I was wondering if they teach kids about survival stuff ?

besides the building a fire, a snow cave or a lean too.

Is there any education at all about predators , public situational awareness , stranger danger and the like ?

dealing with the general public instead of hunting and fishing, foraging?

Do they offer merit badges for stressful or dangerous persons interaction?

I was only a scout for one summer and no one ever said a word about suburban survival

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
I was wondering if they teach kids about survival stuff ?

besides the building a fire, a snow cave or a lean too.

Is there any education at all about predators , public situational awareness , stranger danger and the like ?

dealing with the general public instead of hunting and fishing, foraging?

Do they offer merit badges for stressful or dangerous persons interaction?

I was only a scout for one summer and no one ever said a word about suburban survival

Den leader and Assistant Cubmaster here.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) requires each boy to take Cyber Safety and parents to go through personal safety, i.e. "stranger danger," etc.

By predator, do you mean like sexual predator, or actual, lions and tigers type predators?

For Cub Scouts, this training is required to earn their first rank and then each year.

yes, sexual predator.

or even an abusive adult, how to recognize, the signs , who to contact or where to go about stuff they can not control.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
yes, sexual predator.

or even an abusive adult, how to recognize, the signs , who to contact or where to go about stuff they can not control.

At the front of every Cub Scout handbook, at every rank, is a 23 page pamphlet, "Youth Protection," that parents are supposed to go through with their Scout. It covers sexual abuse, physical abuse by both youth and adults, emotional abuse, bullying, etc. It includes guidelines for parents to recognize signs of abuse and things to discuss with the Scout. Including who to report, what to report, trusting their instinct, "secrets and surprises" as traps, and their private parts.

Here is a link to the BSA Youth Protection booklet.

They didn’t have suburbs when I was a Cub Scout.

We had no reason to fear strangers. There weren’t many of them, anyway.

quote:

We had no reason to fear strangers. There weren’t many of them, anyway.

my sentiments exactly ,

but I have to follow that statement with
" that we knew of"

40 years later storys come out

I’m on the pack committee for my son and as of this week my daughter.... I have to take youth protection training every year and for adults it’s not just teaching the kids about predators but also for protecting the adults like having 2 adults for every event and rules for car travel and never being out of eyesight with a child that isn’t yours. Many other youth organizations basically copy the BSA youth protection. Now with girls jointing scouts a new rule is at least 1 female adult has to be present at the meetings/events. The new rules for girls are eveolving weekly

Committee member and Tiger den leader here. The Youth Protection training is required every 2 years for adults. It's required for all Pack leadership before the Pack can re-charter (every year).

Our Pack also had some type of cyber training/video a few months ago at our Pack meeting...for the kids. It was a 20 minute video or so. I was getting other stuff ready so I wasn't paying attention.

I was an Assistant Scoutmaster one year, and active for many years.

Yes, BSA requires adults to be trained in what the call "Youth Protection," which are methods to avoid any situations in which scouts could be abused. It is primarily centered around no one adult ever being with a boy or group of boys. The boys get education in similar topics.

There are no merit badges, but they do get education about protecting themselves.

The local Council should have two videos available, It Happened to Me is aimed at Cub Scout, A Time to Tell is aimed at Boy Scouts (ages 11-14). Ask the Pack Committee Chair if they have a Youth Protection Advocate designated. Although you need to be careful, these types of questions can be a useful Adult recruiting opportunity.


PS. ElToro, take the Venture Youth Protection online course. It seems to me that most Cub Scout activities will not be greatly impacted with a coed Pack (Dens are supposed to be single sex). Outdoor overnight Cub Scout activities should be a "family camping" experience. So no real changes there. At the Boy Scout level is where things are royally screwed up. I can make coed patrols work, but that does not seem to be the path that many are willing to go.

is there a rule edict or general understanding that two adults are required , or one adult and no less than four kids should be off by them selves at one time?

Two deep leadership is the catchphrase. Two adults with any group of scouts, no matter the number of scouts.

N00b Cubmaster here. +1 to what has been said above. YPT training is required for Scouts and adult volunteers, and two deep leadership is the watchword when working with the kids. The Cyberchip is required for the Cub Scouts as well, which I believe they (currently) have to renew ("recharge") each year.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Two deep leadership is the catchphrase. Two adults with any group of scouts, no matter the number of scouts.

Yes, but no "One on One" contact is the redline. Merit Badge Councilor is the classic example. Two adults are better but not required, but the Youth can not meet one on one with the adult, two or more youth can meet with a single adult. Better to meet at Scouts home with a parent present. But it is not required. Two deep is more about outdoor safety, always having an adult present, even in the event of an accident.
Also traveling in a vehicle does not require two adults per vehicle, but an adult can not be alone with a youth, unless they are a direct relative.
There are other situations, but as long as you follow on "one on one" contact you are within policy.
PS. No one on one extends to electronic communications, email, texting, social media, etc. Our troop website has an email feature, and is the way we communicate rather than email client, it automatically copies parents of a Scout when you send an email on our system.

this is good news

Yes to everything you asked and much, if not all, of it is required for advancement.

Former den leader.

My scout is bridging over to Boy Scouts next month.