Twocubdad

That guy is just an ass. It's no skin of the DE's nose to get you a cash advance, just takes a little time to walk the paperwork down the line. It is easier if you just turn in an expense report at the end of camp, rather than accounting for the cash, but the effort is no big deal. Maybe he was hoping you would lose or forget to turn in the expenses. But I don't know that there is any financial incentive for a DE to do that. I don't think program profit adds to the DE's fundraising goals. The goal is to have the program and make sure it's on or under budget.

Base -- sometime we're going to have to discuss proper slush fund management techniques. Most councils have a date at which budgets get zeroed. One year our SE decided to raid the day camp budget early to cover other shortfalls. I was told the funds to needed to cover my expense were spent elsewhere. "Not my problem. Fix it." ALWAYS spend the money immediately. Turn your expense report in the same time you deposit the money.

We had an old pallet painted blue with four dowels and yellow, nylon rope for handles. It worked.

KDD, you're doing a good job of recognizing the problems, but you need to take the next step and recognize the solution. Your troop is creating a high speed, low drag program which the boys blow through and quit by age 14. The things you describe are exactly the problem. You are right, most boys probably will do better taking Swimming at 13 or 14. That is true of just about every requirement and merit badge in the program. Part of the flexibility of the program is that each unit creates it's own program. In our troop, we encourage the boys to take Swimming their first year of summer camp. We tend to do a lot of aquatics programs and the training they receive in water safety is valuable to us. But no, they're probably not developing the technique the could at a later age. It's trade off we accept. Too many troops make mistakes, IMO, is by accepting those trade-offs for EVERYTHING. We don't. Our Scouts are allowed -- yes, allowed -- to take at summer camp only those required MB which make sense in a summer camp setting -- Swimming, Life Saving, Camping, EnviroSci. Taking Communications or Personal Management at summer camp is ridiculous. We ask our Scouts to take the remaining required MBs at home with our local counselors. The Scouts have to take the initiative to contact the counselor, make appointments, do the work and meet the requirements. In our troop, we've chosen to draw the line with most of the remaining required MBs. Calling a strange adult and asking them for an appoint can be very intimidating for an 11-year-old. Which is why they need to do it. It is an important life skill they need to master. Does that slow them down? You betcha! Does it push the age of our Scouts out past 13 or 14? You betcha #2! Completing these MBs at 15 or 16 is a different experience than at 12 or 13. I'm not so concerned with WHICH merit badges they earn at an older, more mature level, but THAT they earn some merit badges at a older, more mature level. All of which is to reiterate Basement's advice for you to chill out with your son. Don't plan for the 10-year-old you see now, plan for the 16 year old you want him to be. Or 30 year old. While he may not have the confidence or social skills to go out and win a POR now, wait until you see the confident young man he has become when he EARNS the position at 16 or 17. Your goal shouldn't be to make sure he gets stuff done by 14, but he is building a foundation which will keep him in the program past 14. Scouting is to be experienced, not completed. Experience takes time. "Completing" the program by 14 means he's thrown away half of his Scouting experience.

I get a chuckle out of all the conversation about what is "supposed" to happen. Since all this is local tradition, the locals can decide what they want. IMO, we put way too much emphasis on "crossover", AOL and bridging. For far too many families, this simply creates a big opportunity to leave the program -- we've "finished" Cub Scouts and now get to decide whether or not to join a Troop. I'd do away with all the hype and focus on making the fifth grade a seamless transition from Cubs to Scouts. You start the year as a Webelos II and the next thing you know it's June and you're at Boy Scout camp with a troop.

Having earned that particular patch (also got the hat, t-shirt and tattoo) it works well right up to the "just move on" part. Parents like that are parents like that because they don't do "just move on" well.

We're a big troop with 60+ boys. Over the past few years I've eliminated many of the PORs which turned into do-nothing jobs like Historian and Librarian. Only very rarely do we have an official Instructor. But I've never had a Scout held up on a rank due to the lack of a POR. Granted, just because you make First Class today doesn't mean you get a POR tomorrow -- you usually need to wait for the election cycle to come around. In fact, even with a big troop, we're more likely to have jobs go begging because boys already have the POR box checked. Last fall no one wanted to take Troop Scribe. So I did it. Took 15 minutes every week for me to call the roll. Bueller....Bueller...Bueller.... After the second week the senior guys realized I would do that the entire six month term and recruited a Scribe. Veni's right. One of the things I find both remarkable and satisfying, is that merit really does pay off. It does take some time, but the boys really do take notice of the kids who jump in and help. Last week I had a conversation with my Troop Guide about getting him some help. I told him to talk to the SPL, but for him to recruit someone he want to work with. His best friend -- who is terribly unreliable and a big goof-off was standing there and immediately volunteered. The TG looked at me, then looked back at his friend and just said "no." As they walked away with the friend was basically begging for the job, but the TG stuck to his guns. Friends are friends and pals are pals, but people know where to look when work is to be done.

Scouting is to be experienced not completed. Experience takes time. It's all about creating a culture within your troop which emphasizes experience rather than checking boxes. Do you run merit badge classes? Do you use the First Year/First Class program? Do you insist your Scouts take a full slate of merit badges at summer camp? Do you fuss at boys who skip classes because they want to hang out with their friends? Do you attend the local Merit Badge University? Merit badges are "out of your control" only if you believe the drivel coming out of the national "Advancement Team." If you know of a counselor who routinely pencil whips blue cards don't send your Scouts to them. (And that includes summer camp.) If a Scout presents you with a completed blue card for which you both know the Scout didn't do the work, maybe you don't rip the card in half, but you do have a talk with the Scout about doing the right thing, about what Trustworthy means and about the joy and satisfaction of really achieving something and not accepting unearned awards? There is much more art to Scoutmastership than science. You don't want to lay down a bunch of Thou Shall Nots, but you can sure nudge the Scouts -- and ultimately your troop's program -- in the right direction with a few well-placed comments, some friendly advice here, a kind word there and stern look of disapproval as needed.

During Webelos parent orientation the presentation goes something like this: "We do not believe in serving-up an advancement program on a platter. You don't get a badge for just showing up. Our Scouts are served best by taking more time to advance, putting forth the real work and effort and not having the program handed to them. If your expectation is that your son will earn Eagle in a couple years so he can check that box on his resume and move on to other things, we strongly suggest you find another troop." Set the expectations hard and early.

Why the heck can't you say anything, officially or otherwise. That would have been the first dang I said, and told the parents they needed to be back Saturday morning to help pack out. Similar situation a couple years ago. One Scout had an annual family vacation for which he had to leave at lunch Friday. Arrangements had been made months in advance. His buddies figured this out and four of them -- the max which would fit in the car -- called home for permission to leave early. They were really upset when I told them the only way they could leave would be for a parent to personally sign them out. "But you can call my mom and she'll give you permission over the phone!" Yep, I can ---- but I won't. "WHY NOT??" Because the only reason you're leaving is to get out of helping pack up tomorrow morning. That was the end of the conversation. And by the way, "I'll help clean up early and do my share before I leave" is baloney. It never works.

My plan is to call all the jackasses who said they would quit if the vote went one way or the other and remind them a Scout is Trustworthy.

Noticing the knots below.... Could it be instead of giving the kid another Cross pen, some over-priced dust collector from Scout Stuff or another gift he really didn't need, someone choose to honor this kid's Eagle by making a contribution to Scouting in his name? I'm having a hard time finding the problem with this.

No emails around here. I did, however go to one of our council's "town hall" meetings on the topic and was very disappointed in and saddened by my fellow Scouters.

If Velcro rank patches seem beneficial, there are problems with the troop's advancement program.

This policy is a cluster flub. At best, another ham-fisted attempt at walking a fine line or, at worst, a wet finger in the air trying to please everyone. Yet no one will be pleased, conservatives will bail over the lack of principle. Do we really think religious COs with deeply held convictions against homosexuality will suddenly accept open gay Scouts? Will we now be spend out time divining "other" reasons for excluding them? Will the disruptions to the program caused by their orientation be sufficient? Will it matter if they are sexually active or not? Will there be a spot on the application for that? And liberals will continue their non-support due to the discrimination against adult homosexuals. No corporate sponsors are going to accept just a little bit of discrimination. Our Scout Executive told me Tuesday he expects no new contributions based on this policy change. Anyone who thinks BSA can come up with a wise and reasonable implementation of the new policy in over the next seven months (or seven years) is dreaming. BSA can't roll out a trash can much less a major policy shift. Does anyone really think we'll get rational changes to youth protection policies? And the gaping hole in all this is What's Next? Clearly, once caving the moral position that homosexuality is a sin for which youth are somehow exempted, how long will it be before the utter silliness of differentiating between adult and youth homosexuals falls? A year? Two? We're just boiling the frog here. Yet I support the proposal. When on of my Scouts, who I have known since they were Tigers and love like my own sons, tells me he believes he may be homosexual, the absolutely last thought in my mind will be to remove that young man from the troop. All the above problems with the policy is just swirl. THAT is the bottom line.

A glimpse of the future, I'm afraid.

I vote this as the best first post by a new member. Welcome Nola! Do you best. Know your limitations. Have fun.

I got it. I thought it a bit cheezy. A big part of it was a number of scenarios with which you could strongly agree, agree, neither, disagree or strongly disagree. IMO the correct answer to each was "it depends." Lots of square pegs/round hole choices trying to drive things into tidy responses. I did like, however, that nearly every answer included the opportunity to add your own comments. But not the scenarios. The also asked if you could change one thing about BSA what would it be. I said they should fire everyone on the national advancement team.

Is there any way to disable or chill out the time out function? The log in pages drops you at the home page. Navigating the site is so difficult, it would be nice to just hang on a thread you're following instead of constantly logging-on then having to figure out how to get back to your thread.

Now that makes no sense. You have non-standard uniform standards? If you're going to be insistant about something, why not insist they wear the shashes properly?

Yeah, that would be the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, huh? Kinda hard to argue with that. I don't know if this was the Tea Party's plan or not, but if it was, I'd like to thank them. Maybe next time we can cut more than a paltry $85B.

One of the nearby troops is really into OA and they all seem to wear OA sashed at most formal occasions. I've been to a few of their Eagle Courts of Honor with most of their Scouts wearing their OA sash over their shoulder with their MB sashes tucked into their belts. Of course, you can't tuck-in all those MBs you earned, so the older guys with the most MBs wear their sashes hanging down past their knee. It really, really looks stupid.

I wrote our own TLT/JLT syllabus several years ago. The new, national syllabus is comfortingly similar to ours to the point we gave then new syllabus a try. I thought it went well. I'm sure we will modify it for next year. We always do, even when it was our own. In part, to keep it fresh and keep the boys returning year-to-year but also in response to issues which arise in the tro A recent modification was the communications module. The old sender>receiver>acknowledgment thing is a yawner. We our version focused more on medium (phone, email, text, smoke) and message. This is concrete stuff the kids can use. Kids all seem to believe texting is the answer to everything. Through skits we demonstrate different examples of where different media is appropriate. Then we give the boys a written message which is purposely long and complicated. We ask them to convert it into a phone message, email and text. We give them a list of phone numbers (the numbers of the course leaders) and have them call. One call gets answered by the "Scout's" mother who goes on-and-on with detailed questions. Another call gets answered by a answering machine. Another is answered by a four-year-old sister and another by a hard-of-hearing grandfather. It makes the point and is a lot of fun. Another modification was to add cooking. At one point we felt the troop meal planning was very weak and needed a boost. Instead of ending the training with a cookout, the Scouts did all the cooking. One of the morning sessions was to go through a stack of camp cookbooks and find a dish the had never made before and wanted to try. We told the boys to really stretch -- McDonald's is a half-mile in one direction and the grocery store even closer in the other (we run this at our Scout House). It's a fail-proof environment, so try something challenging. Interestingly, we got a lot of Italian (chicken pharm, lasagne, home-mades spag sauce), Mexican and Asian. But one kid said he had never grilled a steak and wanted to learn how. Another wanted to spit-roast a chicken. One kid wanted to make gaspacho! At lunch we send an ASM to the grocery store with a list and all the boys start cooking about 4:30. Dinner ends up being a pot luck of everything. Some of it is really bad, but some is quite good -- the gaspacho was fabulous! In the end, the guys get to try some dishes and techniques the would have tried before. It's always fun when you see these items trickle down to patrol menus.

I'm holding out hope that the recent set backs are an indication Terry and his minions are at work on some longer-term solutions. The dark before the dawn, perhaps?

Medium answer: Horse hockey! With his high school Key Club, a Scout helps park cars for a local charity event. Does it matter if he "double dips" and counts the service hours for both Scout and school service requirements? What if the Key Club received a "donation" for their efforts? What if the money is used to offset the individuals' cost for attending an out-of-town club event? What if everyone who parked cars got $25 at the end of the day? What if the "service" was performed through school detentention because the Key Club hazed it's new members? What if it was part of a court-ordered probation? Under the "don't add/don't think" advancement policy NONE OF THAT MATTERS! We can only mumble the "don't add to requirements" mantra, bury our heads in the sand and sign the requirement, Right? Baloney! These are all reasonable issues for which reasonable Scouters need to help their Scouts make reasonable decisions consistent with the published requirements, the philosophy of the unit and CO, the abilities of the Scouts and a good dose of horse sense. The requirement doesn't SAY you can't count picking up trash with the Dept. of Probation, but seriously...... Perhaps the jet-propelled advancement policies don't spell this out, but I believe it is my OBLIGATION to help boys develop character and citizenship. Part of that is understanding what is and isn't community service. I would hope that after appropriate guidance and counseling the Scouts would make the right decisions for themselves. Failing that, however, it is the leaders' responsibility to make sound decisions for the unit as a whole and enforce reasonable standards for the unit.