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It turns out that a lot of parents were staying. I'm glad I know that now. Unfortunately, we got a call from the doctor saying that my son's supposed sprained wrist from football was actually a Greenstick buckle fracture so we had to cancel the ordeal. Now that I know, I'll prepare to stay. It looked like a lot of fun camping. My daughter even wants to stay next time. Thanks for the info.

Calico hit the right answer. I received another email saying that I didn't need to stay. They just needed someone to be a contact, I assume for medical reasons. I told my son to keep his mouth shut and his ears open. You only get to do this once. We'll see how it goes.

I received some clarification. The clarification was "Yes, you might need to stay if you can't find an adult that knows your son to be the guardian". I will pack in case I have to stay but I would be surprised if there are a ton of adults just hanging about. It's going to be a nice weekend for camping but I hate the helicopter parent idea. That's not a good way to raise kids to leave the nest. I would spend much of my time reading and hiding. I talked to several OA member and they never heard of such a thing. I have these three books from the library to read if I stay The Blue R

Here is the part of the form: TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP DESIGNATION(check one) _______Parent/legal guardian will participate in this event. _______The following Scouter(adult) has agreed to act as temporary guardian for my son to, from, and during this event It's a little ambiguous about the role. I may be able to sign it over at the event.

I find that Cub Scouts tend to bring Cub Scout behavior to Boy Scout meetings. We only allowed play after the meeting and that seemed to work best. When they arrive, start working. If they start throwing a ball, it is hard to get them to stop. Start on time.

I have a problem. My son has his Ordeal this weekend. The form mentioned the name of a guardian. We assumed that was me although I am not OA. I would prefer that he go without me. What is the purpose of the guardian? Can someone else take that role? It said that another Scout can do it but we have been unable to reach the Scoutmaster. Any ideas?

No blood, no foul. BUT now is a good time to nip it in the bud. Although I do drink, I set up proper boundaries. Scouting is one of the boundaries. There is just no place for it and nothing good will come from it. If people want to smoke/drink, it should not be openly. Ironically, scouting here is being replaced by hunting clubs. Imagine Boy Scouts except there are guns and alcohol(for adults). We've run into several of those groups at camp sites

I think it really depends on who wants to do it. If the Scout really wants to do it, he'll push for it and appreciate it more. If it is just something to do, they'll blow it off. I don't see it as a prestige type of thing. There are too many kids going in OA around here for that to be true. If there were more of an ordeal, I think it would carry more weight.

As the child of a World War 2 vet who was led by World War 2 vets in Scouts, I find the rules in the previous post to be amazing. All our leaders smoked, cussed, yelled (although rarely at us), drank, etc. Except for the smoking, there were not common occurrences but they did happen. I would say that failure to obey the protection rules (never alone with a scout) would be grounds for review.

The most common complaints I hear are about food and weather. You have to ease the kids into campouts. A 11 year-old isn't ready for a 12 mile hike and chili for dinner, especially if he doesn't like chili. Let them "graduate" to big Scout camping. We also have a hard time keeping them warm. Gearing up can be expensive and time consuming. Our young scouts want to camp out and eat hot dogs on sticks. We can add a little more each time. We already did a "real" survival exercise and the kids did not walk away with a good feeling needless to say.

My advice is based on 20-30 at night which is our norm. Keep your feet warm by zipping up your coat and sticking the bottom of your sleeping bag into it. Personally, I prefer a 35 degree bag with a fleece blanket or liner. I wear very lightweight fleece to bed and I like to be slightly cool. When you are engaging in winter activities, you always want to be slightly cool. Being too warm is dangerous. I also like to wear fleece that zips down. A gatorade bottle makes a good pee bottle. Plus no one will snitch your gatorade anymore. Fires are for cooking, not warming. The exception

I found it interesting from a Scout perspective. He is not a big proponent of Leave No Trace. He mentions the lack of tree houses. TREE HOUSES!! You can't put a nail in a tree!! And don't talk to me about climbing trees which he mentions. You might break a limb.

Girl Scouting is a whole different world. It's really not "scouting" unless it is a very unique troop. You need a form signed by all the parents to light a candle at a meeting. Our Webelos were always impressed when Boy Scouts attended the meeting and helped out. If I had a Webelo den, I would recruit a Boy Scout to help out or ask the troop to provide one on an alternating basis.

Part of the problem IMHO is that we don't push Boy Scouting enough in Webelos. Some packs tend to treat it like Cub Scouts is the end of the road. There was not a lot of interaction between the Troop and the Pack for us. Now we are in a new Troop now that doesn't have a Cub Scout component. That interaction can be very important especially when Cubs aren't really sure what happens in a Boy Scout troop. Our troop has several Cub siblings so we just formed a Cub Scout patrol with them. I'm sure it is against some rule but idle hands are the Devil's workshop at meetings. But those Cubs will