IM_Kathy

someone mentioned removing shoes in houses. I will remove them when asked, but otherwise I don't... I'm sorry but I have planters faciatitus and a bone spur in my heel and without shoes and my orthotics going without them can be very painful and lead me to walking around with my cane and taking vicodin for the remainder of the day and possibly the next. sometimes there are reasons for people to do something that others think is "rude" or "disgusting"

hats is always an interesting topic.

I wear a hat almost all the time. I think the only time the boys in the troop see me without a hat is in the dining hall of summer camp.

was always interesting when I coached little league because technially men/boys remove their hats for national anthem, but women do not. of course this goes wayyyyy back when women hats were pinned in and such. but with young boys they do not understand women can leave it on but they have to take it off - so I always took mine off as well.

thankfully with the BSA I wear official BSA hat and can leave it on. until I get to the dining hall

sometimes the activities boys pick just leads to having a meeting or two that would tie into a MB. my son's troop is doing ice fishing in february - they are having fishing MB councilor come in and go over the knots and safety on the ice... also having the owner of the pond they'll be fishing on talk about bait. It won't earn them the entire MB, but it will get them a few things done and then the rest is on the boys to do with the councilor later if they want to complete the badge.

much the same way as boys working on communication MB or their star rank will lead different activities to teach lower rank requirements. and those often tie into things they will be doing on upcoming campouts too

our cut off for troop outtings is the meeting before the event. for things like summer camp and jamboree's those are set by the council/district.

if a boy falls ill or is for some reason unable to attend after signing up - if the shopper hasn't bought and can be notified then the boy will get refunded for the food portion of the cost. but that can really be a flip of the coin because it is up to the cook as to when they shop - like my son always shops on wednesday as I'm booked on thursdays. but most of the other boys shop on thursdays.

I was in girl scouts for at least 2 years because I remember being a brownie and a junior and attending 2 summer camps, but not sure if I was acutally in more than that. I quit because by troop was a crafty group and I wanted to get outside and do things.

My son's troop is looking for a new SM to step up in a year or 2... I have thought of doing so, but do prefer it to be a male.

but when it comes to camping and teaching skills... for the last few years if it weren't for me there are a lot of boys that would still be at scout rank that are now 1st class scouts. I work with the boys with their T-2-1 rank work. I've been trying to teach a couple other leaders that camp quite a bit on how to do the same things, but they just don't get it... they can't pick up on the knots and lashings, and all the other stuff. I will admit the only 1 requirement that I am terrible with and either need to teach myself or find more adults who are good with it (some are dropping as their sons age out) is the plant identification. I've been doing it all for so long now that I don't need a book... but I do need someone to teach the bowlin knot with tying it with two hands as I only tie it with 1 hand and I do teach it that way because I think that's the most important way to learn it.

but with all of this you're also talking to a woman that can coach any sport except hockey (just don't know enough about it) and only didn't coach football because my hubby wanted to. but I coached boys and girls - soccer, baseball, softball, basketball. and have been involved with boy scouts since son was a tiger (now in 10th grade) and with girl scouts since daughter was kindergarten daisy (now in 12th grade and final year)

It's interesting that your troop requires attending camp to get a POR. (den chief? webmaster? scribe? historian? ... a different discussion)

Den Chief - the 2 boys looking for position do not want to be DC - and don't have the maturity to really want them to be good examples of the troop IMO

webmaster - the troop uses googlegroups so don't need a webmaster - the SPL just posts upcoming info.

scribe - the troop has never used

historian - the troop does use, but it does require attending campouts as they take pictures and keep up our troop binder of photos of activities.

quartermaster - obviously requires attending campouts

PL - doesn't require attending every campout but majority is nice and working with the APL to make sure one of them is there - but they missed elections any way.

librarian - is the only other position the troop really uses that doesn't require campouts, but they will also be missing several meeting due to wrestling so that's not an option either.

you are right in that the boys should be approaching the SPL - these boys like to try and skate by.

as for positions in the troop - while it's not required that they attend every event it is their responsibility to make sure someone fills in for them when they will be gone. For example during debate season (1st semester) my son always takes on quartermaster - he's been trying to teach younger scouts the role by getting qm2 & qm3 to attend and go over everything with them - having them do the work while he watches over and points out things that they are forgetting. but he won't take a position that requires attending meetings as his debate matches are on the same nights as troop meetings.

the one position I would like to see the troop use that it doesn't is chaplain's aide. leading prayer services when our campouts interfere with attending church, and leading prayers at COH's and such. but none of the boys have really wanted to take on that role and do what would be needed to fullfill the job. so instead we usually have a boy that is working on communication MB plan and put them on.

don't know the answer for this - too many things we don't know about.

I know my son's troop is dealing with similar issue but for a couple of boys working on Star. they did not attend meeting with elections and so are looking for SPL appointed positions - thing is they have had positions before and have not lived up to even the bare minimum of expectations even with a lot of guidance of adults and older scouts. so the SPL doesn't want to appoint these 2 into those positions. plus they don't winter camp and other than librain they need to attend campouts.

I'm in support of the SPL - he has reasons to not put these boys into those possitions, but he's getting a lot of pressure from the mom of 1 of the boy and she's also basically the scout mom for the other. So I talked with her and mentioned there are a lot of times that boys need a position and have to wait - my son and one of his buddies both had to do that. that just because for star it says to have a position doesn't mean they automatically get a position. My son doesn't even need a position as he's had his for eagle a couple of elections ago - but he still takes on positions that he can help with. He is often 1st quartermaster, but this time we have a very young SPL and asked my son to be ASPL so he has someone that has been SPL before to help him out along the way and my son said he'd be happy to.

for me a postion isn't about "it's required" it's about "this boy will be good for this position and will be a big help to the SPL and other members"

my son troop has a few with peanut allergies - we have pbj for boys that won't eat what else is there (just jelly for those allergic to the pb)

we haven't had to deal with any special diets except for the catholic's no meat on friday, but then that's just cracker barrel and they will eat the cheese and crackers and leave the meat alone.

we have had some picky eaters - my son was one of them... he didn't like eggs. so whenever his patrol would cook up some sort of scrambled eggs with meat they would call him over once the meat was cooked and he would eat just that rather than when the eggs were in the mix. but he's now learned to enjoy eggs. But now we have another scout that always liked eggs, but now he ends up vomiting when he eats them so he has gone the route my son use to use.

considering we encourage all patrols to cook following the daily recommended guidlines for meat, carbs, fruit, veggies... it would be a bit of adjusting if we had a vegetarian or a vegan... either it would be up to the patrols to learn to adapt or would be a prepare their own deal - and would probably leave that up to the patrols to figure out how they want to handle it.

when we have webelos and the parents visit on campouts we always have them eat with adult patrol - it's easier for us to track down their meal needs and come up with recipes for them. we also come up with meals where the webelos will get to help and see a couple of different cooking methods. the adults also have a knack of getting done with everything fast and first so they get to watch the other patrols cook their meals and are given tastes. so if a boy visits as a webelos we already know dietary needs before they join the troop which helps too.

but we preach that allow cooks ask the following... anyone allergic to anything? is there anything someone won't eat at all? this helps just in case someone has had a change in their eating habbits.

my son is a sophmore so that may make some difference. when he has scouts, speech, or debate (the later 2 are school activities he's in) he is allowed to stay up until homework is finished. same goes for a normal day for that matter, but normally isn't needed those days.

I don't recall the last time he was grounded, but I would not ground him from a troop meeting, but depending on what he did I might for a campout. But our best punishment has always been "no screens" unless needed for school - that means no cellphones, ipods, video games, tv, computer... anything with a screen!!!

as a committee member and someone that works with the T-2-1 boys as well as having several boys working on MB's with me I will attend if my son is unable to attend which is mostly due to a conflict with debate schedule.

the issue we have the most often is homesickness at the end of parent night. Unless they are spending the week we ask that parents visit just at parent night to avoid more of this. biggest thing we stress is that the boys are safe, that if there is a major storm that we will contact 1 adult to email out that all are safe.

we have had a parent attend before that was a helicoptor parent - I had to get him to knock it off once because he was yelling at his kid after the SPL had yelled for round up. I simply went up to them and told the parent to stop that the SPL is in charge and when he calls for roundup that everyone stops what they are doing and comes together so the boy took off toward the group. and then I just mentioned nicely that hey we try not to yell at the boys, and that it's important at camp to let the boys have their freedoms - that they will make mistakes, but they will learn from them so let him learn. He did back off with the always being on his son, but he still went every where his son did.

now as for when I see my son when we are at camp... basically only when everyone is at base camp. the only exception to this is when I am having issues with my anxiety due to my PTSD as my son knows better than anyone else what to do or not to do. so if he sees me in a panic look and then walk out of the dining hall or whatever he will follow me and check on me (or if he just suddenly doesn't see me he'll ask someone I was with)

when my son and a few of his buddies switched troops I bought them the correct numbers to switch to and had them all sew. out of the 4 only 1 would not have to be redone... the other 3 had really messed up... but it was something I felt important for them to do.

my son has terrible small motor skills, and while sewing would be a great way for him to work on improving it I don't think a BSA uniform and sash that he wants to look good is the right place for him to do it.

key for me with a boy in BSA and a girl in GSUSA is that as soon as they get a patch that needs sewn on I do it as soon as we get home. for temporary patches he has a couple plastic sleeve deals that he can pick from to wear, but now that he has a philmont patch he doesn't want to wear any others. so all the others from cubs through BSA I sewn onto a summer camp blanket that he hangs in his room.

one of the best ways to deal with this situation is to ask the band teacher (as with your example) if they would be willing to sign up to become a merit badge councilor. here there is no fee for MBC, but they have to take the online YPT. That way the teacher is the one seeing and signing off rather than the boy coming back and just saying what he did.

My son used 2 MBC for his communication MB... he participates in Debate at high school - his debate coach is a MBC but works mostly for the troop in our town... but other requirements were needed to be done at troop level so he had a MBC that normally works with our troop do those things with him. He also helped a webelo that no longer has a den finish up his outdoorsman and complete his arrow of light as part of that badge.

so basically I don't have an issue with using stuff from school, but I like to see those people seeing and saying he did x,y,z be actual MBC.

I do trust the leaders in my son's troop. Being a scouter with the troop as well I know about YP... and actually if a parent really took the online class I don't think that would make them more trusting.

YP works because the adults follow the rules. but if an adult wants to abuse a scout there are plenty of ways to go about it without anyone finding out. but that's where the other adults also have to watch the adults to make sure they follow YP.

the way YP is actually set up it protects the adults more than the boys. when following YP it would be hard to abuse a scout unless the 2nd adult is also wanting to abuse the scout. but in making sure I'm not 1 on 1 with a scout then there is a witness to what took place and no "he said she said"

in the years I've been working with scouts I have found that the boys who retain the basic skills the best are the boys that attend most campouts and volunteer (or agree when asked) to help teach those skills to a younger scout.

my son is used a lot in teaching skills... at one time he was a den chief and the boys that crossed over were further along than some that came from another pack. He's since held just about every position, but his favorite is Quartermaster as he hates how some boys don't put things where they belong and then no one can find anything. Plus during the beginning of the school year he is in Debate which has meets the same night as our troop does, so he can't do a position that requires him to be at most meetings that time of year, but he can still perform his job with attending the couple he can and then attending the campouts.

I work a lot with the T-2-1 boys... and because of this I've learned which boys are better at certain skills and when it comes to teaching a new group of boys I will ask those boys to teach.

we use "return to post"

thank you all for your input. I did track down a dad that would go since was still a little confused by it. Normally this isn't an issue for us, but the last year or so the active adults are parents of boys that are beginning to age out so it's getting a bit harder, but normally have at least 1 except the 1 we had to cancel (but that one was right at homecoming and had only a few boys going so not that big of a deal)

and yes, do prefer to have a male attend, just wondering about whether would have to cancel without 1.

I cannot seem to find what I'm looking for and wondering if any of you know the answer to my question.

Son's BSA troop has cancelled once before because of not having an adult male on the campout though we did have enough adults - they just all happened to be female.

I know with GSUSA a female is required.

I know with Venturing that if there is COED then an adult for each sex is needed.

But, for BSA is a male required?

I hope someone can get back to me soon as final signup for our next campout is tonight and the male has had to drop.

Just for the record, I do prefer there to be a male and we've only once not had a male and the troop cancelled that campout. If a male is not required then we don't have to cancel. As for experience, yes the female adults going are experienced and well trained.

thanks in advance.

swimming was mentioned by a couple people... I'm the swimming person in my son's troop. Every year just after cross over we do a swim test day and do the rank rescues. Afterwards I talk to each scout and their parent and let them know... 1) they should take swimming MB this coming summer camp 2) they should take the swimming MB but need to work a,b,c 3) when I'm available to help with their swimming.

all the boys that I have had pass the swim test then have passed the swim distance for the swimming MB... the biggest thing is that I sit with them and talk about pacing themselves. the biggest key to the swim test and the swimming MB is nothing is timed. find the best boys best stroke that allows them to swim at a steady pace and allows them to get plenty of breathes and just don't stop - slow down if need to, pull head out of water for a few strokes to get more air, but don't stop. The nice thing about the distance for the swimming MB is that throwing in the backstroke in the middle gives them a good chance to slow down with that and get a good breather with their head out of the water.

to me it's not like I'm wearing my scout uniform out to pick-up guys... I'm not wearing it for a fashion statement... I'm wearing it to show I'm part of this group! And the group wears them tucked so I wear them tucked!

biggest issue for women is the differing cuts of shirts and what will work to tuck them in... for me I wear a man's cut shirt as they are longer and so are easier to tuck and stay tucked. so when buying a uniform shirt try on the different styles and see what works best with the rules and don't focus so much on what looks the "cutest" on you!

The Blancmange - thanks for the laugh... yeah - those in my son's troop know about it, but considering it's not quite as easy as just unzipping (have to have a little more room for it) I hide very well.

and yep, pack out tp unless using kind that can be buried and in a place where you can bury it. And I always keep a bit of tp in my gear too - I take full roll to summer camp because I can't begin to count the number of times boys will forget to remove the tp before hosing out the latrines.

being one of those odd-ducks that doesn't like food touching unless it's made that way... I like the plate with the 3 sections. I also have a hobo utensil set and a metal coffee cup. I like the metal coffee cup because with my girl scout troop I will just put water in it and set on fire and then use a coffee singles since I'm the only 1 that drinks it and I will only drink 1 cup.

my son's troop has patrol boxes with plastic dish sets that hold up extremely well - only time we have to replace is due to someone keeping something too close to the fire or stove... but when he went to phimont it was 1 strong plastic bowl and 1 spork along with water bottles.

when camping I do like the mesh bags... it is so hard to keep a name on a dish (though nail polish works best) so name on bag and can hang up to dry, and keeps everything together in pack. when using own messkits both his troop and my daughters troop have each scout wash own messkits so they don't get missing parts and then the dishwashers wash cooking gear and such.

my sons troop does popcorn and then 3 popcan collections each year. this year the boys are going to try wreaths as well.

all profits from fundraising is split 60% to boy's account and 40% to troop account. the boys is based on amount he sold for popcorn and for popcans it's based on time worked.

there has been discussions to increase % toward boys, but every time that discussion comes up again it's right around when we had a fundraiser that didn't go well. So it's been that % for some time, but each year the committee sits down and looks over the $ in account and what is needed for upcoming budget and then will give out $x for each scout attending summer camp. Sometimes it's as little as $10, but most of the time it's about $25. Biggest reason it varies is based on how many we have that need full support.

My son does not sell popcorn - it goes on during debate season where he is in the library researching or in class each day after school (they meet right after school, leave for supper, and then return) so any of his "free time" is done doing homework for his other classes. We agreed to this as long as he participated in all popcan drives and then we donate to friends of scouting so council gets something from us since he's not doing the corn. He raises enough to cover all the monthly campouts - so just need more when it comes time for summer camp or a high adventure.

I don't care where we camp and have for us to go... but my biggest issue is that due to knee injury I cannot squat and get up so I have to have some sort of tree deal for support.

as for women going number 1 --- had enough women don't read - here is a men don't click...

http://www.freshette.com/sports_travel.html

best thing I have ever found... fits great in cargo leg pocket... but if you are ever traveling long distance and boys are going to just ask to pull off the road and run into ditches don't keep it in your pack that is buried under other peoples gear!!!

as for the boys... all the ones that I know of in our troop actually look forward to having to do it - guess they think it's some sort of becoming a man thing

compared to my sons council your price is excellent. But he'll be traveling from Iowa and they have added visits to a Major League Baseball game, NFL Hall of Fame, Rock n Roll hall of fame, the St. Louis Arch, and a couple of other stops too... and the cost includes everything except suiveniers. But these are all places he's never been, and is excited that he'll get to see the NFL Hall of Fame before his dad ever will LOL

popcorn does great around here for the packs... who can say no to that cute little cubscout that comes up to the door? but for troops, it's only the boys in their first couple years that do good... it gets pretty easy to say no to a teenager.

biggest issue around here is time of sales... we sell popcorn in the fall... our school does a fall fundraiser, the band does a fundraiser, and the football team does a fundraiser. So people really have to make a choice in who/what they support.

the other issue for the older scouts is time... fall is when my son is in debate which means everyday after school he either has research/practice or a meet to go to. His weekends are usually packed with other scout activities or school activities. So when is he suppose to find time to go around and ask people?

add in that our council changed companies a few years ago and prices went up and our best sellers are gone... and he doesn't bother. instead he supports the troop with participating in troop fundraisers and we support the council through friends of scouting.