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Hello there. My husband has been the SM of my sons Troop now for two months, gee seems like just yesterday he took over. LOL. Anyhoo. The troop has gone through a rocky two past years, lost lots of boys due to the things going on in the troop and Council asked my husband to step up and be the SM. Originally, he was going to be an ASM, as my son joined the troop in March. But Council sees great things in my hubby, so they asked. Had a committee meeting last night, part of the agenda was to talk about the CODE OF CONDUCT he wants put into place. The committee ripped it apart, does not see why they need one, dont want one. He has already talked with the committee chair in length about this issue and others with the troop. They are going to have one! Then they talked about how active a scout should be with the troop. They have a couple of scouts that never show up for meetings because they "have a life" other than scouts. One of these that show up once a year for the past 1.5 years and says I want make Eagle, but I have a life, cant give much time to the troop. WHAT do you do with that? My husband ran it by the boys two weeks ago and asked them what THEY thought Active in the TRoop meant and they gave him their answers. They said attend 50% of meetings, 50% of outings, 80% of court of honors, both troop and Eagle. The parents are in an uproar!!! "Their kids have so many other things to do, and besides, this is pinning them down and Forcing them to do something they dont want, and maybe they will bail". Well, gee, isnt it boyscouting? Am I wrong in thinking that the boy should make time for scouting as well as other things? Hubby wants to institute this and says the boys must abide by the %. What if he would say, 'try' to abide? MY husband told them that they can come and go as their sports and other things need, but they still balked. ONe even said that they could not attend an Eagle COH this year because they had a bowling party that day. I understand boyscouting is not 100% in all of the lives and the attention ebbs and wains, but geesh. Am I wrong in thinking they are not putting the scouting in the right perspective? And again, I am sure there are many perspectives. My husband wants to do more camping with this troop, more outings. Right now they do maybe three campouts, one of which is in a condominium each year. HOw in the heck are these kids getting their ranks without camping? Once they start camping more, there goes the % if they dont show. I am hoping that once the boys see how fun my husband is going to make the troop, that they will WANT to be at the meetings and outings. Can you people tell me what your perspective on ACTIVE would be and how to institute it, if it all? Coming from a Mom of a scout that belongs to a very broken troop. Thank you kindly.

Hi there, just owndering what kind of ideas others might have for fundraisers. Anyone ever do a Spaghetti dinner or such? Robbin

Hello there, my husband has just started acting as the Scoutmaster for my sons troop this past week, a newbie. Can you please help me out with ideas for gifts that a Scoutmaster should give to the Eagle Scouts for their Court of Honor? We don't have any Courts scheduled as of yet, just asking for the future? Thanks. Robbin

To Mr. Boyce and all, "please" accept my sincere apologies for the comment "Playing boyscout". I can and DO appreciate all the time and effort all of you put in, to take care of our boys and help them to become knowledgeable young men. I really did not mean it in a mean streak by any way. He just seems to be having waaaay too much fun. Again, please accept my apologies. We are going to need all the advice we can get from all of you. My hubby is going to be taking over as Scout Master, if the Troop will accept him. He is a great take charge guy and wants to do well by 'all' the boys. It kind of overwhelms me at this point as this is my oldest son's first two months in Boyscouts, coming out of Cubscouts this March. So far he loves it and is ready for the adventure. Thanks for all the info on the knots, but I am not sure he is going to qualify, as he did not attend the roundtables, nor did he chair much.

deafscouter. My husband has been a den leader for Cubscouts now for three years. He took over the den as a Wolf leader, has done Wolf, Bear Webelos I and is going into Webelos II. In the meantime, he is going to be taking over as Scoutmaster for our older son's Boyscout troop. He was playing boyscout this weekend to start earning his Woodbadge and just made notice of the knots on the other people's shirts and was wondering what they were for. Thanks for your reply.

Hi there, my husband just came home from a weekend of training for WOODBADGE. He was telling me that there were a few other leaders that had many, many knots on their uniforms. Can any one tell me what knots there are for adult leaders that would go on the uniform. Also,can you tell me if there is a know for either Oakleaf or Woodbage? Thanks.

We find that the boys are some what more interested in the treats than the meetings, only have them for special occaisions.