LauraT7

Think of it this way - If he is wearing his uniform - FULL uniform with badge sash - then he has his Eagle rank patch and all the badges that show he has earned additional palms.... If he is an young adult or leader (moved up in the troop) and wears his square knot, he can wear the palms on it - if he wears/ displays the Eagle ribbon, the palms go on it... any of the above three ways show what he has accomplished - right?

in addition to having til age 18 to finish, if a boy starts a badge and they change the requirements before he finishes it - he has the choice of finishing under the old requirements OR the new requirements.

personally, I think that is WHY the badge is worded to count only ONE week of long-term camp - that and the fact that even if you use your own tents at summer camp - you are only putting them up and taking them down once during the whole week - usually. One of our council camps has platform tents for the scouts, and one does not. We have only gone to the camp that uses the platform tents once, and many of the boys chose to pitch their own tents, anyway (no mosquito netting in the platform tents) I think the INTENT of the 20 night requirement is for the boys to have the full experi

patrol or troop activities: a 'crash' campout - their plane has crashed and they have to make do until rescue with limited items - no tents - tarps/ make own shelters, limited/odd foods, utensils, etc. a sample cooking weekend/ day/ meeting - try as many different recipies and cooking methods as you can come up with - sample them all. Bike trails - all over - look up 'rails to trails', and state park info, local bike shops and biking clubs. take advantage of locally planned events - our county conservation district has a re-enacted pioneer encampment each fall - they call

Hey! That's not a bad price for a great old movie! it should be a real hit with the boys at the church lock-ins we sometimes do... I'm gonna order one for us - thanks for the info! laura

Burnout is a tough issue - what is 'too much' for one kid might not be 'enough' for another.... In 6th grade, my son was being 'burned out' by school alone. he was not in much else - confirmation, a weekly visit with his Dad and every other weekend at their house - which was extremely stressfull - but we had no control over that at the time. But jr high was a real trial for him, and scouting, (badgework, rank advancements) at that point, just seemed like more schoolwork. so we made an agreement - i would not ask him to do ANYTHING in scouting, except to go on some of the trips he

I'm an "old girl scout", too - and have often lamented that BSA officially or unofficially does not encourage "patch jackets" As the boys go into Boy Scouts, from Cubs - they drop the red vests and have NO place to display their patches (though they CAN wear them into boy Scouts - I've never seen even ONE boy do so - Red vests are considered to be a 'Cub' thing here) The red vest was originally a local choice, picked up across the nation and adopted by BSA into the program officially. In Boy Scouts, some moms make the boys a 'patch blanket' as someone above mentioned. I've als

That's a GREAT idea! My son's book is in pretty good shape because we've always had it in a cover and he DOES take it everywhere - but we have some boys in the troop who have only had their books for a year or two and they are almost destroyed. I really like the covers because they can keep a pen and some paper (badge cards, etc) stored in the flap - a cover protects the page edges, too - which a spiral won't. but some people just don't like covers. No matter how much I encourage them to get covers from the start - some people are really resistant. I don't know the prices

We just had an eagle COH of one of our boys - who is 17 - "Mike". His brother "Dave", age 14 -is in the same troop. I know that prior to getting his Eagle, there was some mix-up between our council records and the troop records - he had all his ranks and badges - but somehow the council didn't have everything - I think one rank was somehow "missing"? and it took some straightening out. There was a table at his COH with memorabilia - photos, books, etc - and he had all of his badge cards - I noticed one in particular, "Lifesaving", that at first I thought someone had put in the

Ah.... but you've got something cool to start his 'scouting' scrapbook with!

Well, our troop is S-l-o-w about some things - but I guess I'M his 'advisor' for this one - We have started collecting all the photos we have (scattered all over the house) and putting them in a box to be sorted. /the other night the committee approved the purchase of some albums and materials for them and gave us the key to the cabinets so he can start sorting thru the historical photos and documents the troop has for the scrapbooks (the troop is 85 yrs old and we have some great old memorabilia) We recently had an Eagle COH for one of our boys - and started an Eagle plaque do

Well, our troop is S-l-o-w about some things - but I guess I'M his 'advisor' for this one - We have started collecting all the photos we have (scattered all over the house) and putting them in a box to be sorted. /the other night the committee approved the purchase of some albums and materials for them and gave us the key to the cabinets so he can start sorting thru the historical photos and documents the troop has for the scrapbooks (the troop is 85 yrs old and we have some great old memorabilia) We recently had an Eagle COH for one of our boys - and started an Eagle plaque do

Where can we see what is available in patrol patches? I looked in the catalogue, and they don't show them there... We have always used the same patrol names because the troop had a large supply of certain patrol patches - Indian, Viking, Eagle and Wolf - but the boys want their OWN patrol names (which i think is great!) and we have to get new patches. However, the boys don't know what is available and the adults don't know where to look for them.... Suggestions?

Dan - I can think of another - actually two - who this would be an option for: the single mom who has no tools or woodworking abilities, yet her son wants to participate - or a couple of my den boys, who lived in apartments and parents had no tools, skills or place to build one. I haven't seen these pre- built cars - but are they painted and everything? Ready to run as is? I could see one that was worked, but had to be painted. this would be something to appeal to those who did not have the woodworking skills and tools to participate - to simply assemble and paint a car. of

yes, it is HIS choice - But sometimes kids need guidance in making those choices. since you communicate so well with us - I hope you can communicate so well with your son - have you talked to him so frankly? Often kids get stuck or bored - or other interests pull him away - and that's OK. for some boys, the 'laid out' program of rank advancements is manageable enough - but taking the final step to plan and execute an Eagle project is just beyond them. they may need maturity, or ideas, or some kind of nudge - or just time.... But he needs to be able to make an INFORMED choic

I have seen these at summer camp, too - wish we had one - One good tip is to take COLORED duct tape and mark the poles with it - color match the joints for assembly - makes assembling them go much faster. We don't have that kind of tent - we have the big CANVAS with WOOD poles kind of tent - two of them. one is red and about 12 X 20 and the other one is larger - tho I have never seen it. Both have optional walls, and use huge stakes and guy lines (good opportunity for the boys to use those knots!) the canvas parts have bags, but the poles we just stack up. One thing we

Sounds like a great idea, Charity - I wouldn't mind having one of those for OUR parents! laura

Mark - you are right, we're not talking a legal commitment here - but I think the ADULTS, while holding a scout accountable to his word, also need to get a commitment from the parents on a big trip like this. Still, I've seen times when even the PARENTS make a big commitment ( like summer camp) and then back out because of something trivial. in this case, tho - I think I can picture what happened - a Kid really wants to go - but his parents aren't communicating and he can't get an answer from them, or maybe he's afraid to even ask. Originally, when asked if he wanted to go, h

Chicken in a backpack? this is one I haven't heard..... how?

Scoutnut is right - this is not the boy's fault or his problem - it is a problem designed for trouble by the SM and possibly, other adults. Correct me if I'm wrong, but What I "hear" from above is this: -SM wants a certain kind of trek -this choice of trek eliminates some of the boys who would otherwise go - SM is trying to hold one, or more, boys to their verbal interest in a trip as if the BOY had the legal right to decide and commit. The boys are minors, and legally have no right to commit themselves without parental approval. -SM or other leadership authorised chargi

FatOldGuy - i agree - with both of your comments - I don't think even that many iron their uniform pants - EVER - nor should they have to - the newer pants are a perma-press fabric - for at least a season or so, depending on how ofen you use them - they should show some kind of crease line for awhile. Permapress will not give you a SHARP crease - - but hey, if you really want a sharp crease, why not stitch it down? In the older pants, which were styled more like men's dress slacks - a crease made more sense. but I doubt even then they were ironed much. As a well-padded perso

I can't quote you book and page number, but I believe it's against BSA policy for 'troops' and packs to OWN things because they are not a legal entity and can't therefore, enter into a legal contract - to purchase or liscence something like a vehicle. Although the government allows you to title anything in almost any name - they apparently don't check to see if it's a 'real' business that 'owns' it. If the troop trailer rolls out of it's parking place in the SM's backyard and flattens the neighbor's above ground pool, which floods into the other neighbor's basement and knock out

that comment would have NEVER come up in our troop. most of you know me well enough by now to know that i am a VERY involved and active Scouting mom. But then, my son would not have CHOOSEN a troop that wanted to exclude me or other women. and despite my close relationship and understandable influence on my son - it was HIS choice. If he had choosen a more exclusively male troop, I would have gotten involved in something else, I guess. But he enjoys my company and that of other adults - male, female older, younger - he's been raised participating in activities with a large variet

my son has been appointed 'Troop Historian' in our troop - that position means nothing - it's never been defined. but I think Jon can make it his own - we have discussed it briefly in light of two things: First Jon and I both like photography, so we take many photos of the troop in action - which I've posted on the web site, but never got around to putting in an album. Second, Jon's Grandma is into scrapbooking - He really likes all her 'tools' and is very creative. We've talked about him making a scrapbook for the troop - which he could do as part of his 'Historian' position. if

yes - the meeting Sat WAS with the SM advising the SPL and ASPL on the choices for troop positions. Scoutmom - my son is named Jon, also! and we tried for a 'troop guide' position - as he naturally helps the younger ones both in and out of scouting - with his social skills, he relates better with those younger than he is. But though the SM approved his BEING a troop guide - the troop leadership ( boys) never acknowledged it by having him DO anything with the younger boys. In fact, unknown to us - someone organized a NSP weekend to work on advancements before summer camp - which would ha