qwazse

Another issue, was the girl using the cell phone? Anyway, like ea says, there's a lot that's gotta be "water under the dam" because time has passed. You may need to consider the following ... An apology to the mom for not bringing the daughter to her on the first infarction. And a sincere apology for not insisting that she and her daughter be sent home to cool down without the eyes of the other moms and girls on them. An explaination to the daughter that being frustrated about not getting her way wasn't the problem ... cussing and being obstinate was. Making it clear that her fussing made took time away from the other girls' fun, and she needs to figure out how to make it up to them. Finally make it known that to the powers that be (moms included) that you will not operate a troop that is forced to retain a girl who is not enjoying the program to its fullest (rules included). So either this young lady improves her outlook, or leaves, or you pack it in. For what it's worth, we routinly have this with young boys. We haven't had to toss any out, but we have had to accept "modest" gains in improvement. (E.g., boy being willing to apologize to the whole troop for how his behavior caused us to cut short an evening activity. A year earlier he would have been permenantly indignant.)

Oh, and by the way, thanks for volunteering (again). If you're starting with grandson in cubs, the online stuff should be adequate for now. (I go over it myself from time to time by way of "refresher".) In fact if you took the time to knock all of those out, you'd be a step ahead of most committee members. With boy scouts, I would actually suggest recertifying first aid and CPR training. If you're into shooting sports, being a certified instructor for firearms or archery can open up a lot of opportunities for the troop. If you had BSA guard, try re-updating (although those sprints seem to get harder every year). The first person to talk to is your pack/troop committee chair. There's lots of good reasons for that, but the main one is that there may be someone else who needs trained, and you could partner with them to get it done.

There are a few theologians who have written that Jesus was not truly resurrected and claim that early Christian leaders made up that story to keep their movement alive and growing. A few? Only a few? Like, how about all my strident Jewish buddies? But weather the outsiders thought the story was a fabrication or not, they identified Christians based on this belief. Later on, they identified them by a stubborn unwillingness to burn incense to Cesar, but that flowed out from the whole resurrection thing. I get the whole doubt thing. But, often folks who confess to those doubts also confess to doubts about their own inferences. Some folks have been burned by "good" Christians, and this has shaken their faith to the core. So maybe not expecting a Christian to be "good" is a defense mechanism on my part. What I don't get, is folks who would chalk the resurrection up to fabrication and wish to stay in a Christian camp. Beav, had a good discussion with the Sunday School kids on this. Made things a lot more interesting for them! I owe the guy at least that.

We have a Eureka Teragon 4 that child #1 got and is now the tent of choice for child #3. The only issue was the fly's plastic windows that ruptured in maniacal gale force last-gasp-of-winter winds after it's second outing. Needs regular reapplication of packing/duct tape. It's suitable as a 3 man (cubs), 2 man (scout before the voice drops an octave), or 1 man (i.e., me). I'm guessing it has another couple of dozen outings left in it. As BD implies, he'll be chucking the Walmart tent in the trash the minute he wakes up after (or during) the first storm or gnat swarm, so get him started earning and socking away $100 a month so he can afford the equipment (and Jambo/Philmont/Seabase/NTier fees) he really wants.

Nostalgia rises as I stare at an empty but probably quite useless plastic coffee container.

Sounds like you did a great job listening to your team. Now you need to think of your next moves in "a game with a purpose." Like any coach, you gotta suck in your breath and not let your displeasure overwhelm everything. Let your ASPL know that based on what you saw in the weekend he may one day make a good SPL. Tell him there is room for improvement, but the best way to figure that out how to improve is to hear from his team. In a PLC have the SPL go over things (the usual "what went well", "what didn't go so well","what we should do differently"). Don't let this ramble on or divulge into a blame match. The point is to get the boys agree on what they expect of each other the next time. Then look ahead to that next time. Then, you get them back on task. "Our cross-overs did not come away from the weekend with as solid skills as we would have hoped. What can we do to help them get up to speed?" This is the tough part of leadership. We can have a good idea of how things should be. We can convey to others how should be. They could agree. But when things don't turn out quite how they should, we need to still figure out how to make the best of the experience.

Sorry if my choice of the word "cynicism" was equated with faithlessness. There was a time when that wouldn't be the case. BP - ... Dark Ages, countless numbers of wars, and enslavement of entire cultures by so called "good Christians" ... OE-AE - ... the people who claimed to be Christians and missed the mark ... don't align with what a 'Christian' should be Your summary judgments and condescension are duly noted. Scripture (and experience) tells me none are "good", not one. I'll work from that lens and avoid delusions that my walk is any better. My point is, that the one and only thing that qualifies them as Christian was a firm belief in the resurrection from the dead -- not metaphorical dead, not post-modern zombie dead, but your garden-variety-more-certain-than-taxes-dead. So, no, you can't ever be a good Christian. You can only merely be one. Given that, you can have varieties of zeal, or charity, or nobility, or theological astuteness or any number of other strengths. And depending on how your collection of gifts mesh with the times, you may get the additional label of "good." But if history is any indication, generations from now will judge your "goodness" critically, and you'll be labeled divisive, naive, or dictatorial. (Hopefully we'll sort this all out when we also are resurrected and have an eternity to sit and talk things through with the sectarians, ascetics, and fundamentalists of old -- or of many years to come if the Rapture still waits.) Now, I've met folks in good conscience who could not bring themselves to believe in the resurrection. (In spite of someone like OE-AE laying it out fairly well for them.) But when in spite of this they try to hold on to the attribution of "Christian" because they don't want to look "bad", it comes off as very pathetic. Better that folks accept that they are non-Christian and simply work out being "good" until they nail down what they are putting their faith in. P.S. SScout - What would be the advantage of this being in a "Faith and Chaplaincy" forum? Is it messing things up being in "Issues and Politics"?

Youngest son and I heard the story on the radio. What a riot.

NJ - It's probably a good idea to copy those E-mails to whoever you are training as your backup committee chair! Do you save your E-mails? You could put them all in a folder and say to some third party "here. please review for YP purposes", and you've fulfilled the policy. Have you made the boys any safer? Not a wit. Why? Your correspondence is largely administrative the person getting them would tune them out. And, if you were a predator, you'd send lots of inocuous E-mail's with cc's until you've picked out the boy who is willing to correspond on more than "strictly business". You will set up a bogus cc that looks like the adult's in the troop so the boy doesn't suspect anything. Eventually once you were sure you had your mark you could remove the cc knowing he wouldn't rat you out. THEN you'd start being outright evil. All along, you would be sending hundreds of messages with cc's under the pretence of being accountable. You'd even encourage everyone else to do it because it helps you fly under the radar! In short, there's no way I could be sure my youth were safe from you if I did or did not get copied on your E-mails.

I know it's small consolation, but there seems to be no amount of telling beforehand. Venturing daughter on her first hike decided to not put socks becuase 1) we were rushed and 2) we were only hiking a mile into camp. Next morning: lessons in mole skin application before 6 more miles on the trail. Silly me for thinking I didn't need to check footgear on 14 year olds. As far as aftercare at home: evening soaks in epsom salts. Keep clean and dry before bed time. In the morning put guaze over any blisters that haven't popped. I generally prefer powder for AF.

t366e, Thanks for throwing out the question, and it's too bad you did not hear from some other SPLs/JASMs. (They'll probably all write in after your weekend's over.) There is a very fine line between "scrutinizing" and "making feel like a failure". An event can not go as planned and still be a success. And leadership always occurs. Sometimes it's just not the leadership you expect. So stay positive, keep an eye out for those youth who are showing some leadership and be generous with the "attaboy"s.

my #1: Tent optional. Try ripping the cieling out of your hotel room on a starry night -- and that would only work if you were on the top floor.

That said, I think it is a very healthy excersize to have the scout collect reference letters.

acco4 had two questions the first one was rhetorical, but that never stopped us before ... How did JASM get into the discussion of Eagle Scout = SPL? Sorry for the tangent, but I was just saying that if our troop doesn't require rank for JASM, so we don't limit SPL to the lower ranks. ... should a Scout be able to become an Eagle without serving, or at least attempting, to hold the office of SPL? Yes. And we should expect more from a librarian Life scout than a first-class scout. That's the rules, I didn't write them. (Although, I would prefer that 1st class scout spend a stint as a PL.) To follow up on MT's most recent post -- just for the sake of contrast: our troop doesn't consider JASM to be a privelage (beyond the implied "we really trust you"). We just assign it if a guy really wants to take charge of some aspect of troop life. The purpose for us is to put a title on the kid that answers a question like "why is this high school junior talking to my little Johnny about a 5 mile hike in the middle of winter?"

Z. I've heard of Falun Gong. More power to you. 1. I'll defer to other's about the religious award stuff. I know there's an alternative for faiths that don't have an awards program. I can't remember what it is. The bottom line is that you understand your faith at a level that would be expected of a thoughtful and caring adult adherant of your religion. 2. Whatever your religious leaders say is service to your faith would count. Bottom line: the time you spend should help foster the religous life of the folks around you. 3. Teaching definitely counts as leadership.

drmbear ... making a nice cup of coffee and something good to eat ... I'm with you on so many levels on that one! Besides, you'd be amazed at the crossovers who'll stop by and ask to help you roll grape-leaves, grind hummus, or chop parsley for tabbouleh salad. Or if cooking isn't your thing, just sit down with rope and spars and start making a camp gadget, or be in the axe yard knocking out tent pegs.

It makes tour plans a little easier to sign. Besides that, there are no benefits. It depends on the leadership style of the CC. He/she may be tempted to act as the SM. If the partner has enjoyed direct contact with boys before (e.g. Den Leader) he/she should consider being ASM. If she has a track record coordinating adult committees, then maybe CC will be a good fit. The advantage of the CC being from a different family is that you are forced to work at communication. There's no taking it for granted. This usually helps formally get the word out to the rest of the troop.

Quadruple ditto of what niel_b said. Most importantly, are the boys having fun? Do they feel welcome? Do the adult leaders feel like they are accomplishing things with the den? If there's no fun, if boys don't feel loved, if adults just see their kids "jumping through hoops", it's not a den. You can bring the adults together and say "we want our den back!"

BP, I have to take issue with your Being a Christian is NOT:'s 1) Being able to define the miracle of the Resurrection by the very limited understanding human knowledge can provide. Defined: A guy dies, violently and certainly. Then he's hiking with his homies, busting their crib, eating their fish, making campfires, and then hopping the clouds (without any COPE rigging). How much more sophistication do you need? 2) Defining your faith by what particular Denomination you are since all of them were created by humans and not God. Jesus showed us how to live our lives he did not create a religion, humans did. But that's what Christians do! (A quote from the Koran: "The Jews are in 77 sects, the Christians are 777.") I wish I could live my life bringing the best drinks to the wedding, clearing hospitals, and occasionally toppling some tables and beating people with ropes for selling stuff at church. I can't. So I'll just spin-off a new religion, just like my master did! 3) Dictating to others what and how to believe, thinking your way is the only true way. Orthodoxy: straight teaching. Heterodoxy: crooked teaching. Christian history is mainly about dictating such things! Okay, I'm being cynical here. Just a little. But the problem is we've equated being "Christian" with being "nice." And, even though many are, that's just not what defines the term. The worse effect: folks who are non-Christian feel like they are considered second class citizens. I guess that's the downside of taking over for the Roman Empire and salvaging what was left of it by throwing the West into the Dark Ages. That imperious attitude is hard to shake.(This message has been edited by qwazse)

Finally pulled the 2007 G2SS. This is a new section. (And my wife wonders why I keep this "old stuff".) The old stuff is still there (items were simply renumbered). I'm wondering if the new section comes from Personal Safety Awareness for Venturing meeting guide. It wasn't referenced in the 2007 G2SS. I'm not inclined to chase this down to its source. Since I don't have to sort out where anyone's sleeping (or whatever) tonight, I'm going to see if I can start staring at my eyelids before midnight.

This happens at every level of scouting. Older youth have 10+ calendars and no skill or ability to synchronize them. Credit your SPL for giving the ASPL the heads up more than a day in advance and move on. How much leadership does one need to get a bunch of boys to show cross-overs some skills? I guess you're going to find out! It's a little easier with the crew, but I ask myself "If I don't do __, what's the worst that can happen?" If the answer is someone getting hurt, I intervene. If the answer is my youth look shoddy and disorganized or the youth wind up improvising a game instead of nailing those requirements, I let it slide. I then explain to the youth leader next meeting: "We had a great time, you really missed out, but now these kids are short on X skill. Can you think of a way to help them catch up?"

So G2SS is referencing "National Venturing Committee" when it doesn't exist? That's rich. Anyway, the policy is no different than what we've been trained in VLST. I meant to compare with the wording in the old G2SS, but forgot to last night. FWIW - from my talks with camp rangers regarding venturers, the last place I need to worry about fornication is where they are *sleeping*. More coffee, please.

Even for those of us who are spitting distance from Summit, the calculus is a challenge. The last Jambo broke the bank for a couple of my boys who wanted to come sailing with our crew -- making it hard to fill our boats. Now my crew is invited to join the council contingent, but will we pass on a superactivity in 2012 so we can afford 2013? It's going to be a tough sell.

This depends on what your troop's vision is. If you believe candidates for Eagle are entitled to an opportunity to hold the "point position" in the troop, then you want to increase the odds of that happening by asking guys who earned their Eagle to sit out the elections. If you believe that Eagles should have opportunities to "man point" during their scouting career. Then you should invite them to throw their hat in the ring. If you believe that a position has more to do with what a boy can contribute, you'll minimize rank restrictions in making assignments. If you believe it has more to do with certain things a boy should be trying at certian ranks, you'll be make policies in that direction. E.g. if an ex-SPL is really good at organizing camp or planning events, I'd make him a JASM without any consideration of what's on his left pocket. It sounds like eagles are expected to do that in MT's troop, so they are de-facto JASM's once they meet age requirements. If I see a 17 y.o. Eagle who really gets a kick out of showing cross-overs the ropes, I'd call him a troop guide. MT's troop would say he's advanced beyond that. And if a guy says he wants to be JASM and winds up doing basic troop guide stuff I wont make him switch patches! (I honestly don't think MT's troop would either.) Since I don't like when people make extra rules for me, I discourage SM's from making extra rules for the boys. Sometimes, however, a nice orderly progression makes things run smoother. So sit and think about what suits your leadership best. Get the boys' o.k. Work your plan. If it annoys you, adjust.

pack - nice thoughts, but not necessarily Christian. As I mentioned in other threads, that "label" was applied by folks outside the faith for what at the time was considered a Jewish sect that had this obstinate persuasion that a certainly dead Christ came back to a certain vibrant physical life. Nothing metaphysical about it. If you believed in the resurrection of the body with Jesus as the first example (the down payment, if you will), someone was going to call you a Christian. If your belief involved some more nuanced abstraction, they'd call you something else. Not sure why anyone would want to bother trying to fiddle with the definition after 20 centuries.