IM_Kathy

as one of the females on this board I can say that what everyone said is correct... BSA rules can't have it, CO rules is totally up to them.

I personally don't ever want to be SM, I do think it's important for these young men to have a good male role model... I hang around because I think it's also good for these young men to see that a woman can do all the same things they do (although peeing standing up requires special tools LOL)

the boys should have a list of boy type question to ask SPL, Guides, ASPL, and the like...

how often they camp, where all do they go, what gear will I need, why do you like this troop, are there a lot of merit badge councilors and are they nice, and the like.

the parents should have a list of other questions to ask the SM or ASM....

when are troop meetings, how are the boys split into patrols, how often do they have outings, what ratio adult/boy do they have on these outings, are there troop dues, does the troop do fundraisers to help of set costs, what is typical amont of money needed for each camping trip, what adult roles are needed filled that they could help with, are adults expected to take turns attending outtings, what is required to be a mertit badge councilor and do you have a list of all for the troop so I can see if there's a badge that's not being taught by a troop member that I can do, what are troop rules on electonics, what are the troop rules on uniform, what are the troop rules on cursing and bullying, and the like

these pocket rockets discuss I've never seen so guessing we don't have around here...

but I have a question about the flap border coloring you all are discussing....

my son was just called out and will be doing his ordeal in about a month. at elections the OA members doing the presentation mentioned that they have a different color border for members that reach brotherhood within a year. does this new rule mean this will stop? I'm not going to tell my son because he's gung-ho about getting to that point, but am wondering if this rule will change the way our lodge does their flaps.

thanks in advance

my son's troop doesn't require full uniform, but does require uniform shirts to and from - even having boys run home to get their shirt if they forgot theirs. I think the only time that a boy went without it was when he had out grown his shirt and had not yet been able to get a new shirt due to some family issues with a member in the hospital and such which is totally understandable.

my son's troop has "typical" troop meetings only every other week... on the "off weeks" we do still have the room in our chartered building and we use this time for getting together with merit badge counsilors.

it works great for this troop - it is largest (that I know of) in our district... we do meet durring the summer although attendence is lower then due to vacations and such.

there are great advantages to the "off week" set up... MBC don't have to wonder when/where to meet with the boys and when a few are going at once you don't have to worry about the whole two-deep rule if only 1 scout is wanting to earn a particular badge. When families are planning their vacations they know when troop meetings are and can schedule them around those weeks when they can.

most of our advancement work takes place on campouts - other than summer camp and camporees we almost always have our campouts on the 3rd weekend of the month - which also helps with parents scheduling events.

IMO it doesn't matter the number of boys as long as you have plenty of adults with the time and energy to make things the boys want to do happen... if you don't then you end up having to cancel campouts and such and that will hurt the program more than how often they meet.

my son's troop - the boy looks at the list for the badge he wants to work on and who are mb councilors for said badge, asks that councilor if they are available and willing to work with him, and then goes to the SM and asks if he wants to do said MB with said councilor and then SM oks it and gives them blue card, or if there is a reason for it to not be okayed then tells them why (although I don't think anyone has not been okayed)

I have a question...

for boys that have been in scouts prior to this and therefore have a book without these requirements, but have not completed all the ranks... do they use the requirements that are in their book or do they have to get a new book and do new requirements (or just do the new requirements without getting new book)?

price would really depend on the size of your troop and number of shirts your getting because you can get price per shirt lower when you get more.

my son's troop it comes to about 12/shirt... we have about 60 scouts.

one note though... these wicking shirts often run a smaller size!!! last year was the first time we got them and learned that lesson the hard way at least for the adults. so if you're going with a local shop ask if you can have a couple sample shirts to let the boys/adults decide what size they need.

cubs does have grade and age requirements - we were told to use which ever best fits with the individual boy in question.

boy scouts though does use age requirements - mainly in the fact that everything must be earned by the age of 18. if a child is held back in scouts because he was held back in school he will basically lose a year as a boy scout in the end.

My son has a very early birthday - he already knows he has 9 months less than the other boys who crossed over with him.

all the troops in the area do the same as you mentioned - class A shirt and neckerchief... then were what ever they want for pants/shorts. to me personally I would like to see them wear full class A's, but that's not going to happen - money is a big reason because shirts you can buy big and grow into them and get buy with 1 or 2 shirts for all your years in scouts, but when you're talking about boys of that age you sometimes have to buy pants a few times a year until they finally quit growing. My son does have 1 pair of switchbacks, but otherwise is green pants are walmart ones and he wears one of those for court of honors or when representing scouts in public because I tell him that is the way it should be even if none of the other boys do.

the best way to start it is once your den is settled in with the wolf level and possibly not always have a parent with them... then you start by saying something like "next meeting we need to work on X, but we'll also have time to work on an elective - would you like to do A or B" as things move along with the denner you can say "as denners you have to come on time and lead the warm up game and you get to pick the game you want to teach" By the time you get up to Webelos you can sit down and ask the boys "ok which pin do you want to work on next?" and when they bring up one that say needs to be done outdoors and it's snowing out you can discuss how that would work and let them brainstorm on either making it happen in that weather or coming up with another pin to work on.

I will say my den had a great advantage in that cross over for our pack/troop was at the end of the school year when the other levels changed levels so my scouts had 2 full years to work on their webelos pins. During the summer months we worked on the outdoorsy pins and during the school year we worked on the others - we only had 1 make up day and that was because it was for an AOL required pin that a boy was sick and missed.

I had a small den with just 4 boys - 2 boys earned all 20 and the other 2 earned a few more than required. 3 went on into boy scouts (2 of them that did all 20 and 1 other) the other boy had medical and behavioral issues that the parents felt boy scouts would not be a good setting for him. Of those 3 one is now a star, one is a 1st class, and the other is a 2nd class only needing a clear day/night campout to finish 1st class work (I swear every campout he attends is cloudy and when we meet for meetings doesn't work for that either)

to me the focus shouldn't be on "earning all 20" but rather "exposing/offering all 20" sure not all the boys will be interested in earning forester (for example), but it's something that some may enjoy and may offer a glance at something to a boy that could eventually lead to a career.

I've also heard a few leaders that say my scouts aren't going to do _______ because I don't know anything about it... use your resourses wisely. Check with your BSA troop in your area and see who does a similar merit badge that could teach it... check with your local parks and rec or county conservation board and see what they offer. I still don't know all my trees, but we had a great facility that taught the boys forester 1 year and naturalist the next year - we returned the favor by working at their earth day clean up... and I still don't know a rock from a rock but we attended a geology class put on by a local county program that was also completely free - the boys had a blast.

I had a boy in cubs that had a medical disorder and had many of the issues you listed... with our small den I was able to handle it just fine while in a meeting setting, but when we did any field trips or campouts I did require a parent to be with him - only once was his parent not able to be there and I asked another parent to come to help out and I took that boy on 1-on-1

I forget when we first starting using denner - either bear or webelos...

in my opinion cub scouts is about learning and trying... which means everyone should get a chance at denner.

I chose to go through with a rotation and used it through out the rest of the cub years.

Now, with starting with wolf level - I'd suggest starting with assigning and going with rotation, then maybe when they get to webelos going with the election so they can learn about that - and I like the rules of not voting for yourself or anyone else that has served since being that level

$3.00/person/meal $1.00/person/snack

it's a budget that we have used for boy scouts, cub scouts, and girl scouts... the larger the group the more likely you are to be under budget because you can buy in bulk, but we always put that extra little bit in the pack account when we were in cubs so that we could cover an event that went over a bit.

who does the cooking would depend on a few things... what activities they are doing, how much time between activities, what you're having to eat. When we did stations on our pack campout we always had 1 that was dutch oven cooking - the boys worked together to make a pan of something we'd use for snack/dessert either a cobler or a cake (you get the idea)... they learned how to care for them and they learned how to use an old school can opener you have in pocket knives.

the bulk of the cooking though was done by a few adults that volunteered to do it... they were ones that weren't running a station and knew what they were doing.

short answer - no you don't

how ever, doing the flag open and close is great way for the boys to really learn where the flags go, what the commands are, etc...

we used a small US flag and a little holder - I didn't have a pack flag so we just had a piece of paper for the pack flag... when new I did the commands boys took turns being flag carriers for that meeting... as they got older and we had a denner then the denner did the commands. The reason for the paper was so that they learned that US flag gets carried on the right and goes on right hand of speaker so they got to practice stopping to let US flag cross in front and then at closing they got to learn that US flag was already on the right so they didn't have to cross.

when my son was in cubs our pack always did the following...

raingutter regata, campout, pool party (private party at local pool so lifeguards were provided), fishing and picnic

when my son was in cub scouts our pack took the $ raised by the boys and % went to the pack and % went into the boys camping accountant (which is money in the pack bank account but was on paper distributaed to each boy)... when the boy went to summer camp as a cub he got to use that money to help pay for camp... when the boy crossed over into boy scouts that money went with him if he hadn't used it all... our treasurer wrote a check to the troop and listed how much went for each boy. If a boy did not move up to boyscouts though then that money stayed with the pack.

so when my son crossed over he had like $30 still in his account and it transferred with him and we used it to help pay for summer camp.

we did have an issue when we switched troops... the troop we were with only allowed their boys to use the money for summer camp or for a philmont like outting... so my son still had a bunch of money that he had earned to use for camp. When we switched troops they did NOT want to transfer that money... BSA rules allow each troop to decide on their own how to handle this situation... our former troop was not going to transfer it... their belief is that a boy who transfers troop soon leaves scouts - not the case here he left for a stronger troop. after several discussions and me stating that the money was designated for summer camp that once he made the 1st half of paying for summer camp that they would then transfer the money to help with the 2nd 1/2 of payment.

to me if the boy worked to earn money to be used for his scout camping then it should be kept with the boy for scout purposes... now if a boy quit scouts then it should stay with pack/troop.

our summer camp offered this - I don't recall it being listed this year, but then I wasn't looking for it either.

my son's SM made all the new scouts do it their first year - my son and the 2 other boys that came out of my den were sooooo bored and hated it. They told me that while they did get many of the T-2-1 requirements done, it was all stuff that I had also taught them back in Webelos and all they needed to do was to "show their stuff" to a leader and could've done that back at camp during free time.

so, I guess this would depend on the boys and what they already had down as skills

make it - much easier... here's the recipe we used at one of our unit events - each girl made her own to add to the cobbler that the oldest girls made.

Ice Cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup half and half

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)

Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)

1 pint-size ziplock bag

1 gallon-size ziplock bag

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.

2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.

3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too! Serves 1.

I don't know of any ceremony's but here's the flag code for the confederate flag.

http://www.hqudc.org/info/flag_code.pdf

BSA troop - we don't change our schedule for summer other than we don't have a meeting the week the boys are at camp. We have a campout every month - the month we have summer camp we count summer camp as their monthly campout.

when my son was in cubs - our pack had a pack meeting/outting every month... some dens met during the summer at regular meeting times, some met but with different times, and some didn't at all. The summers after my son' Tiger and Wolf years we didn't meet as den, but once they got done with Bear's and started Webelos we did. Living where there is a winter you almost have to meet in the summer to be able to get all those outdoor activities done. I was DL those 2 years and during the summer I didn't work and all the boys had a relative or sitter that could bring the boys over during daytime hours so we met after lunch once a month for a few hours and did all kinds of outdoor learning.

our troop - boys no phones, no music players (though instruments are allowed), and no video games.

at summer camp unless an adult HAS to have his cell phone for work or just call younger child at home at night those are the only ones that are there and on... rest give out the camp number for emergencies. Now for a weekend campout at campground X where there is only a staffed phone during certain hours most adults have their phones with them and on.

my husband has only had to call me once for an emergency and we were glad he did because it was about road conditions... we had a quick adult meeting and the one adult with internet on his phone double checked road conditions and we talked with SPL and we headed home early before conditions got worse.

I'm also the emergency contact for a good friend of mine who is single with no real family... he finally had back surgery this past winter, but before then I'd get calls from him in the middle of the night needing taken to the hospital or for me to get someone to get him there -- when he's in that much pain it takes enough out of him to call me - no way he could go through all his othe numbers. One of the times I was camping with my girl scout troop I was down to my last person to try before I finally got someone who was in town and able to get him there... and one other time I was unable to and it was a pricey ambulance bill.

so, cellphones are important for adults to have when there is no other phone available... also nice to have so the boys can pass them around in the car on the drive home to arrange a pick up if we are early or late.

only other rule that our troop allows broken for adults only is the pop rule... only way boys can have pop during a campout is in bug juice. there are a few leaders that pop is their coffee... I'm one of them... we allow it. One time a boy commented on it with another leader - scout master said "because if the adults didn't come we couldn't do this, so we let them have some special privledges"

my sons troop supplies the badge, medal, mother & father pin, and the mentor pin.

the boy asks those he wants to have a role in his ceremony if they are available and willing to help out and tells them exactly he would like them to do... he asks the adults too. Some times a boy knows exactly who he wants to do what and goes right up to them and says it all... then he'll have just a couple of small jobs and will just anounce "hey guys I need x scouts still for my ceremony who is able to help" and that's how he'll get his last few.

the parent(s)/guardian(s) supply cake, punch, and nuts or the like for refreshments.

when my son was in cubs our pack had each den make their own flag rather than using the bought ones... the one my boys had for Webelos we strung through cord for each boy with a piece of wood with their name on it... they earned different colored beads for doing different things and strung them onto their string.

I'll try to remember what all they were, but they were based off of boy scouts since that was what they were beginning to learn...

* blue was be prepared - uniform on and came with book

* yellow was obiedient - following rules and good behavior

* white was doing a good turn - which they got for being denner and also if they did something above the "norm"

* red they got for completely a webelos pin, but I can't remember what scout term(s) we used for it

* green was for attending a pack event, again I can't recall the term we used

for keeping parents and leaders informed - our pack had monthly leader meetings where we finalized pack events and announced all the info to the leaders... we also had a webpage with all the info including a flyer for each event that parents could print out or that leaders could print out to pass out to the parents

my son's boy scout troop uses google groups... it's very handy as you type one message in there and it will email it out to everyone that has signed up for our group. SPL always sends out his agendas before the meetings and then the outdoor cordinator will post final lists of who is attending campouts and who signed up as drivers