janssenil

Hi, For a couple of years we've been doing a bingo gift exchange at our pack meeting for our HOliday Party Meeting. Each child brings a gift and we play bingo until every child has "won" a gift (including siblings). Someone on another forum just told me it was prohibited by BSA rules to play bingo because it's a game of chance. Is this really true? Never heard of that before. It's certainly not gambling the way we play it. And, if so, what about the PInewood Derby or almost any game?

Could they have been working on them all Summer? Since Advancement occurs in May or June, kids could begin working on belt loops & pins during the summer for their new rank. My son earned both belt Loops and pins for baseball, fishing, swimming and bicycle last summer and by the Pack Meeting in September he had done the belt loops for Bowling, basketball and table Tennis plus the computer belt loop & pin. You have to admit, the belt loops are pretty easy to earn. Actually none of the sports pins or loops are really hard. I guess I'd question it a bit if the Pack is paying fo

Hi, Wonder if you could help me out with a quick, inexpensive craft idea that our Pack could make to give to Nursing Home residents? I'm a Webelo II Den Leader and, for our November Pack meeting, each Den is suppose to do a Thanksgiving related skit. But, my Webelo II's have just about refused to do another skit. I think they're at an age where it's become embarrassing and mundane especially since they've been doing them for so many years now. So, instead, I thought they could distribute and help the rest of the Dens make something quick to give to nursing home residents at our next

We (our Pack) were asked to be part of our city's 150th birthday parade. The theme is "Pride in our Past - Faith in our Future" so Scouting is a perfect fit. We really want to do this event, but are SO overwhelmed by many things that are happening at the same time. Can anyone help us out with ideas for a simple, easy, but nice looking float?! We'll be using fairly large hayrack pulled behind a Truck. Thanks!!

Are Jamborees for Boy Scouts only? Or, are Webelos old enough to participate?

OUr pack does the "Santa delivering the Pinewood Derby cars", but we also have each child (including siblings) bring a wrapped gift worth about $5. Then we play bingo until each child wins one of the wrapped gifts. We've had to allow several winners (up to 10) per game to keep from dragging it out too long. Last year we allowed 2nd-time winners to pick a cheap plastic prize out of a bag in order to keep everyone busy until everyone won something. It turned out to be a pretty exciting event for the kids.

Thanks, that's what I thought, but I did forget about the 6 month after 4th Grade part. Some of the kids are homeschooled so it could have been a point of contention, I suppose. I'm, also, surprised and disappointed that they aren't going to continue Scouting. I didn't have my wits about me to ask her at the time. I'll see what I can do about having someone find out.

Hey, wait a minute. I don't have my book with me (well, my son's book) at the moment, but don't I remember it saying something somewhere about being able to do they same achievement or elective over & over and having each time count toward the 10 needed for Arrow points? I even remember at training, the trainer pointed out that some kids parent's seem to let them go to extreme with repeating and they have arrow points around their waist. I hope she was exaggerating.

One of our Webelo II's leaders, who just joined our Pack, asked me the following question about the Arrow of Light award. Her boys have already completed all the requirements for this award and, I believe she said, completed every single badge possible. She has taken them to a Boy Scout meeting and she doesn't think any of them are going to go on to Boy Scouting for various reasons (there are 4 of them). She's not planning on having anymore meetings after December and, therefore, sees no reason to ask the parents to pay the registration fee for next year. (Our Charter is January through

Me too? Me too? (waving arm widly) Can I have a copy of the stories, too? We were able to go to the fire station where they tried to teach my kids knots. It didn't stay with them for very long at all and we've tried it twice now.

I'm a Webelo Leader and my son is ADHD. I absolutely LOVE the words of wisdom from SagerScout. Thank you so much for sharing them with the world. I only wish every non-ADHD person who touches my son's life could read them and I only wish that half of the people he encounters in life will care enough to give him the benefit of the doubt (and without discussing his behavior or shortcomings with everyone else). Afterall, it's as good an investment for them as it is for him. We can be the ones that can either make these children or break them. SagerScout's advice was a great refreshe

It pains me to say this being a feminist at heart, but I have learned over the years that male leaders are very, very important in this program. The boys need males although they don't seem to be overly abundant. On the other hand, I think whether or not camping should or should not include women is all a matter of what values you're trying to instill or what your objective is. Seeing men and women work together and showing them the value of each person in their own way can be as important as teaching a boy to be manly or independent or other skills, maybe more important since one

Just one more thing and I'll quit chiming in... The 'promiser' plans on taking them again without me. He told me that very clearly the weekend we went camping and I truly hope he follows through. His plan is to give them $10 each and send them into the grocery to buy their own food for the weekend. And, actually, I think it's a good idea. But, I plan on mentioning to the boys at one of our meetings some ideas on eating cheap and eating good so they'll surprise him. He's expecting them to buy candy bars and chips so they'll learn the hard way. I'm betting they won't if they have some g

I read through all these posts the other night and it got me to thinking and wondering how the boys in my Webelo Den felt about me, a female, camping with them. I was a little afraid to find out, afterall, I've poured my time and my heart into planning, doing, listening, laughing and admittedly, sometimes yelling, over the past 2 years. But I had to know. So, tonight at our Den Meeting I asked. I kinda slipped it in while asking if they wanted to camp at the local pilgrimage in April. A resounding YES was the answer, of course. Them I quickly added, very unemotionally and casually - 'so w

One more little tidbit. At training we were told the boys can actually earn an infinite number of arrow points because, each time they repeat an elective they've already done, it qualifies again. Actually, one of the trainers was 'kind of' complaining because she's seen kids with Arrow Points 'practically around their waists' because they kept repeating one or two electives. Personally, I think it's fair for a DL to put a limit on how many can be earned for the same thing, but.......

I was getting desparate the end of summer because my Webelo I's were begging to camp. We're a very small, one year old Pack. The council seemed to come to the rescue by offering a campout. As it turned out, my Webelo Den was the only one that showed up!! It was great though! We had a blast. I did plan each meal and signed up each boy for prep & clean up. As for meals, one that turned out particularly good was a breakfast sandwich made in a pie iron. I asked as many as possible to bring pie irons and, as it turned out, all of them brought one. My husband did scramble up the e

Thanks for sharing the attendance problems! It makes me feel a little better. As much as one tries not to take things personally, it's hard not to wonder what you're doing wrong. Actually, sometimes I wonder how parents can be so rude when you are trying SO hard to do something for their most prized possessions.

I agree, program helps was a great thing when I was doing Bears! I would have been lost without it when I first began. Now I'm doing Webelos and, I think I'm correct in saying, they don't have the monthly Den themes for Webelos. I love doing Webelos, but the boys get bored with mundane activities so I try to do things like making Pinewood Derby stands and other a-bit-more complicated projects. I've just gotten into the idea of letting them plan which activities they want to work on, but, still, I'm sure they're going to want to do the more interesting, complex things like getting on the in

forestengr - I just wondered about the idea behind leaving it to the Den Leader as to whether the boy is a good fit for the Den - what happens if the Den Leader doesn't think he'll fit in? As a Den Leader, I've always operated under the philosphy that Scouting is for everyone. Picking and choosing wasn't in my realm of possibilities. I've groaned a time or two, but I feel like you have to give all boys a chance unless the size of your Den is getting too hard to handle.

Sheila, The call down idea is great. I only have 5 Webelos and last week only one showed up (in addition to my son). I was VERY unhappy after having stayed home all day to make sure I had everything planned and recorded. Turns out one new parent got their meetings mixed up; I still have no idea what happened to the other two. A call down would have saved me a lot of grief. A variation might work, too. Set up a list of who will call who until the last person calls the first person. And, if a boy has trouble contacting his assigned person, have him call the leader. Does anyon

I agree that every other week (or every two weeks) works very well in some cases. Just like many, many other Den Leaders, I work outside my home fulltime. Doing it every 2 weeks gives me time to get things together rather than continually throwing things together because I haven't had time to plan. We meet for 1.5 to 2 hours instead of 1 hour per meeting to make up for the time. That too, seems to work out better as it gives us more time to work on things and finish projects. I started with Bears so maybe they are old enough to remember for 2 weeks versus Wolfs. Now I haVe Webelos and th

Wow, Sctmom, you actually know parents that will sew a Bobcat badge on and then take it off to sew the Webelos badge on (for the tan shirt)?! I wish I could get our parents to just sew a badge on period.

Does anybody know if there are any plans to offer a beltloop and pin for Martial Arts or Karate? Or why they haven't offered one in the past?