perdidochas

To be totally sexist (and my wife agrees), there are many fewer women that will poop in the woods than men. They aren't going to want to go backpacking. It takes a bit more adventurous of a spirit to backpack than to car camp. I know in my sons' former troop, they have stopped backpacking since my sons (and a few of the older scouts and leaders) left. I'm thinking about rejoining as a leader to help them get the adventure back. Edit: I do want to add that the best backpacker in that Troop was one of the boys' moms. The only campout she would go on was backpacking. Otherwise she felt it was a waste of her time.

I agree. It really isn't that bad to do AOL in a year. I had one boy that did Bobcat, Webelos, and AOL all from late August to early March.

That's what my son chose to do. We gave him his choice whether to to Bears twice (with me as the Den Leader), or go ahead and go to Webelos. He chose to stay in Bears twice--for him, it was less of an ego blow to be in a den with his current classmates, rather than the ones in the grade ahead of him. I think this should be done based on the individual scout. A blanket rule doesn't really work, IMHO.

I've seen it done both ways. I think it depends on the scout and his relationship with his den. We held my oldest back at 2nd grade (he went through it twice). We decided at first to let him stay with his den--the den leader was awesome, and he did Bear with his Wolf Den. However, the boys in that den got increasingly obnoxious, and the Den Leader of the upcoming Bear Den (which was the Wolf Den when my son was in Bears first) dropped out, and I took it over as a Bear Den Leader. He liked the younger boys better (the ones that were now in his grade level), and it worked for him. One of our good friends (his son was in my second son's grade level) held his son back in either first or second. He stayed with them throughout his scouting career, as he had really bonded with them as a Tiger. It should be decided individually for each scout, IMHO.

I started as a Cub Leader in about 2007. I've always had to pay for BSA training. For Cub Scout DL training it was $5 or $10. BALOO/OWL was I think $20, but included lunch. IOLS was $20, again with lunch. It's the way of the world.

Not a good analogy. There are a limited number of general positions available. There is no limit to the number of Eagles.

A 16 year old Life Scout should know all of the First Class requirements, and be able to repeat them. I think most of the Life Scouts in my unit could.

Our council has major problems with that on camporees/Cub Scout family camps/Webelo Weekends. It irritates me to no end. The worst part about it is that its actually worse the higher up in Scouts you go. The camporees have much more problem with this than the Webelos, and the Webelos are worse than the Cub Scouts.

I think using the Eagle Scout project proposal in the workbook is a good idea, if you already have a project. The workbook includes a page or two for project sponsors. It might not be a bad idea to give it to him, so that he has an idea of his responsiblities in this endeavor.

Take away his video games and his phone before taking away Scouting.

While not having that problem, when I was a Cub Scout leader, we had a few pre-cut cars (that won the race). There was no rule against it in our Pack PWD rules at that time. We then changed it so that the body of the car had to use the PWD kit (body and wheels).

BSA recommends against alcohol stoves, but doesn't outright ban them. Homemade stoves are not allowed. Not sure what the ruling would be on cottage industry built stoves.

I totally agree that the CC can expect the WDL to visit the CO's troop, if there were a troop. Can't visit a non-existent Troop. It's sort of a catch-22. The WDL cannot sign off on visiting a Troop if there is no Troop.

So basically, the Troop has been on it's deathbed for about 4 or 5 years, minimum. As I said in my comments last week, the CO is picking the wrong time to try to build a troop back. That should have been done at least 3 years ago.

Separate charter from the Troop. The cub scouts shouldn't have to give money to the troop. They do have to pay a rechartering fee each year.

I disagree. It should be a goal, not just an accidental happening.

I do agree. One of the best Scouts in our Troop was a Life (now for Life). IMHO, he didn't finish because of three reasons: 1) he was academically gifted (and identified as such), he never had to work hard at anything in school to get by; 2) the fumes --perfume and a job to get a better car than the one his dad gave him; and 3) a bit of a rebellion against his Eagle Scout/Scoutmaster dad.

In the case of the 17 year old Life Scouts working on Eagle, I will do whatever I need to do to help them earn the MBs needed, and what I need to do to help them with the project (reviewing paperwork, etc.). That said, they have to do their part, and if they don't, well, that's not my fault. They just can't say that I didn't do exactly what I need to do. Scouts who are active or have pushy parents are the ones who get Eagle, IMHO, for the most part. The Eagle journey is different for each Scout.

IMHO, Sustainability MB takes the bad parts of the Environmental Science merit Badge and expands on them......... I saw no reason to create it, should just have added a bit to Enviro Science.

I agree with your son about killing the coyote if you are east of the Mississippi. They are not natives of the eastern U.S.

My thoughts as well, although I didn't express it nearly as well as you have. This issue should have been addressed while the Troop still existed.

Well, they don't own the people in the pack, but they do have the right to determine who represents them as a leader in the pack. The CO is in control of membership, if they so wish, and they can kick out leaders who don't do what they ask or don't represent them well. My only question with the OP is how is he going to fulfill the requirement of visiting a troop. That, and why didn't the CO start worrying about the Troop years ago--when they had more than two scouts left.

I saw him on ABC this morning. He's one of the reasons we do what we do as Scouters. To produce young men who do the right thing at the right time whenever possible.

Your Webelos have to visit with a troop. If your CO doesn't have a troop to visit, they cannot finish AOL. The COR should have thought about this years ago, not now when they have no troop.