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Ha! This is exactly what happened to me during my Brotherhood ordeal last weekend; I am a Webelos Den Leader, and as it turned out I was the only Cub leader at the entire event, so "Blue Loops" quickly became my common nickname for the duration. And you know what? I felt might happy that I was able to represent the Cub program there! I am the only leader promoting the OA to our CO's Troop, despite the fact that my time is spent with the Cubs as a Webelos Den Leader, so I have plenty of opportunities to support the lodge/chapter by encouraging unit elections, exciting the boys for the

Our crew is so excited!

You want teenagers to declare that they are not the center of the Universe? Good luck with that.

Yes, let’s please keep it to neckerchiefs. Not every thread needs to be turned into an ideological discussion.

What I don't get is why anyone feels it necessary to wear the Eagle rank badge as an adult, when there are plenty of opportunities to display your Eagle accomplishment in other ways. There's the square knot (and 2 varieties to choose from if you want to pony up for the NESA Life Member option), Eagle neckerchiefs (again, multiple options), You can throw in an Eagle neckerchief slide if you want to, or wear an Eagle bolo, Eagle belt buckle, if your Council has a special Eagle shoulder patch you can wear that. There are Eagle rings, necklaces, jackets patches, various other patches and emblems,

For clarity, here is the complete DRP from the BSA Charter and Bylaws (Article IX, Section 1): As can be seen, it has a rather Judaeo-Christian slant to things (which is not surprising as James West came over from the YMCA and it was 1910). The DRP is self contradictory. You can't be "absolutely nonsectarian" and then demand that members show "recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings". Which is why I believe that line is left off of the excerpt on the membership application. Which is another thin

I wasn't intending any bashing either. Like @FireStone I often hear the comments that 'Scouting is expensive"- but like any organized activity, there is going to be costs and the cost of a full year, all-in scouting experience doesn't feel too overly inflated when compared to what many parents are willing to spend for athletics. For a 12 year old playing town soccer, for example, it may only cost $100 per season, but if playing two seasons, plus cost for cleats, uniform, that might be another $100. Then, if the kid wants to go to a weekend soccer camp, that might be another $150. Play on a

without getting too deep in the weeds, the OP's numbers are ballpark close to what our troop was....except for the uniform spread over multiple years, which has already been pointed out. Also, I think we camped just a little less. It varied but maybe more like 9 or 10 per year at normally $20 a pop, sometimes a little less or more. As treasurer, I hated that it seemed like we were forever asking for more money..... we need your dues.... we need your camping fee..... ah, we still have some unpaid dues.... time to collect the deposit for summer camp... and then the fundraisers which

I’m surprised how many have said they have to pay site fees in order to camp. Do your local national forests not allow primitive camping? (Or are your groups too large for dispersed camping?)

My son's dues is only $60 (included nationals 33 + $1 local for insurance) His camp-outs are normally $20 He paid for summer camp through fundraisers and camperships for council. He paid for his $110 whitewater trip by doing the troops pancake breakfast fundraiser. Grandma bought him his book for his AOL crossover to boyscouts. He came into the troop with a shirt from Webelos, so thats been paid for. I did donate $175 to FOS this year. My son and now daughter earn their own way. Now as a leader in 2 units, I do have to pay my way since

Hi, First of all, thank you for working with the Scouts. It is not easy! Second, I am thinking about something called executive functioning -- which is basically, organizational skills. This kid may have difficulty with some of these things and keeping track of directions and times and dates, etc. Since there is evidence that following directions and keeping tack of times and dates is causing some difficulty, see what you can do to make the communication about these things easier for you and for the scout and his family. Here is what I will suggest. I once had a te

Hi folks! Please welcome @desertrat77 and @MattR as the newest members of the moderator team at SCOUTER.com! As a reminder, these moderators are volunteering their cheerful service for a quality experience around our virtual campfire. They aren't forfeiting their roles as members of the forum, they are just stepping up to help keep the area clean, and remind us all to remain Scoutlike in our interactions. Be kind, be friendly... and thankful to the full team!

I wish they made some things for us Lifes for Life. Not even a Life coffee mug.

College Station's (TX) Michael Walker graduated fourth in his class overall and first among midshipmen majoring in mechanical engineering. Walker said the academy provided him with a valuable experience he does not think he could have found anywhere else. "I can think of a multitude of nights I was up until 3 a.m. doing homework and went to bed for two hours and then had to wake up at 5 a.m. to work out," Walker said. "[It's] very taxing and very difficult, but at the same time, it prepares you for being a naval officer. As hard as it was, I'm thankful to have [had] the opportunity."

And people wonder how Boy Scout camps could be so expensive to maintain...

I would estimate my baseline costs for my son were $500-$600 per year. I suspect our challenge isn't cost so much as Return on Investment. I know I don't have to sell anybody here on the ROI of scouting but then again, we aren't the ones making the judgement. The question is what do parents see as the ROI. I suspect, because the return is drawn out over a number of years, many parents rate scouting's return lower than sports or other school activities where the return seems to be more immediate (game next week, two school plays/concerts a year, etc.).

I didn't think I was putting anything down, this is just my assessment of a cost comparison to what we most often get compared to, which is sports. Scouting is often viewed as the more costly activity, which I think is unfair being that we're a year-round activity. I'm not pitting anything against anything else. I just get tired of hearing about how expensive Scouting is, meanwhile families are doing other things that I believe are actually more expensive on a cost-per-month basis.

State and local parks can be an option. It all depends on your location. In Massachusetts, you often are not going to find more than a very small number of state parks allowing free camping, and there can be restrictions on the seasonality of when you can use them. Group sites at state parks can be relatively reasonable, but comparable in price to most scout camps. There are some local parks in MA that do allow scouts permits to camp, some take a bit more lead time to reserve than others. There also private trusts that manage conservation land that may allow you use for short-term, weeken

I have to mimic The Latin Scot's comments, this forum is predominantly civil and considerate. It's members manage to disagree (to a large extent) with civility and compassion. When they do fail, it's usually in minor ways and often apologies are given. Unlike so many other forums that quickly devolve into hateful shouting. I have said this before, there are people on this forum that I sometimes strongly disagree with, but everyone of them are people that I would be honored to call friend and would gladly share their company around the campfire (with one exception that hasn't posted in a l

We also have the added $200/scout fee that is replacing FOS. As for all that money on the campouts, if the scout is going on every campout then he's having a ton of fun and it's not an issue. If he's typical he's only going on half the campouts, so cut that number in half. On the other hand, there are high adventure trips. I always pushed for a less expensive trip. It used to be $300 but now it's more like $500. I had a lot of scouts tell me how much they appreciated that. @David CO, makes a point in that some sports are not absurdly expensive. Also, some scouts really do need to be

Regarding "... starting up a unit..." Budget for Patrol/Troop equipment like tents, cooking utensils, axes, saws, flags, rope and all the other assorted camping & meeting supplies. $40 annual dues might cover awards and some replacement of equipment but not the initial outlay. Some Chartered Organizations might fund the initial outlay... otherwise start fundraising... PS: Don't forget Boy's Life... optional at least !

That's one of the reasons why my troop can never keep a good treasurer for very long, especially the part about having to ask parents multiple times to pay dues. Right now our CC is doubling as treasurer, which is not ideal, but on the other hand he just retired so he has a little more time available than most of us.

That includes food, transportation, camp site. Parents and scouters eat the cost of gas.

registration fee $36 we collect an additional $24 in yearly dues, this is intended to pay for badges, ranks, misc patches and crossovers get a woggle and necker. our budget is very thorough and this usually evens out or is slightly more than we need. parents are responsible for everything else. Our popcorn and other fundraiser are used to upgrade equipment/tents and we pay for whatever leader training is needed. Our average campout is approx. $35/scout including any camping fees, food and mileage. We also have occasional trips that are more expensive and can be $80-$100,

I think it's all still a bargain compared to other activities. Our local little league costs $125 per season (includes team t-shirt and cap) but that's for 3 months. If it were year-round like Scouting, that fee would probably be $500, and although their "uniform" is paid for in the registration fee, equipment isn't. Probably at least another $100+ annually for gloves, bats, pants, socks, etc. Want to do a week of summer baseball camp or extra training? That will cost more than the regular season. And it all gets you access to a grassy field. Scouting gets you access to indoor and outdoo

Shortridge, you're saying $1,080 per year plus equipment, Qwasze is giving an estimate of $100 per month ($1,200 per year), I think you're both in the right ballpark. Since you say you're lowballing it, $1,100-$1,200 is probably the right range. Part of it depends on how you view operating costs (summer camp, meals for weekend camping trips, etc.) vs. "capital expenditures" (uniform, handbook, personal camping equipment, etc.) You also have to consider whether the registered adult leaders are paying their own registration fees or whether it is coming out of the dues (which means the dues ma

We dont collect dues, just the $36 for registration and insurance All of our campouts are $10 x 10 = $100 Summer camp is $300 Sleeping bag and mess kit $100 (averaged over 5 years) = $20 Uniform costs averaged over 3 years is $30. Total is $486 We have a few hockey player in our troop and they pay $3000 for ice time per season (2 seasons) so scouts is way cheaper.

The number Qwaze gives is about the same for what we say to an interested parent- it costs' about $1,200 for a kid to be in scouting. However, that does not necessarily mean it is all on the parent for that amount. With troop fundraisers, monthly camping fees and some equipment can come from troop funds rather than the parents pocket. Our troop covers the monthly camping fees and some of our equipment from the 1 annual fundraiser the scouts do, monthly dues basically covers the costs of advancement materials (rank patches, merit badge patches, etc.), and the adult fundraisers provide camper

My parents spend around 700 a year on me. That’s for all the camping trips, including summer camp, and to replenish some gear that may need replacing. But if your Troop fundraisers, like most, you can get discounts. Our troop gave like $150 off summer camp for Troop events. Not including other fundraisers scouts can do themselves. Also, your council should have finiacial assistance, atleast mine do.

You might want to offset that by the cost of feeding the average teen for about 30 days. Also, average the uniform cost over a couple of years, and factor in the rate of hand-me-downs in your troop. In general, I advise scouts to make them useful to their folks to the tune of $100 a month.

You typically don’t have to buy the uniform and book every year.... so you may want to say 1/3 of that cost for an annual estimate. I’m not sure what you do for fundraisers but many families end up kicking in on those. There is also FOS that many but clearly not all families pay, but you could add in that cost. To put it in perspective, my local YMCA overnight camp (1 week) is $770 ... if you can’t afford the full fee of $875 (my kids don’t go).

Do you mind showing me where BSA said it would be a separate, parallel program? I found this piece from Scouting which states otherwise: “A program for girls ages 11 to 17 will be introduced in 2019. Details will be announced later this year. “The program will allow young women to work toward — and earn —Scouting’s highest honor, the Eagle Scout Award. “The requirements will be the same for young men and young women. Young women shouldn’t get — and don’t want — watered-down requirements.” Source: https://scoutingmagazine.org/2017/12/bsa-invites-girls/

Rather then emphasis on the Cubs… recognize the Chartered Organization with a certificate or plaque presentation from the Pack or District. Do this at an already scheduled event Pack Meeting, Blue & Gold Dinner, etc rather add another event and increase the time demands on people. Be sure to arrange write up in the appropriate newsletters, bulletins and newspaper. Keep any insignia or neckerchief within BSA rules which might preclude a neckerchief for Cub Scouts. As the budget permits, a practical memento would be pack numerals with veteran bar (cost $6-$8) https://www.scoutshop.

June 10, 2018 from Des Moines Register : How the Little Sioux Scout Ranch tornado reshaped survivors. 4 scouts died when a 165 mph tornado tore through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa. Ten years ago, 96 boys came from the Mid-America Council, which includes western Iowa and parts of Nebraska and South Dakota. They were among the best, and had been picked for the leadership camp. Joined by 24 youth leaders, they studied wilderness survival and lived by Scouting codes. The chaos of a tornado that injured 48 people doesn’t last a few seconds. In some ways, it’s still twi

yea, just finished wolf scout, have had about all I can handle with arts and crafts if I had to do a 3rd year of arts and crafts I would probably skip the meetings and just show up for camp, to heck with the badge,

I'm not sure what we would debate. A discussion without denigrating would be interesting. Funny thing happened at work yesterday. A colleague, who I've worked with for 20 something years and attended the same high school 50 years ago came to my office to talk about her 50th high school reunion. She graduated a year after me, so we had a lot of the same friends. Well a group gathered as she was telling me how proud she was of her friends because they are more accepting of blacks, Jewish, gays and so forth. I noticed the crowd looking at us in wonder, so I explained that in our school

I think this resolution leaves out some things that are important to a correct understanding of what the BSA's religion policy actually is, "on the ground." What I am about to say is "old hat" to most of those who read this forum, but unfortunately the vast majority of unit Scouters do not read this forum or any other Internet Scouting forum, to say nothing of Scouts and their non-leader parents, and perhaps more importantly, prospective Scouts and their non-leader parents. Examples: 1, It mentions "Duty to God" a lot, but it doesn't mention that the BSA does not define "Duty to God."

I still don't understand why the need for a DRP. We don't have a DCP (Declaration of Citizenship Principles) and the Oath also states Duty to Country. We don't have a DHP (Declaration of Helping Principle) and the oath states we are to help other people at all times coupled with "do a good turn daily" and "be prepared". Or we could just recognize that the DRP, DCP, DHP or any others are just redundant.