qwazse

More packs are doing resident camp as well, and a higher adult ratio is needed, which means possibly drawing on adults who may need electricity on site for medical reasons.

One other thing: ask for some wall space near wherever they serve coffee and doughnuts. Put on it a poster of photos of the pack's activities with maybe one picture of the boys holding a sign "Thank You ___ Church for All of Your Support!" Definitely take up your church on their offer if they have a space more suitable for one of your activities. Our Pack uses the facilities of a number of churches in the area. For example, the B&G can't possibly fit in the CO's hall. I wouldn't abandon your CO yet. You haven't found the "back channel" who would serve as the "not-just-on-paper" COR, but with a little persistence you will.

Here in western PA there's an even split between troops who choose patrol cooking to those who choose dining halls. So, Heritage Reservation maintains both (as well as a "street" of model homes for "campers" interested in challenging outdoor activities but not nights under canvas ). Supply and demand. Plus as more communities rise up near scout reservations, EPA regulations demand better sewage management, so out with latrines and in with flushies.

I misunderstood. I thought the 11-year-olds where a whole other troop. Our boys don't meet in the summer, so usually the leader holds on to blue cards until we reconvene in the fall. Depending on how industrious the boys are, there could be 90+ cards ... some of the partials ... that get returned on the SM the last day of camp. Trying to distribute those AND break camp and make sure that all the boys get home safe is too tall of an order for must of us. I suspect that's the same situation your leaders are in except it sounds like your boys are meeting during the summer. So, be patient as they sort things out. Part of this whole process is scouters in their units sharing their vision of how things should work and coaching each other accordingly.

I don't know the details of the new cub program, so I'll let others expound on it. Every camp is different, so talk to your camp director. He/she will have a good idea of what parts of the program are tailored for cub advancement. Glad to hear your family is having fun with the program.

Last survival manual I read mentioned nothing about needing an act of congress.

That requirement was scratched in 2006: http://usscouts.org/advance/changes/advchanges06.asp This isn't the first post where someone has pre-judged the camp program based on a requirement that is not (or is no longer) there ... .

KDD, welcome to the dark side! Stosh, how do you manage 'skeeters? I get by with a spritz of Deet, but am wondering if you hike where they might be a little more aggressive.

Long way to fly to watch a movie! As burned as you may feel, are your guests still having a good time.

NJ! You just got BS'ed. Remember your lines "Show me where it's written ..." Unless it is an overnight activity, one adult present at a meeting of multiple youth is in full compliance with YPT. (Key principle: no one-on-one contact.)

Well that's the mom's burden, isn't it? Thanks for bearing it.

I couldn't agree with you more, except for one thing: it could just as easily turn out that our sons are the perpetrators. So all of us best only withhold forgiveness to the degree we won't need any ourselves.

Or, is it the other way around? Is the proliferation of "specialty" PORs getting in the way of JASMs? Say I got a boy who steps aside as SPL to give some other youth a crack at it, then guides one month, instructs the next month, and competently does both while adding a little spit and polish to the QM the third month? Here I am swapping out patches all the time because this boy is so seasoned and skilled he fills in the gaps wherever he finds them and is almost as good a coach as the SM. Plus he's great company around the adult campfire at the end of the evening. Gee, too bad I can't use the ASM patch before the kid's old enough to fill out an adult application. I wonder what I could hang on kid's sleeve that really gets the message across about how he's serving the troop for the next few months? There's gotta be something ... he assists the SM better than I do, except he's my junior. Hmmmm ...

Problem is, S, scouts in our communities are being asked to participate in pride events. Having a thread where things are hashed out helps us to be prepared to address folks who won't like our decision. (Because, no matter what's decided, someone is going to approach us about it.)

Like it or not, "assist with instruction" and "counsel" are synonymous in the minds of many. I wonder if there should be an "MBC's Aide" patch.

The nice thing about being a coach, is you get to dictate how you will do your job. The not so nice thing is that folks get concerned about scores and playing time at first, but boys will appreciate you best in the long run if you are fair and challenging. So be clear that nobody is going to get signed off on anything that night, but you are going to help them brain storm about the steps the need to take for some of the requirements. Then ask how many of they boys are interested in going home and working on the requirements, and make arrangements to meet with each of those who are interested. Regarding sex, my daughter's Jr. high youth leader encouraged her class to talk to us about it and report back if they had the following week. I was terrified, but grateful. Knowing that your parents are there for you for this thing is a really good idea for any boy to get into his head.

Enjoy your time, and may your boys excel in the face of "cheerfulness challenges."

As far as I can tell, there are two steps, neither of them instant. 1) Educate adults in your district in what to expect in MBCs. 2) Change camp directors. (You might try to reform the current one, but once that "can't afford it" mentality sets in, it takes a serious kick in the pants.) I have no problem with youth counselors who are given proper supervision ... Who know they can hand out partials and the CD has their back. ... Who know if there is an adult "expert" they can recruit him/her. I've helped with space ex, astronomy, and swim instruction during my stay at camp. What was my example? When I was a scout, my SM sent me to the SM in the troop camped next to us for 1st aid MB. He didn't pass me at camp. Dad had to drive me to his place with a buddy for further skills improvement. (That suited Dad just fine, because that town had the cheapest barber in the county!) Wouldn't it be great if your shy boys met one or two community counselors at your summer camp? That way, their first call to an MBC wouldn't be a cold one! Anyway, the program is only as broken as people let it be.

Once you conclude that your old tent(s) are no longer fit for service, Here's an activity for your scouts ... Have your boys set the tent up for one last time, their packs may be placed nearby (with covers/garbage bags on them), they "bed down" in their sleeping bags and put on blindfolds. You then read them this scenario: You have hunkered down in an isolated location. You didn't pack a flashlight, but it was no problem because the moon was out. You could easily bear-bag what was left of dinner, brush teeth, and go to bed in the twilight. Shortly after moonset, the sky thickens, and you awake to a torrential downpour. Fortunately the winds are low, so there is no worry of damage to the campsite, which is on a slope and should easily drain. At this time you realized that the waterproofing on has failed, and is behaving more like a sieve than a roof. Your sleeping bag is somewhat repellent; however, The floor of your tent is still waterproof, therefor a very large puddle is accumulating on the low side of the tent. The walls of your tent do seem to be doing a good job of holding humidity in, and your sense of claustrophobia and utter panic builds. [*]The mission: While blindfolded, convert your tent into a serviceable shelter that will withstand any further downpours. The tent may be further torn or modified. Note that draining the water is a good first step. Keeping the sleeping bags from getting soaked is a good second step. Hint: the bottom of the tent is bone dry. Expect the next downpour in an hour. [*]Scoring The timing of the event will be from when the mission is given until the boys are back in their bags under a relatively "dry" shelter. Award a point per minute remaining in the hour from the start of the excersize. 10 points for most dramatic tent exit. 10 style points if the boys remember to put on their rain gear 10 points for use of only the tent parts for the shelter. Any resemblance to a scouter caught off guard in his favorite wilderness recreation area is purely coincidental.

We have them from time-to-time. Each is unique. Some are effectively troop guides. Some plan a specific troop activity that involves complex coordination of patrols. Some take on a task that the adults have largely ignored. Being a youth-led movement, I suggest giving your JASMs a few "opportunities" and ask them how they would like to serve. Usually at this age, time is scarce, so I wouldn't require meetings unless doing so would be truly productive.

I read into it a little, presuming the boy's church was the CO (and would have an interest in its parishioners performing service like this be it via an NGO or otherwise). We don't have all of the details of the story to "connect the dots". It could be the boy's "inside the beltway" connections led him to think "community" on a global scale. In which case, we'd both agree that could be stretching the definition a little (although clearly his district advancement chair didn't think so). In general, I think it isn't a very thrifty way to deliver mosquito nets. Some of our Eagles have run drives for supplying 3rd would countries, but have done so through a relief and development organization whose warehouses are an integral part of our community.