jac0033

My son went to summer camp last year with a broken neck. He missed the first day while he was being released from the hospital, but came to camp on Monday. Yes, he was very restricted in what he could do, but he still earned three merit badges and had tons of fun. He had to very careful where he was walking as not to trip, but the other scouts help him along. The year before he was at summer camp with a broken ankle, still he managed to have fun and earned a few merit badges. So as long as your Dr. clears you to go, I think you can have a good time summer camp even with a broken leg.(

Our troop is doing a geocaching activity this weekend at our Christmas campout. Our SPL will hide caches all over the scout camp the patrols will have to find them. My brother(ASM) his son(SPL) and myself(SM) and my son(JASM) love geocaching. We have been trying to get the rest of the troop to try it, this camp out should be fun.

I agree with Calico If the scout is the Instructor and needs the position for 6 months for the next rank advancement, how can he be responsible for the fact the troop does not meet for 2 months. If you look at from a monthly basis, he can demonstrate his position at 4 meetings and 1 campout. So maybe he is Instructing 6 or 7 days out of the month. With "no-credit" type of thinking, should he even be credited for the month? I think it silly to take away the two months that is out the scouts control, who knows maybe in the two month downtime he is planning what skills and techniqu

Sorry for the double post.

Hey thanks to all for the replies. I realize trading should not consume the scouts at jambo, but I just wanted a feel of what my son could expect to see. He has never been a "real" patch collector, I do not even know if he is interested in collecting at all. My thought process was I would hate to see him get there and realize he should have brought more patches to trade. Personally I do not think he will spend much time trading, he wants to to more seeing and doing. Maybe work on obscure merit badge of his interest. He is an Eagle scout so he is not focused on merit badges, more of t

Hey thanks to all for the replies. I realize trading should not consume the scouts at jambo, but I just wanted a feel of what my son could expect to see. He has never been a "real" patch collector, I do not even know if he is interested in collecting at all. My thought process was I would hate to see him get there and realize he should have brought more patches to trade. Personally I do not think he will spend much time trading, he wants to to more seeing and doing. Maybe work on obscure merit badge of his interest. He is an Eagle scout so he is not focused on merit badges, more of t

My son just had his first troop meeting for Jambo. Most of the agenda was for parents and what to expect. A good portion of the of the meeting was about patch trading. I had no idea of how popular this is. I know that patch trading should not consume all of the scouts time at Jambo, but what is an average time a scout could expect to spend trading patches? Second question, how many patches should a scout take to Jambo to trade? I'm not looking for exact numbers, but I think it would be wise to start now collecting (or buying) patches to trade. So what would be a good number

Eagle92 While I understand the rationale, I do not think the PLC should set requirements for running for SPL. The handbook says the troop will elect the Senior Patrol leader. The scouts voting for the SPL should weigh the experience of all candidates and vote for the most qualified. Does that always happen,no it does not. The scouts will learn that the most popular is not always the best leader. IMHO

To Twocubdad: You posted that a scout can take 6 merit badges at summer camp and I would be okay with that because it his choice. In my post I did say that I would ask the scout if he thinks he is ready for the task and suggest he maybe think about taking a different badge. I just can not see holding a scout back if he understands the merit badge process and is ready to challenge himself. I am not in favor of a new scout taking 6 merit badges at summer camp, but as long as he registered he can take any badge he wishes. IMHO, I do not think we as leaders can tell a scout what badge h

I think each scout sets his own pace on advancement. Holding back POR until a scout is 1st Class is just adding to the requirement. Telling a scout he can not work a merit badge at summer camp because it does not take long enough to complete is against the merit badge process. A scout can work on any merit badge he wishes as long as there are no age requirements or prerequisites, yes I may ask him if he thinks he ready for this badge and maybe suggest a different badge, but it is his choice not mine to attempt a badge at summer camp or elsewhere. If he struggles with the badge he may think