pixiewife

I have done the Nations Trails award. I did it with Webelos, but I think what we did for our service project could also be done with younger Cubs. We had a winter clothing drive. We did basically hats, gloves, scarves, and coats. First, the boys talked about different projects that they could do, and we settled on the warm clothing. We, the leaders steered them there because that is what we had really decided we wanted to do, however the boys never knew that. I invited the principle of our school in to our meeting so the boys could ask her directly if they could place drop off boxes in the school. They also asked permission to check and clear the boxes each day before lunch. We then invited our school social worker into our meeting to ask her if she knew of anyplaces that would take the donations. She is always collecting for this sort of thing, so we knew she would be a good resource. She talked to the boys a little bit about the spirit of what they were doing. She also talked to them about what would happen if they saw a kid in our school wearing a coat that the scout knew was donated, and how they had to keep all of that confidential. She agreed to let her office be the place that we would hold and sort all of the collections. We as leaders had also talked to her ahead of time, so she did not go in blind. The boys did not know this.Then the boys made up signs on the computers in the computer lab, and they did the rest. Of course, with a lot of help on our part. This type of project any age can do, because you can have them do as much or as little as possible, and it was the planning part that is the most involved.

All of that being said, I have heard very bad things about Nations and Trails since we earned our award. I would tend to go with the youth patriotism award, as that also has some similar requirements, but has the ability to work on it and continue to earn in future years. I really liked the set up of the Youth Patriotism award, and have recommened it to my pack trainer, and plan on working on it after we are done with rank advancement.

Good Luck!

~Pixie

Just wodering if any one knows details about the Historic Trail Award. I know that it is designed for Boy Scouts and Venturers, however, can it be earned by a Cub Scout? My older sons' troop did a project this weekend that qualifies them for this award. My younger son, a Cub Scout, participated in the event, and did as much work as the Boy Scouts (if not more in some cases), as did one other younger sibling who is a Cub. I know that this award is not designed to be persued by Cub Scout packs or dens, but can it be awarded to specific Scouts in this type of case?

Anything anybody knows would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pixie

Thank you so much, everyone for your help!

Now, another question, how did you do that?

I tried looking for it manually, I thought it was possibly posted under a 'favorite skit' type thread, but no. Then I tried using the 'search forums' button, and searched several combinations of key words.

What am I doing wrong, as I did not find anything!

Thanks again!

~Pixie

Hi All!

Recently (in past few months) someone posted a Scout version of the classic "Who's on First" joke. I have spent quite a bit of time searching for it, and am having no luck either manually, or with the search button. Is there anyone out there who has this skit?

My son's troop is putting on our council's Mom and Me, and I thought he and his Dad might like this for the camp fire program.

Thanks if anyone can help!

~Pixie

Wow, can you believe another year is about to get into full swing? With everything else that's going on, I certainly can't!

As many of us are trying to plan our fall roundups, I thought we could share some ideas. In my Pack we have a representitive at our school's open house, they usually have a slideshow presentation going with pictures of all the things that we have done recently. In the past she handed out applications, but I think this year they are going to hand out invitations to our pack meeting, which is 2 days later. The following week we are having boy talks, and an evening roundup. During our evening roundup we usually do a 4-7 open house style round up. People do not have to come at any particular time and stay for any certain amount or time. We have the parents go in one roome where they learn about scouts and all of the different things that they need to know (honestly I've never sat in) people can register at this time, or they can listen and take an application and think about it. The boys are in the room accross the hall, and we keep them busy doing things. In the past we have usually had a couple of games, and a couple of crafts. I think this year we are having Web's do soome knot tying demo's.

Any ideas on simple crafts? Any ideas to incorporate the New Buddies theme? Any ideas on atheme 'slogan'? For instance in April when we did Spring Roundup, the theme was Abracadabra, and our slogan was "Discover the Magic of Cub Scouts".

Any other ideas on roundups, crafts, games, slogans, or anything else?

What is your pack doing?

I also do not think Barack Obama is like Jesus. I do not think ANYONE is like Jesus. Therefore, if one was to say that Jesus was a teacher, when trying to illustrate what a teacher is, I do not think that they are also making the corrolation that all teachers are like Jesus.

That being said, TheScout, you remind me of my 7 year old.

~Pixie

I am just asking:

"Sarah Palin supported earmarks attached to the Congressional bill that remained after the "bridge to nowhere" was canceled."

Is this not true? Did she not, as has been widely reported, in fact keep the money for her state that was earmarked for the bridge, even after they were not going to build a bridge with it? They did not use it in her state for other things. They just turned it down, and gave it back? That is the truth?

I'm just asking.

Let's face it there are enough half truths and out right lies out there to go around. I do not think anyone (are you listening Rush?) has the market cornered on that one.

Evmori~

Please refer to my post just after the stat post. She herself spent a good deal of time in her GOP talking points, oh, I mean speech, last night comparing herself to Obama. As does a good deal of republicans. Maybe this is because the biggest thing they had 'against' Obama was the perceived lack of experience, and now they feel that election to City Council and Mayor of a TINY town is "Executive" experience that far out ways Obamas knowledge and experience.

Hey, maybe it does.

ooopppsss....

Sorry, I meant to post this in the 'experiance' thread, but I had too many windows open to keep them strait.

Aside from that, there is the fact that I was watching Palin at the RNC at the time, and all SHE could talk about was her experience vs. Obama. Maybe she is predicting the demise of her elderly running mate, although I certainly hope not.

Obama:

B.A in political science from Columbia University, with a specialization in international relations

J.D. in Law from Hardvard, graduated magna cum laude; President of the Harvard Law Review

12 years (92-04) teaching constitutional law

7 years State Senator: sponsored more than 800 bills

4 years Senator for Illinos, a state with 12.8 million people

Palin:

Bachelor's in journalism from University of Idaho

4 years Wasilla City Council (8000 people)

6 years Wasilla mayor (8000 people)

1 year "Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission"

20 months governor of a state with 660,000 people

I too, agree.

Think about it.

So far it looks great. I will be emailing it over to our pack trainer, she tends to keep requirements for a lot of "off the books" awards. By that I mean non-BSA, you know what I mean.

Anyway, has Nations and Trails stopped the Heritage award? I'm just curious, as my son earned it last year.

I like that your award has multiple parts. I also like the being able to add to your ribbon. I like that you can focus on one part per cub year, and while possibly adding in some electives to build upon previous years.

Great Job!

~Pixie

Just what I try to keep in ,mind everytime I ask "what am I doing?"

Great article!

Simply awesome.

For Him.

For His Son.

For His Grandson.

Simply awesome.

I do not have figure to go by, the only thing that I can say is if you are going to have some that don't acctually sign, it is more than likely going to be in the Tiger group, since parents have to acctually be with their child.

I know, go figure.

~Pixie

"What can you do with some like this?"

The best that you can do, if you are willing to take it on, is to become the cc, so that you can be the authority. I understand that others look to him when he spouts off that cc is unneccissary. You have to find one other person, like the current cm, and get him on your side ahead of time. Aproach him in a "I'm trying to help lighten your load" type of way. When you address the committee, let them know that you are not just suggesting that they need this position, but that you are also willing to accept the responsibility. Having been an ADL for Webelos, and a Tiger DL (now Wolf), it sounds like you are much more needed as cc right now.

Change can only happen from within, so it sounds like you have to get in to start the ball rolling.

good Luck

~Pixie

There are a million things, what were you kind of thinking, more crafts, or more physical activities, or what?

Some ideas:

You could have them make small catapults and launch things like marshmellows, see who can go farthest, which cscrews up and goes shortest. You could see if you can do it accurately by launching the marshmellow to knock something like empty cans down, lots of things you can do with launching something!

A couple of years ago this was the theme for our Mom and me, and they bought blank cardboard 'shields' from oriental trading's Hands on Fun catalog, and the boys made their own coats of arms on them. They also had templets available for the boys to use on their coats of arms. I have seen leather like bracelets also in that catalog that we colored or decorated with markers. The boys also used pvc pipe and foam pipe covering to make swords with that they used all weekend. They also used pvc notched st the ends with twine strung like a bow, and used dowels for arrows, making bow and arrows.

You could come up with an obstacle course that all good knights should be able to get through before being knighted. They could make their own family flags.

Let us know if you have some specific areas, I'm sure we can come up with more!

Have fun!

~Pixie

Pack 15:

I think that you couldn't get any better advice than radinemright gave, with the addition of having some bike repair instruction thrown in for electives as so many have mentioned. I too wish that something like this were available here in Michigan!

Good Luck!

Ha ha ha....

OMG Wingnut, you don't know how much I thought about that during the presentation!!! It's been 2 years, and I swear I still think about how bad it could have been!!! When we did the presentation, everyone only knew about the firemen portion, the dogs were a last minute surprise.

Could've been a BIG surprise!

~Pixie

Hi!

I am just starting the Wolf year, so I know what you mean about teaching the Tigers the Bobcat requirements. In general I think that it is good, because I think even the youngest need to know the same specifics. I think that the requirement should be that they earn Bobcat BEFORE Tiger (or any other rank), but I do think that they should be able to earn their Tiger paw and progress beads concurrently with earning their Bobcat. I think that the two things (Bobcat and rank progress) are very different from each other, and have no bearing on each other.

On a side note, what I did with my Tigers was repetition, repetition, repetition. I found that the promise came realatively easy, maybe because it kind of has a rhythm to it. I found the Law of the Pack a little more difficult. How I did it with my boys was this:

I showed by boys how your four fingers look different with the middle one being longer than the others. I started the law on the pinky finger, working towards the pointer finger. On the pinky is the line "the Cub Scout follows Akela", the ring finger is "The Cub Scout helps the pack go". The middle finger is the only line that does not start with 'the cub scout' that is why it is different. The middle finger is "The pack helps the cub scout grow", also we drew out the word "Grow" to differentiate it from "go". The the last line is the pointer finger with "the cub scout gives goodwill".

Having the fingers to look at when saying the law gave them some where to start, and tended to remind them.

It is tough, but they'll get it!

Good luck!

~Pixie

We did a K9 unit presentation, they were totally into it, and 2 years later still remember the names of the dogs that visited. Ours was done in conjunction with a fireman presentation, but the dogs took the show. The handlers showed how they are trained, how they can sniff out things that they are looking for (like people), and how they can find things that are hidden (like drugs). The officers even handed out cards that were like baseball cards that had the dogs pictures and stats on them. It was awesome, and we are thinking of trying to get it together again.

~Pixie

John in KC:

Thanks for all of those links!! I am not a new leader, and have done as much training as I can get in, but I love getting new links that I can peruse at my 3:00 am leisure!

;-)

~Pixie

The point that most everyone is trying to make is that "good" is the subjective part of the "good attendance" requirement. In cub scouts, when something is subjective the RULE of "Do Your Best" applies. As we all have stated one childs best and another childs best are not the same, and this also applies to attendance. Everyone has stated circumstances, real and hypothetical, that have made your arbitrary definition of good attendance seem, well, arbitrary.

Your job as DL is to guide the boys through a program that teaches them many valuable skills and lessons. This program has been put in place for a very long time. There is a reason the program is subjective in many areas, because it lends itself to ALL boys of ALL backgrounds to be able to have a level playing field. The playing field is set by them alone, by doing THEIR BEST. The playing field is not set by one person with an agenda of being the authority that everyone will obey or else.

This is not a military academy. It is unconscionable to me that your goal in Cub Scouts is to rule with an iron fist, and show boys that there is no room for growth and development in life, if you don't get it right, right now, too bad for you, you are out of luck. When I look at the boy from my den who had a pretty crappy time of it at home, I knew that if I punished him for his spotty attendance, that was due to no fault of his own,that I would just be another adult in a long line of adults who let him down, and made him feel unworthy. He did HIS best to come to Scouts. Not his Dad's best to come to Scouts.

If you are running a quality program, then attendance issues will only be due to no fault of the boy. Punishing the boy for no fault of his own, is not what Scouts is for.

Pack15:

Unfortunatly, I think you have set up too many hypotheticals in one post!LOL

First, the hypothetical of badge requirements. Those requirements are there in black and white, swim 100 ft, check off the requirement, don't, then don't. Pick a different requirement, or don't earn the badge, that simple. Or, as someone suggested, maybe they just don't earn the badge RIGHT NOW, and they practice, and come back to that requirement. All fine, all doable.

Something where you are earning a "fun patch" like wood burning, those are all given by you through your requirements anyway, so "Do Your Best" certainly covers a wide range of Wood Burning activity.

The problem comes with your original hypothetical of participation. Participation does not have black and white drawn out details. It does not say "attend 75% of den meetings, and one outing per month" if it did, again we would not have a problem! The way I look at participation is this: If the BOY is doing his best to be everywhere he can be, then participation is there. That boy may not earn every badge, or patch as the others, and he will probably have to make up a lot on his own or on hbis own time, and bring proof of making it up to you, but that is the price he will pay. He should never have to pay the oprice of not getting rank or AOL because of attendance, not due to him. If the same bot has spotty attendance because he personally forgets to come, or because he just doesn't fell like it, or he begs his mom to let him blow off, then that is his choice, and participation has not been met. To me, that is obvious, it comes down to who is responsible for the absence.

For me this situation is more than a hypothetical, it is a situation that we just had in my last Webelo den (they bridged this last Feb.). We had 2 different boys with two totally different situations. The first boy: our meeting were right after school, and he would "accidentily" get on the bus after school. Or he would cry and complain the night before and beg his mom to not make him go to scouts. He quit after the first year of Webelo's, and frankly, no one was surprised, and everyone wondered what took him so long. When he was in meetings we did not treat him any differently, but he of course had things to make up, and that just made it worse for him (in his mind). He also hated participating in the meetings he attended. Al oy of "this is stupid" or "pass" when asked a direct question. He didn't want to play when we did an outdoor sport game. He seldom added anything if we were 'making a list' of something. He clearly did not want to be there.

Boy #2: Came from a single parent household. The parent was a Dad, and this is not to sound biased, but Dad's somethimes aren't always on top of things! Also, this scout was in Hockey, of which Dad was the coach. Dad wanted son to do Scouts, and was excited about it, but the bottom line was Hockey was more important. Kid also spent major holiday breaks (and usually an extra week or two) in a different state with Mom. Scout missed many meetings, and most other outings that were held at non meeting times. However, when he was at meetings, ha was attentive, he actively participated, heck he was the only kid (including my own) who took notes! He always tried to add to the group discussions, and he worked hard to make up what he missed. now, all of the other boys in our den earned their "Super Achiever" by earning all 20 badges. He did not. He was diligently working down to the last minute to finish his AOL requirements. Honestly, I think he earned Webelo Rank in September (first month of Webelo II year), after the other boys had earned theirs the previous February (Blue and Gold of first year). But, I would have fought to the death with anyone who thought that he should not earn these awards due to lack of participation! When he was not in attendance, it was NOT his doing! When he was in attendance, he did HIS best!

Now, I am concerned that you do sound like you are working up for a fight that may or may not be there, unless you already feel that there were some participation issues in the past. I would think that the "issue" of participation is very unlikely to come up, unless you have a specific situation, that like my first scout will probably resolve itself. I hope you will not be looking for something that is not there.

Like many things, it will be obvious what the right answer is.

~Pixie

Hi!

I have put on two pretty successful rocket derbys for my pack. We started it last year as one of our summer time activities, in combination with a family style picnic. First, I recommend going to this website for a ton of details on making rockets, and running a derby: http://wwong.homestead.com/rockets.html

The creator of the site was featured in Scouting magazine a couple of years ago, and that is what gave my pack the idea for it.

Next, I have done the rockets both ways, made at the event, and created at home. Either way, I provided all of the materials. When we had them assemble them at the event, it took a long time, and they were not decorated as well, of course. We were very surprised to see how different they came in when they had the opportunity to do them at home. We made the rockets that use a 20 oz pop (soda) bottle, and a paper tube. You will have to get all of these materials ahead of time, package them individually, and give them out to each scout to be assembled at home. Whether you assemble them at home or at the event, I suggest you have the scout provide his own bottle, and you predetermine which kind of bottle they have to use. They should provide their own because it is almost impossible to get the quantity of the same bottle that you will need. You will need to determine which bottle fits best on your launcher, which is what will determine the bottle used. For example, our launcher fits 20 oz. Coke bottles. Diet Coke also worked, but Coke zero did not. Neither did any other brand (such as Pepsi and what not). We use a launcher purchased on the internet for about $75. The launcer builder is refrenced in the above site. We had a few Dad's who were able to build a rudimentry launcher, but nothing that could acctually with stand the pressure needed if you really want a decent launch ( by the way, I'm married to a mechanical engineer).

This is a quick crash course. You can message me if you have any more questions.

Good Luck!!

~Pixie