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Mrw1

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Everything posted by Mrw1

  1. I regularly explain to new parents how the program works and WHY. Most of them understand that it is about teaching the boys responsibility and not about who gets which badge when. The really pushy one or two eventually get the point or move on to another troop. As AC for our troop, I keep the updated MBC listing and the boys need to see me for a name before earning a badge. New parents come to me and are gently told that their son needs to ask me. Then I explain about the son calling the counselor for a meeting and how it all works. And I use how I saw my own kids (now 24 & 27) gro
  2. "In our district we have troops which will only accept SPL as the POR for Eagle. Another has very strict attendance policy (and has well before last year's change). One has fixed age requirements Scouts have to reach before receiving various ranks and before attempting a Eagle project. One has a long list of American history and government and Scouting history questions they must pass for each rank. I suppose my greatest transgression is refusing blue cards for merit badge universities and a handful of required badges taught at summer camp." We have 35 boys registered in our troop right
  3. That has been around for about 2 years now and you do need to use it carefully. It will sometimes put you on very busy state routes. And just because it shows something that is said to be bike path, does not mean that said path has actually passed the planning stages and been built yet. It has directed me to a couple paths that I know have not been worked on past the acquisition of the right of way (as in not even cleared enough to walk there!). Great starting point, but not a substitute in any way for double checking a route or noting an alternate before hopping on your bike.
  4. I really like what your prof is saying!!!!! If more kids heard this more times as they went through school, we would be a far more productive country with far fewer people sitting and waiting for the "government" to give them a hand-out or solve their problems for them. I know juggling school and a job and homework and a social life is very hard work, but the payoff is fantastic if you learn the lesson he is trying to teach you. If the JC is not offering what you need, go ahead and bite the bullet to go on to where you need to be to get what you want out of life. Life is too sho
  5. We once had a boy where the den leader was having a hard time getting the mom to sign off on the Bear religious requirement. The requirement was something like practice your religion as you are taught at home. Easy right? The CM talked to the mom about how this was holding back the boy from his badge and her resposnse was, "I signed him up for scouts so I did not have to do things with him." If ever there was a boy who needed scouts and time away from home, this would be a poster child for that. Unless the child is a hellion, see if there is a reason before judging that the boy
  6. If you want to keep the furnace really low in the house, that might be ideal. For camping, worthless. Try to walk around outside with something like that and the bottoms would be filthy and probabaly wet from dew. Yuck!
  7. The younger ASMs and SMs do not have as much vacation time to take. If they spend a week at summer camp, there might not be any family vacation time at all for the year.
  8. It is good to hear the scout complained about the counselor and did not accept a badge for doing nothing. As the AC for our troop, we have about 30 boys of 50-ish go to summer camp each year and earn an average of 4 badges each. The adults at camp do spend some time wandering by the various MB classes and activities to ensure the kids are where they are supposed to be and are doing something productive. But considering the size of the troop and number of badges earned, generally over 100 with a high of 132, there is NO WAY I am going to double check with each kid to see if he thinks
  9. We pay for the award kit, neckercheif and slide. The rest is whatever the family wants and that ranges from full dinners to no ceremony at all. Most seem to do cake and punch for the whole group and then something smaller for the family after.
  10. It is a toss up between two trips. The first is a rim to rim hike in the Grand Canyon. The second is mountain biking the Bolivian Death Road (look it up on YouTube). The first is more likely just due to the cost of getting there.
  11. You do not need her book for camp although it would be helpful. Call your neighboring districts for their cub camp plans and you will be all set to go. As far as the equipment, arrange for a district storage place and require all district supplies to be stored there rather than in personal sheds. You can change this policy again as soon as all the materials come back in. Thenfind her a job to do that does not involve interacting with kids and you will be golden. She will still have involvement in something she apparently cares about (but does poorly) and you will have less friction at activiti
  12. How does your troop schedule boards of review? The week after a campout we do not have a regular meeting, but a PLC and advancement night. Younger boys can just show to get sign-offs or help while the PLC meets in another room. Committee members are regularly reminded to be present for BoR's this night. We can do as many as there are boys needing them. They have also happened on campouts if the rigt number of adults are present. Do these occur at troop meetings or at separate designated times? During PLC meetings on a regular troop night. If not at troop meetings, how often ar
  13. Having been the AC for our troop (40-55 boys)for at least 10 years now, The original post would never fly for me. I am at most meetings, so badges and ranks are recorded in Troopmaster at meetings. I get to the Scout Shop about once a month to buy whatever has been earned since the last time I was there. The biys get the patches at the next troop meeting after that. Generally I try to get to the shop the week after our monthly BOR night. We do a COH about quarterly. There is not all that much actually handed out at the COH, but each boy that earned something the past period gets cal
  14. 50 registered. About 3 are inactive and have said they will not be coming back. 4-5 will be aging out in the next few months. We do not see them much as they are mostly active with the Crew and not the Troop at this point. We have a pretty good mix of ranks, with 3 EBORs in the scheduling stage and at least two morre expected later this year. We have been averaging 45-55 scouts for about the last 6 years. And this even after one ASM left to form a new troop and took a handful with him.
  15. Why 21 originally? This probably dates to when the age of majority really was 21. The juvenile legal system being able to hold kids to age 21 is also a legacy of this. Most other definitions of adult reverted to age 18 when the voting age changed. The drinking age went to age 18 in many places for a while, but has been boosted back to age 21 also. Why should it probably stay at age 21? I can see several reasons. I do know kids that are more mature than this, but in general, this seems to apply pretty well. 1) It has been documneted that the protion of the human brain that governs rea
  16. Just remember, and remind the other parents in the den, that this is NOT "Webelos 3." Boys at this age are ready to learn how to do things for themselves and take great pride in it. And if they do it poorly the first time around and need to try again, they learn more from failing than they do if their parents step in to prevent failure from ever happening. There is nothing wrong with you going on many of the camping trips and all with your son, but the adults should be separate and remotely supervising. The adults should not be doing for the scouts unless there really is a big proble
  17. We had a spreadsheet we used that we had put together ourselves. Then we finally bought Troopmaster and are thrilled that it has much more functionality as far as tracking things and running reports.
  18. We had a SM who would answer such questions with, "I like my coffee black." This let the guys know they were asking things that they needed to take care of. I also know a teacher who often tells her students, "That is a problem YOU can solve." That seems to be a good way of empowering the kids to do what they can before asking for help with the harder stuff.
  19. If they are wanting to spend that kind of money on a gift, they had better be DARNED sure the recipients will appreciate and use it. In 7 years as a den leader, I got token thanks gifts from the Pack each year (corsage for B&G, tote bag, etc) and two small Christmas ornaments from one family. Watching the kids grow and learn and experience things they did not get at home was far better thanks than a pricey gift. I have never been a "girly" girl and a trip to the spa sounds awful! I would far rather go for a hike with a dinner at the restaurant near the trail head!
  20. We run a three day merit badge university in the troop, for the troop. This is no cost and using the same counselors the boys would see otherwise. It is spread over three months so boys can start three month record badges, be checked on mid way through and complete on the last day. We also offered First Aid for the younger set. It gives them some structure to work in, but it they do not attend all three meetings AND do all thier requirements, they will not earn the badge at the end.Nothing is signed just for showing up! Our district also runs a one day Midway that we announce to the
  21. Along with the other above suggestions, make sure the SM knows the boys need to camp overnight, in tents, with the troop to earn their Camping merit badge for earning Eagle. If it is just that he does not like to camp himself, he does not need to go as long as you have other adults willing to go instead. Try to work with him, not against him and you will go farther.
  22. Well I was not going to comment at all. but based on the additional information presented in your last post, it becomes much more clear. So the 5th graders are into hanging out and not advancement. Regardless of whether they are presented with awards or go onto a troop, they will age out in a few months anyways. This problem solves itself. Stop wasting time on them and focus on making the best Pack experience for the younger boys. have the boys from the troop visit or become den chiefs for the younger dens and this will show them more of what scouting is about then they will ever se
  23. "Even with Troopmaster, the advancement process is paper intensive....all that paper has to be generated, verified and then entered into Troopmaster. And then you have the issues of missing paperwork, so it doesn't get entered at all...that's the worst part...ASM's and PL's not tracking who did what when amd where then bashing the ACC because something is missing. Our troop is about 100 active Scouts. Far worse than that is that the ACC in our troop also does all the MB scheduling for summer camp... " As advancement chair for a troop with just over 50 active scouts, I ca
  24. I explained to the parents that they needed to read the information and then talk about it with their child in as much detail as they thought appropriate for their child. I had a couple I am pretty sure just signed the book for their son and did not go over it at all. I had one though that thought it was presented so well he had all their kids sit in on a discussion. I only had one parent out of maybe 15 (two dens, many years) that had to be told more than twice that their child could not earn the badge unless they did this. And that unless they did it soon, the child would not
  25. Many years ago, when I still had Cubs, I had a new boy join at the beginning of fifth grade. I explained to him and his parents about what he needed to earn both the Webelos badge and the AOL. He wanted the AOL. So each week he did all the regular activities with my Webelos 2 den and they in turn each week helped him with the other pins they had earned the year before, doing the fitness activities and Bobcat badges and such. He coasted right through and the others got some experience teaching and leading - win/win!!! Not only did he earn the Webelos badge and AOL for the B&
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