gwd-scouter

Three weeks from concept to completion for an Eagle project? Sounds impossible to me. I can only speak for the guys in our Troop, but the shortest time from concept to completion was six weeks. That was years ago and I wasn't directly involved in it, but I do remember the adult leaders and his parents really scrambled and worked hard to get the boy through. A more realistic time frame in our Troop has been 2-3 months. Patrick is meeting this evening with our town's Railroad Museum Director to get completion of project signature. That will make it five months from when Patrick first met w

"...to require them to actually make a flag in order to meet the requirements would only lead to frustration." Why? We have two new scout patrols. A couple of weeks ago they designed their flags - each guy wrote out on paper what he thought was a good idea and the Scouts picked which they liked best. Last week they were given cloth, markers, and paint and made their flags. Sure looked like they were having a good time. Along the way they learned a bit about sharing ideas and teamwork. Plus, what a bonus, they'll have an actual flag to bring to the upcoming Council Exporee. I think we

fgoodwin - it may depend on when the pack rechartered those Scouts and when they crossover to your troop. An example: In our Council, unit recharters are due in February. We have Packs that cross their Webelos over in February, before they send in their recharter, and therefore don't reregister them. It is then up to the receiving Troop to get those boys on their charter and will need to pay the full registration fee. Then again, some Packs don't do crossovers until April or May. Those guys would be $1 transfers. The guys that just crossed over to our Troop came from two packs. One,

Leader or boss = other people's perception. When they agree with you, they think of you as a leader. When they don't, you'll probably be considered a boss.

Cleaning a dutch oven is easy and STM gave some good tips. I disagree about oiling of the oven after it's used before you store it. To me, it leaves a rancid oil taste in anything that's cooked. Our ovens are cleaned with hot water and a rubber spatula or plastic scrubby used to scrape the sides, rinsed with clean water, dried thoroughly, and put away without oiling. Fifteen years and not a spot of rust yet. Also, remember to never use soap in a cast iron dutch oven! Cast iron is porous and the metal will absorb the taste of the soap.

Wow, I've been called an ingenue and couth - both in the same day. OK, maybe it's time to slap on that mean streak I keep on hand.

I'm kind of a stickler for flag decorum as well. One thing I would have done differently in this situation though is not get up and move the flag while the meeting was going on. A word to the Committee Chair after the meeting would have been a better approach.

Hmmm. While the requirement does indeed say describe your patrol flag, I certainly take that to mean that if the boys are put in a new patrol, then they actually make a flag - out of cloth - and not just draw a design on paper. Now, if the guys go right into an existing patrol that has a flag, then they only need to describe the existing flag. Actually, I've never heard anyone ever ask this before. Anyone else have this come up?

He hasn't sent me the list yet, so I don't know what merit badges the scout is taking. Hopefully, they will at least be fun, appropriate for his age and skills, and not a whole bunch of Eagle-requireds. Not my call, though. It won't impact our troop whether this new scout does the pathfinder program or merit badges. My concern was just that he will be on his own for his first year and I just thought he'd have a better time if he was with all our new guys.

Well, I have spoken with SM. He doesn't like the pathfinder program at our camp and so all the scouts in his troop do merit badges - even first years. He told me that this scout going with us would be too far behind the other guys if he did pathfinder program with our new guys. As he put it, the new guys are very competitive and it wouldn't be fair for him to come back from camp without the same and same number of badges as the other new scouts.

Woo hoo hoo, ha ha ha ha, hee hee hee - ingenou-esque? That's a new one. Oh, but those green shorts and red-top socks do SOOO much for me!

And I always thought the folks wanted me along because of my conversational repartee and sparkling personality. Now I find out it's just 'cause I make the coffee. Rats!

We have a whole bunch of new scout parents and most are eager to work as ASMs in our Troop. No problem there as I've met with them many times and they all seem to understand how our Troop operates. All are committed to go to training, some have already started even before they signed up at crossover. Then again, there's this one Mom. Her son joined the Troop about a year and a half ago. She signed up too as an ASM. She went to training. OK so far. Problem was, whenever she went on a campout she started to boss around a couple of our youth leaders. She most definitely did not like the way

I am a very early riser. I get the coffee started and that usually wakes the other adults. 7:00 am seems to be the norm for our Troop.

ordealarrowman - welcome to the forum and good for you for asking how to get your patrol to expand their campout menu. By requirements, I'm assuming you mean the balanced meal part? Fairly easy to get the fruits and veggies in - they don't have to be cooked necessarily. Bananas with breakfast. A bag of apples for snacking? Applesauce with dinner. Veggies? Make a salad. Raw carrots to munch on before dinner is ready. Do your guys put orange juice and milk on the menu? Cooking a stew or similar one-pot meal is an easy cleanup and will incorporate the food groups. Just Google camp food

We are taking a new scout from a different troop to summer camp with us. He can't go when they are going, so SM suggested to Mom that he could go with another. The scout told her he remembered having a good time when he camped and visited our troop, so he's signed up to go. I emailed her about our camp's pathfinder program - a first year camper program for new scouts. All of our new scouts will be in that program. She wrote back stating that their SM said the scout will have already earned Tenderfoot by the time camp rolls around, so he doesn't want the scout to do pathfinder and wants th

I don't have any specific advice, but removing her from the charter will not remove her from activities. If her son is still in the Pack, she can attend as a parent.

Rayburn - in answer to your question: I am SM for our Troop and I am not in the OA. It's a personal decision, I've been asked several times. In our District, the election team just asks the SM if an adult member has been elected. Troop Committee elects the adult member. At least in our Troop it is not a secret election. This year, Committee asked two adults to consider joining the OA - me (SM) and my husband (ASM). Husband will go through the ordeal at summer camp in June.

The BOGO sale at Scoutstuff is a pretty good deal. Bought some shorts and socks for the family. Our Troop is taking advantage of the sale, too. Parents last night got together and made up an order. A guy can always use an extra pair of shorts and extra socks at camp, so why not? Most ordered a 2nd pair of switchbacks, too. We have a lot of new Scouts and the parents were eager to pick up the merit badge sash for half price (two parents order, one is free, parents split cost of one). No one seemed overly concerned that the sash, for instance, is not the same color as the Centennial Sash. I

Twocubdad - your statement about boys marking their territory gave me a chuckle this morning. I envision young boys running around the woods, peeing on the trees. This is MY territory! Like all the threads on this forum, we've read two divergent opinions about the oversleeping scout. One Scouter would sit and watch and let the boys face the consequences of being late for whatever - it's their program. Another sees a different consequence, that of angry parents when the troop returns late, and would step in at some point and get the guys moving. For a while, I took the hands off appro

Definitely talk to your SM. He will know of other troops in your area and can find out when those troops are going to camp. Chances are your son will probably know some of the scouts in another Troop, which will make him feel more comfortable about going.

Barry - super sleepy, maybe. Just curious jblake, but why is PL of Patrol B telling anyone in patrol A what to do? I remember reading other posts where you state your PLs are older Scouts. How old is the PL of the new Scout patrol (Patrol B)? Reason I ask is that, at least in my experience, there is a big difference between a 15 or 16 year old working with new Scouts and a 12-13 year old dealing with scouts his own age or older. Again, just curious. I notice in our Troop the new guys in our new scout patrols will do anything and hang on every word of their older more experienced patrol l

I've come back to this thread because like most Scout troops ours is changing again. We have three older, experienced, scouts - ages 16 and 17. For the past couple of years they have been the driving force behind our Troop. They learned over the years and now I would trust them to run a meeting or even a weekend outing without any adults around at all. Well, at least I would have before we got our recent influx of 12 new Scouts. The guys are a little overwhelmed. They have taken it on themselves to make sure that we don't lose one of these new Scouts. Oh yes, they have much pride in their troo

Scouts wake up their patrol members. SM or assistant wakes up the SPL. He then wakes the PLs. It's up to the PLs to make sure their guys are up and ready to go. The night before, PLs remind those cooking breakfast that they must get up first, especially if they're planning something in a dutch oven. Cinnamon rolls are a very popular breakfast and it's taken some time to get these boys to understand that it takes much longer than just rolling out of the bag, starting up the stove, and cooking eggs. We still have issues with this but it's getting better. We have two guys in particular that

Ah yes, homesickness and the cell phone. Happens even with older Scouts. Last summer my son's friend went to work as a CIT at camp - he had just turned 15. He and my son were not housed together in staff cabins, which would probably have helped the situation. Scout is rather shy and quiet with strangers - even boys his own age. He was on the receiving end of several 'new staff' pranks. Also, being shy, he tended to keep to himself. His first week was miserable as he reported to his Mom. Turns out he was also calling home every day, sometimes more than once, to talk to his Mom. Mom ca