OwntheNight

Have to agree, that's a bad idea. First, the soon to be scout really should spend his first year with the troop, learning scout skills, troop culture, and making new friends. He is also learning to be self reliant, almost a deprogramming time. In that, I mean he's gone through the CS program where the adult is the leader. He's not going to get the full benefit of leading, because he will still be in CS mode, with an adult leader taking charge of everything. Second, as shortridge said, there will be no respect from his den he just left. They will think it's just one of their buddies

OK, We finally have the full material available. The pdf has been put on our council website, for everyone's perusal. www.circle10.org I haven't read every page yet, just kind of glossed over it. Will try and read it tonight to see if it's still something we might be interested in. I also have one of my techie parents reading it as well to give input, or maybe coordinate it.

I use to loathe going to RT, for the longest time. 45 min of district announcements and then break out sessions for another hour, which usually meant going through a simulated Pack meeting. I was looking at two maybe two and a half hours, once I got done with chatting with some friends and tugging the ear of the different chairs for information. Now, I actually enjoy it, they've got district announcements to around 15-20 minutes, and breakouts for 35-40 minutes. Get in, get out, get the job done. Our district has done a great job of making the breakouts productive. Last month, our breakou

Fish, I'm thinking about it!!! I'm all for self depreciating humor if it helps. I've offered to have the boys let the boys use the washable spray paint to color my hair for popcorn sales. I might have to throw that out there, for adding boys, I'll wear the tutu!

I have ours set up the same way you do. Our CO address, my name, our pack website, my contact info. When I set ours up, I checked around to find a lot of other packs are being directed to the council and the generic info on the site or they have bare bones information or because they are a " Parents of Pack xxx" they have a residential address listed . I even added on ours a personal note that we have been serving the boys of x,y, and z schools for over 30 years in hopes that somebody might think, gee a pack that's been around for 30 years? Maybe we should check it out. I've even updated our d

Here's the email we got : Job: Scouts: To stand in full uniform as an honor guard in 30 minute shifts at the memorial in Grapevine. Scout shorts are acceptable. Adults: To ensure Scouts are fully uniformed (Class A) and understand the procedure for approaching the station and the Scout is capable of being an honor guard. Also, MAY stand as an honor guard if desired. Must be in full uniform. Minimum Qualification: Each Scout and Adult volunteer must recognize the solemnity of standing honor guard at the memorial and be able to stand silent and still for a period of 30

When I finished the course portion of WB, I wore my necker and woggle for the first month or so after coming home.. A lot of it was still being on the Wood Badge "high", but it also reminded me about what I needed to continue to do. I finished the course part in late August, so it seemed natural to wear it for recruiting purposes for the pack and troop. It certainly made for talking points from our CM and SM at the time to new families about our units. I eventually stopped wearing the necker all the time, except for COH, B/G and the obligatory Wood Badge dinner. After receiving my beads a ye

If it wasn't for Beavers, the rest of the critters would just wander around aimlessly! Really, the Beavers built the dam from the trees the bobwhites lived in, thus making the bobwhite homeless. The eagle spotted the bobwhite from his nest at the top of the other trees, and thought he was food. At the same time the fox was also stalking the poor bobwhite when the owl decided he needed to wake the forest with his screech. The screech from the owl woke the Bear. The Bear knocked the tree, that the owl was in, over which startled the buffalo in the meadow. The buffalo took off running and ca

The way of school recruiting is slowly fading into the sunset for us. While the administration at the schools appreciates the scouting program and will help us at the community level, the school district administration is tying the principals' hands and making it very difficult for the units to succesfully recruit in the schools. Here are some of the hoops we had to go through this year. 1.) School night for scouting was limited to one night across the entire school district (last Wednesday, two days after school started) That was the only night we could use the facilities. so needless to

Well said, ED. Tonight, we had our Recruitment night for the Pack. As I was talking to the new families, I kept telling them the Scouting adventure they were about to embark on was their son's story. It was our jobs as leaders and as parents to help the boys get the words to that story on paper. Every boy's story is different, and that's what makes their journey so fun to watch. Dang, I wish I had brought one of those choose your own adventure books for a prop, oh well next year. After I spoke about their story, I had one of the boys from the troop tell his story about what Scouting

The first Pack I was with did this during the October pack meeting. So you had all the boys in their Halloween costumes and the leaders as well. We did it as an auction format, needless to say I opened my big mouth about it and the next year, I showed up as Jack Sparrow auctioning off cakes with the same bravado and stupor of the real Capt.Jack. The boys and the parents had a blast, I had a blast with it. We gave out ribbons for the different categories (The kitty litter cake is still my favorite!) and then I set the prices at the Auction based upon the award. If you brought in a thing of

Afterward, one CM comes up to me and says "you don't understand -- after the end of our 'Cub Scout Year', *I* want a break." That's the exact reason I let my ACM and the CC plan the summer activities this year. After taking over as CM in February, it was non stop for me all the way through June. Between Program planning and execution, spring recruiting, and the calendar full of meetings, while still performing District CM duties at Day Camp and then Summer Camp with the Troop. I was spent, and ready for a break. I knew I wouldn't have been able to put on a good summer program for the boys

Glad to see you brought in the "hired gun" to help out! At least your new leaders won't know the difference from how things were, to how they are. It does get better when people understand their roles, trust me! I went through my own pack ordeal in January when our CC resigned and the CM stepped down AND our pack lost 2 dens to another Pack. I certainly felt like Edward Smith standing on the bow of the Titanic when our COR asked me to take over as CM. After he recruited a CC, he sat us both down and told us our roles. I would deal with the Program side and the CC would deal with the

We had our popcorn kickoff last week and this same device was shown to us as well. The square up device is linked to your unit acct. You do need to get the CO's authorization to connect it to the bank acct. I was informed that the device does not store any card information at all, it just uses your smartphone to connect to the processing center for approval. We were also given the option of using the Intuit version which requires you to manually type the card number into your phone. That would be the one I worry about with having CC numbers written down. I spoke with a person, who u

Basement, "It isn't from some whimpy camp twice a year webelos program." You are correct in that statement. The boys are not going to learn that skill set by camping 2x a year. They should be camping and getting outside more than that to learn those skills. I don't expect them to master the skills of a tenderfoot or 2nd class when they come to the troop, but I should have a reasonable expectation of the basic knowledge of how to set a tent up, how to clean their dishes, how to put the gear away. I've got troop guides to work with them to polish those skills when they do arrive.

I agree with BP all the way. As a CM, I see boys get bored with the last few months of the program, whether it's burnout from the same things or leaders who are road weary and ready for the break. They then come to the troop where I'm also an ASM for TTFC and I see these boys without the true skill set for the program. Now I do see the benefits of the boys that come in early, because they do get used to the patrol hierarchy and are ready for summer camp. They've gotten a few campouts under their belts, and are more comfortable with the patrol method. The outdoors should be your clas

Funny thing, I was sitting at Roundtable last night, and the Camping Chair and Activities Chair were talking about our great camps and all that's going on. The entire time I'm thinking about this post. These guys were spouting the usual rhetoric about the benefits of camping, and the opportunities our district has for camping, especially with the Cubs. Well Duh! We know what the advantages are to getting outdoors, that's why were in Scouting. Our first big event for Cubs to Camp is Cuboree, unfortunately, the camp is not the ideal spot for a first time camper, much less a wide eyed paren

Fun Times! We told our boys going to summer camp, they were more than welcome to bring their cell phones ( gotta let them do something for 18 hrs traveling from Texas to Colorado!) We also told them if they lost it, it was their responsibility, or they could leave them in the troop vehicle for the week and get them back on Saturday departure. Of course, once we got to camp, all the boys realized there was no cell service in the mountains where we were at. Needless to say, the phones were put away for the week, except for the small herd of boys who did an awful lot of hanging around the leade

I've looked around and can't find details about any of the rest of it. If what you quoted is typical of the rest of the program, my primary question would be, "Where is the science part?" Pack, Current topics available for the Cub Scout NOVA award SCIENCE EVERYWHERE (Science) TECH TALK (Technology) SWING! (Motion-Engineering) DESIGNED TO CRUNCH (Mathematics Current Topics available for the Boy Scout and Venturing NOVA award SHOOT! Projectiles and Space (Science) START YOUR ENGINES (Transportation Technology) WHOOSH! (Motion-Engineering) DESIGNED TO CRUNCH (Mathematics) This was all the

Thanks, Pack I'll read through it to get an idea of what's up.

So I got a packet today from the council office describing a new program the council wants to roll out encouraging youth to take an active interest in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Being a STEM guy myself, I'm excited about this program and look forward to bringing it to my unit. Here's the letter and the requirements for the NOVA award. The Boy Scouts of America and ExxonMobil Corporation have joined together to initiate a program that encourages active interest by youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The BSA

A friend of mine from Ky. has a leather belt sheath for his Tobasco. He hikes with it That was one of the leatherworking crafts this year at summer camp. I was wondering why so many kids were walking around with Tabasco bottles, until I went into the commisary and started snooping around. I regret not picking up one now, and working on it during camp. I believe it was called the Hot Shot! I might just wear that all the time!!

There are manuals for Day Camp ?!?!?!? I've just had to go off the powerpoint that was created a few years ago.

Our Pack walked with the troop this morning, behind the troop trailer. Lots of OOOHHH and AAAHHHSS about the trailer. We also put banners on the side of the truck with the Beascout.org site and the date for Join Scouting Night. The boys had a great time waving flags and telling everybody Happy 4th. Definitely a lot of positive feedback, and good times!

Why is it the only ones that get bent out of shape about the uniform are other scouters? When I walk into a restaurant in uniform with some of our boys, nobody comes up and asks or tells me that I have a pin or other doohickey on my uniform that's not supposed to be there. They see the uniform as a representation of the Boy Scouts of America, they also look at the boys with more regard, instead of a bunch of kids that are going to reek havoc in their store for about an hour. The same goes for military uniforms. I don't know what every ribbon in the "fruit salad" means, but that soldi