Eagledad

While I was a scout in the 60s and 70s, I wore the scout shirt and hat my dad wore in 1940. I got a lot of complements from the adults. Sadly, my mom gave them away while I was in college. Barry

>>My lab has 5 such instruments and all of them read exactly the standards accurately.

>>Sounds like the District Activity Operations Committee should invest $60 for 5 oz of NIST approved field calibration weights, and then have them available for loan to Packs, and for the District PW event as well.

Well TT, we are not there, so of course you are going to have to feel that one out. I am one of those who likes to have solutions ready to propose when I present problems. In the case of scouts, I like to start conversations with parents something like ""Oh by the way, this is not issue here because we are taking care of it, but I wanted to just keep you in the loop of the situation."". You are not really asking for their help or even getting them involved, you are just having a discussion of how Bobby is doing in the Troop. And he is doing fine. You have a tough situation, I'm sure you will do fine because your heart seems to be your guide. Barry

>>You just can't predict one set of scales over another.

Yes, and Yes. All our scouts knew that there are no secrets between scouts and adults hidden from parents. I have countless stories of scouters getting in trouble by holding back from the parents. In fact, one big blow up occurred when the parents learned the SM held from them that their son once brought porn on a campout. You are part of the parents team who works together for the good of their son. Even if the parents don't appreciate your standards, they should still respect them. More often than not, I have found that scouts with parents who don't give their son boundaries appreciate the boundaries of the troop because it gives them a small sense of security they dont get at home. Barry

>>yeah, one gay man does not speak for every gay man.

>>Beavah - the problem with your recommendation is that our law is full of various legal definitions wrapped around the word marriage. This includes inheritance, forced testimony, hospital visitation rights, taxation, etc. The simplest path would be massive "cut and replace" function where "Marriage" in the civil code is replaced by "Civil Union" or some other such term.

It's not business, it's abortion in an election year. It's purely politics to firm up the base. Barry

The difference between a push mobile and a cub mobile is the key word push. Our pack looked into this because we really like the idea of people power and team coordination in a competition. Believe it or not, it was our budget that made our decision. The extra materials required to build a car in the plans for a car capable of being pushed required more money. I had always hoped that our Troop would have tried the push mobile races for both fun and for developing pack relationships, but I think we just forgot about it. Imagine a troop sponsoring a District Webelos Pushmobile Derby day. And even invite your favorite pack over for fun during one of their pack meetings. That would certianly be the coolest troop in the district. Barry

Maybe its an engineering thing, but I understand Eng61s attitude toward recognition. Still, as a scout leader, I also understand the positive value of instant recognition. The energy from the Pride of achievement will go a long ways toward motivation of future ambition. I remember a Webelos scout who was the first in his den to earn the AOL. He earned it at least three months a head of the next scout and he was very proud of his hard work. But do to unforeseen circumstances, he had to wait three months five month for the next pack meeting and by that time, several of the scouts in his den were also being award the AOL. The AOL had lost its luster for him. After that experience, I instantly recognized all my Webelos with all their awards at each den meeting. Also, many troop programs require rank for requirements to many activities and positions of responsibility. At best, a troop might have a COH every three months, so that can be a long time to wait just to be publically recognized. I know how frustrating it is for Eagle Scouts to wait for their ECOH just so they can wear their Eagle Patch. Our Troop awards them an Eagle patch as a troop gift at the next Troop meeting. Barry

Cub mobile racing is the best. Our Pack raced them every two months or so. The District was so impressed by them that they ran a District Cub Mobile race every year. Our Pack cars lasted about ten years before the kids from the church youth camp got a hold of them and destroyed them. We had each den build and paint their cars, but first I cut the lumber and drilled the holes prier so that they all were basically the same. We just gave each den all the precut parts with basic instructions and let them go. We also found some Automotive parts advertising stickers as well as Cub Scout sticker from the Scout Shop that they could put on their cars as well. We also built to the bear plans, but we added one modification on the front axle 2X4 that limited the turning radius. Most of our accidents came from scouts turning too sharp and loosing control. These cars dont need much turning ability to stay on the track. Also, sometimes the boys tended to put their foot or hand down on the ground to help slow the car down. To stop that, we had them practice holding the brake handle with both hands and steer with the feet on the front axle. The plans have a rope attached to the front axle that appears to be used for steering, but we found it only works well for pulling the car up to the start line. By keeping both hands on the brake, they were able to stop the car instantly if they panic. Cub Mobiles are great fun and can be used for several years. Have a blast. Barry

Our pack varied from 90 to 140 scouts. Most of the difference depended on the the timing of Webelos crossing over to scouts. Crossing over really depended on the den and some dens crossed over before rechartering while others crossed over after rechartering. Barry

I'm so sorry Lisa, my thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Barry

Character are the habits we develop to override our instinctive reactions that don't fit in society. We might want to instinctively hit the person who makes us angry, but we developed a part of our character to just walk away. Like anything habits are hard to change. Change of character isnt something that just happens, its an action we have to choose. For a program to be able to change character, it has to force and give the participants the opportunities to make decisions that would motivate them to want to change their character habit. Some activities are better at developing character than others because of the number of opportunities that provides choices to change. Sports in general are not as good of activity for character development because coaches by the nature of the activity can pretty much direct all their players actions in an environment they choose. However, any program can have character development opportunities if the activities have some chanracter changing opportunities. I do know of some good coaches that specifically use the activities with character development in mind. But Scouting is the same way. If the adult tells a scout how to be a scout every step of the way and doesnt provide an opportunity for the scout to make some decisions, he will have rare opportunities to change character because he doesnt have the opportunity to make that decision. That being said, there is the opportunity for the scout to observe certain behaviors of others, which might encourage a change, but it must be significant to change a habit. The better way of changing character is motivation to get away from pain or struggle of their performance. There are countless activities that lead a scout to make changes in his life, but leadership is one of the best because true leadership puts us in situations where we are stressed and want to react quickly to relieve the stress. If we havent been in that situation before, we are likely to react more from instinct or bad habit, not the proper character habit. The job of a good mentor is to allow the person they are mentoring to get themselves in the situations of making a decision and then guiding them to reflect on their performance of that decision. That can be done in most organizations and activities. Many folks believe that wearing a uniform develops character. I believe the choice to wear the uniform is more about character. There is no show of character when the person is not given a choice. Well maybe the character trait of patience. So some organizations lend themselves better to character development than others, but certainly it depends on qualities and intentions of the mentor. Barry

>>How do we deal with this?

>>Threat?! Someone sees their rights going unrecognized and successfully sues. Where's the threat?>So unless they say they are booked, and you find them home twiddling their thumbs, and can prove their client didn't cancel.. They can say "No".. They just can't say "No, because I don't do same-sex marriages" or whatever else the person may discriminate against be it Jewish weddings or atheist weddings or whatever..

Our troop worked pretty hard trying to keep cost down and one of the ways we did that was older scouts sold their packs to new scouts when they out grew them. There is typcally one or two packs for sale at a Troop meeting. We also had a few donated packs in the equipment room for anyone to use. I'm glad to see their are more smaller packs out there now, there only a couple 15 years ago. The Jansport Scout is one of my favorites because it can hold up to a lot of abuse and can be easily adjusted as the scouts grew. But it is an external frame and it seems a lot of folks today don't care for external. I personally liked them for new scouts because they didn't have enough experience for packing an internal frame. The external took them from not knowing how to pack for camping at all to learning how to pack within their limits and where to put the items so they weight was comfortable. I can see how the new packs would work better today. I am impressed by the lighter weights you guys are getting. Barry

I was told a few years back that it is the GSA who keeps the BSA from considering girls in the Cub Scout program, not the BSA. Barry

Our "troop" QM is considered one of the top three leadership development positions in the troop and it is considered an unwritten prerequisite for SPL because of the skills it develops. He is responsible for training the "patrol" QMs how to manage their equipment and teaching them how to delegate members of the patrol to assist with maintaining the patrol equipment including loading and unloading the trailer or cars. The troop QM holds the keys for the equipment room and trailer and access can only go through him. He is also responsible for training a Replacement for outings he doesn't attend like high adventure crews. He is responsible for hitching and unhitching the trailer and is the trainer for the driver pulling the trailer. The "troop" QM is expected to teach the same basic responsibilities to the patrol QMs for their level of requirements. Our QMs works hard at all levels which is why I like the teaching responsibilities of the troop QM. It certainly requires a mature scout. I think the position at both the troop and patrol level develops more basic leadership skills than anyother POR. I really enjoy watching them manage the patrols for loading and unloading the equipment. Even the PLs step back and take orders from their QMs. When they are working as they have been trained, they a bonded crew of their own. And yet each patrol QM is one of the most independent and trusted POR member of the patrol because the patrol is expected to function independent of the troop at any time. Barry

They still have the patrol boxes and can choose to use them anytime they want, but its very rare.

The Scoutnut system works very well, but like Tampaturtle, we went more to a backpacking troop. We got away from patrol boxes and just about all the patrol gear is backpackable. In fact it is the same gear we used on our high adventure trips. The patrols could still check out Dutch ovens and lanterns from the QM if needed. The premise behind being a backpacking troop is the PL doesn't have to rely on the troop trailer to go on campouts. Since most of the gear can be carried in packs, the patrols are free to find their own transportation and travel on their own schedule. Use to the troop trailer was packed full with patrol boxes and gear, now 3/4 of trailer is filled with packs. That being said, the adults still use a patrol box and Coleman stoves. Barry

>>When Radar left, why was there so much confusion and why was the loss of his leadership so obvious.

The first two slots I fsearch out and fill when I build a team are someone to replace me and a "Radar O'Reilly". In fact we are looking for a new employee at my office now and the description header for that slot is titled Radar O'Reilly. Those folks are very rare. Barry

That is an interesting problem. We have never had a lack of cooperation or volunteers on the pinewood derby or Blue and Gold. In fact Pinewood evolved into the Dads yearly thing while the Blue and Gold belongs to the moms. Each group or committee starts planning way back in November. Are you asking for volunteers one on one or just asking the group and waiting for a response? We ask dads personally, and honestly I dont think Ive ever had a dad turn us down. Its all about tools and cars, what dad doesn't want to be a part of that? I do like the steak idea, A Lot! As for the open or unlimited class race with anything goes, that is a very popular race with our pack because we get some very imaginative cars. We run that race first followed by the siblings race and then the Cub Scouts last. We set up our track the night before, but I can see using the unlimited race to help tune the track if you are setting up the same night as the race. I really like that steak idea. I see a new pack tradition for the Pine Wood Crew. Barry