David CO

Nope. It is not a matter of doing it right or wrong. Cub scouting and boy scouting are two very different activities. Most kids who like cub scouts end up not liking boy scouts. That's just the way it is.

I gave you an up arrow for mentioning Health class.

No, most of them won't.

Yes, store it in your garage.

It is obvious that you do not understand the role of the COR.

We have 20 times as many participants in our sports programs than we have in scouting. It is true that some of our team sports have a limited roster. Other sports like track and field, tennis, golf, and wrestling are pretty much open to anyone who wishes to participate. My point, however, was not about recruitment. I am asking if we should be serving the boys we currently have, or only those boys we anticipate will continue on in the program.

I think we can see the problem right here on this thread. Instead of keeping the focus on the question of how to get "indoor parents" to be supportive of the outdoor program, most of the posts have been about converting the "indoor parents" into "outdoorsy" parents. The true believers in scouting will not leave these poor people alone. Is it any wonder why the "indoor parents" avoid the unit altogether?

I am wondering if the units might actually have different CO's. My school has both cub scouts and boy scouts. The PTO is the CO of the cub scouts. The Athletic Association is the CO of the boy scouts.

Yes, the training needs to be site specific.

No, it is not. The massacres are rare. The near misses occur more often than you might think.

Yes and no. Training should be done, but BSA is not the one to do the training. This can't be done with a one hour, on-line training seminar.

We are quick to blame the schools for not being properly prepared for this kind of tragedy. Does your scout unit have a plan for such an event occurring at your meetings and events?

There will probably be some changes made, but not the gun control changes you want. School security is very difficult at the end of the day. The doors are wide open as the school prepares for mobs of students to exit the building. This is when the shooter chose to strike. I doubt that this was a coincidence. I think it was a calculated decision. I'm sure that this incident will cause schools across the country to reevaluate their security measures to determine if there is a better way to handle security at the end of the day.

Thanks for the stats. That is consistent with what I have been seeing. Yes, I think we agree on the numbers, but disagree on how to interpret them.

That may be the way you would wish it to be, but is that reality? In my neck of the woods, less than half of all cub scouts go on to join boy scouts. Some cub scouts quit during their second year of webelos because they have already decided not to cross over. Perhaps there should be a non-webelos den for cub scouts who just want to be cub scouts.

I wouldn't assume that scouters who are negative on this board, or grumpy at committee meetings, are acting the same way while they are interacting with the boys. The kids often have a way of bringing out the best in some people.

We have the same type of discussions in our sports programs. Only 30% of grade school/junior high athletes will continue to play in high school. Should we focus our attention on being a good feeder program for the high school, or should we put more of our efforts on making the games more enjoyable for the 70% of kids who will, in all likelihood, never advance to a high school team? The same is true of scouting. Boy scouting and cub scouting are two very different activities. Many boys who enjoy cub scouts will not join boy scouts. By making the last two years of cub scouts into a feeder program for the troops, are we doing a disservice to those boys who aren't going to carry over to boy scouts?

As with all statistics, it all depends on how you calculate the numbers. Some people only count gun related incidents. Others count all criminal acts that result in fatalities. Including the Our Lady of the Angels fire (1958), which was caused by arson, would really skew the numbers.

It is very sad. Unfortunately, it is nothing new. I think the Bath School Massacre (1927) is still considered by many to be the worst school attack in U.S. history.

Oh no. Nothing like that. I don't mind scouts playing games and having skill competitions at meetings and events. That's fun. It's only when people start ranking the scouts, and claiming that someone is a better scout than the other boys, that I get upset. If a boy is behaving himself and having fun at scouting, he is a good scout. Scouting is about self-improvement and having fun. It is not about outperforming the other scouts.

You must mean my CO's troop. Yes, my CO's unit has never participated in OA.

Thank you. I totally agree.

Scouting isn't a competition. I don't think there is any such thing as a below average scout. Scouting is about having fun with your friends. It is not supposed to be like school or sports. Scouting doesn't have grades or class ranking. There is no above average or below average. There is no best of the best. There are no championships. There are no all-stars. There are no winners and losers. I am often annoyed by people who try to take the competition out of sports, but I am even more irritated by people who try to put competition into scouting. Not in my unit.

Yes, we do. The most common brand in my area is ReaLemon. I do like a few sausage links with my pancakes/maple syrup. Was that sausage? I thought they were over-cooked hockey pucks. If sausage makes you shudder, you best not ask what they try to pass off as butter.

It is not only that way in my area, it is that way on this forum.