Scouting in General, Bobwhite Blather, Page 18

August 8, 2016August 7, 2016

Why do we enjoy being Scouters?

whenyouvolunteer_250 Chances are, if you’re a Scouter, you enjoy what you’re doing. You’re helping your son and his friends have fun while they learn things like survival skills, leadership, citizenship and being helpful to others. You’re enjoying some of that yourself – as your son learns how to tie knots, you’re getting a refresher too. You meet other like-minded people in your community with similar aims. It’s certainly not because of the money.

The satisfaction we enjoy being Scouting volunteers parallels the experience that employees enjoy working for some of the companies rated highly for job satisfaction. Continue reading “Why do we enjoy being Scouters?”

July 11, 2016July 10, 2016

Our Eagle Scout President

FordBoyScout_200 As a Scouter, you’re most likely more familiar with American history and civics than most people. You also probably know which U.S. president:

was never elected to national office?
was the only one from the state of Michigan?
was the only one to attend the University of Michigan?
was the only president to grant a pardon to another president?
was the only Eagle Scout to serve as president?

I’m referring, of course, to the thirty-eighth President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, whose 103rd birthday we observe this week.

President Ford took office during a turbulent time in our nation’s history – upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Mr. Nixon was embroiled in the scandal surrounding the cover-up following the break-in by Republican operatives at the Democratic campaign headquarters in Washington’s Watergate complex. Mr. Ford, a long-serving congressman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was serving as Mr. Nixon’s appointed vice-president after Spiro T. Agnew resigned the vice-presidency due to unrelated charges of federal income tax evasion less than a year earlier. Anyone who was alive and paying attention to the news then remembers vividly the chains of events leading up to Mr. Ford’s becoming the unlikely President of the United States. Continue reading “Our Eagle Scout President”

July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

Convincing volunteers to get Trained

Hi! Iâ€™m not trained at all in how a Boy Scout troop is supposed to be run and I havenâ€™t been vetted by anyone on having the skills necessary to take your son and his friends camping or hikingâ€¦So howâ€™d you like to entrust your first-born to me???

Ask Andy, the NetCommissioner, has some wonderful gems of advice. This week’s article deals in part with a question from a troop’s training coordinator on how to convince leaders to get Trained when the only hard-and-fast requirement is Youth Protection Training and when the Scoutmaster pushes back.

Read Andy’s article here. (It’s the second question.)

Now, go to my.scouting.org, log in, and if you’re a unit Key 3 (committee chair, unit leader or chartered organization representative), you can access your unit’s training records. Look to see who is not fully trained for their current position, and use some of Andy’s methods to encourage them to get trained.

Your district has probably scheduled training sessions for the fall and winter upcoming. Register and take advantage of all the learning you can – for your son, his friends and yourself.

July 5, 2016July 5, 2016

Is there a “recruiting season”?

another_250 In a couple all-too-short months, it’ll be fall, and Cub Scout packs will be holding Boy Talks and Join Scouting nights, re-registering boys for another year of fun and accepting new ones into the fold. Fun lies ahead, and we don’t want them to miss out on any of it.

Boy Scout troops usually accept new members in the winter or spring when Cub Scouts cross over. Months of preparation go into planning joint activities, going to den meetings and having the Arrow of Light Scouts visit our troops. The two meet at crossover, where the new Boy Scouts take the leap into their next adventure.

Looking at the way we do things, it’s as if we open our doors twice a year: once in the fall for the Cub Scouts, and once in the winter for Boy Scouts.

But step back – it really isn’t that way. Continue reading “Is there a “recruiting season”?”

May 31, 2016May 31, 2016

Memorial Day

It’s the unofficial start of summer. For many, it’s the first three-day weekend of the summer season. Stores have big sales to mark the occasion. And towns across America have parades and remembrances to mark Memorial Day.

As with many holidays, we often forget the reason for the observation. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, a day when people would decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. Continue reading “Memorial Day”