qwazse

I think your boys are on to something. They seem to be a clever lot, so ask them what behaviors they would consider: 1. rude 2. immoral 3. plain stupid 4. just lame Persuant to a discussion our troop had this weekend, you might want to toss in "I promise to never pick on an adult leader's playlist until I've listened to the artists he selected."

Bd and bd, Thanks for those opinions. I never thought that question would wrankle anyone. (I treat it as more like the scouting equivalent of "What's your major?"). I don't think our troup treats W-I's and W-II's any differently, but I'll have to look at that the next time we host some cubs. I agree a solid friendship with a scout means the world to a cub (and his parents). It does not always transfer into sucessful recruitment, but it's a good idea on principle alone.

He also heads up a shooting team, and I told him I would take up where he cannot. Why not let him lead where his talents are? He can be an ASM and you could ask him to help counsel shooting sports MB's and maybe set up a few venues for your boys to attend and shoot some skeet or whatever. Amplifying on what jts said: just a couple of ASMs like that and your boys will have an active schedule that will be the envy of your district. One more hint with regard to sports. Try to set up events and overnights that are near where your 2 athletes have games. If they know you are trying

SN - it never works out that cleanly. If the trip falls apart because rr won't make the extra effort his CC is requiring, then the entire crew loses the boat fee ($5800) plus whatever airfare is non-refundable. If the crew is willing to pay extra in boat share for a replacement adult to come along. He might be reimbursed. But it would be a mess. Obviously the cheapest solution is to be more flexible with the rules, but if the CC is not budging and the COR upholds his opinion, it's time to figure out the best compromise for all involved. If everyone pitches in another $100, th

Ditto Oak Tree. Indian Rivers was especially accomodating because the hauled my kayak free of charge. They were happy for the other 30 paying customers! Did Backaloons once, which was nice. I definitely prefer the islands.

Sounds like your boys have already told you their opinion. I think this troop has a lot going for it. You listed at least four adults who are on the roster. You may have more in your corner than you realize. (What about the former SMs' sons and other boys who graduated from the troop? Any of them ASM material?) Get a hold of a roster and get your COR and institutional head thinking about this. You have one patrol. The boys are not missing out on the patrol experience. As long as the adults keep their distance and let them operate, they'll be fine. You don't want them to get so

NJ It looks very scientific with a lot of equations and stuff, so I am going to let those of you who read that sort of thing read it and tell the rest of us what it really says. Well, I usually charge big bucks for this sort of thing but for you guys ... The study is as much about applying the "latest-and-greatest" innovations in statistics as it is about the impact of divorce. You see, there are plenty of projects looking at larger #s of kids that show divorce puts kids at a unique disadvantage (more than other causes of single parenthood), but each of those have disadvantages. Pr

SP - Our 5th graders are elementary. 6th are middle school (which shares a building with the high school). DE's have had lackluster results compared to one of our own MC's and a couple boys (who wouldn't mind ducking out of their High School) to pay a visit.

My son and I heard this one on the way to a troop meeting. A rose by any other name ...

Y'all are making me real excited about filling out my TP. Two youth are departing on their own (19 y.o. male and 17 y.o. female) for the first leg of the trip! Start throwing stones my way. Rra has taken enough knocks.

Well, regardless of religion, most folks in our country really worship self more than God. Since the scripture is only something we go to when death is imminent, "burying" self becomes the greater sin. You can tell this by CCb's mockery of the harsh rules in Dueteronomy. We would never consider an engaged person's promiscuity to be an act of treason. Why shouldn't she be free to cater to herself? In fact, it is the American objective to make sure the entire world lives as selfishly as possible. (This was a subplot of Outsource.) Granted, I'm in no position to throw stones, so I don't a

This weekend, I did something a little different. I used the telescope to project an image of the sun onto paper (NEVER LOOK AT The Sun DIRECTLY THROUGH A TELESCOPE OR BINOCULARS.) I introduced the boys to counting sun spots.

1. Yes 2. We provide den chiefs and invite webelo's from our pack and feeder pack to meetings/activities we think they may enjoy. Success ranges from 100% to 0% depending on the year. 3. We used to just focus on the Pack our CO supports. 4. Even with have a feeder pack, sooner or later that transition will fail. (E.g., this year they all went to a new troop starting nearby.) We try to do a presentation to 6th graders at the local public school. We encourage scouts to think about their friends who may like this stuff, and invite them to a meeting. (BTW, the boys do this with no thought

Looking to load the scope for tonight's campout. I don't bother counseling the MB. Like Frank17 says, there are far more qualified folks in our community who can teach it. And I'd rather the boys make an effort to see these good people and get a solid set of lessons. I just tell the kids to line up east to west in chairs or on the ground with their heads pointed north. The older scouts help the younger ones find Polaris. Then we point out what can be seen. (And what could be seen if our eyes could see infra-red and ultraviolet, or if the atmosphere weren't in the way.) We ta

As only 5 nights of resident camping are allowed, I would count either 5 nights as counselor, or CIT, at summer camp, or 5 nights as a camper with the Troop at summer camp, not both, and not for the entire summer. That's for the first 25 nights. Would you count them for the additional 25 toward their gold device(s)? I'd be inclined to say yes.

One topic that leaders from all units found interesting was Tax Deductions for Volunteers. Our commish brought in an accountant from a reputable firm and walked through expense that we could deduct and how to report them. This may not amount to much for cub leaders, but I think many of them found it nice to know that as things become a little more expensive, some of it may be honored as charity.

I think the triple crown award should still be given -- just award it for any three of the four. Sure, it may make it a little easier to earn it, but that's only because the chances of one of the bases being close to home are higher. Regardless, I'll bet there'll be a patch redesign. I'd be proud to see them add either a red-tail hawk or turkey vulture.(This message has been edited by qwazse)

Spj, tech jargon entering common paralance is an A-Okay evolution of the English language. No need to consider it a snafu! I read a NY Times article saying that FB statuses actually have a positive effect on coherent writing. I've observed this effect in some of my youth. They make a statement, their friends point out flaws in logic. They correct it. A counter-arguement is posted. They revise the thesis. And so on ... All of this without the aid of a teacher. On the other hand, unless the kid makes errors that lead to misinterpretation, writing FB statuses does nothing to

NJ whoever referred to JASM's as being in a patrol... I don't think they are supposed to be in a patrol. Find me chapter and verse and I'll run screaming to our SM to boot those JASMs out of their respective patrols ASAP. Until then I'll quote you under my "Don't ask someone for a rule, they'll make one up for you." theory.

It's a boy scout award IMHO, it's not mentioned as an award available for cubs YHO doesn't matter. Either the official regs state the award is exclusive to troops or it does not. If you have a cub who's racked up 100 nights camping, give him the award for crying out loud! That said, I wouldn't go out of my way to punch cub camp in the troopmaster.

Apparently your son has never gone camping with me. Rain clouds save the dates months in advance of any trip I'm on! Notebooks, two zip-lock bags, some grease pencils/crayons. There, you waterproofed it. Fact is, water resitant paper is pretty cool, and Geocachers can find themselves in some serious messes. I've tried all kinds of water resistant gear. So far those zip-locks have been my best friend. I think the same applies to most geologists.

Nope, the more I think on it, with both time needed to do something and the fact you have no patrol groups to do it with, TLT just doesn't lend itself to this type of training.. [insert Kudu's management training rant here.] I'm sorry, I did not realize we were thinking TLT as an evening course. If that is the case, I would suggest the following: Assign boys to patrols as they enter the room. Direct them to their patrol table where there are the fixings (markers cloth, whatever) for making a flag. Signs up. Pledge oath law. SPL announces: you have 5 minutes to come up with a

I support Cub scouting being coed. Not dumbing down the program or changing it for girls, then it would be Girls Scouts and that is not what most girls want. The GS in my crew rarely quit their troop. So I wouldn't expect any real bump in numbers in the general population. A good GS/brownie troop has as much draw as a good CS pack. On the other hand, when there are some CO's that only have resources for one unit, they'll pick one that can draw both sexes and have parents combine efforts. And in some cultures within our country, families insists on that sort of thing (e.g., the "s

Most hikes work better in patrols. If you have a number of trails at your facility, have a morning hike that involves the whole troop. Have afternoon hikes where each patrol is assigned to a different trail. Have the boys evaluate which went faster/covered more distance.

I have known many muslims who have been blessed (their words, not mine) by Christian endeavors. One of them was a couple whose son was in cub scouts. This particular couple, having a high regard for Christians, would expect you to act, well, Christian toward their children. They understood the differences in religion, but in no way thought Allah and God were two different beings. So, don't bother changing one word in an English oath to make it "politically correct." If the boy wound up at a church service (scout Sunday, for instance), you'd make it clear that he didn't have to sing/say