kari_cardi

I'm sorry. Yours is not an enviable position. I think you've been given some good advice. Best of luck!

KDD, you could also use the argument that the pack cam out will be a better experience if led by someone trained to lead such an event. I'd focus on getting a Wolf or Bear leader to do BALOO so you don't have to do this again next year or the year after. I'd also present it as 'this is the training for Cub Scout leaders to camp, and Webelos leaders need to take WELOTS' so it is matter-of-fact and just part of training and not 'special training that is a PITA that council requires so we can have fun.' FWIW, my council lets someone with WELOTS or IOLS stand in for BALOO-trained. My council

We have at least three units in our district that lost charter orgs, one troop and two packs. The troop merged with another nearby troop, One of the packs folded, it was small and struggling before the membership change. I don't know what happened to the third. We have welcomed the cubs to our pack, we are pretty diverse and they should fit in well.

I'm a CC and I have a uniform that I wear for recruitment and in-person training. Otherwise, I don't feel a need to wear it. In your case, I'd probably go with whatever patch was already on the shirt or no position patch at all. Only fellow scouters will know the difference, and it will be less confusing to parents you may encounter in either role.

I have not found ours to be as useful as they could be. They are not well-attended and the information is lacking. Our district is actively working on improving them by offering more and better content with multiple break outs for different roles and identifying leaders in the district who represent successful practices for topics like popcorn, recruitment, camping and unit management.rather than relying on the same tired souls to do the same tired presentations. It's enough that I will give it another go.

Exactly. Most Cubmasters I know are also Den Leaders, and it is certainly true in our pack. As far as burnout, I blame the relentless Cub schedule and BSA hoop-jumping far more for burn out than wearing two hats in a unit. Your point about having strong Den Leaders is also very valid. We have had retention issues in the dens that do not have strong leaders, it's an ongoing issue no matter who has been in the Cubmaster role. Unit size makes all the difference as well, I suspect. There is a critical point where it is impossible to have a pack without the leaders wearing multiple hats, a diffe

I agree that a phone call is the way to go. In my experience, you might get a scout back if the parents are willing to share a specific problem for which you can offer a solution. Otherwise, I've found that scouts who have left before are much less likely to be retained a second time. When I follow up with families who have left the pack, I find it helpful to have a list of other local packs with locations and meeting times on hand to share if it happens that our pack is not the best fit. Good luck!

We used Mirazyme with great success on one of our tents. The stain remains but the smell is gone and the mildew hasn't spread, indicating that it was killed by the enzyme treatment. It was recommended by the tent manufacturer. Mirazyme has directions for treating mildew in tents right on the bottle. I've found that mildew is likely to recur when bleach is used. Bleach will kill mildew on the surface and bleach out the mold so it isn't visible, it doesn't kill the mold in the fibers. It's hard on nylon and other synthetics, too. I like using a borax solution (1 cup to 1 gallon) to kill mildew i

Our council is lending out CC scanners but the account to use the scanner is held by the unit, so all of the cost and liability is still with the unit. If our council would share ANY of the cost or liability of the popcorn sale I'd be a more enthusiastic supporter.

It's a common situation in our pack, most of our leaders wear two hats and we are larger than your unit.. My concern for you isn't in being Cubmaster and DL, but that you will end up assuming CC as well since as you say the committee is counting down the months to crossover. How many of the excuses from the other parents in your den are truly valid? Do you have someone that you would really like to work with, that you can recruit more vigorously? Can you identify a parent to begin working on to be CC? If you take CM, you'll basically have to build your own committee from what you've said, and

Our council sells Trails End. Last year, the amount of commission varied by product within a 27-32% range. This year, the sales commission started at a flat 31% with a 1% bonus for attending popcorn training and an additional 3% given in lieu of prizes. Trails End is no longer offering prizes and the prize fulfillment is through the scout shop. I think these are excellent changes. Kevin, your district Popcorn Kernel should have your answer and is probably more accessible than your DE. I suggest making that person your best friend, a big part of the job is answering questions. You'll have

Add me to the list of scouters who uses 'family camp' as pack camping with the whole family, and pack overnighter for any sleepover experience that is not camping. District cub camping are called Cub-O-Rees, Council cub camping is day, twilight or resident camp programs for dens or parent/son pairs. There seems to be regional differences in how the terms are used.

Our pack, like a lot of units, has a cap on how many belt loops we will buy each year to limit the cost to the pack. We also have a rule that the pack will buy each belt loop once but will recognize a scout each times he earns it. Belt loops and pins are not restricted items and parents are free to buy as many as they want. Pass all of the cost to the parents if that works better for your unit. Print off certificates if you need to hand out something. If a scout in my unit has the initiative to earn an award, I'm going to see that we recognize it in some way.

The basic prizes this year in our council are all from the scout shop, so they all do have some relationship to scouting and most are outdoor-oriented. The Trails End rep at training said that they have left the prize business entirely as it wasn't a strength for them so National is in charge of prize fulfillment, something like that. The special prizes are all experiences, tickets to sports games and things like that, which I also like over more trinkets. The hokiest prize is a plastic crossbow as a bonus prize.

Back to the original question, I think it varies by local culture, so to speak. We've had boys come over from packs that did not award a single belt loop, the parents and scout didn't even know the program existed. We've had others join that had a belt full of jingling bling. My pack trends to the middle. We look to belt loops when we are doing pack-wide activities because they are easy ideas to implement across all the ranks. Awards like LNT fit in the same way. When our den leaders need a quick, small project to fill out a den meeting, rank electives are the choice. Individual scouts tend to

Staples, definitely. I've yet to find a patch I couldn't put a staple through and it holds the patch better for sewing. Flat and no pointy ends to poke.

His gear isn't contaminated in this scenario, at least after the initial cleaning. Start with a complete set of clean gear, right down to skivvys, socks and shoes. I'd want everything new or donated, actually. His infested clothing and shoes are stored isolated in a tote, either in a garage or outside. Solar heat can only help, here! If they are in his hair, they should be easily removed by vigorous brushing. If he is 'decontaminated' before the outing, then his gear should remain clean. It's key to start with clean gear, then maintain it by avoiding cross-contamination with stuff from hom

Our past UC was a pain in the butt. He would show up without warning, expect to talk to leaders who were actively working with scouts, and spoke ENDLESSLY about what he was doing for his own units and how trained he was. No one cared, no surprise. He was annoying and not welcomed. Our current UC is great. He comes to our meetings on a regular basis, waits patiently to talk to someone if he needs to, will help set-up/take-down equipment or otherwise pitch in to help, praises us frequently and acknowledges that we are top-functioning units in the district. He is also a genuinely nice guy. O

Perhaps you could offer to work with the family by helping the scout put together a kit of bedbug-free gear and clothing that stays in your garage or at the home of another leader or friend. Then for outings, he stops there first, stores his clothes and shoes in a tote, changes into his stored clothes and attends the outing. On return, reverse the procedure. I think it would be very fair to offer that solution or the alternative to stop participating until the problem is resolved.

Brownies do work, of course! They are considered bar cookies!

I've done most of the recruiting for adult volunteers for our units in the last 5 years or so. My method works as follows: 1. Start small. Design some meetings early on that require adults to work with their own scouts. Show them that they are needed and that BSA isn't a babysitting service. If the adults are left to sit in the back of the room, they will eventually leave the room. Or, for a troop, ask the parents to stay and help with the trailer or storage unit or other small job with another leader. 2. Give them a few simple jobs to do, one-time responsibilities. Praise them wildl

Some local units have a plethora of volunteers, some do not. I think few have just the right number of skilled leaders to volunteer!

I've not seen scoutspirit. I'll plan on taking a look today. In the spirit of this thread, why are you getting away form scoutrack and scoutmanage? ScoutTrack, at least when we used it, lacked the ability to add your own unit and local awards, didn't track well from year to year, and wasn't parent-friendly. We are fine with parents entering awards for Tiger-Bear years with understood limits on how many the pack will pay for. If I remember correctly, sending emails wasn't the easiest task either. ScoutManage looked promising. It looks good. It has tutorials for the most common functio

ScoutManage has an "Archive' feature that is very nice for parking records for scouts who have left. I also like that you can enter your own awards to track and the reports for the Advancement chair are more robust IMO. On the other hand, the calendar in ScoutTrack has more options and communication is much more straightforward.

I recently learned that the MBC apps in our district fall into a black hole created by a district volunteer who doesn't like to do paperwork. Wonderful. So much disregard for the volunteers willing to step up and the work I've put into recruiting them, not to mention the scouts looking for a counselor in our district. The person in question was just awarded a Silver Beaver which makes me cynical about any change happening soon.