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Liz

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Everything posted by Liz

  1. Neither are we. For the most part, BSA's litigation has been damages from when an adult from gender A assaulted a child from gender A. Mixed-gender or single-gender units don't have much bearing on that. In my many years in Scouting, twice I've been in units where there's been a youth-on-youth sexual assault at a Scouting event. In neither case did it involve mixed-gender units, or even "linked troops." In one case the offending youth was kicked out of the event, the unit, and the program immediately. In the other case, well, since it's ongoing I can't comment on it here, but let's
  2. "If you are a little larger than when you were a college student, then consider sizing down for your daughter. " - You just made me spit out my beverage on my laptop. LOL. I wish I were only a "little" larger than I was in college. I am, however, about 4" taller than my mother. I was teeny as a child, and I remember my mom tucking me in and crying on my 12th birthday because I was not yet 5 feet tall and she'd stopped growing at age 12 so she didn't think I'd ever hit 5 feet. I grew almost 3" the following year, and approximately another inch per year until I was about 16 or 17, then
  3. I suppose that's possible. I always figured you start going down the back side of the sash if you fill it up, and the sash length should have more to do with the height of the Scout. My daughter is unlikely to fill up even a 30" sash and I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if she is motivated enough to reach Life rank. But I think she'll do Scouting until she ages out, and then I'll let her decide whether to apply for an extension (she is autistic and has some very significant learning delays & moderate social delays) but I think at that point she probably won't be interested. I'm more c
  4. So the Sash now comes in 3 sizes - 30, 36, and 40 inches. I think it only used to come in 30 and 36 inch sizes. Am I remembering right? So the 40 is probably only for fluffier Scouts? Is 36 still considered the best size for most kids? My daughter is 10 and is already 5 feet tall, and pretty slender. She will be crossing over in a few months. It's hard to know whether she'll stop growing in a few years like many girls do, or whether she's going to maintain her 100th percentile for height into her teen years. But I have a hard time believing she'll ever be tall enough to need a
  5. Once you are in the OA, you have lifetime access to it and can re-join it at any time as an adult. If you haven't yet, this is a great time to renew your OA membership and yes, rock that ancient lodge flap!
  6. Well, maybe "less culturally charged than a script that refers to the young Scouts as 'Braves'" would have been more descriptive of what I'm looking for. It is true that pretty much everything we do has cultural origins from somewhere. That is unavoidable. But I'm not really worried about a group of white kids (all the families in our Pack currently are as pale as the snow, as the fact is we don't live in a very racially diverse community) doing something that heralds back to Vikings or the ancient Celts. I am concerned about the perception that as we stand on the soil that was previously
  7. I am definitely just looking for something short, and just didn't really want to write it myself. I found something I think will work with some minor edits. Many cultures worldwide have historically used symbolic face painting, including (but not limited to) NA, Celtic, and African tribes. So I don't see any reason why such a ceremony should be tied to any particular culture other than Scout culture. It seems much safer in terms of not stepping on the toes of people whose culture the participants don't belong to, to just make it about Scouts and not about NA cultures. I was surprised to
  8. Hey! Our previous Pack did face painting at every rank advancement, and our Cubmaster had a set of scripts from *somewhere* that I really liked. But now that I search for face painting scripts for Webelos I'm finding stuff that is full of half-assed and stereotypical Native American references. I wouldn't necessarily mind NA references if it was done well, but to avoid even the appearance of cultural appropriation I'd prefer a face painting ceremony script that is culturally neutral. That is what we had - no references to or copies of any specific cultural face painting that I recall. I h
  9. Come to think of it: babysitting could be considered a “career.” My son has babysitting duties as part of what pays his room and board at my house. If he wanted to volunteer (he doesn’t) that shouldn’t be a barrier to doing so.
  10. I never said not to share opinions. Just that this wasn’t what I was looking for. I’m not inclined to dictate what people can and cannot post in reply. Opinions are at least interesting. The policy, as you state, is clear and doesn’t give exceptions, even logical ones. But the FAQ definitely makes a few exceptions, and in the example of a sleepover, it says “if” the friend is a Scout then the policy should be followed. Fortunately we have 3 adults in our household and 2 of us are registered Scouters. But I have no issue abiding by the example in the FAQ. We recently had a
  11. The policy states no one on one contact with registered youth inside or outside of Scouting. The FAQ makes exceptions for if it’s necessary to your career or if it’s your own child; but those are not part of the written policy and in fact by the letter of the policy they are contradictory. FAQs are not intended to answer all questions about policies, just the frequent ones. So the lack of clarification on adult family members other than legal guardians doesn’t mean much, if anything.
  12. I was exposed to porn by an older sibling’s boyfriend. That guy was a creep but was not a Scouter. I’m very aware that abusers are usually close friends and family members. But that doesn’t change the fact that close friends and family members sometimes have to be trusted to be alone with kids. I guess that written line in the sand is as imaginary as I was afraid it might be?
  13. Really? So what are they? Where is this clear line drawn? Can you point me to the right paragraph because I can’t find it. That is why I’m asking.
  14. I’m not convinced it does, but I’m looking for a written guideline for where that line should be drawn. The change is subtle, but it’s now called out that unless you MUST be one on one for your career (for example when I worked in special ed I had to spend a lot of one on one time with youth) as a registered adult leader you’re supposed to avoid one on one time with children even outside of Scouting. It seems obvious to me that this can’t apply to parent/child situations. but what about adult siblings? Does it matter whether they are in the same household? Cousins? Nieces and nephews? Gr
  15. So here’s an interesting question. How far does the new rules about YPT for leaders not being one on one with registered Youth outside of Scouting extend into families? If my adult son or daughter were to decide to become a Scouter, or register to do a merit badge, would that mean they could no longer babysit my kids (their sisters) who are in Cub Scouts? Hypothetically, what if my kids’ cousin or aunt or other extended family member wanted to volunteer with a Scouting unit? Suddenly overnights at Aunt Patty’s are a thing of the past? For that matter, is it OK per the
  16. Hey, Scouters! Help me out here and let me know if I understand correctly. I'm asking about "in normal times" not Covid extended times. For most ranks (Lion through Bear) if the child hasn't completed the rank by the end of the school year, they automatically "move up" and stop working on the previous grade level's rank. But for Webelos, there's no requirement for the kids to finish the Webelos rank by the time they finish 4th grade, is there? I know a child can skip the Webelos rank, but if they want to finish up that last Webelos-required pin, say, now, as they are starting
  17. That's more or less what we do anyway. I actually have her wear a plain white "under shirt" under the uniform at all times, partly to help her have something softer against her skin and partly so she can remove the outer layer if she really needs to. Sometimes she wears a different t-shirt under it.
  18. Relax, I am going to try the Microfiber official uniform one first. I wasn't planning to make one out of a different brand; I was just considering taking an official BSA "not really a uniform because it doesn't have the insignia" shirt and adding insignia to it. But it still fits the "brand of assorted garments they wish you to buy" standard. But really I'd prefer an official uniform if I can find one that makes my kiddo happy to wear it. She was fine with her blue shirt, which was softer and probably more pre-loved than her tan one. Maybe I wash the heck out of it, it wi
  19. I don't really know what it is either! She isn't actually THAT picky about her clothing, but then again I don't think she owns anything that's as stiff as her uniform shirt either. She has a difficult time describing abstract feelings or concepts so the best I can get out of her is "It's uncomfortable." She does like soft things though. So I'm hoping this will work. I think it's worth a shot. If she likes it I can keep an eye out for bigger sizes.
  20. I totally hear where you are coming from. My daughter is proud of her uniform and WANTS to wear it, she just starts begging to take it off halfway through the meeting. The shirt I'm looking at is an official BSA shirt, just not technically a uniform shirt. As far as I can tell the only difference is the lack of a flag patch (easily fixable), the lack of the red lettering above the front pocket (also easily fixable), and the insignia which I'll have to apply to any shirt anyway. Or... maybe if she likes it, she can just wear it as a "Class B." I wish I knew what it felt like. The sh
  21. Does this look like the same shirt as the one you had? https://ebay.us/8GVbTk I don't like that the patches are glued on, but I can sew velcro over the patch placements and never have to look at it again.
  22. My daughter loves the way her uniform shirt looks, but she hates the way it feels and can only stand to wear it for short periods of time. She likes the pants she has, so we are good there. The uniform we have is 67% cotton, and the weave is a little stiff. I know there have been a lot of different materials available in the last 20 or so years! At one point there was a soft, supple nylon uniform shirt. Was that the Centennial uniform? I just can't recall. I never liked them much and always stuck with vintage 90's shirts for myself and my older kids. What would you search for on eBay to f
  23. The unit is "soliciting" to trade a car wash for $5. They are not ASKING for donations. The rule is that they can't solicit for donations. The rule is NOT that they can't accept donations if the giver decides to offer an unsolicited donation. I personally think the popcorn sales are a much better fig leaf analogy, because you are literally asking people to pay $30-$35 for something they could walk across the street and buy for $5 at the store. You're not selling them for $5 or even $7 and accepting that a few people will slip you an extra $100. In fact, when I was with a unit
  24. Thank you. The goal here is to have a place where we can share photos and videos so the Den Leaders can make videos introducing each activity and parents can choose when (or whether) to view them with their kids, and afterwards the parents can upload photos and all the kids can see what the other kids have been working on. Email doesn't really work for that. Facebook does, but comes with its own set of challenges. Meetings are going to be outdoors once a month with masks & social distance, and activities in the home with the adult partner but I want the kids to be able to connect ove
  25. Scoutbook doesn't really have enough features for Cub Scouting in a post-COVID environment where much of the work is being done at home. Facebook is problematic in other areas. Our new Lion Den Leader proposed a platform called Band which I had not heard of, and is setting it up for our Lion den for a trial run. I'm pondering the idea of rolling it out Pack-wide if it works out well. Has anybody else used it? What works and what doesn't? Is it only a mobile app? I was a little unclear from the website. As a Lion Den we are doing our activities as asynchronous activities in the home,
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