malraux

1 minute ago, packsaddle said:

Gblotter, I am aware that 'overall membership' is and has been a concern for 'top brass' in this organization for quite a while. But at the unit level, I am not sure why overall membership should be a great concern. It seems like at that level, the well-being of the unit and its members and families should be the top priority. Sort of an 'all Scouting is local' approach.

It’s not everything, but more overall numbers means more ability to afford summer camps, high adventure camps, better materials, etc. 

11 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Well, you get to choose your response and I couldn't care less what language you choose to use.  I just shared how it's interpreted in my community.  FWIW, language is revised all the time (we don't say ye or thou or foresooth much anymore), in fact language was changed to create the term in question.  

beyond that, the use of the word accommodation relates to the language used in the ada. People (especially in education) say accommodation because the legal language in the 504 talks about accommodations.

Related question: Buddy system. What are the rules for mix gender buddies? On our recent cub scout camp out, we ran into the issue of how to deal with mixed gender buddies. The G2SS appears to be silent on the issue. Some cite the new YPT training as saying no mixed gender buddies. I don't recall that, but might have missed it.

8 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

was there really a demand for these things?

Enough of one to make them. Truthfully, I don't feel right in scout shorts if I'm not wearing the stupidly long socks with the red band.

If you are starting a female troop, shouldn't you have a few female leaders in the pipeline for said troop?

That said, I agree with the idea of getting a parent signed on as unit leader reserve.

https://cubscoutideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cub-Scout-Connections-12-24-2017.pdf Is what you want I think. The lion stuff isn't in there, but lions is pretty hand wavy anyway.

22 minutes ago, TMSM said:

Our older scout who is the Instructor for wood tools uses the term circle of death. 

Seems appropriate for axes and saws. 

15 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

Now on a slight tangent, I would love ideas on teaching whittling chip, heck everything scouting related, to a one handed Cub. One of my Cubs only has one hand, and I have been thinking about how to teach teaching whittling chip to her. So I would love to hear any ideas on teaching a handicap Cub how to use and sharpen a knife.

I would imagine knife use would be not as bad as something like knots.

Knife skills: opening and safely closing => well, some knives are designed to be opened one handed. You/she might have to work out how to handle a knife with a locking mechanism, or select a knife without it.

Using it => basic idea stays the same, always cut away from you. It might involve using a clamp to hold wood in place. That seems adaptable.

I would also consider using a fixed knife properly to be a reasonable adaptation in this case, but I'd want to double check the rules on adapting requirements. (looks like for cub scouts its very much a whatever sort of thing).

10 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Is this an example of girls taking boy out of boy scouting? 

No.

9 minutes ago, Saltface said:

I don't see the need for an intermediate step either. Did anyone from this generation of leaders start with a plastic knife when they were cub scouts?

Checking my references, I don't see any evidence that I earned the whittling chip as a bear. It's not signed off in my handbook, so I don't know that we ever covered it in cub scouts.

59 minutes ago, DuctTape said:

The use of "fake" knives or props is a great way to introduce the skill and proper handling. But it is just the first step and should never replace the outcome.

When they have demonstrated their understanding of the safe handling protocols, etc... with the prop, then move to the real thing. The real knife/ax/saw is when they practice and get tested. 

Thats certainly my plan: start with wooden demo models, make sure everyone can handle the basic actions (receive the knife, check blood circle, open knife, close knife, pass to the next person) before allowing everyone to use a real knife to practice with soap first, then with a soft, easy to carve piece of wood.

8 minutes ago, Setonfan said:

Wonder how long it will take our BSA culture to transition from “wow, girl cub scouts”, to “wow, cub scouts”?  

I do propose moving to the language of “Cubbing” and “scouting” to refer to the different programs. 

2 minutes ago, qwazse said:

@Eagle94-A1, do you have a reference?

I've never dealt with Whittling Chip ... never had one as a bear while whittling my PWD block ... don't think my sons had one. So I never gave much thought as to how it would be used.

https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/510-033(17)baloo.pdf page 72

“ There is no such thing as “cutting a corner off” for infractions. The rules are followed at all times. The Whittling Chip card stays as a complete unit.”

Just now, perdidochas said:

It's up to the pack to decide about cutting corners off the Whitlin' chip, per the Link to Scouting magazine.  I think it's a good practice. 

The newer baloo training specifically says you cannot cut corners. I might disagree with that rule, but it is written down somewhere. (insert complaint about rules being spread across a zillion different documents)

10 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Don't ask for rules please!  It's a judgement call on whether the scout is doing something intentionally or simply making a mistake.  In the old days, a leader would have stopped the behavior, then treated the situation as an opportunity to talk with and mentor the scout on how to make better decisions.  With that discussion the leader could make a better determination about intent and determining a course of action.  Of course that's way more difficult than just making a zero tolerance rule and taking away the scouts knife.

I probably mean guidelines anyway. I agree with the idea of more guidelines and fewer rules.

I’ll be teaching my bear den (and some new arrival webelos) the whittling chip next week. As preparation for that I wanted to give a brief summary for the adult leaders about best practice for handling a perceived infraction. Looking online, the main guidance appears to be 1: can’t cut corners off anymore. and 2: for serious infractions you require a scout to retake the course. Are there any rules about how a leader should handle the immediate situation of a scout being unsafe? My proposed rule is a leader should take the knife and scout to a parent, den leader, cubmaster and explain what you saw so the direct chain leader can take action, but I can’t find documentation. Is there an official policy or do packs have free reign here?

On 9/27/2018 at 7:37 PM, gblotter said:

The magazine in question is Scouting Magazine - not Boys Life.

The september edition of BL (cub edition) had the same theme of girls are coming to mirror the content in the scouter magazine. I haven't received scouter yet, but assuming it follows the same pattern it'll be more or less back to normal.

Technically, two fingers is the correct option. That said, my muscle memory is still really strong for three fingers.

fwiw, just got the new boys life. It appears to be back to the normal articles. 

Worth saying that my impression was that @Hawkwin post was primarily copying the existing troop document and posting what changes he wanted to it. That is, he's not responsible for that mess, the troop is.

16 hours ago, Hawkwin said:

All Scouts must have a Totem Chip in order to carry or use pocket knives or other wood tools.

Is a Totem Chip a miniature totem pole?

1 hour ago, Momleader said:

son wont be 11 by cross over and will not have completed the 5th grade.   And it sends a bad message to the others in the den.  Could this derail a potential eagle application down the road?  

Quote

1. Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade or at least six months since becoming ten years old.

 

Finishing AOL and crossing over requires finishing 4th grade plus 6 months and or six months since becoming 10.

42 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

The way I understood the thread was the girl was a member of the Pack, but, the Troop declined to have her on the campout because they aren't interested in co-ed/linked troops.

 

Edit: I don't know anything about the situation other than what the mother shared on reddit, but, the structure is in place to be problematic for the next many months.

Which seems kinda jerk-ish on the part of the troop, IMO. Not that the troop should be at the beck and call of the pack, but the troop visits shouldn't be about just troop recruitment.

21 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Mom is still threatening legal action to require all Chartered orgs to go 100% coed across the board. Oh, and going to the school board to make sure the BSA doesn't get to recruit at schools any more.

That doesn't seem exactly right. The threat is that "If we are not assured that she will be allowed to attend and participate fully then legal action may be the next step. I also plan on having a word with the school about allowing an organization to sell a program to girls that is then excluding those girls. In the future, parental permission should be required for outside organizations to use school time to recruit."

That is not threatening legal action to require all units to go co-ed. Just that the troop shouldn't offer a camping opportunity to a pack and exclude some of the pack members. Now I'm skeptical of the potential success of such legal action, as the bsa is a private group and private groups can be exclusionary.

The flip side of the bsa being a private group and their ability to be exclusionary is the somewhat legitimate point that not every private group should be granted access time to schools.

Theres a difference between the male female ratio changing and the rate of men going to college changing.  If suddenly lots of women start going to college while the same percentage of men go to college, the m/f ratio will change while nothing has changed for the men.