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The current question for the What Would You Do? feature in Scouting Magazine: Phone calls, snail mail, and even e-mail seem antiquated to many of our Scouts. We’re exploring nontraditional communications forms such as Twitter, Facebook, and mass-calling systems, but we need guidance. How do you manage such systems, and what guidelines do you follow? D.C. Newtown, Conn. The world of social media (facebook, twitter, etc.) is growing and changing so fast it is difficult for most of us to keep up!...

From Scouting Magazine’s ‘What would You Do?’ department (formerly called ‘Front Line Stuff’) a question about a recent troop leader election: We recently had our troop leadership elections, and the Scouts elected a senior patrol leader who is inexperienced, uncommitted, and has no real sense of responsibility. I am worried about the direction of the troop, but I want to respect the boys’ choice. What do I do? Scoutmaster D.M....

Over a century volumes of guidance has been offered to Scoutmasters yet none is so effective as that of the founder of the worldwide Scouting movement Robert Baden-Powell A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim. A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens. Be Prepared… the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise....

Scouting magazine’s feature once called ‘Front Line Stuff’ has been renamed (I think) ‘What would you do?’ Here’s the current question; Many Scouts start and finish merit badge requirements in a reasonable amount of time, others do not. Often, at summer camp, boys begin badges but return home with partial completions. Some of these partials have remained on our advancement records for more than a year. What can I do...

The current question at Scouting Magazine’s Front Line Stuff How Would You Manage Rapid Growth in Your Troop? Over the past few years our troop has doubled in size due to good programming and good promotion by our committee chair. Although this is a great problem to have, it’s hard to keep youth and adult leaders in step with changes required by the larger numbers. What should we do to...

The current question at Scouting Magazine’s Front Line Stuff Getting Cub Scouts to be Serious I am a den chief, and my father is a den leader. I play games with the Cub Scouts and try to have fun, but when it’s time to be serious, they just want to keep fooling around. How can I get them to listen when it’s time? Den Chief W.M. Congratulations to W.M. for serving as a Den Chief!...

Before you read any further please promise not to comment on this post as if I personally made any of the comments below. Promise? Okay, then read on. The comments listed here are responses to a question posted on an online parents forum: One of my brothers kids is now a Boy Scout. I remember being in the Boy Scouts when I was a kid and felt it was kind of a Nerdy activity....

Scouting Magazine’s Front Line Stuff asks how to balance sports and Scouting : So many of our Scouts are involved in sports that there are always conflicts between troop meetings and outings and team practices and games. How do other troops handle this issue? T.L. Kansas City, Mo. Instead of responding to these situations with a policy we have a philosophy: the Troop meets all year long and missing a few meetings or outings is not held against anyone....

Homer:So, I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool. Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool. Homer: You know what the song says: “It’s hip to be square”. Lisa: That song is so lame. Homer: So lame that it’s… cool? Bart+Lisa: No. Marge: Am I cool, kids? Bart+Lisa: No. Marge: Good. I’m glad. And that’s what makes me cool, not caring,right? Bart+Lisa: No. Marge:Well, how the hell do you be cool?...

When we found the spear point and the potsherd under a sheltering wall of rock the dig began. A archeologist’s expert hand peeled back layers of time connecting us to those we never met but knew as we know ourselves. Down below the soil of a millennium we found the fire-blackened circle of stones, the charcoal and fragments of bones. Someone sat here centuries ago warming themselves against the cold....

Scouting Magazine poses the following question on “How to Control Misuse of Cell Phones”; A few of our parents want their sons to be able to use their personal cell phones during meetings and camp-outs. What can we do to keep the technology from being disruptive, yet allow the parents the security they’re asking for? A parents desire for the convience and reassurance that cell phones afford must be tempered with a knowledge of the practices and goals of Scouting....

Scouting Magazine’s Front Line Stuff asks the question: Our troop’s patrols are organized by age and don’t function well. We basically have two patrols: the “chaos” patrol of 11- and 12-year old boys and the “I’m too cool” patrol of older Scouts. How can we create functional patrols where the older Scouts teach the younger ones? A.S. Louisville, Ky Encouraging older and younger Scouts to interact with each other is simple when we observe the methods and aims of Scouting....

Scouter 573 asks: What can I do to help an uncertain senior patrol leader who thinks he got chosen for something other than his leadership abilities? Most of my senior patrol leader’s (twenty five or so and counting) have had at least a minor crisis of self confidence. A few have had some major misgivings. I try to help them recall that they were elected by their fellow Scouts, and that in itself witnesses that they have confidence in him....

Here’s the question for the May-June 2008 issue of Scouting Magazine Early Departures From Weekend Camp-Outs Our troop has a growing problem of parents picking up their sons from a camp-out on Sunday morning, right after breakfast but before the real work of breaking camp begins. The parents have many excuses for their son’s early departure, but this makes the other Scouts feel like they are getting stuck with all the take-down and packing chores....

As Mark Twain said “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.” Like most volunteer Scouters I am not a Scoutmaster to earn awards and I didn’t want to look like I was – so for years I never wore my square knots. When I bought a new centennial uniform shirt I sewed on my square knots. Frankly wearing them feels a little sanctimonious....