Basementdweller

The time spent wasting time at wood badge could have been better spent with troop activitys. Fall recruiting, Popcorn, camping, ect......... Of course sitting at home in front of the tv would have been more fun and informative. I know this is not a popular opinion. sorry guys. you can bet the drum for a positive woodbadge experience I will continue to speak of my experience.

Soooo, is limiting the number of merit badges that a scout can get from a merit badge councilor adding to the requirements??????/ a slippery slope.

In the end I hope some one who counts reads this forum. May my experience improve the program. but sitting and watching a movie Sunday late afternoon, while we were running multiple hours behind and I had a three hour drive to get home. After dealing with the camping gear got me to bed after midnight. I had seen the movie before......... Most of this was because of the staff screwing around at gilwell and inside jokes. there is something useful in woodbadge to a blue collar kinda guy or gal. I am an engineer so I have seen this material multiple times. The backpacking stove presentation was a scream. I wish they had brought in someone who actual had used them to teach it. Absolutely worthless. Yes I did fill out the evaluation and return it.

I have not finished my ticket. Come to find out some of my course mates have. Less than three months after the course. Amazing. I understood it was supposed to take 18 months and have items which are meaningful. I will finish my ticket but the verdict is out whether I will turn it in and accept the beads.

Woodbadge is the worst of modern scouting. 1. Very cult like 2. Perpetuates the Good old boy network 3. Takes away in a large manner from why and what scouting is. 4. Creates a them and US culture. 5. No truly useful skills taught far as dedication to scouting goes, I know a number of scouters who have not and will not take woodbadge. I wish I had not. The biggest waste of time I have experienced in scouting.

I missed the part where they were all ready gone Who cares what anyone outside your unit thinks or feels? Honestly, you got involved with scouting for your son. I would simply concentrate on putting on the best possible program for them. If it bothers you that much at the district level, then go out of district for day camp and out of council for resident camp. No biggy. You and your leadership are empowering the "evil doers". Remove their power and ignore them. when asked about the situation, politely say something along the lines of "thanks for your interest but it really isn't any of your business or we have handled the situation" and drop it. We had a toxic leader and that is how we handled it, it took 24 months for it to go away and we still get asked about it from time to time. Some people thrive on Drama, I don't, Let me just work my program.

Recently hear of a SM's son who had the SM as his MC for every single merit badge. They never went to summer camp, it was too expensive. He just had his EBOR and was found ready. Unbelievable in my book. My son, Now a Tenderfoot, Has three merit badges from three different councilers. Two from his first year program at summer camp and one he wanted to take on his own, he called and made all the arrangements on his own. I was merely driver for the two boys and the second adult during the sessions. This is one of those things, A person needs to decide if it is better to have a 14 year old eagle who rushes thru advancement to be and eagle, or A person who believes it is better to have a 17.9 year old eagle. I believe most on this board would agree that the 17 year old had a richer more fullfilling scouting career. I also don't like double dipping in any form.

Ya know you can throw them out??????? Right?????? the one on one taking about contraceptives is probably enough. The cussing and what not in front of the boys is more than enough. I would just kick them out. Well have the committee vote on it. I have spent too much time with Parent and leader drama to ever deal with it again.

A good informative discussion. But it also serves as a commentary on means. I come from a completely different financial world than many members on this board. Not a complaint just a comment. I could not afford some of the cameras discussed here. I use a $39 dollar olympus that I picked up a few years ago on black friday. Most scouts have cellphones and game systems with cameras. They use those

treking poles buy a quality pair, Black diamond are more durable than leki, but leki's warranty is great. Steep and cheep is ruining $100 leki pole right now for $60 for the pair

Just a sad commentary how soft we Americans have become. Flush toilets, cold weather, trust. I have had most of the Pack families cancel going to the council christmas activity because it is too cold and outside. Yes it is outside and yes it will be cold. We have become so soft, most if not all of the boys do not have any long underwear or proper outdoor clothing. We had a boy show up to the den meeting last night in shorts it was 8 degrees. Then he complained the meeting room was cold. Just sayin

As I expressed in the other thread. The girl and the father of child need to now need to assume their role as parents and adults. I completely disagree with their ability to balance school, venturing, jobs and the role of parent. Which is the most important role, Parent is the most important role in my book. Is the father a crew member?????? Another question if you could indulge me? What is the socioeconomic make up of the crew? Poor inner city, middle class, Rich white folks????? If either of my children get knocked up or knock someone up, scouting will be the least of their worries. Childhood is over. I will support them and continue to love them as a parent should, but they will become adults. Both of them are aware of the consequences and our expectations. I have no illusion they will refrain from intercourse till they are married or of age.

I hate woodbadge, it is a cult by most definitions. The further from the course I get the more angry the experience makes me. The quality of the program, the attitude of the staff and course material. I bought into the who spiritual experience that was supposed to happen. WRONG, maybe for the self important scouter who never thought about what he was doing and what he was teaching his charges. It formally asks all of the questions that every scouter should have asked before becoming a leader. The win all you can game. Everyone acted like idiots trying to beat the other teams, Despite seeing the option for everyone to win. I had Scouters lie to me during the game, And it was only a game. Imagine what would happen if real money or jobs had been on the line. The indigent looks when we stood up and recited the oath. I am supposed to trust these fools????? Egos and attitudes. A DE lied to me during A fricken game, You could argue it was merely a game, but integrity knows no limits in my book. Yes, my patrol finished last because even after the oath winning was more important to some scouters. In my years in scouting I have only met a handful of selfless scouters, The retired gent who works summer camp because he likes the boys, The baloo trainer who cooks because he like to teach. No politics, no ego, no attitudes just enjoying his thing in scouting. I hope you have had the opportunity to met, speak and work with a few. They are a rare bird, someday I hope to be considered one of them. Yes woodbadge is about the beads and indentured service, want your beads you had better do your projects.

after I spent money out of my own pocket last year to cover the theft of popcorn, we made all of the parents pay for their popcorn before they took it out of the church. Pack has our money, no worry about loss.

Laying a foundation. The best thing you can do for scouting for the cubs is retention. You will see that an incoming class of tigers is say 20 scouts, wolf year they are 15 bear year they are 12 and webelos they are 10 and crossover you will have 5 or 6. Retention, make scouting fun.

We have a career arrow that shows their rank advancement and arrow points. We also give them a certificate. Now we buy native american made arrows and they cost $20 each even before we start to add paint. They are a really out standing keepsake.

those sound like great ideas but aren't they pretty expensive?????? Does your local camps have cabins???? Our most popular cub event is the lock in. We take the pack bowling then pizza and back to the church for a video game fest. We just held it a couple of weeks ago and the boys are asking when we are going to do it again.

Beavah, my primary role is CM, my family goes and make a day or weekend out of it. I am also the oncall ASM for the troop. I go when none of the other leadership or parents will. So I usually go and see before.

There is nothing wrong with doing service work at the bsa camps. As a matter of fact just about every single one I have been too could use more Pack, Troop and Crew volunteer service. Our council has Eager Beaver days where they put on a lunch and the boys complete several projects. They have the opportunity to earn a patch for their service. While the project helps the scouting community it does not help the community at large.

You have lost the scout.... I would simply knock on the door with the SM, CC and ask them for the money. Because simply put, his families actions have negated $500 of sales to cover their losses. That is a lot of corn to sell to cover someones selfish act.

I have done hikes the week before I have taken the troop just to check conditions...... I have camped places before I have taken a group. Luck favors the prepared. If I have not been and done then how can I make sure my scouts are geared and physically prepared for what lays ahead.

I am the king of camping with CPAP. done it for years. It is no big deal and I even back pack with it. here is the link to the previous post http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=276370 PM me if you have specific questions.

As a SM do you evaluate how your scouts arrive to an outing? In the example I spun from you have winter conditions and a 2700 foot vertical climb. Do you critically look at how you scouts are dressed and gear they have brought before you let their parents dump and run?????? I have not let some scouts participate in a winter hike because they did not have boots, but showed up in flat bottom skate board tennis shoes.

I read your story seattle, no unreasonable risk in my eyes. walking a seasonally closed forest service road for a 4 mile total hike on snow shoes is perfectly safe and reasonable. Far as the young man getting stuck in the snow....young men will be young men after all. My point is expecting city boys(unconditioned and inexperienced) to climb that sort of vertical in winter conditions was negligent. I will go as far to guess that most of them probably did not have proper gear for the conditions. Heck, I will say that i probably don't have the gear for that sort of outing and I hike 700 miles a year.

I hate money and scouting. I have been stuck paying for huge amounts of admission fees, camp fees, recharters and popcorn because I am a good guy and take someone at their word. This year I am out 1172 in camp cost, stolen popcorn, unpaid for uniform, patches. Every year we have one or two family's that take advantage of the system and then disappear. I had one family get me for $200 in camp fees, he was our committee chair. Dropped off the face of the earth. If you can't trust your committee chair then who can you trust. Getting kinda tired of it. My resolution for the new year......Stop fronting money for scout events and make a contract for the parent to sign if I do.