Lynda J

Any rule a SM need to follow is listed either in the Boy Scout Book or in the Scout Masters Handbook. Don't need to add a bunch of other rules. Either from Troop Committee's or from SM's.

This was a decission I had to make this year. One of my Web's that moved up into the troop. He was always a hand full and hard to control. He had real anger issues. So for 3 years I tried everything I have used in my 40+ years of working with kids. NOthing worked. At the point that he was actually endangering the other boys I had to make a decission. I talked with several other adult scouters. One gentleman who has been in scouting for over 60 years looked me straight in the eyes and ask this "How much better program would you be able to give the other boys in the troop if you didn't hav

I would only slow up advancement if you don't get a service project done in the 4 months you have to be a Star or the 6 months you have to be a Life. I personally do think this is a good policy. We had two boys earn their service hours helping with another scouts Eagle project. They spent well over 8 hours working on it for him. It helped him it helped them and it gave the younger boys an image of the troop working together for the betterment of one scout and the group we were helping. Here again is an adult rule.

It's been about 5 years since I did BALOO but I don't remember a video. I would also recommend that you take the outdoor skills that goes with New Leader Training. OUr district calls it 4 Winds some others call it other things. It is a great training. I am retaking it this weekend. Even though I also help teach part of it. I like retaking some trainings about every 3-4 years. Just fun.

I spoke to my minister Sunday and related this problem to him and ask him what he thought. His response was that a true agnostic parent would neither encourage or discourage their child in the belief of God. They would give them the freedom to make their own choice.

From my experience troops that set their own bylaws are doing so so that the adults have control. Sorry guys. But nowhere in the paper work does it say anything about ADULT SCOUTS OF AMERICA. It is BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA with the focus on the BOY. As far as I am concerned a scout can work on as many merit badges as he wants to. I have one boy that has 15 going right now. He will probably have all of them finished before he makes Eagle. My Kevin has 6 going right now. Two of them take 90 days to complete. The only real BSA policy rule is that to be earned they must be complete by the boys

Well here in Texas we won't have to worry about this if a bill in the House passes this year. It sets a standard that anyone born after 1990 can not get a DL until they are 18, unless there are very special exceptions. I don't know what those are. But it is all the talk with our boys right now.

Our boys who have reached 1st Class work on badges part of our troop meeting. The other boys are working on rank advancement. I work with the rank group and will borrow one of the other boys to come and help me at times.

Boy if my dad had ever seen us put soap in a dutch oven he would have used the lid on our heads. His dutch ovens were in almost mint condition after being stored 10 years. And as far as I know are still being used by NoArk Girl Scout Council. They are about 50 years old. The metal is porous and will take on the taste of the soup. Believe me I have seen it happen. If you have one that is really crusty on the inside soak it in water over the fire. Then scrub it with wadded up foil. But I would never never put soap in one of mine.

I don't ever buy those news papers that are at the check out stand at the grocery store. But the 84 years lady that I take to the store every week does. This week she called me that she wanted me to come down and get one of them that there was an article I needed to see. Ok I ran down there and she had marked this artical. In the National Enquirers April 18 pulication is an article about a Boy Scout that received the National Heroism Award and he and 3 other Boy Scouts addressed Congress and met with the President. Great artical. I am taking it to my meeting tonight.

YOu have to have the parent or guardian's permission to publish a scouts picture. As long as you have that there are no real rules. My Kevin's picture was on the council website for three years from when he was a Cub and did Score-O. I signed a release allowing them to use his picture. I think it would be a great to have scouting activities on the bulletin board at school. Great recruiting tool.

4 years ago the troop I am with was about to fold. They were down to 4 boys that attended but had 16 on the roster. New SM took over. Not we have 19 on the roster and at this weeks meeting at had 17 of those there. Your program will make a big difference in attendance. If boys start getting the feeling that all the focus is on one or two boys the others will stop coming. This is what happened to us. The boys got to feeling that all the focus was on the SM's son and stepson. That they were the only ones that got to do anything or hold offices. That they were the only ones that had a ch

I found a great backback stove that you can make out of 2 soda cans. it can be found at journeytoforever.org/edu_bkpstove.html

Don't assume that simply because the address lable has Mr. Z's name on it that he subscribed to the magazine. I have been getting FHM at my business for the past 6 months. It comes with a lable addressed to me at the shop. I have never subscribed to FHM and don't want it in my shop. I have called the publisher three times and have written every month. The last one that came I sent a certified letter telling them that I was filing a formal complaint with the Attorney Generals office. So far I haven't gotten another one.

I have a boy in my group that started of as a Bear. I say his mother twice. When she signed him up and when I went by to talk to her. She is obviously a drug addict. Dad is in prison. This kid is a great kid. I pick him up for every activity we have. We have arranged for a sponsor for him so expenses are covered. He earned Super Achiever as a Web. We worked on Arrow of Light as a den. Because that is how we did it. Parents are much less involved with Webs than with Wolves and Bears. Because they are heading for Boy Scouts. We have been in the troop for almost two years now and he

One of the first activities we always try to have when our new boys come in is a camping trip. We try to do that within no more than a month after they cross over. We also invite any of the new parents that want to go. They are also told that they won't be going on other camping trips unless we need the help. You are right. One of the hardest things for parents of new BS is letting go. The second hardest is understanding that the troop is a boy run group. We had one father comment that he felt the adults weren't involved enough. I explained to him that that was the way is was supposed t

He could do a play for a nursing home. Kevin is working on Star but is already thinking about his Eagle project. Two months ago our campus police officer had a heart attach and died at school. It seems no one knew CPR. It is going to try and get the school board to ok having a CPR course twice a year. I don't know it the SB will let him but it is up to him to find out. The other he wants to do it record books onto take for a local nursing home. My brother is in a nursing home and one of the complaints we hear from people it they can't read any longer. They simply can't see the small

Let your boys design a logo for the troop. But be sure to have your troop number, city and charter org on the trailer.

I don't know about other councils but in this council you MUST HAVE BALOO to take your Cubs Camping. As Cubs you can only camp on BSA owned property and they will not allow any pack a camping permit unless at least one adult is Baloo Trained. If you are already in Webs I would take OWL. Let the CM take Baloo. But you also need to have more than one adult Baloo trained. When I first moved into the pack our first camping trip the CC was the only one trained. She waited until Friday morning the day we were leaving to call the Council office and inform them she wasn't going. They would no

Question. Is the parent complaining one of the parents that "doesn't have time to go"? I have worked with scouting for close to 40 years and have found that most of the time the parent doing the most complaining is the parent that wants to do the least.

My Kevin likes to trade patcher. He has Longhorn Council patches he trades. They have a longhorn steer on them.

There are ways of getting alternative requirements. Read at the bottom of the Eagle Rank requirements on page 447 in the book. We have a scout in our troop with the same disability. He is currently 1st Class but it has been a real struggle to get him there. Our CC is in the process of getting all the paper work together to register his disability so that as he works on Star, Life and Eagle we can use alternative requirements when absolutly necessary. He is a great kid. If you ask him a question he can give you the answer but have him write that same question he simply can not. Bu

Know what you mean. When my late husband and I took Kevin 8 years at 4. My own kids are grown. I dug out my son's legos and gave them to Kev. He now has 3 of those 30 gal plastic storage bens full of them. He still will spend hours building. He stores them in an old quilt box in the containers. He has smaller containers for some of the special ones. I love legos. It makes kid use their brains and imagiation. Best toy you can give kids.

Each night when I get home I light candles and ask God to protect our troops and their families. I also ask him to place his hand on all my friends and all scouts and give them strength for the next day. Tim and his family is now in that group.

Our SM had a steel rod made that goes through the wheels of the trailer. He has locks on both ends and is about 2" across. We also have a steel pole in the ground that the tongue locks into which is about 12" across and is sunk into the groung about 4'. If they really want to get the trailer will all of this keep them from getting it NO. But it sure will slow them down and hopefully one of the neighbors that lives right next to where we meet will see them. We do have our logo on it. Had a local troop that lost their trailer and everything in it several months ago. Never saw it again.