10,000 Girl Cub Scouts

[cocomax]

What is an unconditional scouter?

Unconditional means, simply, without conditions. Without rules. Without expectations.  All our relationships, even our relationship with scouting, have conditions attached. 

Married couples all rules of their relationship. There are limits. No healthy relationship is unconditional. There is a mental rule book for their relationship. That way, both partners know the parameters and the conditions by which the relationship will remain intact and healthy.  When you’re feeling hurt, angry or confused in your relationship, it’s often because you feel one or more conditions of the relationship have been violated by your partner.

Any man or woman demanding that their spouse show them unconditional loyalty and love, is most likely up to no good and is most likely a monster.

Any organization that demands unconditional loyalty, is ether up to no good or is a cult.

People that make fun of or bully scouters for having conditions (rules and expectations that we signed up for) in order to continue to be scouters are not people I want to be around

The scout law and the scout oath are a LIST OF CONDITIONS we try to live by to be scout like.

If a troop is not living by the oath and law, and there is no way to turn it around, the scouts should leave, all scouts should be conditional scouts.   

[Eagle94-A1]

17 hours ago, MattR said:

I googled "conditional scouters" and "conditional scouter" (both in quotes) and got 6 hits, all of which are on this forum. Bing showed fewer. It seems to have started with a reference to something that someone else said.

Is it possible that we created our own thing that we can get angry about? Someone somewhere said something condescending and now we're blaming "them" for being un scout like. Maybe we should get back to dutch oven recipes or something else fun.

While google may only show this site using "conditional Scouter,"  I have heard used by my DE and on a facebook page. As @an_old_DC stated, in both cases it was in a demeaning manner.

I'm upfront. I think this decision was the worse one BSA has ever made. It's worse than the Improved Scouting Program of the 1970s. Boys need a place to call there own, just as the girls do. Now there is one less place for boys to be themselves. But the writing on the wall has been there since I was a Scout back in the day. I did research and talked to others about it. I was a Sea Scout and an Adviser. I've worked at international camps. I've seen that it can work IF it is brought out the right way. National screwed the process up royally. How they unveiled the Town hall meeting requirements, day before many folks were leaving for jamboree, seem to be a deliberate attempt to not get stakeholders' opinions. The refusal to release the data from the town hall surveys, to this day, is another indication for me that National has not been "Trustworthy" with us. Then you have the "gender neutral" language of the 7/17 membership applications, several weeks before the Town Hall mandate came out, is yet another indicator that this decision was made with no input from those in the field. Then you get the backlash from pro's and other high level volunteers when you express your opinions. All of this makes me question why am I still involved?

Yes, I am a "conditional Scouter." I'm here until my sons are out of the program. Further, I will leave when "my Scouts" no longer need me. I no longer care about national, since they do not care about us in the field.

Irony is this, as much as I think this is a mistake, I know it can work. Heck I even talked to my council key three on the matter because I and others realized how flawed National's process was going to be.  But national has so screwed it up, it is a giant Charlie Foxtrot.

[Eagledad]

The forum should take up "Conditional Scouter" as a symbol for quality scouting. Both Baden Powell and Bill Hillcourt are Conditional Scouters by definition of how they presented and protected the scouting program. Both these men are held in the highest honor for youth scouting. In the Spirit of scouting's founders, Conditional Scouters are a brotherhood of guardians that protect the mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

I am a Conditional Scouter and proud of it.

I am a Scouter.com Conditional Scouter and proud of it. 

Barry

 

[RememberSchiff]

Perhaps a "Conditional" shirt sleeve strip like "Trained"?

Edited August 22, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[Jameson76]

50 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

Perhaps a "Conditional" shirt sleeve strip like "Trained"?

[MattR]

21 hours ago, an_old_DC said:

No. When news about girls in Boy Scouts first came down from National I voiced my opposition to a young DE who immediately called me a “conditional Scouter.”

 

4 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

I have heard used by my DE and on a facebook page. As @an_old_DC stated, in both cases it was in a demeaning manner. 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I stand corrected.

As for me, I'm conditional because my DE is starting to micromanage me and the rest of my camping committee. A month ago I thought this guy was good and now I'm suggesting that I don't need this kind of grief.

[WisconsinMomma]

@MattR are you going to talk to your DE about your feelings and let him know you're feeling micromanaged?  You should!  Get him off your back.

Everybody is conditional.  

Now I can understand that if people spend more time complaining than Scouting, that's a problem.  But if people want to do Scouting, then get Scouting!   Do the parts you like to do and don't stress over the rest of it! 

[MattR]

9 minutes ago, WisconsinMomma said:

@MattR are you going to talk to your DE about your feelings and let him know you're feeling micromanaged?  You should!  Get him off your back.

Everybody is conditional.  

Now I can understand that if people spend more time complaining than Scouting, that's a problem.  But if people want to do Scouting, then get Scouting!   Do the parts you like to do and don't stress over the rest of it! 

Turns out the SE took care of it for me. The entire council staff had a sit down. Apparently the volunteers are important customers. Things have improved dramatically in the past week. Thanks for asking.

[Sentinel947]

On 8/22/2018 at 2:09 PM, Eagledad said:

The forum should take up "Conditional Scouter" as a symbol for quality scouting. Both Baden Powell and Bill Hillcourt are Conditional Scouters by definition of how they presented and protected the scouting program. Both these men are held in the highest honor for youth scouting. In the Spirit of scouting's founders, Conditional Scouters are a brotherhood of guardians that protect the mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

I am a Conditional Scouter and proud of it.

I am a Scouter.com Conditional Scouter and proud of it. 

Barry

 

I'm sure when National forced Hillcourt off the reservation they had some sort of similar pejorative for folks who weren't happy with the change. I'm somebody who's been moderately ok with the change National made. But I'm not how they've treated long time scouters, nor how they communicated on the issue. I think it was a huge lost opportunity for National to build trust. 

[NJCubScouter]

I think the phrase “conditional Scouter” needs to be consigned to the ash-heap of history.  And any professional Scouter who thinks it’s a good idea to insult the volunteers needs to be terminated.

[Eagle1993]

Update on fall recruiting...note that this is from Nationals and is consistent with what I have seen so far in my unit and District.  I think it will be interesting to see the September numbers.

BSA has seen a 16% increase in new Cub Scouts in August over August of 2018.  They also indicate that many councils report the vast majority of Packs are family Packs welcoming girls.

 

[malraux]

7 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

Update on fall recruiting...note that this is from Nationals and is consistent with what I have seen so far in my unit and District.  I think it will be interesting to see the September numbers.

BSA has seen a 16% increase in new Cub Scouts in August over August of 2018.  They also indicate that many councils report the vast majority of Packs are family Packs welcoming girls.

 

Totally anecdotal, but that's pretty consistent with my pack's experience. We're having pretty good recruitment numbers, still trying to pin down if any kids aren't coming back.

[Eagle1993]

A bit more info. July finished with 10,000 girls.  Cub Scouts now has 19,000 registered girls at the end of August.  

[Setonfan]

Over 20,000 new girl Cub Scouts registered nationally as of Friday 9/7.  7,000+ are Webelos.  

[Eagle1993]

Just had our Join Scouts Night. Looks like we will be adding 7 - 10 more girls to our pack for a total of 17 - 20 out of roughly 90.   It varies greatly by age with 0 5th graders but 9 4th graders. The GSUSA Troop at that grade fell apart and many of them joined Cub Scouts.  Most of the girls joining do not have brothers in the Pack. 

Roughly 50% of the new Scouts joining our pack are girls and our total Pack size will be at its highest it’s been in 10+ years.