Lynda J

What we did was went to one of the Troop meetings and talked to the SM and SPL. Set a date for our boys to visit. Their first visit was when the troop was working on CPR. Our boys were invited to take part. The SPL assigned our boys split up between the two existing patrols. Those Boy Scouts were responsible for helping the Webs. Our kids had a ball. Two weeks later we camped with the troop.

Our SM has two boys in the troop. One does not want recognition. He does not want to have things presented at COH. He simply does not like the spotlight. I would talk to him and his parents but it really is up to him.

My first layer is silks. The type you get to wear under ski suites. Then a layer of insulated. then my pants. But the most important thing is layering. I have had parents send their kids with one set of heavy cloths. We give our boys a list of recommended camp gear. One for summer one for winter. We then have our new boys bring their gear a week before our caming trips. We also recommend that they get the 2-3 gallon zip lock freezer bags to put their cloths in. We go over how they packed and what they packed. What they don't need and what they might need to add.

Kevin worked at one of the shelters for Katrina victums. Have one boy who has been working with hospice, and one that spent an entire weekend at the library cleaning shelves and books. Each and every boy is different. But it does have to benifit the community.

I got one at Academy for under $6.00. It is great.

If this scout was wanting to wear his OA dance regalia would you be complaining. It isn't "Official BSA Uniform"

Our last Eagle wore an Eskimo American costume. He used elk antlers to hold candles, and an elk hide draped the table. It was beautiful. He spend most of his Scouting life living in Alaska and the entire outfit was given to him by a gentleman when he had worked on a service project there. Saw some pictures once from Hawaii where the young man work native attire.

Let the lad wear his kilt. But he can not mix any part of his BSA uniform with it. Including Badge Sash, OA sash. It has to be a complete Kilt attire. Remember it is him Court of Honor to plan. IMHO if the Scout sharing the COH with him has no problem with him wearing a kilt I don't think anyone else should.

(This message has been edited by Lynda J)

I agree with Rooster. If this woman is very well endowed and not wearing a bra and the boys are exposed to (excuse the expression) flopping boobs all over the place it is a pack issue and needs to be addressed. As far as the smell. There can be medical issues about body odor. Had a friend that could take two showers a day and use all kinds of deoderant and would smell. Finally went to doctor and found out he had an chemical emblance. With medication it helped the smell but never did totally stop it.

I would ask to talk to the District Advancement Chairperson. And if a BOR is taking 2 hours, as SM I would want to know what was being done in the meeting. The board is not to retest a scout and there are only so many questions that they can ask.

Monday night we had two BORs one for 2nd Class and one for Star. Both didn't take more than an hour together.

How long has this person been AC? And what trainings have they taken?

I have at times on BORs (before I was ASM) after the Scout was introduced tossed him a rope and said

"tie a square knot". EVeryone of them has laughed.

It isn't used as a test but an ice breaker.

Because of the seriousness of a Flag Retirement Cermony, we never follow that with skits and certainly not cooking over that same fire. Now cook on the fire first then as the closing portion retire a flag. That we have done. But normally our Flag Retirements are done as a totally serarate ceremony.

My boys moved up into the troop in Dec. 2 years ago. They had all completed Arrow of Light and had earned all of the Activity Pens. They were beginning to get bored in the Pack. So we moved up early and it was the right decission for them.

Kevin started his Den Chief job with the WebII from our pack Sunday. He is 12 and working on his LIfe. He loves it. The funny thing was that the DL called me Sunday evening and said she just had to tell me about a phone call from one of the mothers. Seems this mother wanted to know who Kevin was and what he was doing with the den. Pam told her that he was their Den Chief from the troop. The mother said that her son came home and hadn't stopped about Kevin for two hours. Kevin was going to show them how to do this and teach them that and she just wondered who Kevin was. I was more than a little proud.

You might take the problem up with your District Advancement Chair. If there is a MBC that is not having the boys do the requirements then either the AC needs to talk to that counselor or that person needs to be removed from the list of approved counselors.

I took over doing the Safety Merit Badge last year at Merit Badge College. Was told that the previous counselor basically signed off on the badge for everyone in the class. And there were leaders complaining. With about 10 complaints they talked to the guy and he basicall told them that he would run the badge as he saw fit. They removed him from the list of counselors approved by not only the district but the council.

This isn't school you don't repeat a grade. I would treat these boys just as I would treat a boy who came into the den at the beginning of Web II.

They have until you cross over to complete Webelo Rank, earn Arrow of Light and earn any of the activity pens. But once they leave 5th grade they go into the Boy Scout Troop.

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Herding cats is a really great discription for working Day Camp. I directed 4 years and that is the exact feeling.

Glad your boy got the extension.

Keep us posted on the final outcome.

If you want the first Pack meeting of the year to run smooth you better think again. I have been working with scouting for more years than I sometimes want to admit. That first one is always a total mess. Next meeting will be better.

If I remember right my 50's Girl Scout handbook and my brothers 60 Boy Scout handbook showed you how to make a bedroll. Also in you can find a 1982 edition of the handbook on page 73 it gives you instructions for making a blanket sleeping bag.

I try to find old scout books because they are such a wealth of information. The newer books are mostly bunk.

If you are really uncomfortable just tossing the shirt give it to a group that makes quilts. They are always needing sturdy fabric for piecing.

I understand the profitability of the popcorn. But this year the units I have talked with that have done Show & Sell are having real problems selling. One sold less than 1/3 of what they did last year. People simply aren't paying $15 for a box of popcorn. With fuel and everything going up.

Last year our school went to selling cookie dough.

Well it has to be frozen to store it. I don't know many that have freezer space for 8-10 containers of cookie dough. Their profits were down big time. In fact after they did the prizes for the kids they bearly broke even.

People are more likely to have two dollars in their pocket for a candy bar than 15+ for popcorn.

This may be our troops last year to sell popcorn.

It is getting to expensive. People made comments last year about Boy Scouts ripping people off on the price of the popcorn. Kevin sold almost $600 last year. With the economy this year I will be happy with half that.

We are looking at a candy bar deal. Will make much more money for the troop and the bars are $1.50 each. When Kevin sold them at school he sold over 1000. THe school got $.50 each. PTO made a lot of money on them.

Several years ago our troop took orders for christmas wreaths. They were prepaid and the boys delivered them the weekend after Thanksgiving.

They cleared over $500.

Boy Scouts need to wake up and find a money maked that isn't so expensive.

The tan shirt is an option for Webs but not required. I had two boys move up in Feb. in their blue shirts, with the AOL on them. The tan shirt is the official shirt for Boy Scouts. But Cubs and Webs can wear the blue.

I talked about this with a leader at a training meeting last night. He laughed. He has a boy in his district that earned the English Interpreters strip. Seems he works with a Pack that is heavely Asian and some do not speak English well. He interprets from Cambodian to English for this unit.

So he earned his English interpreters strip.

One thing our troop does on badges that we question is have the scout help with teaching that badge in the future. Or teach a skill learned to a Cub Den. It gives the scout a chance to use skills learned and us a chance to see how well he understands the material.

Last year the last day of summer camp we got back blue cards on one scout that were all signed off. I found the counselor and told him that this scout had left two days early because of a family emergency and could not have completed the badges.

He told me that he had recorded him as complete.

There was basically nothing I could do. We did talk to the Camp Director and Program director.

Later we talked to the scout and his dad. The scout knew he had not done the work and told us he had not earned the badges. We helped him complete the necessary requirements.

But once a scout has that signed off blue card by all rights he has earned the badge.

One of my favorite Eagle Board questions is

Which merit badge did you enjoy the most, which one the least and which one did you learn the most from.

Another is.

What one thing do you think you could do to encourage boys to join Boy Scouting.

There are no right or wrong answers to either.

My wonderfully wise mother use to say

"If you want something done ask the person that is the busiest. Because they have learned to manage their time." I always figure that we are the ones that have problems with a two letter word "NO".

Iknow that I do especially when it involved kids.

Our current troop account has been in existence for close to 15 years. It is in both the troops and CO's name. It is registered with their tax ID#.