When the parents of a special-needs kid say ‘yes’ to Scouting, this happens…
Enter daily to win Hydrapak, Road ID gear
Ask the Expert: Can merit badge progress begin before a Scout gets his blue card?
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From an unthinkable tragedy, a lesson for your teenage drivers
Can’t swim the 100-meter butterfly in less than 50 seconds?
That’s OK — nobody but Michael Phelps can. But I did just hear about a swimming record you and your Scouts do have a chance to break.
Register now to participate in the Guinness World Record attempt for The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, held at pools and lakes around the world at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, June 18. Continue reading
There’s more to a Scout trailer than meets the eye.
Sure, a troop trailer with an eye-catching paint job or wrap — like the ones I featured in this post — can help recruit new Scouts and show onlookers that “Troop 123 is here.”
But these things aren’t just rolling billboards; their real purpose, of course, is storing and hauling gear. But the best troop trailers go one step further — they help the boys organize that gear so it’s easy to find everything after dark on a Friday night. Sure beats watching 20 boys dig through a pile of backpacks, bags, and patrol boxes.
A desire to organize his troop’s trailer prompted Ken, a former district executive and now “just a Dad” (his words) to send me this note: Continue reading
Wood Badge + Philmont = Happy Land
I interrupt my regular blog programming for this important Wood Badge Wednesdays announcement…
I’m staffing Wood Badge this summer at Philmont Scout Ranch, and there’s a spot on our course for you and your Scouting friends.
The course, officially called S2-571-13-3 but known here as Wood Badge 106, is held August 19 to 24 at Philmont. It’s hosted by Circle Ten Council but is open to Scouters from any council in the country.
When I took Wood Badge as a participant last summer, I had no idea the level of planning that the staffers underwent to make our week so life-changing. But now that I’m on staff and have attended two all-day staff-development sessions and a few evening meetings with my fellow troop guides, I’m seeing first-hand just how much work goes into a typical course. Continue reading
The official National Trails Day patch. Get yours at ScoutStuff.org.
Maybe you’ll walk in the footsteps of the Wright Brothers in Ohio, hike from scene to scene in an outdoor production of Snow White in Boulder, or bike through redwoods in California.
Wherever you are, there’s surely a National Trails Day event near you.
So save the date for Saturday, June 1, to take your Scouts or Venturers to a local hike, cycling event, horseback ride, trail-maintenance project, paddle trip, health fair, geocaching activity, photo safari, or birdwatching expedition.
American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day, which I’ve blogged about annually since 2010, is a great way to show people in your community that Scouting and the outdoors go hand in hand. Who knows a trail better than a bunch of Boy Scouts or Venturers?
To start, search for an activity near you. Continue reading
For anyone who’s seen a Boy Scout patrol return from grocery shopping with six family size bags of sour-cream-and-onion potato chips.
For anyone who has set out snacks for a Cub Scout den and seen the boys eat everything but the carrots and celery sticks.
Or for anyone who’s watched a Venturer finish two 32-ounce bottles of Gatorade during a three-mile hike.
For all those Scouters and more, the Healthy Kids Hub is for you.
In 2010, more than one-third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So if the statistics hold up, one out of every three Scouts in your pack, troop, team, or crew has this common health problem, which could mean immediate and long-term effects on his or her well-being.
But it’s not all bad news. The BSA is one of nine extracurricular organizations that have joined up with Healthy Kids Out of School to develop guiding principles for turning this country’s worsening childhood obesity epidemic around.
What’s in it for you? The Healthy Kids Hub, which launched today. The Hub is a gold mine of resources developed by leading universities, after-school organizations, and nonprofits designed to be used by adults who work directly with kids.
These aren’t dull academic journal articles about obesity; these are graphically rich tools you can use right away.
The resources include easy-to-digest information on a wide range of topics, such as ideas to encourage kids to drink water instead of sugary sports drinks, suggestions for outdoor and indoor games, and low-cost, healthy snack ideas.
It’s all based around the three Healthy Kids Out of School guiding principles: Continue reading
Like The Hulk, you don’t wanna see Scouts when they get angry.
But it’s a natural human emotion, so it’s bound to happen in your troop. When it does, do you know how to respond?
Learn how in this month’s ScoutCast, the monthly podcast for Boy Scout leaders.
Download the episode or listen to it through your browser to hear an interesting conversation with Suzette Rizzi, a 25-year licensed social worker in Illinois and a member of the National Committee for Scouts With Special Needs, as she shares with us the skills and strategies for manage anger in ourselves and the youth in our troop.
Cord-cutters, busy people, and the DVR-averse, lend me your ears.
Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout? is coming to DVD this summer.
That’s big news for a number of Scouting constituencies I heard from over the course of the six-episode season, which ended on Monday.
Some of you had meetings on Monday nights, others don’t have cable or have channel packages that don’t include the National Geographic Channel, and still others just forgot to tune in. For that group, consider this your Take 2.
Then there’s a separate subset of Scouters who watched and enjoyed the show and now want to share it with the Scouts in their unit. Pop in the DVD after a weekly pack, troop, or crew meeting — and don’t forget the popcorn. Continue reading
Scouting, in all of its many varieties, can build the foundation for a lifelong career of serving others.
That’s true in the traditional Scouting programs — Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Venturing — but also in the lesser-known ones, like Exploring.
Consider Julia A. Pierson to be the latest shining example. Pierson, who became the first female director of the United States Secret Service on March 27, got her start in Exploring. She was an Explorer in Post 103 with the Orlando, Fla., Police Department as a youth and was the 1978 National Law Enforcement Exploring youth representative.
Exploring may be one of the BSA’s lesser-known programs, but it’s experiencing some encouraging growth right now. Last year, membership in the program grew by an impressive 3.4 percent.
Speaking of impressive, Continue reading
Wilson’s best 2012 finish was a win at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Looking for one more reason to watch IndyCar this year?
Try this: Justin Wilson, already a three-time winner on the IndyCar Series in his five-year career, drives the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing car this season. And today, we learned that the car will carry the color and markings of the Boy Scouts of America for the remainder of 2013.
Why is this big? To start, it’s the first time that a driver of the BSA car is a past winner. Translation: You’re likely to see that flying fleur-de-lis competing for the checkered flag quite a bit this year.
It all starts with Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, airing at 3 p.m. Eastern on the NBC Sports Network. Then, tune in and follow the car over the course of the entire season, including the Indy 500 on May 26.
Wilson is the third British-born driver of the BSA IndyCar, after Alex Lloyd and James Jakes. But just because he wasn’t born here doesn’t mean he isn’t proud to represent our organization in races. Continue reading
Have a Youth Protection question you’re not comfortable asking some stranger at the council or national level? Ever feel like Youth Protection is “too national” and doesn’t directly apply to your unit?
I hear you. And so does the BSA’s National Youth Protection committee.
Check out the new Youth Protection Champions program, debuting later this year. Starting with the unit-level Champion and going all the way down to the volunteer who chairs the national YP committee, the program is designed to keep Youth Protection on everyone’s mind by embedding key barriers to abuse into every aspect of the program and every unit in Scouting.
A unit-level Champion’s job is about more than just making sure everyone is Youth Protection trained. (By the way, if your training isn’t up-to-date, fix that immediately.) The Champions fill in that two-year gap between trainings to promote new initiatives, increase awareness, distribute materials, and monitor the unit’s Youth Protection strategy.
The timing’s perfect, because April is Youth Protection Month. Follow the jump for a first look at this important new program, including the Champion’s roles and how someone like you can become a Champion. Continue reading
