IM_Kathy

we've done it a couple of different ways because of changes over the years of how we did things... but the 1 thing that always stayed the same is that every single scout that entered a car recieved a participation ribbon. when my son was early in cubs they had catagories that you'd enter your car into and there would be a vote for design and there would be 1-3 place medals for each category. later the pack realized that often a webelo scout wouldn't fare too well in this because the scout would do more of the work than a tiger who would watch over his dad... so we switched from cata

for our pack we had monthly leader meetings... the DL and all pack position people were to be there. occassionally things would come up and someone would have to miss it - if it was a DL then we asked that they send another adult from their den to be the meeting so they could take notes back to their leader. the CC &/or CM would write up an agenda for the meeting... the secretary would take notes... after meeting the secretary would email out the minutes from the meeting. basic agenda would be: old business - past pack meeting - # attended, how did it go, changes for next y

when my son was in cubs we had a flag ceremony at every pack meeting. a den would either volunteer to do it or would be assigned it. we had a few that were done for sure by certain levels... our cross over was seperate from blue and gold... so blue and gold being one of the "big" events our web II did the flags... cross over was another "big" event but since it was web II's big night we had the web I do the flags the rest were assigned or leaders volunteered. we also had the first meeting for the new tigers run by the web II leader and boys... the leader would teach the boys about

packsaddle wrote: "Any adult ought to be able to go without tobacco for the duration of a scouting event. BSA should have a total prohibition of it" I actually have a medical condition and if I were to quit smoking would really hinder making progress with that... and therefore I have been told by my doctors that until I am able to get my medications to a lower dose and managed well at that dose I'm not to quit smoking. while I'm sure most of you are saying "what, smoking is going to kill you, what could possibly make a doctor tell you not to quit" It is true. I have PTSD with every

yes, ideally this would be done by the PL, but this is a NP and they just now got a PL. There have been several boys, from the SPL to Eagle scouts that told the boy that day to tuck it in and since then have asked him where his shirt was. The adult stepped in that first day when he refused to listen to any of the boys and then walked away. None of the adults have talked with him since then, trying to leave it to the boys, but that's not working at all. we have never done inspections, but even with that what's the punishment of not being in uniform? Our troop is as mentioned by s

not sure what to do with this one... we have a boy the just crossed over into our troop. first time at meeting as a scout he wore his uniform, but didn't have his shirt tucked in... after being told by more than 1 leader that he needed to tuck in his shirt he walked away to another room of the building. after he returned one of our adults sat down and talked with him - I was nearby and heard some of the things he said and I have to say he did a very good job. But since that meeting the boy has been coming to meetings not wearing a uniform (there by not having to tuck in his shirt) Thi

I haven't read all the posts in this thread yet, but just wanted to share my thoughts... my sons pack did cross over in April, it didn't give him much of a chance to get to know the boys in the troop before heading off to summer camp as part of the troop. we've since switched troops to a different town there the boys cross over in December/January. It does give the boys a good chance to get to know the rest of the troop before heading out for summer camp. But, you can really tell the difference in maturity and beharior. Either that or the leaders and parents of the last couple of

1) packs can vary about from one to another so I would ask the CM, DL, or another parent which ones they think are "can't miss" ones 2) find out from DL when rank awards will be given at pack meeting 3) check with your son on ones he wants his dad to for sure be at. My husband wasn't always able to make all the pack meetings, but he managed to make it to see him get his rank awards although he couldn't make it to cross over ceremony. And when he couldn't make it to the actual pine wood derby, he made sure he was around to assist in construction although it was actually his brot

first off - totally off topic from scouts, but speaking from the platform of being a former store worker...... if you keep your son home to keep him from spreading the flu to the rest of the scouts, then why take him to the video store with you? I can understand the pharmacy... although with both as a boy old enough to be in Boy Scouts and going for Star Rank - he should be old enough to sit in the car while you run such errand. now, back to scouts... I have a question... when your son missed the training did he go to SM and ask him that since he missed the training class what he needed

not tolerable IMO - though I don't know what the "punishment" should be... abuse in any form - verbal, physical, sexual (of course sexual they should be kicked out right away) drinking during any scout function or even showing up after having been drinking and same for all illegal drugs (obviously you can take your prescribed meds as prescribed of course) smoking around scouts using foul language (our troop rule for all any way, so if boy's can't then leaders can't either) ************* I don't go on summer camp with the boys because of the smoking rule that is f

our pack didn't allow "pit fixes" except if a wheel fell off. we had check-in on saturday, we had all the parents with extra tools and weights there to help out. Once they brought the car in for "official" weigh in if they passed they were taken to the pits to wait until next day for the racing. There was no trying it out on the track allowed. the new track we got was a 4 lane and was timed run deal with the computer... everyone got to race 4 times once on each lane and then times were averaged.

I would wait and see what job you get and what flexibilty with hours you have. If you know that you will be able to always get troop night off of work, and can get 1 weekend a month off too - then you'd be able to come back to SM and let him know that you ARE going to available and want to be a JASM. If you are unable to be in a leadership position you could still be involved with troop activities as much as possible. Our troop has a patrol with all the oldest boys - they will sometimes have just a couple attend a meeting, other times several will be there.

pinewood drama - makes me glad my son is now in boy scouts. our old track was warped a bit and so one lane was faster than the other... so that became a major pain and spurred pack into getting a new track. then we had the boys reusing cars... we had a sibling and non-scout catagory so any returned cars were put in that group. That group got to race, but had no prizes for winning races of for design. and then we had the 1 parent who worked in a field that had a very percise scale and would push the weight to the highest it could get without seting off our weigh in scale.

this is the one requirement that I would like to see them give options for like they do for the eagle required badges. my son nearly drowned when he was about 3... took forever to get him to get into a pool after that. About the time he was a wolf he would finally go in to shallow water. The only reason he earned his aquanaut as a webelos was because he did his best. At that time he was doing swim lessons. one of his friends was unable to do swim lessons due to financial reason. I took him and my son to the local Y a few days a week for a couple of months. they finally did

wow, I only have 2 kids and there is no way I could put up with this. having been a den leader, boy scout adult, girl scout leader, and girl scout unit manager... scheduling and communication is very key! when I had a den (and do the same with my GS troop) we meet on a set day of the week at a set time. We do not meet every week, but I have it scheduled out which nights we are meeting and give that info out with month advance notice on info sheets that go home with scout after each meeting. On that info sheet it will say what we were doing that meeting. I normally did not say what

2eagles the hardest part to get use to with GS over BSA is that there is no set "do a, b, c, d..." like they have in cub scouts or even boy scouts. to help her along her way: get the junior badge book and junior handbook. The badge book is much like merit badge book, but difference is she doesn't have to do all listed she just needs to complete 6 of the items listed to earn the badge. In the handbook you'll find stories, games, etc to help with some of those badges. Also in the handbook you will find info. about other awards she can earn - the 4 signs, the program aid, and the bron

only change I was able to push with this in cub scouts was to quit calling it "father/son" and just call it "cake auction" and then in rules say scout with male role model. for girl scouts I have more say since I'm service unit manager and we call the women event "FROW" Favorite Related Older Woman... and the male event "FROG" Favorite Related Older Guy. So this year it was "FROG" caoling and it's "FROW" valentine tea. oh and reason for me pushing for these changes is not due to my family, but my son's friend's family... their father past away (well it's been a few years ago now)

we have 1 girl and 1 boy and the girl is older by a couple years... when my daughter started GS I was involved with that... when my son started CS my husband was involved with that until my son's year at wolf when my husband moved up job positions and had huge work load and traveled about 1-2 times a month. He finished as den leader that year, though I planned the den meeting activities and passed info over to him. Then when my son reached Bear my husband had to drop from being den leader and I stepped up. my husband is not a camper... he's not a builder (in fact his nickname is "

I know that all lodges can be a little different so just give me some ideas... my son is elligible this year to be voted in and tapped out for OA. Me being female didn't do boy scouts and don't know anything about OA... my husband didn't do boy scouts either... so we have no info to give him. The boys in our troop don't give lots of details - not sure if it's because they're afraid to say something they shouldn't or not. having attended summer camp he knows about the ordeal things the boys have to do - camp out alone 1 night, stay quiet for so long, and are limited on food (which

our girls just raised over $50 without doing anything other than torturing me LOL full story... when we planned our unit events this year one troop decided to put on a Valentine Tea for mother/daughter... since early fall all the leaders have joked with me about I have to wear a dress (I don't even recall the last time I wore one - I'm the one pictured in the dictionary next to "TOMBOY") so as I shared all this with my troop their brains started rolling... and I gave in and said ok. Since about November we've had juice bottles laid out with each of our pictures on it - the one who got m

sounds like a lot of fun... though I was hoping it was tent camping because I'd have shared that with my troop who are soooooo against tent camping in the winter. I've gone with my son's BSA troop, and it honestly isn't as bad as anyone would think... key is to realize "hey I'm going to be outside alllll day and night I actually need to dress for it." Of course it's cold when you walk home girls, you refuse to wear a hat because it messes you hair, you refuse to wear a good pair of boots because they just don't as cool as __________.... and the list could go on. and with girl led

we had this issue when we went to summer camp as webelos... 1 boy - dad couldn't go, mom's husband could... boy wasn't allowed to stay with mom's husband because he was not legally responsible for the boy ie - not adopted or legal guardian because birth parents had joint custody. sadly that boy did not go because he didn't want to share tent with boys - he wanted his step-dad. I understand the rule, but I would think in the case I just mentioned the mother should be allowed to put into writing permission given and the BSA should allow it.

our cooks for the various patrols do as much work as they can before we head out... making chili? brown up the meat at home and then pack it needing lots of chopped veggies? cut them up and put in baggies for the cooler for the boys in our troop their biggest problem is getting things done all at the same time... they often will be eating their bacon while their eggs are still cooking and the like. They eventudally learn that certain things take a little longer to cook and so you start those first. another thing that helps is have a cook and an assistant cook... rest o

I'm so happy... he did finally find his blue card! So I signed off the things we did last month at the pool and he had it done.

glow sticks!!! if the boy hasn't camped anywhere but campgrounds where there are lights out and about they will be surprised how much darker it is at resident camp... 1 glowstick in the tent for cubs really makes them rest better which means the adults can sleep otherwise: craft kits, walking sticks were a hit when my son was there for webelos but they also became swords which is why our boys didn't get them until they were older, decks of cards, marbles. and of course - patches, tshirts, extra batteries, socks, hats, water bottles