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Lynda J

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Posts posted by Lynda J

  1. You should be thankful that the other scouts parents didn't press criminal charges. They had a legal right to do this. Your son pulled a knife on their son. YOur son should have been sent home. Just because another boy is looking for a fight doesn't mean your son had to give him that fight. As far as using the walking stick to beat on a tree. The walking stick should have been taken away from your son. Had be been in my troop this is what would have happened. He would have lost the right to carry a walking stick. We tell our boys that they aren't hammers, they aren't swords. If we catch them using them in any manner other than as a hiking stick they lost the right to carry them for the remainder of the outing. Simple.

     

    Sorry but I really get tired of hearing "he suffers from ADHD one more time as an excuse for bad behaviour I think I might scream."

     

    Had one of my Cub Den leaders that is an sub teacher in the middle school. Had an 8th grader pull sissors on her and point them at her in class. She went to the principle and was told

    "this kid has issues" To which she said he will have bigger issues if he pulls sissors on me again

    Two weeks later this same kid pulled sissors on another student and actually injured that student.

    I have worked with ADHD kids since long before it was the "IN" excuse and believe me they can control their actions to a large part.

  2. When did two of my scouts transfer to your troop?

     

    Know this story all too well.

    Have one boy in our troop that just finished Drivers Ed. I ask him about Traffic Safety merit badge. His comment was I don't need it. Another boy also finished DE has already filled out the paper work and all I have to do is go over it with him and sign off. Any boy taking drivers ed is doing the badge. It is simply a matter of doing the paper work

  3. I agree this leader needs to be removed. Immediately. There should never be an excuse for a leader screaming and yelling at boys. Not in this manner. If a boy had acted this way I would have sent him home. I wonder how this man would have felt if he had been talked to in the way he talked to these boys. If you want kids to respect you you have to show them respect. Once a leader begins acting like the boys will lost all respect for him.

    JASM can be a hard position to hold. You are expected to act like an adult but most adults still look at you as a kid.

    I would have a good talk to this leader and if he plan on remaining with the troop and has the same attitude I would be looking for another troop.

  4. One thing in defense of kids and nature today.

    In my youth I could get on the back of the horse and leave the house at daylight and not get back until after dark. Never thought a thing about it.

    Today I wouldn't let my kids do that. I don't let Kevin walk home from school and it's only about 15 blocks. Many of the freedoms that I had as a kid simply aren't there for todays kids. I never thought about dealing with driveby shootings. Gang violance. Child molesters. 50-55 years ago it wasn't there.

     

    But on the other side. Kids are losing touch with nature because we, as parents are allowing them to.

    Both my parents worked. But we didn't sleep until noon on Saturday. Everyone helped with the house work all week and on the weekend we did things.

    Hiked, swam, worked horses. Now mom and dad want to sleep until noon. Come home and spend two hours on the computer. So if kids are losing touch with nature a lot of adults need to be looking in the mirror for the ones at fault.

  5. We had a great time. Went to Slippery Falls Scout Ranch. Extreemly well run. At the SM meeting each morning each adult that showed up was given an ice ticket. And a daily News Paper. Food was great. (well except forthe meatloaf. Idon't like meatloaf) They had a out of this world salad bar at lunch and dinner.

    The badge program was wonderful and very well run. Staff couldn't have been better and easier towork with. Badge instructors were very well versed in the subject. Ihelped with Leatherwork and the instructor has been teaching at this camp for 17 years. He also makes indian attire for the indian Pow Wows all around the country.

    I can highly recommend Slippery Falls.

  6. Summer camp yes. District Camporees, Yes.

     

    Gear and uniforms. NO. NEVER

     

    When a boy works on a fund raiser the money is divided among each boy that worked and applied to his troop account. We have one mother that doesn't want her son to work fund raisers. She deposits into his troop account at the beginning of the year

    Dues goes into a different account that covers advancement and troop expenses.

  7. We stopped having troop tents for this very reason. Now each boy has his own tent. If they chose to share on a camping trip it is up to them to set it up. This way they are responsible for taking care of cleaning their own tents.

  8. Our troop policy has always been no games or cell phones. Well we went to summer camp last week. On the list given to parents of what to bring and what not to bring it listed NO CELL PHONES.

    Got to camp the the SM's son had his phone. Nothing was ever said to him. It wouldn't have been a problem if he has simply left it in his footlocker but he ran around camp with it all the time including checking his messages while in badge classes. It bothers me that the rules don't seem to apply to him. Just all the other boys.

  9. Just got back from Slippery Falls Scout Ranch, Last Frontier Council, Oklahoma. HAD A BALL>

    Very well run camp. Great staff. Great badge program. Our boys could take up to 6 badges. They finished almost all of them. One not finished was Astronomy. They lack tracking Venus and Mars for 4 weeks.

    Small camp. Nothing was more than about 10 minutes away from our camp site.

    Very impressed. So in any of you are from that council, congrats.

  10. Kevin (13 and Life) and I talked about this last night. This thread has been looking at it from the point of a SM adding a requiement.

    He ask me what happens when a SM decided that a Scout doens't have to do a requirement because the SM think the the requirement is to hard for that Scout. Like not expecting him to learn First Aid the SM signs off as long as the boy known how to put on a bandaid? Have we been fair to that Scout. NO!!!!

     

    If we allow SM or CO to alter Advancement requirements by making the reqirement harder or by making it easier we havedone a hugh disservice to that boy. The BSA policies are there to make sure that the program is a uniform as it can possibly be. That is way they state that a Scout must "do no more but no less."

    SO from the mind of a Life Scout any alteration on a requirement is wrong. Whether you add a requirement or don't expect a Scout to do one. You aren't being fair to the boy either way.

     

    I will be leaving for summer camp in the morning and will be interested in seeing where this thread goes.

  11. No your aren't stupid. You are like so many of us.

    Have a hard time using that ugly two letter work when it comes to kids.

     

    Like my mother's little sign said.

     

    A Hundred years from NOw

    it will not matter what my bank account was

    the sort of house I lived in

    or the kind of car I drove

     

    But the world may be different because I was

    important in the life of a CHILD.

  12. I have a question for those that think there is nothing wrong with the adults in a troop altering a Rank requirement.

    So we change the Life requirement from take part in to lead.

     

    On what is to say that a leader can't then take Tenderfood and decide that they have to do spend at least three nights camping. Oh you are camping anyway so why not increase the number of nights required since we are trying to teach the boys how to camp.

     

    Or for 1st Class require them to take part in 20 troop activities.

     

    BSA Policy is VERY clear on this. The SM nor the CO or the committee can not change a requirement. Period. No discussion.

    Believe me if I was associated with a troop that required my son to LEAD a project when the requirement very clearly stated take part in. I would be talking to Council.

  13. Years ago I had two Dobies. The female was a "MAMA" dog to the core. She mothered everything that she thought was a baby.

    One morning about 2 a.m. I heard her "Mama bark"

    Went out into the back year and she had a baby raccoon down and was licking it all over. Mama raccoon was in the tree having a fit. Seem she didn't see the need for a nanny and certainly not one that was a BIG BAD DOG. Had to take Dutches in the house to let mama raccoon have her baby back.

    Dutches mothered three kittens and two baby squirels. Plus a customers little boy that was crawling out of the office door into the shop.

    She went over and put her paw on his rear. It was so funny. Looked like a turtle you were holding. Legs and arms moving but body was goind no where.

    Animals are so great.

  14. Your husband is right. People see the uniform.

    Kids are taught if they are in trouble find someone in a uniform. I have many times at stores when a child is lost had a kid come up to me if I an in my Scout Uniform. It is a nice feeling if trust.

     

    Kevin and I stopped at an Jazz fest on the way home one Saturday. We were both in uniform. He went to the bathroom and there was a little boy crying. He went over to the kid and ask if his mom or dad had gotten lost. They had. Kevin took the kid to the lost area. One man commented that he had tried to help the little boy but he would scream every time he got close to him. But he just put his and in Kevin's/ He had walked away from mom when she was getting food and walked to the row of porta potties by himself, they both were frantic.

    But I do believe the uniform makes a big difference

  15. I still have all my Girl Scout training information from nearly 40 years ago. Have all my Cub training. I guess I just keep that type of stuff.

    If it has been over 20 years since this person has taken any training I would be wanting them to take it again. I personally think that courses like BLT, BALOO, OLS should have to be renewed atlease every 10 years. Unless the person helps with the training program by teaching. I know SMs that took their training 20+ years ago and have never taken another training, except for YPT. I love training and like taking them over. I have learned something new from every training I have retaken. Because you have a different mix of people.

  16. I directed our district day camp 4 years. And for all intents and purpose the unit they are with at camp is a den. We did both BB and Archery belt loops as well as Flag Football. The instructors for these loops always did the discussion with the boys about the safety rules before they were allowed to shoot. Since the only place a Cub can earn BB or Archery is at a Council sponsored event that means either day camp or Cub day. Just like with Boy Scouts the requirements says discuss. We all know that kids of cub age forget a lot of what they discuss within a few hours of hearing it. That is why we go back over it. On the Flag Football the boys had three rotations on that. They practices twice them played, then on parents day had a round robin game. They had a ball.

     

    As for handing out a print out of what they earned at camp. I always did this. This way the leader knew what was done at camp. I always studied the program and tried to see what requirements could be done.

    I have been Advancement Chair for both the pack and the troop. One thing we have to remember is BSA policy states that a boy must do no more but no less that what the requirements are. So if they sat at the BB range and talked about the safety rules, they qualify for the requirement.

     

    Last year at summer camp three of my boys earned Nature Merit Badge. I counsel this badge and know what it takes. They were signed off after 3 15 minute sessions. The boys came to me and told me they hadn't done all the requirements. I can't take the badge back, the blue card has been signed by the counselor. So we went over the requirements. I ask them if they would be willing to help me when I was helping someone else on this badge. They liked this. It helped them make sure they had covered the requirements and gave them some leadership skills.

  17. Talk to the father. Find out what the details are.

    There is a young couple that lives next door to me. Since I sometimes have the boys at the house I check the offender list on a regular basis. His name showed up. They are so sweet and have three great little boys. The oldest will start school this year and I am trying to get him in scouts.

    The story is. At just barely 14 she got pregant.

    Her parents filed rape charges against him. He then 17, was convicted and served some time in jail. By the time he got out of jail she had turned 18, She left home and they married. They have nothing to do with her family at all. But he is still and will always be a registered sex offender.

    OUr CO approved a young man last year. At 18 he got into drugs, Served some jail time. Turned his life around and now at 30 is a great father and man. They approved his registration.

    Find out the facts, then talk to your CO and be up front about them.

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