perdidochas

Policing a campsite isn't an old thing around here. We have the Scouts do it before loading the trailer (and often a second time after).

#3 is a very valid point. Add coats/jackets/pants to the list of things that need to be double-checked for knives. The good thing is that many systems are starting to add some common sense to zero tolerance. For example, in my boys' system, there is a rule that if contraband (like pocketknives or lighters) found in the pockets by a student are handed in to a teacher by same student, then there will be no repercussions other than the parent having to pick up said item. However, if the contraband is found in another way (by another student, etc.) then little mercy is given. My wife is an assistant principal. She has gotten items from Scouts who forgot they had left something in their jackets.

Before I was made aware of the Council sheath knife rule, I used to carry a sheath knife in my daypack. It was too cumbersome for belt use, but is useful to have. So as not to be a hypocrite about rules, I've started leaving it at home. I have bought a larger folder, though.

I should have posted this as part of my earlier post. Despite the fact that I do recognize that fire making isn't always easily practical in some parts of the country, in most it is. I do believe that firemaking is an important outdoor skill. I'm teaching my sons how to start fires without matches/lighters (using the BSA Hot Spark), because once they have mastered that, starting fires with matches or lighters is much easier.

". Imagine standing up at Roundtable or at Webelos Den Leader training and saying, "Look, don't worry about transitioning boys from Webelos to Boy Scouting. Just promote Boy Scouting for what it is, encourage the outdoorsy kids to join a troop, and wish the other ones well." How would that go over? " Sounds like a good idea to me.

Shrubber, There are parts of the country where making a fire is impractical.

A speed trap is a town that does certain things. One indicator of a speed trap town in Alabama is that the speed limit goes down by 5 mph each sign. That said, I have an easy solution to speed traps. When you drive through small towns, drive the speed limit (not 5, 10 or 15 mph over). That's what I do, and it works every time.

Orienteering is not dead (admittedly, it may be ailing). It's a T-2-1 requirement.

Infoscouter, A good friend of mine recently got a Kindle. She has no problems getting library books for it here in Pensacola.

I don't have a kindle. I'm waiting for the $99 Kindle :-) I've heard that they make waterproof cases for them, and for light duty I would imagine a one gallon freezer ziplock would be a good waterproofer. I predict that my 6th grade son will be using a kindle-like device for textbooks in college.

"That's about how I feel. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I tell someone that pop doesn't hydrate you, yet I keep seeing people suck it down instead of water. " It's a myth. Pop does hydrate you. It just doesn't hydrate as well as water. A 12 oz. coke hydrates about like 11 oz. of water.

I'm with Knothead. I think our boys learn citizenship, not so much by those three required merit badges, but by following the Scout Oath. I was on a EBOR last month. One of the boys was a "death bed Eagle", since the EBOR was about a month after his 18th birthday. He completed the three citizenship merit badges since the beginning of summer. Having been around this death bed Eagle since my oldest started meeting with the troop about 10 months ago, I have no doubts that the program (along with his mother) instilled citizenship in this fine young man, despite his not working on the Citizenship 3 until the last minute. I wish we would go back to the 1950s with this merit badge group--in 1950 there was a single Citizenship merit badge as an Eagle requirement. Fun is the key, but we have to remember that fun for one is not fun for all. A recent campout my oldest was on, was widely acclaimed by some boys as boring--one new member quit because of it. My oldest loved it. He had a great time.

Internet forums are a tricky thing. Moderators are needed, and the better forums have sometimes heavy-handed (but fair) moderators. Otherwise the noise to signal soon gets to a point that a forum is unreadable. I agree with the mods about eponymous threads. They just aren't a good policy to allow, and tend to quickly produce hurt feelings (and major breaking of the Scout Law). That said, making up a rule on the spur of the moment isn't a good policy either. The mods need to announce when new policies like that are enforced.

So true.

To add to that, kids want to do interesting things more than they want the recognition from it. IMHO, too much recognition takes away the value of being recognized. If the DL is keeping the kids interested and active, the rest is gravy.

My general feeling is that parents like the beads, the kids don't care. They want beltloops and badges, not beads.

I agree with NJ. I think the problem is not that children's worlds and adult worlds are separate, but rather that children aren't allowed to have a childhood.

Bicycle helmets are saving lives. According to the CDC WISQARS database, in 1981, the rate of death in bicycle accidents was .8 per 100,000 children age 0-14. In 2007, the rate of death in bicycle accidents was .15 per 100,000 children age 0-14. I don't consider bicycle helmets (or seatbelts) to be at the same level of nanny state paranoia as fear of the outdoors in general. It's just common sense.

Hearing these horror stories, I'm kind of glad that we don't have that level of overprotective parents in our Troop. (I know we have some in the area, but not in our troop). Our council's camp has an artificial lake, no pool. We recently went on a campout that was specifically chosen because there were no bathroom facilities/running water.

Beavah wrote: I remember talkin' to a canoe outfitter a few years back. Tellin' me about a scout troop where the leader(s) were outraged that they 1) Didn't provide flush toilets on the river at da lunch stop. 2) Didn't refrigerate the (outfitter provided) lunch beyond the waterproof cooler it was kept in. 3) Didn't offer vehicle transportation for da walk of 1/8 mile from the takeout to the shop where the cars were (they were allowed to drop their boats and gear at the takeout, they just had to walk themselves). 4) Told the adult leaders that it was a "short walk" to the adjacent state park group campsite (about 1/4 mile), when clearly it was far too much to be expected to do without minivans. You've got to be exaggerating about the above, or it was some group of disabled scouts.

That's ideal--when scouting and school reinforce each other. I know last year when we worked on Science Activity badge for Webelos, that I counted doing a science fair project for part of the Science Belt loop (requirement 2 for belt loop).

For balanced news (not balanced commentary), I go to NPR. NPR News is as balanced as possible, because they do their best to tell the whole story. Their commentators, though, are extremely liberal.

I think that if you're going to have a NSP, you need to have an active TG, and dispense with Patrol leader. My son's NSP had an elected patrol leader, and it was not a good thing. He was elected because he had been a Boy Scout for a few months before the rest of the NSP crossed over. His Scout skills were probably less than most of the other boys. If I were SM (instead of fairly new Advancement chair), I would redivide the troop. I'm not a big fan of the same aged patrols we have.

I didn't support him, but I think he has far from failed. I think he's done way too much, and honestly, I don't think that his leadership will serve the country well in the future.

Strange, because the other committee members told us that the BOR wasn't pass/fail, the SMC was to determine if the Scout was ready. What are the official guidelines?