qwazse

Requirements have waxed and waned for us. When we had them we were flexible. When we didn't, we could still be rigid. (E.g., SPL no matter how credentialed, was expected to pass on his position if he couldn't keep up the responsibility.) This round of elections (after deciding to merge with a troop of mostly 1st and 2nd years), the SM did ask only 1st class scouts to run for PL. Evidently there was some bad blood last year from the scout who wasn't elected SPL, and there was some hope that a little call for maturity would spare that. (Actually, I think the aggrieved SPL speaking up about sportsmanship the week before the election did the boys the most good.) FWIW, the current SPL's "campaign speech": he stood up and recited the Oath and Law, and sat down!

Welcome to the forums. And, I feel your pain. My suggested strategy ... Visit a scout shop and ask to look at regulation-issue alternatives. Go the non-official route as a last resort. Don't worry if someone notices. Oh, and the most important part of your uniform? Your smile!

Why? Now that's a profound question. Your people at your council are not experts on insignia. Folks are really shocked to hear that they are more concerned about who's under the uniform than what's on it. Most pros are so thrilled when kids come through the doors of the CO's they've acquired, they are gonna toss out the patch and ask questions later -- as in never. As to the Mrs., no point in telling her. (There'll be plenty of other things for her to be mad about by the time you're in the thick volunteering. Don't tell her that either.) For now, wear it proudly, and if anyone points it out, say you listened to council before reading the Insignia Guide ... newbie error ... but you are not about to disrespect your seamstress! Boys are supposed to sew on their own patches. Time to get some lessons! Try to find a scout who actually did recruit a buddy and offer to give him the patch off your shirt if he has a penknife handy.

First of all, congratulations to your son for making SPL. It's something that the boys trust him that much. Hope he enjoys his time. Regarding the coaching, SM may lose points for style, but your Son hustled up and did the job. Your son should get in the habit of communicating frequently with the SM. Either touch base at the end of the meeting about the next week's plan or call/E-mail during the week. Not gonna lie, it is really tough for a boy to fit that task in week-in and week-out on top of sports. Like Krampus said, if this negative feedback is really bothering your son, he can bring it up with the CC. As to him spouting off to other adults ... all I can say is the folks who I consider my true friends are the ones who talked to me when I said/did something hurtful or rude. It allowed me to apologize and make peace. Your husband is in a position to be the SM's true friend. The guy may not want one, but it sure sounds like he needs one. Regarding being available for your son's project, SMs need couch time -- usually more than any scout really needs an SM at his project. It's a shame he couldn't fess up and say it. But let that one go. Good SMs aren't just lying in a pumpkin patch ready to pick, so it's wrong-headed thinking that getting rid of one will automatically get you someone who might be better. This stuff (i.e. waiting for someone to mature into a well-seasoned leader of youth) is annoying, and the CC and COR should try to help the SM improve his style. If it's time for a new leader, it's on them to decide. But from what I've experienced it would take a broader pattern of disrespect for any committee to want to make a change.

This is where you just run it up the chain. Give your cubmaster a call (better yet, meet for coffee) explaining you made a good faith effort to contact certain parents, but no response. Tell him the boys left in your den are having fun, but you'd welcome his help following-up on the "lost parents" and any feedback they may have. That way, you and the Mrs. can then turn your attention to the kids still in the program, and maximize their fun. Like Ranman's story shows, us seasoned scouters are often willing to help, but unless the wheel squeaks, we just keep peddling!

... what some bombastic candidate said. One beauty about this country is that we make no bones about meddling in each others' religions.

Taking things quite literally, these are the requirements that should be done for Life "While a Star Scout": 1, 4, and 5, and 6 (membership, service, responsibility and pedagogy), Star "While a 1st Class Scout": 1, 4, and 5 (membership, service, and responsibility), First Class "Since joining": 3 (participation) Second Class "Since joining": 3 (participation, including campsite prep) Tenderfoot "Since joining": none until this year. If the kid's "all that", he will have met these requirements at the appropriate age benchmarks as well as before age 10. He'll still be holding a position of responsibility, doing whatever service projects are coming his way, and teaching skills. But, run it by the boys. Explain the problem. Read requirements. Ask them what would be fair and right. Do that. The only reason to call national is to make sure the record is set straight (if it needs to be) by the time the boy fills out his Eagle application.

Welcome, and thanks in advance for all of your service to the boys!

Folks are always spreading rumors. It doesn't take an advancement chair to stop them. Your strategy of pinning it on the board and directing the boys to it is perfect. I've got in friendly disagreements with scouters over this stuff. All of them were solved by saying "Let's take a look at what is written, and if we disagree, let's have a boy come over and interpret it for us."

So, he get's awarded life at 10 years, 10 months. Follow whatever advice the council registrar and national give regarding T2F and Star date corrections.

Although I agree with CP and HAWK that SMs and CCs should approach these things with a little swagger. They should also respectfully make clear that they are adhering to national guidelines. We just want the boys to be sure that there are no "unwritten rules."

Bless your boys and their feedback! I've heard the same from other scouts. Thus I have never promoted MB fairs! More ideas: Hold an opening/closing flag ceremony for court or town council. Visit a jail. Visit the mayor. Visit the chief of police. Have a councilman or other elected official visit. This is especially cool if the person was a scout. Have someone who travels a lot internationally visit and show the boys their passport. Have the boys visit the post office while someone applies for a passport. Have someone who is about to be naturalized come talk to the boys about their experience, arrange to visit his/her naturalization ceremony. Invite scouts who from other countries (perhaps international students from a nearby college) to visit or camp with you all. Welcome some refugees.

I've not read anything of the sort.

It's all about, the community, the vision that the older boys have, and what they would like to support. Here's how one might see this working. Troop 7 is lucky to have 12 boys on average cross over each year and 7 boys (one from each class) quit and 3 age-out every year. So, among 11 to 15 year-olds, they have 50 boys organized into 4 patrols, and among the 16 and 17 year olds they have 13 boys for senior leadership including guides and instructors. Each patrol takes on about 3 crossovers. One to four troop guides take on the responsibility of keeping tabs on the crossovers for their first four months. They introduce the scouts to their PL and APL, ask them simple stuff like "Do you like your patrol?", "Are the leaders helping you?", and "Did you get that Scout rank yet?" "Would you like to be patrol leader some day?" "Do you need help with a uniform?" They follow-up with the PL to see if he's been able to teach the newbies some basics. They line up instructors, and maybe figure out some down time when the new boys are off patrol duty so they can troddle over to the parade field for some instruction. Or they line up a patrol with an instructor to get one patrol up to speed with a particular skill. They touch base with the SPL about how things are going. By four months, everyone is in summer camp, and the guides can turn in their patches. Maybe one of them could keep the PoR just to make sure things are running smoothly and to be ready to welcome any new scouts who come along in the off-peak season. In this framework, guides are not central to the well-being of the new scouts, the PLs are. But they are there to smooth out rough patches.

Well, at least he wasn't like one of our 1st class scouts who gave it all up for video games!

My observation: if you (adults, boys, whoever) want all patrols to perform skills at roughly the same level, you will not like NSPs. Better to encourage new scouts to be adopted into seasoned patrols as soon as possible. If you want patrols to be diversified .... Some more high adventure some working on first class in the fore country ... then you will like NSPs. It also depends on who you have as troop guides. Some are fine with starting from scratch with a half dozen crossovers. Others can only handle a couple or three with the help of their PL and APL. It's these boots-on-the ground decisions that dictate how you configure the membership. You can go for years with everything working one way, and then personalities dictate doing it differently.

Yeah, we had all the "bells and whistles" when I was a kid. Called them MB pow-wows. Whatever. I think there is something to knowing you have folks in you corner as you try to earn an award. That could be parents, scouters, or Eagles whose projects you helped with and are willing to give you advise. Maybe there is a little something to that monstrous project workbook. A little more structure. My main concern: are we discouraging scouts who would never make Eagle from enjoying the program? Sure, it's great to have a whole den of boys get the same bling. But I'm kinda glad that -- for the moment -- were back to a mix of boys with varying levels of drive toward that goal.

FYI, @@Ranman328, this is what we scouters call "the paycheck!" I hope you keep cashing in even though your taking that CM patch off of your sleeve.

So you're on par with the rest of the nation, seeing a percentage increase in boys obtaining Eagle?

@@Krampus to gauge what that means percentage-wise, what is your average of new boys per year? Has it increased or stayed the same. I'd agree with the involved-parent observation (got two generations of personal data). Although sometimes it's the reversed causality. I did not bother with the activities my kids were marginally involved in. E.g., I loved music, they were "meh", so I didn't invest my time in those clubs, they loved soccer so to keep up with them I volunteered first as a coach at the Y, then as an announcer. Scouting was a true synergy so it wasn't too hard to get sucked in.

Sometimes it feels like ours lean heavily toward 17.999 I've stopped obsessing over stats for which I won't collect a consultant's fee, but just guestimating: About 1/3 of the boys who registered since Son #1 was in the troop earned Eagle. The age distribution seems to be in two heaps: One around 15 One at 17.5 I was told by a previous scoutmaster that it was nowhere near as frequent an occurrence earlier, and it seems that we're starting to drift back to a more typical percentage. For example, son #2 was the only scout from his den to earn Eagle. We have more boys aging out at Star and Life. Our current SPL has no chance of making Eagle, but he is setting a fine example of a scout (much to the shock of those who knew him when he was younger). But then again, we merged with a troop who was getting our cubs, and most of those are sticking around and setting a goal of roughly one rank per year, so who knows what'll be next?

Welcome! And thanks in advance for your service to the boys!

So, you really are just worried about if something bad will happen if scouters see your W-1's working axes (presumably safely). Well, you can expect comments and back-and- forth between conscientious scouters who want to save your boys from folly. If you all are willing to grin and bear it, share the pics. If you think folks are going to be thin skinned in the face of criticism, don't post 'em.

I like Hedge's procedure as well. Sometimes you need to cast a vision with parents: "How would you like, when your son goes to college, or maybe becomes your business partner, for him to give you a reckoning of income and expenses before he asks for the next infusion of cash? Well, that kinda discipline starts here!" Sure it's real $, but it's not as many real $ as they'll be managing 7 years from now,

I'm just quoting from a published source, as is JiK. But it sounds like you would rather our sources give as reason the bitter truth: So that when the occasional advancement report fails to be filed with council, a boy will hold sufficient evidence that he earned the merit badge and reported doing so. I have not had experience with one-signature white cards. But it sounds like they add a layer of trust to offset redundancy.