Stosh

We always have peanut butter and jelly available for the boys who opt out of a meal they don't like. Boys that eat peanut butter can pick the next outing's menu. As an alternative to force feeding. I as an adult cook my own mess and add variety with each meal. I have many of the boys wishing to have what I have the next outing. This only works if the adults can cook using their mess kit as a dutch oven. I have been able to passively add a lot of variety to the menus because the boys get tired of hobo dinners all the time while I eat sweet/sour pork over a bed or fried rice. With a little extra care, one can also take the ingredients from hobo dinners and make a great stew. or maybe a sauteed hamberger steak with candied carrots and mashed potatoes with gravy. (extra ingredients: brown sugar and a little flour to thicken gravy) Milk and butter should round out the meal. Sometimes poor menus are a part of poor outdoor cooking skills and not the choices available to the boys.

"A rose by any other name is still a rose." Language is the medium by which we convey ideas. If I use the term Cub Scout or Cub, the listener indeed hears and interprets the idea without any difficulty. AND if one wree to missselpl wrods the preosn's bairn can sitll mkae out the ieda bieng uesd. Constant correction is unnecessary and when a first-timer experiences such activity is it rude and inappropriate. While the scout law indicates friendly, courtesy and kind, such correction comes off rude and condescending.

A little regimentation/disciple goes a long way to build a esprit-de-corps. While there are troops out there trying to get boys to wear their uniform, we have boys that have paid extra to make sure they have the necessitites of uniformity. They function and show due respect through the salute, and recognize rank/office as necessary without having to be hounded. The leadership skills of the military compliment the process. They may be viewed as dorks, but for the most part, their teamwork/leadership confidence, they pretty much don't care what others think. My venture crew, of course is another situation. It's a Civil War reenactment crew and military protocol and regimentation is constantly adhered to at all times. They are impeccable with the drill and are better that most of their adult peers. Leadership must be aware of the fine balance between what's enough to promote confidence and what is over-the-top.

Have the Civil War reenactment group get in touch with me....

Scouting isn't everyone's cup of tea. If you have a boy that drops out for some other activity, it's just the way it is. I had a boy drop out after just a couple of years in scouts, and his two younger brothers are Eagle Scouts. Go figure.

jblake47- We do not have Venture Scouts or Venture Crews in the BSA. We have Venturers in Venturing Crews. Please use the correct terms. A scout is friendly, courteous and kind, so my respond is -- in my council, Venture crews and Venture scouts is the terminology used. The "Outstanding Unit Leader" award on my wall indicates it is because of my work with Venture Crew 2, which is also the terminology used for the past 8 years on my unit charter. "With Venture Scouts (sic), they all do basically different things. " No they don't. There are many different kinds of crews out there, but many Venturers like and do many of the same things. You CAN find commonality of interesting amoung Venturers and have great Venturing events. There are many I know of in my area that are very successful. "To develop a probram for the Tigers, Cubs and Scouts is a no brainer, but how does one design a program to meet the diversity of Venture Scouts? Well, they probably can't, so why try? " No true. Its being done and being done successfully. Heck, there have been articles in Scouting about succcessful Venturing events. "High Adventure crews might be able to pull off an event here or there together, but I'm a Venture Crew Advisor for an American History crew and we are one of mayby 2 or three such crews in the entirety of the United States. We pull youth from different councils, not just different cities or districts. There is nothing that the Council is going to provide for us that will at all interest any involvement with in this crew. We're talking apples and oranges here, big time." What you are doing is narrowing your focus so much that you can't find enough stuff that would interest most crews. Here are some of the things I've seen done at successful Venturing events. Are these things that the Venturers in your Crew would be interested in doing? * volleyball * swim competition * canoeing/rowing/sailing * Cope (low or high) * shooting (rifles, shotguns, handguns) * ropes * tug of war * GPS/geocaching I have over 35 years experience in developing Exploring Posts and Venturing Crews. They are highly specialized and if run on the level of expertise as mine, the crew members have no interest in anything other than what their specialty is. To answer honestly,-- no, my people would be the last to be involved in any of the above activities. And to clarify it further, no, I have not narrowed my focus too much, the members of my crew have. They function at a level far different than that of their peers. To interest my crew members to a district or council event is a waste of time. And it is not just my crew either. The scuba people have very little social compatibility with the curling people. As I said before, the high adventure crews do mix better and generally make up the bulk of those attending council/district events.

For all those people who want to set up a communication vehicle on the web and don't know HTML or any other web languages, who don't have anything more than a little curiosity and a couple of pictures to upload, try setting up a Yahoo Group. It's free, it's easy and it's packed with more useful features than you could ever put together with professional help. Here's what we did http://groups.yahoo.com/group/T21GatewayAreaBSA Sorry, it's restricted for the protection of our youth but you can get a general idea of how it works. Stosh

With Tiger Cubs, they all basically do the same thing. With Cub Scouts, they all basically do the same thing. With Boy Scouts, they all basically do the same thing. With Venture Scouts, they all do basically different things. To develop a probram for the Tigers, Cubs and Scouts is a no brainer, but how does one design a program to meet the diversity of Venture Scouts? Well, they probably can't, so why try? High Adventure crews might be able to pull off an event here or there together, but I'm a Venture Crew Advisor for an American History crew and we are one of mayby 2 or three such crews in the entirety of the United States. We pull youth from different councils, not just different cities or districts. There is nothing that the Council is going to provide for us that will at all interest any involvement with in this crew. We're talking apples and oranges here, big time.

I don't know about the rest of you, but as a Wood Badge Beaver, I absolutely detest the ugly blue beaver patrol patch available from the scout office. I wear the old red/black patch.

Then again, maybe when he runs for SPL, ASPL or Troop Guide, he'll have a keen sense of the short comings of those previous to him and he'll do a fantastic job. A little confidence with working with an advisor will go a long way too. If one doesn't get help, they are entitled to demand some for the sake of the troop.

We have used the Yahoo Group function to set up a free web page with forum capabilities for all our membership. It works out quite well. It has a calendar that sends out automatic e-mail reminders, each post sends out an e-mail, pictures, files, progress reports are all uploaded and everyone is on the same page. Works really neat.

It sounds like your troop is really doing a fine job of dumping all the responsibility onto one scout. I would suggest having the SPL function like an SPL. He's in charge of the leadership staff of youth. He is not the one that does all the work any more than the SM is supposed to do all the adult work. My SPL has instructed each PL that they are responsible for planning out and presenting a meeting for the evening (flags, program instruction, game, closing flags). They as a patrol they plan out what is necessary and have the plan and equipment ready when notified. When the SPL announces that they will be responsible for the following meeting, the patrol gears up for the last minute detailing. The SPL's patrol (Honors Patrol) has a backup plan "B" of their own in case a patrol slips up with their assignment. Like any leadership, it is not an individual's responsibility to do it all. Delegation is a major part of one's leadership skill package. If they cannot delegate, they cannot lead. Stosh

I guess I would have a few questions for the original poster because I see more of a problem here than just one patrol leader. Each patrol should have a functioning adult advisor. Each troop should have a functioning Troop Guide Each troop should have a functioning SPL and ASPL It sounds as if there is very little if any of these positions there for any young PL to rely on for assistance. This troop needs more assistance than just help for a young PL. By the way, my SPL is Star rank and aged 13 and he does very well with the older boys. He's constantly being trained along with every member of the patrol he leads. He is not in charge of the troop, he's in charge of the leadership staff. In the above example, the SPL is not doing his job with his PL staff. The Guide of the young patrol is not helping either. Having the training and being functional are two entirely different things. Stosh