Eagledad

Check out the Pecos Wilderness High Adventure program at Camp Frank Rand in New Mexico. Our scouts who did both Philmont and Pecos liked Pecos better for the hiking and scenery. I must say the adults agree. What you will miss at Pecos is the Philmont programs. They will let you customize your hike to fit the desires and maturity of your crew. One of our crews planned their hikes around fishing and had a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed the mountain top lakes. Another good hike that I would rate behind Pecos and Philmont, but still a lot of fun is the High Adventure Program at Camp Spa

Happy Scouting All >>This requirement has been in the last (3) printings of the boys Webelos book, and there is a parent guide in every level of the Cub Scout program boys books.

>>We need not always jump to the conclusion that every problem or twit we 'hear' about in these forums is/are accurate discriptions of the situations or that we ever get the whole story and background data...>Please try to remember the "law of unintended consequences"...>and for "commissioners with real power"? aren't we just looking for moving twits up the line...who does more damage; a twit as a cub master/ troop master (note lower case) or a twit with 'real power' as a commissioner?

>> Weather he had his book with him or not, he was there, he did the work, he earned the pin. Both the boy and the leader know he earned the pin. According to BSA the award should be given to the boy at the next available opportunity. To withhold the pin until the leader can sign the boy's book is wrong IMO and adding a requirement.

>>I really could not go along with withholding Webelos Activity pins that have been earned. That is against BSA policy for Cubs, Webelos or Boy Scouts.>The Webelos' book, like the Boy Scout's handbook, is not and should not be the only record of their progress.

This reminded me of one of our AOL ceremonies. I went to a party supplies store and bought one of those cheap plastic table clothes and painted the Arrow of Light emblem on it. The emblem was about 18 inches by 30 inches. Before the meeting, I taped the tablecloth between to vertical post and then set a lamp behind it. Then I hid the tablecloth by putting a large piece of cardboard in front of it. One my mark during the ceremony, someone turned off the room lights and while I pulled the cardboard away and plugged in the lamp behind the tablecloth. The whole room was dark except this white tabl

Hi all Great question. I am a Life lifer. But I guess I'm one of the few that have no regrets. Honestly I can't imagine how it would have changed my life more than what scouting already gave me. I've had, and still have a wonderful life with a family that many can only dream. Could I have done better? Sure, who doesnt have regrets? But I didn't get a 4.0 (barely a 3.3) in high school either and I still earned a degree in engineering. I was a scout from age six to nineteen (Lion to Scuba Explorer) and loved every minute of it. I think I am a recipient of what the program was design t

Hi All This very idea has been passed around lately on other forums. And its not really new in that Ive heard of a Council trying something similar with a program called the Quality Unit Plus award or something like that. The council issues a special Council Patches to units that went the extra distance or achieved the added requirements over the National Quality Unit requirements. I dont remember the requirements, but they were pretty strict. Mark kind of hit on some requirements I would like to see like the BORs. But I wouldnt look at BOR times, although that is how I watched our B

HI all I gave my pins to the scouts at the end of each Den meeting. We had a couple of situations where the scouts had to wait two and three months for their pins and I found they weren't nearly as special after waiting so long. So I started presenting the them their pins at the end of each den meeting It became special for the parents as well. They showed up five minutes before the end of the meeting for our awards presentation. The CM still recrognized my Webelos at the Pack meeting by presenting them with the cards. So everyone got what they wanted and my 16 guys never had to wait

>>My problem is that every parent is overloading the program with what they think it should be.

Boy, lots of great ideas out there. You are right to fix this now because you are expected to carry these guys for another three years. Try all these ideas because how well they work depends on your personality. One of them may work. I see your other mom as a problem. I had kind of the same problem in my den and I eventally had to approach him. Since I was the leader, he was very willing to follow my suggestions. In this case, I suggested he make an aggreement with his son that he would not be his son's father during the meeting, allowing me to work with his son. It worked very wel

Thanks NJ, I was thinking back to my sisters and thought they were Daisys in the 60s, butI guess not. Hmmm, I wonder what they were, Brownies? I am also one that suggested a kindergarten Tiger program like the GSUSA, but not because the GSUSA has one. I only suggest it because I think it is the next best solution to killing the Tiger program completely. IF we are to be stuck with Tigers, then lets try to do it better and look at the Daisy program. Happy Scouting All Barry

>> like to know your thoughts on the GSUSA Daisy program.

Wow, every time I start to think we are different, you show me how we are very much the same. Your words about scouting in UK brought a smile because you just described my scouting experience as a youth. Those were wonderful days and that is what we tried to duplicate when we started our troop in 1993. But we learned quickly that the scouting program of the seventies couldnt work in the nineties. Not completely anyway. Interestingly, it was basically from one minor change of bringing the Webelos over as a group instead of them joining individually when they reach the right age like you d

Hi All The GSUSA and the BSA have two very different objectives. The GSUSA used the Daisy program as the begining for girls. THe BSA used the Tigers as the begining for the whole family. The Daisy program has been successful for a long time. I want to say at least 40 years or more. The BSA has been struggling with Tigers for almost 25. Barry

Our pack tradition was an arrow for AOL and a Scout Handbook for crossing over. I think both gifts are wonderful, but I've noticed that when I visit the personal displays that Eagles scouts set up at their Eagle COH, it's usually that arrow I gave them on display, not the book. I like the knife idea also. Barry

Well Beav, you have proven to have the patience of a Scoutmaster. But then some of us already knew that. Barry

I've never been accused as a speeder, but it was known that if I pulled the Troop trailer, it would get to camp first. But there was the time coming home from a Troop Skiing weekend in New Mexico. We were just outside of Cimarron NM when we saw a huge heard of elk. I just happen to be going down hill while the New Mexico Highway Patrol was going up. Cimarron is home to Philmont and probably one of the few places where the highway patrol are not impressed by a carload of Boy Scout uniforms. That was the most elk I've ever seen. That is my story and I'm sticking to it. Barry

You cant know how much I enjoy reading your post. I think your last post was Random thoughts by Eamonn, which I really enjoy because there is a friendly warmth in your words. I know that you are an admirer of the NSP and the First Class program. I am not. But Im beginning to see that are differences are only perspectives of our experiences. I have experience in the NSP, aged based patrols and the mixed age patrols. I feel you started with one approach and stayed with it because of its success. That being said, I think my approach to scouting has always been to use the best approach to re

>>Some troops have gone with Patrols with mixed age groups, where the older Scout is the Patrol Leader?? (I don't know how this works if the older Scouts are always the PL's?) and I can see that the older Scout will teach the younger Scout. But if our expectation of our older Scouts is just teaching younger Scouts, I think it is never going to work.

Hi All Our Troop presents each Eagle with a patch (bought by the SM) as soon as the packet is returned from National. Some of our scouts have waited as long as nine months for their COH, so this is a way of recognizing them immediately. Its up to the scout if he wants to put the patch on his uniform or wait until the COH. Most scouts say the instant recognition at the troop meeting is more emotional than the COH. I love this scouting stuff. Barry

Happy Scouting All First I have to say anarchist wrote a great post. I agree with all of it except for the fumes part. Just like a great program that attracts scout 10 to 14 years old, your program can be fun and attractive for the older scouts as well. We just have to be very open minded and think way out of the box. I very much agree with letting the older scouts complete their own program while starting a new program with the younger scouts. My observations are the same as anarchist, the older scouts (15 and older) just dont want change, especially when some of the adults still s

Yes, I think you are talking about the Baden Powell Scouts. I know a SM on another Scouting forum who is the SM of a Troop and you're right OGE, they try and stick very close to BP teachings. Barry

Hi All >>Something isn't working in my pack/district/council. So, let's hear from you!

Happy Scouting All >>A few sessions with one or more older scouts who take several minutes to emphasize the importance of miding ones own belongings and request the scout do better in the future will do more than years of an adult doing the same.