perdidochas

I pretty much agree with Barry Eagledad on the attrition rate. Of the 22 (yes, 22) Tiger cubs I had in my den 6 yrs ago, only 3 of them (1 being my son, the other being the son of the den leader who led them from Wolf-Webelos I) crossed over as Webelos. Admittedly, those 22 were on roll, and about 6 of them I only saw once or twice. I did get another of the 22 to join Boy Scouts having dropped off during his Wolf year. There were also other boys who joined in between, one of whom crossed over. I've notice the big problem is that, at least in my troop, the only boys left with my first Webelos dens are sons of Scout leaders (committee members). We have to do something to make Scouts more attractive. Our troop's main reason for the low retention rate is that we tend to do the same old campouts year after year. We attend two camporees a year, as well as two council level OA sponsored campouts a year. That is almost half of our campouts. I'm personally camporeed out. One a year is plenty, IMHO. In addition, our boys would be hard pressed to get the camping merit badge, not due to 9a, but due to 9b. My oldest has been in the troop for two years+. He has done none of them, and he has only missed a few campouts (two of them being council campouts, and none of them qualifying for 9b). 9b. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision: Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours. Take a nonmotorized trip on the water of at least four hours or 5 miles. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more.

Moose, "And many homosexuals do believe themselves morally straight, as they don't see homosexuality as compromising there morals at all.. " Most drug dealers and pedophiles feel that they are morally straight.....

Question about COR: If a CO has a Cub Scout Pack and a Boy Scout Troop, do those two organizations have separate CORs, does the one COR service both, or is it up to the CO?

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.

Pretty much 1964 is the border between Gen X and the Baby Boomers. Now, the later baby boomers are sometimes known as Generation Jones (Barack Obama is part of that subgeneration). Gen X ends at about those born in 1979 or 1980. That's when the Millenials or Gen Y begin, and they go to about 2000. Then we have Gen Z. There is always overlap. I was born in 1965, so I'm an early X, not only in age but in attitude. I know people I graduated high school with, who are Baby Boomers, despite being only a few months older than I. Personally, I categorize it by the predominant music listened to in high school. If they were into "classic rock" (not called that at the time, but a good description), they were boomers. If they listened more to new wave/alternative, they were Xers. Anyway, I do agree that Xers and millenials don't seem to join civic organizations. I joined Kiwanis, and it just wasn't me, so I stopped. That said, I don't think Xers volunteer less, I just think we volunteer on our terms, instead of as in a group. Most of the soccer/baseball coaches I know are fellow Xers. The people running my church's youth groups are Xers and Millenials. Most of the cub leadership when I was a cub leader were also Xers. Troop leadership is mixed between Xers and Boomers.

As most everybody else says, paragraphs and spaces are your friends, use them. Second, why in the world did you remain with this bozo as leader? Start searching for another troop ASAP. Third, you should have filed assault charges after the Memorial Day parade.

I pretty much agree with Dan. We need to sell "outing" not the other intangibles. There is no way we can teach character or leadership if we don't have any boys joining.

Our troop meets every Monday of the year, except for the one between Christmas and New Year (If Christmas were on Monday, it would be both), and the Monday of summer camp. Sometimes it's only 4 or 5 boys, but they meet. We meet Memorial Day and Labor Day.

My theory is that since the marketplace views Eagles as being a good thing, we've got a lot of boys that were Star/Life Scouts and are fairly inactive that come back to finish up at the last minute.

Yep, it's contrary to the view that Eagles are now given out pellmell to 13 yr olds.

As a former assistant scuba instructor, I kind of think 12 is a little young to be scuba certified (even though a lot of the agencies allow certification at age 10). My oldest son (age 13) has to wait until he is 14 to get certified.

Pretty typical. That's what I did, except I kind of jumped around. Started out as Tiger Cub Den Leader of my younger son's den. Then I became Bear Leader of my older son's den, then Webelos for older son (18 months) and finished up with a year of Webelos leader for my younger son. Now am an advancement coordinator for their Troop.

I don't think it's an either/or. The reward is both the journey and the destination. I do agree with Eagledad, Scouting gives our young men the chance to make many more choices than they can in any other youth program.

Related to that, the Facebook feed from BSA today had the following link: http://www.scouting.org/media/PressReleases/2012/20120607.aspx The BSA policy is: While the BSA does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.

They are rubber stamps, for the most part. That said, they are valuable, because the Scouts don't realize that they are rubber stamps. They also, from my observation, are good practice for Eagle BORs, which aren't rubber stamps. They are also useful, because they allow the committee a chance to learn about the Scouts feeling about the Troop and it's activities.

Porter, Are you an adult or Scout? If Scout, have you let your PLC, etc. know about your feelings about this camp? If Scouter, have you thought about guiding the boys towards another camp?

Dean, About the CO bathroom issue, before I go to the bathroom, I knock on the door. If nobody answers, I go in. If I see a Scout in there who didn't answer, I turn right around. Haven't had the situation of being walked in on by a scout, but I guess in the future I lock myself in, despite the fact that there are 4 toilets in there.

Basement, I think you are trying to pull class and race issues into a discussion that has nothing to do with class and race. This is a manipulative boy who is harming the troop. The issue is how much of that harm does the troop allow, in the name of helping the miscreant, before worrying about the harm done to the rest of the boys.

Since you've approached him, and it continues, you need to go to the District Executive and/or higher ups in the Scouting food chain.

Officially, I'm the Advancement coordinator, however, because I go on most campouts and am fairly competent in scoutcraft, unofficially I act as an ASM. The role of AC in our troop is not just a record keeper. I also counsel and encourage the boys who seem to need a bit of help.

The wisest thing I've read in this thread: "Ranks aren't important, program is. Any time you find yourself staring at the paperwork thinking "well, he's got all of them signed off, but it sure doesn't seem like he earned it..." don't blame - or punish - the Scout. Instead, figure out how the program failed and fix those things."

Bring it up with his parents, but they either already know or they are snowed. Get the other adults on the same page. Most importantly, be extremely careful about YPT around this boy. He knows now that you have his number, so you are no longer his mark, but now you are a threat. Have you explicitly talked to the other adult leaders about this kid? They may be more aware than you know, and are keeping it to themselves.

Unrealistic ad revenues are needed for Facebook to keep up the inflated stock price. They are nowhere near going under at this point. By the time they do, there will be a new application for communication. That's the thing with tech, it is always changing.

@Basementdweller: Our pack had an end of the year ceremony, and got a change of neckerchief (and in the case of the Webelos got an arrowhead). The scouts from that pack have no problem in the troop (which of course doesn't have that stuff). In terms of Webelos being a two year program, it isn't. It's a year and a half program. We got our crossovers from the Pack in February.

I think the ideal thing would have been to do the ice cream on the campout (or the way home from the campout). That said, I don't see it as cruel.