Tampa Turtle

I have been that ASM and I have always apologized to the boy privately and the Troop publicly. Nevertheless you lose quite a bit of face with the Scouts when you do that. I try to confine my yelling to danger issues but on occasion been baited and took the bait. Nothing I am proud of. Probably why I am not Scoutmaster material.

Wonderful story! I only got 11 years.

We had good luck with a carnival theme or obstacle course where each den was responsible for an area. Best one was PVC pipe catapults flinging water balloons or tennis balls. Just 3" PVC pipes stuck into ground (use post hole digger), some sand in pipe at bending point, and a partial milk jug screwed/duct taped into the top. Boys had a blast until it broke. Once did something similar called 'Castle'. Boy Scouts/Webelos made a wall of old cardboard boxes and had some super soakers* and the cubs had many dozens of water balloons and a catapult or two. Let fly and have fun. Best on hot days. Boys loved that too. One Mom did go 'what is the point of all this?' *may not be G2SS approved

You really can't except my offering a fun program where they get to bond with their Patrol.

He has his moments <3.

Good luck! The planning, reporting, and that awful BSA PDF document are harder than the project itself!!!

"BSA says be prepared. It doesn't say anything about be efficient." We are boarding up and tying things down last weekend (in between wondering if we were gonna die) and Scout Sun #2 whips out a Bow Line when we needed one and it all seemed worthwhile!

I think the service model to the school works well. We also working with the local Parents-Teachers-Students Association (PTSA) and would be able to make a quick presentation at those meetings as well as the handout. But it does seem to be getting tougher--this was a big common point of conversation at Scouters at Summer Camp that there was a bigger crossover drop off this year.

'leaders' can stay in tents; 'LEADERS' are in a survival shelter like the scouts. It's called taking one for the team.

We 'got a glancing blow not a punch in the face' as our Mayor said. Was a long, exhausting week; quite terrifying at times. The turtle house only got minor damage and never lost power but go a block or two in either direction and poles down and trees hit houses. But everyone knows we got really, really lucky. The boys and I really used our scout skills the last few days especially those 'outmoded useless knots' to help tie things down.

On the one hand yes the boys should be doing the planning, demonstrating, and doing leaving the ASM's to do the things the boys can't (usually involving credit cards and Vehicles) BUT when the ASM's don't really have a job they drift away to do other commitments and when the SM and the boys really need them he finds himself short handed (because the 'do-er' types now are doing church work, or coaching, or working on the honey do list. Or worse fine they really enjoy NOT doing scout stuff.) It is hard to hit the sweet spot in a larger Troop IMHO. I keep myself busy talking to new parents, doing MB sign-offs for the boys in various points of progress, and just being a reliable presence. Maybe 'manage' should be more like 'communicate'.

I think it has been a lousy roll out on the meetings. 90% of the working Scouters I interact with had zero knowledge of what was proposed UNTIL the GSUSA articles in opposition started popping up. That got a few comments-all very mixed pro and con. I got very, very different feedback from the boys especially the Star and Life Scouts who are talking about finishing up their Eagles quickly and punching out ahead of their previous schedule.

Not to resurrect a tired thread but.... Over the weekend I finally got the latest issue of Scouter and got to sit down and read the article on 'Family Camping'. It was so jarringly out of place in any scouting magazine given the audience. It made no sense to me beyond: 'take the whole family camping, hooray!'. It barely referenced scouting at all. Smacked of a new (and poorly thought out) magazine change than a policy change. Don't get it. Feels like New Coke all over again. Is it just me?

Sec. 30902. PurposesThe purposes of the corporation are to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods that were in common use by boy scouts on June 15, 1916.

*I hope I don't offend anyone but if I could make one suggestion to BSA to change its image. Lose the badge sash. Seriously. The uniform over all isn't bad, I particularly like the navy blue shirt for cubs, much better than ours, but the sash really does have to go." I was thinking of a nice ecclesiastical silk vestment with a 6 foot stole for formal occasions. A stole will leave room for plenty of merit badges and we could have a nice symbol for the scouts religious affiliation and self-identified gender. If we add a reinforced button hole and a wooden woggle at each end it could be more practical than neckers. A Patrol of 8 would have 48 feet of rescue stole for emergencies. Patrol leaders would get red skull caps and the SPL a large miter making identification of boy leadership easier.

'Skip, I gotta disagree on the Sash. It goes back pretty far and looks pretty good on the boys when they fill it up. I think the badges all over the sleeves, pockets, and what not of other WOSM uniforms to look equally silly. I think in the U.S. the most iconic things are smokey the bear hat, sash, and necker. Given the last few uniform 'innovations' I wish National would leave things alone.

Today on Facebook a GSUSA Leader friend of mine forwarded a GSUSA meme/ad of "GSUSA is for the GIRLS!". No coincidence I think. While BSA National is trying to sneak this one in, GSUSA is prepared to elevate the issue. And I saw a number of articles popping up on Slate, etc addressing why progressive girls would want to join those mouth-breathing Boy Scouts. I think GSUSA may, at least in the short term, play the part of 'bad cop'.

Agree! My 1st summer camp we had 53 Scouts and 5 adults. It was a bit tough at times but then again I had a stick.

No cuffs! Where are we supposed to tap the cigarette ash?

Have all the boys line up on either side and have the Lions walk down the middle with lots of congrats, high fives, and 'see ya in Tigers!'.

We are at .82 but it was still pretty cool at 1/3rd a few minutes ago.

I am in same boat. He wants me around mostly just to bounce ideas off of and keep him on track. I can do that.

First Scout meeting of the new year last night! Boys seemed happy to reunite with those they did not see at Summer Camp, AT, and MBC classes during the break. Happy Boy whose brother died came back as well. Distributed Manchester 'Bee' patches and folks thought they were cute. Son #2 was enjoying himself more now he has finished his one year term as SPL. Good night

I hope Stosh stays. I hope everyone stays. But I get it I really do. I had a good friend I met in OA who was a SM for 2 years of a small rural Troop of 12-16; the pride of their small town since the 1950's. When BSA changed the policy on gay scout inclusion they had a troop meeting and the scouts unanimously voted to disband. They donated their equipment and notified Council. Last time I heard from him none of the boys joined any of the other scout like organizations; they are just camping on their own, playing High School sports, or at a church group. It is really sad. But like Cambridge said most adults will stay and muddle on if their boys are OK with it. I know for a fact this will hit my troop faster. We have two scout mom's with Webelo age girls who would make good scouts, hate GSUSA, and already want to join 'Real Scouts'. One of them is really swell kick ass camper but also a lawyer specializing in discrimination cases in the military. Folks thinks Cub Scouting with Girls means kicking the can down the road a few years for Boy Scouts but there are always a few scouts each year who join in as Webelos right before the cross over (I know because I always have to reassure a few parents who feel their boy is 'behind'. So I think a few statistical outliers are coming sooner rather than later. And National is showing no signs of adequate guidance to local units. .....so I fully expect my Troop and C.O. will meet these issues on our own and it will create new opportunities to botch things, hurt feelings, and lose members before the dust settles. THAT bothers me the most. I only got 103 days until my youngest scout ages out of the program so I do not know what I will do. It is not what I signed up for...I enjoy the all male environment. That said I much prefer working with women over men as they have in my professional experience been better team players. I probably would like working with young lasses as well as lads; the first wave is likely to be good quality. Then on the other hand my wife is looking forward to me being available for more non-scouting things with her...and she is very much opposed (and she is a feminist) to going co-ed.

We use Trooptrack so it is often via email or text. Emails from youth to adults require a cc: to parents. For Merit Badges and the like I give out my email and all my phone numbers (cell, home, work) and in 6 years never had a boy abuse it. I do ask that if they need a prolonged face to face at a meeting that they give me a heads up before hand so I can figure out where to spend the time. I have also met for face to faces at a public library, fast food place, or (a troop tradition) pulling out some chairs on the front lawn during day light hours. I want a parent in line of sight at least if the kid is pretty young. I often grab another ASM or parent to sit in if need be. I do not want difficulty in contact being a barrier. I say this even after a difficulty with a PYT in college when I was a professor who kept showing me nude photos of her; utter transparency with my boss, students, and colleagues was a CYA that saved my reputation. (At that point I had to decide if I was to avoid office hours for female students which hardly seemed fair) I do think SM's need some sort of filter or barrier from parent bagging though.