msnowman

Its barely July but I'm already looking ahead to September and beyond, trying to come up with ideas for Pack events. One that I have seen mentioned before and am considering is a Loop-a-palooza...an afternoon (or a couple of hours) with a few belt loops stations where the boys can come, do the requirements for the belt loops that will then be handed out at the next Pack meeting. Have any of you tried it? If so, did some things go over better than others? I know there are some loops that it would be impossible to earn in an afternoon, but have you found some to be far more popular th

OGE - I'm midcoast Maine, as I usually put it "in a tiny town between Bangor and Bar Harbor and 26 miles from everything". YiS Michelle P102

I hate to be a wet blanket for all of you southern people professing to be living in God's Country, but I have to let you in on the truth of the matter.....Maine is God's Country, from our rocky shores to majestic Mt. Katahdin, we get to see the sunrise first, which is just God's way of smiling on his best loved part of the country first. Maine - its not the end of the world but on a clear day you can see it from here. Come up and visit, and see for yourselves.... Michelle (with tongue firmly in cheek) CM - P102(This message has been edited by msnowman)

I know is our small town people just don't seem to care. If they bother to find out about Scouting at all its to use it as a babysitter. Last fall at recruiting we had a number of boys interested in being Tigers but as soon as the parents found out they had to attend everything with their son it was "well, we'll wait til next year then". I feel very lucky this year to have 2 people interested in being Wolf leader (our Tiger leader's son was held back and she is staying with that group). The year before all of the Tigers dropped out after they received their badge. Two of the three parents said

Our Council is one of those who maintains a merit badge list by district. As a matter of fact I just called them this morning to get a copy of my district and a neighboring one emailed to me. With the size of our home district, there will be some badges that a counselor in the neighboring district will be geographically closer....and with the price of gas......lol Michelle CM - P102

Oh they sure do don't they? April was our Council's Skill show at the local mall. While there 2 of our Tigers completed the requirements for their Astronomy beltloop. However, the bad Cubmaster (me) forgot to buy the two beltloops for our Pack meeting the next weekend. So, after the pack meeting one of the boys comes up to me and says "I thought I was supposed to get my Catastrophe beltloop". He was so ernest, it took everything I had not to smile because it was so cute. I apologized to him for letting him down and promised he would get it in May (which he did). Michelle - CM - P

Ya'll beat me here. I have been watching this one everyday. This guy is the same age as my Scout, just finished fifth grade. I've been watching it all along thinking "that could be Nephew". Hug yours tonight, I'll be hugging mine. Michelle

Requiring each Scout to provide his own tent and cooking gear will serve to send the less well-off boys packing. That would eliminate my own Scout if his troop did things that way. We have all we can do to make sure he has his uniform, school clothes, shoes every 4 months (do their feet ever stop growing?) and Scout Camp. If the troop required him to have his own tent and cooking gear he'd either be done or be living on peanut butter sandwiches that do not need to be cooked or kept cold. Tell me how long that would make him want to remain a part of the troop. Self reliance shouldn't have

Our Pack of 10 has 2 boys with Aspergers Syndrome. One is being held back in Tigers (parents choice, he was held back in school), the other is just starting his second year in Webelos. As CM, my experiences with both boys have been similar to Trevorums. I have found them to be less the goofballs of the group than my own Scout. Mine is the Scout who will fall out of the canoe, trip over his own laces or get conked on the head. He has had "spatial" issues since K and is finally getting the hang of how to manage his body in space and in relation to other things (and people) around him. As he matu

This is nephew's first year at Boy Scout camp, but after doing Cub resident Camp for the last three years he is an old hand at getting ready for camp. He has been packing himself (with supervision) for the last 2 years. The only things he takes "extra" extras of are socks and tshirts because those are the only things he will change daily or more often if its a wet camp week. He takes a couple of pair of extra shorts besides the ones he gets out of the car wearing, plus this year it will be his Scout pants along with a pair of swim trunks. We subscribe to the ziplock bag method of packing every

Thank you all for your helpful responses. I talked with the Troop CC last night. She advised me to end his 4th year when he left the Pack and a new year was started for him when he joined the Troop. So, nephew will be getting 4th year from the Pack at our June Bridging over. Maybe it will encourage our outgoing Tigers to want to earn it also. Michelle

Nephew has now moved on to Boy Scouts - does he lose this full year on his count of perfect attendence? Can we take his CS and BS attendence and combine them (still hasn't missed any active, even taking part in extras)? As far as purchasing the hanger that's no issue anyway, its like what? 12 cents or something? I ask because his first CoH is in a week and if it is appropriate I will talk to the SM (I'm the CM and am still trying to balance that position with concerned Guardian). This may seem like a trite question, but for Nephew it is a matter of pride. He set himself an attendence goal an

Well, with a school population of 190 (grades K-8, boys and girls), and an out going K glass with just 6 boys and a 3rd grade glass w/ just 3 boys, I'll settle for the 3 new Tigers we registered today. Yes, I know, the registration forms can't go in until June 1, but today was our Pack talent show and recruiting. Michelle CM - P102

Just for clarity sake - the post monster ate my signature.... I'm a Michelle...just so there isn't any confusion about my gender. Granted, being called a good man isn't the worst thing in the world and I think Nephew would get a charge out of hearing his Tia referred to as a man....I just didn't want to give a false impression. He's sleeping in the next room right now (we just got home from a late movie). I've already started putting in to practice some of the things I've taken from this thread. Choosing my battles on what I feel need to be done my way as opposed to the things

Ed Said "...We decide to take out the garbage because the bag is full. No ethics involved...." I want to come live at your house Ed. At mine we are still battleing the issue of letting the garbage climb up the wall. Its not exactly a matter of ethics as much as developing a care factor higher than zero for household responsibilities. Anyway - I have nothing useful to add to the discussion except to say thank you to everybody. I have found this topic to be very useful as I feel out my role of adult to my 11 year old nephew/new Boy Scout. And no, there was NO sarcasm intended in that

The original question was "Do D&D and Scouts contradict each other or complement each other". I play an on-line game similar in structure and content to D&D. In it I play a ranger (someone who tracks prey) and a tree hugging druid. Now to me those are very scouting toons to play. However, the key there is Toon. Its a game, D&D is a game, just because you play this game doesn't make you a Satanic cult Idol worshipper (Now American Idol? How's that for a cult?). My newly minted Boy Scout plays both the On line game I mentioned above as well as D&D (and Yu-Gi-Oh in his Web I

When we first joined the Pack (Goodness was it really 5 years ago?) the tradition was the hold rank until bridging over in JUNE of all things. All the hard work that was done in the meantime was only recognized with progress toward rank beads, etc. A boy who earned his Wolf badge early still couldn't have it until June. That was my Scout, earned Bobcat in November and Wolf by February and only was given Bobcat at B&G. When I was asked to be CM during his Bear year the first change I made was when rank was handed it. I am a firm believer in giving it out when it is earned. So for the two Be

Rixkids says "Doesn't there need to be a true belief in "a God" to be a scout?" Rix - while I won't disagree that Scouting requires a true belief in "a God", who is to say that you have to go to an organized church to have a true belief? A parent is the leader of their family, why does that have to exclude the family's spiritual life? Home worship is an important part to many families. Michelle CM - Pack 102

Besides the fact that he is the Lone WebeloS (The S doesn't make it plural, it is the Scout part of WE'll BE LOyal Scouts), there is no reason he should be shortchanged on his crossover. Have you talked to your Pack leadership as well as the Troop? Maybe they have something they'd like to do for just him. It would seem to be that as a sole Webelos his ceremony will be able to be focused on just him, as opposed to having to split the time up amongst several boys. Good luck to you and your son as he prepares to move forward. Michelle

Our Troop is too small for a New Scout Patrol (about 14 boys all together, only 2 from Cubs this year and 2 last year), but there is a younger patrol (with an older Scout 'guide') and then the patrol of older boys. Because of the troop size both patrols work together quite a bit. I think Boy Led is a great idea, so I'm not having trouble letting go in that respect. Heck, Nephew wanted to try running a meeting just to see what it meant, he planned and conducted our December Pack meeting (and was well received). KENK - we have one boy with AS in our Pack, his father is the ACM, so I'm fami

from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts when you Scout bridged over? Its been about a month and so far I think Nephew and I are making the transition graciously. He knows he can practice his skills with with me before he has to show his progress to "the guys" and get one of them to sign off in his book. When he asks "can I" or "who does" I refer him to his 1 - PL or 2 - SPL or 3 - his Eagle Scout Hero. I am trying really hard not to do the work for him as far as finding answers. Instead I try to give him the tools to get the answers himself. He knows I am willing to work with him as he practices his ski

As has been said, don't get too discouraged. Council lost my change of position when I went from Bear DL to CM. It took my DC several tries to get it straightened out....patience is a virtue, just not always one of mine. YiS Michelle

Since we are an extremly small group, we all meet once a month at my house. I'm the CM and yes, I know that by the strict letter I shouldn't be running the leader's meetings. However, our CC and I talk almost daily (nice thing about a small group) and we both talk with our 3 dens leaders frequently outside of the normal meeting times. I plan and run the leaders meetings simply because I am a compulsive planner. However, there is tons of back and forth. I simply try to make sure that nothing gets left off of the printed agenda that I give to each person. I also make sure there is plenty of time

My nephew loves to make his own slides, he has a collection of about 30. We've done this since he was a Wolf and he is a Web II this year. Some of his favorite are Pez heads that we hotglued a pvc ring to. He has a set of holiday ones since you can find a wide variety of dispensers. Just yank the tops off. Go to Home Depot and by the pvc ring that fits a woman's pinkie finger (1/2 inch I think). They are like 19 cents a piece and can be glued to nearly anything. He also has slides made from a single domino (the pips add up to 8, his age when he made it), a pair of die (that add up to 9, see ab

The Blue to Khaki debate is now raging in our Pack. I have advised our Web I leader several times that the choice is not his or mine as Cubmaster (or even some parent committee) to make. It is up to the individual Scout's family. This had irked the Web Leader as he feels the boys should have to "earn" the Khaki shirt. I told him he can do as he wishes with his son and that's the extent of his shirt power. On a side note, the Tigers in blue may reduce the number of Blue shirts making it to Webs but won't remove it completely. LDS Cubs aren't the only ones that don't earn Tiger. Many boys