Lisabob

dlw, if you feel you must resign, then that's what you need to do. Don't burn your bridges though; you still have a boy in the pack, right? If you decide to write a letter at all (which I agree is not necessary or even typical) then your letter should not (let me repeat NOT) be circulated to the whole pack. I've seen leaders do that and it seems like no matter how justified and no matter how hard they try to avoid it, letters like this tend to come across all wrong. More often than not, letters like this end up doing far more damage than good. (to the person who wrote it, to the pack

I agree that the troops ought to make some effort. They shouldn't go so far as to mis-represent what the troop is really like. But they should actively seek you out by inviting webelos to events (on a timely basis), providing relevant information about the troop without repeated requests or prompting, and making you feel welcome when you are with them. If the troop can't make a reasonable effort to welcome and include potential new members, what kind of effort are they going to make to integrate those boys once they join? This is purely anecdotal experience here, but what I have notic

Is this $25 in addition to the dues they pay in the fall? If so, what were your dues? And is she going to need to pay again in 2 months when her son joins a troop? (did I read right that her boy is crossing over? I saw "she's gone in 2 months"?) I agree it is ridiculous for any volunteer to claim, or expect, the pack to re-imburse her for $1000 of unauthorized "den expenses." If she was really spending that much money then she went way overboard (A scout is thrifty?). Not to mention that if she's been holding receipts for a long time she should hardly expect the pack to suddenly reim

Sue, you nailed it. That's exactly the problem I saw. I didn't expect to learn to rescue drowning boys or sail a boat. I would expect that the training would provide a good deal more context than it did though. If we're going to use BALOO as a comparison: around here, BALOO is an full day course (about 8 hours), during which leaders get to handle gear, cook something, create a mock trip plan, and discuss situations in which various rules might apply. Imagine if we condensed it to 15 mintues and told people to just rely on their common sense. It wouldn't be very helpful. Lisa'bob

Sue, thanks for that link. It's good to know there's more info out there. I too have had a very weak experience with safe swim/safety afloat training. Our was done in about 15 minutes and consisted of each participant reading one of the lines off the back of the card that you get to show you've been trained. The fact that I'm now considered "trained" even though I don't know the first (real) thing about boating bothered me. Especially because the discussion afterward turned to a possible white water kayaking trip and how I'd be qualified to sign off on the trip plan since I was now "traine

Last year my son joined a troop where he didn't know most of the boys and the majority of them don't go to his school. In fact, I think he's the only 6th grader from his school. The patrol structure made it easy for him to make friends in this troop. So I wouldn't necessarily focus on that question unless this is a really big issue from your son's perspective. Other questions I'd ask: 1. Do they have functional patrols? What do they do with the new scouts? Is there a "new scout patrol" and what happens with this patrol once the boys have acclimated to troop life? 2. Wh

Thanks for all the great ideas. You've made my last minute holiday shopping so much easier! Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

Eamonn, I see where you're coming from. But I wonder if this is partly a culture thing? Going off to (organized) summer camp is still a rite of passage for most American kids and a cherished memory for their parents too. I have lived in various parts of northern Europe and rarely found anything similar to the American camp experience there. Not surprisingly, most of my friends there didn't seem to understand the cultural importance of summer camp in American life. In fact I recall that many of them thought it sounded a bit silly.

Well ok here I go. This whole uniform thing can be taken too far sometimes by people who are well-meaning and justly proud of being BSA members, but who seem to have left their common sense behind on occasion. When we become dogmatic I think we lose sight of the point of uniforming in the first place. Case in point: My son's troop is a full uniform troop and they travel in Class A. Once they get to their camp site they usually change into more suitable outdoor attire for the weekend. My son owns a full uniform, wears it to every troop meeting and takes pride in it. On a recent

So when I went to WB as a cub leader I found I had a lot to learn about how seriously many troop leaders and other scouters take the uniform. Coming from a cub pack that was/is fairly lax in their views of uniforming, and never having been associated with a troop, I was under-educated. Didn't know what "class B" meant, for example, and when told it meant a T shirt, I showed up in my favorite T, a decidedly non-BSA tie dye. Well hey, they should've been more specific, right? They certainly were the second time they explained it! Things like this became a running joke within the patrol.

I admit I didn't own a full uniform until I signed up for woodbadge (where it was required, more or less). Now that I've shelled out the money for it I do wear the thing and it isn't really that...bad. I've actually decided I like the socks (crew not knee socks) - they're comfy and my husband never "accidently borrows" them. CNY, I find arguments 1-3 and 5 most persuasive. Arguments 4 and 6 hold no weight in my view. Leadership doesn't stem from wearing a certain shirt or socks. It stems from the way a person acts and interacts with others. Similarly adults can be excellent role m

Scoutnut, I agree with you actually. But I think it is a bit harsh to say, as you did, that "These folks have been in Scouts for a while, why don't they even have a clue what the policies of the BSA are & what the purpose of the B&G is." You seem to have made some assumptions here that are unwarranted, at least, with regard to the pack that I was part of. I don't doubt there are some packs that have entirely lost sight of the "birthday party" aspect of B&G; ours was not one of them. Reality in this area is that practically all packs have both their B&G and cross over

Mark asks: "Why isn't mom making sure the boy is completing all 20 pins before February! I'd be turning that responsibility around." Well actually Mark my take on this is that his mom shouldn't be making sure he completes them at all - the boy should do it, if he's interested, which by most accounts he doesn't seem to be. His mom is just really pushy. But to answer your question - this boy has only been a webelos scout since June and he's crossing over in February. As you know it is hard enough to finish all 20 of those pins in the normal 18 month program, let alone in 10 months. Ther

We went round and round about this last year and the pack my son graduated from is facing debates about this again now. Their B&G is typically in late Feb. but there are several who want to move it to late March or late April. There are some parents at the extremes (one demands the pack delay B&G until her boy earns all 20 webelos pins...argh!). Around here the big concern is that crossing over in mid Feb. means the first campout is guaranteed to be miserable in terms of weather. Last year, the new boys went camping three days after cross over. Most were utterly unprepared fo

I'd like to ask for input from all of you who are "seasoned veterans" with troops. I'm working on a new parent FAQ for a troop and I'd like to know what the most commonly asked questions from new parents are, and/or common misconceptions that new parents hold regarding the troop and its program. If you are a new(er) parent in the troop, what are some of the things you wish you'd been told or known when your boy first crossed over? thanks for your input!

Blue and Gold season is approaching and the next batch of brand new boy scouts are right around the corner. What is your troop's experience in terms of first year scouts and retention rates? How many webelos typically cross over to your troop and what percentage of them would you estimate remain active with the troop for at least a year or more? What do you think are the two or three most important things troops can do to improve the likelihood of retaining these new scouts? Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

You'll need the CM specific training. Around here, leader specific trainings are offered by various districts in the fall, winter, and late spring. This is separate from UoS. Also, as a former pack trainer, I've arranged for new leaders to go to training at other nearby districts in cases where our own district isn't going to do a session anytime soon. So you may have additional options there and it pays to inquire of your own and other councils and districts in your area. You can also ask your unit commissioner and/or pack trainer (if you have one) to locate upcoming training sessions.

Well I can see where people could interpret the "pack overnighter" in different ways. Regardless of how long an "overnighter" lasts...taking a group of Webelos scouts from FL to NM, just because you don't want to do Cub Scout Daycamp with them, is not justified in my view. There are too many potential complications and with this age group I don't see a clear rationale for such a trip within the confines of the Cub program, except perhaps that it could be "cool." If a resident camp experience is what the CM is interested in, there must be a BSA resident camp program in the local area

I wonder about the reason why the unit would break off its long-standing relationship with this CO? Although as someone else pointed out, this CO doesn't sound terribly involved with its units (doesn't know what units it sponsors, even), on the other hand I see potential fault with the unit and Council for treating the CO this way too. From the account given, the council regularly relied on this CO's good will toward scouting to act as a paper sponsor when other units were in danger of folding for lack of a CO partner. And then the council didn't even inform the CO when their faux spo

Does anybody happen to know whether the Lions will earn a rank badge that is similar in some way to the diamond-shaped tiger/bobcat/wolf/bear badges? Will they be able to wear whatever rank badge they might earn on their blue cub uniforms somewhere once they are Tigers? Logistics aside (how exactly will it fit into that "diamond"?) I wonder if this might provide a clue as to how closely the Lions are intended to be aligned with the pack structure. Lisa'bob

"She said that when the kids become Tigers next year, they'll all have already learned everything they need for their Bobcat. " It sounds like the person in this group is putting out a decent program but I'm not sure how well it dovetails with the current Cub Scout program. The complete separation from the pack seems odd. If they're part of the pack, then the program should encourage interaction with the pack (at least on a minimal level). If they're not, then it doesn't make a lot of sense for the program to include the stuff they need to earn their bobcat. Besides, unless some addit

I'm borrowing Eamonn's thread and changing it a little. What are your favorite scouting gifts to give? I've got 2 boys to find gifts for. My 14 yo cousin is going to Philmont in the summer and is asking for scout stuff related to that trip. He is already well equipped in terms of basic gear (he's been very active in scouts for 3 years and his troop does a lot of camping) but maybe there's something he might need especially for Philmont. My 11 yo son is just doing the regular troop stuff. Any thoughts on some neat little thing every scout should have? Lisa'bob A good old bo

Eamonn, that dresser of yours has a twin in my house! I definitely don't need more stuff. Personally I like gifts that are more along the "experience" line, like free passes to the roller rink or movies for all 3 of us or a night out with just my husband and somebody to keep an eye on my son (relatives all live in other states so that's kind of a rare thing for us). Not that I'd pass up a winning lottery ticket in my stocking, mind you. Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

scout parent, that's a terrible situation and I wish your son the best in trying to resolve it. Meechgalanne - I could understand why you would be tempted to go for the blow out with the SM in front of the troop. Anybody in this position would be justifiably angry and hurt by this SM's actions. However, most people respond poorly to "ambushes" like this, no matter how right you are and how wrong they are, and it could lead to a pretty nasty scene. So the question is: is the goal to enjoy a public moment of righteous indignation, or is the goal to try to resolve the underlying problem?

This is why I support scouting. All bsa politics aside, this is what it's supposed to be about. Thanks for the article cajuncody! Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!