Scoutinglife

I didn’t choose the people for those positions, I was asked to fill the position I am in. I did not know what the other positions were or who they were until I started doing the training for my position. It was supposed to be a church chartering us but when They filled out the paperwork and sent it in, they listed their own business as charter. Council approved it all.

Thank you all for the great suggestions! I’m fairly new to the Troop side of things. Them holding several District positions left me at a loss for who to go to. My son takes a lot and internalizes it. Most of the time, he doesn’t complain until long after an incident. To have him spill his guts like that over the phone worries me. He usually comes away from camp and campouts with so much excitement about what they did. He is excited about the pioneering and orienteering classes he’s doing this week and tells me all about what they did and what they are going to do the next day. It’s sad that all the other is overshadowing that excitement. They were told before they left, don’t bring any phones. I thought it was odd because last year his son had a phone and called home every night (dad had to work and couldn’t go). I slid my sons phone in his pack and told him it’s there if he needs it. I’m not worried about him losing or breaking it, it’s insured. I expect they said that so most would forget any negative by the time they got home and they will remind them of all the fun they supposedly had. I texted him, his phone is off to preserve battery, and gave him the name of the Camp Director and told him to take his buddy and go talk to the Director. He’s 12 and very intimidated by most adults. His buddy has knowledge of what’s going on and can shed light on certain details. Then he can decide whether or not to continue at camp until Friday night when we will be going up for Family night. He can return with us then. If he chooses NOT to stay, we will go get him as soon as we get off work. The decision is his to make. We will be checking out other troops when he gets home. I know of AT LEAST 2 others in the area and he knows some of the boys from merit badge classes from both.

We started a new troop about a year ago. We have an SM that has no boy in troop. Our charter org is a business owned by the COR. He has labeled himself COR and ASM. CORs wife is CC. I am Adv chair. Problem is my son was elected as PL (we are young troop with no FC for SPL) and he has no idea what he is supposed to do. I bought him the book and he has read it. I found training online that the SM is supposed to do with the troop but neither the SM or ASM/COR will listen. Instead, every time something comes up and my son doesn’t do it right, they yell at him. They do not listen to him or find out why he did x instead of y. They don’t explain the right way. They always point out the wrong. They think it’s ok to yell. They say it’s how they treat their kids and they think of him as their own. They constantly belittle him in front of the others claiming it’s a learning opportunity for the others. The ASM/COR’s son is same age and rank as mine. They push him to complete his requirements and have the SM or the other ASM sign off on everything saying he did some things a year and a half ago out of state. There is no verification that the things he is claiming were done but he’s waited over a year to have anyone sign off. That raises questions for me. His mom/CC has taken over and sets up the board of reviews, selecting who she wants on the board because she is district Advancement/Eagle BOR. She has never asked me to be on board until this last rankup. They were not at the meeting before when my son and another ranked therefore, she didn’t get to harass my son about the BOR and ridicule him. As far as I could tell, She had intended to flunk him so her son could pass him and be first scout to FC in the troop. My son doesn’t care about that, but hers was constantly asking me how close my son was to ranking. She has since mouthed about how we did the BORs wrong. (I had 3 others, only other adults present that were NOT ASM, not me, for my sons and the other boys BOR) She has made several threats to my son that unless he is dressed to the 9’s in his uniform, including the green pants he has outgrown, and military style demeanor, she won’t even do a BOR with him. I have put a lot of money into the troop to get it started and don’t have money now to buy him new green pants. The ASM/COR has been in Scouts for several years. the new SM is learning the ropes, but at every opportunity the ASM/COR ridicules him. It has gone to the point of him telling the SM that he will take over as SM if he doesn’t get his s*** together. The ASM/COR told the SM they were camping out just overnight and he wanted to do fire and dogs. The SM asked what he needed to do and he told him nothing, he would get everything. All was covered. They get to the camping spot and the ASM/COR asks him where the trash bags are. When he said he didn’t bring any, all was covered, the ASM proceeded to degrade him again in front of the boys. We went on a hike, one boy sat down. We had hiked several miles already and stopped for info on a sign. ASM/COR told the boy to get his ass up. The boy called him on it and his reply was that it’s a donkey. The boy replied not in the way you are using it. Now they are at camp with the SM and ASM/COR. They’ve only been there 2 days and one kid already left the first day. I talked to my son earlier and he has been yelled at and disrespected by both to the point he doesn’t want to be in scouts anymore. He said he would have me come get him but I paid a lot of money for him to go. Summer camp is supposed to be at least a little fun. I didn’t pay that much for him to be tortured for a week! He’s had enough and so have a couple other parents. What can/should we do?