jens3sons

Remember, if your school does print a directory, if you pass on last year's Kindergarten boys addresses to your district's office, they will print and mail a flyer or post card with the information of the recruitment night for you (your FOS dollars hard at work) ;-). I would then require the boys in your unit to wear their cub scout uniforms to school the day of the recruitment as a visual reminder, and remember once you are on the sidewalk surrounding the school you are on public property! Have your boys in your unit meet you after school near where the 1st grade boys exit the building and

Almost there with the correct information Acco40...According to both the Offical placement of Insignia and Uniform Inspection Sheet, it shows the AOL award bellow the left pocket and underneath it it has "(tan shirt)" typed in. It doesn't even show the AOL placement on a blue shirt. Another source for the correct information is the Webelos handbook. It is mentioned the same way on page 34. It is also brought up again on page 37 and states: "You'll wear your Arrow of Light Award below the left pocket as it is worn on the Boy Scout uniform." Hope that helps! jens3sons

I also agree with DonM...verbal abuse is NOT appropriate either, and I have a little "tweaking of a suggestion to go along with what has already been stated. I would have a parent/guardian of the fighting (special needs) kid attend all pack and den functions for a while, however, I would also suggest having the boys who have been verbally abusive to this boy, their parents attend as well. With the taunting kids' parents in attendance, chances are that the boys will be less likely to verbally abuse the special needs kid. Also I would try and find some "special" quality, talent or hobby spec

Is it something that could at least be pre-drilled before the projects are started, and then tell the boys the reason they had to be pre-drilled? Just a new thought that no one else seemed to state, so thought I would. Good Luck!

****Remember, NEGLECT can be a form of abuse! Maybe some good ole snooping around is called for, to see if there is any other possible things going on. Also, maybe make a little journal of the things you have witnessed, and what the father has said to you, marking the date and time, so that if ever questioned, or need to go to authorities happens, you have docummented proof with statements that are fresh in your head, because you took the time to write it down. It just breaks my heart to hear something like the father's statement! I know we are all busy, but maybe some extra time spent

Cajun Cody, My heart goes out to your little guy. What an accomplishment! And what a disgrace that the cars are missing. I just wanted you to know I sent an email to who I thought might have attended from my council as well, and if she did not, I asked her to find out who might have and forward the email to that person. I am in the western suburbs of Chicago. I sooooo hope the cars are returned! Jens3sons

Scoutndad...I am so glad you liked the idea! I love this forum of passing info along to each other! Anyways, I also wanted to commend you for not just "complaining" but wanting to solve the problem(s) as well! Good Luck in your ventures!

Seattle- Yes there was a reason for forming teams instead of going by den. First off, we try and have Pack unity vs. a bunch of little cliques with dens, this way, each leader had boys in each rank on their team, and it allows the littler ones to look up to the bigger boys. Second, I would hate to think of putting a new Wolf Cub in charge of his den ;-) especially around a campfire! Third, we would've had about 6 teams instead of 4, would've taken even longer to get through meals. We had four teams formed like I stated. 2 of the leaders were 2nd year Webelos (they were the only ones from

I am sorry, but I need to disagree with ScoutNut! The first year I was CC of our pack, and a couple years prior to that, we were one of the last rank districts in our council on numerous levels, and for a long time, we were one of the top ranked ones. The year I stepped up to the plate, I saw my unit failing and I saw our district failing, and they were failing me as well. I went to roundtables, and wasn't walking away with anything, other than the pack mail, and having some fun with other adults. I had a vision of where I wanted my pack to go and yet, being new, and having gone through

Seattle Pioneer, We just had our very FIRST Pack campout at a local forest preserve. It was my understanding that pack camping was not allowed up until last year, but many packs skirted the issue by going "family" camping, and just so happened all the families were part of the same pack. However, when our pack discovered last year that it was now allowed under certain guidelines, we started to get the wheels in motion. The proper paper work has to be filled with your council (and believe me, they do check ALL the paperwork (at least what they don't lose and make you resubmit ;-) ). We had

Flying Pig, In our pack we call the vest "brag vests". We do not require the boys to earn the vest, and the pack provides the vests for the boys. We have a pattern that has been passed down through the years of how to make the vests, and have someone who knows how to sew, sew them for us. (It is just two small seams up at the top of the shoulders.) The pack provides both the vest and the round council patch for the middle back of the vest. In September we sign up our new recruits, and at the October pack meeting we call the new boys up to the front, and formally introduce them to the res

We just came back from our very FIRST Pack camping. Our thoughts were to try and have the boys involved in some aspect of both the evening and the breakfast meal preparation. So for dinner, the boys made foil packets, and part of their dessert was a bannana foil packet. At breakfast the men fried up the sausage, but we used our dutch oven to boil water. Then we had the kids break an egg into a sandwich baggy, and then add some cheese if they wanted, and we dropped the bags into the dutch oven to cook. The guys also made pancakes for everyone, and we served the left over bannans from the n

Greg, Yes, I agree, a lot of us are creative when it comes to our "June & August" requirements...however, I think a lot of that comes from necessity. When dealing with your meeting place in a public school, often times they will not let groups meet in their meeting place in those months. Although school is still in attendance, they are either preparing to shut down the school for the summer, or they are still setting things up at the start of the year. This year we however are not being "creative" as we have in the past. And yes, I know a lot of them could be planned at other locatio

May I suggest looking into getting your den a Den Chief also?! If your Boy Scout Roundtables meet the same time and location as the Cub Scout Roundtable, it is easy to get in touch with different troops to let them know you are looking for a Den Chief. The Den Chief can start off with an activity like already stated, and can also have a few minutes to talk with the boys about Boy Scouting. We had our den get one this past year, and it really sparked a lot of questions from our boys (and interest) about Boy Scouting. In addition, you have another person the boys "look up" to, and can help m

This year our pack has planned things for the summer as follows: June: An over night campout at a local forest preserve. Kane County Cougars Baseball Game (Council sponsored, w/ a scout parade on the field and fireworks after) Attending the Elk's Lodge Flag Ceremony on Flag Day July: Participation in the 4th of July Parade Letter Drive to the Troops August: Food Drive Service Project for the Elementary School where we will be repairing about 8 benches. Each year we try and offer a number of items for the boys to

This was the first year, in many years we used an orange flag with a black paw print on it for the tiger. I just completed my 2nd year as CC for the pack, and even when my son joined Tigers the year before that, they hadn't used the orange flag. One mother who had a son graduate out of the pack 2 years ago, had another join this year, and doesn't remember the orange flag from her older son either. I happend to find two flags like that at the end of the previous scouting year, and you could tell the flags had been hand made and were in great shape, and I thought they were really cool, and si

Ok, you made me go look at the photos...I had been more concerned with the themes for this year and how we were going to work with them. But you are so right, they are great photos, and very realistic. Our Pack decided to ditch a couple themes this year, and replace them with our own themes, but the rest of them we will work with. Most times the program helps are such a life saver. As the person who trained me always said "you don't have to re-invent the wheel here!" I am soooooo glad she was soooo right! Anyways, thanks for pointing that out, I too love the photos! Jens3sons

We did our advancement ceremony for our pack a week and a half ago. This year, we were again hoping to have it outside like we did the year before, and that is a long story that I will spare you . We had this one at a forest preserve that offers hay rides. We scheduled 4 hay rides, one for Tigers, one for Wolves, one for Bears, and then one for Webelos and any one else who wished to go (Webelos had already earned their patch a few months ago). The Cubmaster said something to each group before they went on the ride, and we had the parents give the boys their rank patch. When the boys went

It was back in January when I had posted a similair question. At that time we were giving out the popcorn prizes, and we had some minor problems with the boys ordering the pocket knives as prizes. I found out that the boys can earn it at any age. The reason why I had thought it was a Bear requirement, was that it was the first time it is introduced to the boys in their handbooks is in the Bear book. They however, like I said, can earn it at any age. If you have a lot of boys who order the pocket knives as prizes, I would allow them to go ahead and earn it, because Trails End is supposed t

The best suggestion I have for you....YOU DO NOT NEED TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL! Use the Program Helps book...We get sooooo many suggestions for it! We don't always follow the month to month suggestions, but we do use them all! For example...The monthly theme for April was "Waterways of the U.S.A." We always do rain gutter regata in June, so we switched that monthly theme to June, and did May's idea "Pet Pals" in April, and May's pack meeting will be the June theme of "Destination Parks" as we are having our graduation outside. The other thing we do, is have each and every boy involved with

Ok, this is the 3rd time I have tried to reply to this, hopefully it works this time! (Hubby kept shutting down the dsl on me). Anyways, like I said I am the CC of our pack. I took the position when we were in need of both CC and a CM. (The pack at this point was 61 years old.) I couldn't stand to see the pack disban because no one would step up. The CM stepped up knowing he would only be involved for about a year's time as his son would be crossing over at the end of the year. He rarely showed up, except for the pack meeting. Those were very sad pack meetings, esp. when the knock-knock

mjengels....I am CC for our pack, sometimes I feel overwhelemed from all the different committees we have in our pack, and I have recently refused to be on the new committee, as I am involved in all the others. However, when I took the CC position, I would maybe have 3 people show up for the monthly meeting. I made it manditory for one person (preferably one of the den leaders) to show up, and if they could not, then it was imparitive that they send one of their parents to the meeting. (I was doing about 6 committee meeting over the phone each month and it was getting to be waaaaay too time

You do not to complete the requirements before handing them out, only need to show that you intend to. There were like 2 requirements still to finish up before we handed them out, but we have since completed them. At least this is what my Scout shop told me (might be different according to which shop you are in)

I know a lot of people post with questions, however, this time I thought I would pass on something learned...unfortunately the hard way. Although I was not in charge of B & G this year, I served on the committee (like I serve on most since I am the CC) but we definetely learned a good lesson. Since B & G takes a couple months of planning etc, Lent was never even "on our mind" when we were planning for our B & G. (As a pack we usually meet the 3rd Friday of the month, and so most of our B & G's have also been on that Friday.) This year, after the great deal we got last year

In trying to cut down cost this year of the trophies we give out, my PWD committee this year ordered trophies online for the first time....we saved a bundle! and the trophies came in about 6 days total time and they look awesome! They were ordered from www.quicktrophy.com Happy Derby! Jennifer