We’re concerned and we hope you are too.

As you may have already heard, the Executive Council of the Boy Scouts of America released their proposed policy today, which keeps the gay ban in place for adult leaders but would prohibit kicking out openly gay Scout youth members “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone [emphasis added]”.

All scouting programmes are built around a progressive training scheme and to mark a young persons achievements there is some form of award recondition. How we recognise those achievements is what makes young people remember them. Do you remember being present with a scouting award?

It disappoints me that often we as members of the UK scouting are so quick to judge other organisations based on snippets of information that comes out through social media outlets. It really get under my skin when those judgement in particular focus on the delivery of programme for young people.
I have gathered some scouting friend to create a discussion foursome to compare and contrast different elements of our Scouting programmes.

The last words are key and a good speakers will tell you the not matter how short of long your talk is, people will usually only really remember your opening joke and your parting line. Knock knock ………. (Ok maybe not) So a question for you what is a Scoutmasters Minute? Nope it is not the amount free time a leader gets on camp or the breathing time between the next stupid question asked by a member of your Unit. Neither is it a rather good blog by Scoutmaster Jerry it is the last words of a scout meeting the parting message The BSA factsheet says The Scoutmaster’s Minute is brief in duration but one of the most important parts of a troop meeting. Occurring at the closing of the meeting, it is the thought that will go home with the boys. It is the time to teach one of [...]

A rather short post today just wanted to share a few things with you. Firstly the something borrowed I have come across a number of post from scouters out of the US talking about the ongoing situation regarding Homosexuality and Scouting I made my view known in the post Morally Straight However I would strongly recommend you take a moment and check out Scouters Journey – Honoring the Scout Law ScoutmasterCG – A few thoughts in diverse times The Inclusive Scout Network – Ryan Andresen earns eagle but BSA kicks him out instead of presenting award Secondly Something New Today I launch my Virtual Camp Blanket, it will be a collection of badges and pins that I have collected over my time is scouting. I will be adding to it as time goes on and I hope you enjoy it.

I was perusing my feed reader the other day and I came across a post by ScoutmasterCG on Scouting Jargon. Jargon is an Old French word meaning “the chatter of birds”. At it’s best Scouting jargon encapsulates a complex idea or definition for easy reference. At it’s worst jargon can become unintelligible, pretentious, convoluted vocabulary of the initiated. Scouting has a lot of acronyms and initialization: ’ We talked about EDGE at the PLC and encouraged them to use MaSeR during their SSC and SMART exercises.’ via Scouting Jargon – Scoutmastercg.com. The extract above is just the tip of the iceberg and I would recommend reading the full article to get his views. However it made me think no matter what country in the world we are in we do use a lot of jargon in Scouting. I mean do you know your ACC’s from your AAC or your DESC [...]

<Man sits at his Computer> What shall I do this summer International Camp Staff Programme that look interesting  <Reads More> So the question is who has heard of this? The Scout Association and the Boy Scout of America web sites say: Each year, the Boy Scouts of America invite Scouts aged 18-30 from around the world to come to the United States and spend the summer as an International Camp Staff member of a BSA summer camp or Cub Scout day camp. As a camp staff member, you will: Spend 8 to 11 weeks as a member of the staff of a BSA summer camp in the United States. Make friends with Scouts from another country Receive free food and lodging while in camp. Teach BSA Scouts about Scouting and life in your country. Learn about another Scout Association. Live in another culture. To be a camp staff member, you must: Be [...]