qwazse

Thanks, Bronc!

One pointer (and a really important one I think, because most boys don't do any journaling) is after those trips, have each boy reflect on what he just did. "What was one thing you did?" "What was the best thing that happened?" Then have the boys write the event in their handbook. (There's a place for them to record their first five activities with the troop.) The feedback you get from reflecting like this will give you a real idea of how you'll need to slow some things down or speed somethings up.

Ya AnBMom, If I had stumbled across an AHG troop when my daughter was that age, we probably would have signed on. It was a long wait for her to turn 14. But then again, I'm not too bothered by indoctrinations by fundamentalists of any persuasion. Youth led + smiles on their faces + age appropriate challenges = scouting. Now the real challenge will be down the road when the likes of your daughter take the helm of their program in this post-modern society. Will they buy into the reasoning of the BP's of the world? Or, will they feel that the anchoring squarely in the Christian camp served them too well to set aside? Regardless of what is concluded, if it's the young adults haggling over those tough questions, then it's a scouting organization. If it's an "old guard", then it's something else. So my answer: time will tell ...

Oh for the love of ... Buy the green-on-tan numbers. Ask the troop if any pack-rats have any used white on red numbers he can "borrow" for just two months. IMHO National's absurd spinning off of different color schemes for every transition a boy makes should not be countenanced. There should be one color pattern for all unit #s across all programs. Change it in one program = change it in all. This allows for vintage #s to be carried forward. Next thing you know some thread-seller at national will mandate a different council patch for different programs in a council. They might even require different borders on the flag patches. [End of rant](This message has been edited by qwazse)

I have not noticed any such pattern. In fact recent history is bearing out that our "slow and steady boys" are sticking with scouting, while the FCFY boys have left us for video games and such! I guess troops are like a box of chocolates ...

I assume the biggest problem would be in first aid, swimming, knot tying, and actual outing time? every kid has a different hang up. With my youngest son, it was getting off his seat and talking with one of several people in our community about rights and responsibilities. And, getting the price of the items on his menu. He knew how to make pizza, but he didn't know the cost of a cup of flour! I prohibited his mom from looking it up for him. After three years, he figured it out. That's why 'fish, you're better off helping the boys make their own schedule of what they want to do. They'll surprise you. One month half of them might want to nail down all their knots, while the other half want to perfect orienteering skills. The next month they might be bothered that one boy didn't pick up a skill and might want to do whatever it takes to help him past muster with the SPL. I personally have no problem with a 14 year old Eagle Scout, my PL was one of those, and he was a great guy because he seemed to have all the time in the world to make sure we knew our stuff. If your son is one of those, sit back and enjoy the show and start saving up for the big ticket items he'll be asking for!

I think you're doing exactly what I'd do in the situation. I wouldn't want to pull a good leader off the roster if they are in a healthy relationship. But it is something that could get blown out of proportion by a parent who only heard half the story from a 14 year old. We would hope that such a parent would call us first before making a phone call to our SE.

I think you're doing exactly what I'd do in the situation. I wouldn't want to pull a good leader off the roster if they are in a healthy relationship. But it is something that could get blown out of proportion by a parent who only heard half the story from a 14 year old. We would hope that such a parent would call us first before making a phone call to our SE.

5mom, I was referring to point 10 on the last page of BSA's youth protection policy: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/ypt/pdf/25-026.pdf Which many crews like yours turn a blind eye to if the couple in question are only two or three years apart in age. As was discussed in the following thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=283974

At the crew level, it is possible to have this kind of variety in the program (partly because the youth are more mobile and able to drive to the programs that interest them). But I still find youth gravitating to the group that has the most friends from school. As long as they're with their friends, they'll make the program happen.

I also wanted to add that this also helps you get to know which of the older boys in the troop are natural instructors.

I am diametrically opposed to the FCFY philosophy. I am adamant that a scouting year provide at least two opportunities to pick up each 1st class skill. But don't think about micromanaging this. in an active troop it's very easy to naturally follow this rule of thumb. Every month you ask your patrol leaders to identify a requirement that their boys have yet to meet. Then ask them, "What can we do to help those boys learn those skills?" 'Fish, in your case, this may mean by next month you show the natural born leader in your patrol your advancement chart and ask, "what do you guys want to work on next?" then walk the boy over to the SPL and ask if there is anything the troop can do to make this happen for the NSP. For example, the boys may be interested in fire starting, and the SPL may know that Johnny Starscout is a real pyro! He might ask Johnny to give the boys some basic instruction, then hold some fire building competitions with the entire troop. As the year proceeds it will become clear who is really owning that goal of getting First Class ASAP, and who is just going to take a year or two longer to get there.

We don't do much special with ours besides give them to the boys. In the crew, I take great pleasure in giving them to to the girls shaking their hands, and saying, " Welcome to the boy scouts of America."(This message has been edited by Qwazse)

Beav, from another thread, oldest son is now an adult, so you could have picked up a bigger stone to throw.

The Thermarest's have outlasted any air mattresses we've owned. We have a variety because for a while my wife was having a hard time finding something that would suit her. I'm a sleep-anywhere kind of guy, but I still wake up sore if a rock or root finds me. A pad does take the edge off of sore hips.

Yep, everyone wears multiple hats in our troop, so nobody pays attention to your position patch when you raise your hand to vote. We've even stopped calling them committee meetings and started calling them parent meetings. That's partly because we lost a few hard-working families to a new troop in town, and adults who were hanging back need to step up. It's also partly because we want folks to realize they don't need a bajillion hours of training to have a good idea for the boys. But, generally, the SM and ASM focus on how we are taking care of the boys, activities they want to do, what equipment we may need, etc ... the MC's focus on how to meet those needs, activities they can offer, fundraising schemes, etc ... Rules have their advantage in terms of making sure everyone gets their say. There've been a few circumstances when they would have saved us some grief, but in a small group that isn't very often.

I think Troopmaster spits out something like that for T2FC, at least we get something of the sort from our advancement committee. During meetings, we have patrol leaders sign off on scouts. Then they take their books straight back to the advancement chair, who brings her labtop ready to enter progress. Anyway it's not too hard to do something on graph paper. Or, we crank out a spreadsheet where the columns have the requirement numbers and the each row is a youth. Search advancement tracking online and you'll come up with a variety of home grown solutions.

Since I'm certified, I offered to pretest one year, but some boys weren't present so I had to catch them later. I think we still wound taking a few boys to the lake at camp for testing. I concluded it wasn't worth my hours of free time just so the troop could have an hour more to puttz around at camp. My time was better spent 1. helping those boys who couldn't pass in previous years work out the kinks so they could swim well. 2. Prior to a canoe trip, Testing those few boys who didn't make it to camp in the past year, and 3. Checking my rescue gear to make sure we could forestall death should the need arise.

Finally got a look at this. My biggest problem with it is that it seems that youth cannot access it. If you want your crew VPs or troop SPLs taking responsibility for their trips, the fillable .pdf's seem like the best way to go. TL, check with your council, but I suspect one plan under your unit would suffice, especiially if you all are starqting from the same meeting point. Once submitted, send a copy of the plan to the leaders of the other units so they know the unit point of contact, etc...

Good Friday is no time to be blowing an April Fool's kudu horn! I think the council in which you'll be teaching is the one that will service the applications. Call their SE and ask them how to do this. Wouldn't hurt to find out who taught the last round of courses at the facility you'll be using. You should find out if there were any issues that came up and see if they were resolved. My council has a reputation for losing paperwork from courses done at summer camp! Happened to me two years ago, and I'm still trying to straighten it out.

All of those clear nights when I didn't need a tent, but went through the trouble of putting one up! So many stars, so little time to count them ...

G, Better idea (simply because someone out there loves paper): At the end of the online YPT, bring up a dialogue that asks non-members, "Would you now like to complete a BSA membership application?" It would then collect the info online, then let the user print it. It will leave boxes for info that needs pen-and-ink ( signatures, soc for background check, etc ...) , and print the YPT cert in the corner! User then turns it in to CC faith the registration fee. Get that adult app down to one piece of paper!

Or, Pack, we are fashioned in the image of a benevolent Maker, and are just trying to figure out how to reflect that before we muck things up too much. Either way, enjoy the show. Let's face it, sometime we scouters forget how the way we run the program may not mesh with a parent's world view. Reading how different folks react to a situation I may likely find myself in helps me choose a course of action in the real world that will be respectful to all.

SN, If this advisor is anything like me, he probably didn't make clear who the at-home contact was. In this day of cell phones and unlimited calling plans, the at-home contact isn't leveraged as well as they should be. But as is the case here, such a person could save a lot of unnecessary cross-talk.

Okay, there's a big difference between throwing a stop to an amusement park in the plans and, say, choosing to tackle a class IV rapids on the spur of the moment. Different units demand different levels of flexibility. Obviously if cost overruns are steep or frequent, it will have a long term effect on membership.