Adamcp

So I just watched our Troop's Scouts conduct the Troop's Spring Court of Honor over Zoom, ending the formal Scouting year for us since Summer Camp is closed for us. This COH marks the culmination of twelve years of Scouting for our family. Quite a night. In the Troop, there are fourteen graduating high school seniors who I had as the den leader of a gargantuan Tiger Cub Den starting twelve years ago. My guys. I was their Cubmaster and then became their Scoutmaster along the way, five years or so ago. Six Eagles in the graduating Group. My older son was a year older than this group. He earned his Eagle in 2018 and went off to college last year. My younger son earned his Eagle in 2019, is part of this graduating group of Scouts, will turn 18 in August, and is off to college this year (COVID permitting). I know Scouting is not perfect. Not by a long shot. But Scouting has been the constant in our life for twelve years. Through thick and thin. Childhood friendships. Adult friendships. Summer camp every summer. My wife along at summer camp, since she is a nurse and functioned as such as our Troop Nurse for the week. But no summer family vacations because I work in a demanding profession with limited time off, because of summer camp, and because I somehow squeezed time to go with my guys to Sea Base in 2016 and Philmont in 2019. My wife is a saint, and she supported it all. She loves her two Eagle Mom pins. So now what? Two sons will be away at college, if the world allows. The nest is empty and my wife and I have our plans to fill the time well. The camping trailer in the garage was her idea and is her baby. We will use it well. And we love ecotourism in Central America. But what of Scouting? I am still the Scoutmaster and I still feel connected to the Troop. For me, there will never be a group like "my guys". They were a special group of boys, and not just special because they were my son's friends or special to me because of our shared history of Scouting experiences. At the same time, the younger Scouts are great. Especially so, there is a group of eighth grade Scouts who really "get" Scouting. They love to camp. They love to hike. There are a few high school students who JUST grew into themselves. So mature. All of sudden. They will make excellent patrol leaders. So do I stay with these new guys? I am good at the SM position. But would I be an anachronistic Scoutmaster, with no kids of my own in the Troop? I do think a parent has a different (although not always better) kind of investment in Scouting. I would not abandon them now, since I have not set up a succession plan (although there is a very strong Committee Chair, so I know the troop will manage no matter what). But am I going to do this for the next year, five years, ten years, fifteen years? What are the experiences of those who have made a similar transition? I know I am emotional since the COH was tonight (a mixed happy and sad emotional), and I am not making any decisions right now. But it does feel like a crossroads. I would appreciate any thoughts from the hive mind. I will wait for any responses you all may offer by enjoying the knowledge that right now my son is in the backyard with a campfire going in the fire pit, socially distancing with his Scout friends, who drove over after the COH. Life is good. Thanks, and good Scouting to you.

I start by telling them what a Scoutmaster Conference is ("talking to you about your experience in Scouting"), and I explain that each Rank will have a Scoutmaster Conference, and every other rank from now on will also have a Board of Review. I explain what that is, too. And then I tell them that the last step is to take your book to the Advancement Chair to have the info about their rank put into the computer. Then I ask them about what they like about being a Boy Scout. I ask them which of the Rank Requirements was hardest for them to do and what was the most fun. I ask them what they think about their patrol and how they think their patrol is doing. I ask them what they think the Troop could change or what could make the Troop better. I ask them about what they think about their Duty to God ("since all Scoutmasters are asked to talk about that in each SM Conference" - so they know it will come up again, and so they know it is important) I ask them what their plan or hope is for Scouting (some say "Eagle", some say "patrol leader some day", some say, "going to Sea Base", some say "have fun and go on trips" - tells me a lot about the boy, but I am not pushing for anything) I ask them what they like outside of Scouting, how they are doing in school, and if there are any really stressful things that are going on for them now. We end on a positive note back on Scouting by talking about the next few activities and what they are looking forward to. One of my favorite parts of being a SM.

Yes, my Wilderness First Aid is good for 2 years.

We did a different adventure off Big Munson, but we only heard rave reviews about the sailing adventures. Enjoy!

Congrats! You'll have a great time. Which adventure are you doing?

When UK and Ireland and Canada went to co-ed Scouting, did they just go "all in" (any girl 12-18 could join right away) or did they "phase in" girls joining in some way (younger girls first and letting them grow up in the troop)?

"Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" "Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!" "Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!" "Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!" Oh wait. That is what the Fox says, not the Coyote. Carry on. (Sorry, could not help myself.)

I have worried a bit about this issue as well. We do not use last names anywhere on the Troop website, for example in the patrol section. The Troop Shutterfly account has only pictures (no names) and there are no pictures that would show someone's name, i.e., a certificate awarded to a Scout that would have their name listed on the Certificate. Beyond that, the website and Shutterfly account are technically open to the public and I have had a lingering doubt as to whether this is okay.

I must sound like an old man telling the kids to get off my lawn, but I just keep thinking, "Why didn't they just leave well enough alone?" Who cares what rank the Scouts learn the taut line? But also it is the minutia of things like (for second class): With your parents or guardian, decide on an amount of money that you would like to earn, based on the cost of a specific item you would like to purchase. Develop a plan written plan to earn the amount agreed upon and follow that plan; it is acceptable to make changes to your plan along the way. Discuss any changes made to your original plan and whether you met your goal. At a minimum of three locations, compare the cost of the item for which you are saving to determine the best place to purchase it. After completing Second Class requirement 8c, decide if you will use the amount that you earned as originally intended, save all or part of it, or use it for another purpose. Or for first class: Help plan a menu for one of the above campouts that includes at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner and that requires cooking at least two of the meals. Tell how the menu includes the foods from MyPlate or the current USDA nutrition model and how it meets nutritional needs for the planned activity or campout. Really? Does anyone ... anywhere think about the MyPlate guidelines when they are planning a meal. I think one of the best things that happened in our Troop last year was when one Patrol decided to bring Hot Pockets to a camping trip and cook them over an open fire for dinner. MANY other adults told me (the SM) that I should tell them that such a meal is not nutritious and that they had to choose something else. I said that we were using the Patrol Method (ahem ... for real now) and that I had told the Scouts that it was completely on them to choose their meals. I reminded the adults that even an entire weekend of only Pop Tarts (which the Scouts were actually not planning by the way) would not kill anyone. After the weekend was over, the Scouts were wholly disappointed by the Hot-Pockets-Over-Open-Flame experiment and, without any intervention from adults, decided to menu plan very differently for the next camping trip. Problem solved (because it was never a problem). The chili they made the next time was excellent. But ALL of the above had absolutely nothing to do with the flibberty MyPlate guidelines. And I think it is a waste of time to go into all that. It is schoolifying the scouting experience. But I am just making it worse for myself now. I don't want to be all grrrrr-ified by all this. I just want to let these boys ... uh ... youths do their thing, and have Scoutmaster Conferences (my favorite part of being a SM) chatting with scouts who are proud of their accomplishments. SIGH.

After having lived with the "new" BSA Rank Requirements for 2016 and now into 2017, I do not see that they have contributed in any positive way to the Scouts' scouting experience. For example, last year's crossovers blundered through the cyberchip (and/or giggled through the insipid videos). If they missed the meeting where the Scouts did a skit for internet awareness, it added extra confusion for the patrol leaders. I don't see how the additional requirements helped in any manner. Soooo.... how can I change my thinking about these Rank Requirements to make me less frustrated? Whether or not you agree with my assessment of the changes, I actually WANT to change how I am thinking about these additions so that I have something that can help me be less frustrated. Any ideas? Thanks.

Wow. I always thought that our merit badge counselor issues were just due to our own Troop limitations and weaknesses. It is amazing to hear how many others have similar experiences. Frankly, I am having a hard time understanding how something so central to Scouting could be such a mess. Well, I guess not THAT much of hard time ..... But still

I really like this idea. It worked super well when I was a Den Leader. Back in Aught-Nine.

Interesting, Stosh. The way it was always said to me was that the pathway went like this: "Ok, Scout. If you want to do a merit badge, first go to your SM and ask the SM for a blue card. The SM will then connect you to a Merit Badge Counselor (which means give the name of the Counselor and the phone number). Then, Scout, you call the Merit Badge Counselor and ask them if they will be able to serve as the Merit Badge Counselor for your Merit Badge." Is that different from your experience?

I love that you capitalize The List. It does feel like it is held in such mystery as to deserve such status!

If it were me (and I did have my own sensitive son in my Tiger Den back in the day), I would tell him that if he did not stop the behaviors you mentioned, E.g., Interrupting, not listening, telling the den what to do, not letting me try to give the other Tiger Cubs equal chance to answer, etc., I would not take him to the next Den Meeting. He may not actually believe you, and you may indeed need to leave him home once or twice to make the point, but unless he has other behavioral issues, I would hope that would work. And he has A LOT of potential Scouting ahead of him. Missing a few Tiger meetings and getting him on track is well worth it, if it turns into 12 years of successful scouting. As an aside, when I was a Tiger Den leader, I had come across the idea of a Conduct Candle. This idea was for the whole Den. The concept went like this: I lit the candle at the start of the meeting. As long as the Scouts stayed in good behavioral control, the candle kept burning. If they did not, I blew out the candle until they started to behave. I told them that at the end of the year, if the candle was burned all the way down, I would get them a prize. (You can't pick a honking candle jar, something pretty small will do.) It worked pretty well.

Most merit badges do happen at Summer Camp, at least in this Troop since I've been a part of it. Hoping to give some different opportunities for the Scouts, especially for topics that do not have merit badges offered at camp. Thanks for your thoughts.

I worked with transgender teens and young adults, some under 18, some older than 18. Younger teens needed parental consent to move forward with transitioning, and the teens I know needed about six months minimum of sessions with a psychologist who also was working with the endocrinologists. They often start to live their desired gender identity during that time, i.e., wearing those clothes, hair style. I guess shoes are more expensive than a pair of jeans, those often change last! Some folks do take longer to go through those initial steps with the psychologist and the endocrine team. The teen I know who got "top surgery" was doing so well by that point, that he was not seeing me by the time of the surgery. He was just working with the endocrinological team, going to college, part time job. That was about 18 months or so after the process was started, and by that time the teen was nineteen. Some of the diagnoses and decision making is indeed dicey. To get testosterone, there does need to be a prescription. But there is no medical disease per se. I am not actually sure what they put in the medical chart. Parents of younger teens do need to consent, but the psychologists and medical doctors also have to give the green light to start and need to monitor after hormones are started. To get to the point of hormone treatment (or hormone blocking), the process seems to be measured in months (not weeks, and not years). As a psychologist, with these particular teens I am often facilitating social adjustment or helping problem solve situations that arise with family and friends, but there is no psychopathology per se at that time. Like I am saying, these folks come to me significantly depressed and suicidal, and rarely tell me right away about gender identity issues. Whereas other teens often do show progress early, these teens often do not (before they start talking about gender). However, once they do eventually start talking about transitioning AND get support from family (i.e., it becomes a real possibility), quite a lot of the symptoms drop away pretty immediately. It's been pretty startling actually, even for someone like me who has been around the block a whole bunch of times.

Do those of you in far and wide Councils have trouble with Councils regarding record keeping of Merit Badge Counselors? As in, trouble with the list of who is on Council's list of approved Counselors. I'm thinking that a good basic class in Excel should suffice here, but we cannot get any list of counselors, other than a poorly Xeroxed paper copy (unsortable of course) 20 pages or so long that looks like it has not been updated in many, many years. (I am not sure all of these Scouters still walk amongst us!) And when we send in applications for new Merit Badge Counselors, we rarely (... almost never) hear anything back. Not "approved", not "not approved", not "pending approval". Nothing. For over a year. When you call, they don't know who has the paperwork. "Sounds like you're volunteering for the job," you say. Well, no, I am not, but one of my ASMs did. And they don't give him anything he can work with. Maybe I am just venting, but we're starting to have real troubles, especially with Eagle required badges. Some of the guys we know are on the decrepit list (the list is decrepit, not the .... well, maybe a bit of both) are indeed getting up there in years and not all of 'em get around to us that often. As SM, I often am at a loss for who I can refer the Scouts to, in the Troop or outside it in the larger Scouting community. Like I said, maybe just venting, but does anyone have any ideas?

Every transgender person with whom I have worked as a psychologist (not my specialty, so 5 people) were acutely suicidal (my specialty, so there is a selection bias there) until they began to live their life according to their gender identity. In each case, suicidality went to zero when they started living as their gender identity. Some of these folks went on to further assessments by psychologists (specialists) and medical doctors and proceeded with medical transitioning (hormonal and partial surgical). The other folks are teens who are working/discussing with their families, but who do often dress and cut their hair according to their gender identity. In each and every case, the individuals in question showed reduced anxiety, reduced depression, reduced suicidal ideation, and better social adjustment only after the change. My personal experience is that their "mental illness" was much reduced rather than being pushed further. I am not seeing any professional journals or literature indicating high rates of detransitioning. Even extending to psychologist colleagues (rather than only my own experience), the rate I've seen is exactly zero.

Great idea! I will show it to the Scouts.

Good point. And yeah, my issue is not with the Cabin camping. We do that, too. I just appreciated the novelty of the boys' experience this weekend and want to support it. Thanks.

I like the snowshoes and the ice fishing ideas! As for your last suggestion, if only we had a football team in our state which played into the Winter months! Although I know at least one of my scouts is a Steelers fan, so he would love your suggestion! Thanks much.

This past weekend, our troop just had its first Winter Camping experience since I've come on board as SM. I would consider it to have been a success. We're in a winter-y part of the U.S., and there was indeed snow on the ground. The boys had proposed the outing in their Annual Planning Meeting back in June, and I wondered whether they would hem and haw their way out of the event once the cold was actual, rather than conceptual. Much to their credit, they did not hem or haw, and we had a representative group. The Roses? They handled the cold without any complaints. Really. None. They managed a camp with low-impact cooking, so there was no frigid clean-up. They did a 5 mile hike on a section of trail new to them (chosen by the Scouts, of course), which was fun since the new trail spiced it up even though the camping was at the local Scout Reservation that they otherwise know well. The Thorns? None really. No frostbite or the like, but also only cold, no real wind or weather to fuss over. The Buds? That's what I'm looking for. After the hike, cooking dinner was fast, and we all sat around the campfire for several hours. Pretty cool (pun intended, I guess). Are there any other things that your Scouts do at Winter Campouts that they enjoy doing (and that I could lob their way for the Patrol Leader Council to bat about). The snow had really iced over, so there wasn't really even an option for a good old-fashioned snowball fight. I think the Scouts are proud of themselves for managing a campsite on a really cold night, and privately seemed to smirk when I too heard their other family members whine "I would NEVER do that!", but I think that novelty will wear off real soon, and I would hope that this Winter Camping (since it was NOT in a cabin, which we've done to death) would not fade back away. Thoughts?

I do appreciate the experience that my sons are currently getting to be part of Scouting where they can be with boys and focus on becoming men of character. I don't think that this decision changes that experience presently. This decision affects the BSA the membership opportunity of young people, who I view as boys, because I believe that gender identity is a valid concept and that biological gender can be inconsistent with gender identity. This belief is based upon my experience listening to transgender individuals describe their experiences. The folks I know gladly enjoy life as boys/young men, they do not see masculinity as toxic, and they would pretty seemlessly add to a troop of young men. I imagine that it would be a non-issue over time, if the Scout lived the Oath and Law, and the other Scouts did too. And I imagine that I could work with the families of any transgender Scouts such that we could be prepared for any "first period" that may happen. My wife is a nurse, I think she could get me and my ASMs ready! And I agree that the trajectory does suggest that Scouting membership in the BSA will be open to both boys and girls at some point in the future. I will miss the "Boy" Scouts, if that happens, but I also cannot ignore the comments I have read from international Scouters who seems to fairly consistently say that their Scouts continue to have a pretty rewarding Scouting experience and that the impact of co-ed Scouting has not, in their opinions, been negative. I do truly take heart in their comments, and remain similarly hopeful. But this particular decision is not about co-ed Scouting, in my opinion. These are boys who want to join a membership of boys.

Despite the fact that the DSM V lists Gender Dysphoria as a diagnosis, most psychiatrists and psychologists I know do not see being transgender as a mental ilness, and certainly not a delusion. Many think that the diagnosis will not continue to be listed as a mental health diagnosis in future diagnostic manuals.