fred8033

Glad qwazse said it. The "double dipping" is a huge debate ... that, IMHO, is just not an issue ... but ... that is best left for another thread.

I've bought way too many scout shirts over the year. My trouble is most tend to wearout over the years. For my eighteen year old son, I bought two blue cub shirts and six boy scout shirts (size changes, camp staff and jamboree requirements). My other sons have each had at least three shirts each. My seven year old scout is now on his 2nd blue cub shirt. Myself, I've now been wearing scout shirts for ten years with one size increase. Three positions. I've bought at least five shirts for myself. My wife has a scout shirt for her role too. As I ha

I'm not as negative, but I understand scouting is very personal. Our local councils merged about six years ago. There was concern about service and camp closings. But, I really can't see any bad results. Has it saved money? Not a clue. But, we now have three registrars in the new council where in the past each had two. Yes, one less, but it makes life much more managable on the registrars. We still have two council offices and I've used both. Those with prevously long drives to the offices still have long drives. That hasn't changed much. But the good part is zero camps

moosetracker wrote: "The boys wiil get one person of the board to contact and let them know when a fundraiser or work date is.. " What happens if the boy forgets to call that district contact and just works with his volunteers to get the project done? .... I guess if I'm sensitive to this it's because four years ago, our district adv committee was a direct cause of scouts not earning eagle. Project approvals that took at minimum three review cycles and at minimum two months to get approved. Individual DAC members would not make a decision but had to consult with the "commit

Yeah.... Hmmmm.... The trouble is I've just seen too many scouters willing to step in and tell scouts how things should be. Often sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong. Often it's the same scouters that talk about the new Eagle process dumbing down the project or watering down the meaning of being and Eagle scout. If you want to show up and help, great. Good scout spirit. If there is a YPT or safety issue, step in immediately. But if you don't like how things are happening, tell his scoutmaster. Youre not his unit leader and barely know the scout. I've seen many bad

"double check that tings are looking good ... easiest place to do this ... Eagle Project." - huh? The beneficiary signs off. The unit leader signs off. I'm not sure what yet another pair of eyes can do except annoy the scout and the other unit leaders. "boards to approve projects" - We just have one district advancement committee member who signs off on the projects. Having a committee do it seems to reflect either past disagreement in the district or the lack of a single district leader who wants to take responsibility. Sounds like a beaurocratic process not required anywhere in t

Ya know... I can understand the world crest being required. I can also understand that as scouts we should just wear it. Heck, why not wear it? BUT ... if the key rule document available to us says "may", then it's not really required. It's up to BSA to get the documents right. I believe that inconsistent documents goes in favor of the impacted person. So I'd give the scout the benefit of the doubt and congratulate him (not the parent) on reading the rules. Then, I'd buy him a patch and offer to help him sew it on his shirt.

Here's another good one. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/03/13/youth-in-the-office-are-your-parents-meddling-in-your-career/ Are your parents meddling in your career?

Couldn't resist posting this article here. Easter is canceled in Colorado. Aggressive parents force egg hunt cancellation http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3CX4Jgq3-Gj_qyZ02f4E5BDtGnA?docId=dcb20046c6734c4a9aa9dfe03ceffd86

The pack still has to be organized. When I was a den leader, we emailed the list of advancements to the person who purchased advancements. Now, we put it in scouttrack.com. SO your pack lets the advancement chair know what to put in PackMaster. then, that person prints a report from PackMaster. I don't see that much of a difference. The reason I was okay with the paper chart as a den leader is that cub advancements are not critical to the future advancement path. Councils don't track belt loops or any of the lower cub advancements such as world conservation, etc. They only track

Call your state DNR, fishing group or talk to fishing organizations. I know our pack (best at den level) has had a group come in and teach fishing to the scouts. All for free. It's part of their promotion of fishing and fishing licenses, etc.

(sorry... been traveling...) Good discussion. One minor point. Very minor. And it's probably resolved by coordination between a SM and his troop's committee memebers. Perhaps, some troops coordinate such that they use the SM signature as proof that requirements are all complete. But, that's not an automatic. The key point is that a checked off scoutmaster conference is not a guarantee that all the requirements are done. A good SM will discuss previous rank requirements as part of having a conversation with the scout. But, it's the explicit responsibility of the BOR to c

The original poster asked if we have meetings every month. I'm not sure 100% what is meant, but if you use the traditional concept of meetings ... no. We use the traditional meeting structure in Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Apr & May. BUT ... we have at least one "pack" event every month. Feb is our B&G. Similar to a pack meeting but much bigger. March is pinewood derby (another big event). The key though is that every month we have something at the "pack level" available. I think we target two things a month at the pack level. Often a combination of meetings, service, c

Okay. Not to speak heresy as Im often pushing the technology envelope BUT as a den leader I really like the simple $1.99 2x3 paper advancement charts sold by the scout stores. Cub scout advancement is very different than boy scout advancement. Pack Master isnt really needed. Tracking all the ugly little details wasnt really needed. And it was nice to just have it up and visible during den meetings. It helped the parents see where their sons were with advancement. Then, I just emailed our advancement chair what was needed for the next pack meeting. Boy Scouts is a very differe

Been there. Really cool experience. Nothing like tent sleeping where at 2am it's 90 degrees with a 85 degree dew poitn.

Interesting discussion. Only a few comments... #1 SMC - It's not the scoutmaster's job at the SMC to make sure every requirement is done. Scoutmaster can do that if he wants, but it's still the BOR's job. Just saying it because as a BOR I would not use a completed SMC as an indication the requirements are complete. #2 BOR has several key focuses. One is that the BOR is the checkpoint to verify that requirements are completed. IMHO, that means also to verify that paperwork is clean and ready to go. But IMHO I view that as a cooperative co-responsibility of the scout and the troo

"2 signatures won't stop everything, but its still a good procedure." Agreed. For our unit though, it's a moot procedure as multiple leaders see images of the checks thru emailing the PDF bank statements and those statements have images of each check. IMHO, the solution is transparancy.

IMHO, two signatures on every check is never really that great of protection. In our units, the protections are #1 someone other than the treasurer gets the bank statements; #2 we email a PDF of the bank statements to four or more different families and #3 the PDF bank statements include an image over every check written. PDF bank statements with check images is a service by our bank. We love it. Strongly recommend it. I hope everyone reads it. but even if they don't, at least there is transparancy if someone starts questionioning what's going on.

No chit. Have adults guide and coach the youth leaders and the youth. For electronics, teach youth leaders common techniques for dealing with electronics such as waiting until it's put away to continue or asking the person to step away or other. It's our job as leaders to guide the youth and to teach youth how to leader other youth. I've never cared for the "If I see it, you lose it" approach. I wouldn't respect a boss who did it to me and I suspect scouts roll their eyes at such threats. A phone is a tool just like an ax, knife, stove, tent or rain coat. We warn parents

basementdweller wrote: "wingnut you have never been a victim of roundtable or camp adult snobbery." LOL. Been there ... way too many times.

Eagle1973 wrote: "This Scout may have to come back and "finish" his SM Conference." That just creeps me out. Taking an appropriate BOR response to an incomplete advancement requirement and applying it at a SMC to hold up the scout. SMCs happen. No pass fail. Once it happened, the scout has had his SMC and the SM is to help the scout get his BOR. There's no re-convene two weeks later after you've refreshed your skills. But it's your troop and you can pretty much do as you want. The only way I've seen scouts held up at SMC is when the SM reserves the "scout spirit" requi

Beavah wrote: "Yah, I've never understood this claim. Are yeh really saying that by the time a boy comes up for rank advancement, the Scoutmaster doesn't know the scout?" I think you know better. It's one thing to know the scout, but another to have had an extended private conversation about scouting experiences and goals. I'm a CC and I focus on the adult side of the troop; redirecting the scouts to the SPL or SM. But I still know all the scouts, their personalities, likes, dislikes, etc. But I've had few private conversations. And even fewer have I had a heart-to-heart conversat

Pack - 80 - Just lost 10 Webelos 2 at the B&G Troop - 45 - Just received 15 Webelos. Had two bad recruitment years.

I'll confess. Over the last ten years, I've handed them over periodically. Not that often. To recharter, you already have to visit with the CO executive. As such, we've already had a recent conversation. Probably the same conversation that happens each year. Starts with the church secretary ... "Who are you?" ... "Why do you need a signature?" Followed by a "Huh?" The charter paper comes a few months later. We've already had the conversation. Time in front of the congregation is pretty limited. The other CO is a PTO and we don't really want to raise visibility to

Beavah wrote: - "I think what evilleramsfan and his fellow scouters are tryin' to say is that the boy in question really hasn't done this, at least in terms of learning and meeting BSA advancement expectations. Fair enough. I read evilleramsfan posts very differently. I saw where evilleramsfan wrote:" "This boy was one of the ones who got a bunch of items signed off because he went to two different summer camps. As a result, most of his First class was signed off and just needed time to happen. He did not earn First Class, but received it anyway." But it really didn't connect wit