mk9750

LauraT7 The book you talk about is the same thing we've done for a few years now. It does work well except for one occasion: Crossing the border into Canada. We had a line of 11 cars going through the checkpoint. The first car in line gave the book to the Canadian customs person, who spent the rest of our time complaining to every driver in our group how tough we made her job by having everything in one book. They are responsible for verifying that children aren't being taken to Canada by ex spouses, and such, and they had to see every boy and their permission slip at the same time. We go

Bob, Yes, good to have you back, but better that yur mother is doing well. I went through that with my dad last year, and unfortunately, it didn't end as well. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but cherish your extended time with your parents. I absolutely am the man I am because of my parents, and realized too late that I never told my dad so. I look forward to your insight again. Mostly right on, always worthy of consideration, and often the fodder for humorous debate. glad to have you back! Mark

Hey KS! I've been hoping you'd post some of your guys' impressions of their sojourn. Hope they had a good time! Love to hear about it! Mark

sctmom, Don't give up on the Webelos. I certainly understand your concern about the Boy Scout units in your area, but another two years in a good Cub program is better than nothing. And, you've got a great oppurtunity. You know of the shortcomings, and you have boys who are impressionable. Maybe you can use your influence to direct the boys to see and understand the real program, and then you can get involved with the best Troop you can find. With some effort from an adult, and some boys who are willing to work at it because you taught them the value of the real program, and with some pat

If you go to the BSA National website (Scouting.org, I think, but there should also be a link on these pages), you should be able to locate a link to the Council that services Lexington. Contact them, and they may either have something for you, or be able to direct you to the council that does (if there has been any shifting of the councils in that area over the years, it's never sure which council will have the records. You might also try NESA (National Eagle Scout Association). I don't know what records they get from BSA or keep, but it would be a resource. Good luck to you. I envy your ac

cubrgr8, We committed ourselves to providing high venture activities for the specific purpose of enticing older guys to stay active with the Troop. And it has been overwhelmingly successful. Most of the middle age guys (12- 14) work their tail off to be eligible for these activities (we alway provide tastes of them to all: A weekend campout of rapelling for all, or a Troop meeting at a local lake where everyone can use the kayaks). By the time the guys get to the point where they can participate 100%, they know their responsiblity to the Troop. We certainly have learned that we have to cu

OGE, We are blessed with a very active bunch of adults who work hard to provide oppurtunities for our boys to do most anything they can imagine and find a way to pay for. When some guys wanted to do repelling, three of our adults got themselves certified to teach rock climbing and repelling, including one of them going to Philmont for training, to make it happen. When other guys wanted to kayak, three other adults (actually one of them the same as with rapelling) have gone through the same process with American Red Cross to be qualified to teach this skill. I don't know for sure, but I'd

LauraT7 alluded to a very valid point. She said that ADHD kids belong in Scouting. I believe this and more. It is easy to conjure up an image of boys who excel in the Scout program, and that is really cool. But there are a number of categories of youth, ADHD among them, that may not fit the first image of a Scout, yet it is these boys for whom Scouting is really valuable. A year or so ago, we had a boy in the Troop that didn't seem to fit the image. He prefered computers, books, etc. to outdoor activities. Camping, and particularly the work that went into camping (collecting firewood, ca

OGE, I share your concern about the cost of many of the more appealing activities scouts do. In our Troop, we own rock climbing and repelling gear, kayaks, rifles, canoes, etc. But every single one was obtained after a PLC annual planning meeting determined that the activity was something our boys wanted to try. After the first try, usually with another Troop who could provide the resources, or American Red Cross, or generous dads to lend the rifles, the boys were told that to continue those activities, certain equipment would be needed. In almost all cases, the most interested Scout was

scoutmom, Please, PLEASE encourage your son to consider Den Chief if and when he returns to Scouting. You are 100% right that they are few and far between, and worse, many of those that exist are ill suited for the job. Luckily, it is usually only a good attitude and some training that separates the good ones from the not so good. I applaud you for thinking in that direction, and him if he considers doing it. Good luck to you both! Mark

Twocubdad, I have to admit, the way you describe your involvement makes me envious. I'd love to have worked with my boys on their cars. I couldn't do it though. I made the decision right from the start that for me, it was either stay out of it completely or do way more than I think is appropriate. I chose the former. It's a personality flaw I have that if I get involved, I end up doing it myself (I've gotten much better grades this time in grammer school than twenty years ago! LOL). That's the biggest reason I do advancements, not Scoutmastering. I also envy your work shop. I've got

cubmom, Sorry, I did not mean to offend. I didn't make any assumptions, I spoke about what our family did for Pinewood Derbies, or answered comments from you and others (losing digits, etc.). I certainly did not mean to imply that no one but my sons could care about their cars. I only stated that I have heard other boys say the things I mentioned. I know their dads did much of the work on their cars, so I guess I am guilty of drawing a conclusion based on what I have known to be true. I did not mean to imply that I think you are doing all of the work. I said that my sons did all of

No, no work shop at our house. We had to go over my brother in law's house to use the bandsaw. Most of their work was actually done on a 1" x 12" plank laid over top of the washer and dryer in the basement. I'd love to have provided a better place for them towork, or better tools. Maybe they could have done better. But they worked with what they had available. Mark

Ditto to all. Although I've heard various numbers, there is a direct correlation between 1st year summer camp attendence and a boy's continuation in the program. Late crossings do two negetive things: They allow little time for a boy to be shown how to camp, and they don't allow the troop to undo the attitude that scouting is a nine month of the year program. In addition to Chipewa29's comments about sports and vacation, we find far too many families (not necesarily boys) saying "OK, we're crossed. See you in September" (hey they should make a song...). Cross as soon as these three things are

Here's what I can tell you. When both my boys were in their first year of cubs, I cut THEIR design out on the bandsaw, and I did a lot of coaching, but almost none of the rest of the work. After that, I watched while they cut their own car out on the bandsaw, and never once had any other involvement in their cars unless they brought a question to me (Well, actually, I brought them into work to weigh them). How did they do? Never once did either of them win, even in their own age group (I think my youngest son got a third place ribbon one year). Never once did they win best looking car. On

Our Troop does limit some activities to older Scouts. Long pack hikes (75 - 100 miles over 7 - 10 days) are probably more intense than a boy (or mom sometimes) can handle, and most physically aren't capable of partaking safely. Other activities are limited to older, higher ranking boys for a reason I wish didn't exist, but reality makes it so: We need something to keep the older guys interest in the program, and higher venture stuff, done away from the younger guys, does that for us. We also see that the anticipation the young guys have to get to a certain age and rank helps motivate them. In

My thought exactly! I just figured that either cubmom mispoke, or there is a division for adults. By the way, it is an absolute blast for an adult to make a car and race it. I always made two identical looking cars. One would be my best effort and would race against the other adults, and the other was made to go slow enough to lose to the boys' cars. They had a blast beating the cubmaster, and I had patches made up that said "I beat the Cubmaster". One year, the adult division actually rmoved all of the rules. We permitted anything that didn't require fuel. That was a blast! It was my las

I remember Buster Browns, too. Time sure has a way of changing things. I remember them fondly now, but I also remember some major hassles I gave my Mom when she insisted that's what I wear! Our Troop allows tennis shoes to weekly meetings. We require hiking boots for outdoor activities. We require some type of dark dress shoe for Courts of Honor or other community activities like parades. Since none of the boys seem to wear dress shoes to school (or church for that matter), they all end up with the Wal mart - K mart option: A pair of dress shoes that they paid $10.00 - $15.00 for, and wea

As far as the MB book goes, I am not aware of any place on the web to get the full book. However, I believe many public libraries carry Boy Scout merit badge books. Our library does a decent (not great) job of keeping the most current editions, especially for the Eagle required MBs, which I assume they do becuase they are borrowed more often. I have tried to get our town's high school and junior highs to put them in their libraries too, but I haven't been persuasive enough yet. And lastly, This might be a good oppurtunity for your son to help out the troop by starting your own libra

Dan, My point was based on the assumption that this is the exception, not the rule. If the meeting plan is developed like this regularly, than you are 100% right. We have begun talking to our Junior Leadership about how much easier the job would be if they took advantage of the work others have done developing a program that works. We've got pretty inteligent boys running our Troop, but it's probably not wise that they assume they can develop a program better than what has been developed over the last 95 years. It's a tough lesson to learn, but it seems we go through this with every

We just requested that all of our scouts get one for themselves, and asked the parents to consider it as a Christmas present for their boy. the new handbook, although laid out better than the last edition, is missing a tremendous amount of valuable information about outdoor skills and activities. We have found that given the chance to choose, we almost would rather have our boys have the fieldbook than the handbook. I didn't realize it isn't in the catalog, but our service center had plenty of copies for our Christmas blitz. Mark

My first point is that somehow (and I agree with Eagledad that this is an oppurtunity for your son to learn how both the patrol method and the leadership chain of comand work), the Troop should reconsider the limit on winter camping to boys who are 12 and 1st Class. With the proper training (and it sounds like that was happening), the proper equipment (and that doesn't mean a $200.00 sleeping bag!), and a sense of adventure, ANY Scout can camp during the winter. I am all for some events being restricted to boys over a certain age and / or rank. But winter camping shouldn't be one of them.

Here's the history on the movie campout in the cabin: About 5 years ago, the junior leaders started complaining that all of the campouts that were planned were jam packed with organized program, mostly designed to make the older boys help the younger guys with advancements. At this time, it was the Scoutmaster making this happen. They wanted to do a campout that was devoid of this kind of effort. Just get there, set up camp, eat great, sit around the campfire, and BS. Frankly, most of the adults (not the SM, but certainly me) thought that this was a great idea, once a year. We had 11 other c

Eagledad: WOW! THANKS! It is my intention to gather a number of adults and boys together at our next meeting to discuss whatever it is I get here for suggestions. I can't wait to discuss yours! We are all familiar with the Goals and the Aims of Scouting, but it isn't anything we actively talk about, or plan around. Seems like a quick immersion for all of us (especially me!!!) is in order. If I can be so bold, please consider that you have done your Good Turn for the day, as have everyone else who is lending a hand. Thank you! Mark Man, this might be my shortest post!

Every point made so far has been valid, and I appreciate them. Some, if not most, we already incorporate, like the adult advisor (OGE called the position mentor, which we also use, but that is normally an older scout who is asked to verify that a younger one that will be presenting a skill to the troop has everything right), the advancement weekend (we just did one. Actually, I was proud that all but one older boy showed up to teach or test the young guys. I was dissapointed that only 3 of the 18 boys under 1st class came to the event), and the event evaluation (we do ours on the lower half of