qwazse

I understand how distressing this seems. But the first counselor's initial might have been on "subjective" information that, when your boy talked it over with his new SM really didn't meet the objective criteria specified by the requirement. It's a life lesson. And at this stage not a very costly one. My college roommate had the discouraging experience that many of his high school grades were inflated and did not give him an adequate background in math and chemistry. It made for a disconcerting Freshman year. He went on to be a decent chemist, but not after actually learning what he thought he already knew. The SM is not going to catch every discrepancy between each sign-off and corresponding mastery of skill. But if he does, he's doing your son a favor. Any call for a scoutmaster conference without the boy making a good-faith effort to touch base with a merit badge counselor is misguided. If the SM is in the wrong, the best thing your boy could do is report "I talked to my new counselor about this and he said [whatever the counselor said]. How should I proceed?" That means the next thing you should do as a parent is get your boy in touch with the counselor.

Interesting that they still have the PC/USA logo on their church sign. Maybe not for long?

Awards like these come and go. I'll leave that discussion to someone else. But the answer to the latter part of your question is yes, you can drum up a unit camping award. Have the boys meet with the company rep and come up with a design they'd be proud to wear. (Give them a budget first!) The trick is to make it look unique and something you could only get by being part of your unit, but still be recognizable as honoring something that anyone would be proud to accomplish. Frankly, I think local awards like these are really special.

Sorry for the "bump" in transferring. It sounds like your new SM is really trying to help your boy develop. He's probably not faulting your son, but he probably doesn't think the first counselor did his job. Even so, it is probably very hard for your son to feel good explaining the situation to you because he had a sense that something was being "short cut" at the time he was taking the badge. It's easier to admit that sort of thing to an SM than to a parent. The boy should call his new merit-badge counselor to tell him exactly what the problem was that he and the SM discovered and arrange for a follow-up meeting. Then he should call his SM to let him know that he's making a plan and ask him if there is any special paperwork required in addition to his signed blue card. You could argue that a signed blue card is a signed blue card, but sometimes we all need to stop and ask ourselves "What's better for the boy?"

YPT does not allow any overnight without at least one leader of the same sex as that of the youth members. The prevalence of opposite sex attractions being so high, BSA without such a policy would be held liable for any statutory rape that may take place under such circumstances.

Definitely send him to the project approval board. Some boys complete their project first, others their merit badges, others their position of responsibility, and a few do all three within 6 months! Regardless, if there's something that can be improved upon, now - while the boy is enthused with the task - is the time for someone from the district to point it out.

If that's true, can just I and one other male advisor take the girls in my crew out for a weekend in the woods? OR how about a couple of college girls taking the older boys in your troop on a week long high adventure?

Don't know about location. Our call-out is before dusk at summer camp. Son #2 says his ordeal ceremony was at dark. Not sure if that was before supper or cracker-barrel. We have several weekends to choose from, his schedule allowed for late spring.

Well, it's hard to handle everything in one status, but here goes ... ISA's have never to our knowledge drawn fines from the IRS, but groups have asked for their opinion of similar incentive strategies used by sports clubs, and recently there have been inquiries more specific to traditional accounts. I guess you can consider IRS opinions as "shots across the brow." "Too late" is a right answer to folks who missed deadlines. Trying to squeeze something in for some "last ditch" advancement burns everyone out. If a boy doesn't advance tell him, "Sorry, would you like to see what you can accomplish so you get an award next month? " If a parent complains, tell them you can talk to the boy at the next meeting. Advancement is just not that big of a deal. Packs go through these cycles of everyone wanting to outdo the previous year. Then they crash because of cost overruns. Try to be the voice of reason. Set a budget. Hold folks to it. Troops are very leery of new leaders. It's like trout fishing. Hang around downstream so they don't catch your sent. Determine the niche where you fit in. Drop your cast lightly. Wait for the fish to rise. Reel in. Wait. Repeat. Burnout. It happens. Set boundaries. Do only what you do best only at the level of intensity that will allow you to do it for a long time. The Good Book says Jesus could do a lot of stuff ... All the time. Instead? He walked into the wilderness. He made campfires to cook his catch. He took naps. On boats. In storms. The rest he let the Apostles take care of.

Well, hurry up S, we ain't gonna wait all day.

SR540, did your lodge strictly maintain a once-per-year-per-troop schedule?

Sorry my music skills are back in the vinyl age. But search terms to try: patriotic bugle calls camp songs folk music Let us know what you come up with!

Or, you could go the direct route: "Mr. Chaplain, sir, my son did not sign up to be preached at every week. How 'bout this coming meeting you and I get a coffee and let's let the boys take charge? I have a few ideas I'd like to float by you." I usually need about five people telling me the same thing before I change my behavior. So, hopefully someone else has brought this up, and you'll be the bean that tips the kettle.

Hate to say it E92, but you were fed double-speak. I started on this Advisor's gig about 8 years into the program's inception, took VLST, which basically had the rhetoric you are repeating word-for-word. Then Bill Evan's came into town and made it quite clear that every crew should have venturers working on awards. I suspect folks (national and leading volunteers) were expecting more like 10-20% participation in the awards program. Participation below 1%, and membership declining faster than any division of the BSA, just screams "Fix me, please!"

abc123, What I'm trying to say with all of these discussions is that your Scoutmaster is probably an okay guy. There are a bunch of things that led to your credentials being overlooked, and as scouters we need to examine ourselves to be sensitive to other boys in our troops who may find themselves in the same situation. Is it unfair to you? Probably. Is it any one person's fault, probably not. So, now you know that you've met criteria. Unlike other scouts, you have a while to think about it between now and the next election. Keep doing right by the boys in your troop and any cubs who may cross-over between now and then, and you'll get the votes you need and your SM's approval. All you need to decide now is "is the O/A for me?", and you get to think about how much time you'll put into the order after your ordeal. You might even want to start saving some $$ to pay for dues etc ... Because you've had more time to prepare, you may get more out of lodge life. This is an advantage that a lot of arrowmen don't have. Let us know what you think and hopefully in a few months you can tell us how you've pulled the silver lining out of this cloud.

When our chapter's election team is operating at full strength with very disciplined boys, that can happen outside of summer camp. But with our rapidly expanding council and guys pulling double shifts to make ends meet, that's becoming hard to do. (I really hate being the guy who keeps ranting "It's the economy, stupid." But, as mentioned in the thread about membership. it seems like most families have actually become post-modern nomads.) It's increasingly hard to get the same people in the same place at different times (even if its the same day/hour one week later)!

As an "unofficial chaplain", this is completely the opposite of how I exercise that role. I touch base with the chaplain's aide and discuss how he would like to perform his duties. Would he like me to pick a scripture for him and the boys to read? Is he comfortable leading prayers? Or, would he like to just be the guy who goes around and selects volunteers for each part of the religious activity? What does he think are the religious obligations of a scout during troop activities? I would not ban push-ups outright, but ask him to pay attention to any boys who are intimidated by that sort of thing, and ask him to think through what is best for the troop. This is where a unit commissioner comes in handy. He has no "skin in the game", and over several coffees can often talk guys down from what ever high horse they've chosen to ride. Lacking a UC, this falls to the COR or CC and some are better than others about helping adults "make adjustments." (I know, because many CC's have tried to get me to make adjustments and it's been a rough road for them! )

Last year was only a 2% drop in youth membership (http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/YearinReview.aspx), and mainly among cubs and venturers. Boy Scouts had only a .01% dip. We've lost a Jambo contingent of youth. We don't know which ones. It will be interesting to see the breakdown.

Does this mean a judge in CA can't council a Citizenship merit badge? Sounds like the statute is counter-productive.

This is, once again, why I prefer having elections at summer camp. We can review the requirements on day one. Announce the list of boys who we think are eligible that day. Then on day two, we can make any corrections necessary before the election committee comes into camp.

Ya know, if someone dumped this on my son, he'd call his patrol together and they would be camping on the next three consecutive weekends. Fact is, not camping for the next two months is unacceptable. I'll wager that half of his bad attitude comes from keeping cooped up all winter! If the camping requirements had been given to the boy when he earned Life, I would call this "borderline reasonable." Well, your son has two options. Cheerfully go camping (which honestly, I think he should do regardless) and wait out this storm, or call your council and ask how to file an appeal for a board of review without the scoutmaster's conference.

Thanks. (Although I get my greys from Lands End.)

We're feeling that, only in reverse. Crossovers are going to other new troops. I'm not counting those boys. Troop members have parents who absorb costs if they can, and we have managed to blunt the rise in cost through the troop treasury. I'm mainly focused on the crew, who are more pay-as-you go and membership dues 95% to pay for registration. I'm also concerned that 8th-10th grade boys who would have joined any of the troops in the neighborhood years back are not doing so.

If by profit, you mean: BSA funding more professionals so that they can promote the program the way everybody whines about them doing, I suppose you're right.

Do we have the break-down by program yet? Charters are coming in late, so I wouldn't be surprised if the stats get an adjustment by the May meeting. Smell the roses, people. I'm sure mine isn't the only unit whose membership would be 10% larger if the price of admission increased at no more than the pace of inflation.