hops_scout

BUMP

Headed there now. I'll be logged on all night provided Mother Nature cooperates.

hanging out

bump

Tell ya the truth Cary, my first reaction was a big "YES" ;) We all know you can't say No. There's a lot of people involved in Scouts who can't do so. I'll say that no, you're not that stupid; you just keep rememering the Scout Oath: "to help other people at all times."

Lighting up the fire for 6/7/2006.

A few are hanging out right now.

Absolutely not there Dave! You can't go back to sleep. What are you thinking? I know you don't get paid the big bucks to sleep;); that's my job!;)

Eaglescout and I are in there right now. Come on by. Address in post above.

http://groups.msn.com/boyscouts/chatroom.msnw Sorry, didn't see it til now.

AK-Eagle and I are in here. We'd love to have a few more in the chat room.

Hanging out now.

In now. We had a decent crowd the last couple nights. Let's keep it up!!

Summer Camp is my vacation this summer! I'm taking a couple merit badges, but I'm planning to hang out supervising some of the newer boys.

I'm in the chat room now. Come on by!

I think when a Scout is 16, 17 years old he should be able to use the phone without supervision. Somebody said he tells the Scout to tell his parents who the Scout is talking to. I think that is pushing it. 12 year old Scout, sure, but not a 16 or 17 year old leader. Reason I say this is because at 16 or 17 the Scout most likely holds a leadership role and his parents should expect that he could get a call about Scouts. Ask who it was after, sure whatever. I don't know-- this just seems weird to me. Maybe when I'm a parent on the receiving end I'll understand.

HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!! That means water, maybe a little Propel or Gatorade, and water. Water is ESSENTIAL. Water! Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water! Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water!Water! Did I mention, water is a pretty good idea?

E, you just tell that HS band director of yours to be more flexible. Those band directors can be a pain in the rear-- especially him!

We are going to try avoiding one problem that can cause homesickness and early departures from camp. Wednesday night is Parents' Night at the camp we're going to. The parents don't know that and the new boys' parents will not know that. It helps that the camp is 2.5 hours away so they can't just drop in. Also, we are working right now to plan transportation to camp and the new boys' parents are not included. We are working to gather enough vans from the parents of the experienced boys to drive so the new boys can't try leaving shortly after arriving at camp. The also prevents one other common issue-- the parents, since they won't be there, can't help set up tents:)

We typically go to camps within 2 hours so yes we have adults come and go. It's nice for the adults to be able to do that because otherwise the adults may not be able to go at all. Not everybody can take the entire week off to go to camp. Right now here is what our adults situation is looking like... -Scoutmaster I believe is staying the whole week. -Former Scoutmaster is looking to come for 2 or 3 days. -ASM is coming Saturday before to set up, stay Sunday to help the troop get checked in. Then, he will return Friday night to help pack up through Saturday. -Committee Member staying whole week. She enjoys camping and enjoys being able to come out. That's all I can think of but you can see there will be a few come and go. I also think a few of the newbies' parents will be there as well since they are leaders. We will probably have 3 or 4 at camp at any given time, maybe more. This is with approximately 30 boys. My goal this summer is to keep the adults out of the patrol areas while the patrols are there. If they want to have a look for health and safety reasons while the boys are out in classes,etc then fine, but while the patrols are in the campsite, the adults are in their fly hanging out in the their chair. That, in my opinion, is the best way for the youth leaders to have the opportunity to lead their patrol members and troop members.

We will be headed to Camp Sunnen in Potosi MO. The camp is owned by the Trails West Council out of Wood River, IL. This will be the second time our troop has gone to Camp Sunnen. We've got about 6 weeks to go!

I'm gonna hang out for a little bit tonight. It'd be great to see a few more people stop by. There will probably be somebody in the room for awhile.

One rule we is that breakfast is not served on Sunday morning until gear is packed, placed in pack line, and tents are taken down. Cooks that morning pack their gear before they exit the tent and their patrol mates take the tent down for them. We've had the problem of boys flocking to standing around the fire when there was work to be done. I approached a few boys yesterday who were around the fire and said, "I don't believe it's your job to stand around the fire, is it?"

We are in the process of restarting a Venturing Crew. Currently, all of the members of this group working to restart the Crew are members of the troop. Our recently-stepped down SM is taking on the job of the Advisor. The CC is the same for both the troop and the crew. Also, there are leaders who will be on both rosters. The plan right now is to do 5 activities a year. 4 weekend-type activities and a week-long activity in the summer. This way we don't burn ourselves out and so we don't have too many scheduling conflicts with the troop as well as the rest of our lives;). The first activity we are looking at doing is hosting a Wilderness First Aid training session for the members of the crew and the crew leaders. This summer we are not going on a crew-specific trip, but a few of them are going to Seabase as members of the troop.

"To everyone else: I think we all know that Scouting just isn't "right" for every boy" I'll agree with that statement. The problem comes in when the PARENT decides what program is "right" for a particular boy. **This has to be read with reason of course. There are some programs the parents must step in and decide-- Scouts shouldn't be one of them** It disappoints me when a boy quits. It angers me when Scout is removed by his parent because the parent doesn't think it is worth his or her time.