infoscouter

My GS experience was so long ago, and my leader experience was so ill-prepared, that I couldn't remember all the details. Events from when I was 9 or 10 are getting a little fuzzy! (for that matter 40 isn't too distinct any more)

But I was glad to see the GSUSA hasn't dropped the patrol system entirely. I got a lot out of being a patrol leader. What I don't remember is who ran the Court of Honor - is there an equivalent to an SPL?

>I wish the GS program had Patrol Leaders. The gold award has some mangement >in it and I see my daughter gain leadership skills and good old grit and >determination. But nothing like a boy led Troop would have.

I wondered when reading this whether the Girl Scouts had eliminated patrols from the program, (I was a patrol leader in my Cadette Girl Scout troop in the late 60's), so I went and looked.

The GSUSA web site still has references to patrols, patrol leaders and the patrol system. If your daughter's troop is not using the patrol system, it may be due to the fact that the troop is too small to manage this way. What we call a PLC, the GSUSA calls a Court of Honor. (What we call a Court of Honor is called a Court of Awards in Girl Scouting.) As a Cadette, we had monthly Court of Honor meetings, just like a PLC does. Our Cadette troop had been formed out of the remnants of several Junior troops, and so had the critical mass to have three patrols.

In my smaller Junior troop, we did what many GSUSA troops do now, a sort of collective decision making, led by a single patrol leader. GSUSA calls this the "town meeting" style of management. From what I'm seeing there are three options for troop government - patrol system, town meeting or Executive board.Troops still can have Scribes and some other leadership positions for girls, even if there are not multiple patrols. Your daughters troop may be following one of these other models.

Ah John, it's not so rare that she wanted to walk with you. Time with Dad is precious time for girls that age. When I was GS dads weren't encouraged to be involved, but I got lots of time in the woods with my father. It was at about that age that my dad taught me archery, still a life-long interest. They are experiences I still treasure.

Thank you for taking time to help the girls - they got more out of than you may think.

Or could it be they're trying to sell them off before they introduce Venturing Switchbacks?

We generally recognize our 4th grade Webelos during our pack graduation ceremony with camping gear of some sort. In the past they're received flashlights, mess kits (we buy lexan dishes and dunk bags now, not metal sets), duffel bags, matching jacket (that year the den had lots of money in their account). I have heard of packs giving hiking staffs with medallions - the standard ones from ScoutStuff are really affordable.

For BSA's purposes, boys who have finished Kindergarten are considered to be in 1st grade (just as Tigers who have finished 1st grade are considered to be in 2nd grade, and automatically become Wolves on June 1). They are finished with Kindergarten - the school has promoted them to 1st grade, so we can consider them 1st graders.

See - "The Cub Scout Cycle":

http://www.directservicebsa.org/pdf/13-027.pdf

The short answer is yes. I have been simultaneously a Cub Scout leader, a member of the troop committee and a member of the District Committee. I had sons in both units and district level training responsibilities.

In some units where multiple units are chartered by the same CO, it is very common to have some committee members in common.

As a Webelos Scout (notice - even when we're talking about one boy this word always has an s), your son can start wearing the tan shirt and olive green pants whenever you and he wish. This choice is the family's choice, based on personal preference, whether or not he still fits in his blue shirt, and family financial circumstances. Wearing the tan/green combination is not contingent on earning of any badge, attaining any age or any criteria other than the preference of the Scout and his family. Remember that he needs to continue to wear the blue Cub Scout belt with the green pants, since the Sports and Academics belt loops will not fit on the green belt.

Our 4th grade Webelos den used this program with no problems. The Scouts reacted well to the material, as did the parents. From what I remember this is very similar to other drug avoidance materials. It is a long time since my kids went through D.A.R.E., but the content is quite similar.

I don't think you have to worry that this is too "advanced" for them. They know a lot more of this than you think they do.

P.R.A.Y., the organization that distributes many of the booklets and awards, has a sample presentation on their web site: www.praypub.org. It is intended for use as part of a religious service, but you may be able to adapt it or some of the language for your use. Click on "God and Country" in the left frame, and then on "Sample Award Presentation Ceremony".

While you're there check out the Duty to God promotion materials. The presentation of an award to a Scout is a good time to educate parents and Scouts about the various religious awards and distribute the promotional brochures.

see:

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/index.html

The second section discusses BSA liability insurance.

No, Tiger Cubs can't earn the World Conservation Award. While there have been other changes, this isn't one of them.

Have you obtained the BSA's new "Choose to Refuse" materials? There are booklets for the youth with activities and a leader's guide.

http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/pdf/02-574.pdf

http://usscouts.org/safety/Drugs.html

You may be able to buy them at your Scout shop. Otherwise, the second link above includes a further link to order them.

I just looked this up for another list, so thought I'd post it here too:

This is from the 2005 printing of the CS Leader Book (p. 24-6):

Parts of a Pack Leaders' Meeting

1. Evaluating the previous month

2. Finalizing the current month

3. Planning ahead

4. Unit Leadership Enhancements

5. Social time and fellowship

Part 1: Evaluating the Previous Month:

- The pack committee chair calls the meeting to order

- The Cubmaster reviews the previous month's den and pack meeting activities and asks for comments and suggestions. This evaluation will help with planning the upcoming month.

Part 2: Finalizing the upcoming month:

- The Cubmaster confirms assignments for the current month's pack meeting.

- Special committees report on plans for the current month's pack meeting or special event.

- Den leaders turn in advancement reports to the person responsible for obtaining awards for the next pack meeting.

- Den leaders turn over den dues to the pack treasurer and receive a receipt.

Part 3: Planning ahead:

- The pack committee chair leads a general discussion about the upcoming month's den and pack meetings.

- The Cubmaster comments on the next month's theme and activity badges and confirms assingments concerning den participation in next month's pack meeting.

- Special committees report on plans for the upcoming pack meeting or special events for the upcoming month.

- Den leaders report on their den meeting plans for the upcoming month.

- Activity badge counselors report on projects planned for next month's activity badges.

- The pack committee chair reports on pack needs, problems,and progress.

- The pack committee completes plans such as organization of new dens, pack-troop relations, financial matters, improving familiy participation, etc.

Part 4: Unit Leadership enhancements:

As part of the regular new business items at one or more monthly pack leaders' meetings, include one of the Unit Leadership Enhancement topics. See Chapter 28, "Unit Leadership Enhancements," for detailed information on these short, informative training sessions for pack leaders.

Part 5: Social Time and Fellowship

At the end of the pack leaders' meeting, allow time for leaders to enjoy refreshments and fellowship. (Anyone who needs to leave, however, should feel free to do so.)

End result

Holding regular, well-planned monthly pack leaders' meetings

- Saves leaders time. Instead of extra phoning, meeting at the last minute and struggling to sort out details, one meeting a month takes care of many details at one time.

- Encourages teamwork and is an efficient way to pool talent. When all leaders are brought together regularly, abilities and talents can be exchanged in a way that could no otherwise be achieved.

- Provides in-service training with new ideas for all leaders. Time is available for leaders to share problems and learn new techniques.

- Makes the pack strong and healthy by involving the leaders in the palns and using their help to implement the program.

Look in the Cub Scout leader Book for guidance on running leader meetings. The current suggested structure is not a "committee meeting", but rather a meeting of all leaders in the pack, called the monthly leaders meeting. This involves committee members, den leaders, the Cubmaster and any interested parents.

Generally, meetings have a loose structure, reviewing both program and support issues. For instance, our recent leader meeting covered the agenda of the Blue & Gold banquet; the upcoming pancake breakfast fundraiser; planning for summer camp; spring recruiting and our Centennial Quality Unit award goals.

The suggested decision-making method is consensus. Very rarely does something require a formal vote.

Certain elements should be standard, however. A treasurer's report should be presented, as should reports of subcommittee's working on upcoming events. The structure of the meeting is adapted to the needs of the unit.

While Randy's description of what his district does is very common, the system is designed with five separate position specific training sessions.

-Tiger Leader

-Cub Scout (Wolf & Bear) Den Leader

-Webelos Den Leader

-Cubmaster/Assistant Cubmaster

-Committee Chair/Member

If your district trains this way, then yes, you need to take position specific training for your current position, in order to be considered "trained". This becomes much more important with the new Centennial Quality Unit Award goals regarding training of 'direct contact' leaders - which includes den leaders.

Taking this training also fulfills the training requirement for the Den Leader Knot.

(Just to lend credibility to the above, I'm our district's Cub Training Coordinator.)

Parade organizers in our area don't want us to throw candy. They are concerned about spectators running into the street to retreive misthrown pieces, or to have a better chance of catching a piece. In a situation like this, a child may not watch closely to avoid the vehicle pulling the next float, and be in danger of being struck by a pickup truck, SUV or horses hooves. Most of our small community parades do not have barriers to keep spectators out of the street. We are allowed to *hand* candy to spectators.

Actually DELTA (and DELV the Cub Scout version) are pre-cursors to the "Ethics in Action" materials. In Cub Scouting, these used to appear in the Cub Scout Leader How To Book. The Cub Scout materials have been replaced by the "Character Connections" requirements incorporated into the ranks.

I don't know how widely the Ethics in Action materials are/were used in Boy Scout troops. I do know our council (Northern Star) camps still use the material.

As the Pack Trainer, I have a special meeting for Bear parents moving into Webelos, where I start introducing some of the differences between Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting. In the fall, we have a parent meeting with the parents of the 5th graders, where we go into more detail. We discuss patrols versus dens, individualized advancement, youth leadership, and roles for adults. I talk about backing off, and letting the boys adjust to Boy Scouting, and why it's important. I *strongly* encourage the Webelos leaders, assistants and even the parents to do the online Boy Scout Fast Start training, or I offer to lend them the Fast Start DVD.

I am a firm believer in introducing this information to the parents before they start Boy Scouting. The troop orientations are also important, but often they include troop operations information that the parents get bogged down in (dues, permission slips, etc.). The "why Boy Scouting is different" info isn't absorbed as well, because they're worrying about the fundraiser or upcoming outing.

The Northern Star Council has a council Diversity committee, which provides guidance to our special needs and outreach populations.

http://www.northernstarbsa.org/Resources/Diversity.asp

There are two professionals who support our Special Needs units and Scouts. Sara Amberg is the Special Needs Director:

samberg@northernstarbsa.org

There are day camps and camporees provided for Special Needs Scouts, and support is provided for integrating special needs youth into mainstream units.

Recently the council has been working with a group called Wilderness Inquiry, who have been providing training on including youth with all abilities in Scouting activities.

http://www.wildernessinquiry.org/

Day Camp is not a summer only experience. Our council runs both fall and winter day camps. See: http://www.northernstarbsa.org/Camping/FallFestival.asp. They get to do all sorts of fun things - river cruises, hay rides, caramel apple making, a hay maze.

The Outdoor activity award requirements also include as an option, attending Resident camp. Our council includes these one-night experiences (sometimes called Mom & Me, or Lad & Dad or Family Camp) under the umbrella of Resident camp, even though they are run according to the Cub Scout Family Camping Standards. In our council attending one of these is counted towards the Outdoor Activity Award.

Bottom line, I would check with your council camping director (in particular the Cub Camping Director if you have one), to see if they feel the experience meets the spirit of the Outdoor Activity Award.

Our pack has Scout accounts for all levels. Our Webelos, if active fundraising participants, all cross over with money to take to the troops they join. One thing to make very clear, if accounts are new to your parents, that the money stays with the pack if a boy doesn't join the troop. This is money raised for Scouting, not cash they can walk away with.

Currently, this is how money is allocated in our pack. The first $115 of profit raised by any Scout goes to the pack (approx $350 in sales). Anything over that, 50% goes to the pack, 35% to the Scout account, and 15% to an account for the Scout's den.

Congratulations on your great recruiting.

Two big challenges are going to be communication and record keeping.

In addition to the new den leaders, consider recruiting an experienced leader/parent to be a pack trainer. Delegate new parent relations to the pack trainer, and have that individual help with parent orientation, Fast start for new leaders, etc.

What kind of record keeping system do you use? Are you all paper-based, or have you automated? If you're running on paper, consider going to Packmaster or ScoutTrack.

Do you have a web site/an e-mail list/a pack newsletter? All of these are going to help new (and existing) parents and leaders get a grip on the program and answers to their questions.

How good is your advancement chair? With this many boys, you're going to have lots more awards. Consider getting some help for this area.

How are the finances? New parents need to be brought up to speed on fundraising quickly. Again, new boys, new expenses. If there's not a formal budget this would be a good time to do one. Figure out how much it cost per Scout to run the pack last year. Then apply that figure to this year's membership. It gets to be a big number very quickly. Our pack of approx. 35 spent about $3600 last year. But the cash flowing through the books is about 3 or 4 times that much, due to fundraising proceeds, camp fees, etc. Be sure you have a really good financial control system and a treasurer who works closely with the committee chair.

How many assistant Cubmasters do you have? At this size, you might consider having as many as three. That way they can help with crowd control at pack meetings, do some of the den visits for the Cubmaster, be another source for answering questions, etc. Of course, this means they and the Cubmaster will have to coordinate/communicate well and often to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Logistics will be a big consideration, too. You may have had relatively unstructured pack meetings. Now they're going to need to be a little more rigid to get through awards/games/etc. with a much bigger group.

Where did you camp last year? Is it big enough for this group, or do you need to make reservations NOW for a bigger campsite. And a bigger place for the Blue & Gold, and the Pinewood. . .

Unfortunately, one of the results of growth this fast may be that you'll lose some kids. Try to forestall that with really good communication. Putting systems in place and being super organized will help you cope.

This year's New Den Leader Kit includes a Tiger Advancement Helps sheet. I believe the BIN # is 13-101. Unfortunately, the online version of the new leader kit http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-134/index.html doesn't include this publication yet.

The sheet specifically says that although the Den (D) and Go and See It (G) requirements are intended to be completed in the den setting, that boys who can not attend due to illness or conflicts, MAY complete those requirements with their parent. This info is also in the Tiger Cub Handbook and the Cub Scout Leader book, but it takes searching to find it.

The BSA handbooks are bound using a process called "perfect binding" - a misnomer if there ever was one. Good, old fashioned book binding consists of sewing the individual signatures (groups of pages) together.

This is an expensive process, even if done with a machine. Perfect binding glues the signatures to the spine of the book cover. It is a less expensive process than sewing. As others have noted, abuse will make "perfect bound" books fall apart more easily.

Libraries constantly battle this fact. We buy perfect bound books because we have no choice - paperbacks only come this way, and buying paperbacks allows us to offer more copies of books to more borrowers. Many publishers only offer their books as "trade paperbacks".

Unfortunately, patrons drop books in bathtubs, lay them flat on their face (really hard on glued bindings), put them on the driveway when they're fixing the car and then drive over them, and generally abuse them until they fall apart. Then we try to replace them, but often they've gone out of print.

I expect the coil bound books will present their own challenges. Coil bindings also are hard on the pages (anybody ever have one of those church cookbooks fall apart on you?) At least with the perfect bound books you can reglue the pages or "tip" them in, using tape. Tipping pages back into a coil bound book is a real challenge, since there is no gutter to tape the page into, you end up taping the loose page on top of an existing page.

I don't know that there's a perfect way to bind a paperback book. Older, really good paperbacks sewed the signatures together and *then* glued the cover on. This too makes the book more expensive.

Sigh.

Sorry for the lenghth - you hit one of my [professional hot buttons!