moosetracker

Well your PLC will gladly welcome the 15 year old daughter !

Yeah, but you are infering your situation in this not looking at has been written, you are talking of a dying troop, therefore you are talking of a troop very, very hard up.. What has been described here is nothing about a troop who is hard up for leadership, or even a parent who can not go as a leader without bring his son. There is no statement of "without me the troop can't go, and I have no one to care for my son. Just as plausible is Mommy is sitting at home eating bonbons while Daddy takes sonny off to an outing meant just for older boys. The only reason why is that it seems like a perfect opportunity to spend time with son. And really this is not a good time at all, and his young son should not go unless the troop is in dire need of Adult Leadership and there is no arrangements that can be made to leave the young kid at home.. So with that logic, why not the Scout Master 2 year old daughter, and the ASM's 3 children and wife.. Wow, this seems like a perfect opportunity to spend time with family.. Sorry, this is a fine attitude for the Pack, which is family oriented, but not a good attitude for the Troop which is absolutely not family time outings.

~~Bombs and Shields Activity Instructions: 1. Everyone stands in a defined playing area. 2. Leader explains that there is a bomb that will explode in 2 minutes and the only way to avoid the blast is to have a shield between you and the bomb. 3. Each scout secretly chooses someone else that will be the Bomb and another scout that will be the Shield. 4. On 'Go' signal, every player attempts to move so that his Shield is between himself and his Bomb. Since everyone has chosen different Bombs and Shields, everyone is constantly moving and no one ever 'wins'. ~~Copycat Collection Activity Location: This Activity should be done Outside. Before starting this activity, take a walk around the area and collect about 10 different items, such as rocks, dry grass, twigs, bark, and pinecones. This is your collection. Be careful not to take living items. To begin the activity, have all patrols gather around to see your collection laid out on the ground. Explain that their job is to exactly duplicate your collection. For example, if you have a red maple leaf with a bent stem, the patrol that finds a leaf the same size, color, shape, and stem bent in the same direction has the best match. Set a time limit of 8 to 10 minutes. When time is up, take one of your items and compare it to each patrol's collection. Award points 3, 2, 1 for the three best matches. Continue for every item to determine which patrol has copied your collection the closest (2 ideas if your playing in the dark) ~~Follow the firefly For maximum effect, this game should be played with a small pocket torch so that the beam is not too easy to spot. One person is selected to be the firefly and hides outside in the dark, away from the rest of the players. After counting to 20 everyone goes in search of the firefly, who is constantly moving around from hiding spot to hiding spot. Every 60 seconds, the firefly must quickly flick her torch on and off. When she is caught the game is over and a new firefly is appointed. Add extra excitement to the game by giving all players a pocket torch to flick on and off, but cover the firefly’s torch with a layer of colored cellophane. There will be lots of beautiful twinkling torches, but the trick will be to find the colored light of the daring firefly before anyone else. ~~Nighttime Scavenger Hunt. There are so many cool but seldom seen or heard things that come out at night, make a scavenger hunt and tell your kids to use their flashlights, and their eyes and ears. Look and listen for things like owls or other night birds calling or frogs and crickets. Find a salamander, moth, the north star, a blooming night flower, spider, something with glowing eyes, etc (don’t have them pick up the live things, just call out when found, or heard (as in the case of the owl)

I agree jblake.. Amazing how many people have made a troop outing into a Pack family campout.. Totally unfair to the boys in the troop, both the ones who want to get away from their family and their family tags along, and the boys whose family doesn't tag along and they still have toddlers biting him at the ankles because Sammy & Johnny brought their families with 3 and 4 year olds in tow.. That troop would need to be very, very hard up for Adult leadership to ever accept falling into this type of disarray. Our family didn't have younger children as my son was an only child. Still when the troop camp, my husband went as an adult leader, my son went and I stayed home, even though I have camped since I was a child.. Sorry, troop camping is not family camping, and I think the boy scout age appropriate chart states by age what is and is not acceptable. On top of that, by the way the OP wrote it, this is simply someone thinking his young son is exceptional, and wants to accelerate his scouting career.. Why not an 8 year old Eagle..

Sign up for counseling a few merit badges, or all 134?? Don't laugh, I have heard of people who have come close to it.. 50 or 75 of them at least.

Hmmm.. Interesting.. I know in the past what your council registrar said was correct. I know I use to get the District Roster and all the membership numbers were all in a consolidated grouping of numbers of the council handing out their parcel of numbers.. But, I had heard that that was changing, due to the on-line training system.. But, maybe that change is taking National it's usual 5 or 10 or 15 years to roll out..

Tiger, Bear & Wolf can not camp except at Pack campouts.. Webelos can do Den camping and can camp with a troop as a guest, but the troop has to invite and welcome them.. Here with Webelos our troops will not let them stay without a parent, but the Webelos can Den camp without all parents. Not sure if there is some sort of National rule, or just something Troops have created around these parts.. Here is a chart of what is Age Appropriate for each rank. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34416_Insert_Web.pdf In the outdoor skills you will find little a tiger/wolf/bear can do. Camporees "no", cooking outdoors "no", etc. etc.. Also look at trekking.. Backpacking, overnight Backcountry "no", Biking "no".. etc.. All in all, my personal opinion is, I agree with the Scout Leader who is not for you bringing your son.. Many reasons for this. 1) Troop camping is not family camping, It is not like a Pack campout where they prepare for entertaining all age groups. 2) If you are there as a leader for the Boys in the Boy Scout program, then you are their leader, your attention should not be all about your 2nd grade son. 3) The troop may choose to do things that are physically not something for your younger son.. Hiking long distances, A service project that is long and tedious and will loose the attention span of a 2nd grader quick.. White Water rafting or even boating which cubs can't do unless supervised at a council organized event. Winter camping where a youth can not attend. 4) the Boy Scouts want to be with their older friends, not trying to entertain a young child. 5) There is a reason BSA sets up a slow evolve into what Cubs are allowed to do first because the majority is not mentally/physically capable, second because you want them looking forward to what they can do when the get older. If they can do it all at the age of wolf, by the time they reach boy scout age, all will be boring. If you need to be more with your younger son, over spending time with your older son who is joining the troop.. Think about volunteering at the Committee level, and not going on troop outings, until your younger son is of age, and moves over to the Troop. Even if there were no rules about what Cubs could do when, this does not mean you can force your troop to accept you bringing your son, then it would be up to the Troop to decide if they felt it was beneficial to the troop or not.. They would have perfect right to say "No" even when your son gets of Webelos level, and you start to insist he goes on all outings rather then just the few the Troop select to invite all the Webelos to..

Some guys do get emotional with this if it means that much to them. My husband is fine with cub scout crossovers, but he sobs at each and every Eagle ceremony be it his son or some other kid, and he goes to plenty of them both in our troop and just by being invited from boys in other troops being the District Advancement Chair. Many boys have asked if he would do something at the ceremonies also, be it the MC or just a reading or whatever, he respectfully declines because he knows he would get emotional and not make it through whatever he was asked to do. He doesn't cry at weddings though, ECOH is his weak spot.

One thing I suggest for all units who have routinely been picking up the tab on Adult Leader Registration and are now thinking of dropping some of their adult leaders from the roster to cut cost.. Let those you are planning to drop know that is what you are doing. They may have a reason they want to stay registered, give them the option to pay for it if they wish. I know when I was in the Pack, they paid my registration one or two years, then dropped me off the charter without informing me.. When I went to the troop with my son, I said I had x amount of years in scouting and it was a $1 transfer.. I was shocked to find out that they had dropped me.. Had I known I would have paid for it myself (that was about 15 years back so dues was a lot lower then). It is just common courtesy to inform them so they can make an informed decision.

How do you STOP people from leaving?? This isn't a prison. And with their 'holier then thou', heavy handed (not to mention against policy) methods, not only will they loose people, they will not attract new people either. I would think their policies probably attracted an abnormal 'holier then thou' membership, and when BSA changed policy that did not enforce it, the people their attitude attracted are now fleeing to where they can still get that strict authoritarian rule.. Don't know why though.. Dollars to Donuts, even when the acceptance of homosexual youth kick in next year, your council will ignore the rule and kick them out anyway.. If they see no problem with kicking out anyone who is not Christian, then what is the problem with doing likewise to a few gay kids?

My old unit would pay for your training costs.. I rarely thought about going through the process of being reimbursed. At least it sound like your committee voted to reimburse rather then pay for it up front. We had to do that somewhere down the line, when the unit agreed to pay, so people signed up without thought, then didn't bother to attend.. People didn't have to think too hard if they had the free time, and/or on the day just didn't feel like it.. And it wasn't their wasted buck, so they didn't care.. It ended up as totally wasted money for the unit.. Rule got changed real quick, to not get burned a second time.

Scoutmaster Jim - you need 3 on committee.. Perhaps for a troop the Advancement Chair should be your 3rd paid seat. At least if your troop runs the Advancement Chairs position the way our troop did, he had about the same amount of direct leader contact as the ASM's did. He was the one then went to see to figure out MBC's in the local area and to turn in blue cards. Also although the older boys did most of the Advancement of the youth, he played a part in the guiding of the older boys if they were too easy or too hard with their expectations.. Perhaps you as SM do all of that though.. Our SM always saw the Advancement Chair as an ASM who was focused on a specific task. PS. Since your Advancement Chair should be on most BOR's it also gives you at least one registered Committee Member signing the BOR paperwork.

Again, your talking about people who want to be a part of scouting.. If you have a bunch of parents who want everyone else to do it for them, and you are pushing someone to step up, the $25 is just and extra reason why then don't want to do it.. Right now, the lack of Adult participation is what will make or break this pack, we may not recharter Dec 7th due to not enough people stepping up. When you are looking at it from that perspective then Adult Leadership is worth using Pack funds on. Way more important then if the boys get ice cream, or the pack pays for them to go to the local hockey game.. Because if the Pack folds, then they won't get ice cream or go to the hockey game anyway. Unless it's at some big bash we throw for closing shop. We don't do a committee meeting, we do a Parents meeting and we let all parents vote, we did that before the rate hike, again if you want parents to participate then you do what you can to try to bring them in. So, in my book, you don't need to be registered to organize summer camp registration, or do popcorn or write up minutes to a meeting, and send out thank-you's .. The CC and the treasure, Advancement, those would be my three..

Yeah, I would let them sit on the BOR.. I would still take my active committee members, but we just aren't registering you because of the expense.. Over a parent that is not involved.. Basically the wording in the Advancement gives you the wiggle room to use non-registered parents.. Do it.. Especially if you know they are active enough in the troop that they know their stuff. Believe me, Council will not double check to come back and tell you that you have over used this option. As stated, doesn't matter that they are not there all the time. For my piece of mind, I would register direct contact leaders if they are going out on troop events with the scouts.. I do not want some law suit about some sort of youth protection issue have the teeth by pointing out that the adult leader perpetrator was not registered in BSA, and no background check was issued and he never took Youth protection or it was 6 or 7 years since it was taken. Perhaps think about changing your policy on what your unit pays for. It would have to be assessed the following year, but have something that the unit pays if the Adult promises to make 85% of the events.. They will only pay 1/2 if the person plans to make 50 percent and the person can pick up their own tab if it will be occasional.. The following year, you would have to look at their participation levels and if they didn't follow through on their promise, tack the difference onto the next years charge.. A little complex, but yeah if the Troop is picking up the tab, they should expect a commitment from the Adult.. I would not though remove any direct contact leaders from the rosters, and still use them as direct contact leaders though.. CYA yourself and your CO..

You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu That's what I said Kudu.. Hands on citizenship, was pushed by BP.. Like the scout who impressed Boyce in London so that he returned to America and founded BSA. That is not necessarily your outdoorsy backwoods man type of scout craft, but it was there.. Do we need 3 merit badges for it.. "No" I also would not cry hard to loose Personal Management as a required course.. But, I am more of the mind that if doing the eagle project, I would rather see the boy fund raise of find donations that do not include Mommy & Daddy donating the funds.. Personal management is something kids need to learn, but it doesn't need to be incorporated into a required Merit Badge As for First Aid & camping not going far enough in your opinion.. Don't know what else to say, except that if that is your belief you can instill that into your Troop culture and really don't need a Merit Badge to do that for you. PS Sports in a way is starting to do as you describe, only not being taught in the locker room or football field. But, most schools now insist you keep your grades up to stay on the team.. So yes, to be in football, you can't play hooky in your Math classes.

This is just me personally. I am running the same issue.. It is great if you are a Pack/Troop who have an abundance of volunteers, I have been in units and cheerfully paid my own dues.. My pack is still pulling teeth to get enough volunteers signed up so we can recharter.. Asking them to please, please, please take a position.. Then turn around and say "By the way that will cost you $25".. But, we don't have scouts/parents selling popcorn or volunteering to help with any other fundraiser.. So funds are also tight.. Personally, my feeling is to charter all direct contact leaders, (maybe not as important in a pack where parents seem to come along on most things, but very important if my Web leaders want to take the Webs on outings without parents in tow, and similarly a troop where there are only 2 or 3 direct contact leaders going out on overnights. If they don't charter with BSA, they are not getting that background check. You also have no way to track if they are keeping up on Youth Protection unless you ask for a paper copy proof from them.. Where I plan to cut corners is on the registration of Committee members.. Register the 3 you need, others are just volunteers.

Well, I am fine with everyone pay for food.. What burned me was when they stopped allowing us use of the camps for free to do training.. Now, I have to work hard to find something that will allow us free to very, very cheap that is not scout property.. I would rather donate $25 to a Mason organization for use of their facility then pay $125 for the use of scout property.. I could understand if a paying customer came first, and we got bumped or moved to the not so nice location.. But, charging us a high price when we could be training 1 or 25, was ridiculous.

You can't possibly mean Scouting as it was understood by Baden-Powell: Proficiency Badges that measure a Scout's current proficiency in Boy Scout skills only? Bad idea! That would attract boys who like camping, in the same way that basketball teams attract boys who like basketball, baseball teams attract boys who like baseball, football teams attract boys who like football, and soccer teams attract boys who like soccer. The Merit Badge system is designed for adults with a marginal interest in Cub Scout outdoor skills for teens, but seek to make up for the shortcomings of the public school system by turning Scouting into after-school school. Oh, the horror that a Boy Scout might pick up Personal Management in a one hour trick-or-treat session, while we struggle to uphold the standards that most red-blooded outdoor boys hate, have always hated, and will continue to hate until the end of time. Yours at 300 feet, Kudu A lot of the electives are for boys who are only interested in scoutcraft kinds of things. You can complain about some required Merit badges not being geared to Scout crafts, but when it comes to electives a boy can go all outdoorsy if he wishes.. So that shouldn't be a deterrent. Also I don't think anyone is arguing that Personal Management should be done right, and Camping or First aid should just be brushed over.. All merit badges should be done right, and not during troop time.. Troop time should be used to organize for outings and improve & retain scout skills.. Therefore if you are against the required MB's that are not part of scout craft, then the simple answer is join a troop for fun and outings and scout craft, don't bother doing the advancement stuff for ranks. And I do think citizenship (though not really scout craft) is something Baden Powel pushed for also, but just not 3 merit badges on the topic worth.. More in oath and in deed. As in going out into your community and doing.

Agree with qwazse.. The 134 Merit Badges is not for someone to do them all, they are there to give you options to have elective merit badges in things that really interest you.. Although I was happy to see the Cooking MB become required, I did think that a good change, I was not happy to see it reduce the number of elective MB's the scout gets.. I am someone who thinks the 3 Citizenships should be merged into one MB. I kindof look at the Merit Badges of similar to College course. There are courses you are required to take for your chosen major, but then there are electives where you have the ability to choose what you want to take.

I wasn't sure how it was done, but there was a kerpluffal with our troop when a parent did this also. But, I think it was due to the scout store not following protocol, and there was something our Advancement chair did he shouldn't have.. So there was something that there were checks and balances in place, but the scout sneaked through do to some dropped balls (and very manipulative parents, because they knew they were sneaking something through)..

Glad to hear he is staying in for a while, hopefully he will have time to learn what scouting is all about and learn the real merits that it is trying to teach. Strange though that his parents are going to let him stay, rather then planning a whole new bunch of hoops the poor kid must jump though in order to prove himself

Yeah, but lots of Councils do things that are not according to National rules. And when you have a bunch of holy-rollers they can be the worst. But, we also have the councils that have executives not putting donated money into the program, but use it to buy fancy houses and cars etc.. You have the ones that falsify the number of units and scouts they are servicing. I think I remember NeverAnEagle talking about this on another thread, but I thought they targeted just him personally, not his whole troop leadership. I think NeverAnEagle has a belief, but it is not a specific non-Christian religion like being Jewish or Mormon.. It is just a personal belief system..

Seems like Those controlling your council should have stormed out to that Trails Life group if they are going to be all uptighty, and think the youth program should only allow Christian Adult Leadership.. Sounds like they would fit in there, but are trying to force BSA to be what it is not.

Well, if they want to come over and season all my cast iron, I'll call him an exceptionally good kid !!! True, but at 50+ years old, although a Defense team might try to point to an exceptionally bad childhood to defend the bad guy did what he did, because his mommy made him do it.. But a good childhood is really immaterial, even if it included boy scouts. There is a lot of years between A & B to have other experiences influence you.. So 4H is out, how about if their High School voted them "Most likely to succeed".. Or having been in a sport, don't sports claim to have good character development?

I'm guessing that when you had only one 11 year old scout then a solo scout was too small to have an 11yo program.. Your 3 boys alone are large enough to start up a new program. If you have another from somewhere else you'll have 4.. So who ever does the picking will probably voluntold someone soon. From what I understand it can't be a women, so I guess it won't be you although you have worked yourself out of a job. I agree with Kristian any SM will do.. That must be a change since my son went through, for AOL everything for tenderfoot scout had to be learned or done except the SM conference. If, now this is part of the requirement then the SM conference is always done when the scout has yet to join a troop, so any SM will do.