qwazse

P.S. - I know that sounds weird, doing something without expecting anything in return. The first guy to suggest a boy do that musta flunked outta school.

If I were your advisor, I'd count it. Besides, so what if some bean counter splits hairs over how it's spelled out in the advancement guide? If you want to earn more MBs, do so until you find something better to do. If they don't award you a palm, you still can take pride in your hard work and maybe learn something cool along the way. If they do, that's gravy!

Whatever you do, don't pretend they're in their underwear! That always goes bad. The best thing to do: practice. Ask a friend (preferably a scouter who has seen these done) to come to your house and give your presentation to him/her. If you have time, ask for a chance to practice it on different days. Invite an additional friend each day. There are lots of "dos" and "don'ts" in professional guides, but they can be overwhelming to remember and sometimes they miss the mark because they aren't written for the group you are speaking to. Your friends (assuming they are in the pack too) will know exactly what it's like to sit and listen to these things, and will help you with just what you need to get by. Plus, if they are willing to turn in their card early, you could use that in your presentation: "A couple families have already pledged, will you join them?"

Sounds odd. Maybe he meant that he and members of the troop have counselors for every Eagle-required badge and lots of non-required ones. So, they don't muck about with a blue card system -- or registering their councilors with the BSA. Less paperwork for everyone involved. If I recall, my oldest brother's SM operated the same way. (This was back before blue-cards were in popular use.) Worked just fine until he achieved Life rank. Then SM moved away without a trace, and there was ZERO record of my brother's advancement, and no way form him to officially complete his Eagle requirements. My point is, there's no stopping an SM from doing things however he wants to do them, but there comes a point where what he does, although working fine for years, may wind up selling some boy short. That handbook you just got your boy -- it's his diary of scouting. As he earns an award, teach him to fill in the appropriate blank on the advancement section. Then, teach him to file away in a box or a binder the other paperwork that certifies he earned particular badges. Maybe you've heard that dogs love trucks? Well, boy scouts love paperwork! Regarding serving as a MBC to help some other boys in your district? Talk to the district commissioner.

One of my vivid scouting memories: my SPL teaching me how to restart a fire from coals. Not sure where that fits in on everyone's goofy "ladder of patches", but all I remember was I was the clueless kid who wanted the cooking to get started sooner rather than later, and he was the scout patient enough to see that I accomplished my goal. Far as I know, he never criticized the PL for not doing his job and properly supervising the fire-starting detail. He didn't employ some "Troop Instructor." (Seriously, when was that patch first issued?) He just did what he figured the most experienced guy in the troop should do. As a result, I never saw SPL as some management position, but more like the troop's "oldest brother."

Yep. He actually has to read all those chapters! And I honestly feel sorry for him because I think the '70s versions of the handbook was a much easier read. (Fewer colors, more plain-spoken.) Plus we got skill awards (belt loops), but I think they were more trouble than they were worth. Brought my old book in last month. It really interested the boys. They liked comparing what I did (MBs I chose to earn) to what they were planning to do. Anyway, as it looks like his LDS troop will be working on some required-for-eagle merit badges, he will have about half of those skills down before he knows it.

Leave it up to the boy. Have him take it out of his allowance.

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Regions/NortheastRegion.aspx is the most recent as far as I can tell.

Sounds very exciting. None of us mentioned merit badge pamphlets because you didn't say which badges he'd be going for at this point. The shop would gladly sell those to you, but it's likely the SM has copies.

Yes, I am pretty firm against 1st class/1st year. But that is because in a troop of 12 or more scouts, there's inevitably someone who will "game the system" and try to get requirements signed off as fast as possible without being sure of the boys' skills. In a group of 3, you can expect see each skill repeated over the period of 6 months. That's why we have our PL's sign off on T2F requirements. They usually only have a couple of boys who are at those ranks, and after a few campouts, get a good idea of the level at which they need to be tested. There's a certain level of accountability in this case, where the LDS SM knows the boys will be part of a community troop with which he is familiar. Especially as a DC, he will catch it at roundtable if he sends along scouts who have a 1st Class patch but lack the skills!

I've heard of it done. Never seen it myself. Most boys I know are not multiples of different troops. If they are multiples of a crew, they either have both uniforms and switch, or just wear their troop uniform. Most adults I know just shell out the $$ and get different uniforms. The velcro thing might be a good idea in this case. But, picking one set of numbers for this year would be fine with most SMs. (The LDS have special troops that are only for age 11.)

Our current CC (whose son graduated a couple years ago) tries to make it to as many meetings as possible. That usually means about 2/3. It behooves him to get to know the families of every boy to a degree, because -- at the very least -- he is responsible for completing the charter. Also, as each boy advances, they have a board of review, usually 3 committee members and often includes the CC. If the boys are all advancing a rank or more a year, that could keep you pretty busy if you are just a committee of three.

2C, you probably said something this, but my standard reply (especially to my own kids): "I know what the boy is capable of, and I am holding him to words 4 through 8 of that oath he makes at every meeting."

I'm afraid it won't be a one-stop shop until the boy is settled in his troop. The book is the most important thing. If you can afford two sets of numbers and can figure out a convenient way to switch them back and forth, that would be great. There's no national restriction on when a boy can earn his first MB. But it sounds like the one SM really wants his crossovers to master some basic skills before getting bogged down in the details involved in earning a MB. Unless your son has a particular one that he really wants to earn, don't worry about the leaders' different rules. Rank advancement trumps MBs for a lot of reasons. E.g., a first class scout can prepare his own pack for the weekend, can cook, has swimming skills, knows about fire safety and land navigation, understands his rights and responsibilities as a US citizen, and has a bunch of other skills that are vital to being mature and responsible. A boy could get dozens of MBs and not have a clue about the basics, and (worse case scenario) never advance in rank. Never advancing rank isn't necessarily a bad thing. The best scout I ever met earned MBs and aged out at 2nd class. (What make's him the best? He invited me to join his troop, and I will forever appreciate that.) However, most parents have it in their head that one day they'll be pinning an Eagle on the boy's pocket, but they have the misconception that earning lots of MBs right away will get them there sooner. Bottom line: it wont.

Good move getting a shirt! Now, regarding uniforming, you'd best ask the troop he's going to what their style is. Ideally the boys will have thought about this and made up their mind how they want to look. Unless your town is on a council boundary, they will use the same council patch. He can get by without a sash. Although it is handy for holding merit badges and (on the back of the sash) patches from his favorite activities. Without the sash, you will want a box or binder with baseball-card collection sleeves for him to keep his things. Yes, the religious knot stays with him into adulthood. For each religious award he earns (as a Cub, Boy Scout, Venturer, even Adult), he may add a device to that knot. Get a boy-scout handbook and you will see where the AOL goes on his left pocket. Or read up on it here: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/...gniaGuide.aspx The AOL knot, I thought, was for adults because they are not to have any badges of rank on their uniform. I'll let others correct me if I'm wrong. He can earn merit badges as soon as he becomes a boy scout (some folks insist he earn the scout badge, but as a Webelos, he's got the material in his head already -- getting him to spit it out is usually a matter of confidence for most boys); however, his first job is to become a first class scout. How to do that is in the handbook. Learning those skills should be a priority. In fact, his first three ranks (Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class) don't require any merit badges, just a mastery of first class skills. It's not that he *can't* work on merit badges while working toward 1st Class, it's that he doesn't need them until four months after he's earned FC. A good troop will present all of the FC skills in a year. Even so, some boys take years to earn FC, by then they will have earned plenty of MBs in the natural course of being a scout. For now, I suggest getting a handbook for your boy and just have fun reading it with him.

One thing we should be sensitive to: in the past councils have been known to retain unit charters on the books an additional year (in hopes that they'd reorganize), or performed en-masse transfers without any confirmation that members of one unit even knew they had new numbers (among other things). This resulted in grossly inflated membership statistics. Less than 10 years ago I was lighting into a new DE for handing me a list of crews, 1/3 of whom for all intents and purposes existed on paper only. I wish it weren't true, but having the CC or COR speak for those 24 members opens the gateway for corruption. There would be no way to tell your DE (who seems to have been adequate in helping the boys actually transfer units) from a slacker DE's performance (who would gladly give those registrations new unit #s without garnering approval from the boys and their parents).

Found the most recent related thread ... http://www.scouter.com/forum/venturing-program/388461-oa-and-venturing

Sounds like your DE has learned that most crew start-ups need a lot of immediate attention. Not everyone gets that.

That's thoroughly bogus. My CC was always a dress shirt and tie person. Didn't even own a uniform. Now that I think of it, not a single MC did. We boys never questioned the notion that a boy should wear anything but a scout uniform when acting as a scout. That said, it is nice at roundtable to know positions by the uniforms.

14c. I haven't found anything serviceable for under $50. You can go to most discount shoe stores and find something close to that price. It may last a season. I'm a big fan of Timberland.

MBC's can and should take into account different boys circumstances. There is plenty of ways to knock off a given requirement. The troop-method does undermine the ability for each boy to come up with his own style. And as we see here, put's the OP on the spot if he does things a little differently for one boy vs. the others. But, even when it's not about MB's, boys can sometimes expect an SM to deliver them the lowest common denominator. ("You're making me do X while Johnny only had to do Y." or "Why do I have to do X? Nobody else does!") It's usually in the interest of the troop if the SM insists on that bit of flexibility. So, the problem would come up anyway. This time it just happened to be about a required MB.

My crew presidents had the foresight to not waste a meeting on by-laws. I did explain them once, and then on several occasions where they were a little confused about procedural issues I would reply with some snark, "Pity someone didn't write down how we should operate in our special case ..." But overall, they did fine without them.

This is one of those things that if it bugs the boys, we'd try to come to a consensus. If not, we'll go off and fry bigger fish. I haven't bought a new uni yet, so I'm sticking with red for my ASM uni. When that one explodes I'll probably just wear venturing shirts and everyone will have to live with a different shade of green. In general, your unit uniform should match the style of your unit. Your district uniform is a different animal! District/council shoulder loops are silver. Not sure how well that applies to unit commissioners. But, in my opinion, if you get assigned to a Pack, a Troop, and a Crew, wearing silver sure beats swapping between three colors!

That's why our troop doesn't hold elections until summer camp. This gives plenty of opportunity for crossovers to take the measure of a candidate. (Also, that "weeds out" crossovers who never come to camp.) For venturers, if they were to be candidates, I would like to see some evidence that they have met the approval of younger kids whom they were serving while racking up those camping nights (e.g., girl scouts cadettes, jr. high youth group, jr. sailing club members, etc ...).

Looks like you have some time management decisions in your future. In our unit (ASM/crew advisors talking) ... CC can uniform however he/she sees fit. Do the work, earn our respect. Period. A CC that gussies up but creates unnecessary drama, earns our disrespect. CC is definitely welcome on any of our outings that he/she can make. Now in your case, with a boy crossing over, you might have to put up with a little coaching to keep your distance. But, we expect our CC to get to know our older boys by name and position and greet them when he/she's around for meetings. Then get to know any parents who stick around meetings. (I.e., run interference for us.) Then on outings take time at the water's edge to make sure the fish are still biting, and make sure the stars are properly counted in the evening, etc .... So, you'd be kept pretty busy. Again, field uniform or flannel shirt ... up to you.