kari_cardi

It seems to me that the issue you are facing isn't so much how to cook for a large group, but how to change the pack culture and tradition of everyone cooking for themselves. I think cooking as a Webelos den is a good start, making the change first where you have the most influence. You could also suggest having your den cook for the whole group for one meal during a pack campout, maybe breakfast since it is a relatively simple meal and most people like breakfast foods. Dinner will be a tougher sell, I think, because people tend to be pickier or have more food restrictions around dinner foods. Going with menus that maximize choice like foil dinners or tacos where everyone assembles their meal from a buffet of ingredients will meet the most needs.

Is another issue the cost of providing food for the whole group? Everyone doing their own thing certainly simplifies accounting. We've also had families that didn't want to pay the campout fee because they didn't like the menu. We just try to work with them as best we can.

Most of my friends in other packs have the total opposite problem, no one in the pack wants to cook or knows how to cook outdoors for a crowd so they order in pizza. One den leader has started using den time to do simple outdoor cooking during den meetings so his scouts can learn the skills they need for campouts. The scouts love it!

Leathercraft is easy and rewarding for scouts, I think. We don't have Tandy Leather stores in my area, but we do have Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Both offer a small selection of leathercrafting tools and supplies, and both regularly offer 40% off coupons on their website (or on their phone apps, if you have a smart phone). This is a good way to pick up an alphabet stamp set and a hole punch tool if you need one for your project. The scout shop also sells leather stamps, I like the Cub Scout logo and the BSA logo. These need a handle, we found that a short dowel worked well rather than buying the one suggested. I've also use a metal stamp alphabet that was $5 at Harbor Freight. A light touch was needed for these.

We found that Amazon had the best price for leather knife cases and other leather kits, better than Tandy with their discount.

The basic technique to stamp leather is to dampen the leather surface, place it on a wooden block, position the stamp, and strike it once or twice with a wooden mallet. Have some scraps around for the leaders and the scouts to practice, it doesn't take much to get satisfactory results.

I also want to mention that our unit leaders didn't know we had leathercraft tools until there was a thorough cleaning of our storage area and all the unmarked boxes were sorted. Other ideas as to where to borrow the stamps might be your district day camp staff or nature centers.

Geez, Basement, when I brought up a similar example of an ill-timed beading ceremony you said that you felt sorry for me that I didn't understand the significance of the thing.

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=360530

Still think it was inappropriate. And it is still the first thing I think of when I see the scouters who were beaded and the scouters who did the beading, and not in a positive way.

Thanks, click23. I get it, it just seems to be one of those things that isn't evenly requested/enforced across BSA, at least in my experience. We have BALOO-trained leaders and we do district Cub Scout events, so I would have expected it to come up before now.

Thank you, Beavah. That is what I thought, and most of our troop leaders agree. Too bad the guy who quit over 'two-deep leadership violations' like the one described doesn't agree. He wanted two leaders in the vehicle for driving, too. I wish him well in his new troop.

Related question, as this has recently come up in our troop. Is it ok for a troop leader to take several boys on a hike during a campout without a second leader? No one-on-one contact, short hike on well-established trails/roads, not more than 10 minutes from the main group at anytime, visible for most of the hike.

What say ye, Scouters? Heinous violation of 2-deep leadership or reasonable scouting activity?

We don't have to file a Tour Permit if we stay within the council boundaries for our pack campouts. Perhaps that is why I didn't know we were suppose to have medical forms for every participant. Is this rule a national rule or a council rule? I guess if RichardB says so, it's a national rule.

Double-post!(This message has been edited by sasha)

This year in our council, anyone registered with the troop committee will be asked to do the online committee member training. They will also need to take YPT again as most took it two years ago to stay on the charter then. So the guys who switched from ASM to CM to avoid training will need to do some training anyway.

I really wish there was some honorary position for the former leaders who want to stay on the charter for nostalgia and support yet do not have any direct contact with the youth or the current leaders, for that matter.

The question of sling shots as an activity came up for our pack. Slingshots are not listed in the G2SS, but it is listed on the Age-Appropriate Guidelines chart as 'Council/District Outdoor Program only' for Tigers, Cub Scouts and Webelos.

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34416_Insert_Web.pdf

The lesson I would reiterate with the pack is that scouts do not shoot things at each other. Whatever propels the item, it's the shooting 'ammo' at people that is the safety issue. Then I would approach the scout in question and his parents and let them know that you understand that the scout had a wrist-rocket at a pack event and he needs to leave the wrist-rocket and similar possessions at home.

In the units where I serve, we don't help families that don't work to help earn their own way and who don't volunteer to help the unit. Being poor or needy isn't enough. Contribute to the unit as best you can and we will work with you in return. It might not be in the way they requested, but it will be offered.

I try really hard not to judge the things mentioned once help has been given. My friend who would need scout assistance to register her sons in scouting has gone to Disneyworld with her boys every year that I remember. Grandparents pay for the trip, it's what they want to do. I don't think the family should refuse the grandparents because they don't have money for other, more urgent needs. (I do judge the grandparents, but that is a different issue.) I have friends who are cash-poor right now because of job loss but who have nice cars. Keeping a dependable vehicle is important for finding a new job. We can't know everything about everyone, appearances can be deceiving, and it is a much better world when I think good of people unless proven otherwise.

I like the clapping technique to quiet a crowd of kids - 'If you can hear me, clap once.' then 'If you can hear me, clap twice.' and so on until the room is quiet and most people have clapped their hands in response. I think the average is 5 claps. It's more of a pebble in the pond method, works more quickly than just holding up 'the sign' and FAR better than 'Signs UP! That means your mouths are closed and your eyes are on me.' Blech.

Our leaders (including myself) will also directly ask the parents to be quiet if the boys are quiet and waiting. They usually respond to this for a few minutes at least.

I think controlled chaos with moments of calm is perfect for a pack meeting, so you are doing well there!

We recruited several boys by creating a Facebook page, inviting parents to 'Like' our page, then creating recruiting notices and events for the pack parents to 'Share' with their FB friends list. It was more successful than I thought it would be, on par with our school night recruitment which includes boy talks and flyers. I should not have been so surprised, it's the digital version of word of mouth which I find is the best recruitment tool.

Our Webelos have no cost for transitioning to the troop, other than uniforms. Charter is paid by the pack in October (December re-charter), transfer app to the troop is $1 in April. The troop covers the $1. Troop costs are covered by fundraising and outing fees as needed. No individual scout accounts.

The pack prorates dues for second year Webelos because we state that dues are $XX/month. Webelos cost more but in general, those scouts and parents have contributed greatly to the pack over the years. I think there are many ways to do this but it all starts with a good pack budget.

We do the low-key event without a formal agenda. No need for more when a great signup night is 6 families! I use similar props as everyone else, we have a display board, derby cars, boat, handbooks, etc. Our most popular handout is a pack calendar, it makes us look organized.

We haven't had any families leave because of the homosexual issue (at least not that have said as much), but we have lost several due to the economy. We try to work with them as much as we can, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

The scout who consistently wears his red vest to our pack and den meetings isn't home schooled or autistic. He is a proud and very enthusiastic Webelos scout, and I think that is a good thing.

The core of our pack calendar is weekly den meetings and monthly pack meetings. Other pack activities supplement, not replace, the core. If we can't do advancements at the monthly pack meeting for some reason (ex. cancelled meeting), we will give them to the den leaders to do at their meetings or we bring them to the pack activity to hand out in a very brief ceremony.

I am a firm believer that advancements need to be awarded regularly and in a timely fashion, and that a consistent, predictable meeting schedule helps busy parents and increases attendance. Both are part of having a well-run, well-organized pack!

Am I naive to think that my sons' information is held only by the unit, charter org and council as indicated by the application I completed for each of them, and not by any and every volunteer who thinks he/she needs a copy for themselves? I guess so. Personal information is just that, and I guess I think it is inappropriate for someone to have their own database of personal information about my children without my permission and without a clear need to do so.

Creepy, indeed.

I'll pass along the hint given to me by a former DE. If you live in the Eastern time zone as I do and I see you do, Eagle92, try to do your ScoutNet work before noon, before Utah wakes up and logs in. And by golly if it doesn't make a difference!

We also skip Halloween and have a regular pack meeting that usually includes pumpkins. We have had a lot of fun in the past building large machines to smash or hurl pumpkins or green tomatoes or whatever else we can find that is cheap and biodegradable. Giant catapults are fantastic! Maybe you could have each den build a machine and do a costume contest to keep the Halloween theme.

I think there is a learning curve when it comes to cub scout activities. I see new leaders, male and female, choosing projects that are too complicated or hazardous for the age group and the time allotted. It takes experience and confidence to present an open-ended project that brings together multiple skills and satisfaction to a scout. It's easier to buy those pre-cut foam kits at the craft store. I personally hate them, but I don't judge the leaders who use them. I am grateful that they volunteer and do their best.

Some updated projects in the handbooks and the How-To book would help.

Thanks, dfolsen! Did you enjoy the program as it was piloted?

I am very excited about this program! Just looking over the requirements for Science Everywhere!, we already have plans in place that meet all these requirements. My family has a strong bias towards STEM topics anyway, so this is perfect for us.

I thought it interesting that the Supernova requires working with someone who is essentially a merit badge counselor.

"To earn the Cub Scout Supernova award, you must be a Bear or Wolf Cub Scout who is active with a den. With your parent's and unit leader's help, you must select a council-approved mentor who is a registered Scouter. You may NOT choose your parent or your unit leader (unless the mentor is working with more than one youth)."

Any ideas on how these mentors will be selected and tracked by council?

I would be mildly upset that the other parents went back on their offer to drive my son so that other scouts from a different unit who had not signed up could go. The fact that one of the other scouts was related to the leader who was driving is relevant, it isn't as though she went out and found other random scouts to drive around. So basically their circumstances changed and you and your son couldn't roll with the change so he lost out on a trip. Again, I'd be mildly upset that the other parents went back on their offer, but it is not worth putting any more energy than that into the situation.

As far as the points you brought up, I don't think it violates any rules to put one male scout in a vehicle with 4 females, and if one of the parents is a leader I would assume that she had the food and sign up issues covered. Perhaps some other scouts backed out at the last minute. If your troop has a firm and unvarying rule that scouts must sign up for outings by the deadline and this had affected your son before, then you might have a reason to talk to the unit leaders. As it is, no.