JillKB

I see this post has been brought to life again since I originally posted it over 6 years ago. A lot has changed since then. We didn't do the minimum sales policy. Instead we went into it with the attitude that popcorn is what we sell and that we are all going to do it. We now have a BIG kickoff party, we put together nice prize packages for the top 3, we still give them 15% for their scout account and the top 6 get to hit me with shaving cream pies as part of our Christmas party. It has paid off in a big way. Since 2006 we have consistently been the biggest seller in our district and sometimes the biggest in council. Sure, we still have a few families that don't sell, but when we need volunteers to help with a project or bring in a snack, etc. I always make sure I ask those people first.

This is what I used last year. It is geared towards the 100th anniversary but there is no reason why it couldn't still be used: 100 Scouts 1) Over 100 million boys have been a part of the Boy Scouts of American since its start 100 years ago. 2) Of any one hundred boys who become Scouts, thirty will drop out in their first year. Perhaps this may be regarded as a failure, but later in life, all of these will remember that they had been in Scouting and will speak well of the program. 3) Of any one hundred boys who have been a scout, only rarely will one ever appear before a juvenile court judge. Six of the one hundred will become pastors. 4) Of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts. 1) Each of the one hundred will learn something from Scouting, and all will develop hobbies that will add interest throughout the rest of their lives. 2) Approximately one-half will serve in the military, and in varying degrees, profit from their Scout training. At least one will use it to save another person's life, and many may credit it for saving their own. 3) Four of the one hundred will reach Eagle rank, and at least one will later say that he valued his Eagle above his college degree. Many will find their future vocation through merit badge work and Scouting contacts. 4) Seventeen of the one hundred boys will become adult leaders and will give leadership to thousands of additional boys. 5) I think everyone would agree that those are pretty impressive statistics. Id like to share a quote with you from Will Rogers, for those of you old enough to know who he is.. "The only problem with the Boy Scouts is there aren't enough of them." As we celebrate the 100th year of scouting, I encourage all of you to share the opportunity with others. Invite a friend to join scouting.

I agree that not every presentation needs a ceremony. But in this case I have several boys receiving it and we usually don't have recruits outside of regular recruitment night more than once a year. I've had "Uncle Sam" come in and present the webelos with their citizen pins, I've had a "lost hiker" come in and present the hiking belt loop, etc. Just thought there was potential here to make this more interesting. And I think I've come up with my own idea. I am going to work on doing a little dialogue between boys "at school" to give an example of how you can ask someone to visit your den meeting, etc. I might even have one of the boys who recruited tell us how he did it, what he said, etc.

Anyone know how to run a pea shooting contest? I looked around on line but couldn't find anything.

I'm looking for something a little more detailed than that. I like to plan more of the specifics of what I am going to say rather than "wing it". I like to find things to say that may teach the boys things about the history or traditions of scouting and maybe leave a lasting impression (like a cubmaster minute). A ceremony or a poem, just like those used for other ceremonies, would be great. I had a great one I used last year but it pertained to the 100th anniversary... plus I don't like to use them over again if I can help it.

Does anyone have a short ceremony, poem or nice method of presentation to award the recruiter patch?

Yes... but I am looking for some kind of ceremony to use when presenting.(This message has been edited by JillKB)

Has anyone seen any ceremonies or readings that can be done when presenting service stars to cubs?

Has anyone ever heard of this? My council offered it for awhile and I held on to the paperwork... but now when I ask about it they don't seem to know what it is. Is it possible that just one council offered them or were they national? Does anyone know if they are still available anywhere? Here are the requirements and photo: http://www.trailmarker.com/~fccbsa/Advancement/WTSKnot.pdf

Dean - I agree with leaving mom/grandma out of it. What you said is exactly how I think I was feeling... you just put it in to words for me. "Be A Duck" will be my new motto because it is something I have a hard time doing. Without a doubt we set our expectations high for the boys. Their behavior and it's affect on the other boys is a priority. As soon as the school year starts we have a list of rules and expectations that both the boys and their parents must agree to and sign. Then we talk about/remind them of those items frequently. We've never had to ask a boy to leave the room. But with the quantity of boys, if they are only disruptive once during the meeting but there are 6 of them that do it then it becomes a lot of disruption. There ARE times we probably should have put the parents in "time out". Some like to talk amongst themselves during the meeting. It isn't an issue that is out of control... but I definitely think this is something we need to address... even if it isn't a pleasant thing to do. I believe I command respect when I speak but the cubmaster does it more as a request... he's a "nice guy". I may need to ask the asst. cubmaster to step in at these moments if need be. I think he would be good at it and he needs more to do anyway. Our pack meetings do have fun things... definitely. We alternate during the meeting between serious things and then fun things, etc. and try to keep things moving and interesting. Our dens sit together and parents often sit with their children. What you did get me thinking about is the fact that the parents often don't want to participate on our "silly" stuff. So they sit there while we expect the children to participate. But instead of letting loose the kids might be more inclined to follow the example of the parent. I'm not going to force the parent to participate... I've been there and I don't want to do that. But having them sit at the back tables may be a solution to that. Your comments are reassuring to me... we're doing well... and I shouldn't let one person's comment make me 2nd guess myself. On the other hand, there is always room for improvement... and sharing ideas among leaders helps to generate ideas. You comments have done that for me and I thank you for that!

Although the COR (mom/grandma) was very active in her day, she is nearly completely inactive at this point. I used to call her once in awhile for her opinions but rarely followed her advice because it seemed to be coming from a harsh and negative perspective... as though she was burned out on scouts to the point of no return. We have invited her to things and tried to keep her active with us but the most I see of her is to have her sign leader forms once a year. I thought with the grandson joining we might see her at pack meetings, etc. but so far not. I can't predict how a conversation with her would come out and so am somewhat reluctant to have it.

I have had thoughts about talking to his mother but I didn't want to cause her to be defensive. I also definitely plan on trying to put him in a leadership position. My Lion leader stays as the constant Lion leader... so when that den moves to Tigers next year we will need a leader. He's first on my list!

We have a parent in our pack who was also in the pack himself as a child (20 or so years ago) and his mother was the cubmaster. I am in contact with his mother still because she is a COR. I was told that he made comments in a den meeting about the behavior of the children in the pack, especially at pack meetings. He said that "when his mother was in charge they never would have acted like that". And he said that after his first pack meeting he almost pulled his son out because of the chaos. This truly surprised me because I've always felt we've had behavior well under control... especially considering a pack of 40 boys (including Lions) plus parents & siblings, gives us a pack meeting of almost 100 people. So to expect the room to remain dead silent during ceremonies, etc. would be nearly impossible. But now he's got me 2nd guessing myself. Som I'm trying to figure out this dad's comment and see if we actually do have a problem or if he is being unrealistic (with idealistic memories of a 10 year old kid). Does anyone have input on the overall behavior at their pack meetings? One problem we do find is that most parents seem to ignore their child's behavior rather than correct it. And den leaders are relucant to correct behavior if the parent is sitting right there. We've talked to the parents about this several times but it doesn't change much. We (cubmaster and committee chair) don't have any issue stopping the meeting and putting the scout sign up but we cannot do that with every noise we hear or we might as well keep the sign up the whole meeting (ouch!). And also, does anyone know where to find info on how things have changed over the years and how things were run versus how they are not? I've been told stories where it seemed like a more military style of behavior was expected. But over the years the overall interest in scouting has declined. Plus parents have changed and most would not so easily tolerate someone correcting their child, removing priviledges, etc. If we ran cubs today expecting complete respect, cooperation and attention of 6 - 11 year old, we wouldn't have much of a scouting program left because they'd all quit. Sad maybe, but true in my opinion. Yes, they need to learn respect and they need to learn the rules... but they are still children and "work in progress"... plus cubs should be fun... Your thoughts would be appreciated.

If the troop has been working on a merit badge together (bicycling for example) and one of the boys has only gone on a couple of the rides... but says he should get credit anyway because he rides his bike all the time and he and his family have gone on lots of bike trails over the summer, etc., what should you do? My thought was that the merit badge counselor had final say and it would depend somewhat on the details the scout is able to provide plus knowing the general character of the scout. But we were told at a scout training event recently that if a boy says he completed requirements then that was the final word. Since scouts are supposed to be "trustworthy", then we have to take his word for it in all situations. They told us this was "written, national BSA policy". Any thoughts and this and does anyone know exactly where this policy is written?

We have a concession stand at our pinewood derby. And since we go all out for pinewood we were wanting to keep the space derby extremely basic and easy. I don't want the parents to have to pay for kits because I think that if they do good on popcorn sales the pack owes them some fun events without more expense to the families. And I would also be embaressed to charge them $6 for a space derby kit because I think the price is way out of line. So I love the ideas given for alternate types of rockets made from recycled materials... very scout like and just as much fun with little or no expense.