msnowman

Okay good, he has the correct pin for youth wear. I am watching ebay for one w/ a different style fastener so that it doesn't spin. Thanks Michelle

Out of curiosity - what would you wear the OA hat pin on? A hat pin w/o a hat seems to be akin to a smile without a face.... I have no problem accepting that it isn't for the expedition hat (I like the hat better w/o a pin on it). Thanks Michelle

for wear by a youth on the expedition hat? This one calls itself the First Class Rank Pin: First Class Pin while this one says it is the Adult Universal Hat Pin: Adult Hat Pin The main problem with the Rank pin is that it is a single post and thus would spin on the hat, whereas the other seems to have more than one anchor point. However, its downfall is that is listed as the "Adult" pin. Could a youth who successfully completes his Ordeal wear this on the expedition hat? OA Pin Nephew has the expedition hat and would like to wear the appropriate hat pin.

Our Pack charges $15.00 for a new shirt (complete w/ all the patches). If a family needs to upsize the next year we let them trade in their $15.00 shirt for another one. If they don't trade in their old shirt, its just another $15.00 for a new shirt. This has worked well for us, and allows us some freedom to be able to watch other sources for uniform pieces. Good luck setting up a uniform shop. It has really helped increase uniform wear with our Pack. YiS Michelle

I am not a male, nor do I play one TV (or in skits, that is a gray area /smile). I'm not even a "real" parent, just the guardian of a newly minted 1st Class Boy Scout. I am also CM in the Pack and MC in the Troop. When Nephew was a Tiger or Wolf and would ask if he could run down the driveway at the church my answer was "No, I'm not sending you home to your parents with a broken arm.". As a Bear, when there was no concern about sending him home the answer became "If you rip your face off I don't want to hear about it". By the time he got to Webelos the answer was "I don't care. You've ha

Both of our Webelos went to tan as soon as they bridged over from Bear. I'm not sure the parents had much say in it, it was precisely what their boys wanted to do. We had no Webelos before them (a couple of lean recruiting years) so they were standouts, being the only Cub Scout aged boys in tan. /smile YiS Michelle

Pack Committee Chair is one of a handful required positions when the charter is filled out (along with IH, CM, MC, etc). So, you (or someone else) would have to register and charter as CC. This doesn't mean you can't be a DL (I'm currently CM and WDL), but it does mean that your primary position is considered CC. HTH YiS Michelle

All of our dens meet (in various places) on Sunday afternoons from 3pm-430pm. For us we have found this conflicted the least with church, after school activities, bedtimes, homework and meals. When Nephew was first part of the Pack 6pm on Tuesdays were meeting nite/time. However, when he became a Web I we couldn't do that anymore because he had swim on Tuesday, so we moved the Webs (our den) to Sunday afternoons because it worked for everybody involved. Over time the other dens found that Sunday afternoon were great for them too - they could go on hikes, field trips, etc without booking specia

Thanks for all the kind words. Nephew is very excited, though in that "I'm too cool to look too excited" 13 year old boy kind of way (if you have or were one, you know exactly what I'm talking about). I'm going to surprise him with the 1st Class Hiking Medallion to add to his "ceremonial" hiking staff (the one from AoL, with his other BS ranks on it). I've had it stashed away for a year, since he made 2nd class.....I had faith in him, even when his waned. YiS Michelle

As some of you may remember Nephew has struggled getting thru First Class because of swimming issues. Well, we have jumped thru the proper hoops, in the proper order and he was granted a medical exemption for swimming. Last night he sat his SM conference and BOR and is one of 2 new 1st Class Scouts in his Troop. We will be sitting down this week to talk about his Star plan...he has never really worked much at merit badges because 1st Class felt so out of reach to him. I just wanted to share with my extended Scout family, especially since I have voiced concerns here before about Nep

Our Pack started the year with 3 Tigers and lost one (custody issues). Occassionally there are times where its just the Den Leader (who doesn't have a Tiger of her own) and one Tiger pair. They still have fun, work on an activity and make headway on advancement. One will be getting his Tiger next week at our delayed B&G, the other will probably be about a month after that. One thing this group does is get the "whole" family involved - they are small enough that the sisters of each can participate too. Also - they will sometimes do things jointly, with our equally small Wolf den...that adds

Nephew's Troop has 1 SM, 2 ASMs, 1 CC and 2-4 MCs. Their full "chartered version" youth roster is 7 members (after the tragic death of one 2 weeks ago). Of this number, only 4 regularly participate (and one of those is moving at the end of the school year), 1 ages out this summer and 2 come when/if they feel like it. YiS Michelle

As a compulsive planner and organizer, the thought of being unprepared gives me the heebyjeebies. However, I know that to prepare Nephew for his adult life, I have to let him fail (as painful for me as that may be). If he goes without something he will survive, and will be more likely to remember it next time. I know he has learned more when he has had the responsibility of being prepared (or not). I used to (post cross-over, new Boy Scout days) help him pack for a camping trip...you all know what I mean - "Do you have XY&Z? Are you sure you don't want to take blah, blah, blah? What d

While the body still has not been found, 3 eyewitnesses have identified the boy who went off the bridge as the missing youth. A memorial service was held for him Sunday. The church was literally standing room only with people whose lives he had touched. The common thread thru everybody's words were "He always had a smile for everyone, I'll miss that". Jumping off the bridge was a complete 180 for this boy and while nobody is coarse enough to ask the family why, the theory held by most is that it has something to do with the recent brain surgery he had (about 3 weeks before). The family i

Its doubley hard when the boy wants to complete his pin but his parental unit can't be bothered to help him with the home requirements. WDL Mom's examples of religion, Citizen and Fitness are perfect examples of boys needing their parents to give them 20 minutes of their time to help with this. Sending notes home helps some, but it isn't a perfect answer. For the pins that are required and require stuff to be done at home, be prepared to keep after the parents to get it back. For non-required pins, I still send the notes home, but don't harp quite as much about it. YMMV YiS

They haven't officially released any info on the missing youth. However, being a small town, we all know the family, the sister is in the same class as Nephew so each teacher at the school told the students. He was the boy who always had a quick smile for everybody, well liked, etc. He wanted to be a chef and had been working on his cooking MB and always volunteered to cook on outings. He had recently had surgery to replace a permanent shunt in his head (childhood injury), so perhaps that had caused some personality shift. YiS Michelle

A young man in Nephew's troop is currently missing and feared to be the same youth who jumped from a local bridge Monday night. He is still missing and the young jumper's body has not yet been found. Even if it turns out the jumper and the missing scout are two separate individuals, someone has lost a son. Please keep all involved in your prayers. YiS Michelle

In the thread I spun this from was the reminder that when doing AoL to keep BSA regs in mind about Indian face painting. Fair enough, respectful is always a good rule to follow. So, my question is this - how about a face painting ceremony that in no way references American Indians in any fashion. I'm thinking the Painted Tiger/Wolf/Bear where you paint a yellow stripe on their forheads (the sunlight that guides you along the Cub Scout path), etc. All the colors are tied to Cub Scout values. Any reason why this would be considered disrespectful? My feeling is no, there is no issue wit

Our pack has been doing a summertime program for about 4 years, it was one of the first things I started when I was asked to become CM. We do a big cookout/bridging over as our June event, along with a community parade later that month. July is another parade and some sort of "build it" activity (we have done raingutter, built a game for summer camp, made summer camp costumes, etc). August is a Resident Camp, a Fishing Derby and then our traditional "Goodbye Summer, Hello School" Bring-a-friend Ice Cream Social. Having a variety of things going on has made it far easier for the boys to ea

Back in the day (okay, about 2 1/2 years ago) when Nephew was doing his Troop visits we stopped in one night unannounced. They were preparing for a Troop election and reviewing the positions, what the qualifications were, etc. Well man, didn't I think that was the most boring meeting in the world. I understood that it was necessary and that if we had asked we probably wouldn't have come to that meeting. However, when I apologized to Nephew for the boring meeting he said "That was great, I didn't think it was boring at all!". He felt he learned a lot about the guys and what he was going to be w

I knew this would be the place to get suggestions and also more probing questions asked. To clarify a couple of things - The Grandmother is actually paternal stepgmom. She didn't fail either of his parents, but is trying to keep SPL gson from following their destructive road. SPL is Nephew's best friend and a frequent guest in our house, thus why I hear trip deconstruction so often. Beav - I think your suggestion of Roses & Thorns is a good one. The boys do that (informally) when I pick them up on Sundays after a trip. I get to hear everything that went on - the good, the bad, t

Thank you everybody for your insight, views and opinions. At least now I know the concerns are legitimate. I've tried talking to her casually about it but that fell on deaf ears. My only concern with voicing it at a Committee meeting is that she will feel "ganged up on" which is definately not the intent. Thanks again YiS Michelle

Scoutnut says "Also, why is the SPL complaining to you instead of talking to his grandmother? I would think it would be easier for him to talk to her than to his SM. Or, if he is uncomfortable talking to his grandmother, perhaps he could talk to his parents & have them talk to her. " His gmother is custodial, his father is deceased and his mother is in and out of jail. He and his gmother have....lets say....the communications issues common with the age. Thus why he finds it easier to talk to almost anybody else but her. As far as what the other adults do or say - usually a trip

Nephew's SM is a pretty even handed guy. The troop is quite young right now, so he has to mentor more than he might in a troop with older boys around to do the teaching (the oldest active in the troop is a just turned 14yo 8th grade Life Scout), but he doesn't lead - the SPL does that, with varying degrees of success (as is fairly typical in boy lead imho). However, he isn't always able to be present for every camping trip or camporee. This means that another adult or two (always at least two) gets pressed in to service or straight up volunteers to go. One of these people is the Troop C

Tami - Nephew was an 11 1/2 yo Scout (not even Tfoot) when he started Den Chiefing for my Wolf/Bear Den. His SM and SPL had zero care factor in his age/rank or even if he became a DC. Our Pack had tried all thru Nephew's Cub career to get DC's from the Troop...finally we just grew our own. Our other DC last year was a 12yo 1st Class. I'm not sure you will find anything on paper allowing or banning a 12yo/2nd Class Den Chief, but for the record I had one until Nephew turned 13. Good luck and stick with it. Michelle