GKlose

You know, if they had Beagle Scouts, I would sign up in a second.

I'm also trying to figure out that balance between encouraging and letting them show initiative. They very much are kinetic kids -- unless they're pushed a little, they would rot away with video games. I had the other experience as a kid. My parents, other than being a den mother and a CM, didn't participate much. I think they burned out with my older brothers (cubs and boy scouts, but not for very long). They probably thought I would get disinterested too. So my strategy is to aspire to encourage without being pushy, and it sure seems like there is a fine line between the two someti

Thanks, Roaring Snoring Bear...I'm kind of on the same page as you...I think I can probably convince him to join, and I have a few angles I can work. He says that he does like camping, so I think with his Outdoorsman badge coming up, and with the required overnights for Arrow of Light, he'll get more camping time in, in a scout setting. One way I plan on doing this is by telling him that I'm planning on troop camping with my older son, so if he wants to participate, he'll have to join. I'll ask him to try it through at least First Class (by then he'll have a bunch of camping skills, and o

That reminds me of a joke that a friend told me... In [our state], they recently had to change the drinking age to 35, over concerns of alcohol in elementary schools. (it took me awhile to catch on)

I would think that every boy is different, and had I read the signals properly, I would have guessed that my son was ready to move up when he turned 11 (I think he was ready for more, and sort of lost interest with what was going on with his W2 den). He didn't seem so interested in actually earning Arrow of Light, but I'm sure that now he has it, he's glad. My younger son is a completely separate case. He's a W1, turns 10 in a few days. He, too, seems done with Webelos, and doesn't seem to care whether or not he earns the Arrow of Light. But he takes our cues from us ("do you want to earn

BCWhite - I was in a similar circumstance a year ago. My Webelos II son turned 11 about a month after school started (5th grade). I'll admit I didn't understand the age rules at the time, and he was content to finish earning AoL with his den. I think that I had I understood the crossover rules properly, I may have encouraged him to finish AoL in his Webelos I year (4th grade, but he turned 10 about a month after school started, and was 10-1/2 by the time the Webelos II den was crossing over). So, my second son is in the same boat. He starts school tomorrow (4th grade), and turns 10 i

A local troop is considering a trip to the Maine High Adventure area...when I was 16, I did an Allagash Wilderness Waterway trip there with my troop, and it was fantastic (it was a national high adventure area back then). One of my friends loved it so much that he became a guide there the next two summers.

I live up in Brady territory, and I am a Patriots fan -- but when I first saw the cover, a couple of days ago, my initial reaction was "uh oh, there's gonna be some people that will have some problems with this." I think I can answer for my kids (ages 11 and 9) that they are blissfully unaware of anything that happens in any professional athlete's personal lives, other than maybe this last year's juicing scandals. In fact, I'm watching Kobe Bryant at the Olympics last week (I'm not particularly a fan of pro basketball) and while watching everyone fawn all over him, I'm thinking to myself:

I think that sounds like a good plan...fill out the application, get him started on training, and then give him some responsibility. I can see two possible difficulties: 1. he doesn't want the responsibility, or can't handle it, and stops showing up 2. he resists training, etc. However it seems you'd be working from a stronger position if all adults in your troop have been trained, have responsibilties, etc. Then again, it may all be eye-opening for him too. This isn't just a bunch of parents and scouts that show up and stuff happens, right? It takes planning, resources, understa

I don't really have a problem with the revision...granted, switching to a color printing (and refreshed cover graphics) does change the image that the books had been printed sometime this century versus sometime last century . I would guess that troops that have a library of MB pamphlets aren't going to rush out to update their libraries (especially when requirements are identical). But over time I'm sure they will be refreshed book-by-book. The $4.50 cost (versus the old price of $3.49, right?) isn't so hot, but I understand that national is trying to work whatever revenue sources t

"(Please forgive the length.)" Actually, thanks for the detailed response. I'd thought of many of these issues, but not all. At this point, I'm not sure the actual details matter, but I'll add them in case you'd like to know. NCS-trained? I have no clue. I don't know him all that well, and didn't think to ask. But I understand why you're asking. It's a Webelos and Cub-only camp, with roughly a six-week season. The OA uses it for ordeals on the shoulder weeks, but other than that, I don't think there is much scout use during the season. Staff? I don't know for sure. I k

Apache Bob - it's more than just the front and back covers. It is an all-color printing. All the photographs inside are printed in color too (text printing remains all-black ). They're available now -- at least in my local scout shop. I would assume others have them as well. And thanks, BW...the ones I spot-checked didn't include any revised in 2008. In fact, one I checked was "Computers" which I was hoping had been updated (but isn't).

Over in a new uniform thread, there was just a mention of the new MB books...I haven't seen any other recent discussion on the topic (but then again, I can't keep up with everything on this forum)... Anyway, I saw a pile of new MB books at the local scout shop, and they had stacks of old ones too (blowing them out at $2.50 each, as I recall). I spot-checked a half dozen books, comparing new and old side by side. The content appears to be exactly the same, it's just that the new ones, inside and out, have color printing. For example, the photographs from the old MB book are still used in t

"Gklose, why is that interesting? Did you think that the DE makes the budget for activities?" BW: the DE was camp director this summer for this camp (the council does have a few other cub day camps, but this was the only camp running a resident camp, along with their daycamp weeks). It just seems odd to me that despite his assignment, and despite his research into prices at similar camps around the country (and I have no idea how many he actually surveyed), that the final decision came down to a single adult volunteer that wasn't actually running the camp. One guy who I think is kind of o

Had an interesting discussion with my DE last night at a function. He also was running the Cub camping program this summer, including Webelos resident camp. I had decided not to take my Webelos to resident camp because of three primary reasons: ill-defined program, ill-defined leadership and cost. The DE only really heard the cost question. For 4-days, 3-nights at this camp, the cost was $250. A week at the council's summer camp, for scouts, was $265. I pointed out the disconnect to the DE. He told me that after I had originally questioned the cost, he did a survey. He found cos

(this was embedded within Chippewa's note) Just as a side note, I really dislike the practice of a leader putting up a Scout Sign and bellowing "Sign's up!". To me, I think that encourages ignoring the sign until someone is bellowing (kind of like a Pavlov's dog thing). My old SM used to put up his sign and wait. When he was Program Director at the local camp, he did the same thing. He'd just wait, in a dining hall filled with 200 scouts. After awhile, everyone would catch on (but there might be another adult bellowing "Sign's up!" -- aaargh!). The most I ever heard him say, with his

I was at a district function last night -- our DE was out of uniform, but I asked him if he had bought a new one. He said that they were not required to do so, but since they were given a deal at their recent conference, he did buy one. He did, however, add that he thought they would be required to get them by the time of the Centennial Jamboree. In contrast, a clerk at the local scout shop told me they were required to buy new uniforms.

It's not like I grew up in a family where we were really socially-conscious (and I've met a handful in the last few years that are), but both my mom and dad did have public service projects, and my siblings and I would also participate. Service projects were also a regular part of my scouting, and not just helping with Eagle projects. Anyway, as a followup to my original story: my Tenderfoot finished his project yesterday. All told, he had gathered approximately $200 worth of school supplies from about 20 families, give or take. His mom drove him over to the local shelter, where the suppl

DPW -- sounds fairly similar to the troop and pack sponsored by our CO. I'm coming in from the outside, and I'm trying to address membership concerns, and one of my major areas to address is reestablishing the connection between the troop and the pack and also with the CO. Every Sunday, there is a pretty extensive bulletin handed out that has several paragraphs devoted to the youth ministries at the church. But no mention of scouting -- there is a quarterly publication mailed to homes, but no mention of scouting. I'm sure there are plenty of service projects hiding around the church facil

Thanks, Ed...isn't that 11-yr-old newbie scout attitude infectious? Snoring Bear -- the event I was talking about is a townwide cleanup day organized by the town's recycling/solid waste committee. They work on getting tons of donations, such as food, garbage bags, tools, gloves, reflective vests and giant dumpsters, while the rest of us volunteers just show up and provide labor. Last year, it was held on a Saturday closest to Earth Day. But that also coincided with spring break (families were traveling). This year, the date was moved to the first weekend in May. It would be quite a bother

This is an aside, but... Before I read about the "Methods of Scouting" I always thought of scouting as a youth group focusing on building leadership skills, fostering the development of outdoor skills, environmental consciousness and community service. In other words, a primary part being community service. I felt that's how things were treated when I was a scout. Fast forward many years, and my family and I sign up for a townwide cleanup day. I notice that maybe a hundred people out of our town of 30k are participating. I figure with some advanced planning I could get at least a hun

BTW, he's also already decided what he wants to do for an Eagle project. Despite the risk of squashing his ideas, I've cautioned that he has a lot to do before he gets to that stage. I also didn't want to burst his bubble by saying that his idea probably wouldn't fly for an Eagle project (he wants to clean up the local scout camp, which is in really poor condition).

Thanks, guys... In fact, I kept cautioning his mom (they're all home for the summer, while I'm stuck at work) that this isn't a mini-Eagle project, that he only needed to spend an hour working on some project. But this is the kind of thing he does -- he gets his mind set on what to do (sometimes to his detriment), and then does it. The only part that seems like an overload is the thank you notes. On the other hand, that's really the proper thing to do. So while he'll have way more than an hour invested by the end, I think it will be done well, with only a little help from mom (she ca

My kids have been in a similar pack (oldest transitioned out this last spring, youngest is a W1 this year). The CC/CM has been perpetually overloaded, hasn't had training (until recently -- so I give him tons of credit for finally doing this). Den leaders are sort of ad hoc, making up some of it as they go along (crank kids through, get them their rank badges for an end of year "Blue and Gold" and then suspend pack activity until the next fall). The program could be so much better if they followed the program (!). The CC/CM would be much less loaded if he'd commit to one position and

I'm very proud of my young Tenderfoot, so I'd like to share this story... He was getting pretty antsy to work on requirements for 2nd class, and rather than wait for a troop-wide service project in which to put some service time, he decided to show some initiative. So he decided that since it is "back to school time" why not collect school supplies and donate them to someone? With a little help from his mom, he sent out an email note to our neighborhood email list and to a pile of other friends, and putting flyers in neighborhood mailboxes, asking that when they do their back to scho