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IM_Kathy

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Everything posted by IM_Kathy

  1. knowing girl scouts... I'd really recommend waiting until the last year of brownies before having them handle anything than a kitchen knife and carrying around a knife and using when you aren't always watching. My girls have always been better behaved than my boys were with knives, starting them at brownie level would still be a bit sooner than the cub scouts get theirs.
  2. I would have a big issue with any adult drinking during a scout event - even if it was just while they were in town getting supplies. Big safety issue in my book. And considering that for weekend campouts I don't take my sleep meds for that very reason I would think someone could go without a drink. Now during summer camp where I'm gone for a week and can't go that long with just a couple of hours (if lucky) of sleep a night I make sure that we have enough adults along including having a tentmate for me (so another female) and even then if there is a storm expected at night I will not take it so I can be there mentally to do what needs done.
  3. unless you are a pack where all the den meetings meet at the same day, time, and such... one big selling point is being able to set the schedule. For people with a lot on their plate that allows them to make sure they can keep scouts to work for their childs schedule as well as theirs.
  4. also get a BSA handbook - especially helpful for the outdoorsman where they are given choices of what to do. We did ones that they would later need to know for T,2,1... for Webelos they still do their best so they learn the skill but like with the whipping the rope they don't have it really tight, but they learn the skill then when they come to boy scouts they know how to and are a bit older and are able to get it done tight. while looking for nature centers and such for pin activities also check with them for service work... we went to 1 each summer for forester and naturalist and during their earth day clean up we showed up and pitched in. also look to see if you have any county conservation boards that are holding things - that's where my boys learned geologist. find some troops in your area that you all can attend meetings with and camp with to help the boys see their choices and use toward AOL. make the things fun to do... even the boringest things can be made fun. we made buzzers with one of the pins and then used them to do a quiz game using BSA info as questions (look at the scout badge requirements and AOL requirements for good ones) When the boys had to construct a bridge I brought hot wheel cars and we did a compition with some small prizes for everyone - first place held the most cars and got to pick first. anything you can do outside do it... even if it's just learning to set up tents and dining flys... make them learn to work together and to think things out - I purposely gave them rope that was too short for their dining fly between the trees I told them to use so they had to remember to use a square knot to attach rope to make it long enough. as to parents - find out what they are good at and maybe have them lead a pin. I had an engineer that helped with that pin. I had another parent that was good with sewing and had a couple machines so the boys made stuff bags as one of their crafts without wood... the boys didn't think it was very manly but then when they struggled and finally got it down they were impressed with themselves and had something they could use. My step mom was an art teacher so she came 1 summer day and we did artist out in the yard. other wise I told parents they were welcome to attend anything, but that webelos was the start of learning independence they would need for boy scouts and to sit back and let the boys try and fail a few times until they finally got things down because it would mean more to them to do that then to have someone else do it for them. also - I made sure all the scouts and parents knew when we were working on pins that were required for Webelos badge or AOL... and I only did make up days for those pins since they were required. The rest they made up work at home and brought in proof of work. All my webelos made AOL and 2 earned the super 20 fun patch.
  5. when my son was a cub they had different things for each level at cross over... tiger to wolf got an arrow head necklace wolf to bear got a bear claw necklace bear to webelos got a wooden chip with feathers and were given their Indian name written on the wooden chip webelos I to II they got a necklace with a piece of scalp on it (really was hair from a wig, but akela acted out cutting off some of their hair and putting it on there) as a den we would do different games and compitions through out the years and they got some of that basic camping gear as prizes. Also we all celebrated Christmas so I got the boys little presents each year and by the end of cubs they had a compass, whistle, water bottle, messkit, flint, and a boy scout hat (they were on sale at the scout shop when they were crossing over)
  6. I have one as well - I will put it on my wrist if I'm going out in wilderness without full pack, but normally I just click it to my pack. It's a great way to keep the rope for wilderness survival gathered up... also makes that little pack a little smaller when you wear the bracelet.
  7. the camp we are going to has a program for T21... but it is done during free periods. They have different things set up on different days so on one day during 1st free time they will have totin-chip and 2nd free time they will have knot tying. Then on the next day they offer 2 other things. I like this set up because some boys already have completed some of the things completed depending on when they crossed over and what they did on campouts or at meetings. So the boys only go when they need to go and when it's something they already did they can do something else. Also some boys that are going for their 2nd year still have a couple of things they are working on and can go with the new scounts. I know for us a lot of our 2nd year scouts still are working on their lashings - they just rush too much and don't get it tied tight and correctly to stay strong. We also recommend that the new scouts able to do swimming take swimming - but that other badges to take we try to recommend things that interest them and ones that can be completed at camp so they can come back and get merit badges right away - the quicker they see award in what they are doing the more likely they are to continue to return. We also recommend that they try a few different free time activities - while they may not be in rifle MB they can go up and do shooting during free time etc...
  8. as a female I have to post... but being a non-traditional female I find a lot of this funny. if you saw my husband you'd swear he was a typical strong male... you'd be wrong LOL... his nickname for a long time has been "hander of tools" sure until our kids got old enough he mowed and did the snow, but everything else is my job. He HATES to camp, fishing he'll do but he always hopes he doesn't catch anything LOL... I'm the one that has taken the kids into the woods, taught them to fish, taught them to clean the fish, and cook 'em in many different ways. I camp a lot with both my son's BSA troop and my daughter's GS troop... and with both I teach them the very same skills. I believe it's important for them both to learn that they can do all of the skills without having to rely on some guy to do this stuff or some woman to do that stuff -- they all need to do it all. My son's troop for a long time had only the men camping and then he joined and I would go when I could... I think that 1 thing the boys have learned is that yep women can do all that they can do too --- even pee in the woods LOL.
  9. worst we had was all at one outing. It was a campout then the next day the boys were sking, snowboarding, and tubing. Well we had a lot of boys that had never boarded before decide to take the lessons and give it a whirl. I believe in the end it was 3 broken arms and 1 sprained wrist. and now we don't allow snowboarding unless they have a note from a parent stating that they are an experienced snowboarder! And amazingly have done the same trip a few more times without any injuries (knocking on wood as that is this months trip LOL) I know before my son joined the troop we had 1 scout break his colarbone while at philmont... and then we had 1 scouter fall and break his nose while up at northern tier - luckily he was a doctor and reset it himself (all I can think is OUCH) otherwise nothing serious - oh sure scraps and bruises, a few burns here and there, but all of these things the boys do take care of themselves or has their buddy do it.
  10. scoutnut - the boy has decided to do the hiking badge... if he conditions correctly and progresses his hikes he shouldn't have an issue. But I don't do hiking MB so the biggest question would be if there was a time limit - because he would need to sit and catch breath and drink water along the way.
  11. I have dealt with the not knowing how to swim which is easy to solve by teaching the lad... I have dealt with my own son who nearly drowned when he was about 4... the only way to get him into water was using a life jacket or inner-tube... once I got him in the water I taught him all the strokes with the life jacket on him... eventually it got to "ok you can stand here, lets take the jacket and each of us hold it while you float and kick"... eventually he finally would swim in just the shallow end. It wasn't until the summer between web I and web II that he actually jumped into the deepend without any float help because he wanted to try for the red test - he didn't pass but I was so proud of him. Finally after his first full year of scouts he was able to pass the BSA swim test and has earned the swimming MB - he knew he'd never be able to complete lifesaving so he did Emergency Prep. but I'd like him to take lifesaving just to learn the how's and learn exactly what his limitations are. I have 1 scout right now that we are in the middle of getting alternate requirements - this young lad had cancer for a few years of early childhood and has very little muscle and the treatments affected his growth so he may never get much bigger or stronger... in my assessments it would take over 3 years for him to even possibly make it, but even then he may not. We've gotten all the doctor papers - now they are just waiting to hear from council I believe. I do have a couple others that haven't passed, but don't really care as they are just there to go camping and don't care much about rank. And these boys could pass if they worked at it a bit - they just need to learn to pace themselves better
  12. I wish I had enough talent to do that - took enough thought and work to be able to do bottom seams... I did a few so that as my son grew taller all I'd have to do is rip out some stitches.
  13. many of the packs in our area do 2 seperate ceremonies - Arrow of Light is done somewhere between Dec and Feb depending on the pack... and then they have crossover at the end of the school year. so for a webII who earned the AOL he would have his AOL ceremony and join a BSA troop... if he did not then he would work with DL, CM, WebI den, or parent to either finish his AOL work and crossover when he gets it done or just keep doing what he's doing until the end of the school year and then could decide to join a troop. the Pack my son was in had the biggest drop off of boys between webI and webII - part of that was the way our school system works and we had 5th and 6th grade in seperate building where the 6th graders that didn't continue into troops would pick on boys who were still in scouts. thankfully that part has changed, but it is still when the boys who are in sports start getting into tournament teams and they are made by their parents to pick between sports and scouts. My son started with just a few at tiger (was back with the orange shirt days) and not a lot of parents liked the idea that they had to attend all the meetings and such, so den was small then. As wolf the den was so big it needed to be 2 dens, but we had no one that would step up as DL. We lost a few as bear, lost a few more as web I, and lost a lot as webII... ended with just 3 boys who earned their AOL and joined a troop - 1 is now a life scout, 1 is a star, and 1 is at 1st class... and are all enjoying scouting. The ones we lost was due to sports and lack of parent support.
  14. for 2 of the MB's (swimming and lifesafing) there is no need for the sheets... let's in the pool and do the work. for the others I leave it up to the boys... some use them, some don't. I usually hand them out for family life because of the sheet for tracking their chores. but what I do is when they come to chat with me and they have those sheets - I take them and use them as a reference as we chat. Like if a boy stumbles on something I'll mention "well you wrote __________ what did you mean by that" the other interesting thing about the sheets is it does help you see how much of the work the boy did and how much was helped by "well meaning" parents. when they use big words and spell those words right when they are the kid that wouldn't even know what that word means you know something is up. and yes, I call them on that too. and depending on their answer I'll decide what needs done on that matter.
  15. in my son's troop I know that's it taken place at the same day because he did it for his life rank, but it required him to ask a few committee members to stay late in order to do that... as I recall he was about to enter debate or basketball season where he would be missing a bunch of meetings and while he did attend campouts and they can do them there it's just a big question of who will be at the campouts. it really depends on what is going on in the meetings, but often the 1st half of the meeting is all set and planned and the 2nd half is set up for the boys to be able to do what they need to do - rank, meet with MBC, SMC, BOR, etc... so typically boys who need BOR's have already talked with committee members to set that up and so as soon as it gets that time then that's what they are doing and other boys are doing SMC's. Now if only 1 boy has requested a BOR and we get done with that we can sometimes do the boy that just did his SMC... and also depends on how many committee members are at the meeting - if only 3 are there then we are limited to just 1 at a time, sometimes we will over 6 there and get a couple at a time.
  16. my son's troop does have adults that "over see" certain positions... for example I am the adult in charge of the trailer so I oversee the QMs. The main QM is picked by the SPL and then that QM picks his assistants (or better worded says yes or no to people who ask to be assistants). If the main QM is new then I use the out-going QM to teach him and then just over see. If the main QM is a returning one and did well I look to see who he has for assistants and give suggestions based on that - for example our newly selected QM is a returning and very good QM and one of his assistants is a young guy. I just mentioned to him that one thing I'm counting on him to do is to teach this younger scout how to do this job because as the older scouts age out the newer scouts need boys that know what they are doing and this is his chance to pay it forward.
  17. my son's troop camps every month. during these cold winter months we do some cabin camping at our nearby scout camp, we also do a lock-in at an indoor climbing place, and we have one at a nearby ski hill where they tent camp. his troop does follow common sense when it comes to tenting outdoors - if the temps or windchills get way too low we will cancel the camping overnight part and just do the next day activities - but in the years my son has been involved they've only had to do that once. his troops biggest issue is often getting enough adults to tent in the winter... we always have at least 3 adults go during normal camping, but we like to have at least 4 for winter tenting just to make sure if there are injuries or issues with the cold we have extra hands/eyes and can stay with safe scouting rules. There are 2 of us adults (me being 1) that will tent in the winter, there is 1 that refuses, and the others it just depends on the weekend. So with me being involved with Girl Scouts too I always try to make sure I'm not double booked on those weekends.
  18. my son's first troop didn't all transfer, but my son and a few others left that troop and transfered to another troop. we chatted with a few, and attended a meeting and campout with one and was sold... they've been there since... we've even had more from our town join this troop. the biggest issue we had was with getting the boys account money since their policy was that it stayed with the troop when a boy quit... finally got them to transfer the money once they made their 1st summer count payment. the second issue was with getting the paperwork all transfered... but that was due to part of the reason why we left - no organization, the people in charge of certain things were never at any of the meetings. but with the situation you are discussing I doubt that will be the case.
  19. my son's troop does duty rosters for summer camp - on weekend campouts it's always done the same way so the boys have it down. weekend campout 1 cook 1 assistant cook the cook and assistant cook - cook the meals and clean up their work station when done. the other boys in the patrol rotate with the dishes and cleanup... so if they did dishes at breakfast then they cleanup at lunch.
  20. could be a fun activity - you just never know what kids will learn from things though. my son learned about MRE's the first time he went to summer camp with his 1st troop. one of the older scouts had a dad who was in the service and got a couple from his dad to bring to camp for days when he wasn't a fan of the meals at camp. Now my son is always asking to take 1 with him or at least add water to cook deal.
  21. my son's troop has been NSP and they stayed that way all the way through. Biggest issue with that (and why they are changing) is when you have a year with just a few cross overs, or when 1 patrol gets 1/2 the boys less active - then you end up with just 1 boy from his patrol going on a campout and having to do all the work so they end up mixing patrols for such cases. so the PLC has been working for a few months on redoing the patrols... the suggestion of fully mixed patrols was nixed by the older scouts - they want to be with their friends. They don't mind helping younger scouts, but then they want to return to their patrol. so from that they ended up with mixing HS boys into patrols based on their activity (1 patrol is mostly just around for HA and the other patrol is still very active) and then the MS boys were split into patrols. when they have enough crossovers to make a NSP then they will have a NSP from them joining until summer elections when they will join a MS patrol... at the same time boys joining HS can decide to join a HS patrol or stay with their current patrol. when we only have a few crossovers - they get split among the MS patrols. this is starting with this coming elections - so far all are in favor of this change - though we have had a couple of the boys that were in the less active HS patrol that said they'd rather be with the active HS patrol and the SPL has made that change. with these changes we are keeping the patrols sizes around 10 as well. other than camporees we rarely have a full turn out at monthly campouts, so having 10 boys means if just 1/2 show there is still enough to stay as a patrol.
  22. ok being female I may be a little biased... BUT, I think having some female staff members has helped with keeping our summer camp numbers up. The younger boys are always going - they want to do all those things that are hard to do not at camp. The middle boys are going to do those badges they weren't able to do before. The older boys have done pretty much everything, but they remember that cute red head gal was there last year and goes to see if she's there again. and yes, that has been the reason we've had a couple sign up LOL our summer camp does staff totems to split staff around the different dining tables... the older boys are always trying to figure out who belongs to which totem so they can get the girls to sit with them. Me - I don't care if they are male or female as long as they know their skills that they are teaching and follow BSA policies.
  23. 1st off - boy led troop - what do the boys want to do? 2nd - if you do a NSP and stay boy-led than you do need an older boy or two that are good at the T21 skills, good leaders, and good at teaching those skills. I personally prefer mixed patrols. My son's troop has always go by age, but is adjusting that a little this year with having 2 high school patrols, 2 middle school patrols, and the 1 NSP... at summer the boys going into HS can join a HS patrol and the NSP boys join a MS patrol... this fills in the patrols when boys graduate/age out. but again - biggest question is what do the boys want?
  24. my son is currently a life scout and my daughter is senior ambassador in girl scouts... when they where little we got them signed up for basically everything - softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, football, and scouts... letting them start with everyone else and learn along the way.. and along the way decide for themselves what they liked and didn't like. the reason my son is still in scouts is because he liked cub scouts more than he wanted a go-cart LOL. My husband was his DL for tigers and cubs and with traveling for work was getting burned out and so was trying to get our son to quit by bribing him... when my son didn't take the go-cart my husband was out of options but to let him stay in scouts, but he couldn't get anyone to replace him for DL - luckily my daughter was changing troops so I was no long a girl scout leader so I stepped up. 2 years later I was still DL and also girl scout leader again. I'm still involved with both kids' troops. When he was a cub - he enjoyed the family pack campouts (husband hates to camp so was really only time he camped until he got into boy scouts), being with friends, and learning all the new things (especially with webelos). Now as a boy scout - he really enjoys camping and is looking forward to his philmont trek this coming summer. His goal was to make it to 1st class and get OA... now that he has made it to life his goal is to complete Eagle. and I've stayed involved because I too enjoy camping. But I also like to make sure all the kids that want to be involved get what they want to get out of scouting... and while my kids are older and all in the scout-led ages, they still have to have adult supervision to let these things take place.
  25. as the adult in charge of the swimming stuff in my son's troop this is something I have had to deal with. Unless there is an actual event that has caused this fear - as in PTSD focused solely with water/pools then there is no medical reason... instead it is due to just normal kid fear or transfer from a parent's fear. So if there was a traumatic event get the pshycologist to get it all in writing including cause, treatment methods, and any expectations with timing of overcoming it. If there was no traumatic event then it is time to get the boy(s) slowly into water. as to teaching them a stroke to keep their head out of the water - this will not work! The requirements do say they have to jump into water feet first in water over their head and that is very hard to do without going under a little. no with physical disabilities it's up to the doctors, the boy, his parents, and troop leadership. We have 1 scout has extra weakness due to years of cancer and chemo treatment... we held a meeting with the boy and his mom along with CC, SM, AC, and me... the boy wants to complete a swimming requirement rather than switching to a hike/bike. So since his issue is with strength we are have submitted for his alternate reguirement to allow him a kick board to use as needed for him to continue. Now my own son did have a traumatic event - he nearly drowned when he was 3. by the time he was a web 2 he finally was able to jump into the deepend and swim 15 yds. He spent his first year of scouts swimming and swimming and swimming and was finally able to pass the swim test and even earn his swimming MB Another scout in our troop never had swim lessons because it wasn't something his family could afford. the boy could float on his stomach and doggy paddle, but couldn't do anything on his back and couldn't do the distance with the doggy paddle. So I took him along when my son was working on his swimming and I taught him the strokes and how to back float and do elem. back stroke and he passed his swim test along with my son. We do swim tests just a little after cross over - that way we know who can canoe without adult/lifeguards before summer camp. And with those that don't pass I will discuss with them and their parent what they need to work on and if they have no other way to get that accomplished then I work with them. Thankfully we have a YMCA that will let us do the work for free... but it's not deep enough for the actual tests so we go to a different pool for that and they allow us to have the deepend for the tests, but the boys do have to pay the admission to get in, but they get to play after tests so they don't mind that LOL.
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