pinkflame

This is an issue with many facets, and to try to bring it down to only pro-choice vs. pro-life fals into a mass media level of trivialization. On a personal level, my son came to me by adoption so I am grateful to his birth mother for not thinking he was a mistake to be disposed of. As has been pointed out, the federal funding issue involves a gag order, not really funds for abortion. If an organization even mentioned abortion in the process of counseling a woman on her options in an unplanned pregnancy, then they faced the possibility of loss of ALL federal funds for whatever else

It seems the thread is a little dereailed. On the issue of Hispanics in Scouting, from my vantage point in San Antonio it is definitely NOT just a few token Hispanic units, although maybe I should better say units with Hispanic Scouts and Hispanic Scouters. As someone stated, "Hispanic" is a fairly broad term for people from a lot of different places, including many people from the USA for amny generations. Here in San Antonio, Anglos are the minority, so maybe that just makes us different altogether. I have been trying to think of Anglo and Hispanic Scouters I know and I'm pretty sure I

All those trailers sound great and efficient and like really god resources for the troops, but the BEST trailer I have ever seen is the one built from a flatbed trailer base by a group of boys from a troop I know on the west side of San Antonio 9not one of your higher income areas). They made, they used it and they were proud of it. It had an open top so they had to learn how to use tarps and tie downs, but learning is part of the deal. Several of them also learned a fiar amount about wiring by working with one of the adults to get the lights working.

There have been hot afternoons at camp when I woul have given up my batttery powered ceiling fan for a cold, shimmering can of Diet Coke

Both of my son's Boy Scout Handbooks and two of my copies of the advancement book (the one with all of the rank and merit badge requirements) have fallen apart. We just use big ziploc bags and big rubber bands now.

first job: being an annoying, nosy mom day job: family doctor

When my brother went to Boy Scout camp in the 60's he came home with a song form the campfire called "Darkie Sunday School" which included the line "plese leave your chewing gum and razors at teh door and we'll hear some Bible stories that we've never ehard before". At the time, as a white child in north Dallas, I had no idea how insulting and racist that was. now, as the mother of a 16 year old African American Life Scout, I am apalled at my ignorance. The problem is, although not so blatant, those attitudes persist.

STOP, STOP, STOP Some of us actually read this to get ideas, and work with real boys in real troops who sometimes have real problems fitting in for whatever reason and might need just a little extra boost from some caring adult in the troop. Boys do fall through the cracks, and suggestions and constructive discussion about ways to help them over the rough spots is valuable. Picking apart people's posts is not

STOP, STOP STOP

Our older boys are going to southwestern Colorado this summer for a 5 day backpacking trip off the Silverton-Durango Railroad. We are from San Antonio Texas. Any suggestions on free/cheap places to spend the night along the way

I had a great pair of Nike boots for about 12 years. Not heavy duty enough for long hike but perfect for camp wear. Last year the sole came loose at the rigth toe as we were walking inot our campsite for summer camp. it was rainy that day so I duct taped it. When things dried out I used some plumber's adhesive that another adult had and it held pretty well. On Tuesday I drew Walmart duty (a good thing: flush potties, air conditioning, a short list of supplies to get, a 30 minute drive of peace and quiet, etc.) On the way in to the store the entire sole of the left boot stayed put on the paveme

Eagle Scout brother found the Y Indian Guides was the best option for his three girls and himself. Around my neck of the woods, 4H is analogous to the White Children's Club, which I guess is OK if your child is white, but it didn't work for us. Sorry to hear GSUSA is on hard times, but that is also what my brother said, which is why they did Indian Guides. I had a great time as Girl Scout years ago, but it was very leader dependent and not really comparable to what my brother got to do as a Boy Scout even in the 60's.

Eagle Scout brother found the Y Indian Guides was the best option for his three girls and himself. Around my neck of the woods, 4H is analogous to the White Children's Club, which I guess is OK if your child is white, but it didn't work for us. Sorry to hear GSUSA is on hard times, but that is also what my brother said, which is why they did Indian Guides. I had a great time as Girl Scout years ago, but it was very leader dependent and not really comparable to what my brother got to do as a Boy Scout even in the 60's.

Just remember, what goes it has to go out, so smaller boys drinking mass quantities of cocoa )or anything else) near bedtime will probably mean they will need to get up and find a tree sometime in the wee (no pun intended) hours of the morning, which will then make then even colder.

Check with the ship. We went to the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi when my son was a Webelo and they already had separate male and female sleeping areas. That worked out great for us moms, but the dads had all of the boys in the men's area after the evening ghost stories. Oh well....

I generally agree with you. I think a church function like a service-oriented mission trip where the boy has to find out, sign up, go out of town and really stretch himself is OK, because when he gets to the site he is working with a community organization that is not his church and that he has had to learn about in order to go. Before my time of counseling this MB, the troop required it to be done before the other two Citizenships, which meant mainly very young boys were doing it. They were sent to Bible schools, etc (yes, I said "sent", again negating the "find out about a community agency"

Some of our Scouts have gone on a 3 day house painting mission trip with our Co's youth group, others have voluteered as "buddies" in a special needs baseball league. Others help with Bible schools. a few have helped during teacher work days at the local schools, preparing textbooks for distribution, sprucing up the libraries, etc. This year one of the small towns here had a drive to ear tag pets. Several boys helped with that. Others worked with a faith-based fod distribution proggram. I agree that there are more opportunities for older boys to have meaningful community service experiences.

Down here in Texas we're just happy that we don't have to have the fans on at night anymore, although it does mean I get to hear the dogs' new serenades. As for falling leaves, it reminds me of when my son was 6 and we took a trip to Chicago in the fall. He saw those red and yellow leaves swirling down to the pavement and exclaimed "Wow! The teacher really was telling the truth about these things!"

Last week we got back from what the boys are universally calling "the funnest campout ever". Even my teenage son (soon to be 16) has spontaneously said to at least two boys whho weren't there that they should have gone and has even gabbed about it to non-Scout friends. One boy who is totally not a fan of camping and had only come along for the day asked to call his dad for permission to stay the night. What did we do? We volunteered for as support for a big multiple sclerosis bike ride (150 miles, about 4000 riders). Our guys set up tents, unloaded and categorized bicyclists' luggage (it

We usually cook and eat by patrols but recently one of the Scouts had an interesting suggestion during his BOR for First Class. When we got to the "is there anything you would want to do differently in the troop?" question, he said that sometimes he would like for us all to eat together under the big dining fly. he said it would feel more like a family. He then suggested we could have a troop progressive dinner on one of the campouts, with each patrol responsible for a different course. His only stipulation was that the NBP not be the patrol that was responsible for the entree. Anyway, it woul

My son had one as a Cub. I pln to put it up on a hanger at his Eagle Court of Honor, along with his pine cares on a little stand. I am now putting his Boy Scout patches (summer camps, 50-miler, etc) onto a red felt blanket that I got at the Socut store. He thinks it is real corny now but that''s what moms are all about. A few years ago a man at our church who had been a lifelong Scouter passed away. At the reception after his funeral, there were multiple tables covered with memorabilia about his life. Most of it was Scouting related. Each table had a "tablecloth" that was a blanket full o

I''m referring to MB''s done at MBU''s. I guess the Council''s belief is that the Counselor was at the MBU and sent the list of partials back with the boy, just like from summer camp. (Like when the boy has to take care of a reptile or amphibian for a specified amount of time after doing the rest of Reptiles and Amphibians at summer camp.) This troop has usually discouraged boys from going to MBU''s, and particularly from taking Eagle required MB''s at MBU''s, but last winter made an exception for a boy who was going to a week-long winter camp with another troop. As to my responsibility,

Let me clarify. of course participation in school band, etc. What i''m talking about is a Scout who would say, for Communications, "Oh, I wrote a letter to the editor last year for science class" or "Two years ago I gave a speech in class". The particular instance that prompted me to ask the quesiton is a little stickier since it came from an MBU that was done far away. We have two counselors for the particular badge in the troop, so I can direct the boy to one of them. That has not been done before in the troop, just the SM or an ASM has signed off when the boy brings in his completions

One of my jobs on the troop committe is to be merit badge coordinator. It''s a big troop, so someone has to do it. This week I had a new problem. A boy had gone to a merit badge university last winter. He came back with a partial for one requirement. This week I got an essay for the requirement that was clearly a school assignment. It doesn''t really fit the reuirment anyway, so in this case I think it will be an easy call for the Scoutmaster to tell him that he needs to meet the requirement with new work (I''m so glad that I am the receiver of materials but not the decision-maker or enforcer)

Oh, I hope the craze isn't over.I've just been hatching an idea to market young men's boxers with prints of My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, the Care Bears and maybe the Smurfs. I think I'd get rich because lots of moms and dads would buy them for their sons. Since I got the idea, all I have to say to my 15 year old is "ponies" and he knows exactly what I'm talking about