IM_Kathy

the real question would be what does your own scout think is pushing? I wouldn't say I was pushy at all, but I'm not sure what my son would say. The only time I really mentioned it was when he recently made Life rank, I looked and said "hey if you do want to keep up the great work and reach Eagle then all you need to do is _________ (mostly just the rest of his eagle required merit badges)" He looked at those and then asked when he should do them. He just started FR. year, but he has a very early birthday so he'll be 15 within a week... and he's in an accelerated math/science program w

it's NOT just women... our son was on a campout this past weekend and while the weather forcast said it would be cool, it said that it would rain only over night. well, it started raining over night and didn't stop until well past noon the next day during all the activities. it was hubby that was worried... my response was that he's camped enough to know to check the weather and pack for the worst possible weather, he's been in rain before to know that if you only have 1 change of clothes to wait until bedtime to change so you can sleep nice and dry. yep, when son got home he

my son's previous troop had a Scout who was disabled... his dad always attended to help with getting in and out of wheel chair. to get around the actual camp from merit badge to merit badge etc, they brought up their golf cart and it worked very well... now and then they would have to go a whole different way to get places - like to the lake front they had to go up to the road and then take the access road down to it, but with the golf cart he was able to get his son to the activities within the time allowed. Didn't have any issues with others wanting to take it for a spin - everyone knew an

#1 I can totally understand - I know there are times when I've had a scout working on MB with me and something will come up with my unit position that I need to deal with and have to postpone our MB chat to the next meeting... and family/work things will come about. #2 I'm going to assume that at the time Johnny wanted to do that badge this person wasn't registered. I know we recently had adults add in those centenial MB. So now he knows of another councilor and knows the MBC is working with others on X dates. I can understand that one. #3 While there is no rule about not having p

perdidochas - those bic lights now have that safty guard on top to keep little kids from getting them to light... if you take a plyers and pull that off your lighter will dry much quicker if it gets wet! I've seen fire piston's - I've never used one. My scouts (the ones I had as Cubbies) learned with matches and didn't get to use a lighter (except for the stoves) until they could use a flint.

my sons troop has been pretty much same age patrols (although a few mixed up but just 1 year)... this worked great from when the troop first started some 9 years ago, but what we are experiencing now is that as the boys have aged we have some patrols with fewer members attending campouts regularly and are having to merge patrols so that we don't have just 2 boys in a couple of patrols... because of this the real leadership and bonding is just not there so the PLC is looking at changing it up to a mix of the "old school" and "new school" methods... what has been passed on to me (my s

while my son was a cubbie the pack we were with did not purchase any of the belt loops. They could do them, and den leaders could present them to their scouts - but they were paid for either by den dues (if the den chose to do it that way) or paid for by their parents. All the parents in our den decided to not purchase the belt loops due to the cost and ease of earning. As webelos the boys did do work where they would've gotten belt loops - that work just went toward their webelos activity pin. after my son became a boy scout he went back and worked as a den chief and the pack had a ne

we have boys and adults in this area that wear long sleeve shirt or sweatshirt underneath their uniform a lot during the winter months. We require uniforms when traveling to and from camping trips and if stops are made during a trip the boys unzip their coat while inside buildings. The biggest thing is when we get to our destination and they remove their uniform or change clothes they have their base layer underneath and aren't totally exposed (and only change their base layer if it gets wet or sweaty)

the troop my son started with was discussing doing this sort of thing, but as all things with that troop it got cancelled along with 1/2 dozen other campouts (big reason he found a new troop) anyway... as soon as he heard about this he got out his mess kit and practiced cooking all sorts of different meals out at our grill just to see what would work and not work. For example while he could make spaghetti on the grill he realized he did spill a bit too much water in the process and that with a cook fire that would NOT be a good idea. He ended up with a whole bunch of meals he'd be able

we haven't had a burn ban for so many years here that when the boys are working on their rank work and talk about when to use a stove or fire for cooking they look at me funny when I mention burn bans. however, we do have another issue around here that is leading some parks to banning campfires and that is insects. I forget which darn bug it is this time, but our upcoming camporee is being held in a campground where we can't bring in any fire wood. We can still cook with charcoal and stoves. Normally this is only an issue if we cross state lines. We helped a troop that camped near us

if they banned tattoos I'd miss out on the yearly "are those real" question every year when I do swim tests and the boys see me in my swimsuit rather than in uniform where they are covered. I have 3 tattoos and I'm not getting rid of them! Thankfully they are appropriate for viewing, if they weren't then I'd cover them up while around scouts.

I would be more apt to find out why boys/parents are not supporting the popcorn sales like other boys/parents in the troop/pack are... around here some places of business allow sales and some don't. one of our scouts sells tons at his dad's work. another scout their parent's work doesn't allow it so that means he has to find other ways to sell. my son sold popcorn every year until this past year. Our council changed the company they used or the company made changes, but the sizes went down and prices went up and the favorite kind most people bought wasn't available any more.

NJCubScouter - you made me remember one of our campouts... I am not the only adult smoker in the troop, but because of non-scout activities a few of the scouts know (obviously my own does)... but at the end of one of our campouts we gathered at the parking lot for our Thorns and Roses endings and some idiot (not me) dumped their entire ashtray right there in the parking lot. My son and another boy that knows I smoke looked at me, and I simply said not mine... well another boy piped up and said how could they be her's she's been with us the whole weekend and hasn't smoked. HAH! I'd smoke almo

my son's troop uses Eureka tents - they have timberline 4 & timberline outfitter 6. I have yet to have a tent that says you can sleep X to actually fit X unless you are very snug and don't move and don't have any gear in it. The timberline 4 can fit 2 of our big boys or 3 of our little guys... the outfitter 6 will fit 4 big boys and we've had 5 little ones. The little guys just aren't tall enough to put the big tents, but then we have the big tents because our bigger boys wanted a tent they could stand in to change their clothes. The nice thing about having both siz

I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that Beardad! The way my son's troop does it there is a cook and assistant cook for the campout - they cook and then clean up their prep area while the others all take turns doing their dishes and cleaning up the rest of their area. Our adult patrol does it similar, but we don't have an assigned assistant cook - it just varies based on who is handy and what is needed. The men love my cooking so I end up being cook a lot when I'm camping which is fine with me... I HATE doing dishes!!! But the last couple of campouts we've had this 1 adult atte

first off I'm LOL at all the "if you... then you are a helicopter parent" and sadly have seen some of those along the way. but I understand what you are saying bacchus... I worry about it too. We don't live in the same town as the troop my son is with, and it makes no sense to drive back home, wait 10 mins, and then go back and pick him up... so I have always stayed. I am a MBC and on the troop committee. But as the only in house swimming merit badge councilors and the person that does the swim tests for our canoe trip that happens before summer camp I usually am most active with the n

back when my son was in cubs and I was DL we had a string of beads for each scout that was attached to our den flag (our pack we made our own den flags rather than the ones that come from the scout shop) the boys got beads for different things 1 of which was wearing their uniform to a meeting. were the boys made to wear their uniform? no did the boys like seeing that they had more beads than other boys? yes we were an above the waist pack as well... I'll never forget football season when I had my son and another player running in pulling off their pads and throwing their shirt

most of the boys in my son's troop use what you all call "in house" MBC... we have adults that have sons currently in the troop as well as adults who have sons that have aged out. So while they are "in house" some of the adults are people the boys may have never seen or talked to before working on a merit badge. We also have several who are the spouse of the more active adult and so you only see them when they are working with someone on a merit badge or at a court of honor. we do have some merit badges where we do not have "in house" councilors for and those we do through the council t

if this was my son... 1) I would talk to my son. First I don't agree with the tone I read in the email from the SM but I have some questions... Do you think you did the job you were suppose to do? Did you understand the tasks you needed to do for his job? Did you ask for assistance from the SM or adult in charge of the webpage? What have you learned from this experience? Sometimes we learn more from our failings than our successes. 2) I would talk privately with the SM. I would let the SM know that the tone from the email was very harsh and I have talked with my son regarding

check state laws and also troop laws... I'm not sure on my state's law on them, but I know they are NOT allow in my son's troop because as shown in the video link someone posted you can see all sorts of violations of safety rules. of course if the state allows them and your troop doesn't you will have to decide what you're going to say when he says he just won't take it to scout functions. If my son came up to me wanting one I would simply say that those types of knives are used more for weapons and we don't keep weapons in my house. Of course if you're a hunter or gun collec

sounds like what my GS troop did during the 2008-2009 scout year... only the girl or leader that had the most money in their jar had to wear a dress at the Feb. unit event. We all knew that all the other leaders, scouts, and their parents would make sure mine had the most money in their jar... a girly-girl I am NOT! in fact most of them hadn't even seen me without a ball cap on let alone in a dress. we raised over $50 and the only work we did was to set out the bottles at each unit event and take them to the bank at the end... had we thought even more we would've charged for them to take all

I think the wording is wrong... it shouldn't be "push or don't push" but rather "make sure the boys know whats available" in working with my son's troop when we are on a campout and it's free time the SPL announces that it is free time and that for those scouts wanting to work on rank advancement to let him know to make arrangements for those boys to do the work with another scout. When there is a campout that has activities that can be used in rank advancement that is announced with the rest of the info for that trip - so if the upcoming campout the boys are hiking over 5 mile

I'm going to share my thoughts on this... first as a person in recovery that was practicing in my teen years... 1) there are all kinds of drugs that can be smuggled in, kept hidden, and not be seen when used. 2) depending on the drug and how much you are around the boy to be able to tell what they are like when they are on drugs and not on them, it is completely possible that the boy is always on them when you are around and you just accept his personality while high as his normal personality. now as a leader and parent... if I am responsible for the safety of this scout and the ot

having been involved with GS for going into 12 years and BSA for going into 9 years and being a leader with both I'm alllllllll for it - though it won't happen in time for my kids. best way to do it IMO is to have packs co-ed, but allow for dens to be gender specifc... and then when they cross over the patrols can be gender specific. And allow the small towns/troops/packs to have co-ed dens/patrols if needed. They all have same rank/advancement requirements. They all have same merit badges. To answer the question of why your daughter is welcomed into cub den/pack meetings, but you

as an outsider to OA (my son is an ordeal member and I am not an OA adult and since I'm a female I was not an OA youth member)... I have no opinion on whether this should or should not happen, but if it were it wouldn't be hard... for ordeals have an area where females are place for their sleeping and have female OA members at the ready... and then when it comes to an OA weekend I'm going to assume they are all done the same as my son's lodge where they take place at the summer camp - just assign certain campsites for females only now I'll let you all debate back and forth whether