gwd-scouter

Hey Scoutmom, welcome to the forum! I think I saw that Dr. Phil episode. You, your husband, and your sons were in the front row all in your Scout uniforms? I seem to remember you had blue shoulder loops. Are you still a cub leader or have you moved up to boy scouts?

Hello folks. You can tell I'm a scouter by just stepping into my house. Well, actually, you need only drive by my house for now. You see, our chartered organization is undergoing some major construction and asked us to temporarily move our troop trailer. Being the SM and my husband is an ASM and oversees equipment, naturally we moved it to our house. Great big ol' trailer sitting in our driveway for almost a year now. Sure, the neighbors understand, but I imagine they'd like to see it gone (as we would). Walk up the sidewalk, step onto the porch, and past the open side door to the garage. What will you see? Tents piled up that weren't put back in the trailer yet. Charcoal grill from campout a couple of weeks ago - still hasn't made it to the back deck. Couple of dutch ovens, a patrol box, cedar poles and a box of rope for lashings. All of which must be put back in the trailer for storage - some time! Now enter the house. Just past the entry hall is the dining room. What's that piled up on a side chair? Scout books, leader books, a couple of hats left in the car after returning from a trip, paperwork the SM should get to some time or turn over to someone else to get to. Dining room table? More stuff (smaller items) to be put away in the boxes to go back in the trailer. Son's merit badges sash and months ago acquired merit badges not yet sewn on. Travel into the kitchen and a pile of left over and/or unopened food items from last month's campout are waiting to be put away: an unopened jar of mayonnaise, bottles of ketchup, syrup, mustard, crackers, chips, coffee, sugar, seasonings, drink mixes, etc. etc. etc. The coolers and large water jugs are still drying out on my back porch (it's been two weeks, they're probably dry by now). A pile of boy scout socks and scout-related Tshirts waits on the back of the couch in the den to be put away in our scout dresser. Yep, we do have a dresser in the den dedicated only to scout clothing. With all four of us involved, we needed it. My duffel bag from the white water trip a couple of weekends ago still sits half-packed on the floor in the bedroom, as does my husbands. Why unpack when we'll just be leaving again in a couple of weeks? And so it goes and has been like this to varying degrees of mess for the past 14 years. Hello everyone. I'm a Scouter. So, what does your house look like? (sorry about the typo in the title. I always seem to type every when I mean to type ever) (This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Not knowing all the details I can only say from reading your post that the Eagle Board Chair is out of line. The Eagle Scout and his family determine what type of ceremony he wants. It can be formal, informal, in a church, in the woods, during the day, in the evening, whatever. He can have whomever he wants give the Eagle charge - even someone who is not an Eagle Scout (though he usually is). He can ask whomever he wants to speak at his ceremony, or no one at all. My older son had his Eagle ceremony in 2001 and I've been to several others over the years. While members of the Eagles' BORs may have been invited to attend and once or twice may have said a few words about the Eagle, none were ever a major part of the ceremonies and most times not included at all.

So, is this troop committee training something I do as SM, or our district does in addition to the training done by the council?(This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

What is Troop Committee Challenge? I've heard it mentioned here before. We don't have anything called that in our District or Council.

Thanks for the encouragement folks. Meeting went very well. New CC had prepared an agenda and first on the list was a report by the SM (me). I did use this as an opportunity to discuss upcoming trainings for them. But, more importantly, I outlined what the troop had done over the past year and the goals for the upcoming year. A couple of these folks have had boys in the troop for a few years but never really understood what was going on. Just that the troop had a new SM and she seemed a lot tougher than the SMs before her! They asked me quite a few questions after the business part of our meeting. I think they "get" it and seemed very enthusiastic about becoming a part of the rebuilding and strengthening of our troop. Our new treasurer gave a wonderful report and even discussed the upcoming popcorn sales and how we need to work harder on fundraising. They have all made a commitment to going to training. Our Council offers fast start on line and all are doing it this week. Youth protection is also offered on-line as well as at October Roundtable. Committee folks, even though they will not be directly involved with the youth, agreed to take the online version so they can better understand what the training is and why we (the SM and ASMs) do what we do. I was also just contacted by our new ASM asking how he can sign up for Outdoor Leader Skills in September. Hooray for people that are willing to go to training. Of course, mentioned a few times that our scouts deserve well-trained leaders might have helped!. If you don't ask they don't have an opportunity to say yes, do they? I forgot to mention that two of our former committee members (treasurer and chair) have agreed to stay on to help out with specific tasks when needed. It is going to be a huge help to have a committee of folks dedicated to our troop. Seems like we may just be on the right track. We still have a very small Committee: only Chair, Advancement, and Treasurer (our new COR was not present at the meeting). But, we are a small troop and will hope to add on more people as our troop grows. Yep, Scouts are going to have a great year!

We have all new membership on our Troop Committee and having our first meeting tonight. None of the folks on the Committee have been to training yet. The dates for district and council training are coming up soon and I will give out the schedules tonight. Hope I can convince all these new folks to go. We are having our Troop's annual planning campout in a couple of weeks and I was hoping for an easier year now that the scouts are beginning to get the hang of the whole boy-led thing! Didn't plan on having to start with a bunch of new adults and an untrained committee. Hooh boy. It never ends does it? Just when I think I see some light at the end of the tunnel, here comes that pesky train again. Ah, serenity now....serenity now.

I agree with Chippewa in that a SM should serve for at least 5 years. I say that knowing that I've only been in the SM position for two years and a minimum of three more years to go seems a bit overwhelming at times! One of the biggest problems our troop has had was a succession of SMs that only served 1-2 years. With each new SM came a period of transition that lasted 6 months or more - sometimes during the SMs entire tenure (one of the SMs served less than a year). Add to that a SM who was all talk and no action, another that was such a nice guy he would never hold a scout accountable for anything and did all the cooking for them, and you have a mess! This ultimately led to a complete breakdown of the troop into nothing more than an a "cliquish" social club with an occasional (adult run) camping trip on the side. Of course, if your troop is running smoothly, has a functioning committee, is truly boy-led, and a transition plan is in place for the adult leaders, then changing SMs would not be such a big deal.

Another favorite: cooked pineapple. Place whole pineapple on embers (either campfire or charcoal). Rotate pineapple every few minutes for about 1/2 hour. When outside of pineapple is blackened, remove and slice. Juicy and hot. Yummy! And, of course, no mess except for the knife used to slice it.

One of our Scouts did a similar project this summer. His church was sponsoring a medical mission trip to Honduras. His project involved collecting, sorting, and packaging all the medical supplies before the trip. This involved two weekends of volunteers (church folks and scouts). He organized and scheduled the weekends, coordinated the volunteers, and oversaw the sorting and packaging. I, too, was a bit concerned when he approached me about the project. It certainly was not the typical building-type project I've heard about before. And, this was only the third project brought to me as SM. But, after hearing his explanation and reading his write up, I signed off on it. Our District Committee met with him and signed off too. I have not yet read his final write up as he just returned a couple of weeks ago. But, he has discussed the trip to Honduras and the work he did once there and I do believe he showed leadership.

"The lawsuit claims the troop would not let the 11-year-old boy go to scout meetings or on a camping trip unless his father came along, and that as a result, he was unable to move to the next scouting level." How does requiring his father to come along prohibit the Scout from achieving the next level in Scouting? Or, any level? Must be more to this story than we see here.

For years, our troop has struggled along with poorly attended campouts or cancelled campouts. When I took the job of SM a little less than 2 years ago, I made a commitment to the boys that I would not cancel a campout as long as at least 3 guys and another adult were going. Oh yes, went on a lot of 3-scout campouts! But, eventually, the guys got the idea that we would follow through with plans and go and do something every month. Last August they held their first ever annual planning weekend. They filled the calendar with trips of their chosing. Still, attendance was pretty poor for the first half of the year. A couple of guys mentioned several times that something was seriously wrong if they actually planned what they wanted to do and still only a few signed up. I know all of you have heard all the excuses too. The biggest problem we seemed to have was that the Scouts' families scheduled things that conflicted with our outings. Or, even worse, the Scout just didn't feel like going that time, or the next time, or the next. Last year we started posting our yearly calendar on our website and sending newsletters home. It may not say specifically the location or theme of campouts, but the weekends were all identified; i.e., September 8-10, Campout (place to be determined). This was done in an effort to help families know well in advance what our schedule was. Over the past year I've seen a slow change happening. Parents are becoming more interested in the happenings of the Troop. Not necessarily getting involved yet, but at least responding to emails, calling and asking questions and even contacting me to find out if it's too late for their Scout to sign up for a campout. More importantly, the scouts themselves are realizing we (the adults) meant it when we said it was their program, their plans, we will go and do what you want. For example, last year the guys put a trip to Carowinds Theme Park on the calendar. I'll bet they thought we really wouldn't do that since it wasn't exactly a "scouting" type of outing. Yep, we went this past July. The guys that didn't go sure were disappointed when they heard what fun it was. Just last weekend we had our white water trip. Best attended outing we've had in at least 3 years - 9 of 13 Scouts went, even a couple of senior scouts who haven't been on an outing with us in over a year! I don't know if it made a difference, but I sent an email to everyone explaining that with the cost of gas we would not take the trip unless we had a minimum of 10 people going - that way 2 cars would be filled and cost of gas shared among more people. Also had to put in a deadline for payment since we wouldn't be refunded by the outfitter after 10 days before the trip. This worked very well, we wound up with 14 for the trip. Also, during the summer, our Troop Committee changed over to all new folks, a couple of whom have been with the Troop for years and just now decided to get involved. Training for all of them is coming up in September and October and hopefully they will work together and take some of the burden off me and my husband. I am really looking forward to September when we again have our annual planning campout. The guys have already started talking about ideas for next year. Maybe it will be our best year yet!

Wow Kichkinet, a family full of OA guys! Great time to spend together during your fall fellowship. Older son was on the nominations list for Vigil Honor this summer, but was not elected. He was very surprised to find out he was even being considered. Both he and younger son are looking forward to fall fellowship in our Council coming up in October. Good luck to you and your brother.

Smoked sausage is perfect for campouts. We made a meal at last weekend's campout that had the boys drooling. Now they've put it on their list for next time: Smoked sausage (1 or 2 depending on the size) cut up into bite sized pieces. Brown in skillet or dutch oven with chopped onion. Add 2 cans beef broth (we prefer Campbells, condensed), 1 cup slow cooking rice (NOT minute rice), 1 bag frozen corn, 1 bag frozen broccoli, 1 bag frozen peppers. Seasonings we use are a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder and sometimes red pepper flakes. Let it all simmer for about 1/2 hour. Wonderful one-pot meal that serves 6.

Interesting - I was raised a Roman Catholic and that came up last on my quiz! 1. Liberal Quakers (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (96%) 3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (94%) 4. Neo-Pagan (93%) 5. New Age (87%) 6. Secular Humanism (78%) 7. Mahayana Buddhism (76%) 8. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (76%) 9. Taoism (73%) 10. New Thought (70%) 11. Bah' Faith (68%) 12. Scientology (63%) 13. Theravada Buddhism (61%) 14. Reform Judaism (58%) 15. Nontheist (48%) 16. Orthodox Quaker (47%) 17. Jainism (46%) 18. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) 19. Hinduism (41%) 20. Sikhism (40%) 21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (37%) 22. Jehovah's Witness (31%) 23. Orthodox Judaism (28%) 24. Islam (23%) 25. Seventh Day Adventist (19%) 26. Eastern Orthodox (14%) 27. Roman Catholic (14%)

Hey Pack. Do you live in my backyard? We did the Nantahala. I agree Chattooga is awesome (section IV anyway), but we wanted to do a trip that all our Scouts could participate in. It wasn't until we booked the Nantahala that we found out that you could just do section III of Chattooga. Older guys got to experience more challenge on our trip by paddling 2-man ducks, but have said they want a more challenging river next time. Perhaps we could take the young guys on Chattooga III and older guys can continue on through Chattooga IV. Have also been down Ocoee and French Broad. But, the Nolichucky is my personal favorite, especially in a single duck. I've heard of folks tubing on the Green River, didn't think it was swift enough for white water. Have also heard New River in WV is fun but we do have a lot of choices here closer to home. We were planning for a canoe trip down Edisto, but had to cancel because of lack of qualified adult participation. Our annual planning campout is coming up in September and I'm sure the Edisto trip will make its way onto the calendar for next year.

Just returned from our White Water Rafting trip. The was the best attended outing for the last three years: 9 Scouts (only 12 in our Troop) and 5 adult leaders (2 of the AMSs are Eagle Scouts from our Troop: my older son (almost 20) and an 18 year old who earned his Eagle last October). First time in a long time that our SPL was actually on the trip. He wasn't signed up to go but a week before he came to me and said he felt he should go since he hadn't been on many outings as SPL - I just loved that! Another older Scout joined us who has not been active with the troop for almost 2 years. He had a great time, showed genuine leadership ability, and I think may realize that the troop culture has been changing and we (the adults) really are behind letting the boys do the planning, leadership, etc. When we first had sign ups for this trip, we only have 5 Scouts going. Pretty much the same crowd that does everything. Then, 4 more Scouts paid up and turned in permission slips. Menu plans had already been made so the boys discussed whether or not to have the 4 newly signed up guys form their own patrol and make their own menu. Boys decided to just go with one patrol of 8 (SPL eating with adults) and expanded their menu. Very evident once at camp that they need more work on planning menus! Hamburgers for dinner. Great, but they didn't plan for anything to go with it. Rather small meal and they sure were drooling after what the adults cooked (polish sausage, rice, beef broth, corn, broccoli, peppers and onions, all cooked together for a wonderful one-pot meal). We did, of course, give them a sample and they have added the recipe to use on the next campout. They had planned baggie omelets for Sunday breakfast so they would have little clean up. Guess what? No baggies. One of our new adults told me he had some ziplocks in his car. I said no, let the boys figure this out (he didn't like that very much). So, still trying to have little to clean up, the boys decided to just boil the eggs. They had ham and cheese left over from lunch the day before. The adults had some tortillas left over from making breakfast burritos. So, boys asked for the tortillas, put ham and cheese on them, chopped up their hardboiled eggs and made quite a meal. Best part was they figured it out on their own! Everyone said White Water is definately on the calendar again when we meet for our annual planning campout next month. Hooray for a successful campout! Love this Scouting stuff.

Camp Old Indian Scout Reservation, Travelers Rest, South Carolina. 7 weeks of Boy Scout Camp - about 300 scouts/scouters served each week 1 Cub Resident Camp in beginning of June - averages about 200 Cubs/Parents 8 Cub/Parent weekend sessions in October and November. There are two sessions each weekend: Friday evening to Saturday noon or Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning - all very well attended, each session with about 300.

"Sometimes a guy's just gotta barf" stated by a 12 year old scout just after he retched into the trashcan at summer camp.

Thanks for the responses so far. I haven't worked Day Camp for many years, but usually am asked for input in the early planning stages (I guess because I DID do Day Camp and Cub Resident Camp for many many years). Kristi: I like the idea of early bird incentive rather than late fee punishment. The limited T shirt and patch supply makes a good incentive too. I will certainly mention both to the folks for next year's planning. LisaBob: Love the idea of requiring a person from each Pack to work on staff. Volunteers for staffing is also one of our biggest problems every year! Our schools let out 3rd week in May and our Day Camp is usually the 3rd week in June. Part of the problem is that the Packs talk about Day Camp up until they quit for the summer (some time in May) and then have no contact with the families until they return in the Fall. Also a great idea to pick one or two people in each Pack to be the contact person for Day Camp. Great ideas so far! Keep 'em coming!

At last night's roundtable the topic came up about people waiting until the last week before day camp to sign up. Day Camp is promoted in our District beginning at February's District Banquet. Flyers are mailed to all registered Cub Scouts from Council in March or April. The Day Camp Director and/or Program Director goes to at least one Pack meeting for every Pack in our District and promotes camp. Still, there is almost no attendance until about a week before camp and then they come flooding in. This makes it extremely difficult for the staff to plan T shirt orders, craft supplies, den numbers, etc. etc. Do you have the same problem in your Districts? If not, what do you do to ensure early or even on time registration? Also, what are typical attendance numbers for your District? I look forward to any advice that may help our District improve on time registration for Day Camp next year.

Oops. Just reread my post and noticed I mentioned the Carver picnic when referring to Youth Protection. Apologies. I'm getting my trainings confused. Carver picnic is in Ages and Stages video for new leader training. I've done both so many times as a District Trainer that one sort of melts into the other.

Went to Roundtable last night and no one I talked to has heard of these new pants. Maybe here in upstate South Carolina, word hasn't gotten out yet. I do have one concern about the new pants. Considering the different rates that Scout clothing fades when washed (especially the socks!), won't it be interesting when the shorts are washed throughout the summer and then the legs are zipped back on for winter wear and don't match!

I attend every monthly roundtable for our Troop (I am SM). My husband, ASM, attends periodically and our former Committee Chair made it a couple of times. Many troops and packs are not representated at all at our roundtables and I know this has been discussed in other threads. Mostly, those that do show up in our area are SM or CM. I'd just like to find out from the forum folks of those units that do make it to roundtables, who attends? SM, ASM, Committee members, etc. Is attending roundtable a responsibility I could pass on to someone else in the Troop to help free up my time a bit?

Going out on a limb here and assuming that last year's Tiger Den Leader is now this year's Wolf Den Leader. Tiger year began last fall and ended this past spring. Wolf year begins this fall. In many Packs, the "year" is really just the school year with the exception of having Cub Resident Camp, Day Camp and maybe a Pack activity or two in the summer. In any case, most Packs graduate their Cubs to the next level at the end of the school year. So, having said that, your Tiger Den Leader signed up last fall and ended his term last Spring and did not serve a full year. The requirement does not say a "calendar year" or "twelve months," so one could interpret a year to mean the school year, or Pack year. Even if you count his service as a year without being a calendar year, I wouldn't count the night he signed up as a Tiger Den Leader as being a part of conducting a roundup. Why not have the former Tiger Leader help out with this year's roundup? His experience as a Tiger Leader could only help encourage the new first graders and their parents to sign up! Everyone wins - Leader completes the requirements for his knot, the folks doing the roundup have an extra person to help, and the new folks get a first hand account of the workings of Tiger Cubs and the Pack.