IM_Kathy

I'm trying to find out how some of you already know the results of the elections. Our troop only the SM and OA youth rep for the troop (or whatever his title is) are the ones that know the results and they don't tell a single sole. The boys find out the results at the tap-out ceremony at parent's night of summer camp. I wish I knew the results - my son is one that's eligible... I have anxiety issues and normally don't stay for the ceremony because it would require me to up my meds to a level I prefer not to. But, I know if I didn't go my son would know he didn't get in... so, I'm going and I hope he gets tapped out because I don't want to do it again.

I'm not totally sure on the whole election deal... I have to say I'm proud of how my son voted - he decided not to vote for "all" but to really vote for those that have shown they deserve the honor. But then I know he saw a couple of other boys vote and that they didn't care one bit about who really deserved it - at least that's the way my son described it.

IMO considering the things that I know OA members do I think that there should be requirements other that first class and number of nights camping. What about service hours?

LOL @ Twocubdad - I love our winter camping trips when you wake up in the morning and see all the yellow snow just a couple feet from the tents.

IMO - if busy campground where sharing facilities with non-scouts then take a buddy... if long hike or dangerous areas then take a buddy... if multiple stalls and none seperate for adults and boys then take a buddy. But if you you have your own little kybo or a tree near by then just let your tent mate that you're going to go pee.

with my girl scout troop who won't use trees, the girls paired off tent mates based on bathroom visits LOL

as already mentioned - the real issue is sibling... only time siblings are allowed is when it is a family campout, webelos visiting, or bring a friend.

as for the woman... I have camped tons with my sons troop... and the boys have learned while I may be the "female" I'm not "mom" at a campout for my son or any other boy. I've even talked to the male adults in that I am to be treated as any other adult - don't be trying to be the "macho male" type and doing things for me that I should be doing in our adult patrol duties. although I will admit and most of them will too - that they eat better when I'm the adult cook LOL

as for bathroom facilities... send this link to any women campers... http://www.freshette.com has come in handy for me a couple of times, mostly on long hikes and when out fishing.

while I agree with almost all that is stated about eagle not being the main goal... and that boy scouts is an outdoor program... etc... etc... *and that's why my son loves it!!!

if the biggest hang up is your son's allergy's and the camping for a long time... check with SM and check with your son's doctor... there are medical passes when health is concerned. I know of 1 boy who wasn't allowed in a pool because of major ear issues and surgery's and he was given other requirements to fullfil the swimming requirements for 2nd and 1st class

Eamonn - I loved to hear about another boy being filthy after camp... my son's first year as boy scout he got the nickname "walking taco" because his shirt had nutritional value for a boy's day. And I learned early - we go sock and underwear shopping after summer camp "just throw them away" Every year he ends up in the ravine during some storm and his white socks are all black YUCK! But he has a blast, and that's what matters.

LOL at getting them outta you hair for a week - I always try to sway my daughter to pick a Girl Scout camp choice that is the same week as my son is gonna - it NEVER works. When my son was in Cubs we sent them both to YMCA camp just for the fact that it's boys and girls and we got a week of vacation from the kids it was sooooo nice LOL

ok, on to the real question... I can't speak for other parents, but for me I want 1) my son to have fun, 2) my son to try new things, 3) meet new people, 4) work on merit badges.

with them all knowing each other with same school and same grade there isn't much you really have to do...

now with my son's Boy Scout troop any time they have a new boy visiting the troop (usually Webelos checking us out) we have them all come up front and introduce themselves, tell their shoe size, and the color of their toothbrush... it's always a fun thing to do and once they are members of the troop they look forward to the next group of visitors.

our troop I think handles this very well.

1 thing we do is have a parent meeting right after crossover - this allows us to explain how the troop is run and that as a parent there role is mainly "what did you do tonight? hey, I heard x is going on next weekend what requirements could you complete if you went?"

another thing we do is try to teach the boys who have parents as leaders to go to a different leader, so that they aren't always running to mom or dad for help or guidance. it took my son a little while of coming to me to open jars and being told to ask someone else first before he caught on - he never asks me for anything except for rides and money now LOL

someone mentioned the eagle project with misspelled words and such... my son always gets questioned because he types all his work - you can tell it's his words though because he has short little to the point answers to everything... but no one can read his handwriting (even I struggle LOL) so he won't get misspelled words thanks to spell check, but he will often have the wrong word used (there their they're) but he tells all his mbc that if something needs writing he'll have to type it if they want to be able to read it. one told him to go ahead and write anyway and asked him to read it to him - mbc told me even my son couldn't read his own handwriting LOL * and yes, at every parent/teacher conf I have to ask "other than his handwriting what does he need to work on? LOL then they show me something I tell them "hey, his handwriting is actually improving" LOL

if it were me and already been done (because I would've said something as soon as the flask came out first night) I would speak to them all... let them know of the rules that are for adults too... tell them of your concern for the safety of the boys... and if they didn't corect their behavior I would contact council and put my son in a different troop

to your ?

IMO pinewood car - yes... catapult - no

reason is catabult you built for a requirement, but if they didn't use the car for any other requirement then it can be used for craftsman

all our patrols will either have the PL/APL or the cook say a quick thanks prayer or they will say "X please lead us in grace"

most are like...

"thank you for the great weather, the time with our friends, and this wonderful food - amen"

crackerbarrel veries between - s'mores, sizzling apples, meat/cheese/crackers, nachos, and chips/dip

breakfast - baggie eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, homemade donuts, cinnamon rolls... all usually include grapes, apples, or bananas

lunch - grilled cheese, hotdogs, chili, spaghetti, tacos, sausage sandwiches, dutch oven pizza, mac n' cheese, foil packs with hamburger are popular choices - all with a fruit or veggi

supper - about the same as lunch although some of the more experienced cooks will go a bit further wish lazagna, mexican lazagna, roast w/ potatoes and carrots, fried chicken, pork chops with veggies

the most popular veggies are baby carrots because there's no work involved... and their fresh fruit or apple sauce isn't much work involved either, but we allow those as long as there is work involved with the rest of their meals

our patrols work fairly close together and eat in the same general area as well, which helps the newer cooks see how to cook some of the better meals and also learn what not to do too. our food rules is that if there is left overs then members from other patrols may have tastes from your meal as long as they ask which also allows them to taste what they just saw made

when it's meal planning they sit with their patrols - select cook who then picks assistant cook. they then ask if there is anything someone WON'T eat or CAN'T eat... then the cook says some of the things that he'd like to cook (usually 2 choices per meal) and the patrol members pick between those for each meal. When their list is made they bring it to any of the adults... we ask if they are doing this for T-2-1 requirements, if it is we discuss their different methods etc to make sure they will in fact do all the requirements (stove, over fire) when approved then the patrol menu is set and the cook is responsible for shopping with their budget.

our troop gives the patrols a food budget based on the number of meals they are having to cook... $1.00/scout for crackerbarrel and $3.00/scout for each meal.

the charge for the boys is that plus the cost for camping location and the adults food as the adults go for free on troop campouts.

my son's troop is just simply a boy scout troop... they do an outing once a month, but each month is something totally different through out the year. we hike, fish, canoe, ski, bike, some are just hanging out, and the list could go on. the boys seem to like the variety - some of that variety is solely based on living in midwest and having 4 seasons. but it's also because some boys really want to do X and others want to do Y so right there are 2 months of camping. and then there's the high adventure - our troop sends a group to Philmont or Boundry Waters (still looking into Sea Base) every 2 years.

my son has been in 2 troops...

the 1st troop we were in the older boys signed off and in using the knots as an example the boys would try and try again to tie the knot and as soon as they got it once "boom" it was signed.

our current troop the older boys do not sign off... they do work as instructors and guides and assist in teaching a skill to the boys. when they see that a boy has the skill down they tell them to go see mr/mrs adult leader and demonstrate their new skill and then get their book signed. If he makes a mistake then the adult will either send the boy back to the guides/instructors to work on it some more or the leader will help the boy to get it mastered.

I like the way our current troop does it... it allows the older boys to teach, but it makes the adults verify that the boy truely knows his stuff... and then when the boy goes up for SMC and BOR we can see that adult X signed it off and that he knows it. At BOR we will ask questions like who helped him learn the skill (we use this knowledge for use in the older boy's BOR), did he find it difficult to accomplish, do you know it well enough to teach another scout, and then when he says yes to that we'll suggest a boy that's still working on that skill for the boy to teach the skill. Then when that next boy comes to demonstrate and sign off we get a chance to see how well the boy did teach the skill.

my webelos all knew they were going to cross over into boy scouts and even though they started with larger blue shirts they were about to grow out of them about the time they earned their webelos badge - so they all got the tan boy scout shirt and so we got them the oval badge to wear on that shirt. Although actually my son was the only one of them that started as a tiger - the others started as wolf.

ok, IMO if the boy wants to stay in cubs then let him. If the boy is bored in cubs, but the dad wants him to stay in order to earn his AOL one thing to mention is the fact that the sooner he moves up to Boy Scouts the more time he will have to make it to eagle - eagle must be completed before he turns 18 (they don't add a year because he stayed an extra year in webelos)

my son has the disadvantage of a very early fall birthday so since he crossed over with the other cubs in his den he already has a 1/2 year to year less then the others... thankfully he has realized this and has worked very hard to make it to his star rank already (he'll be 14 this fall) while the others from his former den have just finished their 1st class rank.

crafts...

mud painting - take big buckets full of dirt and wart and mix well... boys use sticks etc to paint the mud onto muslin type fabric

nature pals - boys scour around the grounds for sticks, nut shells, rocks, etc and glue into making a little "stick" person

games...

nature scavanger hunt

any form of tag

conservation project...

I don't know AZ well... so...

making bird houses or feeders

cleaning up a trail

call the park you're going to and see if there is something they need done.

our summer camp has actually cut the number of merit badges the last couple of years. the boys use to be able to do 4 merit badges... now they get to pick from 4 things and only 3 can be merit badges, the other 1 or more if the choose is an activity area where they pick from a water, shooting, and scout skills. at the activities the boys can work on rank work, try some new skills, and just have fun. I personally was hoping my son would've picked the shooting because it's something he's never done before and could see if he would want to try those merit badges next year, but he really wanted to canoe but not do it as a merit badge so he picked the water one.

As for Eagle required badges... at our summer camp the only ones offered are swimming, livesaving, and enviromental science

so, there are camps out there that aren't "mills"

I'll throw a wrench into this LOL (not that my son did this)

what if the boy working on this badge say does a couple hours after doing A and B is then not able (for what ever reason) to do more for that organization... then does A and B for another organization and wants to do the rest of his hours with that organization - would you guys that are MBC for this badge then allow him?

that one is old in that some of the requirements for the badges are different, but it's still a nice layout.

when my son was in cubs we didn't have the spiral option. I will say none of them broke apart until he got to webelos and used it for a couple of years... for webelos and boy scouts I'd go with the spiral

in our troop the SPL and ASPL stay with their patrol for meals... they are usually busy with SPL and ASPL duties that they do not volunteer as cooks and are not assigned to normal patrol duties (though they will step up and help their patrol or another patrol if they are running behind with their chores)

when a PL (their own or another) asks the SPL or ASPL to help with something in their patrol they do it as long as there isn't some other SPL/ASPL task they need to get done. All the PL understand that the SPL and ASPL has their own duties that they need to take care of.

it works well for our troop... and it also allows the SPL and ASPL to continue to be a part of their patrol so when their time at that position ends they are able to return to being a normal patrol member without missing a beat.

when my son was in cubs and I was a leader there...

our pack covered following costs:

expences for monthly pack meeting except lock-in and camp-out (we charged enough to cover the food)

rank patches, beads, and arrow points

pinewood car and rank book

dens decided on own if they were going to do the beltloops and pay for those out of den dues (they decided on this because of the high cost and ease of earning them)

parents paid for:

registration and boys life and $5.00 pack dues to help cover all the pack activities.

if B&G was catered then they paid for meal tickets

uniform, neckerchief and slide

the rest of summer camp (% of fudraising was put in scout acccount to use for summer camp)

for fundraising we did the popcorn sale and then also did an annual cake auction

all troops are different...

ours it depends on the week

we always have game time before meeting, opening ceremony, announcements, awards, time for what I'll explain next, and then a closing

if it's the week right before a campout then most of the meeting is spent broken into patrols and planning their menu.

if it's any other week (and not a COH night) then the troop guides will work with the newer scouts on learning their skills... each meeting we have it set for check-up for a rank where if you're say a first class then you meet up with a designated leader and look through what they still need to accomplish and figure out how the troop can help - for example we say that we had a bunch of boys that were just missing the orienteering course so we set up a date for them to do that... if a boy is working on a merit badge with an adult and they want to meet up at that meeting then they do that... there is also time for Scout Master Confrences and Board of Reviews too... so there's a lot going on at once, and sometimes you will find a couple of boys that don't need any of those things and they'll hang out and chat - when I'm not tied up with one of my duties I'll usually push them along to assist one of the troop guides

then court of honor nights there really isn't any goofing off except for the pre-meeting game time and then after when they have cookies and a drink or the like.

like I said - troops are different... but none of them are like Cub Scouts. Cub scouts you had a DL that taught x,y,z... with Boy Scouts so much of the teaching is often done on campouts or in preparing for the campout. And with Boy Scouts it's really up to the boy to come up to a leader and say "Mr/Mrs X, I need some help in learning how to do A can you help me or get someone to teach me" and then when they learn it they come back to Mr/Mrs X and show off what they learned.