GS-CS_leader

I'm wondering if anyone out can tell me about whether the "badge magic" product really works. I wonder if the adhesive really holds up through machine washing. Also I'm skeptical that it can hold CS segments onto the felt of a brag vest. It seems like a layer of felt would just pull off with the adhesive. But I think that it would be useful for the girls in my GS troop if it works. I devoted a couple of meetings to teaching the girls in my GS troop how to sew on their own badges (showing them the trick of simply sewing through the binding edge of a lot of patches, rather than through the patch

I'm probably going to raise some hackles, but I think that the reason that people want a co-ed BS, but don't push for a co-ed GS (as noted by fgoodwin), is that people want to extend the benefits of BS to girls, more than they feel that adding girls would create a better program for the boys. My knowledge of the two programs comes from 7 years as a GS leader (quite active at the Service Unit level) and from what my husband has told me about superb BS troop that he was in as a scout. Here are my comments: I find it fascinating that BS involvement seems to peak in the early to mid tee

Thanks, funscout for your thoughts. The Christian pack wasn't "offensive". It's just that the pack prayer mentioning Jesus and the Christmas ornaments they were making made my friend (who happens to be the AL of my GS troop) uncomfortable. Since the pack is chartered by a church, it is not unreasonable that they would have a religious component to their program. I'm not criticizing them; I'm just saying that they are not right for us. Actually, it's our council that I think could do a better job of being sensitive to Jewish scouts. They schedule trainings on major Jewish holidays (

In response to meredelaire's post mentioning caravaning and tour permits: I've been involved in BSA for less than two years, so I'm certainly no authority, but I've seen other posts in other scouter.com forums about "caravaning". There seems to be some kind of prohibition on that practice by the company that provides insurance to BSA. I guess they think it will increase the chance of rear-end collisions or accidents from people trying to get through lights that change. Anyway, one forum had a story of an accident happening during a BS outing and the insurance company refusing to pay becau

Last night as I was getting together materials for a recruitment "rally night" (a bust, but that's another story), I was realized that I should let you know about the really great FREE program at the Evanston Home Depot (and I think the program is national, so it's probably available at other Home Depots around the country). Home Depot supplies all the materials and needed tools to make any of several projects---we made a tool/craft supply box. They even give each kid a kid-sized orange apron to keep! And they were accomodating enough to allow us to schedule the workshop for our normal Wednesd

Since other Chicagoland scouters have joined this forum, I decided to go ahead and post these tips for Notebaert overnights: If you find as we did that the machine for parking payment in the lot across Cannon Dr is broken, just go ahead and park there and tell the Notebaert who will make sure you aren't ticketed. We didn't want to risk a ticket or tow so we parked on the street intending to move after 9pm. Warning about the "snack": it's just goldfish crackers and a granola bar plus juice (compared to pizza at other overnighters) and is served mid-evening (8:30 compared to 10:30pm a

I've been a Girl Scout leader for almost 7 years now, but I was a Camp Fire Girl as a child. That organization was actually started a year or two before GSUSA, and at least in the 70's, it was more similar in its outdoor emphasis to the BSA than GS even if the name was less the same. Now "Camp Fire" has gone fully co-ed and has dropped the "Girl" from its name. I don't know much about the current program since I'm not involved in it anymore, but from the national website, it looked a lot less outdoor-oriented than it used to be. As a girl, I had wished that I could be a BS and do "real"

To wrap up my previous post (and finally take my problems to a more appropriate forum): The "rally night" was a bust: Only a single kindergartener and his family showed up. And the final "nail in the coffin" of our pack was that the CC told me that since at this point the pack will have no CC or CM next year, he's going to start looking for another pack for the remains of our den to join. He is swamped at work this year and only continued as CC because no one else would take the position. The den will have only 4 boys after two boys move this summer. The CC's wife is the den leader and I

Wow, and I thought MY pack was in sorry shape. They say that "misery loves company" so at least I can commiserate with you and let you know that you're not the only one in this kind of uneviable position. I'm going to join this forum to see if we can both get some advice since we have related problems. I have to say that it doesn't sound like your pack has much going for it and your son is not getting the best CS experience. At a certain point I think you have to do what's best for yourself and your son, especially if you try but find that you can't fix the problems of your pack. Here's

Thank you Eagledad for some really good info on troop size issues. To answer Lisabob's questions about my GS troop (BS members can ignore this post): Yes, my GS troop is still going. It's not the outdoors-oriented GS troop that I had hoped to lead to fulfill my childhood dreams of a troop for girls that did "real" camping like the BS (not just car camping like my Camp Fire Girl troop). (I'm sending my like-minded daughter to a Wisconsin GS camp for backpacking this summer.) But I'm expecting the 3 5th graders, 4 6th graders, and 1 8th grader to all continue next year (most have been

I just realized that in my previous reply, I got side-tracked on the whole adult help issue. Back to whether or not to limit troop size: I like the Lincoln quote. Seems reasonable to me that the SM and ASMs are the ones who should get the final say on what size troop they are comfortable with since they are the ones who will probably have more work if the troop grows considerably. Parents who object to limiting the size of the troop had either better already be doing a whole lot of work for the troop, or should be asked if they are willing to take up the slack by doing specific tasks (wri

With all due respect to Eamonn, I think losing boys is not the worst case scenario. I think Firecrafter has a legitimate worry about leader burnout. If the leaders burn out, even if they don't go so far as to quit (but that can happen since they are after all *volunteers*), then the one currently healthy troop can go downhill and ALL the boys will lose out. I would also like to point out that communities vary widely, so what worked in one area might not in another. I think Scouters in communities with lots of adult interest, support, and ability, underestimate the problems that those in

In both my GS troop and CS den, different scouts call me different things. But there are a number of complicating factors, especially in my GS troop. Here's where I come from: I grew up in the 60's and 70's addressing most non-relative adults as Mr./Mrs. Lastname, except that since I'm Chinese, we called my parents' Chinese friends Auntie/Uncle Firstname. I'm a traditionalist, so I'm personally more comfortable calling people at least 20 years older than I am Mr./Mrs. and have had to make a real effort to switch when asked to do so by people such as parents of friends. When I worked in a

Two years ago, I organized a group of 150 Girl Scouts and leaders from Skokie and Lincolnwood to attend an overnighter at the Adler Planetarium. I didn't realize until two weeks before that the evening events were not a "lock-in" but were rather part of the open-to-the-public "Far-Out Fridays" (held on the first Friday evening of every month). This meant that it was somewhat crowded since there were already almost 300 participants for the overnight and then there were a number of families and individuals who just attended the evening events. And it meant that I felt like I had to keep an espec