Nike

With all that's going on, why not temporarily join a non-LDS pack? I've known other LDS families that didn't like their ward/stake pack who did this.

The Polish female Scouts and the Czech kids are some of the most popular groups at the annual Intercamp event in Europe.

You do not "encourage" following G2SS during any Pack function. You follow it or you go home. End of story.

 

Before any Pack camp out, the CC and CM need to send out a Do's and Don'ts list to every family and remind everyone that this is not a private camp out but a PACK event following G2SS. Those unable or unwilling to follow the rules should reconsider their participation. Those who can not follow the rules while in camp will be asked to leave. And you have to back that promise with action.

The more you emphasize that you expect the pack adults to perform to standard, the more they will. The naysayers will either melt away/age out, or their kids will get tired of missing events and they'll begin to tow the line. Plus, the CC and CM team need look to your new families to begin filling in committee positions as naysayers leave.

You do not "encourage" following G2SS during any Pack function. You follow it or you go home. End of story.

Before any Pack camp out, the CC and CM need to send out a Do's and Don'ts list to every family and remind everyone that this is not a private camp out but a PACK event following G2SS. Those unable or unwilling to follow the rules should reconsider their participation. Those who can not follow the rules while in camp will be asked to leave. And you have to back that promise with action.

It's very interesting to think of the different attributes and qualities we associate with the words "scout" and "guide" in a non-Scouting setting. I'm sure that was the reasoning behind the different names, as well as to distinctly separate the two programs.

I've done most of the recruiting for adult volunteers for our units in the last 5 years or so. My method works as follows:

 

1. Start small. Design some meetings early on that require adults to work with their own scouts. Show them that they are needed and that BSA isn't a babysitting service. If the adults are left to sit in the back of the room, they will eventually leave the room. Or, for a troop, ask the parents to stay and help with the trailer or storage unit or other small job with another leader.

 

2. Give them a few simple jobs to do, one-time responsibilities. Praise them wildly.

 

3. Offer a volunteer position in flattering tones. Make them feel needed for the unit to function. Tell them why you think they are a good fit for the job, and how much you will enjoy working with them. Matching the person to the position really is key.

 

4. Promise cookies.

 

The above method works over time, but when you need a warm body RIGHT NOW:

 

1. Beg shamelessly. Ask everyone and ask often.

 

2 Promise cookies. Take requests for favorite cookie flavor, and follow-up with a warm, fresh batch ASAP.

I'd shorten it by ditching the stuff about the cow and head right to SPEAK!. Once a month won't kill anyone. The more interactive, and quite frankly silly, the meeting, the more fun the boys have. Do be aware that these things will add time (about 2-4 minutes) to your agenda every time one is incorporated, so keep it tight if you want out of there in an hour. And, by WEBS, the boys and parents may have had enough of that dreaded old thing.

My observation is that kids never challenge authority or the status quo. Ironically, my Scout is far more guilty of the trait than my non-Scouts.

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By-Laws give some people the idea that a BSA unit is a democracy. You wouldn't believe the line by line fight I had to amend our old Pack's by-laws in order to satisfy our overseas military JAG office. The lawyers were cool, some of my committee not so.

I was never so happy not ot ever have to go to a Pack meeting again. After two sons in Cubs, yes, it's too long. I think that if there were a different expectation for leaders that would help. If a DL comes in with a Tiger, then they are ready to pack it in by the end of Bears but sometimes gut it out through WEBs. If I could set up leadership in a Pack, I would have a permanent Tiger leader who helps recruit the Wolf/Bear DLs. At the end of Bears, transition to a new DL for WEB with an active ASM as an ADL or consulting DL. And two years of WEB's is rough. Our den made it 18 months and crossed.

One thing about GS is that the age levels are all two years with the exception of Cadettes, which is three. Most leaders can get through two years with a single program. It could be the same in Cubs if age levels were intelligently aligned and the programs were not repetitive.

Take your daughter shopping with you to a camping supply store or look at a website together. In Brownies, about the only outdoor gear you need is a decent sleeping bag and pad. GS no longer sells outdoor gear because there are other retailers who do a better job at it at lower costs.

GSUSA is becoming more adamant and aggressive about defending their proprietary property, to include the badge and award requirements.

And, don't forget to look at the "Make your Own" badges at http://forgirls.girlscouts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Senior_MakeYourOwn.pdf The example is fly-fishing.

Go to the GS shop, or shop online at your council or at www.girlscoutshop.com and order the Girls Guide for her age level as well as the supplemental badge packets. The Guide is somewhere around $20 and each badge packet includes requirements for five badges and costs about $5. She can work on a Journey, but your family is going to part of her Journey group, since they are made to be done in a group. It might be fun for a car trip, or excruciating.

www.girlscoutshop.com does require you to set up an account in order to check out. If you shop at your Council, all the profit stays with your Council.

Here's the national shop's page for Senior's badge packets: http://www.girlscoutshop.com/s.nl/sc.21/category.92/.f

I'm going to agree with Basement on this.

One reason we don't have a lot of outdoor oriented troops in GS is because we lost all our die-hard campers to retirement. Many of our new GS leaders don't have outdoor skills or even experiences from being Scouts, outdoor enthusiasts, or in the military. We have weak and inconsistent outdoor training. Many people don't feel competent and they don't want to take the risk.

IOLS, or whatever it's called now, is asked to do too much. If an SM doesn't have solid first year skills, how can he model and teach them?

My son and husband routinely go in and out of the US with pocket knives/Leathermans in their checked luggage. As you will be visiting with several troops along the way, why don't you ask them? Around the troops we've been in, a leatherman or pocketknife in the pocket or on the belt was no big deal, but they did discourage big fixed blades.

I googled "legal knife size va," since that's where I am right now, and ended up on the Virginia State Police website which referred me to certain sections of the state code as well as to check with my local city or county about any local prohibitions. This is more complicated than I ever thought.

Maybe you could collect American knives here as souvenirs.

I do believe that shooting at the forms of live animals is against the rules for Cubs. (I'm in the middle of PCS or I'd go get my Shooting Sports book.)

I do believe that shooting at the forms of live animals is against the rules for Cubs. (I'm in the middle of PCS or I'd go get my Shooting Sports book.)

The GSUSA is Draconian with the way they run the cookie sale....I doubt dissolving the troop would have ended it for the unit leaders.....

 

 

From what I have read every BSA council Runs their Popcorn/fundraisers differently.......

 

Some won't let you return less than full cases....Some won't let you return at all......Others return as much as you want.

 

In our unit.....All popcorn is paid for up front.....This minimizes the units liability...... This minimizes the lost stolen, eaten popcorn.

 

Once the popcorn leaves the units hands is the parent and youth problem.

Councils that don't work with troops to correct ordering errors are shooting themselves in the foot and just engendering ill will. That said, the service unit cookie manager should have asked why the troop was ordering 500 cases if that was unusual for the area. I bet this was a first time cookie parent who clicked the wrong button on the website.

Lots of Girl Scout cookies get eaten at resident camp. It's always a thrill to get Thin Mints in July!

Overseas in our area, the Committee gets $1 of the $3.50 we charge for cookies. We split it here in our community 75/25 with the troops. So the girls get $9 on a $42 case of cookies or 22%. The rest of the money goes to USAGSO-NA, which pays the baker and keeps a cut, and AAFES, which brings the cookies into the country tax free under the SOFA.

And, yes a bake sale is way more profitable, but the first day the cookies show up on an overseas post, you'd think we were selling booze during Prohibition. We can't get them out of the car before people are asking to just buy the case.

While we're ragging on the West knot' date=' did anyone else doubletake when they saw it on this freshfaced kid's shirt? From BSA's Facebook

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I have seen this in my District. If folks want to donate money more power to them. But to have recognition for donating money defeats the purpose of scout-based altruism.

 

@BD: The *difference* between ragging on rich people because their unit can do more than yours and ragging on rich people getting some scouter bling for donating money should be obvious. Rich units are not rubbing their wealth in people's faces or seeking recognition for their wealth...though I will grant you some units do just that. This award, however, is nothing more than someone who can afford to give money like that being give somehting to wear that shows they gave money. Big difference.

 

It is like the Paul Harris Fellowship in Rotary: Give money, get a plaque. What's the point? I'd rather give the money and leave it at that....and I have done that.

What if that kid spent the summer cutting lawns and decided to donate some of his pay to his local council?

I wonder what she's like at her day job.

I would like to see the way the councils voted.

As one who has experience in both troop and crew activities, the first question that popped into my mind is: What is the crew doing at a camporee? Seriously, don't they have something more exciting to be focusing their time on? I ran a crew for over 10 years and only once attended a camporee and that was because the crew was the program for the event. The rest of the time the crew focused on their area of interest. As a matter of fact they never attended even Venturing activities supported by the council/district.

 

If the only reason a "crew" exists is because they are a glorified venture patrol, then one is going to find themselves on this predicament more often than not. Typically a troop/crew combo with the same chartering organization is a recipe for disaster. The boys will constantly be drawn to choose one over the other both in time and in resources. A venture patrol on the other hand simplifies the process a lot better and keeps the troop intact.

 

I have had experience with such SPL/ASPL going off leaving the other boys to fend for themselves. To me that is a breech of responsibility that was quickly remedied by a replacement of more responsible boys. There was no such thing as a elected term in my troop. If you get elected and have no real interest in fulfilling your responsibilities, you are replaced in a heartbeat. More than once the boys held an ad hoc election in the absence of senior leadership who's only intent was to get POR credit for advancement without having to do any of the work. One can't expect boys to follow a non-existent "leader". A lot of political/popularity elections get corrected in this manner. I have often wondered if many of the boys would do better on their POR's if they knew there was always a specter of a recall in the wings. It's always worked well for me. I had one PL complain to me that he missed an event and someone else stepped into the role for the event. After the event, the patrol told him they liked the other guy better and he was going to be the new PL. I only suggested that he spend the next few months making the new PL be successful. Instead of being angry, he took the advice and did so well he was elected SPL so he could help all the PL's be successful. And who says servant leadership isn't the best route to take.

 

The name of the game is getting the boys to work together, a divided troop/crew is not the answer. If one sets up the structure to be competitive, it only means one side or the other is going to lose.

 

Stosh

 

 

Stosh

A friend of mine was recently at a big camporee. His son's troop had about 20 boys there, the oldest was an 8th grade Star Scout. Several of the troop's senior boy leaders, to include the new SPL, an Eagle Scout, and a 16 year old Life Scout, chose to attend the camporee with our local Crew instead of their troop. Granted, our local crew is pretty colorful and fun. There was a bit of grumbling that the older boys had left the younger ones in the lurch, fending for themselves, and not exhibiting leadership or loyalty.

While SPL/PL should a Scout's priority be to the troop/patrol, and should he not be attending events as part of the Crew instead? If an SPL/PL doesn't attend campouts, can he still say he fulfilled his POR?

What do y'all think of this type of situation, and how would you deal with it or not, with the youth and the adults?

(I don't have a dog in this fight, but I was somewhat disappointed in the older boys, who I do know, but not surprised.)

Does anyone have plans, if the resolution passes, to form a national organization for boys? Perhaps one that parallels the American Heritage Girls. I am saddened that this resolution is even being considered and view it as an unacceptable compromise of BSA policy with that of world's view.