Tampa Turtle

Eamonn--they don't have grits in the UK? Went to school in GA, married into a southern family. Have had grits served EVERY way known to man; can't stand em. Different strokes I guess.

In my old Pack we awarded them once. But a lot of boys got them 2 or 3 times. The belt loop requirements for wolf were not always same as webelos. I could be wrong it was a while. Some boys parents tried to earn them earlier when they were easier. A lot of boys repeated when the activities were done in Den meetings. Because of the cost (we had 150 boys) we eventually tried a survey of existing belt loops, informed the parents of the 1 only issue policy, and tried to only award once. However if a boy lost one we might issue a replacement, once.

(Sigh)Cannot believe the number of posts...To the citizen thing, I think it is (or was) a poor policy move on AHG's part but not an evil one. I have worked for local, state, and Federal government and in each case I was not eligible to apply unless I was a citizen.

To be fair I had not considered the time issue. I think sometimes we get a head start. I know who ever is cook gets up 30 minutes early and the boys do not do that. I agree when a Patrol is making poor food choices it is time to see if they need a little extra help.

I think the belts are great ideas. I have a copy of the BSA flag book somewhere and thought it was a good general guide. For cubbies a lot of it is attitude; if they are respectful it is alright of not perfect. I tell them "if you mess up just smile, fake it, and make it look good. A common problem is getting the full size pole into the stand. Like many things, practice, practice, practice. It is a good activity to do every meeting so everyone gets a few chances. Also fills time, We did it a lot including flag folding. We also folded some pretty big casket size flags--a team effort with Bears.

For a while we had a marketing type Mom who created press releases for our Troop and we got in the news about once a month. Then she moved on and we really don't want to get any bigger. Some parents do it for their Eagle COH.

Totally agree. We only have a couple Patrols ready to do this. This is an excellent sign and I would work to make it happen!

Eamonn I disagree. We stay in the same budget and use the same equipment. We often share the recipes, etc with the guys. Always willing to share pros/cons of planning, cooking, and food prep. We have one patrol that is now very competitive trying to out-do the adults with some very ambitious recipes. We may swap tastes. Yes it is hard when boys made poor choices regarding food or portion size and they wander over to mooch. But if we have leftovers we may "reward" a helpful boy or throw it to the wolves.

May be a troll maybe not. You know if a decent Scouter makes a YPT mistake he will own up to it. This weekend I went into a camp restroom and was alone with a boy; it didn't register until later as he appeared to be bleeding so I rendered aide. When I left I went to the a SM and another ASM and let them know what happened.

Very funny! My great great grandparents were Portuguese whalers in the Azores. Someone would watch from the waterfront and if they saw one they would row after them. I saw photographs from the 1880's showing where they would drag it up the cobblestoned main village street and butcher it. Sure glad the pictures were in BW!

This weekend went to a nice "safe" heavily used State Park near Tampa. (For the 1st time with a bunch of newbies--had a restaurant and a swimming pool for goodness sake. Definitely "low adventure".)I set up my hammock near some grass and felt something vibrating and buzzing under my foot. I looked down and saw a small (2 foot) rattlesnake repeatably striking at my boot. Hate to think if it was a 10-1/2 year old in sneakers. So all we do has risk.

Had a conversation with a Star--a good boy--at a campout this weekend. "We should do a paintball campout." "Well", I said "BSA doesn't really want you to do that. You can organize your patrol to do that unofficially." "Why the heck not?" said the Star "I guess BSA doesn't like you looking all militaristic and shooting at people" He replied "Are you kidding? When we boys are Rifle Shooting at summer camp that is all we are thinking about!".

Yeah an 11 year old is going to have some problems.

We are trying to do "eternal" mixed-age patrols. Mixed results so far. Of the 5, 1 is firing on all cylinders, 2 are so-so, and 2 collapsing on a regular basis. Feed new boys in on an annual basis. Functioning seems directly related to pride. Our old system we tried doing same age patrols but after 2 years or so they would die out.

When my boys were babies I remembering making those late night runs for diapers and proudly wearing spit-up on my T-shirt--it said "I'm a dad!". OGE you got me thinking when I was 22 and had graduated from college my dad through me out of the house. Basically I was the most responsible child but needed the kick out the nest. My younger siblings stayed home until over 30 and still seem less mature. So I guess I owe my dad a thank you though it sure didn't seem like it at the time. It actually took some guts on my parent's part as they pushed my older brother out and he was not ready for the cruel world and died very young. Now that I am a parent I look on their decisions a bit differently; the judgement calls are pretty tough.

I wouldn't feel bad about the hotdogs. Better than pop-tarts and pringles. Sometimes the boys want an easy meal. We encourage meal competition amongst the patrols by contest but if the menu is mostly nutritiousness and a little ambitious than OK. The other Troop widened the possibilities menu-wise for the future for your guys. I would be proud if they are cooking for themselves. It is an important life skill and so many boys cannot do a thing beyond opening a bag of Cheetos. Have them try something like a chili or dutch oven thing next time. Yes they are kinda "dump" recipes but you really "cook" something. Last year the NSP did pancakes for breakfast for their first campout. Despite advice about limited through-put for a big group they still wanted to do it and (barely) pulled it off in time. They were pretty proud walking around with pancakes, hash browns, and bacon when the older boys were eating pop tarts. So they gotta want to do it. Sounds like a good start.

There is a saying in the Tourette community that "when you have had one kid with Tourettes...you have had one kid with Tourette's." That is they are individuals and what strategies that worked with kid A may not at all be helpful with kid B. All you have are some tendencies and strategies that work with *many* such kids. I don't know if it is all twaddle (marvelous word E)but I know a lot of it is not always helpful. And then you get into the psychology issues of "lumpers" and "splitters". So all you can do as a Scouter is learn all you can, gather up a lot of tools, and remember that between nature and nurture they are all individuals. As to the original question: If my sons are brilliant it is nurture; when they are bad it is nature. But then they are adopted.

Moose is right in that the story sells...especially the early story with the lad's pictures...he was very telegenic. That helps. And Stand Your Ground is growing in controversy in Florida. So it got traction. Clothing wise what is right is not always prudent; that issue is still raging over the Sl*t Walks with women. I had this issue with my 13 year old son. He loves to dress in Camo on the weekend from head to toe. Has the hat, jacket, pants, web gear --the whole deal. Wants to wear to the crowded city park to play with his friends. Then says he wants to bring his old play gun that looks like a M-16. I tell him no. He is no longer a little kid and some guy dressed all in camo carrying a toy gun (which you cant have in a City park here anyway) is going to scare a few folks when they see him lurking through the woods. Now I got to worry about some guy who "stands his ground" and shoots him by mistake. Yeah he has a right on what to wear but is it prudent? No. Because some people are prejudiced and think all camo wearing white males must be crazed neo-nazi's ready to cause a mass casualty event. (Funny thing is you can carry a *real* gun to a City park but not a *toy* gun.)

We do a mini-NSP. Enough to get them up to speed on how the Troop does things and before Camp we parcel them out in buddy-clumps of 2-3 to the standing patrols.

Just an update at cost for here. Little darling #2 ran up wanting to go to Jambo. Of course would have to send #1 as well. Presenter told us it was "just" $1800 + "incidentals" per. I had to tell my boys I cannot shell out $3600 after tax just like that. $1800! For that kinda money it would be a lot better to go to Philmont and Sea Base IMHO. Not that I think Jambo is bad--it is a cost/benefit thing. Or how many AT hikes? I told him save his money for next time (2016) Of course son#2 cried "But I'll be an Eagle by then" (I thought good luck with that). At the rate things are going Jambo 2016 will probably be $2000-2400. If my son saves up for it he will need to sock away $10 a week every week until then.

125 posts and counting. I for one think that BSA has more than enough issues to gnash our teeth over.

We have an adult patrol patch. And our own Patrol box. I think this is a tempest in a teapot. And you have to earn it. It is a silly little thing that encourages some adult leaders. I think we neither detract from the boys enjoyment nor play at man-scouts. But we do act like a "patrol" as far as cooking, clean-up and that sort of things. Try to set a good example for the newbies who usually set up near us until they get to camp farther away when they join the regular patrols. Just seems easier to say "Old Goat Patrol" will set up over there".

That is what my camp told me.

I LOVEEE the Plywood Patrol Boxes but it gets harder and harder to justify them unless we are doing "plop" camping. For a camporee or a base camp to return to they are fine but... well this is a well traveled road. Sigh. I know at our Troop it IS an emotional issue because of the effort put into planning and building them by some adults and their sons.

Drats! Was hoping it would be in place by June for camp. Oh well.