raisinemright

Greetings. It's a pleasure to have you on the board and we look forward to learning about your scouting experiences. My boys and I had the honor to meet a young man in Washington DC who was the official scouting ambassador from Indonesia. He was living in the US but remained active as a scout and reported back to his country through a weekly radio broadcast about scouting in the United States. He told us that scouting is very popular in that area so I imagine you have a lot to share.

Pixiewife, Great report. Congratulations to your son and husband for making it a great trip. It sounds like it worked out perfectly for everyone. I think we can adjust your closing line that you lifted. We all love this Scouting stuff.

So Pixiewife, How was the campout for your boys?

I just got back from ours. Time to decompress. We had about 35 scout cars and 25 or so open class. We go a little bit over the top with slow-mo camera's on the big screen adn a car with a wireless spy cam on it for a view from the track, just like NASCAR. Couldn't do it without a computer and electronic scoring tower. We sell raffle tickets for a bunch of prizes and stuff. We also raffled off a couple BB guns (to the parents). We went about 2 1/2 hours. We had a snack bar set up with plenty of snacks too. To be honest, we've never had any real complaints, but we keep it loud, boisterous and fun.

I'm sorry, but I really have to question the logic of a hard sided plastic Rubbermaid container. Unless they are all identical in size, it's going to be far harder to fit them together in the trailer, not to mention the wasted air space in each and every one. Soft sided duffell bags can be strategically placed in a luggage hold and can also be crammed toegether if necessary and made to fit. I'm guessing someone came up with an untested idea.

Pixiewife, Let the games begin. I'm in Mighigan too and just did a winter overnighter in similar conditions. I don't have too much to add, but you may consider polypropylene sock liners to give a little more heat. Also be sure to have him pack at least 2-3 pair of gloves in case they get wet. A silver foil emergency blanket seems to work OK under the foam mat to reflect some heat. Walmart has Starter brand polypropylene shirts for about $9.00, both kids and adults. I'd get them each one or two. If your husband's not a camper be sure to give him lots of credit for pulling off a winter campout. If he's as well prepared as your son, they'll both have a great time.

My wife just about choked me when I dropped $40 on a pair of pants for an 11 year old, then told him to wear them on our backpack merit badge trips. She's completely changed her tune though. They hold up great. 2 weeks ago, he tripped in the parking lot at the troop meeting during a snowball fight and bloodied his knee up. He didn't even scuff the pants. Problem is that the little brat keeps growing so I gotta buy another pair soon.

I want to thank everyone for the advice. Our committee meeting is tonight. Unfortunatley, the parents who started the whole kerfluffle aren't going to attend even though they were personally invited several times. But we'll be discussing our options and will hopefully come to a conclusion that is amenable to all. I especially liked the idea of doing the crossover and AOL for the scout at the next Court of Honor. It will be within the next month and we're using our own OA guys to do the AOL ceremony so they can redo it for him. Thanks again. To misquote one of the scouter.com guys "I love this scouting stuff...sometimes."

Beavah's got it. I just started backpacking with my son and the troop so I've been doing a lot of research and a little bit of trial and error. Skip the extra stuff. Be sure to do a full packout a couple days before hte trip and remove any extraneous stuff. Also, look for redundancies. For instance, they don't need a pillow. A jacket of fleece in a stuff sack is real comfy. If two boys are together, they might share some stuff like flashlights, extra gloves, cleaning and cooking supplies. Tents can be split up. Scouts don't really need sleeping pads, although I do cause I'm old and decrepit. Cheap polypropylene shirts (walmart) pack smaller, are lighter and work far better than cotton are invaluable. A lightweight sleeping bag is good too. Takes up little space and is not heavy. Switchback pants are perfect for backpacking. Think about things that can be used for dual purposes. Raincoat and windbreaker. A water bottle can be use as a cup, although I prefer both. A scout should always have a first aid/survival kit, but it can be minimized. A silver emergency blanket can be a sleeping bag liner or tent groundcloth. Small pocket knife is a good bet. Check out backpacking sites on line. backpacker.com is good and google backpacking 101

Moderator, Please move this to the Cub Scout Forum. Sorry for the mistake.

Friends, I need your sage advice and wisdom. First to set up a scenario. Our Blue and Gold has traditionally been planned by the WII families and they are given a decent amount of latitude. However, what they planned did not fit in with our written pack guidelines so we asked them to go back to the drawing board. They had not even gotten a location until just a few weeks ago, nor had a firm date for the event, which is now about a month away. Two weeks ago, one of the WII families told me that they had another activity the day of the Blue and Gold. I aksed what time it was so that we could shift our schedule around so his son could attend at leastthe AOL and crossover. Their event was all day and into the evening. So I then told him that we could do his ceremonies at a later pack meeting since they would be choosing the other event over scouts. I thought they had agreed to that until I got an e-mail yesterday wondering why we were basically excluding his son. We had announced the date at at least one pack meeting and a couple den meetings a couple months prior. We've invited them to our committee meeting this week. As I see it, our options are limited. -Ask them why the other event is more important than his son's AOL and Crossover. -Reschedule B&G and possibly inconvenience several others who had already locked in the date. -Let it run as scheduled. Obviously this will be a committee decision but I request any advice you may have to offer. You don't need to remind me that we need to plan stuff better. We've already figured that one out.(This message has been edited by Raisinemright)

Cool idea. We got to do that real time a couple years ago during the big power outage. It was interesting hearing some stories. My family handled it well. We didn't lose water but just in case, as soon as the lights dimmed, my wife filled the tub. Plus there's 50 gallons in the hot water tank and maybe ten in the pipes. Then there's my neighbors pool. We wrapped the freezer in sleeping bags, got out the lantern and some sidearms and had a good time. Unless you can get everyone in the neighborhood to play I think you might better off having a fully loaded campout planned at a large cabin and take it off the grid so everyone has to work it out together. Maybe tell one parent from each family and no one else so it has some realism. The refrigerator doesn't have to stay closed but usage must me triaged. Fast spoilers like milk and ice cream should be consumed immediately while meat and cheeses can be removed and smoked or made into jerky to last longer.

Oooh...a new word. videophilia. Well, I guess that makes me videophobic. My family of six has one TV, one VCR, one DVD player, zero X-Box, nintendo etc. no cable, no satellite dish, no TIVO. The neat thing is not one kids has ever asked me to get any of the video trash either.

rjscout, Our pack does a flag retirement at every family campout in August. We usually come up with about 6 flags or so. We do not cut them up, instead, we unfold the flag with one adult or leader at each corner and gradually lower the flag into the fire. After each flag, the Cubmaster asks one of the men to offer a prayer. Each one will pray for a certain topic such as the Pack, our President, Soldiers etc. The last time we did the ceremony, it was night, cooling down and beginning to sprinkle. Among the 50 or so people around the pit, there was perfect silence and attention. Advise your leaders to do the ceremony.

We were in your shoes about 6 months ago. My tenderfoot wanted to work on the BP merit badge. I'm a ASM so I told him we could see if any other boys wanted to backpack as well. We put together a crew of about 6 guys and another dad and then started to amass some gear. That was my first mistake. I keep buying stuff. We were just packing gear today for a short trip we're taking snow camping next weekend. He's going for the year round camping award and can't go on the troop campout next month so he and I are going together, in Michigan in winter. Should be pretty cool Lisabob's advice was good. Go to a qualified outfitter to learn what you need. For a first trip, rental might be a good idea. Key things will be socks, boots, a small packing sleeping bag, raingear etc. He probably doesn't need a full mess kit. A bowl, spoon and cup may be enough. Depending on the weather, he may need a foam sleeping mat. Google can be your friend. Look up backpacking101 and scout backpacking and you'll find more info that you could ever use. Backpacker.com is pretty good too. Walmart is a great source for stuff if you know what you need. Merino wool and polypro socks in hunting and polypro shirts are in the mens and boys section. Cheap. Most important, have fun.

Officially we are chartered under Friends of ###. We are a registered organization but it's made up of solely the families.

Our pack and troop are both self chartered. Reason-We are a pack and troop that are made up of home schooled kids who have no other affinity such as a same church, school etc. Since our kids are made up of several Christian denominations, we didn't want to be hooked to any particular church. Long-Pack will celebrate it's tenth year in September. Troop is 3 years old Changes-Not sure what you mean Size of Committee-Pack has never really had an active committee although we're actively trying to change that. Leaders and any interested parents plan the program. Troop committee is also getting more formalize as our troop has hit a good size. We are geographically diverse with about a 50 mile radius to the extremes so getting together for meetings can be a challenge. Council-Very very good. They are supportive and have referred a few scouts to us who called and mentioned that their kids are home schooled. Sponsor? Adv/Dis-Hard to say. We've never had a CO, so we don't know any different. From reading some posts, most CO's are non-existant anyway. Fundraising for the troop is a challenge since we're all paying our own way and the vast majority of us are single income families with lots of kids. Also a meeting location is hard to get although we think we've found a good one for now. Beyond that, all is pretty good. Typical squabbles and minor personality conflicts but nothing critical or fatal. In all, as long as there is strong, engaged leaders and good families involved, it works well. pm me if you'd like to discuss anymore

Hard but lots of fun. I'm on the second go'round as a Bear leader. Kids are great and families too which helps a lot. Got some cool stuff going on. Keep having fun and trying to keep the little guys engaged. Take some training and go to a University of Scouting if your council offers one.

We're a newer troop (year three) all younger scouts and newer leaders and still trying to get the point across with patrol method-boy led. The inclusion of these 8 boys would add 30% to the troop size.

Cool story. I just passed the link on to the parents of our newest patrol. 8 boys crossed over last March. 6 have been together since Tigers and and all are advancing and doing well. I'd love to see them stay together throughout. When they came to the troop, leadership wanted to split them into the other patrols after a few months. However, their cohesion and dynamic is far better than the rest of the patrols so they will remain together.

We do a family campout every year for Pack and Troop. When we do it at a scout camp, we book a rifle range for BB shooting. Throw in fishing, swimming and plenty of free time for the boys to run, jump and play. This is also a great opportunity for large group belt loop work like Ultimate or Flag Football. Last year, we had everyone bring bikes for a long trail ride although it was very stressful on the ride leader (me) cause we got too strung out with different levels of riders. Since it's a family camp, we generally have family meals with common dessert time. I'd prefer common meals but we had a number of families whining about the selection and the cost. We had the audacity to charge a whopping $8.00 per person for two nights of camping, all activities and meals. They thought that food should have been cheaper but neglected to tell us that they would be bringing their own food and not paying until they got there. A good, well planned campfire is a must with songs, skits and stuff. Our last two years also had a Boy Scout Court of Honor. We generally end the evening with a flag retirement which is new to many of the younger scouts. We try to do some age appropriate outdoor skills training and include plenty of fun

From G2SS Pointing any type of firearm (including paintball or dye) at any individual is unauthorized. Typically that has been interpreted to ban laser tag as well. If that's incorrect, I'd love to know as most of our scouts love laser tag.

I've been under the impression that a parent may not sign off on his own son's book, (even though said parent (me) is ASM) Is that a scout rule?

This is a tough one. However, because htey are brand new and you don't want to turn them off to Scouting or winter camping, I'd be leaning toward telling them that they need to sit this one out, but that there will be a special meeting just for these new guys to help prepare them for campouts, including winter ones. You could have some of the older scouts teach about equipment, layering, wehre to get stuff cheap, food etc. One way out may be to tell the parents that each boy going has spent a great deal of time and money researching and purchasing his special gear. As an example, my son is a tenderfoot, (should get 2nd class in the next few days) we're into camping, he's two months from earning the year round camping award and is well into his backpacking merit badge. They did the winter experience at D-A scout camp last weekend. Even with all the stuff he had, we still needed to get him some special gear for winter camping. To expect a bunch of new crossovers to be able to come up the with the right gear in two weeks is pushing it. I would think the parents would be grateful to not have to scramble so hard for stuff.

Our Troop and Pack are "self-Chartered" by Friends of ###. Our parents are basically our CO and committee. In general it works pretty well and both organizations are strong and growing. The challenge is that we have to find our own meeting places. Troop meets at a church, pack has den meeting throughout the week at leaders homes, and Pack Meeting at a church. We are 100% self funded. Most of our families are funded by a single job and ain't none of us rich, but we make it work well.