Lisabob

How about water rockets or catapults? Added benefit if you assign a "fun" set of leaders to that station and they're willing to get everybody wet. Other fun things we've done: fishing (if facilities permit); "belly bumper tag" (sort of like huge inner tubes the kids get into. They'll fall over but they can hardly hurt themselves, as long as you set some guidelines); knot tying (in the shade - a good cool down activity); teach magic tricks; do some geology or wildlife stuff... I'd take the rank books, pull some fun things out of the requirements and/or arrow point electives, maybe

Could you clarify for me what you mean by a "certified" troop? Thanks Lisa'bob

Scouter4321 I agree that letting this "slide by" is unacceptable and, if the boy is actually guilty, sets a terrible example for the rest of the troop. I don't think anybody here is advocating that you do that. As for addressing the other boys who think this young man's alleged actions were "cool," well it seems like this is a good opportunity for a scoutmaster's minute (without naming names or maybe even without specific reference to the situation). Also you might talk about who was hurt by the activities. Obviously I don't know what the nature of the activity was in this specific c

You mention that he's a few months away from being 18. How many months away from 18 are we talking about here? Can you (or he) request that his Eagle BoR be postponed, pending clarification of these issues? Lisa'bob

Don't forget the cub program. Our district has pushed hard to get cub leaders to RT but for a long while, when cub leaders showed up there was no specific program for them. I'm all for learning about the boy scout program too but if I have a 7 year old in a wolf den, I'm going to expect the RT program to be of immediate use to me or else I'm just not going to attend in the future. Once our RT staff started running separate sessions for the cub program, not surprisingly, cub leader attendance increased. The way they currently do it is to hold a common opening and closing and then split

That's just the problem Ed. By asking directly you are putting this person in a real bind. Having made it this far in scouting, one hopes he places some real meaning in the idea that a "scout is trustworthy," despite the fact that he stands suspected of participation in some criminal activity. And he probably has a close relationship with at least some of the adults in the troop since, after all, he has worked with them for years. So if asked, he may very well answer from the heart. Now that may be what the committee wants, but the problem is that in doing so, even if it "feels righ

Not only does hte webelos literature *not* refer to webelos as "patrols" it specifically indicates that webelos not patrols, but still dens. I wish I could locate my webelos book! But here's a link to the virtual cub leader's handbook and a citation of policy on this matter, for those who may want to track it down a bit further. http://www.geocities.com/cybercubber/web-den-emblem.html To use the patrol idea as a way to bridge the w-s transition period is interesting but I agree, mistaken both in terms of program guidelines (not allowed) and intention. While we probably all

I don't have my book handy but I am 100% certain of this. The webelos program is based on DENS, not patrols. This is so even when the webelos dens choose an emblem. They're still a den. That said, the mix-up seems pretty common and tends to be just a semantics issue since the emblems are most typically referred to as "patrol emblems." As long as the presenter didn't go on to advocate that a webelos den function just like a boy scout patrol, then I would classify this as a pretty minor issue. Lisa'bob

Scouter4321 asks whether the committee should ask the boy directly about his alleged involvement in some criminal matter. I don't think that the committee should ask point blank. Unless the legal issue of his guilt/innocence is already satisfactorily resolved, you may be putting him in a difficult position. Assuming he is guilty but the case isn't resolved yet, it might be unwise for him to answer your direct question. So now you're potentially asking him to either further risk himself in legal terms, or to evade answering the question, or to lie. And the more serious the accusations

John, thanks. Sorry if I went off on a bit of a rant there. It just gets to be too much occasionally. Example: I had offered to teach a UoS class and instead they asked me to run the entire event for the next two or three years. Not what I had time, inclination, or probably, skill, to do. Not to mention it was being held at a site that's a 2 hour drive from where I live and in order to attend the bi-weekly planning meetings at the site I'd have had to drag my son along (scheduling issues) every time and we wouldn't have gotten home til at least 11pm on a week night. No can do. After rep

Me too, similar story. Only problem I have - and this seems to be pervasive in scouting - is that one is seldom allowed to "just" volunteer to do one thing at a time, like teach a class at UoS or help with district training or serve as a UC for just a couple of units. As soon as "they" figure out that they have a "live one" the push to serve as the chair for a zillion different things begins. Personally I don't have time (or inclination in some cases) to be in charge and attend all the meetings that go with that, which are inevitably at the far end of our geographically large district too.

That's great! Congrats! Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

We've had good luck with a spring plant/flower sale, teaming up with a local nursery. One "hot" item for mother's day gifts was a "flower of the month" card. People paid $20/$25 or so for the card and it entitled them to stop in at the nursery and get a specific item each month. People couldn't believe they could do that for such a low price and they sold really well. (The nursery made plenty of money on it too though - they told me most people who come in with their cards end up buying additional items while they're in the shop anyway.) Best part: NO DELIVERY NEEDED! Lisa'bob

I don't know how common it is, in terms of councils pushing QU on units that didn't earn it, and getting creative with the facts to justify their actions. I do know that something like this *MAY* have happened with the pack I was affiliated with. The first two years my son was in the pack, they received the QU designation. In the first year I had no idea what that meant (not a leader yet) but in the second year, after becoming a leader and reviewing the various records I knew for a fact that this was inaccurate and had been for a good long time. So after explaining this to the pack

That's an interesting point Sue, though not quite the phenomenon I was trying to get at. Let me try to re-phrase my question. Do you think that there is a higher percentage of boys with various types of disabilities in scout groups than in the general population? And if so, why is that the case? I wouldn't have thought so myself but then a friend of mine did a presentation for my son's former cub pack on scouting for disabled youth. Following that, quite a few parents (probably 1/4 to 1/3 of the pack) disclosed that their boys had diagnosed learning or behavioral disabilities. I ha

Sounds to me like you did the right thing. Give the boys and their parents the options and explain the plusses and minuses of each. We've had similar situations and I think the response has to be tailored to each case. In this case, if they're joining to be with their friend then it doesn't make sense to keep them apart for the next 3-4 months until cross over. As long as the webelos program is fun they'll have a good time even if they aren't doing much in the way of advancement (but hey, they could earn their webelos badges given that your crossover is late March/early April). Lisa

No Ed, the boys were not at this meeting. Now generally, there will be some members of the PLC at the troop committee meetings, and a committee member or two (and the SM) will be at the PLC too. However, in this case, the CC specifically wanted an adults-only meeting. Part of this, I suspect, was that there's a lot of friction between some of the adults and it wasn't clear how this meeting would go. Happily, it was both positive and productive in the end, maybe even helped build a little team spirit among the adults, but it wasn't guaranteed to go that way given some of the issues (and per

This is purely anecdotal but I'm curious to know whether others have seen this too. The other thread on special needs and scouting prompted me to ask you all about this. It seems like there is a really high percentage of boys with learning disabilities involved in scouting around here. And, as mentioned in the other thread, this is particularly the case with conditions that are not immediately apparent. I noticed this to some extent in cubs, but even more so with boy scouts. So what do you think: Is it really that scouts draws in a high percentage of boys with disabilities? (maybe s

Are the other parents, whose sons are either older or younger than the "core group" that the SM is focused on, active as ASMs or committee members? If so, could a specific ASM be designated to work with each age/rank group? (for example, by encouraging patrol activities rather than relying on only troop activities) That way if the SM is fixated on the group that his boys fit into, at least the others won't be ignored. If not: time for them to get involved. Is there someone in your troop designated to work with scouts on Life to Eagle transition? If not, there probably ought t

Ours picks a few things from the monthly themes but otherwise goes with their own ideas, which they developed at their annual planning meeting. Each month has a theme (whether original or canned) and these are supposed to be related to the month's campout activities in some way, but implementation has varied. Actually it seems like we're moving more in this direction right now. One complaint about troop meetings that came from the SPL is that the skill segment of the weekly troop meeting is often poorly planned (or not planned at all and just thrown together last minute) and executed, l

As a follow up to my original post : We had our program review meeting and it seems like it went well. The CC set it up as a brainstorming session, more or less. He started out by going around the room and asking each person to contribute one thing they like about how the troop has been going, and one specific thing they want to see changed, preferably without duplication. No discussion/debate until later. Once we had our list of changes up on the wall, we individually ranked (check marks) the top few things we want the troop to work on improving in the coming months, and we agre

I agree that great trainers should not be unceremoniously dumped out of the rotation. However, in some places, getting involved with the training team is about as easy as joining an exclusive country club. And that's a problem too. I have been employed as a trainer and evaluator in my professional field, in situations where turnover is mandated (after either 3 or 5 years). What typically happens is that people who are really good stay in their positions for the allotted time, and then they take on a somewhat different role in the organization (but still in the same general area of op

I'm so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you and his friends, family, and community.

ASM416 - Thanks for the update on Scouthaven. I'll be curious to know what your troop decides to do and how it works out. Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

Scoutldr, honestly I don't know what the PLC thinks. What I do know is that we have another group of about 15 webelos crossing over in about a month's time. In each of the last three years this troop has lost well over 50% of its first year scouts. If the last year's experience is typical,a large portion of the difficulties stem from poor communication, planning and leadership among the adults. The PLC may certainly have a role here, but basic guidelines and philosophy for a successful first year program need to originate with and be actively supported by the adult leadership too. Right n