raisinemright

Our troop is brand new but we're trying to get them very used to camping. We've done a couple cabins but one was because we were having all the families up for thanksgiving dinner. The council we were in before the family moved had a council award called the Year round camping award. At least one night a month for the year. Scout or personal camping counts. Even though we're no longer in the council, my boys are dutifully sleeping out one night a month. My oldest is almost at 5 consecutive years. Sometimes it's just tenting in the wilderness of the backyard. One month, they almost forgot. The night of the 30th was in the middle of a tropical storm. They slept out. We told them to set up under the carport because the grass was practically floating due to all the rain.

I had a little incident with a municipal youth group I used to help lead. We caught a kid with some pot, disposed of it and set up a meeting with his parents with the intention of letting them handle the punishment, besides being kicked out of the club. The other leader was a cop but the kid didn't know it. He showed up to the meeting in uniform. Seeing the kid's look of utter fear, I had a hard time keeping s straight face.

I should create a special award. My son and another scout, at 13 did a 45 mile backpack trek to complete the MB and the 50 mile cycling trek to complete the MB the same week. Both dad's were along for the ride too, but we're both distance cyclists. For me, it was actually a difficult 50 miles. I fell and cut up my elbow, rode my mountain bike instead of my roadie and we had to go slower.

Our troop just camped there last weekend. I think the tract of land is dead in the middle of the camp and they are just correcting an error from decades ago.

Sounds like a somewhat sticky problem. One thing I do with our troop is the campout always ends at the church we meet at. For instance, tonight, we're meeting at my house. QM is probably loading up his dad's truck right now. Our troop is very strung out geographically. Some of the boys are meeting at my place, some are coming up a little later due to dad's work schedules. One has to leave early (for another scouting deal) Although he won't be around to break camp, his dad said they would be at the church Sunday to clean up. (his idea) Our SPL is missing this trip. The young man is just not doing his job. It's the second campout he's missed in only nine years of scouts including Cubs. He's my kid so I think I'm going to give it to him pretty good at our next troop meeting for blowing us off. In response to the e-mail. Unfortunately, stuff happens. Although "adaptable" is not one of the 12 points, Helpful, Trustworthy, Loyal and Kind are all appropriate to the situation. THe gear needed to be cleaned and organized so the scouts, being trustworthy and loyal to each other and troop, decided to be kind and help the troop instead of doing the fun stuff all the time.

Basement, at the heart, it is their project. The Scout. So he should be responsible for and have the right to finance it as he and his beneficiary desires the well being of his crew. On a hot, all day work project, it's only right that a lunch be provided. By the scout because it's his project, not mine. I think Lisabob had the best point. We cannot continue to make scouting the playground of the well off. I agree that this is not a major league issue, but I also believe that it is a Council adding to a requirement and that is major.

Sorry my friend but to me, it's a big deal. To the scout families I know in several states, it's a significant expense.

Eagle, Thus the question. Their policy is contradictory to the guide in several areas. That goes against adding or subtracting regulations and is incorrect. If other councils recommend and allow it, there is no reason this one should not.

Friends, I want to thank you for all the great advice. As clarification, the question strictly had to do with feeding the crew on work day. Lunch, snacks etc. as a legitimate project expense. A post project party was something I had never thought of and would not pursue such an idea as a fundraising expense, unless suggested by the beneficiary. Beavah, in principle I agree with ye that it should be the scout who fights this battle. However, the policy was laid down by someone empowered to speak for district. There were nearly 200 people in the room. As such, this is an adult conversation that needs to occur. Thanks again y'all.

Thanks, I want to be able to make my case before I bring this to the attention of the district advancement chair, who's also the guy who ran the meeting.

I've got a question for all those more knowledgeable than me. I'm a relatively new SM with a brand new troop. We've got one Life scout who happens to be my son and is going to begin planning for his Eagle Service Project soon. We were at a Life to Eagle seminar where they reviewed the new system. During the fundraising, we were told that money raised could not be used to provide food or anything to the crew. Any food costs are to be borne by the candidates parents because "25 pizzas isn't that much" for the parents to provide. I disagree with that. In my less than humble opinion, part of running a volunteer crew is keeping them happy and sometimes that means feeding them. I've been over the fundraising sections of the advancement guide and the new Eagle project workbook and can find no reference to this "rule." The Eagle workbook asks "how was your team fed?" I talked to a friend in another council who's son just completed his project and they were told to absolutely budget food costs. Can y'all help me out? Thanks

You're right to be proud. I often share one of the benefits of popcorn is getting boys out of their comfort zone. When my oldest son was a Tiger, we wnt to sell popcorn at a store. He was afraid to talk to anyone, but a Webelos Scout literally put his arm around his shoulder and siad, C'mon, I'm going to teach you how to sell popcorn. Fast forward a few years and I have an SPL who is confident in front of a crowd. He just gave his 5-minute speech for Commo MB last week (OK, 8.5 minutes) on Winter Camping. Although he's in front of scouts every week, it was his first formal speech and he did very well. My other son is a PL and I expect similar from him as he progresses. Scouts offers each and every boy a chance to excell. Sometimes at stuff he's not good at.

All I can add is to go over the top with fun. We had one memorable pack meeting where it was so good, I was deeply worried that we'd never hit that pinnacle again. Fortunately, the next two meetings were Derby and Blue and Gold. Make award time extra special. We often tried to give the awards in unique ways. Once, I taped them to foam arrows and shot them in the direction of the scouts. Try to keep the den meetings fun. Again, go over the top. Invite people in. A friend who's on SWAT came in full gear, including M-4 submachine gun to talk to the boys about law enforcement. Aim high when inviting guests. For Boy Scouts I've had a Federal Judge and State Senator over. The worst they can do is say no when you ask. Lastly, be ready to handle the inevitable personal conflicts. More often it's with the parents not the kids. Confront it head on and get it over with. Oh, Have FUN

Eamonn, Your comment about female den leaders reminded me of something I saw last year. for the record, I'm a SM with two boys in the troop, one almost 1C and the other Life. I quit at Webelos because no one in our pack even mentioned Boy Scouts. I literally knew nothing about anything beyond Cubs. Man did I miss out. Anyway, about 18 months ago, we were at a council wide 100th anniversary campout and I was walking on the midway. There was an old, I mean old lady at one of the booths. Just then, a Cub leader and his son walked up and recognized the old lady. She was his den leader way back when. That was pretty cool to see their reunion and that he was continuing her legacy in scouts.

Fred, You're right, the good SM's do bend over backward when they can. In our case, my family had to move out of state one week before my son's POR was complete to earn Life Scout rank. In reality, he has had a POR since scout rank, either PL, APL, or ASPL. I called and explained the deal to the SM and asked if they could break tradition and do his SMC and BOR the same day. I would then go to our new Council when we registered and get his rank badge after we moved. My other son was conicidentally in the same boat with Tenderfoot. He was newer to the troop and we weren't all that concerned about his because it wasn't one of the big ranks. Instead, they pulled some strings and made a special trip to Council and had their SMC, BOR and badge presentation/COH all the same night. I wish I could have been there but I had already moved. To answer the OP, as a good SM, you do whatever you can to make it happen. Done.

Somewhat OT, but I've found that a food vacuum sealer works great for re-packing the mylar emergency blankets. RE: the shovel, My most novel use was to cook bacon and eggs over a fire with mine. Should have cleaned it better though. THe eggs were a tad crunchy

Fred, Reminds me of last week. We have a boy in our troop who is very, very shy and an only child. He joined a few months ago and has been working up the nerve to camp. His dad has been trying to foster more independence and has come along on many outings. THe scout missed summer camp because of a previous commitment but came for some of the evening activities. He came to a cabin campout last weekend and his dad told me that he (dad) would be leaving and the scout would stay. I just laughed and said "so why are you still here? Leave already." It worked out great and I've got a committment to go winter tent camping next month.

I agree 100%. Lead by walking behind. Got my fix this weekend. We did a cabin camput but I pitched my tent. I snore real bad and wanted my boys and my ASM's to get a good nights sleep, plus I wanted to try out a new insulated air mattress. Got down in the low 20's. We did some geocaching, cooked up a trash can turkey, had all the families to the cabin for a potluck and had a COH. All in all, a near perfect weekend.

The days of getting a bunch of people together and building a few cabins to call it a camp are long gone. I'm involved with a Christian camp that has been building a new year round retreat center. The facility is designed to sleep 40 or so with a kitchen and common area. While much of the labor is volunteer and doneas the money comes in, it's been a 3 year project for just phase 1. The codes and inspections are killers. They had to put in a new 10 or 20,000 gallon holding tank for the fire supression system, a septic system that will handles a small army, a full commercial kitchen etc. etc..etc. This is for a building that will be used mostly on weekends only. It's pushing 7 figures for one building. Multiply that by the infrastructure a brand new full blown camp needs and you can see the cost.

As home schoolers, we've gone th eopposite direction. Merit badge becomes the curriculum. My son is on a robotics team. He spent 6 months designing and building a robot that did far more than making one with the lego brain to crawl across the table and turn right would ever do. With only a couple exceptions, everything he did on the team was mirrored by the requirements. Even though the project was many months long and included several 24 hour team sessions leading up to the competitions, earning the Merit Badge actually only took a few minutes.

One year, we bought $25 gift cards for each den leader. When it was gone, we got them another one. I think I was the only one that used more than 1 card, but I had Webelos and there were more expenses. We asked for and kept no records. Wasn't worth the time for all the small $2.00 purchases. Next time around for my other son, I just started doing $1.00 per week dues. I told the parents, most of whom had older kids in the pack and new my character well that again, there would be no accounting for the money. They also knew that I was always spending my own money far more than what was in the jar. Our last year as a den, 100% of the dad's were unemploiyed thanks to the good work of the commie Governor of our state who employed policies that made the economy far worse than it had to be. So, needless to say, we didn't spend too much money on program.

We were part of a self chartered unit till about a year ago when we moved. For the most part it worked just fine, but we had deeply ivolved parents at many levels. My only advice is to develop an outside the Pack advisory board to be your COR. Ours never had that and when inevitable problems arose which should be handled by the COR, there was no one. I've been recommending an outside board to our unit for several years and could never get them to jump. It should be made up of people outside the unit but familiar with scoutings purposes. The other thing is to make sure that you stay on top of leadership succession. Have a new Cubmaster waiting in the wings, same for Committee Chair. Have fun.

In principle, I agree. But, just last weekend, our council had a merit badge day devoted to STEM MB's (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. APG is the US Army's testing base. I helped as a shuttle driver. The metalworking MB was held in a newly built high tech metal shop by three MBC's who really knew their stuff. My son's took Aviation MB that was taught at the airfield. Since you can technically earn Aviation without ever even taking a serious look at an airplane, having the opportunity to earn the badge at a decent size airfield is a good benefit. No pre-req's, no badge. Most of the metalwork guys, who I shuttled did not do there pre-req's so they got a partial. My guys take MB's seriously and do as much beforehand as possible. It's all about how seriously you take th eopportunity.

We did a camporee once at -5F. One of the mom's asked me what the threshhold was for cancelling due to dangerous weather. I told her that if they are prepared, 5 below is not dangerous. She laughed and her son had a great time. Seriously though, I've told our parents that about the only thing I'll cancel for is solid cold damp rain. Not because it's dangerous, but it's just absolutely no fun. I live in Maryland and there is such a paralyzing fear of the weather here that it makes me want to retch. Part of my job is to break that cycle and that means finding ways to keep the adventure moving.

That's prety sad. A few years ago, I saw a scout hitting our neighborhood. I stopped and chatted with him and his dad and told him that my boys had just been through the neighborhood so I didn't want him to waste too much time there. I also told him where we had stopped and that the neighborhood was pretty suportive of scouts and to have at it. We got double booked at a Wal-Marth this year, so we worked it out and each took a door. We got triple booked at another store so we did a neighborhod blitz instead. Ya make it work.