eolesen

Sorry Pack212Scouter, I didn''t mean to imply BALOO wasn''t required in general -- it''s just not a prerequisite for Cub leaders attending Woodbadge in the last two councils I''ve been involved with.

Since your WB course is still many months out, it would benefit you to go thru BALOO since there is an outdoor component to WB.(This message has been edited by eolesen)

I don''t believe BALOO is required for any of the Cub positions.

Here''s the required training list that I received a few years back...

All Leaders:

New Leader Essentials

Leader Specific Training for your current position (one of the following):

Den Leader

Pack Committee

Cubmaster

Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop Committee Challenge

Varsity Leader Specific Training

Venturing Leader Specific Training

District Committee Training Workshop

Commissioner Basic Training

Scoutmasters/Varsity Coaches (incl. assistants):

Outdoor Leadership Skills(This message has been edited by eolesen)

And I''m sure they''re made by Chinese Cub Scouts...

I find the characterization of "overweight adult leaders" a little on the negative side.

I''ve seen my underweight un-uniformed/un-informed leaders, and overweight uniformed/informed leaders...

Trust me... weight doesn''t have any bearing on whether or not a troop is boy-run or can pass a uniform inspection....

In my old council (Longhorn),

2.) YPT "Trained" adults are only "certified" in the Longhorn Council, for a period of three years, after taking Youth Protection Training and will receive a "Trained" card after attending the training. Units participating in activities outside the Longhorn Council must comply with the Youth Protection requirements of BSA National or the Council where the activity takes place.

There''s no mention of a timeframe on my current council''s website (Catalina), but our neighboring council (Grand Canyon) has the same three year policy. So... check with your council. It''s possible your state or council has guidelines which require it more often than someone else''s.

Personally, I have just done it every time I turned in a new medical form. Now that I''m "over the hill", I''ll probably just scale back to every two years...

All of these sound like great projects, and as others said, it benefits the chartering organization first and foremost. If they decided not to renew your charter next year, they''d still be the primary beneficiary. Same thing with the shed and office rennovation projects.

Hmmm... many of you have posted the very reason we see so 14 and 15 year olds rushing to get their Eagle...

Kids need to try different activities to see what they really enjoy. I wouldn''t think of denying my son the opportunity to try playing a JV sport just because of Scouts, and making him choose between the two will only cause resentment. So... we juggle as best we can for the eight weeks or so that the season lasts. Scouts will still be there for the other ten months out of the year.

It all boils down to what the Chartering Organization wants. If it''s in the by-laws, talk to the COR/IH about it. Their vote overrides the CC or SM.

I''ve seen similar issues come up with some of the LDS troops -- some stake presidents and bishops don''t want women involved in Scouting except in a cooking/cleaning type role, while other stakes don''t seem to have a problem with them serving as CC''s, ASM''s, etc.

There''s a reason we have moms & dads and it''s not just biological. Having both genders present in the adult leadership of a troop is far more beneficial than having all-male or even all-female leadership.

I exchanged some emails with Scouter Terry about this earlier in the week -- they did a server move for the website, and there are some issues like this which are still being debugged.

Report it via the "Contact Us" and hopefully it will be dealt with.

Photo of kit:

http://scoutstuff.org/bsasupply/images/graphics/kahoot1.jpg(This message has been edited by eolesen)

Fair enough. I'm just pointing out that sometimes you have to take an extra step or two to reach out to those who might be more hesitant than you would to "normal" parents. Saying you're open to all and really making people feel comfortable with the idea are two different things.

Personally, "separate but equal" worries me when it comes to Scouting. The days of racially separate units aren''t that long ago, and we still have a fair percentage of troops out here in AZ which say they''re open to all but tend to be closed based on the chartering organization''s way of implementing the scouting program.

I''m glad that this troop is working out so far, but all of the leadership is inexperienced, and that''s a huge risk. We''ve assigned one of the most experienced UC''s to oversee them, but unless we can find a few experienced leaders to help guide them along for their first year or two, I''m concerned about how long the unit will be able to keep going.(This message has been edited by eolesen)

Scoutnut & Funscout, in principle I agree with you, however as the parent of a SN child, some SN parents need a little extra convincing that their child won''t just be a source of amusement or ridicule, and that they won''t wind up feeling pressured to leave the unit once the adults and/or boys running the unit discover that it does require more patience and understanding to work with a SN child.

I have run into the same thing with church membership and Sunday School classes of all things... Some churches go out of their way to reach out to families with SN kids, and some churches make it clear that they don''t want to be bothered with the extra work involved.

In the units my sons have belonged to, we''ve had ADD, Aspergers, Bi-polar, and just about everything in-between. But I''ve never seen anyone with retardation or physical disabilities, and that''s where JustADad''s comment rings true with me. At camporee''s, there is one unit in the area who has a mildly retarded scout, but that''s about it.

I''m currently serving as an ADC, and one of my units is a newly founded Autistic/Aspergers pack, and it''s taking off like wildfire. The CO happens to be a charter school for Autistic/Aspergers, so there is a lot of built-in support. I asked the cubmaster why they didn''t just try mainstreaming into a regular unit, and she mentioned all of the things above. I wasn''t surprised, given experiences with my own child, but at the end of the day, the kids are having fun and the parents who are involved know what they''re getting themselves into.

Ideally, they will be mainstreamed into a troop as they age out of Cubs, but that''s still a few years off based on the current members.(This message has been edited by eolesen)

So it has to be official to be on the uniform? Guess I''d better take off my "Untrainable" patch...

I personally have no problems with this one. It's a lot classier than some of the other webmaster patches I've seen... Plus, webmaster is a de facto position in many troops, and the boys tasked with it do a heck of a lot more than the bugler does... it''s about time they have something to acknowledge their position of responsibility.(This message has been edited by eolesen)

Uniforms are important... but attendance and participation are more important to me. It''s just been accepted in the two troops I''ve been part of that during whatever season the boys are in, they get a pass on being in full uniform if they''re coming straight from practice.

Glad to hear it is a two-weekend class. Our council does a week-long class, which is next to impossible for me, so I wound up taking it out of council and didn''t regret that one bit. Even better, they offered a Thu/Fri/Sat class so that I didn''t have to sacrifice a lot of family time in the process.

Bring what they tell you to bring, and have an open mind. Aside from doing a self-assessment before you go, try not to think too much about your ticket before you get there.

We do October and April for all positions except SPL. October gives us some time to re-acclimate from the summer, and April is

Rather than elect the SPL separately, we promote the ASPL into the SPL position at the next election cycle, so the Scout gets a full year of leadership experience, and gets to learn from the current SPL. I will admit that I was skeptical about the ASPL automatically becoming SPL when we transferred into this troop, but after watching it for three election cycles now, I will admit it provides a degree of continuity I didn''t see with my previous unit. It also gives the Scout exposure to the full program. I''ve always felt that those elected to leadership positions which span the summer months have an easier time than those who have to do it over the winter, since programs and attendance do wind down a bit for the summer.