the time and the police held his license until the baby was born and okay. He was not a happy camper, but that's the price one pays for being stupid.

My first graduation was high school, then college, then seminary. I went back for further education later on in life and my mother was upset when I didn't go to my second college graduation... Duh! She said it was important in that I was summa cum laude. So? I wasn't impressed with the first three, the fourth wasn't going to be an option.

Do I have to learn Portuguese to move to Brazil? Sounds like the kind of scouting we can only dream about here in the states.

First of all welcome to the forum. It would be helpful to understand more fully what is meant by swearing. After all people swear everyday in every court of law in this country and no one bats an eye.

Well my insurance company paid only once when the other motorist had no insurance and had their driver's license pulled. Otherwise, The other guy's always ponied up the costs of repairs. I am totally clueless with this because for 50 years of driving I've never had to deal with any of it. That's what I have insurance for.

It's a risk everyone takes every minute of every day.

One has to take into account that there ARE NO OLDER BOYS in a brand new start up troop. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE TF RANK. It's really difficult to have a mix-aged option for boys that are all the same age. I have boys that are either going to step up and lead or they're going to flat out quit. In the mixed age patrols, the new boys have the option to coast for a year or two while the older boys do the heavy lifting. Well, I don't have that luxury and neither do my boys. I have boys functioning at a level far beyond their maturity level in many cases. Boys that don't want to work generally drop out of the program or move to troops where they don't have to work at being part of a greater whole. The one boy who fell out of favor as a PL and left for another troop came back and was bragging about how he's fast tracking his Eagle, is FC and has enough money in his ISA for Philmont and the next national Jamboree. The only thing holding him back from being a super star scout is he isn't old enough for Philmont yet and by the time national rolls around he'll just make the age limit. As my two scouts have said all along, he is only interested in himself. That doesn't make a good leader in the long run. The non-camping boy has gotten heavy into 4-H which was his family's forte anyway. It's a good leadership development program and he's doing just fine raising his calves. Scouting just isn't THE answer for all kids. At least he gave it a try. It's not the ideas that are the problem, it's just that the situation doesn't allow for a lot of options for the boys to choose from. Having a mixed-age patrol is not an option on the table at this point of the game. So, if one wishes to know what transpires in my neck-of-the-woods? Take all your Webelos boys coming in this year, add only two other boys from the existing troop, but neither can be above Tenderfoot, and then run your program as boy-led, patrol-method.. Let me know how it works out for you. This is also just the troops second year of operation. Last week the boys held a wrap up meeting on their AOL requirements and did an after action review of the previous weekend's camp out. Then on Saturday they did a service project of cleaning up the gardens at one of the cemeteries in town. Last night they placed flags on the veterans' graves at yet another cemetery, followed by a session on Build a Hero activity where various veterans addressed the boys, this Sunday they will be doing an all day fund raiser manning a food booth, Monday they will march in the Memorial Day Parade and on Tuesday they will earn their AOL and cross over into Boy Scouts. So, tell me, does that sound like a troop that can't get its act together? So the biggest conflict? The boys are arguing who gets to carry the flags in the parade. I'm confident they'll have it figured out in time to march. And do the math correctly. 3 packs and 3 troops. Traditionally the two troops have divided the boys from the 3 packs. With my new troop coming in and snagging 1/3rd of them is a BIG WIN in my book.

Naw, when the gal that hits you garners up 3 traffic citations and puts one of her passengers in the hospital, her insurance is johnny-on-the-spot with the check book to convince you not to take this to court and make it worse. Or when they back into the side of your car and it's parked? Or my best one when I was going slowly through the company parking lot looking for a spot and MY BOSS backs out of a stall into the side of my car. It didn't tell him I have stupid people insurance. He just paid for the repairs in full.

Yeah, what you are describing @ is the majority of troops in the BSA. It seems to be difficult to actually trust the boys to do what is right and so parents and scout leaders seem to tether the boys to make sure no one gets sued. I find as a result a lot of frustration and rebellion (which is normal for this age group) to make life a lot more difficult for the adults than it has to be. If done right, the patrol method is far easier to teach and maintain over the years. I really don't want to do that much work on my own, it's a recipe for burnout.

Welcome to the forum, jump in, the water's fine.

That seems to be the consensus of my boys as well. I think the majority of boys wanting to go into older patrols depends a lot on older brothers, kinda things. Otherwise, I think the boys find a commonality that first year in the NSP that they tend to feel like they are all in the same boat, facing the same challenges, and working together that they don't want to give up later on. I find a lot more "movement" in the older scouts who are seeking POR credit and such, but for the most part once the boys form up, there's only a little movement here and there for a myriad of reasons.

I know how an umbrella policy works, it kicks in when my home and auto liability insurance isn't enough. I live in a no-fault state which means whoever runs into me it isn't their fault. Thus I have a stupid people insurance policy. Considering I haven't had a traffic citation since 1982 and no fender benders except where a few people ran into me and paid for repairs in full or I had their insurance companies pay for repairs. I have I once had to make a claim on homeowners for theft of property (stupid people insurance) and I have never had to make a claim on any car insurance policy in 50 years of driving. So, regardless of the definition of extended liability insurance, I have always viewed it as my stupid people insurance policy.

These were brand new tents, brown in color so I don't know where they were from, definitely not military (white or green). These were the days pre-free standing tents. Stake raids were a popular pasttime.

Neither do I, all of scouting, especially the patrol method member/leadership selection is entirely up to the boys' choices. My comments on the forum only reflect what I have observed over the years as to what those choices have been. I personally don't care one way or the other unless something goes seriously haywire and I have to deal with it. I have seldom seen where buddies break apart for very long without eventually getting back together later on. Unless there is some kind of tension among the boys, I don't see much bridge burning. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just not very often.