Leaderboard

Maybe we should modernize a bit and use The Lion King instead. I have a group of boys I would nominate for the hyenas.

Naw...every time they rehearse and prep, they gain a deeper understanding of what the Order of the Arrow is... "You need seek no rocky summit. These high places are within you. All the natural world around you shows you clearly your reflection. This Ordeal is but a pattern for a journey whose directions are the whispers, urgings, promptings deep within your hearts and spirits."

I agree with you 100%. When I was a Scout, probably about half my merit badges were done through someone in the troop or at camp, which makes sense for ones like camping, cooking, etc. But the other half were with a counselor who had no apparent connection to scouting, and making a phone call to an adult to set up an appointment was an important skill. And there probably wasn't anyone in the troop qualified to counsel Atomic Energy, Coin Collecting, or a few of the other arcane ones I earned. I'm a counselor for Law merit badge, and if a scout wanted to earn that one (and I've been wa

WARNING! Warning! Tangent !!! I really wish the program went back to that. Younger siblings can be friends of the pack, but Lions and Tigers are killing the cub program.

Wow, I guess we are fortunate here. Aside from Covid stuff last year when we couldnt go in the schools, our school district is very supportive and accommodating regarding Scouting.

That...would actually be legal. All that law requires is that scouts have EQUAL access vs. any other outside group. Of course if NO ONE is allowed in, that's equal access. We have a school district in my council that has that as a policy. It was put in place not for scouts but for other groups that some of our more conservative parents object to. It was and is far easier from administrative and legal perspective to say NO ONE or ANY ONE. If you start to get into "Yes your group, no to your group" you get into lawsuit territory.

I think it is very prudent to make sure that you have your own comprehensive personal insurance coverage. CO's thought they were additional insureds only to discover that was not the case. Do you want to risk your home and other assets on the belief that someone else is providing adequate coverage for you? Also have a frank discussion with your insurance agent about what is and what is not covered. For example, many Scouters believe that if they followed the safe Scouting guidelines and youth protection guidelines, they would be automatically covered under the BSA. This is not necessaril

There's some really interesting stuff there from Barry. Here in the UK scouts is fully coed and what Barry says rings true. While of course there are exceptions as a very broad brush comment girls tend to be better at getting something right first time, boys though tend to be better at fixing it when it goes wrong. So put them on a pioneering project and the girls may well come up with a beautifully lashed contraption quicker. However watch for those projects that suddenly don't work and it tends to be the boys that figure out the work around. That is not to say coed scouts doesn't w

That may be national's definition of "family scouting," but that is not how it is being interpreted, especially with the mixed messages National is sending out about families going to HA bases, and councils promoting the camps for families to utilize. Also does anyone else remember the SCOUTING MAGAZINE article a few years back about family camping with Scout Age ( 11-17 years old) youth? You are preaching to the choir. I have NEVER (emphasis) had a good family camp out at the Boy Scout/Scouts BSA in over 30 years. Last time I dealt with the situation above, it lasted monthly for 1

Personally I am OK with letting all time barred claimants to vote (and I reside in and my abuse occurred in California). I am also OK with time barred claims getting full shares from the settlement fund. Their pain and suffering is just as great as my own and if we are thinking fair and equitable how could one think any different. I can see the argument from the other side but I do not see the morality in it.

According to my old books, Wolf was 3rd grade, Bear was 4th Grade, Lion was 5th with Webelos being earned at the end of the year and you crossed over.

My mom was the den leader. All of the cubs in my den were from my same school. It was 4 blocks from my house. We would walk home together (without adults!). Dues were collected in a coffee can. I think it was 50 cents a meeting. I had a pair of pants, but I only wore them to pack meetings. No one else had pants. My dad was an electrician, and at the time, my mom was a stay at home mom. So, we weren't wealthy, but my dad found them important. It may have been that he couldn't afford them as a Cub, so he wanted me to have them. Man, I feel like a grandpa, but I am only 44!

Strange. I haven't seen a whole lot of natural instinct for organization among girls. I challenge young teens to build crews, the first step being getting them and five buddies to show up at my door and tell me they want to get started. That first step is very, very, hard for them. Among Girl Scouts, on the other hand, they are cracker-jack organizers. It was a group of girl scouts who rebooted our crew and then handed it off to a next generation. If BSA wanted to draw a solid line in the sand, they should of kept "Boy Scouts" and added a stand-alone "Boy Scouts for Girls." They clea

GrubKnot - totally commonsense answers. We also don't punish/shame any cub scout that shows up at a den meeting or pack meeting in their pack activity t-shirt - maybe that's what is clean or at the bringing parent's place. (we have several families that have separate households)

some observations & wisdom from a DL & ADL for two boys from tiger to AOL. (disclaimer: we were in a large pack, 85-110 scouts in an upper middle class zip code in Wake Co. NC.) We operated as a "waist up" uniform pack. More happy if they showed up than if they were in full uniform. -Don't buy the long scout pants, not comfy & boys wear shorts most of the time anyway. -Pack provided rank necker at crossover. Tigers would buy theirs pack supplied after that. -We usually had scouts make a slide/woggle at some point or taught them to tie them. Slides always