fred8033

We do four COH per year and they are high points for the year. One at summer camp. One each in Nov, Feb and May. The Feb one has less advancement as it's only been a few months, but the May one is huge with a slide show set to music showing the last year. We do every COH as pot-luck meals. In May, the troop grills the main dish. The program is more relaxed and friendly. The scouts really enjoy it. I've been to formal sit for 90 minute COH. Those are painful.

Back to ZZZZZZzzzzz.....

Ah that makes sense. Thus discrimination. Of course we can't show movies like that to the scouts.

I thought invidious discrimination was discrimination against those speaking Latin. Could be my Catholic background though.

"You say discrimination as though it is a bad thing..." ... now that's funny

Here we go again ... good time for a nap. ZZZZZzzzzz.....

If you have concerns, you have a duty to pursue them. Especially as your the scoutmaster. It doesn't have to be a witch hunt. It can be just a friendly conversation about how to treat others and a subtle discussion about hazing. Remember those new scouts can be very worried their first night. Scare them enough and they won't come back.

"I'm feeling Fred's pain. We're just getting one or two boys because our CO's pack is feeding another troop. " ... I think that's very common. It's tough being a new cub leader. They feel overwhelmved and develop an attitude that the troop doesn't support them enough. Only later to find out the troop they go into doesn't support their aligned pack either. "But none of our boys are members of the CO, so maybe they are feeling a little pain too." - very common.

"What matters is where the most popular kid in the den is going or where the CM wants the kids to go. " - So so true. .... Never seeing SM of associated troop until recruitment ... seen that too. That's one reason why I think pack and troop committees should work together. One committee to oversee a scouting program for the charter org. Just an opinion on this one.

Here's a great analogy. ... WHAT IF ... Boy scout recruitment is mimic'ed in cub recruitment. Tiger cubs get fliers from three or four packs. Visit multiple packs and choose the one that best fits them and their family. Somehow it's a good idea for Boy Scouts. Why not Cub Scouts? ... REALITY ... A very quick way to get cub leaders upset is for another pack to flier their associated elementary school. It's assumed that students an elementary school will go into a certain pack. They are of course welcome into any pack and are welcome to switch at any time. ... BUT ... it

"Instead, the usual thing is to ignore packs until its time for a crossover ceremony." That's sort of what set me off this morning. The other troop offered a den chief to the the Webelos den at the end of the webelos 1st year. Effectively six months left. I know the scout family and he doesn't need the leadership for rank. It's a recruitment effort. The cubmaster suggested the den chief help the bear den that's about to become Webelos. If the scout wants to do it, we didn't want to say no. We just did not feel it's right to step in nearing the end of the Webelos experience.

"... SPL came up to the boys UNPROMPTED, introduced himself ... " - Love when that happens. I've seen many SPLs over the last nine years as they change on average every nine months, minimum six months, sometimes 12, 18, 24 or more months. Every SPL is different. Some very impressive. Some not so. It's not a long-term attribute of the troop. ... If a troop is dysfunctional or not healthy, sure go ahead and switch. If ya don't get along with the leaders, go ahead and switch. Fine. But why not change earlier? In a continual scouting experience, change when ya realize you do

Troop shopping.... Most Webelos dens I've seen stay together unless there's an inside issue the den. IMHO, most troop shopping serves one person and the others just follow. So I just don't buy the matching a scout to a troop. Plus, I really don't think people know what to look for other than to avoid dysfunctional troops. Plus, I'd almost ask why wait for webelos to boy scouts transition. Find a good match as soon as you can. If your aligned unit isn't a good match, switch when you know. I'd almost rather see Webelos be a skills training time for Boy Scouts. Closer aligned to

Sorry for rehashing a past discussion. I'm just venting right now because of something that happened this morning. BSA needs to redesign Webelos transition. It should be fun and enjoyable for all. But, I just dread it. This year we got 15 (12 active so far) new scouts from two different packs. Next year looks like another strong year. *** But *** I've lost a lot of respect for scouters because of recruitment and what happens. Lack of support for their own packs. Heavy handed recruitment. Slamming other units. Plus the stress involved is just frustrating. At one point,

... sigh ... how do I get the last 15 minutes back ????

I think a key feature of districts is that it creates a smaller area that volunteer labor can support for advancement, camping, fundraising, training, etc ... and that, more importantly, reduces the work load on paid staff at the council level. The existance of districts creates a cheaper business model.

Fork ... Many people bring their lunches with them. Saves alot of money. I'd imagine a fair number of forks are found in pursues and brief cases all the time. I bet many jurors bring left overs with them to eat during the day. I understand knives being banned from courts, etc. Makes sense. But it's still just sad.

I'm sad. I have vivid memories of my grandfather showing me his pocket knife collection. Banks used to give them out for opening accounts. If you traveled, a good keepsake was a pocket knife. He had dozens. Mt Rushmore. DC. Texas. Duluth. Now, a new local court security screening program is boasting of all the weapons it collected in the first week. They were displayed on a table. Looked to be about 50 or 60 "weapons". Box cutters. Scissors. Nail clippers. Tweezers. Forks. And dozens of pocket knives. Most were very small key-chain size. Not a single one with a blade w

Cub camping??? Tents??? ... I'm just glad when they camp. My recommendation is bring what you have. Don't go buying a new tent for cub camping. Boy scouts would be a different answer.

Spiral bound are somewhat easier to read, but I've found the pages tear out easier with rough use. The key durability issue is getting the velcro closing book cover from the scout store. Good product and extremely useful. Without it, any scout book gets beat up pretty quick. Personally, I like the non-ring bound book because it is slightly smaller, flatter and easier to carry around.

Have a sympathetic heart. They are cub leaders and you want to motivate them to do the best possible job for the scouts. Plus they are probably relatively new to scouting. Probably never seen the legalistic beurocracy of a eagle project. Probably don't know squat about scoutnet, rechartering, journey to excellence or one of donzens and dozens scout specific concepts. They're tiger leaders and wolf leaders and .... If you want to be legalistic, apply it to the Scoutmaster award of merit and similar awards. To complain about tiger den leader knots and den leader knots and such is a

"Minimum sales" - I've never cared for approaching scouting issues from the negative side. Reward instead of penalize. Celebrate achievements instead of punishing disappointments. Instead of "minimum sales", find a reward such as dues waved after a level. Or ... Our pack has rewards. No scout accounts, but every scout who sells gets a patch. Top ten or more sellers get prizes (clearance stuff ... tents, sleeping bags, flash lights, binoculars, etc.). Also, the top sellers get to put ready whip pies in the face of the leader. Sales doubled when we annouced prizes. Doubled again w

The only good solution I've seen is transparency. Identify one person as the treasurer, but make sure multiple people are seeing the bank statements. For our troop, we have five people with online access to review the account. Each person has their own sign-on and can see the data.

January camp out is cabin camping. Indoor eating. Outdoor activities.

Very well written policy. Interesting though as during our BALOO training we were taught that we should plan a pack fall, winter and spring camp out. Summer is for council camps. And our pack does that, we offer free fall, winter and spring camps for our cubs. The summer council camps are pricey. So it's nice to offer the alternatives. It would be intersting to understand why the limit.(This message has been edited by fred8033)