Tampa Turtle

Ah heck half our POR patches are wrong. Dang patch magic. I am pushing for: (1) POR starts about time you sew on correct POR patch. (2) If you have your old POR patch and dont take it off I'm gonna make you do that job if I need to (that might get rid of the lazy ones) (3) No SMC will be scheduled with wong patches.

Scoutergipper, I agree a guy could show leadership before and after if he thought hard about it. But usually the ones who don't show up don't so that either. I have seem exceptions.

Very Groovy,

If a guy is missing but he still get's his guys organized and ready than we are open to an argument. And we allow them to count the time during a "summer lull". I think the whole thing is kinda messed up by BSA's over-emphasis on building leadership to validate the program. Some POR's are more management than leader as has been discussed on this site ad infinitum. The world needs good staff officers too. The air traffic controller might not be a natural leader of men (I acknowledge he needs to be assertive) but it sure as hell important.

When I hit 13 my mom started "Batchelor proofing" her 3 boys. Her requirements: (1) Be able to cook 3 basic dishes so we wouldn't starve. (I believe grilled cheese counted) (2) Do your own laundry. ( skill that had me helping many pretty girls who were clueless in the freshman dorm laundry. (3) Be able to do some basic sewing. Use a sewing machine. Make a pair of pants. (4) Learn how to shop for your own clothes and judge quality of garment. We bought our own school clothes. (5) Be able to order from a restaurant with good table manners. (6) Basic slow dancing with a girl (the mom waltz) with the hands in the right place. She said being the mother of 3 boys she did not want us making our girlfriends do all that. My sister did not have to do any of this! My Dad insisted: (6) Rotating your tires. (7) Changing oil. (8) Bleeding brakes. (9) How to build a basic stud wall. (10) Update an account in a ledger, calculate interest, and set up our own bank account. (our allowances were in THE ledger) (11) Wire a switch and an outlet. (12) Snake a drain clog, swap out a toilet innards, and change faucets washers. (13) Be able to identify 10 basic hand tools. Do not leave Dad's saw in the rain (fail) (14) Look up entries in reference materials. (My Dad would leave volumes of "How Things Work, the Oxford Dictionary, and Von Nostrand's Scientific Dictionary on the toliet tank in the boys bathroom. Quizs were at the dinner table) No MB was given upon completion.

Serving, by our local definition--and agreed to before taking the POR, includes 70% of attending meeting (excused absence beforehand can be permitted--most don't bother), some specific duties, and 70% campouts, The way I see it if you didn't do anything in a given month we could say he was active for 5 of the 6 months. Or we could extend the POR by a month and see if he improves which is what we are doing and I think may be a BAD idea. BTW there is no "surprise" ambush going on.

I was getting so frustrated about the boys never putting their POR patches on. Then it occurred to me--your term doesn't start until we see you with your patch sewn on!

I was lucky and had some great ADL's. And teenage Boy Scouts can get a bit tiring too.

We like to make sure the parents camp away from there boys so I do not see this as a problem. I'd make sure to bring the parents in once or twice to have us talk to them and to check out the camp. I'd invite them to breakfast, opening flag and a quick talk. And a good campfire ceremony/antics. Let them stay out of everyone's hair most of the day would be great. Our problem is usually the opposite--clingy parents.

If it is Eagle required: 4. Do the following: A) Take a girl out for a meal you cook yourself. Demonstrate good table manners. B) Meet her parents. C) Take her out dancing. Be seen physically dancing with her. For years a mom and I had a running joke with a new scout that the "Dancing MB" was Eagle required. We told him it had ballerina slippers on it and the mom was the MBC. The final requirement was an interpretive dance--jazz, tap, or freestyle--at the Court of Honor. After a few weeks of our cruelty the boy came up to us, sighed, and said "Well...if it is Eagle required I will do it."

I refuse to acknowledge that slogan. Hate it,

We do similar. You must travel in "Class A" or you are not going. Take it off on arrival. Wear it at Flag and if we go out in public. Put it on (stinky by now) on way home. We wear Troop Class B in camp. Want a SMC in camp--better be uniformed. I am not wearing the Class A Kayaking for example. And hiking in Florida just seems too hot to wear a Class A over a Class B.

We expect the SPL to be an instructor and to leave as much Administration to the Troop Scribe. The ASPL's are expected to step in when the SPL cannot cover something. We have had several SPL's who had 2 ASPL's to split functions--typically one is managing the "minor" POR's and the other working on teaching the PL's leadership skills.

We do the same thing but we needed to keep really close track of attendance and provide as feedback. I told the boy (thank you Scouter) the #1 rule is "take care of your boys" even if you are not going. Make sure the APL is prepared, check on the grub plan and equipment, pep talk the younger scouts, see them off--show them you care. Scoutergipper is right--the boys always know who is not doing their job. I think in our Troop we adults are making the positions 'stick' longer than they should.

I agree. I was pretty steamed at one boy and a talk to a friend at another Troop helped me see the big picture. One boy came up for his sign up and was pretty absent as PL. We gave him the list of the requirements (attend campouts, etc) and asked him to reflect on how he did the job and come back to us. My job was to coach the boy as Patrol Leader but it is hard to observe, much less coach a boy who is not there a lot. I think he is likely to get partial credit and some suggested work on his leadership with his guys. We will see if he is game. I strongly suspect his dad will try to go over our head and go straight to "his buddy" at council. One problem with helping a scout make the right decisions is his lack of doing his job hurt the patrol.

We have 5 patrols and our SPL is pretty key at campouts on keeping the program running in an constructive way. We have two ASPL's --one kinda runs herd on the minor POR's and the other is a "Sergeant of Arms". However I like this thread we have had AWOL Patrol Leaders, POR's and Troop Guide. The attendance hammer is coming down.

Everybody spies and anyone looks bad when they get caught. The Vatican has, historically, been a major diplomatic player at times as a conduit for information so I can see that.This a good read: http://www.economist.com/node/9516461

Makes me want to do Cub Scouts again!

We did that at our Airport--it WAS more interesting than I thought. Maybe if you had an Amazon distribution center--but that might be stretching it.

Oldest family run business in town, hospitals are good too. I agree a lot pf people love to share stuff with Wolf-age kids. And don't forget any factories, bakeries, etc We did a tour of Bern's Steak House in Tampa, toured the kitchen, the meat aging room. the seafood tank, and the enormous wine cellar. (they claim they have the largest wine list of any restaurant in the world). My cousin owns a famous bakery in Hawaii--they love giving tours too.

We used to quietly put the word out, maybe mention once or twice at a Pack meeting. No help from council funded by popcorn sales or leaders. I'd say majority of those boys did not stick around long. We did have a "clothes closet" of uniforms that had been outgrown...

I like the basic mechanical skills. Maybe one on asking a girl out?

There are lots of ideas! I am not sure where you live but remember "government" can be Federal, State, and local plus lots of others: Federal-we did FBI, Secret Service, and ATF (not fun those last guys). State-we saw the local Department of Transportation command center with videos of the roads. Local (City and County) - Local "dump" and incinerator. Super cool--fires, garbage, 4 story conveyor belt. Airport-we did several trips to our airport (they had a program in place) Port-Got a free boat cruise out of them. Military Base-took a while to clear security but folks were very family friendly and we got to see some hangers, the armory, and a crash fire station. Transit Authority --Got to visit the "bus barn" and dispatch center and kids got to sit in the drivers seat. We also visited a local Fireman/Police training academy (many communities have something like that) and saw guys practice rappelling and spraying hoses. Much better than another firehouse visit. One tip we got was our City partially owned a historic theatre and we got a "ghost tour" of a very groovy 1920's theatre. Ask other local scout leaders (GSUSA too), teachers, etc for ideas. Also your local government (and local elected leaders) for what might be available. As a public servant myself most of us have or have had kids and want to show off what we do. Many government agencies have a public relations person/liaison who does this stuff all the time.

I like the idea of it IF it was an alternate to another of those new un-scouty relevant Eagle required MB like Personal Management or Family Life.

I just had that argument last weekend!