IM_Kathy

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.

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

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.

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 duri

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

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.

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

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 so

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 sc

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.

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 deep

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.

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

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 muc

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

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

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 ha

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 du

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.

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.

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,

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 staf

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

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

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