raisinemright

Brent, Do you find the boys do OK with a smaller tent? I use my halfdome most of the time and while I really like it, it is very small. I wonder if the small size would prevent stuff from getting thrown all around, as some boys tend to do. Since your tents are personally owned, how do you handle damage by a tentmate?

OK Scouters, I need your years of wisdom. Our troop needs to replace our fleet of tents. Chronic zipper problems have rendered ours nearly unuseable. Me and another ASM have been given the dubious honor of researching the options. I'm a long time tent camper with more tents at home than people so I've got some idea what features are good and what are not, but given the great amount of stored wisom on this board, I yearn for your input. Of course, cost is a big concern, but so is ease of set-up/take-down as well as reliability when subjected to normal scout abuse. Have at it

Actually, smoking at camp should be encouraged. It may give the boys some opportunities they never had. (sarcasm) At SM outdoor training, someone was apparently sneaking a quick smoke and started a small grass fire. It was pretty funny watching 50 scout leaders tripping over each other to put out the fire. Personally I don't smoke but to me the idea of 4-5 leaders sitting around a fire puffing on cigars after a great day sounds kind of nice.

I've never done Cub Scout resident camp (this year will be the first time) but day camp is best described as "three days of chasing the Little rascals around." Success is best achieved when they fall asleep on the ride home. Real success is if you have several scouts and they all fall asleep on the way home. Scout camps tens to be fairly tightly scheduled, but there is some specified downtime. Some activities are less intense that others too. The key is to put yourself in the kids shoes, act like big kids and have fun.

I'm keeping this list. I picked up some sort of fungus at a mountain man reenactor show. One spark gets is started and it's hard to put out. I haven't tried it on a fire yet, but I did smoke out my bedroom when I thought it was out and was still smoldering. (Luckily, my wife puts up with me.)

I like the idea of marking the car, but defacing the entire car with a saw cut is kind of extreme. Perhaps a braning iron could be made or bought that marks the car on the bottom as having passed inspection.

Our kids go to any number of different churches. Some of them just wear their uniform, other churches take a few minutes to recognize scouting and the accomplishments of the boys. I think we're going to skip the patches this year though. Sometimes they are really good, but this year, they've gone with a many paths to God theme, which goes against the theology of most of our families.

We got back Saturday from our winter Experience in Michigan. Friday never crested zero F and was around -5F overnight. Saturday was actually quite pleasant topping out around 20F. 6 inches of fresh snow fell through the day. The boys had a blast with no complaints. A couple had cold feet due to cotton socks (hmmmm, did they actually learn their lesson) and one had worn out insulation free gloves. One of them thought he had polypro official scout socks, but they were the cotton ones. I woke up around 4am and thought about doing a tent check but couldn't bring myself to get

Our Klondike is tonight in Michigan. It's -5F last time I checked but is expected to warm up a bit with a low of around 0 by tonight. Teh Scouts are prepped and ready for anything. I've packed a few extra fleeces and blankets in case anyone needs some extra insulation but I think it's gonna be cold but fun. I've prepared a scoutmaster minute at the end: "We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shirking the rough work that must always be done." Theodore Roosevelt

I would, but I'm only around one more year then my son ages out. We're working diligently on transerrring our responsibilities and knowledge to younger guys.

Nearly all the boys who have moved in to Boy Scouts are in our troop and he's the CC. I've thought about gear and some sort of real nice plaque.

Our Cubmaster has been in place for 9 of the 10 years our pack has existed. His youngest son will be crossing over this March so he's gonna be gone. I'd like for the pack to honor him with a special gift at B&G but haven't had any great ideas. We traditionally get a hiking staff for any leaders who age out, but given his years of dedication, I think something more substantial is in order. Somewhare in the $50-100 range would be good. I would like to ask for some assistance from the years of wisdom on this board. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

While there are definite correlations to the prodigal son, I must disagreee with BW and PS. This isn't a boy scout who abandoned his POR so he could play basketball, it is a Den Leader who is responsible to lead and mentor a bunch of Cub Scouts. If you study the prodigal son parable, you'll note that the son did receive gifts from his father upon his return including a coat, ring and a party complete witht eh reguisite fatted calf, however, you also note by it's ommission that he was not restored to the father's will. All the father had remaining would be going to his other son. The co

You just got sucked in to the vortex. I mad ethe mistake of suggesting a camp module to our DE. Guess what? I'm on the planning team. After noticing that many of the cubs and lots of parents don't really know proper flag etiquette, like shutting up when the flag is being raised, I suggested that we do some scout skills stuff, flags, fire building and a little bit of the cool stuff. Due to a scheduling conflict, my kid won't be going to day camp this year, but I'll be there.

I've taught my scouts and my kids that if someone ever tries any bad stuff with them like abuse or abduction, everything we ever taught them about fighting fair goes right out the window. Even if they just suspect a problem, their job is to punch, kick, scream, pull hair, gouge eyeballs, poke with a stick, bite(hard) and anything else they can do to get safe. If it was a mistake, the perpetrator of the mistake will learn the right way to get a kids attention and I'll take care of the repercussions later. I knew a guy once who was intervening when his kid was getting beat up by the local

I've been concerned about this. Our numbers are a little bit down since several families moved out of town over the summer, but we did add several new cubs so we're almost even. Popcorn was excellent this year, I think our 2nd best year ever. That gives us some breathing room. I'm going to propose at our next committee meeting that we refund registration fees for any families who become unemployed upon request. Being in Michigan, since it's been so dismal for so long, it's easy for us to imagine that the entire country is in the same condition, but it is not, although it's togh al

We tend to go a little over the top on Derby day. We have a four lane track with computerized scoring, broadcast on a movie screen. We also have a camera on the track to broadcast the race as well as a stop action camera that shows the photo finish. The Cubmaster made a car with a cordless spy camera on it so we also run an in car camera on some races. At the least, try to get an electronic finish line. When cars are closely matched, it's hard to determine a winner. We once had to run the final race about ten times before a clear winner was established cause they were so close.

Just got back yesterday from a winter trip. We had the Troop and a bunch of Webelo's so we did rent a cabin. A few boys slept outside. I brought my tent but never got around to setting it up. The weather was teens and twenties but the guys spent a great deal of time outdoors. Me and my two boys (2c and W1) went to the camp Friday afternoon so my son could plot out an orienteering course for his MB. On Saturday, about 30 boys and a few dad's honed their compass skills and were out for several hours. Since htey were moving along, no one complained except one of the dad's who wasn't

Just thought of a couple other things. Practice setting up camp with gloves on. Even doing it indoors helps. Our troop bought a whole bunch of tents that suffer from an atrocious design and suffer chronic zipper problems. Make sure to take tents that don't have problems and check them beforehand. A fire is not a great idea for warmth, but it does lift the spirits and presents a great gathering place. As a leader, keep your spirits high and pass on the right attitude. Make sure your ASM's. SPL and PL's do the same, no matter the circumstances.

CA, you forgot to mention anything about cotton.

I helped run a municipal ski club for about 30 years. Every Friday night, we'd take about 100 kids about 50 miles to a local ski hill. One policy we developed that we would not break in any way shape or form was that parents could not pick their kids up at the ski hill without a written request turned in before we left the city. It was for the express reason of protecting against a non-custodial parent from possibly taking a kid while in our supervision. We had one memorable argument where a father was picking up his kid to continue up north for a weekend trip. While we had no reason t

I've gone out in winter a few times and had lots of fun and I think learned a bit. I like to have a mylar emergency blanket. I wrap up in it inside my sleeping bag. Wear a knit hat to bed Always change clothes before bedding down. My feet tend to get real cold so I bought some North Face down tent booties (down slippers) and am now nice and toasty. Take a snow shovel Jam water bottles down into the snow to prevent them from freezing If you're using a dining fly, get sides for it. We got some last year and it stays very warm inside. NO COTTON. Repeat 15 times. A 0 degree

ASM411, Keep an eye on your state firewood rules. Since the Emerald Ash Borer seems to be everywhere, Michigan just removed the firewood restrictions in the lower peninsula. They don't encourage it but it's no longer illegal to transport firewood. Maybe Ohio will follow.

That could actually be a difficult task for some boys. $2.00 in 1911 is worth about $50.00 today. However, wages were far lower. In 1914, Ford introduced $5.00 a day wages which was double to previous rate of $2.40 a day. So in essence, for a first class Scout to earn $2.00, it was the same as earning a full day's pay for a grown man. For someone earning $50,000 a year now, it would be the equivalent of $200. That is quite an accomplishment for a young lad of 13.

I've been hearing that most newer public pools feature zero entry which means the concrete comes up tot eh edge like a beach. These pools are rarely over four feet deep which means that most kids never, ever go in water over their heads. If they do fall off a pier or a boat, it's all over. My wife and I firmly believe that one of the highlights of scouting is the necessity to learn to swim. My son refused to learn to swim until he finally came to the realization that he would go no further than Tenderfoot unless he did learn. He finally allowed me to toss him in over his head and he q