momof2cubs

I imagine there would be a lot less scouts.

My oldest won this coin at a contest during a pack meeting: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=&C3=COINS&C4=&LV=3&item=508&prodid=508^8^01RTL& You are supposed to keep it in your left pocket and secretly transfer it to your right pocket after you have done your "good turn" of the day. My kid has been carrying it around for months. I love it because it's a good tangible reminder for boys to do the right thing even when they are not in uniform. Price is $3.99. Don't know your budget or how many boys are in your

To OP: my son earned his Flag Football loop and pin when he first started playing in 1st grade. When he started 4th grade and became a webelos, he earned it again. It was not awarded again, BUT it was counted for one of the requirements in the Sportsman webelos pin. So they can earn it again as webelos and it counts towards the requirements in webelos activity pins, but they are (usually) not awarded more than once. Make sense?

Let me put it in perspective for you: we are a fairly large pack (we clocked at just over 100 cubs before the webs II crossed over in March). I live in a fairly well off area where a lot of people travel over the summer, sometimes several times, so holding summer activities is difficult, but we hold one a month. We held our Spring recruiting meeting last Tuesday. We had sent flyers, there were posters all over the school, etc. The pitch was build your own sundae plus fun and games outside. We had most of the pack show up (about 50ish, which is about 2/3 since web IIs are gone). Resul

artjrk: the paper towel trick I learned at BALOO. It was the only trick that was worth the $11 I paid for that training. If only I had known to call you!

Honestly Ann, I don't see why they would. They had over 9 months to do it and that was WITH you prodding, leading, directing, organizing, helping, and enabling (I don't mean that in a bad way). If they didn't get it done then, what makes you think they would they do it on their own without you holding their hand?

AnnLaurel: first of all, good on you for standing firm on rank awards. When you cheaply hand out awards, the ones that truly earned them get a raw deal. So congrats on that. Now, second point: I am 99% certain that BSA considers June 1st the date where everyone moves to the next rank. In other words, your current wolves will be bears on June 1st and they can no longer work on Wolf rank. So summer work will not count. They'll be better off getting a head start on Bear achievements (Duty to God for example - that's why my kid and I are doing this summer working on the God and Me medal)

Up until recently when a new CM stepped up, our pack had a husband and wife team as CC and CM. It worked out just fine. And I'm thinking it happens quite often too.

Blanc: interestingly enough, we just has a huge discussion over that recently. Our current bears get invited to participate in a Boy scout style camping called Webelos Woods. While they goal is to have fun, learn skills like cooking, fire starting, and tent pitching, usually they end up doing all the requirements for Outdoorsman. This event happens in April, it's a district event. So the question always arises on whether we award Outdoorsman to the current bears in the May pack meeting (our last of the year before school starts again) or wait until August when we kick off the program aga

rtullier: I hope you do stick around in this forum, but if you choose to do that, you are really going to have to develop a thicker skin. Something you have to understand about most of the guys that hang out here is that they are passionate about scouts. They devote time, money, talent, and energy to it. And most of the time, they don't get much in return. Most of the time, parents don't even say thank you. Most of the time, the only time you see some parents is when they have something to complain about. So do we sometimes take things personally? You bet your patootie we do. Sometim

Official BSA rules say June 1st; however different districts use different rules. Generally it is around that time. In our district, your last day in your current rank is the last official day of school. So our current bears are considered Webs the 1st day of summer.

Ann, I have been admiring your enthusiasm, your energy, talent, sense of humor, and sense of duty. However, based on what I have been reading in your posts, this is a non-functioning and possibly beyond repair pack. There are too many elements to be fixed and you, despite your talent and energy, are just ONE person. The way I see it, any pack would be BEYOND lucky to have you and it may be time for you to consider moving your son and your many skills and talents to another pack that's not dysfunctional.

Cubmasters do care about the parents. They do care about doing a good job. I am pretty confident that everyone will welcome your input on next year's race if you are willing to work it. I think that most adults leaders would be seriously miffed at having someone go over their heads to tell on them. I know I would MUCH rather have a parent talk to me directly with their concerns in a calm, polite manner than having them go to the district or council and put me in the position of having to defend myself. You got some really sound advice on this board from these guys. I'm sure you'll t

Whoa. Reporting?? I usually associate reporting within scouting with nothing less than a criminal activity. A PWD?? Guys, is a GAME. It's for fun. My advice is to move on and next year, YOU lobby hard to get on the PWD committee. I'm guessing everyone will be delighted to give you the "job". And just for you-know-whats and giggles, what are you hoping to accomplish by "reporting" them? They get a spank on the bottom? They get "fired" from their volunteer jobs? It goes on their permanent record? What is your goal?

Yeah Moms is one BIG difference. Specially with the food. I'm my 5 years in Cub Scout, I am yet to see a male Grubmaster.

sasha: nope. In their defense, it covers a multitude of swimming related training: BSA lifeguard cert., red cross cert., BSA safe swim defense cert, BSA safety afloat cert., etc. But still...

Whatever strategies anyone here has, I would love to hear them. We have a hard time encouraging training beyond the stuff you can get online. I think an issue I have is just how long training takes. I gave up an entire Saturday for BALOO and that is one of the most basic trainings out there for cubs. I wanted to take OWL, but dang it, a WHOLE weekend? It just seems a lot to ask of any busy parent. And what if you are a single parent? A couple of people in my pack wanted to be have the Swimming Certification. Or whatever it is called. The thing you need to have so our pack could hol

You want to know what I wish for BALOO? I wish they would have spent LESS time making fun of Cub Scout Camping (in relation to Boy Scout Camping) and MORE time training us on explaining what Cub Scout Camping is all about to never-been-camping-before parents. Let me give you a for instance during the equipment session. Trainer hold up the kind of sleeping bag every little kid has (stuffy rolled up one) that they use for sleepovers in the basement. "THIS is the sleeping bag I has when I was in Cub Scouts" (roaring guffaws from the rest of the trainers - only thing missing was the pointing

The way I see it, there should be more rewards for the ones that are committed. And really, there are. The committed ones get to go to the cool trips, the committed ones earn more ranks and merit badges and are more recognized. My sons are not very good at sports. They like them, they play in recreational leagues every year, but scouting is priority. So for my sons, they are much more likely to put "Eagle" on their college application than "played 6 football games a year". So yes, they make it a priority.

AnnLaurel I am SOOOO with you!!! Unfortunately, our pack meetings are 2nd Tuesdays of the month so the odds of it ever falling on a May 4th are zero! Bummer. I would LOVE to hear from someone who had a star wars themed meeting today. I know there's some CM out there that did it!

Our pack is chartered through our public elementary school, so we have kids of all faiths. Another pack in the are with whom we are friendly is chartered through an Episcopalian church and their priest runs the PRAY program. We let out web parents know about it and they can sign up on their own if interested. My son and 3 other webs did it last winter and they loved it. I don't know the faith make up of your den, but if say half of them belong to some flavor of Christianity (Baptist, Methodist, Protestant, Episcopalian, Presbytarian and the like), I would suggest contacting some of those

packsaddle: the reason I said that is because you mentioned you have shared tents with another adult male leader and female leader. I am fairly certain that the rules state that unmarried adults of the opposite sex cannot share tents. Honestly, this rules seem archaic and outdated to me. I sure wish someone could point out that it doesn't exist. But like I said earlier, at BALOO training a few weeks ago, the instructor was ADAMANT that this is the case and he also pointed out that we were at risk of loosing our chapter if someone chose to make an issue of it. This isn't a big deal in

packsaddle: I can't tell your gender. However, I'm pretty certain that BSA rules state that unmarried adults of opposite sexes cannot share tents. In fact there was a HUGE discussion during my BALOO training on that topic. The trainer was ADAMANT that we cannot allow unmarried couples to share tents during family camping. I'm not saying I agree. I'm just sayin'..

I think I'm gonna cry!

You know what basementdweller, I'm kinda with you on that one. I live in one of those "nice, quiet suburbs", but we do have a family unit made up of mom, two sons, and one step dad. Mom and step dad aren't married, but live together. Step dad is a den leader. I am NOT about to tell those people they cannot share a tent. It ain't worth it. We just don't make a big stink of it. The reality of the matter is that we have NO idea who is married and who is not, do we? Are we going to start asking for marriage licenses to be presented in camping trips?