LauraT7

service hours to ANY community organization should count - and when looking for service projects - who better to service than your own CO? yes, you should do them to thank the organization, and the organization should support your troop - isn't that the design of the system? The church that has supported our troop for over 85 years knows they can count on the boys to not only volunteer for projects that the boys see and recognise as a need, but that they can also call and ask for help on anything. The Pastor and staff of this church are all female - and the majority of the congr

I don't know what to call it ..... I remember a halloween story/poem about a dead man, you put the kids in a circle and pass around peeled grapes for his eyes and spaghetti for brains, a rubber glove full of jello for his hand, etc. We're looking for it for one of our Denners - the cub pack he works with is having a lock-in and thought it would be fun for the boys. I know it's past halloween, but he still thought it would be fun to do Anybody know what I'm talking about? or know where I can find it?

Whoa! you scared me there for a minute BobWhite! I'm glad they only have to describe "going with support" anyway... I wonder how the HS principal would feel about a rowboat in the school pool.... ;-)

jbroganjr - nope - don't need that vest.... When I "finished up" with the boy in our troop, he had actually started at MB opportunity days under another counselor. But because I also counseled that badge, and I am in his troop and neighborhood, he contacted me to finish it up when he was ready - 7 or 8 months later. Now, this particular boy is rather young and shy. though he has been in the troop almost 2 yrs, he just reached Tenderfoot at summer camp this summer. his family is very religious and he misses alot of scout things because of church events. He DID mention it to me

our troop is doing a cub recruitment activity where we are getting the local HS pool for a few hours for a family swim. (we have the safe swim, a red cross lifegard and all the safety stuff covered) the boys are going to run stations so that the webelos can get their "Aquanaut" activity pin. (and have some free swim & games time, too!) but the wording of one requirement is confusing - just what is: "5. Demonstrate three basic water rescue methods. Demonstrate reaching and throwing. Describe going with support." We can think of 3 rescue methods - reaching something in

off my soapbox - but on the subject of this post... our district has started a yearly "Merit Badge Opportunity days" - last March was the first year and they were OVERWHELMED by the response. they must have offered about 20 - 30 badges, in a classroom style setting, 5 sessions on 3 saturdays over 6 weeks. the boys signed up - they expected about 150 (remember, this was district-wide) and they got about 600+! I will say that there was a BIG drop off when it came time to return the second week. Many of the badges offered were the drier ones, like the citizenship ones and so

OK guys - I get enough of this stuff in my troop - I don't need it here, too! Should we get out the dueling pistols and call out 40 paces? ;-) of course, I'm kidding, but I belong to a number of boards on different interests, and it amazes me how testy people can get with each other. I agree with BobWhite, that BSA has put lots of hours into this program and they've worked out alot of bugs that we couldn't work out on own in a lifetime of working with kids - we might as well take advantage of their expertise. The rest is opinion - and some of those opinions work well

try the craft stores - like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, - even the fabric stores that carry craft items - like jo-anne fabrics in our area. there are alot of small wood -type things for crafts that, while not intended for name tags, would make great name tags. Check in the doll house section, the shelf and plaque section and also look for wood burning sets and supplies. Wood burning might be a great way to do the names, too - and of course, the craft store would carry the pin backings you would need to glue on make them nametags. My son and I made some nice nametags a

Compass - now that's a truly "scoutlike" suggestion! I LIKE it! We'll have to work on that with Jon's patrol - which is already the best running in the troop (has more of the outside-the-box thinkers) And I AM mixing up the camping merit badge with the rank requirements! I didn't have the book handy at the time of my original post - thanks for the ideas!

Ok - going back to my original post - COR being involved in the troop /committee is great - never had a problem with that. It's just that in the leadership problems we've had with our troop, many on the board have suggested getting the district commisioner involved - and guess what? She's already there! Because she IS both our COR AND our troop's Unit commissioner. or am I confused? is the unit commissioner and District commissioner the same thing? And while she IS a help, I dunno - I guess I was hoping for an extra voice to promote Boy lead programming. It's an up

Compass - It isn't that the boys' decided it - it's just a habit that they have kept up. We have just started with "boy lead" programming after many years of dictatorship. It's hard for even the boys to realize what this means after many, many years of being a "boys club" run by a few "big boys" and not a true BSA troop. Even the boys resist change, when they have been with the troop for 3 or 4 years and have ALWAYS done things a certain way. We are not shorting the boys their ten nights, we DO go to camp - in fact last year we went to TWO camps, and a few of the boys atten

I heard / read somewhere that BSA was going to or had reviewed or changed some of the regs regarding strenuous activities, like mountain biking, trekking, backpacking, etc, due to some of the serious accidents and even deaths that had happend in recent years on Scout trips. Is there any truth to this? What has anyboy heard, if anything? We had a boy die in our council a few years ago on a mountain biking trip - don't know the details - but apparently he became dehydrated too fast, got disoriented and lost. they found him alive, but he didn't recover. I had a question in ano

Our troop has a habit /tradition of one night campouts. we usually leave very early Sat ( 7 or 8 am) and are back Sun around 11 - 1. Often the boys bring a sack lunch, esp if it is a hike or bike trip. Our campouts are very activity oriented - for example - Bike all day, set camp, eat, campfire, sleep - breakfast, break camp and go home. It IS difficult, at best, to get the adults home from work, get the stuff packed up and ready on the bus and out in time to set up camp on a friday, make or eat dinner, etc before dark. We live in a bedroom community of a large city, where the ave c

luckily, even with a rather small troop, we have a pretty good turnout percentage for campouts - Sometimes people have to leave - but usually it is for family events - a wedding, Christening, something like that - most of our boys are under 14, though and not on HS sports teams yet. Alot of the Jr high sports teams are more forgiving of missing a practice or two. And the boys DO set their priorities - most of ours - chose scouts. however, when somone does have to leave early ( my son and I had to leave summer camp on Fri for my nephew's wedding on Sat) We make arrangements in advan

"I see unpacking to clean equipment so that it can be re-packed as a huge waste of time." Glad somebody else agrees with me! It's taken a few of us a long time to convince the rest of the troop what a monumental bore / chore it was to waste a whole monday meeting after a campout (and sometimes more!) to clean out the bus and equipment! Besides, often some of the boys on the campout didn't make the monday meeting / cleanings - and some boys who didn't make the campout got stuck cleaning the bus and equipment! Why did they always do that? "because we've ALWAYS done it that way

one of the things we are talking about trying in our troop - is to assign specific gear to a specific patrol - In addition to their patrol box, they get assigned certain tents and other equipment, and they use that same equipment next time - so if there is a broken zipper, missing stakes, or lost utensils - they have to "make do" until the committe approves replacements (which in our troop, could take years....)

We haven't done the "Patrol" system for very long - previously, what was done was that those boys who needed those requirements of planning and cooking were always given priority in campouts. It does say "help plan a PATROL menu" - which to me, means multiple input. then the requirements of food groups, nutritional needs, list of food, and costs, gear needed, safe handling of food, garbage, etc were all done individually by the boy with an ASM or other adult to sign off. then those boys, say (2 or 3 in a patrol at most) would be assigned cooking duty on the next campout. Sometim

WOW! There have been some changes since I was a GS! But all in all - the basic program, as our council ran it, is not all that different than it was when I was a girl. More "awards", apparently to make it more like the BSA ranks - but the intent is the same. this was VERY informative - THanks!

"or if some of todays rules were brought about by reactions to isolated problems when common sense and decency didnt prevail." I think you answered your own question - problem is, nowadays, common sense ain't so common - and neither is decency. All the more reason why we NEED BSA for our boys. As for some of the non-safety related changes - like the attendance requirement for POR's - alot of troops still put requirements in - mostly regarding rank - because there are only so many POR's and the boys above first class need them to advance. Our troop does NOT put limits on

Yaworski's ideas ARE good - esp doing projects in and around their own neighborhood IN UNIFORM! makes them visible and makes the community willing to support them! (if uniforms are a problem ($) many councils have "uniform banks" for just this purpose) Someone else had a comment about inner-city kids and summer camp - and they are right - partly - These kids DO NOT have the experience base ours do - they have not had the freedom or ability to go fishing, chase bugs (cockroaches don't count!) and count stars (can't see 'em for the city lights!) or sleep outside. They probabl

Our venture patrol / troop is planning a 3 day backpacking trip to the Shawnee National forest the 2nd weekend in Nov. It is considerably warmer than home (we're at the WI / IL border) 7-8 hours south - but it is 3 days of hiking, with full packs, probably some climbing, tho not "high altitude" and the nights will probably be cold. they will camp on the trail. Do the boys need the Class III Adult/high adventure health forms? I think they do, some in my troop say no - only if they go to a high adventure base or BSA activity. I'd rather be safe than sorry....

Attention span and fine motor skills, for the younger ones, might be a problem - But I'm guessing that most of the boys on such a trek would be first class and older anyway - maybe 13 + ? I've always wondered why there isn't a badge that has emphasis on sewing skills - it wouldn't have to be elaborate - They still have Basketry! it could be as simple as that! At least something that covers basic sewing - so the boys would be equipped to at least sew on their own badges and do emergency repairs, like buttons and hems.

I grew up in GSUSA - and the program is very different now, than it was when I was a GS. BSA has a very different set up from either the old GS I knew and the new one. But none of them would condone irresponsible behavior with equipment - especially equipment that did not belong to you personally. "Return it in as good or better shape than you found it" was what I was brought up on. That being said, I hope the boys in question truly KNOW what is expected of them to clean and return the equipment. It may sound funny - but many of our boys were never actually TAUGHT how to care f

ok - who's got that first aid badge??? I might need it as i almost fell off my chair laughing! I definiately vote for that to be our theme song!!! Go OGE!!!!

I carry one - a small flat one that my father carried for years in his pocket. I carry it for it's usefullness, and for the memories it brings me of my Dad. I also have a small leatherman-type tool in my purse. I can't tell you how often the small pliers, screwdrivers or knife have come in handy. For the boys, however - a knife can get you expelled real fast in most school systems, and is frowned upon in most other places, too. So they DON'T carry them. Except at scout outings. If they have their tot'n'chip, they proudly carry them. We try to encourage them to have a case