bowhunt120

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We have gone through some development on this recently. In our troop, the emcee had become the "youngest scout working on Communications merit badge". You may recognize the "youngets scout" theme from a previous thread of mine... As a result, a COH would take about 10 minutes. No ceremony for any rank. The boys would be called up, handed a baggie full of their awards while the emcee read a list he was handed by the Advancement Chair just before the meeting. Meeting adjourned. Cake and ice cream to follow. I got tired of it. So, I proposed to the PLC that I would be the emcee for the next COH. They accepted. I spent about two hours finding and modifying appropriate ceremonies to recognize the boys for their achievements. Put together some props, told the SPL where and when I needed support from the Scouts. They were all ready that night, and performed their parts wonderfully. The COH still only lasted about 30 minutes because there weren't many awards to hand out. However, after the meeting ended, the SPL spontaneously thanked me for making it special. I told him I would be very happy to help the Scouts learn how to do something just as special in future COH's. We will see where this goes for the next COH. I look forward to helping the next "emcee" developing another set of special recognitions for his troop.

Gunny - It has been a few years since I said that! My last ship was USS BOXER - LHD 4. Six months in the Middle East with an embarked MEU-SOC...thanks for your advice. I will be working to guard against the older boys separating themselves too much. Eagledad - I like the way you think...we will put some of that into the TLT campout, especially how to plan the year. Keep it coming, everyone!

scoutldr - They very likely already have what they "need", in the form of ''credit for a job not done''. None of the older scouts does anything they don''t need to do. Our SM''s Life scout son stood around, not in uniform, doing nothing and texting on his cell phone, at a service project last weekend because "I don''t need the service hours." Yeah - Mom and Dad (the SM) were there, and let him do nothing. It was very frustrating.

We did "it" last night. We had the Scouts sort themselves into new, integrated age patrols. During Patrol elections, all of the older Scouts promptly elected the youngest Scouts as Patrol Leader/APL etc. Now, The SM and I have to figure out how to make this work. We are pretty well set up to do it: he has been to Woodbadge...I have not, but then I probably won''t. My background and current family/work situation make it difficult for me to justify. However, my previous career (20 years in Navy Nuclear power - Surface Warfare) gave me a large number of leadership tools to use. Not just the "Go do it NOW" variety of tools, either! So here is our basic plan.... -Conduct a Troop Leadership Training weekend camping trip very soon. We are planning on two weeks from now... -Engage our new PLC in planning a year of Scouting. Currently, we have a hard time getting them to plan more than a month. Plus, adult priorities always seem to override their plan. -Support the new youth leaders. This will very likely involve coaching and mentoring the older Scouts who have effectively abdicated any formal leadership role, and preventing them from undermining their elected leaders. We will also need to protect the boys from those "adult priorities" I mentioned above. Wish us luck!

Many great reasons to BAN the devices. I have one more. I work rotating shift work at a power plant and can''t attend all camping trips (I am the ASM). After one trip last year, my sons told me that the older scouts, including the SM''s son, stayed up all night making prank calls with their cell phones. So those beeps, rings and other noises that emanate from phones in use may not be so "innocent". I now confiscate all phones or other electronics for the duration of the trip from the moment I see them.

Scouting gets a quick glance and tossed into the garbage. Even in the 7 years I have been a Cub leader, the content of articles has shifted away from anything of substance for the serious scout leader, to fluffy feel good topics that don't really help on a day-to-day basis. Even "Front Line Stuff" has become a questionable source of ideas and help. On the other hand, I enjoy Backpacker. I don't subscribe - I grab one off of the newstand when an article catches my interest. I read one about a "yo-yo" trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. I may never do it myself, but there is a great deal to be learned about woodscraft from those types of adventure articles.

I think Gonzo nailed it in his last post. One very important aspect of my job involves...reading. But not the normal reading we all engage in every day. No, in this reading, I must dissect sentences, noticing not only the words that are there, but also taking note of those that are NOT. This has become an integral part of the application of Scouting requirements for me. As Gonzo hinted, the requirement states "...show improvement in these activities." It DOES NOT state "...show improvement in EACH of these activities." If the boy shows an overall improvement, he should pass. However, I would balk at passing a boy who only improved in one of the activities. "...these activities" is plural. Improving in just one activity is singular. Also, I helped my own son learn to do a pull up over the course of the month. We progressed from various forms of assistance to a full, dead-hang pull up that he did by himself. So it is possible for a 10 year old to learn to do a pull up.

Thank you everybody for your posts. I knew the problems of this troop were pretty common from reading this forum regularly over the last few months! I would like to take Wood Badge training - my work schedule did not allow me to attend last year when my Council held it. It will be even more difficult in the near future, as I work a rotating shift. I schedule my younger son's Webelos Den meetings around my days off. I was not the den leader for my older son. We were new in town, and the den already had a willing (but untrained) den leader. He ran Webelos like a den of "Super Bears". I have not yet attended any Scout leader training, mostly because I have not been invited to be an ASM by the committee. Maybe I will approach the SM and ask if he would like some more help. Especially since I know the ASM mentioned in the previous post is looking for job out of town - he will likely be gone within a couple of months. Anyway - thanks again, and keep posting!

After reading the Troop Method thread, I thought you would all enjoy my experience with my older son - this Troop DEFINES the "Troop Method" and the "Webelos 3" Troop! It has been nine months since my older son crossed over into Boy Scouts after earning his Arrow of Light. Since then, the troop has held five camping trips. Two specifically addressed the Camping Merit Badge. These had a definite program, planned by a small group of boys and supported by the MBC (also our ASM) and me, a fully Trained WDL, and Star Scout/OA for Life. One was a week at our council summer camp, which my son enjoyed thoroughly it was the highlight of his summer. The other two trips were attended primarily by older scouts WITH A PARENT! These trips were essentially parent-son campouts with no program. The second of these events was held at a State Park less than 10 miles from home. Friday night, there were no registered leaders present. Only two Scouts shared a tent everybody else (except me and my son) shared a tent with their parent. Saturday morning, the parents did the cooking and cleaning up. The boys played Texas Hold em. My son was not interested in this activity and went to his tent to read by himself (it was windy and cool). By 9 AM I was furious, and asked my son if this was how he wanted to spend his day. He answered no, so we packed up our gear (less than 30 minutes we pack very light compared to the rest of the troop) and were home by 9:45. Apparently, my departure (I told one of the parents why I was leaving) and the arrival of a registered leader later that day caused a change in direction. The program probably was not boy led, but at least it was Scouting in some form. They did some orienteering, and the boys cooked the meal for the Cook Off (this was a multi-troop event). Let me also state that I have no objection to boys filling in free time with card games as long as there is no actual gambling. These boys were using chips there was no money changing hands before or after the game. But in this case, there was no program planned. The troop decided to attend on the previous Monday, and did no planning other than Bring your own food and tents, and show up at the Park when you can. As we say in my business, that is not a plan its a calendar (or clock, for shorter periods!) Nowhere in the Scout Handbook does it talk about developing your card counting, probability and statistics skills. This type of event is typical of this troop. No plan no program. This troop is not boy led. In fact, my wife and I call it a Cub Scout Troop. We have permanent Patrols where all the boys have been together since Tiger Cubs in many cases. All the boys in a given patrol have about the same merit badges (they work on them in Troop meetings) and all are usually of the same rank, or advancing within a few months of each other. The parents take input from the boys as to what MB is next (their idea of boy led), and then find a parent in the troop who can do that badge, in many cases by staying one page ahead. Sounds an awful lot like Cub Scouts, doesnt it? Also in those 9 months, I have seen ONE Troop meeting that was planned by the boys and executed by the boys, where parents only played a support role. And it was the best Troop meeting weve had. At the time of Crossover, I did suspect that the Troop was not boy led. At my sons troop meeting visit, the SM spoke for over 40 minutes! However, since that was the troop his friends were joining, my son did not want to go to the other troop in town on a shopping trip. I let it drop, and here we are. Since then, a Webelos Den of 7 boys has become a Patrol of 4 boys, with 4 dropouts and 1 new recruit. Now for my dilemmawhat do I do about it? As for the events of this last campout, I know I could have handled it differently. My anger clouded my judgment and prevented me from thinking through a better solution. The SPL was the ringleader of the Texas Hold em game. I could have pulled him aside and asked him if this was the whole program for the day, or did he want to do something more Scout-like? But that is just a small part of the overall problem. This troop is broken and needs to be fixed. The ASM wants to do the right things, but he is impeded by the parents of the older scouts who think this is the way it should be done. You see, the oldest Scouts are all Life rank, with Eagle packets held tightly by Mom and Dad. And they hold tightly to their committee positions, like Advancements and Chairman. They even openly deride the ASMs efforts to transition to boy leadership and adherence to BSA Safety rules in front of their sons! Ultimately, I dont think this troop can be changed. Yet, I dread the demands of starting a new unit, especially in a small town. I am positive I can get a good Chartered Organization relationship (something else lacking in our Troop and Pack) from a service/religious organization of which I am a member (so is the ASM mentioned above). But I have doubts that I can attract at least four other boys as required for a new unit. And I dont even want to think about the repercussions of returning to this troop after a failed start! Based on what I have told you, is there anything you can think of that might help turn around this troop? Closing off one part of your answer the Chartered Organization is a non-factor (only two scouts and their families are members of the chartering church, and this is reflected in the quality of the relationship between the units and the church), we have no Unit Commissioner, the District Commissioner has been MIA for months, and the District Executive is a fresh faced kid out of college who happens to be an Eagle Scout, but with little or no real experience that could help him. He hasnt been to DE School yet, either. Growing boy leadership from the bottom up with our youngest patrol (my sons) is essentially undermined every week when we go to a troop meeting and the SM does most of the talking and most of the planning.