qwazse

I get your point, or I would if I hadn't talked to a bunch of Muslims and a few Hindus and they sounded quite keen on sending their kids to Christian activities, schools, etc ... It's a brand they trust. Now my contacts are pretty fresh of the boat. Your mileage may vary if the discussion involves next generation Americans of minority faiths.

wouldn't work around here, they would take it to mean setting siesta rotations.

This seems like a violation of my rule #1 (don't ask for a rule, you'll regret it). Why are the parents doing this? Was their son a victim, and they are trying to protect boys in a similar situation? Or, was he a perpetrator, and they are trying to absolve guilt?

It's like I have an evil twin! I found school recruitment to be a disappointment. Check an interest box, sure. Phsyically move oneself to a meeting? Nope. The venturing handbook talks about synergism, well anergism could be the opposing force that's very real in the life of teens. (Don't waste time looking that up in the dictionary. But, if you've hit this problem, you know it feels just my fabricated word sounds!) My best venturers have come together by word of mouth. But, that requires there to be a "herder" in a group of "joiners". Is your gal a herder? Time will tell. The Mrs. needs to ask this girl if she has a friend who will want to join her on the next adventure, etc ..

So, let's say talking to the leaders gets you 120 degrees of the story. And I think it's very true that disengaged leaders give boys zero reason to crossover. You still have 240 degrees of story for each boy who didn't cross-over. That's a lot of work! I think E94 is in a similar position. Only, his biggest wedge is from the boys via his sons! Then he gets the leaders' views, but I'm wondering if they aren't particularly candid about why they can't trust the patrols to operate more independently. It would take a lot more time to crack those nuts! Then, there's the parents.Getting that 360 view's a lot of work!

Well, how we treat women in these circumstances has changed over time. Oooh! I know, I know .... Maybe scouters should instead ask the mom if the boys could come sit with her while she breastfeeds and she could explain what contemporary courtesies are due in such situations.

This kind of thing is an excellent project for a scout (probably one of your Explorers) to coordinate. It's a matter of talking to the cemetery CEO to confirm dates/times, determine supplies/ tools, contacting every potential unit in the vicinity, getting an advance head-count, communicating back to the CEO, identifying youth to lead a service, and maybe inviting local veterans to join you. I'm trying to sort out how to, in the next year, provide a clearing house for the different Memorial Day projects in our district. So, if for example, ours isn't convenient, a scouter could team up with troop X, Y, or Z. My personal challenge: assure that each project has a youth coordinator.

Like the old evangelist said: "Ain't nobody has the sense to knock on doors anymore." Or, in modern management speak "That 360 evaluation is the gold standard, if you can get it." Truth is, it's very hard to get that kind of thing. It's a rare day when Mom, Dad, the youth, and their former leader will be in the vicinity at the same time. In our community, the best bet is to spend evenings at the community pool in the summer. That seems to be when you'll cross paths with a Webelos' entire family. The closest I got to complete coverage efficiently was when two of our scouts visited the webelos den, after introductions, the boys talked to the youth, and the scouts' dad and I talked to the parents. Scouts and I compared notes afterword. Both parents and Webelos were on the same wavelength about our program. That den all crossed over ... TO THE OTHER TROOP!!!! But, it was still productive IMHO. It allowed us, and our boys, to see that a merger was the most sensible thing to do, no matter how hard it would be.

Welcome! It's just one poor beggar telling another where to find food! Look forward to hearing your after-action review (what worked, what didn't, what you'll do differently),

Well our boys are responsible for their own tents (tarps, shelters, open sky, whatever), so we keep our hands off assignments. Older scouts usually sleep on their own. Except for relatives, I don't recall boys bunking together with someone more Han a year or two apart in age.

I remember Nestle corporation formulated a "solution" years ago. It's fallen out of favor.

Not a tax expert ... FYI - charitable mileage may only deduct the cost of fuel (the IRS publishes the rate annually, 18 cents/mile was last year's, I think). The value of your write-off is dependent on your tax bracket. Higher income? The more it's worth writing off. Needless to say, the fuel efficiency of your vehicle comes into play. If you were by some miracle consuming 2 cents/mile and you were in a 20% tax bracket, the write-off would be more valuable than your reimbursement ... unless you have no scruples and will still submit for reimbursement to the tune of 29 cents/mile! Of course time is money. And you might earn those $ in the time you spend chasing receipts. So, as with most advice: your mileage may vary.

Great time to pilot the latest Cub program? Kittens?

Rats! That was supposed to be +1. Love these.

Hmmm, we could have each PL compute a score: sum of camping nights + # of boys added + # aged out + flag + cheer + song + # first class scouts + # scouts with PORs ... Let's call it the Patrol-Oriented Quality Evaluation Manual Assessment Number (POQEMAN) for short. Near the end of the tenure PL's would put their POQEMAN on paper, stick it in a plastic ball. And toss it between his mates what the scribe comes around. It's the scribes job to intercept it. He's gotta catch 'em all. Troop score is the number of patrols + average POQEMAN.

@@Stosh, add to that batter-dipped deep-fried Mrs. Fields cookies (wrapping removed before dipping). Having the trailer at the end of the trail finally made up for its hassles with a stock of oil and batter redeems the commissary issued "dessert." Never see boys run so fast as when they have a bright idea and realize they have the resources to act on it.

In statistics we have a method called survival (a.k.a. Life table) analysis. It's a way of quantifying the proportion of subjects who survive up to a given point. It could be applied to ages in the program, years before dropping, or rank advancement. It's a robust way to look at dats like this. The problem is that a minority of folks would understand it.

Well, now you are moving squarely into the realm of scouting history ... If only this site had a forum for it. Oh wait, it does! http://scouter.com/index.php/forum/37-scouting-history/ Here folks post references to some really informative material. BSA does have some market and organizational research. You can see some of their published material here http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets.aspx. My general observations (i.e.,from the cheap seats of dealing with youth programs in my community): we have experienced some "drift" over the years, but it's nowhere near the shifts of other youth programs that were founded at the same time (e.g., GS/USA, Campfire, etc ...). I think we all agree that parents who seek us out are looking for that kind of stability. Most of us here, however, are concerned even slight drifts from our core could amount to a betrayal of public trust.

Here's a "grand scheme of things" way to look at this. Imagine the SPL continuing to fail to be proactive ... It's likely there are one or more boys who don't like it. One are more of these are thinking right now, "I could that SO much better." And he'd be right. But, the harsh reality is it may not be put in a position of responsibility to do anything about it next election cycle. Wouldn't it be nice if out there somewhere there was an ASM who knew what it was like to have to lead from behind, and was graciously modeling that behavior? Well, it sounds like in this troop there's at least one ASM who's getting that specific on-the-job training. There's nothing wrong with setting some benchmarks for an SPL, ASPL, or instructor. Then following up to see how he did them! And as these boys manage to succeed, be sure to be full of praise, especially in front of your buddy, Gunship. E.g., "Did you see that? Joey came to a meeting with a half-baked agenda. That's half more than he did last month!" Big boats turn slowly ... but not at all if the rudder isn't set.

The numbers are very much down from BSA's peak in the seventies. However, a very big youth movement cut in half still remains a very big youth movement. Lots of Eagles wind up in cubicles ... Hopefully however that scouting past gives them a vision of what all can be done to make that a more pleasant place!

Have you looked into Heritage Reservation in PA? http://www.lhc-bsa.org/camping They teach whitewater through their trek Program on the Youghogeny at Ohiopyle. Camp Mountaineer WV http://www.macbsa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=335&Itemid=9 Offers whitewater adventure (I think that includes the MB), I believe in the Cheat River. Both locations are "go to" locations when anyone mentions whitewater in these parts. These camps are probably the leading locations.

I've never seen the importance of keep up to date with NESA. Does bothering with these kinds of shenanigans have any value?

You highlight something we experience all over the country. We have an increasing number of non-joiners. Some dads I know actually find a club to belong to after they see how it helped their son's experience.

Durn thumbs! That was supposed to be a +1 to Stosh. @@Eagledad, seeing as that ship has already sailed and we're awash in mamma bears (and mamma dads, not sure which is worse), and hiking and camping independently with your mates is no longer BSA's vision of the pinnacle scouting experience, I'm not sure we're making things worse bringing in girls and their dads. If their moms weren't camping with them before, they sure won't be inclined to join us backpacking (even if my digger is unisex).

I think it's the other way around. The course director intended for the beads to be something pre-Eagle, so he decided tell the boys that they won't be available once they get their bird. Perhaps, he didn't want to one-up rank advancement. Who knows? Anyway Zuzyson has it in his head the one has to wrapped up before the other. When he finally sits and chats with the SM, I'm sure there will be some head-scratching, but it will all be approved. Now, important stuff: that girl he's interested in ... is she rich? ... can she cook?