bbng

Our Daisy troop uses a room that it may not keep anything in. The leader's solution is to use a corkboard, put items on it that she wants displayed, and simply prop it up against the wall each meeting. This works out just fine as all parents know where to look for it. Our Boy Scout troop uses an easel with poster boards for sign-ups. There are no displays that I'm aware of except at COHs. I used to use masking tape and put posters on a door that didn't mark up when I was with a pack. Den displays were on folding tables and/or taped onto that door. Sign up sheets were on clipboar

Our council offers two cold weather camping courses each, one for an evening that is for day outings and the other that is a full day for weekends. Council requires that any unit attending winter camping events take part in this. However, it is limited to two adults and two youth per unit that may attend. They are then expected to take what they've learned back to the unit and teach others. It's not only a good way to get cold weather camping training into many if not all units, but it also gives Scouts a chance to learn and then teach. If you've some Scouts who are now trained, perhaps th

The only person who may serve in more than one registered role in the same unit is the Chartered Organization Representative. Now, as far as den leaders participating at committee meetings, when I was CM, that was common practice. The DLs wanted to be on the committee (meaning they really wanted a voice in how things were to be done). This is not uncommon, but as far as registration goes, one role per person within the same unit. Hope this helps.

Happy Anniversary! Scouting's been great for our family. A family of 5, we all 5 are registered in the BSA or Girl Scouts or both. During the Cub years, we looked forward to fun together, particularly on the outings. Now we've begun something new: camping as a family. It is Scouting that got us to do this, and the time together is fantastic. 15 years of marriage, not quite 5 in Scouting as adults, and it's an activity that we can share as husband-wife, but also with our children.

This may vary council to council. Our council picks up the cost of insurance for all registered youth and adults. However, I don't know how Tiger adult partners are treated--if they are considered registered and therefore insured, or if they are simply on the roster as partners.(This message has been edited by bbng)

I wish I had an answer for you; I'm still trying to figure out how to reach people effectively and I hate the phone. Both the District Executive and District Commissioner have identified this as a weak area and are working on it. E-mail is one way, but there is no way to know who actually reads the e-mails; even when requesting "read receipts", not all will respond. So we created a district web site to highlight council and district events, who's who in the district, and relevant info. When it comes to roundtables, items covered in RT don't go on the site until after the RT, and then it's

If he has evil intent, threatening him with training should do it. What a funny thing to say about training I agree that too much shouldn't be read into this, but it's uncommon--around here anyway--for anyone to stay in Cub Scouting without a purpose. Now in the case of a troop, no one can get rid of the leaders even after their sons have been long gone, but then most don't want to get rid of them either. I happen to love Cub Scouting, so I'm still involved, though I don't have sons who are Cub Scouts. However, I am registered, and everyone knows why I'm around. It seems that th

Is the Dad a leader? Is the Dad coming for a particular purpose (to find out what son needs to do to keep up with the den, for instance)? Or is the Dad just hanging out, no clear purpose, with a son who is registered but doesn't come? In this case, I would have to wonder why the Dad is there too.

Our district goes far more indepth on topics of interest to both Cub Scouters and Scouters during the monthly roundtables. Particularly on the Cub Scout side, this is proving to be quite successful, for it is common for adults attending to training to want more indepth discussion and how-tos after completing their initial trainings.

Here is the Pack Trainer form found on the national council site: http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-152.pdf

I'd love to hear how this progresses. Way to go on getting material into unit leaders' hands! Are you familiar with the "My Best Friend Is A Cub Scout" peer-to-peer recruiting program? It sounds similar to what you've worked up, but only the recruiter gets a patch. I like the idea of both the recruiter and the new boy receiving something, and those wrist bands are extremely popular.

Cub Scouters who quit around here seem to mostly quit from Cub Scouting only when their sons bridge into a troop. It is not unusual for them to move into a troop in some capacity and never look back unless it's to remind the pack that the pack owes them recruits because these were "my boys". The other reason for Cub Scouters leaving, and I'm seeing more of this, is that they feel burned out by the time their sons leave. Cub Scouting can be hard on an adult leader, but it doesn't have to be, and that is my personal focus lately (through RT). As for adults in troops, the only adults

Ok, Joe, now I'm mad. With you hearing these things confirmed by adults involved, and with what I read basically as a "shrug" by the CC, I'm wondering how exactly this BOR has this Scout's interests in mind. Is the letter forthcoming, and was the appeals process explained to your son? Of course he wasn't in the best of minds; he was disappointed--any Scout would be. Worse, he was being asked to explain things that he was told aren't in the Scout Handbook. This board failed big time IMO by (1) testing the Scout, (2) testing the Scout on items admittedly not in the Scout Handbook, (3) a

scoutpacific, I expected to be disappointed in the Girl Scout program due to things I've heard, but our daughter wanted to be a Cub Scout since she could talk and tell us so, and when she was invited to Daisies, we decided to give it a try. The leader is awesome. She manages to fit a lot into an hour, holds the girls' interests, and enjoys the time herself. In this past month, the Daisies have gone bowling, taken part in a 9-11 memorial dedication (something the older Girl Scouts helped to landscape), had their investiture and rededication ceremony, and learned about water conserva

If a boy has failed to meet the advancement requirements, then the board is obligated to withhold the rank. But they need to do it properly and in a positive manner such that the boy knows exactly where he went wrong, agrees with the decision, and knows what he needs to do to fix it. Well said, FScouter. The idea that even if the BOR is wrong, the Scout should simply be prepared to be retested is somewhat troubling to me, though with all the threads that indicate this happens (testing at BORs) I can see why that would make sense. I guess I just hope that we as adult leaders would be

...but my son does not have a clear and specific knowledge of why he was not approved for advancement or what to do next. Joe, I'm going to follow up on OGE's post with a paragraph from page 30 of the BSA Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures book: "If the board decides that the Scout is not ready to advance, the candidate should be informed and told what he has not done satisfactorily. Most Scouts accept responsibility for not completing the requirements properly. The members of the board of review should specify what must be done to rework the candidate's weaknesses and s

I'm looking for official word on this, but it is one COR per charter organization. The COR represents the CO, and this is the person who would communicate with the CC and the IH. No success in my online references, but in case you find this of interest, here's a link with more info on CORs: http://www.scouting.org/relationships/04-113/index.html(This message has been edited by bbng)

lol Semper. This is not what I'd normally advise, but in this case, where there seems to be significant confusion, I'd advise going to the COR. This would help avoid the "he said-she said" issue that seems to be in play right now. The other option, something the COR of a unit I served was willing to do, is to ask the COR if s(he) would be willing to meet with parents and leaders. That would cut down on the phone calls

ScoutNut is correct. When a parent comes to you with a complaint, you can tell him/her that they should direct their comments to the COR.

kramr1, I was remiss in not saying welcome to both Cub Scouting and to the forums. Welcome!

I would agree that this is not a Cub Scout issue, but it does effect the program because boys are leaving and families are unhappy. Not only might families continue to leave, but it's hard to recruit new people into a chaotic atmosphere where adults don't get along. They had 2 pages worth of various violations of pack policy by her.The committee member told me point blank that she will either quit or be fired by our chartered organization rep. It was her choice. Two pages of violations of pack policies but the den leader is still there. That says to me (and I could be very wrong) t

Put me in the "I'll do my best to use the BSA system but tweak it for our particular needs" camp. By "tweak" I don't mean eliminate boy leadership, eliminate patrols, etc. What I mean is we will do what we have to do to be successful today, while always working toward the ultimate goal - that of fulfilling all the aims and methods of the BSA. Ok, I did a poor job of saying what I was trying to say. Not all aims and methods will all work all the time as there is growth and goal-setting (as evidenced by the above quote). What I see in this is that the program appears to be evaluated by us

I'm not sure I can define the Scouting program without using what I've read and used from BSA publications. It is those things that don't fit within the parameters of the program as it is defined that would make a program something other than a Scouting program. There is so much available to help us as Scouters, and that makes Scouting easier for me as an adult leader and more meaningful and fun for the youth as Scouts. What I'm wondering is this: what is wrong with defining the program by using the program literature?

If your son is passionate about Scouting, actively involved, but not happy with his current troop and expressing the desire to move to another one, that may be in his best interests. I am not familiar with the specifics of working through the Eagle qualifications, but someone here will be. Welcome to the forums, and I hope you find the answers you need to support your son in this situation.

The Guide to Safe Scouting contains an Age-Appropriate Guidelines sheet that is helpful for use in planning all activities. Here is the link to the form: http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/ageguides.pdf