Khaliela

As a Personal Management MB Counselor I would reject it. (And have rejected it for Scouts who show up to our first meeting and say here's my 90 day record, sign me off.) Item #1 is to PREPARE A BUDGET. The whole point of the MB is to teach them financial responsibility. Simply showing how you spent the money has nothing to do with planning, budgeting, or resisting impulse purchases. The boy needs to prepare his budget BEFORE he starts spending and tracking his money that way he has a better understanding of when, where, why, and how he spent it. It also gives opportunity to talk about realistic expectations for his budget. After 30 days he can look back and say, "That didn't end the way I planned at all!" It gives him time to adjust his budget for the next month and see if he can do better. I expect boys to meet with me every two weeks and bring their expense records with them to every meeting. That way the boy is more likely to stay on track as that 90 budget can be a nuisance. The job of the MB counselor is not to sign off "complete" it's to make sure the boy learned the information in those nifty pamphlets.

I think you ASM needs to do some deep breathing exercizes. The make-up of your patrols will change every year as boys move in and out of the troop. What the patrol looks like today is not what it's going to look like next year or even 6 months from now. Not only will boys come and go, but the boys who stick around will change as they grow older. Remember, you're still only 12 boys strong. That means that on any given outing you are only going to have enough boys for 1 patrol anyway. They are a Troop and need to act as such.

Or you can skip patrol meetings and just make everything a troop meeting. We have a Troop meeting every week. The boys open and do planning as a troop (30 min.), then break into patrols for advancement (30 min), then come back together as a troop for games (30 min.) A lot of the time advancement is helter-skelter with the patrols co-mingling based on what each boy needs to advance.

When a group of us left (kicked out, whatever) the Catholic Troop we were in, we started again with just 4 boys. Now we've grown to 20. We didn't have a lot of elected positions because we didn't need a lot of positions. We have an SPL and 1 PL for each patrol. Small troops don't need as ASPL or assistant patrol leaders. If someone wants a position they are free to run for any position they want; there are no appointed positions. Currently we have: SPL, 2 PL's, a QM, and a Librarian. In yeas past we've had a scribe, an OA rep, and a webmaster. The boys should be perfectly comfortable with not having a designated position in the troop. Also, the boys should be encouraged to share duties. When our SPL is going to miss a meeting he appoints someone else to run the meeting that night. If he forgets to appoint someone it automatically goes to the highest ranking scout for the night; ditto for the patrols. If the boys are sharing duties they are less likely to feel overwhelmed.

Jews have a God; Wiccans have both a God and Goddess. Jews are theist not atheist; Wiccans are polytheist not atheist. I'm not sure where you are getting your information.

Scouts is only "uncool" if the scouts let it be uncool. It's up to them to make the program "cool." I know they boys get lots of comment when they are in the newspaper for something "cool" like building a pioneering bridge across a 25 foot span of a local river, or taking a 30 mile backpacking trip in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or white water rafting, or going on a 500 mile bike ride. When my son was still a Weblo he helped out at the FOS Breakfast and had to attend school in his uniform. When I dropped him off I saw him taking a little flak until he looked the other boy in the eye and said, "I raised $22,000 before school this morning. What did you do?" The other boy sheepishly replied, "I ate a bagel." Scouts is just as "cool" as you make it.

I took my troop on a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon over Spring Break and had a blast--your cubs will love it. I guess the big question is: which rim are you on? We were on the South Rim and visited a geology museum/visitor center. Also, near the center is a "geology walkway" along the rim with some great vistas. It includes information on how old each type of rock is and viewing stations to show where each type of rock is found in the canyon. It's been awhile since I worked with cubs, but I'm betting they have a geology beltloop.

So I wanted to send a PM to another person on the forums, but when I clicked on the PM icon this is what came up: New Message Sorry, you are not authorized to view this page What does it take to be authorized to send someone a PM?

The documentary, Farmingville, is very good. It shows both the people who support and those who oppose the hiring site, as well as the types of organization necessary for a group of people to bring an issue to their County Legislature. I also recommend showing, A Day Without a Mexican, at the same time. It's a little slapstick and kind of silly, but balances the heaviness of the other movie and is a good conversation starter.

They choose Pioneer for 2014, but are keeping an eye on Parsons for the future. Seeing as our Council just logged one of the camps they boys aren't interested in ever attending camp in council again so we will be looking for camps in 2015 as well. One Scout brought a picture of the logged portion of camp and said that since our council can't manage their resources we shouldn't be wasting time there.

Every Camp has a differnt price tag. Parsons: $310/scout Pioneer: $285/scout Melita: $235/scout (AND was totally AWESOME!)

My OA Application was rejected twice. The first time was back in 2007, when they still thought I was Catholic and had just presented me with the Skillin and Extra Miler Awards. The second time was in 2010 BEFORE the Wood Badge Event in June of 2011. In the decade plus that I have been in Scouting I've only known of two adults who were accepted, each from a different unit. The reason being is that our OA rep says that they are only allowed to forward two adult applications per district, based on the needs of the Lodge. Assume the district only has three units who complete elections and the district guys are only allowed to send in one name. Continue to assume that you have the following breakdown of Candidates: #1 is an A+ Scouter with a job as a Retail Manager #2 is a B+ Scouter with a job as a Forester #3 is a C- Scouter with a job as a Journalist. If the lodge is in need of a communications director, the forward candidate #3 and the others get rejected. Some of the units here don't submit adult applications because we have no way of knowing what the lodge needs, so have no idea who to nominate. Those who do submit application know it's a crap-shoot and don't worry about it too much. Why should a SM simply be a chauffeur? Since there is nothing for the SM’s to do there is no reason for them to show up and since so many applications get rejected there really isn’t a reason to see SM’s at the event at all. If all the SM is going to do is pick-up and drop-off I see no reason the parents can't do that and let the SM spend that extra time with his family?

We have two Boy Scout camps in our council, but our Troop is fairly adventurous and likes to try new things. We have been to the Camps owned by the council, but have also been to Camp Meriwether and Camp Melita Island (which is the best camp I’ve been to so far; I strongly recommend to everyone with a hankering to try a camp in Montana Council.) Tonight the boys will be deciding on which camp to attend in 2014. (They are looking at Pioneer, Cooper, and Parsons.) The trouble is that we catch a lot of flak at District and council events for not attending the camps in council. Many of the scouts, leaders, and district committee members who snub us for going out of council have never been to an out of council camp (Phillmont aside) and so have no idea what they are missing. Any pointers we can give our scouts (and scout leaders) on how to handle “council-centric†hecklers? Also--anyone have an awsome camp to recomend? (We'd like to stay west of the Mississippi and if you can keep us with in 1000 miles of the Idaho boarder all the better!)

I would suspect that the reason you are seeing parents instead of SM’s is that after the SM’s OA application has been rejected he’s not too interested in taking the boys.

It depends entirely on which “supreme being†you believe in AND what unit you are trying to be a member of. Every unit has the right to reject members for whatever reason they choose. We have a Catholic Pack that only allows Catholic boys in the unit, provided they attend the local Catholic School. If you’re Catholic and don’t attend the Catholic School you aren’t “Catholic Enough†to be a member of their unit. As far as National is concerned just because your application wasn’t accepted because you believed in the wrong god (or believe in the same god, but weren’t godly enough), does not constitute a rejection. Scouts denied membership in local units are still eligible to be a member of Boy Scouts of America provided they find an organization with a building and applicable insurance that is willing to charter a unit that will allow them.

I wonder if this was another reason National rejected the Covenant of the Goddesses submissions for a Pagan Religious emblem? Instead of "Duty to God" our book was titled HART & CRESCENT AWARD and included requirements on "Duty to Goddess." http://www.cog.org/index.php?p=content/CoGWeb/About.html We were told the reason they wouldn't accept it was that there weren't any Pagan Organizations that chartered a unit. Of course being pagans, we'll never be able to charter a unit because of the requirement that we have a building. We meet and worship in nature so we don't have buildings; hence we can't charter a scout unit.

As far as "selecting" adults go, we have the opposite problem. The units know how to go about nominating an adult, but the OA advisers reject them every year. I know this has happened in our troop two years in a row as well as it happening in another troop also. Just because you send in an adult application doesn't mean that adult will be selected for OA.

Not so fast qwazes; Teen birth rates are higher in red states and for Christians in general. Christian teens are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, less likely to use contraception when they do have sex, and Christians are more likely to divorce. I've heard a lot of pastors tout the opposite, but when you look at the data from the Centers for Disease Control and the census bureau it's a whole different story. Teen birth rate by state: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/NBR-teens-15-19.aspx The gap between pledgers and nonpledgers for high-risk behavior was statistically significant, with 2% of virgins who did not pledge reporting engaging in anal or oral sex, compared with 13% of those who did pledge. According to Bruckner, the pledgers' increased likelihood of substituting oral or anal sex for vaginal intercourse puts them at risk of contracting STDs, according to Bruckner. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/21606.php http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr049.pdf

Trustworthy: I can trust that when my son has sex he will use protection and respect his partner. Loyal: Loving someone is not a breach of Loyalty. Neither is having sex for the sheer joy of sex. There is no shame in not remaining abstinent until married; and frankly I question the sanity of those who push that agenda. Clean: Wearing a condom can insure that he is disease free. Reverent: My religion believes that sex is a wonderful gift. In fact our creation myth involves a sexual interlude that last for 9 days culminating in a giant orgasm. Contrary to the Christian view, we view sex as the "Original Blessing" not the "Original Sin." Our gods would not be offended if he partook of the blessing of sex while under 18. Sex is a serious topic and we cannot presume to fit everyone in the same box. Each must do what is right for them and even then we will make mistakes along the way. We require them to follow the Scout Law to the best of their ability. (BTW--sex has friendly, courteous, kind, and cheerful written all over it! LOL)

Curious position from my perspective. If a scout was caught cheating on tests in high school would you consider that none of your business or is it a reflection on his trustworthiness? What if he was hazing other youth on a HS sports team? Not in scouting so no worry about friendly, courteous, kind. Smoking cigarettes and yelling obscenities at a village holiday gathering with young children around? No biggie, it's not a camp out, clean mind and strong body only count in the woods. Character is what happens when nobody is looking. Isn't that what we're trying to teach? Packsaddle: I have two teen boys. Would I rather they didn't have sex? Absolutly. Have we had discussions about the consequences of having sex? You Bet. But to deny a kid rank advancement because he made a mistake is absolutly wrong. He isn't cheating on anything . . . It's more like blowing off a test and by not studying. Would we deny them rank advancement because they failed French? Of Course not. We can tell them to study until we're blue in the face, but some lessons must be learned on their own. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a kid is to let them fail and love them anyway.

I can think of one "exception" we used as a recruitment tool. We handed out applications at the Kindergarten graduation. They were no longer kindergartners, but had not started 1st grade yet. The draw was that if they enrolled in the summer their brand new Tiger could attend Day Camp in June. It seemed to work for us.

Curious position from my perspective. If a scout was caught cheating on tests in high school would you consider that none of your business or is it a reflection on his trustworthiness? What if he was hazing other youth on a HS sports team? Not in scouting so no worry about friendly, courteous, kind. Smoking cigarettes and yelling obscenities at a village holiday gathering with young children around? No biggie, it's not a camp out, clean mind and strong body only count in the woods. Character is what happens when nobody is looking. Isn't that what we're trying to teach? A scout having sex is not cheating unless he is having sex with someone other than his/her BF/GF. Kids have sex . . . always have . . . always will. In some states the age of consent is as low as 14 so they generally aren't breaking any laws. Would we rather they didn't have sex for a whole host of reason? Sure. But the point is we can't control everything they do, nor should we try. Some lessons need to be learned on their own.

A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. Nowhere in there am I seeing the word abstinent . . .

I did not mean to appoint them permanently; just for the outing. We had an SPL who was routinely absent. When the younger scouts started grumbling and stating that THEY needed to replace the SPL with someone else; the SPL got the message and started to take his duties seriously. You need to let the boys lead. That means giving them all the tools they need to succeed AND providing opportunities to fail. They need to work out the pecking order on their own and if you give them enough time and space, they will do just that.

I don't see this as a conflict of interest. It's no different than if the boys were missing because they choose to go to a soccer tournament or other event. Just appoint someone to take over the SPL and PL duties. You can choose the scouts with the next highest ranks or Scouts elected to other leadership positions. If the boys routinely skip events that will show up in a Scoutmaster conference and may result in a board of review being pushed back. Or they could face the ultimate from of rejection and have the peer vote them out of the position; nothing sweeter than mutiny in the ranks!