yarrow

I have looked at the site for this award but couldn't find an answer to my question. Do you have to earn the Bronze patch then the Bronze award then the Silver Award? That would entail 9 projects which seems like a lot. Or can you just work on one of the awards?

Too bad some folks feel they have to worry about feminizing boys or masculizing girls. I have worked with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and found by in large the boys like the same activities that the girls like and vice versa. The Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs are designed a little differently but for the most part the men participating in our troop with our boy youth are wonderful men and appreciate all the opportunities that teach a boy something useful. Life management skills would fall in that category.

Just do it, and no you will probably not pick up anything new. I've been through the training in both Boy and Girl Scouts and have found them "warm body exercises", however training is always required. Having through the Girl Scout program as a youth and worked with Boys and Girls as an adult I didn't find anything in either Scouting programs with which I wasn't already familiar. If you have the time now, just do it and check it off. Who knows maybe they will offer something you haven't done in a while.

I had a dad recently ask me about putting his young scout in Boy Scouts and not finishing up Cub Scouts. I seems he is an older 4th grader with a friend who is in the Boy Scout troop and is "bored" with Cubs. I understand joining requirements are 11 of age, finished with 5th grade or under 18 but with Arrow of Light. My 10 year old did join Boy Scouts but he was a 5th grader and had his AOL. This boy is just 10, 4th grade and no AOL. Are exceptions made. I suggested to the dad that he leave the boy in Cubs for another year and that he contact the council for advise. Have you heard of the req.s waived?

Yep, guys in Girl Scouting, unusual but not unheard of and the child protection rules are the same. Generally I see mostly men on camping trips although some women consistantly come. Most adults are not in supreme physical condition by the time they are in their 40s and 50s so any camping trip involving strenuous activity should and generally does only involve those parents (male and female) who feel they are up to it. I generally don't attend many of the campouts as my son has plenty of mom time and has 3 sisters as well. This I try to keep as his "guy thing" although I did go on the rafting and biking trip last summer. And yes my son rode circles around me. Nothing pleases me more than to see women who appreciate what men have to offer Girl Scouting and men who appreciate what women have to offer Boy Scouting. I run two girl scout troops and am the secretary for my son's troop and heavily volunteer for many activities. But unless I, and many of the men I might add lose some weight and get in better shape, none of us should go on a 50 mile hike. There are some parents who can and of course they are both men and women. We are adults, it all works out.

Our OA runs pretty much the same couple of campouts, they help with Klonderee, and readying summer camp. My comments speak more to the selection process. We have so many qualified boys and in a large troop it is so difficult to get the percentages needed. In a small troop of 12 or so you can frequently get the number plus over a period of years everyone who qualifies and wants to stand for it will be elected. It's a toughy for large troops. I also don't agree with a popular vote. A qualified boy, a true scout, but not a athelete/ comedian/ or partier does not have as much of a chance in a popular election. We have one boy in our troop who is active and dependable and has stood for this for several years and never been elected. I keep my fingers crossed for my boy when he is older. Last year as a new scout and with the requistite camp nights he was held off the ballot due to age at the SM's decision. OK with the boy too.

While it is sad to see an 18 year old wait too long and I would hope standards would not be lowered, still everyones Eagle is different. Some boys have astonishing projects showing great leadership and others Mom did, usually although not always a younger boy. I think there is a higher likelyhood that the boy will complete their project without prompting and excessive guidance and appreciate and be more proud of their work IF we let these boys mature in their rank and not push. Sometimes I think it's less of a case of slowing down the scout as slowing down the parent.

Good luck. Sometimes being in the position of responsibility and leadership works wonders on a trouble maker.

Well I think that is the way it was origninally designed........younger scouts looking up to older scouts. Even if the 13 year old Eagle has done the paperwork (hence the term paper eagle) it's hard to look up to someone younger that you. I also agree with Rooster there are exceptional 13 years olds that do service to the Eagle but most are just flat tooooo young.

I was at a merit badge college recently helping out with the instructor in the Anthropology badge when before the session started two really young scouts started arguing. About who had the most could hike the greatest distance.......no, about who had the best campouts.......no, about who could tie the most knots.....no, they were actually arguing about who finished their Eagle the soonest. One had whipped his out at 13 yrs and 2 months and the other at 13 yrs and 1 month. Although the one said he would have gotten it sooner if his advancement chair hadn't been sooooo mean. These two boys added virtually nothing to the class. One never answered any questions or contributed at all to the presentation and the other only spoke up once or twice. The counselor was fighting an uphill battle with a hot classroom and unresponsive "just putting in my time" scouts. I would expect an "Eagle" to show a little more support, and a greater level of participation and enthusiasm. I had more respect for the 15ish Star scout near them who chimed in regularly and remembered to thank the counselor at the end of the sessions. Who passes these kids along?

Several of the badges are written this way.......hiking, cycling, lifesaving and so on to allow the scout to work up to a long hike or bike trip. Not all young boys could do a 20 miler out of the gate. Although most could run circles around me. I should think the average adult would see these hikes as conditioning for the final "big one". Go figure.

Nullify the election. Explain why. Make the rules clear. But don't assume the scout knew he was cheating. We have had this problem in the schools for a long time and no one seems to think it is cheating. He may have merely run his "campaign" the same way that is accepted practice in school and not thought there would be a problem. My daughter in 4th, and 5th grade ran for office for student government. Bribes, promises, candy, stickers and toys were not necessarily forbidden. Some items were some years but, generally it was not discussed and the rules were not laid out so kids handed out all sorts of things depending on their family's resources. My daughter ran a clean campaign and lost for two years. On the one hand I felt she had played fair on the other I felt she was penalized by not playing the game. After all handing out "vote for me" toys, candy and stickers were not against the rules for running. Her 6th grade year they said no to candy, but one girl's mom went in and was able to get the administration to allow candy as long as it was not expensive name brand candy and got the jump on all the other kids who were "obeying" the rules. That year I allowed her to bring in generic candy corn, after the door was opened so to speak, and she won. Hmmm. It's how the game is played in the schools. As I said it is possible the boy didn't realize that it doesn't happen in scouts. I HATE having kids go to bigger and better bribes in school. It's not clean and not right, but there it is. It's true from elementary to high school and as we all know in professional politics as well. Unless you know for sure the boy knew he was cheating and not just "playing the same old game" I would not personally humiliate him. Just over-turn the election, explain the rules clearly and try again.

Regarding the troop policy to have at least two boyw on a badge......Our troop still requires an additional adult to be present for the two deep leadership. I think they are primarily interested in using their resources well by insisting on two or more boys working on a badge. One of the MB advisors is hard over on this rule and will not give out a blue card to my boy unless another boy is interested in the badge and the other is ok with it as long as an attempt has been made by way of postings and emails to find another boy. Then if none are interested he is allowed to do the badge. It's really a pain.

We have lots of parents on our Merit Badge counselor list. Most with some expertise in those badges drawn from our troop resource survey. Our boy lead troop planning committee last year had a desire to have more badges within the troop meetings so there were two Merit Badge college sessions this year with about 4-5 badges offered to the boys over the period of one month each session. They wanted four sessions but there were not enough volunteers for the other two sessions. Some of the badges were Eagle required and others were based on boy interest and adult availability. I did Entrepreneurship which actually did not work very well as a troop badge since most of it was left to the individual to accomplish, i.e. run a business. I encouraged the boys to consider service businesses such as lawn mowing, babysitting, mother's helper, petsitting,and a car wash due to their ages and lack of funds. Most were over ambitious and only one of 7 finished. The problem I see in our troop is the troop policy restricting a scout from pursuing a badge by himself. The book requires a friend, relative or other scout to be with the scout, but troop policy requires additional scouts to be interested before a scout can do a MB. My boy has done several badges in which he had interest with a scout from another troop to fit the policy. These badges (Stamp collecting, Bird Study, American Heritage, Salemanship, Theater) have been offered to other scouts by posings on the board and through email, and announcements during the meetings, but no takers. There is not much interest in doing badges other than those offered at camp and Eagle required badges. I find this very frustrating and dissappointing. My boy learns so much from each badge that his future career changes based on the badge he is currently doing. Merit Badge Colleges outside the troop help but still wish I could drum up more interest within the troop. Anyone else have this problem?

Every troop appears to have some sort of this problem. I have proposed to our committee that we go to the printed job description handed to each scout and their parents. To the scout so that he understands what is expected of him and to the parent so they understand the time commitment so that the boy will have parental support in forfilling the obligation. Boards need not only be held at rank advancement. Boards can check on a boy's progress at intermediate points as well. This might catch the boys who have blown off their obligation before they "fail" and give them a chance to get back on track. The check list/ job description can include an officer to report to, as described in the leader handbook and the troop may require a written report of the boy's experience. The job description sheets that I have seen from various troops include a requirement that the officer must attend junior leader training as part of their term of service. Some of this may be more than your troop is willing to do but the leadership training is so beneficial for the boys and some young men tend to do what is inspected not expected.

Thanks, Mike. Yarrow

Does anyone have an email address for National or do we have to use snail mail? Couldn't find one any where.

Any of you participating or have participated in JOTA? We have a couple of scouts interested that have just finished Radio MB. Are there special forms? How do you file your report?

God bless America God bless Scouts God bless the military and God bless all you well informed and passionate Scouters Yarrow

My point exactly, I want the boys to be doing this for all the right reasons. Still........ working with a troop that works with the handicapped or is it a troop that works with one or more handicapped scouts. Can't tell if that has to be a focus of the troop.

Has any scout in your troop completed this MB. I see problems in the req.s DISABILITIES AWARENESS Spend fifteen hours within a three-month period in one of the following ways: Visit a Cub Scout pack or Boy Scout troop that works with Scouts with disabilities. Learn about their activities, assist the leaders, and work with the members of the group. OR Enlist the help of your unit leader and the parents or guardians of someone with a disabling condition and invite the disabled individual to join your troop, team, or post. Help him or her become a participating member. The first option, working with a troop, assumes there is a troop or pack that does this work specifically (perhaps they only mean a troop that has a disabled member). We have a Special Needs District but they only have 2 events a year. Hardly 15 hours. The second option seems contrived. I'd hate to have boys inviting disabled only to fill a req. Any ideas? How do you work this? The theme for our troop in November is Disability Awareness and we'd like to offer the badge as well.

Ok, I need some help here. We recently attended a reenactment. The historic flag with the 38 stars, not a confederate flag was presented. Since it was an official recognized flag, I had my children, hands on hearts, honor the flag. I wasn't sure though and tried the most respectful choice. It was presented with a cavalry honor guard. Experts?.....thoughts?

Just something mailed to me that fits with my thoughts. First those who must pay should but then: > Let us deploy our troops. Let our diplomats seek broad international > agreement. Let our soldiers advance first, to clear the field of > violence. > > Then let us unleash our most powerful weapons! > > Let us lay down roads where none have ever been. Let us dig wells of > clean water where people can safely drink. Let our armies build > hospitals and schools. Let our warriors teach hygiene and > mathematics. Let our doctors innoculate against disease, and our > soldiers battle malnutrition. Let us scour the Earth clean of > terrorism through the merciless application of knowledge, compassion, > hope, and tolerance. > > Terrorism is the weapon of the desperate and hopeless, the brutally > blinded, and the deliberately blind. And we can defeat terrorism. > We, America, have the power to do so if we are not ourselves blinded > by vengeance, anger, and fear: we hold the light of Liberty. > > So let us unleash our weapons of mass construction, even as we deploy > our gunships and missiles to defend our endeavors. Let us carry the > battle into the tent-cities of the Palestinians and the arid crags of > Afghanistan, the doctor and the engineer shoulder to shoulder with > the U.N. peacekeeper and the U.S. soldier. Let us hurl homes at > homelessness, unleash law upon lawlessness, and let justice roll down > like a mighty river and wash away the unjust. > > We have an opportunity, now laid so grievously before us, to start > and win a war with our most powerful and uniquely American weapons: > love, opportunity, education, and hope. England and Israel teach us > that the battle against terrorism takes decades. Let the next > generation all over the world say to the terrorist recruiters "Why > would we want to harm America, who innoculates our children, houses > our poor, champions justice and feeds our hungry?" Only then shall we > have defeated terrorism. So let us arm our soldiers and mourn our > dead, and take up both the pen as well as the gun. > > Let us fix a steel-eyed gaze on the true costs and the real efforts > involved, let us gird ourselves against our inevitable losses and > unavoidable setbacks. Let us join with all people in all nations who > worship in truth and love, and let us set forth on this, the true, > final World War. > > Let us incessantly, relentlessly wage Peace.

What's all this. Got a wierd email from someone at Meritbadge.org about the site being squatted on by a porn site. Did any of you get an email? Don't know why I did.

Thanks, that helps define the organization. I think that he needs to think hard about whether or not he can give the time needed to both organizations. I hate to see things done halfway.