Pack212Scouter

Wow...Talk about attacking the holy grail of Scouting!

Seriously though, as others have said, it's not the Dutch oven meal that is going to kill you. It your lifestyle and nutrition choices the rest of the time. As for caloric intake, you would be amaized how rapidly calorie needs go up in the outdoors. Simply being outdoors, walking, and basic camp chores can raise one's calorie needs by 20% and more. Add in activities and it foes through the roof. As an extreme example, some of you may remember the Steiger Antarctic Expedition in the 80's. Their caloric needs

were so high that they had to consume a pound of raw butter every day just to take in adequate calories.

Any custom patrol name/patch is legal pretty much. The patch requirement for uniform wear is that the patrol patch must be on a khaki background, have khaki merrowed edge, and use no more than three thread colors.

Ok....I hate getting into these kind of arguments, however when looking at the guideline you don't count the number of times a word is used, but phrase and content. Knives are referenced as a tool three times. The other two are in reference to other tools and as a generic rerefernce in the same sentence. Reguardless, this guideline was is quite obviouse in thar it considers knives to be as much a potential weapon, as a tool. Additionally, the Scouting release itself states that the guidelines in the UK have been updated three or four times over the years. I can't remember the exact number that they said.

Ok....I hate getting into these kind of arguments, however when looking at the guideline you don't count the number of times a word is used, but phrase and content. Knives are referenced as a tool three times. The other two are in reference to other tools and as a generic rerefernce in the same sentence. Reguardless, this guideline was is quite obviouse in thar it considers knives to be as much a potential weapon, as a tool. Additionally, the Scouting release itself states that the guidelines in the UK have been updated three or four times over the years. I can't remember the exact number that they said.

Just because they say that it isn't true...doesn't make it not true. Read their guidelines and analyze them. That article is more true than they want you to believe.

First off, examine the attitude towards knives. Knives are refered to as weapons as many times as they are refered to as tools.

Secondly, repeatedly it is stated that Scouts should indeed not carry knives unless they are about to use them:

"When undertaking training at the Scout HQ, knives should be taken to and from Scouts by an adult."

"When taking a knife to camp, they should be securely stowed in the middle of the rucksack or bag." - Where they are inaccessable.

"you would only really carry the knife when there is an expectation to use the tool" - I expect to use my knife at any time. In fact I have, from an emergency of cutting someones hand out of a conveyer, to cutting rope to secure a loose part on a vehicle. The guidelines however obviously consider that potential uses for a knife are all planned.

"knives when not being used should be stowed away until such time as they are needed." - Which the article says that you only need them for "the cutting of string, cooking or whittling"

"A campsite, which may technically be private property as it is owned by a District or County, is considered as public property because of its use. Knives should not be carried unless they are going to be used, and should be put away when not in use." - So, you don't even carry your knife around camp unless you know you are about to use it.

Sounds like ths article was more on target than they want to admit.(This message has been edited by pack212scouter)

We, I am afraid that we'll just have to agree to disagree here. For the last part I was refering to guiding them as a parent, not as a leader. It was simply my opinion. As for Arrow of Light, you are right; we don't get to decide. BSA has determined that it requires "good attendance". Unfortunately they chose not to define this. It is therefore up to the conciouse of the Pack to decide.

I am not talking about excluding anyone from Scouting. I am talking about following the requirements for Cub Scoutings highest award. The requirement also says "good attendance".

Now then, since you bring the other up. I am a firm believer in teaching them to set priorities in life. You've heard the comment "Jack of all trades, master of none"? Are we really doing our youth a favor by teaching them that they can have and do it all in a mediocre manner, and nor a committed manner? Our motto is Do Your Best, nor "Do what you have to to get by!"

This is a very touchy subject, however a very important one. Many units, icluding our own troop have forgotten that "boy led" does not mean "boy run". The whole purpose of adult leaders is not only to ensure safety, but to provide adult mentorship. This is a very important difference. Allowing them to fail in something that they instist on planning poorly is one thing, but to sit back and allow for something to fail because you do not provide them with the knowledge or tools for the job is a failure of the adult leader. Rember that these are boys, in many cases very young boys. They cannot be expected to be able to lead efficiently without some adult mentorship. Continued failure from lack of this is harmful to the boy's development and to the troop.

Our own troop is facing the impact of this issue for the first time in many years. The adults have sat back and let the boys flounder to the point that the troop is losing current Scouts; and for the first time in many years, the majority of our Webelos do not want to cross over because they are hearing from siblings and friends in the troop that it is boring and with the exception of campouts and hikes, the troop doesn't do anything fun.(This message has been edited by Pack212scouter)

Our Pack has never followed themes; mostly because of it's size. At the request of our council we used FastTracks last year. The response from nearly all of our Den Leaders at the end of the year was.....To regimented...Not enough fun...The kids didn't like it. If this is the direction that national is going, I fear that Scouting is in trouble.

I have used the SteriPen and been very happy with it, now we do carry Katadyn filters for backup and for turbid water filtering. In fact I find it superior to most chemical methods. It takes less than a minute versus 30 minutes + with chemicals. It has been tested as highly effective against typical biological contaminants including cryptpsporidium. It is also a pretty durable device and water resistant (not waterproof). I had someone actually close it in a bladder and use it that way (not recommended!) and while water was forced past the seal, the SteriPen remained operational and was dried out after the trip for no noticable damage. We use the kind that uses camera batteries which are smaller and lighter than AA's. With the CR123 batteries you get about 100 tradments or over 15 gallons of water. The AA version gives you about twice this.

UV sterilization, while new to backcountry, is hardly "new fangled." It's been uses for water sterilization since 1916 and New York City sterilizes over two billion gallons a day with it.

I can't believe that it's only 33%. If true that is terrible. It's no wonder that membership numbers are on the decline with transition of Webelos being that low.

Well, I would recomend that you should pick one thing and stick to that. It doesn't help anyone when you try to do everything and burn out. A couple of years ago, when my son was a Wolf and I decided to be an ACM, I sat down and talked with him to see if he wanted me to continue as DL or be ASM, as I didn't feel that I could do both with quality. I understand the issues though. I have one Den that has similar issues. A Den Leader who's job got very busy and a bunch of parents that complain about it all the time, but won't step up and do anything. Quite frankly, I am about at the point of letting the Den die and rolling the one Leader who has been trying into another Den. I have no patience for parents who see BSA as babysitters of America. Quite frankly, if the other parents are not willing to put any effort in, it is not your responsibility to do everything yourself.

Although parents will love the idea of an hour, I have found that about 90 minutes is a more realistic timeframe for most Pack Meetings.

When our Troop has long distance high adventure trips, they often have a couple of dads/ASMs drive out ahead of time with the gear.

I can see the appeal to BSA of a K program. Probably about 30% of my calls and inquireies each spring are from K parents. Additionally, as has been said here, sports competition is an issue at this age, however I have found that more important than getting them a year earlier is getting them at the same time that school sports are signing up...not after sports signups when the family schedule is established.

As for burnout, I see this more as an adult issue than youth. Remember that in the case of siblings, some of them have been attending your Den Meetings and Scouting events since BEFORE kindergarden! Does burnout happen, sure. But this is hardley a reason not to do something since it is so variable. I've seen everything from first year "burnout" to never any "burnout". The real reason that I have seen the burnout excuse is a) boring meetings, b) few interesting activities, c) no active outdoor program. What this all boils down to is a Cub Scout program that has them sit in meetings each time after a school day results in "burnout."

Finally, and more importantly to me. With a Pack that already is pushing 170 Scouts with 22 Dens and 50+ Leaders, I really don't want to add the additional time and effort for an additional 20 odd boys and 8 more Leaders. Not to mention that we have already run out of meeting room for the Dens that we do have! LOL(This message has been edited by Pack212Scouter)

Cub Scouting is a family system, but be cautious when you start adding awards for siblings. It's hard enough when one adult feels slighted. It's ten times worse when they feel that little "Johnny" should have gotten something too.

We do include all siblings in as many things as we can though. All three of our derbies have sibling races. They can participate in Pack Meeting games and activities. And at campouts/campins they not only attend, but can participate in age appropriate activities.

The Summertime Pin is just bling. As such, it doesn't really matter advancement wise. Now technically, once they advance it would apply to the next level. The new ones are colored by year though so we have started giving them out based on their previous rank. That way they get all four.

There is now a prohibition on Camporees, however Webelos can still camp with the troop. In fact it is required that they attend a Boy Scout outdoor activity, which could be a troop campout, to attain AOL.

Around here, the Council began sending out fliers to families last year. Contact your Pack's popcorn kernal or Cubmaster. You should do this to be aware of when the sale starts, where the raised money will be distributed (Pack, scout account, etc) and when the product distribution date will be.

The fact that he IS the Cubmaster is unfortunate. Depending on his personality, and yours, you may consider just having a private talk with him about your concerns. Ultimately, if this is continual actions or unaltered behavior, then the Committee Chair and the Charter Organization Rep are the ones to deal with it. If the behavior continues on and nothing is done about it, then I would consider moving to another Pack. If he treats his own son in this manner, what is to say that your's won't be treated the same at some point?

Sounds like a Cubmaster conference with the parent is in order, discussing what acceptable behavior is at Cub Scouting events. We don't want our boys thinking that a) it is acceptable to behave that way or b) that the child is inferior.

Don't let yourself be baited Dean. But also remember....

1) Not all things work for all Packs

2) Most things can be improved in some way

3) We can always learn something new.

and...

4) If it ain't broke, don't fix it

We have run a RGR for two years now and are about to run our third. One of the great things about it is a boy with a kit, some sandpaper, and a little glue and paint can have a reasonably competitive boat in a little under an hour.

Some families can go as overboard as PWD though we found, so instead of making it anything goes, we rewrote our rules to limit extreme designs. If you are curious, you can read them here... http://www.eteamz.com/pack212/news/index.cfm?cat=400597

About the only time that we give out door prizes is at our Blue & Gold Awards Banquet. We have found that if handed out during the middle of a program such as a Pack Meeting, they become distractions, also they tend to eat up time that could be used for a game or skit. Instead we concentrate more of the flow of the meeting instead of prizes.

Some restaurants will donate a certain percentage of profits between certain hours on certain days.