Basementdweller

Kathy......Merit badge councilors are district wide and most districts have a list available, so you being the only one in your troop is irrelevant and meaningless. It is my opinion and a growing number of scouters in our area that there should be ABSOLUTELY no Troop merit badge councilors. I will also go so far to say that No adult should act as a councilor for a boy from the same troop. You are missing a very important aspect of the Merit badge. The scout calls the councilor and arranges a visit. I understand that you are trying to help.......resist the temptatio

As stated earlier there is no rule against it or at least I cannot find one. But I find it suspicious that the young man is working on a 5 at one time with his mother as councilor. IMHO The SM should not have allowed it. One of the objectives of Merit Badges is to have the Scout meet with someone he does not know, Manage the meetings and requirements. I hope that my son has a different councilor for each of his merit badges. Meeting a unique person and working with them is a gift. SM196 you said that he showed up with a list of merit badges he is working on. Did yo

That is all well and good DLR. But if no one steps up, Then what. Had I not complained, I probably would have told him to stuff it. Not in my nature, We went from no day camp the last 5 years to one last summer with 100 boys, we even got accredited for the first time in 11 years. If everyone keeps throwing their hands in the air, nothing gets better. It is my intent to keep running the program for the foreseeable future.

Long story short, I had already planned my summer vacations and what not. The District needed a day camp program director so I said I would help out, this was before I knew it was gonna be Two weeks off work unpaid. One for training and one for the camp. If I had the choice I would have put the training off a year so I could schedule my vacation to go. Our District is terrible with lack of activities. I have complained and organized a few, that is how I got asked to do the day camp. Had I not volunteered to do the day camp, there probably would not have been one. If som

Interesting, I was told by my DE that if I did not attend NCS and acted as a Program or Camp Director that I would be personally Liable for any legal problems from the event. Yet another lying or uneducated scout professional. I have experienced way too many Professionals and Volunteers who have for what ever reason misguided and provided incorrect information to me over the last 5 years. I grow tired of it. It is good to know that Liability isn't an issue. Thx Beavah I need to buy you a beverage of your choice some day.

I wonder what the opinions of the other parents is???????? You forget them. As a parent of a young lady currently in GS, I would be upset if she was allowed to join our group. This is not her original group and she really has no right to demand anything. I am really surprised by the liberal attitudes. Yes she made a mistake and now there is a price to be paid by her. IMHO she gave up the rest of her youth by bringing another life into the world. So is there not any penalties for mistakes any more?

Thx for the link. Musta hit a sore spot with the question. That was not my intention, just asking a question. Your council should pay for you to go to Camp School, You are holding a difficult and time consuming position. IMHO the entire BB, Archery Sling Shot thing with BSA is ridiculous. My son has been shooting and hunting since about 5 years old. But you need to remember we are dealing with city folks. A question to the group. What is your Personal liability holding a position your not trained for ans something happens? Are you covered by BSA's insurance?

Cub shooting sports are supposed to only take place at District and Council Events/Ranges. http://www.macscouter.com/advance/cubscout/sports/BBgun.asp "BB-gun shooting, is a camp program. Boys can earn BB-gun recognition items only at council/district day camp, resident camp, or council-managed family camping programs BB-Gun programs are not permitted at den and pack activities." http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/ageguides.pdf Your language suggests you might be a program director, have you been to national camp school.(This message has been edited by Basemen

He can join Boy Scouts at 11 or 10 1/2 if he earns the Arrow of Light. He has plenty of time to earn it before the Blue and Gold. Just relax and enjoy your son and his scouting journey. If it is that important to him. then sit down and map out the remaining activity badges and finish them. No biggy.

Rank advancement is only one methods of scouting and should not be viewed as the end. Earning badges and patches is nice but how is your sons actual scouting experience? Did he enjoy the pinewood derby last year? build his own car? Council or district events did he attend those? Did he attend resident or day camp last summer? Did he attend a weeblos woods event? Rank advancement occurs naturally in a well planned program. Eamon I respectfully disagree with your assessment. Every over achieving parent and Cubmasters son would qualify as gifted. You equate rank advanc

Doesn't sound very boy led to me. How are the Patrols organized? Same age? Same Pack? Same school? Are you camping monthly? Are the Patrols acting independently of the troop? Yes generally it is bad form to offer merit badges during meetings. IMHO One of the most important aspects of the Merit Badge program has absolutely nothing to do with the Merit Badge topic. I discourage Troops from developing their own internal merit badge councilor lists. The scout must call the councilor, hopefully an unknown adult, on his own and arrange an appointment, remember the buddy

Create an adult Patrol, yes the parent will appear on the duty roster, cook and wash dishes. the adults will camp as a patrol, put one of the ASM in charge of the Patrol. Everyone who attends is youth protection trained. We tried having the adults eating with the patrols but that didn't seem to work that well. They tended to interfere with program delivery.

It says Do any 5 of the 13 requirements. So the belt loops are not required, just two of the possible choices.

In reading your post I question whether you are actually 9 years old. I suspect you are the young mans over achieving parent or someone merely trolling. But in answering your question The arrow of light has nothing to do with weeb 1 or weeb 2. The requirement read must be 10 and active for 6 months in den as one of the AOL requirements. Cub scouting and the Arrow of Light have absolutely nothing to do with Eagle. The only thing the Arrow of Light does is allow the young man enter Boy Scouting at 10 years old instead of 11. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts

A question for the group about background checks. What if a committee member held a job that would allow him to run prospective Adult volunteers thru law enforcement type database. Is it proper and appropriate for him to do it?

Well, son backpacked with the wife and I since before he was a cub scout and both kids have grown up in the outdoors. Maybe I don't need it. I hope that the son and daughter both earn the Ranger, but that is up to them. There are a number of venture crews in the area, She has some girl friends she met at roundtables and other scouting functions who are also joining venturing and they want to join the same group. Neat.

My daughter informed me that she would like to Join venturing when she is of age in a couple of years and she wants me to be her leader like I was for her brother. So in preparation of this......I was signing up for the councils Powderhorn training..... I have been thru the BSA Cub, Weeb and Boy scout training for the Son So what is involved?? It looks to be over a couple of weekends. thanks

I think your under the illusion that all of the previous ranks must be earned. No the boy starts the earning rank at the age he joins. The only exception to that is the bobcat and everyone earns that. As Nut mentioned if he meets the age and grade requirements then he is considered that rank. So what grade is he in? I am going to bet he is in second grade, since most bears are 8 going on 9. Believe it or not there is a tremendous difference in the abilities between tigers, wolves and bears. From the ability to focus to motor skills.(This message has been edited by Basem

Required Mandatory are dangerous terms to present to VOLUNTEERS. Most adults could care less about the outdoors. When is the last time you went camping outside of Scouting? Take this question and ask it to the current ME Generation of parents. "I need a campership application to send junior to camp this summer." says Mom with the brand new Iphone in her manicured hand from the seat of her year old Expedition.

Sounds a lot like the Enhanced basic leadership course offered in our local council, minus the ticket. 4 weekends, well three saturdays and a full weekend. Other than drinking the kool aid and joining the wood badge groupies, I just don't see the point. The ticket seems like a good deal for districts and council. I know it is supposed to be about the participant, but most councils and districts us it to get projects completed. Not a complaint, just an observation. The volunteers of many councils and districts who have attended wood badge almost make it a mandatory trainin

It's ok to step away. Irregardless of what your told. First and foremost you must parent your own children. If you don't you and they will regret it.

Sounds like trouble to me. I appreciate her volunteering, but IMHO there needs to be a larger age gap between her and those she serves.

Eamon, thx again for your wisdom and advice. Currently our district has ZERO cub events. Well that isn't the entire truth, This is the first year in the last 15 we actually had a day camp, I am Program Director. We had 100 scouts and parents attend. We even received accreditation. We have been going out of district and attending events, halloween, Christmas, spring and summer camp outs. I would like to see District Pinewood derby championship Spring Camp out with a relevant theme. I like the Cub Olympics District fishing derby I tried to organize,

Eamon thx for your reply, you hit in on the head. Both districts have a years entrenched committee, and I was of the opinion that some of the our district committee members should resign and let some fresh blood and ideas in. I asked for more cub activities at the district level, the response was "why we never did it before?". Being the new guy, this is the third year back, I have ran into the "this is the way we do it here". Yes, but there is other ways too. District execs are the best politicians on the planet. You can talk with them for hours with out getting one shred of helpfu

It is in process as we speak.