Rick_in_CA

I think @@Stosh is right that this change (if it is real - it's still just a rumor for now), is mostly "safety theater".

Would I hold a weekly cub pack meeting in a parking lot? No. Would I hold one in a city park next to a parking lot? Probably yes. Look, I think you have a legitimate beef about the parking congestion, it's the automatic "strangers are dangerous" that I am pushing back on. Why do you have to be "more on alert every moment a stranger come by"? The idea that strangers are automatically threats is wrong (in fact there are studies that show that children that are willing to ask strangers for help (directions, etc.) are safer than kids that aren't). Your kids are in greater risk of harm from the drive to that park, then from those strangers passing by. You choose to meet in a public space. Then don't complain about other members of the public also using that space unless their behavior is inappropriate. And simply being near children is not inappropriate behavior. If the park and ride activities for the casinos is seriously disrupting the communities ability to use the park because of congestion and lack of parking, then complain to the city. Document it (lots of pictures of full parking lots, lines of buses waiting, etc.) and make your case. And in the meantime figure out how to deal with it because city action will come slowly if at all. Oh, and definitely sell popcorn!

Oops. I misread your comment and thought you were advocating throwing water balloons at cars. So I apologize for saying you were suggesting vandalizing cars.

So your solution to this problem is to harass the bus riders and vandalize their cars??? How very scout like. Plus, I don't get the safety issue here (the traffic and parking issues, those I get). So there are people you don't know using the same park as your kids. Get over it. If you don't want that, don't use a public space. The whole stranger = danger thing is way over blown. We need to fight against the whole paranoia culture that sees danger for our children around every corner. It's hurting our kids! It's why scouts can't climb trees, use a little red wagon or go anywhere without an adult escort (I was just told by someone from the council that patrol hikes are going to require adult supervision unless all patrol members are 14 or older - not confirmed yet). My neighbor used to take his son (who is 8) to the park to play catch or use the swings. He stopped because he got tired of all the paranoia around an adult male with a kid at the park on a week day. His son would get worried mothers asking him if he was alright and who was that man? They even called the police about a "strange man" at the park once because he was sitting on a bench watching his son play on the swings. That is absurd.

It was an ancient rabbi that supposedly said something like: "The Golden Rule is the whole of the Torah, the rest is just commentary". I always liked that one.

One of the down sides of all this hyper-competitive youth sports, is that kids are showing up with sports injuries that used to only show up in professional athletes. We have child athletes needing knee and elbow surgery. There is growing concern within the medical community about the detrimental health effects of overtraining and the rise of overuse injuries in youth sports. Basically, a lot of this stuff is unhealthy.

Welcome!

So if I understand you, if you attended a flag ceremony where it was folded into a rectangle, you would be offended? Even if it was done in earnest?

If you are burning a flag, I personally don't like seeing it cut up before hand. But @@SSScout's way is rather nice. For synthetic flags, cutting them up (and not burning) is actually the recommended BSA way for retiring those flags. The parts are then taken to a flag recycler. One reason to cut up a flag before burning however, is that some towns have outlawed flag burning (with no exceptions for retirement). Once a flag is cut up, it isn't a flag anymore so the parts can be burned.

This is exactly how a scout acts using the Scout Oath and Law. This is also why the suggestion that it is unscout-like to turn away people with certain behaviors and beliefs doesn't hold water. Scout-like actions are respecting others without having to respect their beliefs or actions. Barry Even though the scout law says the opposite of this? (Bold emphases is mine)

While BSA policies do have an impact on numbers, I believe the biggest factors driving the decline in BSA membership over the decades are all external too the BSA. In other words, it didn't matter what the BSA did, the numbers would still be lower than they were in the 70s. All the BSA could have done was slow the decline. Some of the external issues causing the decline: People have less leisure time. From working more hours (the average full time worker in the US now works a 47 hour week), to more demands from the family (driving the kids everywhere, coordinating two full time work schedules, etc), there is less time to spend on things like scouting. Statistics show that while the average amount of vacation days earned by full time workers has not gone down, the average number of vacation days actually used by full time workers has. Life is more competitive. In our society, there is a perception that we are all competing for a slice of an ever shrinking pie. As a result, the perceived stakes are higher now. College is more important than ever before, but it is also more expensive. This generation of parents are the first where the assumption that their kids will automatically have it better than them no longer holds (that is what polls show is the perception, and there is some data backing them up). Participation in activities like science clubs, robot leagues and other extracurricular activities are no longer driven by just interest, but they are now also perceived to be important resume builders (which means less time for "less prestigious" activities). All this means most children's activities get put through the "how will this look on a collage or job application" filter (hence the BSA's emphasis on selling Eagle). Our society is much more fearful. The fact that we even have the term "free range parenting" to describe what most of us would call "normal parenting" is a reflection of this. Many parents today are often looking for guarantees of perfect safety for their kids, in a world that they perceive to be full of threats. Strangers are looked on with suspicion, letting a kid walk down the street alone generates calls to the police, etc. So we have background checks, fingerprinting, YPT rules, tour plans, and general paranoia, all of which create additional burdens on those that wish to participate (even if some of these rules are good ones, it's still hoops that volunteers need to jump through, and some of these hoops cost money). Plus, many traditional scouting skills and activities are now perceived as "dangerous" or "risky" (knives, fire, guns, camping, being in the woods, mowing the lawn, using a little red wagon, etc.), which reduces the appeal (for parents at least). We complain about kids sitting home playing video games, but for many parents that is just where they want them - inside and safe. Very few families can afford to have a stay at home parent today. When I was a child, I had a stay at home mom, as did most of my friends. Families today still need to go grocery shopping, do laundry, buy shoes and school supplies, cook dinner, etc. The stay at home parent accomplish many of these tasks during normal working hours (often while also looking after the kids) leaving the evenings and weekends as free time. Now these tasks have to be done outside of the normal work day, which reduces the free time available for other activities. This is a factor that I think a lot of people overlook. I'm sure people can articulate other reasons as well. All of the above have contributed too the decline of scouting (and many other activities), and none are within the control of the BSA. Yes a better BSA would be a more successful one, but the decline in numbers from the 70s peak was inevitable, no matter what the BSA did.

A well thought-out post. I agree with your friend. I have long believed that the BSA should either modify or loose the DRP. On of the big problems with the DRP that is missed by the post, is that new members are asked to subscribe too the DRP on the application, but are only shown an excerpt from it, not the whole thing. This bait and switch is unfair. From the application: Which is much more non-sectarian then the real DRP.

The pink flamingos fundraiser is an interesting idea. I'm not sure it would get council approval though (I guess you can argue it is selling a service). Do you know anyone that has done it?

Interesting. Those are decent. I've never seen them anywhere in my local area. Not as good as the South African one, but not too bad.

I agree, very well done. I also agree we probably wouldn't see anything like that here. Some marketing pinhead would probably argue that it's "too challenging" for "American audiences" (no background music? How are they supposed to know how too feel? People will be confused by the switch from child to adult. etc.).

What a great speech, I hadn't seen it before. Thanks for sharing it!

This is something that the BSA isn't being clear on (I'm just shocked!). My understanding is the STEM Scouts is under the Learning for Life umbrella, and is fully inclusive. Yet they open with the scout oath and law. So I agree this might be a (perhaps unintentional) back-door to dropping the remaining two G's. I don't agree that allowing atheists and agnostics would mean having to drop Duty to God and Reverent from the Scout Oath and Law. But that is a discussion for another thread.

I agree with you. Society is changing, and people don't look at the outdoors the same way. I grew up tent camping (and sometimes just under the stars when the weather was good), it's what my family did for vacation. But what I hear from a lot of parents today is fear about the outdoors. What about spiders and other bugs? Sleep without a tent? What about the critters??? One of the reasons for the growth in RV sales is they are little portable fortresses complete with locks on the doors and windows.

This is what Be Prepared is all about. A great story!

I like this rule. I always wear my neckerchief. As do most of the (male) adults in our units (though not all - and most of the women don't. Not sure why).

Welcome @@Pselb!

In our cub pack, we try not to use an actual script. In the past the cubs would read the script with no real understanding of the what the words meant (like giving the command "post the colors" after the colors were posted). So instead of giving them a script, we tell them which words they choose to use doesn't matter as long as everyone understands what you mean, and it's done with respect. That way they focus on the sequence of events instead of specific words (you want everyone to stand up, how do you do that? OK, what is supposed to happen next?). We want them to learn the actual sequence of the flag ceremony, not a bunch of magic words they don't really understand (how many cubs have any idea what the words "retreat" and "dismissed" mean?).

Sounds like someone that is more interested in the letter of the rules, rather than the spirit of the rules.

The way I understand the issues with individual scout accounts, if how much a scout raises determines how much money goes into their account, then you have a problem (it's fraud). If other criteria is used, such that a scout that doesn't do any fundraising can "earn" just as much money in his account as the best fund raiser in the troop, then you might be OK (or might not). I seems to me that ISAs are basically a bad idea and should be dumped.

Unfortunately I'm not surprised. As others have noted, the culture on many university campuses is getting ridiculous. I ran across an interesting article the other day that calls this movement Vindictive Protectiveness instead of political correctness (as they have different motivations). I think I like that term. How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus.