Basementdweller

Relax they are 6 years old, if they don't have fun they will not come back. Who really cares if they earn their bobcat in one month or three????????? Just so long as they have fun.

The tables are side by side, run them both, no big deal. I do have a couple of parents that help but will not be an official leader. The first meeting of the fall was no big deal a welcome to scouting and our campfire. The October one will be a bit of a challenge with skits and all going on. My Son is acting as sort of a Den Chief for the Tigers, sort of. He is only a year older after all.

As long as they only have their own son in the car I don't have a problem with it. They are adults after all. Familys are busy, All I ask is that they tell me in advance they are leaving the event early and that they check out with me before they leave, Just a courtesy thing for me so we can redress buddys and body count.

Quality program is it. MAKE IT FUN. We lost 90% of our tigers last year because the DL didn't understand that. Let the boys be boys, Lots of Games. Lots of activitys, don't let them get bored at meetings, Engage the parents, pictures, Show them Progress. The boys might not want to come one night and the parents will make him, otherwise it would be the first night of him dropping out.

Let me see, let the pack fold, or get rid of the boys and dads that fight and don't get scouting. I hold a number of jobs, because I have five currently, I am registered as an ACM, but that is irrelevant in my book. I am currently the Wolf DL and the Tiger DL. They meet on consecutive nights. Training coordinator, event coordinator and ACM. I have a couple of adults who I am working on to take the reigns as Den leaders. The most work is DL, Everything else is easy in comparison.

We had a bunch of boys with behavior issues, working with the parents we got them some help and hopefully they can return to scouting once they are better. We removed a father who was running other family's out of the pack with shall we say over zealous religious fervor. Before you attack others remember a little thing called the Inquisition or Witch hunting. He also spanked even after being trained, that made the removal easier.

We had a fantastic outing this past weekend, the biggest pack outing EVER. All but one of the boys had at least one parent and we had 15 complete family's attend, sibs and all. Fantastic. It is a step toward were we want to be.

So if you enjoy it, jump in with both feet, you just need to know when to say when. Scout rules are open to a lot of interpretations as you can see by the bickering here.

kind of a questionable first post. Selling a satellite location system, which leads me to question your motives.

Liz....It depends on where the boys are from economically that is.....

The poor probably assume they are not married and are doing the deed and could care less.

The working poor wondering if they are married.

The middle class hope they are married.

The upper class assume they are married and are working on babys.

I understand this is not the image that BSA wants to portray and if violates a policy. So why is everyone riled up, are we assuming they had sex in the cabin. Did they even share a bed? I am not sure about the cabins at your camps but the ones I have stayed in do not set a romantic back drop. Of course as a young man, setting was much less of an issue.

How many of these boys live with a single mom or dad and they have the occasional or live in overnight guest? Same or opposite sex????????

Right, wrong or otherwise are we making a mountain out of a mole hill. The boys are not as naive as most of us were at their age.

I am not sure about how remote this camp is but a better solution would have been for the couple to go and get a motel room or not stay at the camp at all and simply arrive together at the camp.

Don't get me wrong........Wood badge is a good thing and provides needed advanced training. I intend to complete it myself in a the next three years. I have encountered too many elitists mentality's from the wood badge bunch. These are the same wood badgers that called out a guy with and eagle knot on his uniform because he didn't know what the name of a fire starting stick was. The comment was that the guy got his badge in the 80's when you didn't actually have to camp to earn an eagle. I asked the one wood badger where his eagle knot was........ He was not a scout as a youth, interesting. Enough wood badge rant.

Give me useful training or ideas at round table. Come to the meeting prepared. Know you topics and audience. I don't need to tie knots, I don't need to fold the flag, I don't need to see the pictures of your vacation to hedonism, and for the love of Pete stop recruiting people for Wood Badge. I am here to get ideas for the comming months and to network with the other Cub leaders.

Why so dramatic?

Just take the boy or boys to a couple of troop meeting and see if you click.

Geez get off the computer and just do it.

Rountable......The biggest waste of two hours in a month. The Cub program in our area was horrible. Sept. roundtable was to introduce the new leaders to cub scouting. The round table staff had no idea why tiger wolf and bear. They were not prepared. They suggested using the scout helps and didn't have a copy. I asked if they would like for me to help.

I ended up stepping up and telling the moglwi wolf story, Basically Jungle book. I got my scout helps out of my brief case and showed it to them, and suggested the cool, lame test, My den looks at the up coming month and either give it the cool or lame vote. A number of people asked for my number if they need some help.

I have resolved myself to run it. I have not been asked but I will come to the meeting with material and prepared to do it.

Yes they have those worthless wooden beads around the neck. There are some great wood badgers, but I have met a number that are self important and all about the rewards. I spent a couple of hours at an awards banquet last spring while they rewarded each other over and over and over again. Pathetic.

I have never been to firelands......how does it stack up to avery hand? I have been to a number of camps with my son and none of them even come close to what I remember.

My daughter is a Brownie currently, and really hates it. She says they don't do anything fun. Of course she has gone with the family on Pack Family camp outs and Family resident camp. Because I am a single parent she goes on most of the cub outings. And IMHO GSUSA is missing the boat. I still haven't figured out what it is about. BSA program smacks you in the face the second you open the tiger book.

I would register her as a tiger this year if I could.....

Did I miss something??????

I attended Avery Hand as a scout and it was a nice camp. My parents still live in the Lexington area and know some of the politics behind the sale. Locally it is believed that one of the council board members has a brother who is land developer who wants the land. Like most scout camps it is in rolling hills and scenic, soon to be a condo complex.

I don't know if it is true or not, but my parents and their friends are furious. I was unaware that the decision was actually final, until I called them this morning.

I guess that every camp needs an endowment now?????? Insane.

A lot depends on your families. If they are outdoor types, surf fishing and beach combing this might be a great trip. But those islands can be stifling in the summer. The bugs are horrible, I have been ate up in under two hours while surf fishing one night near there. No see ums, or what ever those darn little black bugs are. Benadryl was the only fix.

Call me stupid but what are the cubs gonna do????

I wouldn't worry about it. After all it really isn't any of your business anyhow. His choice, without the camping no rank advancement.

I could not imagine taking my son out of school for a couple of days for a cub event. I may understand in Boy Scouting going on an expedition or some huge event. But never for just a pack event.

I wish we were that luck with adult participation. Adult participation is always and issue with our group.

So what is the Leader/parent ratio to scouts for these outings?

We are currently fighting this battle now. So on a day trip a ratio of 1 leader to 3 scouts and overnight 1 to 2. What do you guys do?????

Get the boys talking about the event. Remind them on a regular basis about that camp. I have event books I bring out and let the boys look thru them. PICTURES lots of pictures and especially action shots. I have about 100 pictures of the boys jumping into the pool at resident camp. About 5 of those were fantastic, open mouths, air born, having a blast kinda pictures.

Have the boys show off any crafts made at the outing at den and pack meetings. I also made a slide show of the outings that played during the Blue and Gold and the end of the year BBQ.

Let the boys sell it.

With that said, I had a few boys very upset they were not in the pictures. Well they didn't attend the events. I told them they needed to go to some of the events to be in the pictures, one of the parents said they couldn't afford camp, I was ready and handed her an application for a campership application for next year.

Ohio

I could not find it on the national site but found it on numerous council and district sites.

http://www.grandtetoncouncil.org/

http://www.sfbac.org/

http://www.alapaha-bsa.org/

http://www.lincolntrailscouncil.org/

With the presidential election coming up in 2008, it is a good time to restate the BSAs long-standing policy regarding the participation of Scouts in political rallies and other political events.

Uniformed unit members and leaders may participate in flag ceremonies at political events and may lead the Pledge of Allegiance; however, they should retire after the ceremony and not remain on the speakers platform or in a conspicuous location where television viewers could construe their presence as an endorsement or symbol of support. In addition, photos of candidates or Scouts in uniform or BSA marks and logos are not allowed in political campaign materials of any kind.

Volunteers and professionals must be alert to situations that would imply that the BSA favors one candidate over another. Strict observance of our long-standing policy against the active participation of uniformed Scouts and leaders in political events is mandatory.

Please notify your chartered organizations and unit leaders of this policy. Questions on the interpretation of this policy may be referred to David K. Park, national legal counsel, or the Marketing & Communications Division at ###-###-####

Despite my failure to find the reference on national, The policy is valid and indisputable.

They violated a national policy and there needs to be consequences. An apology would be a good start.

Listing scouting on a Bio or resume isn't bad or unwise, but quite the opposite. Of course in some areas of the country that line may be a black mark.

Again my point is the blatant ignoring of a national policy. I hope it gets addressed in some form.

They may have been the color guard but they violated national policy by appearing on camera and on stage with the candidate.

They owe the entire scouting community an apology. And the leader of the group needs to be disciplined or at least reeducated.

The DE that was in the paper was an idiot. I know if I had scouts attending something of that magnitude I would Call national and get the real scoupe and a letter fax so I KNOW the rules.