msnowman

Wow, I didn't realize I was opening such a can. But, I'm learning plenty, including the fact that I will probably simply take his phote-reactive patch off his long sleeve shirt (or teach him how to) and have him stitch that one on to his short sleeve shirt and repeat the process in the fall when the temps are too cool for short sleeves. He is very image conscious and wants his uniform to be complete and correct. The white patch he wears has never been a problem and he'd rather skip risking being embarressed because he has the JSP that he isn't entitled to wear. Thank you all, ask twice,

Oh yea and....(I can't seem to edit my post).... The patch says 2005 National Scout Jamboree, Katahdin Area Council, Maine and has a different picture than the regular KAC CSP and includes part of the Jambo circle patchy thing that the people who went wear. Thanks again Michelle

After our 8 month winter in the wilds of Maine, its almost warm enough for Nephew to need his new short sleeve uniform shirt. As we gather the new insignia to go on it, we come to a question of CSP's. He likes to go w/ something that is more interesting than the normal KAC CSP. On his current shirt in the no longer made photoreactive patch (the regular KAC picture, all in white, that changes color in the sun). Our council designed a special one for Jambo that anybody who wanted to pony up the 5 bucks to buy could have. Before he sews it on (his first sewing venture) he wants to make sure he is

Our council leaves the ultimate choice up to the parents because they have the best idea of what will be best for their child. Our Pack has had the flip side of this problem, boys who were held back in school. In our case the parents have opted to have the boy repeat his rank again so he would be w/ his current classmates. Good luck and best to you and your son YiS Michelle

Wow - I never realized that homesickness was an issue for Boy Scouts. Nephew has been going to Cub Resident camp since the summer after 2nd grade, as has most of the boys in his troop near his age, so Boy Scout homesickness hasn't been an issue. For sometimes it is a bigger issue for the parents than the boy. The parents aren't ready for their son to be that independent yet. One other consideration for a letter to the parents - let them know that if their son has a bedwetting or sleepwalking issue to let you know. If you are prewarned you can make sure they are paired w/ a discrete boy or

Last year at Pow-Wow they had a ton of door prizes...one of the prizes was a 6 pack of squirt guns.....Granted, these were for adults, but it was still a scouting event. Does that make it Council sponsored tom-foolery? YiS Michelle

In general our dens don't snack the boys, unless it is for a special occassion (birthday, cooking as the achievement of the day, etc). Occassionally a family will bring in a snack to share and that is fine, we just don't go out of our way to include a snack in our meetings. We actually tend to snack them more often at Pack meetings. The boys snack and visit while the leaders visit with the parents, answer questions that would bog down the boys' Pack meeting, etc. Sort of like the coffee hour our church has after each Sunday service. YIS Michelle

The single most useful piece of information I have gotten in the last 6 years is "BSA does NOT stand for Baby Sitters of America". I wish I had heard it earlier in my Wolf ADL days and have always been sure to pass it on to other new leaders when I moved up to CM and now back to DL. Good Luck YiS Michelle

As a Pack we opted for the 30% instead of the Trails End prizes for our boys. However, since that's kind of a vague idea for the boys (at least our group), we opted to purchase prizes for the 3 sellers. We went w/ things that were Scouty, yet inexpensive. For example our top seller got a head light flashlight, the 2nd seller got a hiking first aid kit and our third seller got a canteen. If we had had more boys selling we would have bought more prizes. The key though was that we kept the prizes inexpensive and scouting minded. YiS Michelle

Our boys are all encouraged to go to Resident camp and usually its mom who is less ready for them to attend. This year we are sending 3 graduating Tigers, 2 graduating Wolves and 2 graduating Bears, all first time campers. They are all tremendously excited to be going to Cub Camp. As Kaji said, the difference between Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts is so different that burn out really isn't an issue. Actually most of our Cubs look forward to going as Boy Scouts because "we get more freedom". This summer will be Nephew's second year as a Boy Scout and 5th year at camp overall. I gotta say the l

Kaji - our Council run Cub resident camp doesn't require the boys to have a parent with them for the length of camp. We go as a Pack with the Pack providing at least 2 deep leadership(2 adults for every 6 or 8 boys is the required ratio). So our Council's Cubs are getting a week of camping (okay, Sunday noon to Friday noon) in tents, at the Scout Camp, without parents. There is a seperate 3 day/2 night Pal and Me camp for 1st thru 3rd graders that require each boy to have his own personal adult w/ him. Regular resident camp doesn't have that rule. YiS Michelle

So many posts recently have spoken of new Boy Scouts going to resident camp for the first time. Do most councils out there not have a resident camp for Cub Scouts? Our council's Resident Cub Camp is open for boys who have completed 1st grade and up to those entering 5th grade. Nephew has been going to Resident camp since he was 8 years old and has loved every week of it (I only went his 3rd year because I promised I'd go for his last year of Cub Camp). Our Cubs sleep in same tents as the Troops do, on the same cots, eat in the same place, go around to various activity stations throughout the c

I second Scoutnut on the plastic rank holder - with just one caveat. If the boys are wearing their uniform for a rougher activity, take the rank holder off. The badges do sometimes fall out and the rank holder can break. Gratz on Tiger. YiS Michelle

I don't know if it varies by Council or not, but here we are allowed to let the boys continue working on rank during the summer, though that is not encouraged. As has been said, other than Bobcat, moving on is not dependent on earning the previous rank (Webelos/AoL aside). One thing to keep in mind is that most of the work for Wolf & Bear can be done at home. If they have been in Cub Scouts since September, their parents can go back thru their books and mark things they have done since then. They may be closer than it would initially appear. Sometimes its the parents that need a boot

Thanks for the lively input. To answer a previously asked question - yes, I have seen this at camp, so its not just hypothetical....Nephew asked (in the loud voice every 9 year old asks everything) "Why is he swimming in his underwear?". I don't mind the no bikini rule for women. I just wish they'd extend it to the men. (Bunchiness, shrinkage, paunch and all ) YiS Michelle

Our council Scout Reservation plays host to both Cub Resident Camp & Boy Scout Resident camp (which includes co-ed groups from Canada as well as local Ships & Crews). For swimming they "strongly recommend" that all women and girls wear 1 piece bathing suits. Fair enough, a youth camp of any sort is not the time or place for revealing bikini type swim wear. However, there is no corresponding "recommendation" for men against wearing the Speedo bikini bottom type swimwear. I may be old fashion but I feel men in bikini bottoms are as inappropriate at a youth camp as women in bikinis.

Other Packs may do it differently but what we have done in the past is that the Pack will purchase the Beltloop the first time it is earned. The parents purchase it for any future earnings. If the Scout repeats the requirements and earns it a second time for rank (following your Web example), he would be acknowledged at the Pack meeting but no further beltloop would be awarded unless his parents bought it. YiS Michelle

Though the boys we've had with this issue have been younger (Cubs instead of Boy Scouts) we have had to deal w/ this issue every year for the last 6 years (3 different boys over that time). Our boys have used a combination of the above suggestions - Nighttime Pull ups, a discreet tentmate, leader assistance in handling the matter. This has worked well for each of our boys. They were able to enjoy camp and other than their tentmate none of the other boys were even aware of the problem. Perhaps asking one of the Troop adults for help would point you towards a Scout that they know is discreet...o

Thanks for the help. We were talking about it last nite (elections are next month) and he wanted to get his facts in order before he says anything. He knows that if it is simply Troop policy, than that can be changed (new SM in 25 years), but if it was a National policy there wasn't much he could do about it. And Amen to the comment about rank not equaling leadership. The boy who is Star really wants to be SPL but he hasn't learned the difference between being a leader and being a boss....and there is a big difference there. A little more time and some maturity would do him wonders befor

Trev - the AoL ceremony we like to use has the boys who are making rank going thru stations where various Boy Scouts lead them in the Scout Sign, salute, handshake, etc....the things they are supposed to know for AoL. Well, we do a similar thing for Bobcat, with their Den Chief leading them them thru, stopping at stations w/ various adult leaders leading them thru the things they are supposed to know for Bobcat. YiS Michelle

Are there a specific set of National requirements to be an SPL or are things like that left to the individual Troops to make policy? For example does National say that to be an SPL you need to be Star or above? Or can Troop 123 say you must be Star or above while Troop 456 says its 1st class and above? Nephew wants to nominate a boy in his troop who is only 1st class (but very capable) because the only Star boy is.....well, not ready to be a leader (in Nephew's opinion). My suggestion was to nominate 1st class if he wants to, and then let the SM reject the nomination or not. Nephew wants

We did something very similar w/ our Bobcats when they earned rank. They carried a jar of "magic dew gathered from Camp Roosevelt" while Den Chief escorted them on the Path of the Bobcat (w/ stops to make, similar to an AoL trek). At the end the CM added Bobcat spirit and their jars would glow. It was very high on the Ohhh Ahhh factor. YiS Michelle

Our Pack and Troop both use the tents provided by the camp. Like another poster above, these are on platforms and have cots. However, many boys and leaders bring their own personal tents and essentially pitch that smaller tent inside the flap tent from camp. They use the provided tent like a fly and sleep inside their own personal tent. Two boys can still share that tent, they just move out the cots and sleep on their sleeping pads on the platform. That way we aren't striking the provided tents while still reducing mosquito access to the buffet. YiS Michelle

Our Pack has moved away from the "trophy for everybody" for the reason you mentioned - the older boys know they are meaningless. The things that have been far more popular are awards that are earned. For example, we make ballots and have everybody vote on "Most Patriotic", "Most Cub Scouting", "Most Original" and "Fan's Choice". There is also a "Cubmaster's Choice" (which the CM chooses herself) and a "Den Chief's Choice" which the Pack's 2 DC's decide together. Since those catergories are pretty generic we also used them for voting at our B&G's Guys Cake Bake. Of course we also added a ca

How about the Scout Oath/Law coin from Scoutstuff? Not too expensive. I wish I had thought of this when my Wolf/Bears were all working on Bobcat. YiS Michelle ETA - I had tried to do a link to the coin but it didn't seem to work...(This message has been edited by msnowman)