qwazse

Lighten up on the mom. Look forward to the kid's awesome science fair project.

@@blw2, our 18+ year old venturers are considered adults, so they nearly have the same problems as a troop in terms of paperwork and segregation of quarters. Program depends on what the camp is offering. Considering the administrative hassles, it's not worth the trouble for boys who are working just fine as a troop. @@Mackey, I suspect most of your high adventure time will be with your buddies. You'll probably be their 2nd adult leader! So, take the youth protection course online, and get yourself prepared to serve as a troop ASM. If you have free time at camp while your friends are taking MB's, you could report to the program hall and volunteer to help in an area. Often there are small conservation projects that need to be done around camp.

So, should "on my honor" undergird US Foriegn policy? Or, is ruthless pragmatism the rule of the day?

Done them with my family, and they are fun. On the ones we tried, the heat source (a small votive candle) is suspended by wire ... so they do leave a trace ... less of a trace than a model rocket or even a firecracker, but it's out there nonetheless. Normal operations are that they float as long as the flame is lit. Then they descend gradually as the heat source cools. They are cold-out by the time they touch down. Of course, nobody worries about normal operations. Tethering them would make matters worse, because the wind would cause them to tilt, increasing the likelihood of the flame igniting the lantern. (On the other hand, the boys might enjoy reenacting the Hindenburg. )

This time of year in these parts we call that camping most weekends. Have you read what the MB pamphlet says? Talked to a MB counselor your boys are likely to use?

I had a Swedish roommate who was heavy on the hot sauce -- the Indian chili kind. One drop from his favorite brand (he left hit it on the shelf for community use) was all anyone (except him and maybe the occasional Pakistani guest) could stand on their plate. Newbies who thought they were tough would keep pouring it on in spite of our warnings and protestations ... then promptly go running to the sink for more water.

Wait IOLS without you being assigned to a patrol where your PL assembles a crappy menu, and you kind of go along with it because the staff were gonna prop themselves up as judges and award the best meal? Bro, you're being shortchanged. Actually, it sounds like the best way to endure it ... go to class ... go back to your troop site and cry about it ... repeat. But, be patient. Make new friends. Look for the nuggets. IOLS was where I first learned about geocaching. Picking up a new hobby that sometimes annoys the heck out of family ... worth the price of admission.

Let me hone in on the "nobody really wants to ...". That's usually a phrase used by somebody who hasn't actually asked everybody. I know the year that we cancelled our spaghetti dinner, folks in the community really missed it. At boards of review, scouts were asking if we can do it again. Even now, my crew president wants to volunteer at the thing and doesn't care if it goes in his scout account. So, make sure you've asked the boys ... I mean really asked the boys ... before suspending a tradition. They might want to do the thing even more if the pressure to pad the treasury is reduced.

A fun tangent ... Our Italian scout is insisting on learning the scout Oath and Law in English, but is having a dickens of a time pronouncing "thrifty", so for the time being it's "... cheerful, cheap, brave ..."

A cautionary tale: one of the many divisions between adult leaders in my sons' troop was over bulk purchases of food saving $$ vs autonomous boy-led purchases. In spite of my efforts to convince the aggrieved that this was not a hill to die on , they used it to keep their contentions on a low boil. So, my comments above are not intended to be a reason to pick bones with your CO or any of the rest of your unit. Just be aware that streamlining is best when it somehow results in increased capability and increased youth responsibility. That's always going to be a moving target ... be it a CO that's generous with kitchen facilities, or a windfall donation like @@blw2 is reckoning with.

You mean like the freezer I shut myself in at my dad's beer distributor when I was 11? Our camp commissary staff (mostly age 15-18, properly trained) have access to such things. There's a difference between allowing boys to run in willy-nilly and electing a mature QM who is willing to learn how to take care of things. I suspect there may be liability/training issues that a CO has to consider. A good CO does that with an eye towards its community being better served by youth and young adults with real-world preparation. My mom didn't charge me for food either when I nicked it out of her pantry for my patrol. But, she sure let me know about how she had to go to look for more coupons before going to the store to restock. Eventually, I decided it was just worth the couple of cents in peace and quiet to go buy our own provisions. It boils down to: what are you missing by streamlining in the absence of personal accountability? And, is there a way to restore that accountability in the face of streamlining?

There's always a balance in this for troops. If the PLC wants to stock a pantry with 50 lbs of spam and Ramen, adults (especially those in food-service) should certainly help in accomplishing this and training the QM in safe dispensing. You have more people handling the same product, so food safety practices (e.g., hair nets, gloves, packaging) come in to play. Of course arrangements for space for all of these materials may involve more communication with the CO. (Our CO gives us a shelf in their day-care's freezer. We currently only use it for our spaghetti dinners. But that shelf being left open avoids disruption of the other more routine food-service of the CO.) There needs to be some way of making sure the boys track the real costs of the food. (E.g., pay the pantry $10 or pay the current market $15 or $20 for provisions.) So, as long as the boys agree, and the responsibility for the handling of the food and maintenance of the pantry rests with the boys, bulk purchases can be very helpful. If they become one more adult-managed bureaucracy, they begin to erode the scouting experience.

@@NJCubScouter, that seems to be the case. However, most of these (service hours, camping nights) would be part of an average scout's experience. (E.g. swimming and canoeing at summer camp, plotting a course to an event, sorting through cooking utensils.) Hopefully the boys won't be discouraged by the extra hurdles. On the bright side, most of you second class scouts (who ranked up last year) should already be use the new reqs anyway. So, now that everyone is on the same page, expect things to go smoothly.

@@violamom3, welcome to the forums, and thanks for your service to the boys! I can believe you did this. Happens all the time. That's why there are three parts to the MB application: the one that stays with the boy all the time, the one that goes to the counselor, and the one that is turned into the unit. The unit and the boy's copies have the counselor's signature. So they are of equal value when ordering MBs. Let the boy know you made a mistake and ask if you can make a copy of his sections of cards for the MBs he completed. If he doesn't have his copy, ask him again who his counselor was, and if he doesn't remember that, where he earned it. If he remembers earning his badge at camp or at a weekend event. Camp staff might have those cards on file.

Looks comfy. As I mentioned in another thread, dimensions, esp. length (or lack thereof) are a big deal for some of us. So specs would be nice.

I think the age difference between these SM's and the regular forum members is showing.

My line to the kids: "We approve of flawless execution." If the made A's and one B: "Sorry you flunked. we love you anyway. better luck next time."

The scout who E-mailed me to say "thanks for the backpacking trip, it was fun". In this age of social media: images of erstwhile scouts/venturers taking their friends/family camping/geocaching/climbing/sailing. One lad, who could never connect with our Seabase trips, is now working a tall ship in the BVI (pics of rigging at sunset, enough to melt an eye-splice-lover's heart). Just having youth like these to brag about to my international friends (hint: the average Saudi's winter camping is when it gets below 100). Son #2 on his last day as a Boy Scout, in uniform, helping an elderly lady to her cab.

Welcome! Thanks for your all you do for the boys!

That sounds similar to what we've done in the past. Sometimes a troop will waive expenses for essential leaders/drivers, etc ... When they to that for me, I try to bring some treats, etc ...

One suggestion from the tall guy: In your specs, I can't find the length of the bag. I don't have a problem with pad shift in my hammock. Perhaps because I sleep diagonally in a square bag + square pad? Good luck!

We often underestimate how much youth value tradition ... be it a tradition of "visit a different camp every year" or "visit the same camp every year." The annual pencil-whipping you describe is part of that tradition.

It typically refers to the trails between campsites and program areas. For example, Heritage Reservation is mostly granite, sandstone, and roots. So, injury rates are proportional to the average speed at which youth traverse the grounds. We just try to slow down that average. The one time I didn't tell a youth to slow down (because I was on duty counting boaters at a venturing summit) she promptly fell, and I was then radioing the medic to come to the aquatics area. Nobody yells at someone on a morning jog down the road, or cross cross-country run on the fitness trail, or the athletic field. (E.g., to condition for football Son #1 and his buddies would run the campsite garbage on a heavy cart through the main road of camp to the dumpster -- no problem.)

Sorry, no reply worth typing wont be promptly deleted by moderators.

How about from Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops? (Spoiler: currently no instructions on having the students refer to the handbook.) You could have settled this two posts ago by saying "What? Don't you read {Insert official BSA publication here} where it says {insert quote about being sure to use a reference wherever possible here}."