Lisabob

Here's (part of) what the G2SS has to say regarding Webelos den overnighters: "A Webelos Scout may participate in overnight den camping when supervised by an adult. In most cases, the Webelos Scout will be under the supervision of his parent or guardian. It is essential that each Webelos Scout be under the supervision of a parent-approved adult. Joint Webelos den-troop campouts including the parents of the Webelos Scouts are encouraged to strengthen ties between the pack and troop. Den leaders, pack leaders, and parents are expected to accompany the boys on approved trips." My un

My son's troop decided to run their own summer camp program last summer. Many things went pretty well (everyone came back with the correct number of fingers and toes at least). This year though, they're going to a traditional BSA camp instead. It seems they decided it was a good experience but far more work than they expected. There were also some who felt it limited the opportunities for the boys to try new skills or pursue unusual mbs, because the troop leaders were teh only people on hand to teach skills and mbs. Further, many of the skills that the leadership is competent are included

I'm not too excited about this idea either. I think the BSA would be better advised to focus on ways to strengthen the existing program instead of trying to inflate recruitment numbers this way. I've gotten lots of questions at open house and round up nights from parents of kindergarten boys too. I just don't think "yes" is a good answer in this case. Around here, boys can join as Tigers immediately upon graduating kindergarten and they can attend day camp. So for the last several years we've taken boys who just finished K to camp as "cub scouts," along with the rest of the pac

How about, makes your job as a leader less stressful and more fun. Also: gives you an opportunity to drink large amounts of free, really bad coffee (well ok I'm mostly kidding but hey, there usually are treats...) Great list, Mark!

nlds, that's not what I have been told at pretty much every training I've ever been to - particularly BALOO where this was hammered upon repeatedly. Now, it wouldn't be the first time wrong info was given at training but for it to be so consistently wrong seems unlikely. Now, the G2SS does contain the following statement: "Accident and sickness insurance pays regardless of fault as long as the accident occurred during an official Scouting activity and the unit or council has purchased the coverage." When I asked how to square this statement with the emphatic claims that unit ins

CNY, I hope you didn't take my questions in the thread to suggest that I didn't think you were sufficiently active. I just was wondering who in the troop was actually deciding to do these "projects" since it apparently is not the committee. From the description you've given so far I'd be willing to bet it wasn't the PLC either. So is it the CC? The SM? As for your CC telling to wait and learn how the troop is run, well, it sounds like you've done that, and now the CC can't feed you that excuse again when you speak up next time. A couple thoughts on how to begin rectify the si

Mark, If you're looking for "ammo" along these lines here's one way to frame things. Yes, all leaders are covered by pack insurance whether they are trained or not. HOWEVER, if something should go wrong and you need to make use of that pack insurance, it will only cover you if all of the various BSA policies were being followed correctly when the accident occurred. Now, where is a leader going to find out about those policies...hmmm...at training. On the other hand - if an accident happens and BSA rules/regulations were not properly followed, you (the unit, the committee member

Beavah, you're right that financial donations are often more helpful and in fact, what many charities want. The problem from a BSA standpoint is that in general, units are not allowed to raise funds for outside entities. Here's a quote on this subject from the Sagamore Council website. (I tried to find the nat'l policy that they refer to online but no luck - then again that could be because I haven't had any coffee yet this morning.) "Scouts Cannot Raise Funds for Other Groups It is a national policy of the Boy Scouts of America that Scouts may not raise funds for other orga

OK I checked when I got home. Mea culpa for posting incorrect info. It must have been a troop decision to limit the younger boys because, as OGE corectly suggested, no minimum age for Boy Scouts is listed in either the g2ss or the "age appropriate guidelines." As for limits on where it can be done - I didn't realize this until today but apparently that only applies to cub scouts (who are more limited in terms of the types of guns/firearms they can use). Sorry about that.

6 year last Sept. Gosh I feel like a newlywed here. Happy Anniversary to all of you. It's me that had to drag my husband into scouting. Neither of us really planned on being leaders but I got involved with my son's pack and we really needed another den leader. I told my husband that it was either going to be him or me, and I already had too much on my plate. He grudgingly accepted the job and guess what, he's even better at it than I am! And he even got a little teary eyed at the Cross Over for "our" webelos. How could I not love that about him? Scouting has given my son and

The others are right, you'll enjoy it and find it worthwhile personally as well as from a scouting perspective. It will help you in both the pack and troop too. Go sign up! Regarding payment: If your older son's pack is willing to pay for the training (which is expensive in comparison to other cub leader trainings) then how will they feel about you moving on not too long after you finish the course? As you probably know, part of WB includes developing and delivering some projects to strengthen your unit. If one pack paid for the course but your tickets are focused on a different p

Cineburk, while you're counting seat belts and scouts, make sure to consider the passenger side air bag issue and whether or not the boys are legally allowed to ride in the front seat (with or without air bags) too. jens3sons, doesn't the booster seat laws vary from state to state? Also, when reviewing tour permit apps, do you ever check the license status of the drivers? I ask because I know of one unit where a parent frequently helped drive kids to and from events, and after about a year of this, the parent let slip that their license had been revoked some time ago! Yikes! The

I believe there's an age restriction on the use of certain kinds of guns in BSA. I'm not an expert on this so please look it up (and someone correct me if I'm wrong - I know you will!). But my son's troop did a shotgun and rifle camp earlier in the fall and the younger boys (under 14 I think) were only allowed to shoot one of the two. I can't remember which one though. That's not a reason to avoid doing the activity but you might want to consider how you'll divide up the cost for those who do both vs. those who are only allowed to use one. Also if this turns out to be the case make

TXscoutdad, That's cool. Congrats. CNYScouter - does anybody in your son's troop read Boy's Life??? Make photocopies of a couple articles about recent service projects for your troop leadershiP! Maybe they'll begin to see the light (or not but it is worth a try).

CNY, out of curiousity, if these two "service projects" weren't even discussed, who are the "one or two people" that set them up? Also, has anyone in this group discussed participation in more legitimate service projects? Is the problem that the group doesn't know what other alternatives they could pursue (they need to be inspired with some ideas), or is it that they have identified other service projects they'd like to do, but don't have volunteers to help organize them or just haven't followed through (they need more leaders/parents to step up to the plate)? What would happen if you

Semper writes: "My fear is that your son may decide that his youth group is way cooler than scouts and choose one over the other." Gee I hate to say it in a forum dedicated to scouting but that would be my hope! Putting the recruiting/retention game aside for a minute, if a unit isn't serving its members well and serious efforts at improvement just don't work then those kids (and parents) ought to go find something more worthwhile and fun to do with their time, effort, and money. Hopefully that will mean joining a better unit but that's not always an option and I wouldn't feel too ba

Wow Seattle, sounds like a great weekend. How'd you like to be a visiting member of my son's troop for a while? These are exactly the kinds of skill and skill-training that I'd love to see him have a chance to learn. In another thread a while ago we had a conversation about structuring opportunities for boys to learn and demonstrate skills and the difference between "structured opportunities" and "spoon feeding" - this is exactly what I was talking about there, you just said it much better than I did! And it sounds like you/your troop have found a good balance between leadership and

ok while we're here in this thread let's talk about that cub uniform. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of uniforming anywhere but I can at least understand more of the rationale behind the boy scout uniform than the cub uniform. I suspect some parts of the cub uniform were designed for "cuteness" rather than even a pretense of function. If we were to make changes and go with a more affordable uniform, there are all kinds of things we could do to change the cub uniform. I went to scoutstuff.org to figure the cost of uniforming a brand new scout with all new items. A typical Tiger co

Regarding youth being thrifty and working to pay for their own uniform parts: That can be a good plan IF the unit is willing to be flexible while the kids are accruing the various parts. One troop around here tells the kids that they are expected to have the full uniform by the end of their first year, and to start with the shirt. In that unit, I can see this approach working just fine. Another troop is a real stickler for uniforming for all members including those who just joined, and the kids really ride anybody who shows up without a piece. This troop also has special hats and sca

Baden, Semper, and everybody else, thanks again for sharing your experience. I had already advised the pack in question that they should really seek legal help if they wanted to set up their own organization to channel donations but this discussion definitely will cause me to re-iterate that piece of advice to them, just to make sure they "get it." It is kind of sad though, that here we have a group of dedicated volunteers who got into this to work with the boys, who happen to qualify for some small donations as a result of their volunteer efforts, and now they need to find a lawyer to

This is a very interesting discussion about ethics but I see a big difference between the "Anne Frank is in the attic and the Gestapo is at the door" situation (or the Rwandan genocide or other examples of brutal, violent, repressive military dictatorships relying on force and terror to achieve compliance) on one hand, and the current situation regarding certain BSA policies on the other hand. In the former case, you know your actions could have potentially lethal consequences both for you and for another innocent person. The gun is pointing at your head so there's no way around the si

The other part is a take-off on my post above. Committee members who suddenly discover the wonders of Woodbadge after many years in scouting, then arrange or "abbreviated" specially arranged training classes to qualify for Woodbadge ("Damn the torpedoes . . .", let's jump straight to the top-tier leadership stuff). Youth protection? Essentials? Position-specific? Not until "getting the card" became critical for something else. And it's not just our unit. But that's fodder for another thread. Well OK Eagle, let's start this thread then. I'm curious about the above statement. Do yo

Thanks all, for your advise and perspectives. Orennoah, I have been told before that a separate organization can be created such as you suggest. I wonder whether this would replace/compete with the existing CO? (I suspect many COs would take a dim view of this, but maybe not, I don't know.) This may be something the pack should look into for the future. At the moment though there's a time problem, as in both cases the paperwork for the donations must be completed by Dec. 31st to qualify. Baden, your explanation that a pack itself cannot file for 501c3 status because the pack

From a purely pragmatic standpoint: It isn't your DE that has to do the job, it is you. So if you are uncomfortable about your ability to do both jobs well, then you absolutely should ask to be re-assigned. Don't forget you're a volunteer and that gives you a right to say "no" in situations like this one. Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!

mbscoutmom, When we've met in public schools for den meetings they have generally not been excited about us using individual classrooms. We've usually requested/been assigned the gym, cafeteria, auditorium, etc.. Lisa'bob A good old bobwhite too!