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Emergency preparedness: home evacuation plan, stocked first aid kit, emergency phone #s, etc ... Citizenship: maintain the family flag and flag pole, make sure everything is in working order and it is stored in a clean place. Ropes: got a clothes line? Get some baler twine and if growing tomatoes or beans: lash a trellis. Tie down lawn and garden equipment for winter. If you hunt, you may need a hanging rack in the garage for that deer or bear you're gonna bag this fall. Plan a family cookout and set up a dining area with a tarp. Or, lash umbrellas to your deck for shade. Fire: do you have a burn day in your community? Citizenship: take him to the voting booth with you his fall. Go to parades and shake hands with your town councilmen, or other community leaders. Campong: Find a coffee shop some miles away and hike to it. Your treat. (P.S., I recall you have a daughter. Knowing that she can go on long walks with you or her brother will be invaluable decades from now.)

Sounds like you've got a plan. And while you're at it, hustle up and turn in your youth application for your venturing crew, that way your hard work can apply to an Arts & Hobbies bronze award (or whatever they'll call it in 2014)!

Not sure I specifically recall a scouting example, but have known families whose exchange students have signed up for sports and the like. Host parents have authority to sign the application form. From my experience wih Chinese visiting professors, they are generally enthused to have their kids dive into American culture. (Again, can't think of a specific example regarding scouting ... so your mileage may very greatly on this one.)

I'm gonna give your leaders the benefit of the doubt and take a guess at what happened: Building and maintaining a list of MBCs is hard work. Back in my scout days a hard-working volunteer would coordinate with the DE and identify everyone theyknew with a particular hobby/skill (this often involved walking the exhibits at local fairs and consuming no small amount of funnel cake), ask that person if they would like to counsel MB, exchange addresses, then shake hands. Done. Then somebody's secretary would type it up. In my small town, you could practically get the phone book and just scratch the names of folks who weren't MBCs. Now an MBC has to fill out paperwork, take YPT, jump through lots of hoops just to be a name on the list that might only get one call a year, if that! Your SMs thought that was stupid, they probably weren't getting help from their district (why? Because for the same amount of result, they push ten times the paper!) And, they decided to go it on their own. What should you do? Make a fun class. Teach skills. At the end have an address and phone of an adult who they can go to and discuss what they learned. Hopefully that person is already on your councils list. If not, Put the responsibility of making that adult an official MBC squarely on your adult leaders and the DE.

Since I'm pretty "chill" most days, let me explain BP's leeriness of National from a more ambivalent position. A few years ago, Bill Evans came to talk to our council's VOA. He could have talked about anything, but he emphasized how important it was that every venturer strive for gold and silver awards. No matter how much merit his words may have had, it did not resonate with any of those youth in the room. How do I know? Not one of them have since earned them! In fact most of those youth never returned for a VOA meeting or council-wide venturing activity. That's one an indication a that National is out of touch with the boots on the ground. Now, I would be thrilled if kids in my crew did work the award program. But, only 1 in the past six years pursued a bronze award. The statistics nationwide support the notion that this is fairly standard. BP's crew is exceptional in its level of advancement. Sounds like you are eyeing is too. But for every one of those, there are a half dozen like mine. They just need me to give them the number of that climbing guide. The second bothersome sign: we talk about youth led, but I have not heard a regional officer come out strongly in favor of the new method. In other words, however nifty the powerpoint was, the most experienced youth aren't blogging things like "It's about time!" "Can't wait to switch over to the new advancement track!" (Now some of the regional officers are enthused about the one-oath initiative. Others were thrilled about going to Jambo. So, if something enthuses these youth, they'll tell us about it.) Instead, the vibe I'm getting is a big "Meh!" So you see, most of us Advisors on the ground find ourselves working around National to provide the program that our youth are asking for, and they don't seem to be asking for a 13-step personal growth plan.

Group dynamics are key here. Unlike BD's crew's last incarnation, mine started with the girls and guys "just friends". Some relationships started later, but it wasn't the pairing off scenario that everyone dreaded. The other key is Venturing Leader Specific Training. Get it for your adults and any key youth who would be willing to devote the day for it. You'd be best served by other advisors in your council instructing, but the syllabus is not that overwhelming that some older venturers couldn't teach it. (In a series of foibles with our University of Scouting, two of my youth took it last fall. If you were willing to pay for the flights out, they might volunteer as instructors!)

Ask.yourself (and your boy) what's great about your pack. Is it the CO, your boy's friends, the fact that you guys make some insane pinewood derby cars? Confirm the status of each of those 17 unconfirmed. Be on the level with the remaining parents. If they step up, you can still have a fun program. The good news is you'll only have to make it work for a dozen boys instead of two dozen. Be on the level with the tiger parents. For them, leadership will be the cost. The reward will be a half dozen boys who will cherish you. You know how people always grip about classroom sizes that are too big, well you got your silk purse right there!

Or, is it dishonorable to let the public associate the largest and oldest movements in the USA with your novelty? Even if that movement is in its nadir, isn't it more trustworthy to take a name that doesn't force the association?

The church is probably counting on it's stand-alone youth program to rally those volunteers who would otherwise be scouting. For the kids' sake, I hope that's the case.

Don't get them sat down for anything unless it's to close their eyes for a minute and tell you the sounds they hear. Man, you need your sleep, and the more those little buggers run the less likely they'll pop out of bed to bug you. Suitable activities/requirements: Build a block and tackle. Bottle rockets. Nature hikes. Collect rocks. Play catch. (Trust me, that was the hardest requirement for Son #2.) Identify tools. Aquatic safety. Foil-pack cooking. You get the idea. Organize with respect to the abilities of adults.

Sounds like you're talking about my buddy, the best scout I ever knew, who aged out at 2nd class! Of his many accomplishments, the one nearest to my heart was that he asked me to join his troop! (This was back in the days when packs -- at least ours -- had zero transition from Webelos to Boy Scouts.)

SN, although CoD has been operating in fits and starts over the past few years, so have most VOA's. As with everything with youth this age, there's room for optimism as long as they keep coming through the door. (Or, going out the door on the way to a super service project or activity!) But, more importantly, we as advisors need to be encouraging. "Here's a challenge for you: pontentially personally rewarding, high likelihood it will never get off the ground. Do you want to give it a go?" Then, hope that VOA presidents start taking over the promotion. It's just like the chief in the O/A circle stopping in front of a candidate and saying "Do you wish to seek the arrow?" But here's the deal: we know that there are young men and women like E441 who will pursue the sort of thing. So the question regarding the O/A is not a matter of fairness, like jpTex is posing. Rather, it's a matter of market share ... Should the OA continue its current somewhat arbitrary policy and risk losing the contributions, if not outright membership of a few high energy youth to start-ups who will let them participate with their sisters and girlfriends?

It's like we have an evil twin crew!!! My co-advisor collected the paperwork and walked it to council HQ herself, just as Stosh described. No offense to the DE's in the audience, but of the things that hamper the start of new units, pros that think they're doing thier job by gaking more one day to reply to a CO or IH top the list.

I hate articles like these on a very visceral level. If you're really doing what Jesus did, you would physically and mentally be right down at rock bottom. No room for smugness in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Nobody ever taught you about sacred cows, did they? Yes, some troops get together and do these kinds of things. Love it when they do, but the leaders get lots of flack if they even suggest replicating it on a grander level. GS love their troops (by-and-large age based patrols). BS love bringing every boy under one roof. They seem very far away from a unified organization.

I forgot about CoD! Thanks for the reminder. As always with things in the beginning, it is a little ambiguous about how this distinguishes a youth who is part of CoD from one who puts her heart and soul into her VOA and never bothers with CoD.

Our SM went as dad (dress shirt and tie): CM was MoC, two ASMs (actually SM emeritus) talked about the meaning of Eagle Scout and recollected the boy's scouting carreer, and I lead the Eagle charge. If you have the depth use it. Actually, (personal preference here) your boys could do each of those. If they're attending in sufficient numbers and are appropriately gifted, use those gifts.

Regarding uniforms, I understand that you are talking about the National field uniform. But, that $40 translates into two mornings with a climbing guide on some very challenging rocks just north of town. For a youth who probably already has a (boy/girl) scout uniform, fireman/EMT gear, their military uni (which is to take precedence at any formal scouting function anyway), and possibly a wife -- and baby on the way: why would I want him put his money in a shirt that he won't be wearing?

Well, I think this is where we do you youth a disservice. We've dissected "honor" from leadership. VOA should not be a mere leadership position. Every advisor should encourage the best members in their crew (even if they aren't officers) to contribute time to the VOA. They should really be an integral part of their council -- advising on everything from infrastructure to service projects, fundraisers and camporees .... Simply put, the best venturers, to be of better use to their crew, need to devote some time to hanging out with the best venturers of other crews and exchanging notes. The ideal VOA president would touch base with the Lodge chief from time to time. IMHO those are the two youth should be the most highly regarded in every council.

Understood, but E92 pointed out that OA may have boys who no longer are members of a troop, but since their BSA membership is current, by virtue of being in a crew or ship, they are still in the Order. Now maybe this is administrative oversight, or maybe noone wants to challenge a boy who went through his ordeal shows up and serves at meetings and conclaves and can pull a current membership card out of his pocket. But, it undermines the notion that the order exist solely so a boy could better serve his troop.

Here's a concept: why not have the boys do all of the planning? Adults arrange transport etc... Have the DL sit in the corner and tally advancement, or knit or something. Ask the boys if they are up for it and go from there.

Lessee ... $50 uniform ... $10 activity shirt and $40 in under armor, or a utility shirt and custom necker (full size, suitable for trading internationally) ... or a down-payment on your chain-mail. (Or matriculation deposit for college.) When it ain't your folk's money or their bills anymore, the equation changes. Wait! Hasn't anyone told you about the Venturing Leadership Awards? That's a fairly elite club. A broader group: Venturing Officers Associations. They are recommended by their advisors and elected by their peers. (Also, VOA's and have "OA" in the acronym. No sash, but epaulets are silver for council officers or gold for area and regional officers.)

Had one MC refuse to get a uniform. And to a point I agree. There's nothing that a committee should be doing that would require them to be in uniform. However, CC's often do find themselves at roundtables and such and sometimes it is handy to be able to find that guy with the same patch on his sleeve. If you're that kind of CC, then maybe you want to have a different shirt. Otherwise, someone trying to be sincerely helpful may see you with your cub uni and direct your to the wrong room when it's your night to be in the break-out session for troops. If that kind of thing doesn't bother you, stick with the cub uniform. Otherwise, has anybody ever tried gluing the blue epaulets inside the green ones so you could just flip from "Pack" to "Troop"?

Agree with BD -- unless there's a kid who's going downhill fast. (E.g., since leaving cubs, folks passed away, he moved in with relatives in a different neighborhood, not making friends. You might want to offer his den to him as a way to reconnect with some old friends.) Otherwise, if the kids are having fun elsewhere, let them. And really, if you don't know what the families are doing already, there's something wrong with your community. You should have already crossed paths with these families at a parade, carnival, or the local pool. If you can't help yourself, a dozen post-cards saying "Missed seeing you at the Pack this year. Our next meeting is ... Why not stop by?" won't break the bank. Fact is, for your effort, you'd probably have more success inviting boys who've never tried the program to give it a go for a year.

Had a great weekend comparing notes with some boys who were raised in the Czech Republic. Because scouting was outlawed during the cold war, their movement has a dearth of senior scouters. Den chief age youth operate as den leaders. Merit badge counselors: no such thing. Scoutmasters: 1 for 96 youth. The parents are hoping for the next generation will have more parents involved. From the enthusiasm of the boys, however, I kinda hope not. First thing they asked about my scouts' unis: where are your neckers?