Spent the day with a bunch of Scouters in our District’s Vanguard training helping them to become Trained.

If you’re looking for a Wood Badge Ticket Item, I highly recommend volunteering to serve on staff for a Training Course.  Not only would it benefit the yourself (aka, your Wood Badge Tickets), but it may just benefit your own son someday.

It will be officially Autumn, soon.  Which means like it or not, the Holiday Season is fast approaching.

This is a great time to start some family traditions, or to continue some that you may already have.  We have some in our family that we very much enjoy.

There were also some that we had started at old employers, that hopefully are continued on.

One of the things that we can all do is donate a few hours or our own time to something.  I’m sure that there is something that we’re interested in that we can donate time to somewhere.

No matter your current situation in life, you can always give a little of yourself and I promise that you’ll feel a little better and whether you call if Karma, Blessings, or whatever you will find that you will benefit from it in someway.

Whether you do it yourself, with your family, a Scout Pack/Troop/Team/Crew, for a Wood Badge Ticket, whatever it is volunteering especially this year at this time of year is something that we can all do.

Check out the Volunteer section of 211ut.org for opportunities in your area.

This is the type of thing that I was talking about the other day when I was talking about Eagle Scout projects.

Find a project that means something to you and work on that, don’t just do it because it’s simple or a quick means to an end.

That goes for Wood Badge Ticket items too.

I’d be willing to bet that the Eagle Scout project is probably the one thing that most Boy Scouts dread doing the most.  Check out what this young man is doing.

People ask me frequently about what they can do for a project and while I don’t usually have specific projects for them, I typically offer this advice.

“Find something that you have an interest and a passion in.  Then do something in that area.”

What I don’t like to see a situation where a parent is just pressuring a young man to quickly pick a project and then get it over with.  By doing so, the parents aren’t teaching their son anything and they certainly aren’t allowing him to apply the principles that he’s learned in Scouting.

Also with my position on the District Committee I hear a lot about how the Eagle Project paperwork is not usually completed properly and that it usually takes 2, 3, 4 and sometimes even more times to get it done correctly.

I have a suggestion that may be a possible solution.  Someone should make it a Wood Badge ticket to create a Parental Orientation to the Eagle Project.  It doesn’t have to be long or elaborate, but how powerful would it be if the Advancement Chair of your Troop Committee and the Scoutmaster were to take a few minutes and visit the parents of a young man who has just earned his Life Scout and help the parents understand their role in the entire process.

Maybe a gentle reminder to Mom that this is Juniors Eagle Project.  He’s the one in charge and that while Mom might mean well by make the 30 phone calls to see if she can get materials donated for the project, it’s not helping Junior learn, grow and develop like the Eagle Project is intended.

Sure it’s still fine if Mom & Dad help, encourage and even prod Junior along the way, but always remember it’s his project and he is the one that needs to earn it, not Mom.

I always cringe when I hear someone at an Eagle Court of Honor joke about how Mom earned it just as much as her son did.  In my mind, that shouldn’t be the case.

Let your Eagle develop wings and fly.  Trust me, he will sore higher than you know.

Tonight the Troop participated in an Honor Trail.  For many of the boys it was the first time that they had done so.  Without giving up many of the details, it was along the beachfront of the lake and I think that it was done very well.

The camp staff did a great job and it was honestly the first time that the boys were reverent the entire time that I’ve been here (despite repeated efforts to steer the conversation to topics that I had been asked by other leaders to discuss with them).

I did have a very good discussion with my own sons when we returned to our tent that evening, which was good.

One of the things that I feel has been severely missing in many of the Boy Scout units that I have visited with over the last few years, is the “Duty to God” aspect.  It’s there in some respects, but for it being one of the first items mentioned in the Scout Oath, it’s not emphasized much in many units.

To me a great Wood Badge Ticket item would be to find ways to emphasize that more in the different units.  After all having a balance of all of the difference points of the Scout Oath and Law helps the units to run best.

(And for those of you wonder, Yes I do have Internet access at Camp.  We’re right on the shores of Bear Lake and I have my laptop because I left directly from work and I’ve been checking a few work items with it.  You know me, I can’t ever fully put work out of my mind sometimes.)