Stosh

Yep, 100% in agreement.

We don't have scout accounts. If the committee wishes to have by-laws for themselves, fine. They can spend the next 10 years making rules for themselves. Maybe that would be a good idea because they would be so busy with that they wouldn't have time to meddle in the boy's program. Rules for the boys resides in the BSA program as promoted by the SM. Stosh

According to marriage laws, just because a man marries a woman it does not mean that the man automatically becomes the parent to the boy, nor does it mean he is the boy's legal guardian. Take that and complicate it with the new gay marriage issue. Oh, we had a "father" molest his son on a scout outing? But he's married to the boy's mother. So what, his father is his mother's Ex. If one is not going to check out all these different dynamics, at least have a good lawyer on retainer. Stosh

Kinda cuts into one's adult leader recruiting model. Must be kinda awkward handing out adult registration forms and having to pass up these people. We'll take your kid, but not you. Instead, you need to drag out your checklist and make sure that both parents have legally adopted the child or at least have legal guardianship papers so that they will be allowed to accompany the boy to camping outings. Oh, yes, if they do not have the legal documents they can't go, and their boy can't go either. Don'tcha just love these hypocritical can-of-worms? Not to worry, there's plenty of parents on the sex-offender registry that have children in scouts and can attend with their boys. And today's lesson, children, is brought to you by the letters: "C" "Y" and "A". Stosh

How can anyone say "Science with a Sparkle" doesn't bring out the "true grit and pioneer spirit" in women today? I could spend all day long poking fun at this and yet, the first doll on the market with a NASA space suit on was not G.I. Joe, it was Barbie. Someone ought to re-read their history books once in a while. Stosh

With my new troop the ASM and CC asked me when it would be a good time to sit down and write out by-laws for the troop. My polite answer was, "Never". I said the troop has 3 rules: 1) Safety First, 2) Look and act like a scout, and 3) Have fun. What would one put in the by-laws that those rules don't cover? They asked about the leadership structure, I said the boys are to figure that out on their own. Terms of service, as long as their buddies want them in that position they stay. If the BOYS decide it's time for a leadership change, they simply do it however they wish. NO ADULTS are allowed to dictate the leadership in a Boy-Led, Patrol-Method structure. If the SPL has sports and the ASPL takes over supporting the PL's I don't have a problem with that and the boys if they do, will just adjust the situation accordingly. If there's a serious need by one of the PL's that requires an SPL and only the ASPL is available and he can't handle it, then the next step is to go to the ASPL's support person for help, the SM, the same person the SPL would go to if he couldn't handle a PL's problem. The SPL and ASPL are basically interchangable in their duties except when the SPL is in session and the ASPL assumes his duties of being the PL of the troop officers. In order for the Boy-led, Patrol Method to work properly the gatekeeper of adult involvement is the SM. Only the SM can make arrangements for adults to assist the boys with issues they are having with their patrols. He might assign an ASM with special skills to help a patrol that has asked for help. He/she might just help on their own or form a small committee to assist in helping a PL. Whatever it takes to help make the SPL successful in helping the PL be successful. 100% of committee involvement in the program is meddling where they don't belong. I'd even go so far as to say 100% of the SM's involvement in the program when not directly requested or doesn't pertain to one of the three troop rules, is also meddling where he/she doesn't belong. Stosh

Moving towards troop method? I don't promote troop camping at any time. I promote only patrol camping. If two or three patrols all want to go to the same place to camp. Fine. The OP's son doesn't need a POR to make a change, all he needs do is visit with his PL and have the patrol make plans to have an activity at the campout. PLC's are there to support the patrols, not dictate policy, procedure, and requirements to them. This SPL/PLC dictatorship is not an acceptable process in my troop. The PL's run their patrols, they attend the PLC to let the other PL's know what their patrol is planning on doing and to check to see if any of the other patrols are planning the same thing like going to a camporee for example. If the flow of "power" flows the other way, i.e. the SPL and PLC tell the patrols they are going to all be going to the camporee and the older boys don't want to do yet another camporee, the only thing that will happen for sure is the adults are all going to sit around scratching their heads trying to find out why their older boys aren't interested in scouts anymore. DUH! Must be the fumes, the car fumes and per-fumes. Yeah right, it's the crappy program, pure and simple. If I have my older boys not wanting to go to the 50th camporee but want to do something else, my problem is finding enough adults to take the young boys to camporee because whatever the older boys come up with it's gotta be better than my 500th camporee. Get your boys out there doing patrol camping! They'll find great things that interest them to do while camping. Biking, canoeing, kayaking, skiing, hiking, whatever! Maybe they're just going to go out and work a weekend of specialty campfire cooking! Sounds good to me. Stosh

As well as you should be, the program should be as much of an adventure for the adults as it is for the scouts. If the adults are on an adrenalin rush, the boys will be right there with you. Stosh

With the popularity of Duck Dynasty, Survivor, Ice Road Truckers, Alaska the last Frontier, Mountain Men, etc. on TV, why isn't BSA promoting itself as a survivalist/outdoorsman training program. Oh, that's right, it used to be but isn't any more. Never mind. Stosh

I've never gone "just camping" in 60 years of being in the outdoors. Kayaking with camping, traveling with camping, hiking with camping, hunting with camping, etc. Camping is the ketsup and mustard to the burger. I am also a cheap-skate in that I'm not going to pay for hotels, cabins, etc. when I can pitch a tent for a fraction of the cost and save up for a bigger and better canoe. Just got back from leaf peeping in eastern Canada and the New England states. The leaves look a lot better from a campsite than a hotel window. I've never promoted "just camping" with any of my troops. Stosh

In this day and age of ticks, poisonous plants, etc. the designer uniform pretty much takes the starch out of anything practical for the outdoors. I don't wear knee socks because the look cool, I wear them to keep the brambles, ticks and poisonous plants at bay. They laugh at me for wearing leggings, but I don't pick ticks very often either. It's all funny until they find one of their own. The only thing worse than the ODLR uniform is the new one. That went from useless to impractical. I have my uniform for scout activities, but any outdoor activity that is not scouting would never warrant a BSA uniform. Stosh

Thanks. Stosh

LOL, heck no, I didn't want to sit there and stare at a pile of charcoal go dead! Let's put it this way, what I do for the boys is so they can learn and have fun. If one were to really evaluate this, I would support my boys by tending the fire while they go off to the program. So that leaves me watching charcoal die. Nope, take care of it in a heartbeat and yet use it as a teaching moment. I got to then go off with the boys to have some fun too. There was no safety issue here. The coals were safe just where they were, but they couldn't be left unattended. That mean 2 boys would need to stay behind and miss programming. I first asked for a solution from them and with three boys, they would have all had to stay and miss the program. It's important that they get first chance at solving the problem. When they basically resolved themselves to carrying the briquettes over to the fire pit and then dousing them, I kinda overruled them with the dutch oven trick. I didn't want to create a safety hazard with them walking around in the leaves with live coals. I didn't step in to solve a problem, I kinda stepped in and created a problem for them to solve to see if they could figure something out. Stosh

Science with a Sparkle for the gals? That's got to be the most sexist thing I've seen in a long time. Chemistry, engineering, robotics for the boys, sparkle for the gals? Somebody would scream to high heaven if it was Chemistry, engineering, robotics for the gals and sparkle for the boys. Doesn't anyone proof read these things anymore? Stosh

And here's how one gets into trouble. At klondike they asked me to judge one of the stations. I said what was the criteria for judging and they said anything you want. (Wrong answer!) I judged the event and gave extra bonus for patrol flag (standard procedure), patrol yell (standard procedure) and scout uniform. (WHAT????) Under all those winter clothes one can't see it anyway. But the winners did have on their uniform and neckers under their snowmobile suits. Fortunately they have never asked me to judge an event again. Stosh

When one is starting out with the Boy-led process, one has to assist in focusing the boys on the situations around them almost constantly. Then one has to do After Activity Reviews (AAR) so that the boys get a chance to learn from the decisions they did nor did not make. GrubMaster review of the meals and recipes, QM enough equipment, get it all back, any damage? Boys of this age do little or no review and never anticipate problems until they occur. You put away a tent without checking the poles and stakes? Next outing? Yep, you have a problem. Just this past weekend, the boys were all set to go off to the activities and I simply asked if they were going to leave the glowing charcoal from the breakfast dutch ovens. Fall leaves on the ground everywhere. They looked at me like I grew a third eye. They were going to pour water on them, but they were on a dutch oven table that could crack if they did that. They struggled for 5-10 minutes trying to come up with a solution to their dilemma. Finally I walked over to the table, opened up a dutch oven and swept the coals into it and put the cover on. I then suggested the next time they come they bring a metal #10 can to do the same thing without getting a dutch oven dirty. Sometimes the solution isn't so obvious to the boys and they have no way of processing the problem. While they pondered how to put out the charcoal, I simply contained them, an option I doubt they would have even considered. Teaching boys to think outside the box is difficult, but not impossible. The more they practice it, the better they get at it. Stosh

I'm thinking that when they register for Boy Scouts, they will probably get another chance to correct the birth date issue. They can fix it now that the boys are old enough to be in Cub Scouts. They just got a freebie year out of the deal. Stosh

Let the council worry about it now that they know about it. Until then have fun with the boys, they should be old enough now. If one has to repeat a year at a level, so what, just have a fun year instead of worrying about earning the awards. Just make it a win/win for the boys. Stosh

There seems to be the consensus that as long as someone is doing a great job in scouts we will allow them to pee in any corner they wish. Stosh

Why not have a patrol of all the athletes and that way it doesn't mess with every patrol in the troop, just one. This is the beauty of the program. If a patrol has 4 steady attenders and 4 others that are hit and miss, and there's another patrol having the same problem, why not allow the boys to have the 8 steady attenders get together and the 8 hit and miss, just hit and miss on their own time. Why should half the boys suffer because of the other half. That way if an entire patrol disappears for football season, who cares, it disrupts no one. Patrol mandates only create problems for everyone down the road. Let the boys have at it and figure it out. They do a remarkable job of making it work. It's also a beneficial skill for the leader to have problem solving skills. If the adults are going to make problems for the boys, at least give them a chance to solve them. Stosh

I've had the police show up at my place of business to confront me about an incident with a child. I told the officer in no uncertain terms the kid was full of $..t. Then two other people who witnessed the incident said exactly word for word the same thing I said. I then asked the officer where I need to go to file a report against the kid. I did file when I found out the officer went back to the kid and praised him for coming forth and saying something. I have found out that after 40 years of working with kids, if one is ever confronted one on one by a child, the adult will automatically lose. Well, when one is in the right, fight back to win. If one is falsely accusing someone, one had better expect to lose. In this day and age one had better well know for sure what's really going on before an accusation is expressed. If one suspects, find out the facts before saying anything. Everyone out there says, report, even if one just suspects it. Well, in a court of law, when you give testimony and all you have to say is I suspected it and don't have any evidence to back you up, it's going to be a bad day all the way around. Your credibility will slip to zip rather quickly. Stosh