MomToEli

Those clip hook thingies that you use for fishing line work really well. Attach the clip to the star. Put a loop in the end of another, long piece of fishing line. A wooden bead tied to the end of that works well. It weighs it down so it hangs well plus it stops the beads from coming off the other end. The boys unhook the line, add their beads and then hook it back up to the clip. Even Wolfs can do it.

Thank you! I know not to cool them down too fast but wasn't sure about going the other way ... put one that is super cold on hot coals. :-)

Do we need to take any precautions with our cast iron dutch ovens and skillets when we go camping in temperatures near zero?

I have just set our Troop up with it. And I LOVE it. Basically it is letting us involve everyone in the record keeping and communicating process without compromising the integrity of our records - particularly advancement.

I have regular Troopmaster on my computer - think of it like our "server", though the website does store the database as well.

Troopmaster Web is accessed by everyone else in the unit, with each person (or group) having different access rights.

Scoutmaster can view all info and reports and can update activities and advancement.

Advancement Chair can update advancement and maintains the MBC list.

Ass't Scoutmasters as directed by the Scoutmaster.

All youth can access/view and depending on their position can update. For instance, the Scribe can update activities so he can track attendance.

All parents can view their own boy's information.

There is a message board built in that we can utilize. We are going to encourage the boys to use it to help with planning and just a place to talk to each other. We will have threads for leaders and parents, as well.

There is a calendar where all activities are posted that everyone can see and certain people can update.

I sync the information between the web version and the version on my computer each time anything is updated. It takes about 4 or 5 minutes once you get through the learning curve!

Sorry to sound like a commercial. I just wanted to share that this was a great investment and ongoing expense item in our budget.

Thanks, all! I guess I'll be heading the Eureka the end of January :-)

Excellent video! I had my son sit and watch it and we will be showing it at a meeting soon.

It is amazing to me how difficult it is to get even Scouters to understand that this is how the Merit Badge program is supposed to function. Including some professionals, actually.

Yes, we are trending away from camp supplied tents for the reasons stated - the time involved for staff to set up and tear down, the maintenance and storage involved. Troops can sure use the tents, but they will set them up and tear them down themselves, which relieves a whole lot off the staff.

We have at most 23 hours between camp sessions, and sometimes it is only about 4. I find my staff functions much better if they have a little free/down time, and not having to manhandle the canvas goes a long ways towards that.

Our Troop always uses our own tents, anyway. After living through an incredibly rainy season last year and seeing what happens in high winds, both kinds come down in the right kinds of storms (seen a canvas tent wrap around a flag pole!) and gear gets soaked in both.

I agree with whomever said they dislike cheap Troop tents. They don't hold up well at all.

While I agree to an extent that the boy should choose the troop, parents are a factor. If you have been really active in the Pack and want to stay active you are one kind of parent. If you are tired and want to rest or were never that involved, you are another.

Don't presume that either troop situation is open to new parents taking on *any* kind of a role. A lot of troop committees expect new parents to "cut the apron strings" and stay completely in the background for the first year or longer. In our case that wasn't acceptable. Scouting is a HUGE part of our family life and we weren't willing to turn our son's scouting experience completely over to someone else, let alone send him camping with relative strangers.

Odds are you won't change the prevailing attitude any more than a new bride is going to change her hubby to suit her, so pick wisely :-)

Ok, I see a trend here.

I ordered Troop Master and Troop Master Web.

Thanks, everyone!

Break away, start fresh and do NOT look back. If they are happy running a Troop that way, more power to them. They will either continue the way they are, change or implode. Either way, your son doesn't have that many years to enjoy his scouting adventure.

In your new Troop gather a strong committee around you, get bylaws and a handbook done right away, and make parents and youth sign a form saying they have read them and agree to function within those bounds. Then require everyone, including yourselves, to stick to it.

I say this from personal experience - if you can walk away and let go of the anger you will be much better off for it. And you can get back to what Scouting is all about. It is rather like being in a bad relationship ... while you are in the middle of it you are frustrated and believe that if you just find the right words, do the right things just right that it will all work out. Then, one day, you wake up and realize that the problem is NOT yours and you can't fix them.

So, run ... don't walk ... to your new life.

Seems weird that they have made adjustments for lack of swimming to get through the MB that would keep you from Eagle, but that you could get stuck on the very same issue that will not let you pass 2nd class requirements.

The requirements for the Swimming Merit Badge are much more difficult than for the 2nd class requirements. Among other things the boys have to enter the water fully clothed and make flotation devices of their clothing, all in water well over their heads.

There are several challenging requirements the T-2-1 progression. Many boys really struggle with doing a pull up at that age. Is it fair to hold them back until they can do at least one? For the son of one of my good friends, that took 6 months. The requirements are *supposed* to be challenging.

It would be so much better for the youth we serve if we stop seeing rank advancement as the goal and instead realize the advancement is a consequence of them learning, growing and learning things outside of their comfort zones.

Kinda makes one wonder how many Eagle Scouts out there can really perform FC tasks and function as a leader of a group in the wilderness.

Stosh, I imagine not many. I know many show up on Camp Staff and can't tie basic knots or start fire.

Interesting post. My dh will be very interested in it, too, I think.

Well, we signed him up as a Wolf because we wanted him, as a homeschooled kid, to meet other boys his age, without turning him over to someone else and trusting they weren't some sort of crazy person or would undermine the values he learns at home/church. We picked scouting over sports because this boy is so tall and grows so fast that his muscles weren't keeping up with his bones and coordination was lacking (much better now and he is a swimmer) - we wanted him to be able to succeed. Also, because we could become involved as leaders and it could be a family thing instead of us watching from the sidelines.

I just asked him why HE is in Boy Scouts. He said it is because it is fun. Likes camping a lot - even mentioned lashings as one of his favorite skills :-) He also told me if he had a car (not old enough to drive yet) and we didn't want to go he would go without us. Now I know that he owns his scouting adventure.

We stay involved (both still leaders at multiple levels in the program) because it is fun :-) And, because Scouting continues to be one of the tools in our arsenal that helps us teach our son the values that we want him to learn as he grows into a man. I honestly believe we spend *more* time together as a family because of scouting - even if it is a family that has grown by a whole bunch more :-)

Which Troop management software program do you recommend?

Thanks!

We had an officer from our area Narcotics Task Force come in and present a program - complete with a Power Point presentation.

State (Drug Enforcement Agency) and large metro agencies are the best resource.

Call your local Sheriff's office. There are almost always at least one officer who is trained in narcotics.

All of the religious awards my son has earned to date have been completed one on one with the Youth Pastor at our church. I am very grateful, as a mom, for the time these men have been willing to invest in our son and his religious upbringing. His working on these awards have resulted in some very deep conversations - both with his Youth Pastor as well as with his dad and I.

That said, I realize there are boys in our units who don't have a Youth Pastor of their own, and their exposure through a group setting may be the only religious study they are even exposed to.

Thanks, Eagle92! You obviously used different search terms than I - I couldn't find the data!

I wish they would set the dates already. I'm trying to plan my life (and my one hour a week) here!

For what period of time? Next month? The next year?

Interesting turn this thread has taken. Momto7Scouts, I guess I have lost your position in here somewhere. I started out thinking you were at odds with the SM, and perhaps the Committee, because boys couldn't get things signed off, there was no way a boy who had a missing requirement for a MB completed, the troop adds to the requirements, and boys attempting to take on their Eagle Projects were being made to jump through hoops.

Now it has transitioned to there are three families trying to take over the troop, ramrod their kids through the program and have kids advancing far faster than ever imagined - which means they are getting signed off, at least.

So, I don't really understand your question.

"IMNSHO, every Scout should earn his MBs from adults outside his own Troop!" (How DO you guys get italics in your posts???)

I couldn't agree with you more, John-in-KC. In an ideal world I totally agree.

What I feel even stronger about is that no MB should be earned in a large group setting, with all requirements being done in that setting - like MBU or (or MB class at the troop level).

"A Scoutmaster has to approve a MB before it's awarded."

Not exactly. The Scoutmaster has to approve a MB before it is taken. The MB Counselor signs off that the boy has met the requirements. The SM is not supposed to re-examine him before it is awarded.

Our DE would have no clue ... I promise :-)

I am our new Troop CC. We have not had a particularly well oiled, functioning Committee for the past few years, which has left a whole lot to be reviewed and procedures and policies to be put into place. Mostly on the communication front, but all things are being reviewed.

The thread about Troop finances has raised a question for me. What, exactly, is considered financially sound? What should be our "cushion"? I know some units spend themselves into poverty every year, and others bank far more than any unit needs. There is a balance in there some place.

So - what does your unit consider "financially secure" to be?

Hi Scouters!

Does anyone have any date info on Camp School yet for this year? I have the school section descriptions, but no dates.

Thanks!

Boomerscout asks:

"And if the rules, themselves, are just plain wrong?"

What would you advise those fresh 11 - 17 year old faces if they were to ask you that question? What if it is a city, state or federal law? What if it is a rule at school? Or a rule at home?

I know what I would tell our boys - and my own son. Get involved in the process and work to change the rule. Write letters. Run for office. Attend council meetings. Sit down and have a heart to heart talk with Mom and Dad - and if they still say no, honor and respect them, because that is the right thing to do.

We never teach anything of value outside of the scope of personal responsibility. I want the boys in my charge to learn self control and to be good citizens. I want to teach that civil disobedience is a very serious matter and it comes with a very hefty cost in the form of personal sacrifice. I don't want to teach anarchy.

Just sayin ...

Basementdweller said: poo poo the rules all you want. We have a Neighboring Pack that solicits food donations for their blue and gold, very successfully. They get a number of prime ribs and turkeys from the local butcher, a national grocery chain donates the sides or at least the ingredients for the sides. They get a local party house to donate the hall.

National can make all the rules they want, enforcement is impossible. What are the penalties gonna be????

I am growing in the opinion of putting on the best program you can for the boys. I will not violate the safety rules, but fund raising and such.......It is on.

I ask: What ever happened to a Scout is Obedient? or Trustworthy?

I have to wonder what example we set for boys when we live "poo poo the rules" ... or when we decide that since something isn't fairly enforced that we get to decide whether or not to comply? Well, I guess we DO get to decide - we answer for no one's behavior but our own. But I come right back to, what sort of example are we wanting to set for the youth under our leadership?