resqman

"As a Cub Master, why couldn't I invite the GS troop to our pack meetings, if not every one, at least periodically? Since a pack isn't "boy led", I think it could work and not be disruptive to either program. What do ya'll think?" I think you are unhappy with the Girl Scout program. Instead of improving the Girls program, you are trying to integrate BSA. If the Girls program does not have enough scout craft by design, add some as voluntary programs for your unit. Take the girls to a state park for the day and run their typical program at a picnic table. Introduce more of the outdoors

I have been an active volunteer Firefighter, EMT, and Technical Rescue Squad member for more than a decade. I am proud of my training and my service to the community. I have a 3-ring binder full of certifiates from both state and national agenices commerating my training. On my public safety uniform I wear the badges and pins to indicate my levels of training that are approved by my unit. I don't wear my Eagle patch on my public safety uniforms. Just as people within scouting recognize and respect the various knots and other badges on my scout uniform, people of public safety recogniz

I guess it depends on the boy and your program. Our Pack holds its AOL ceremony mid February but our bridging to Boy Scouts is the first weekend in April. During that 6-8 weeks, most of the Webelos II meet with their troops as vistors instead of holding den meetings. My den just bridged to Webelos II last month. We had our first Den campout this past weekend. The week before we held a den meeting where the adults left the room. We gave the boys a task of selecting 3 menus for the weekend and a patrol name. The Denner came looking for dad after about 10 minutes upset that the oth

I just got a msg from my District Exec indicating that our scout store will be selling pants that zipoff into shorts soon. "Due out later this year: - New activity pants that zip off and become shorts - 8 styles of hats made by Stetson The Scout Shop won Quality Shop and best overall sales in the country. Give a congratulations next time you are in the store. Yours in Scouting, Richard F. Becker Falls District Executive www.fallsdistrict.org" Sounds like many peoples wishes have been answered.

I attended a Cub Scout Overnighter with my son held at the local Boy Scout summer camp. The information was sent to everyone in the Pack but we were the only ones to attend. We had a great time! As a den leader, I am often so busy running the meeting or activity, that I am not able to be a parent and revel in the smaller points of his successes. It was great just to be a parent and hang out with my son. We joked, talked, and enjoyed each others company. No interruptions from other boys or parents. I recommend that all leaders with children in the program, take advantage of an ou

"All of our boys receive a PWD display stand made by our 5th grade Webelos as their final Craftsman project." I to am interested in your car display stands. I have the Webelos II den this year and this would be a cool project for the craftsman badge and a way to thank the Pack for 5 years of fun. Could you please post your plans or describe your stand? Thanks!

So many wonderful memories over a lifetime of scouting... My first campout with my troop in a NSP. That first REAL campout with Snipe hunting, cooking over an open fire, and just the excitment of being a Boy Scout. Philmont. The memory of sharing wonderful times with my Dad and climbing the tooth of time at night to see the sun rise on the last day of our trek. SeaBase. Eating the red snapper we speared an hour before, diving in the blue hole, snorkling at Pennekamp, sailing that beautiful ship. Ironing my son's uniform shirt each week watching as badges are added and the

My grandma and mother encouraged me to cook at home. Easy stuff at first, scambled eggs and the like. My troop started out with the regular fair of poptarts and hot dogs. After a while someone brought a dutch oven to a campout. It became a tradition to make a cobbler on Sat night. From there it spilled over and all the meals starting getting better. As a teenage I worked at a fast food restuarants. Couple of the other scouts also worked in restauants. We decided to show up all the other patrols with our menus and cooking skills. I am starting my Webelos den in the tradition.

This is the document MAScout sent me. She gave me permission to post. Things to Look for When Choosing the Right Troop for Your Webelos Scout 1. Who initiated your visit to the troop? Did they invite you? Did your leader contact them? 2. Did the Scout meeting occur at the time and place you were told? 3. Are the Scouts in uniform? Class A (khaki shirt)? Class B (Troop designed T-shirt)? 4. Did anyone greet you? Who? Adult leaders? Youth leaders? Youth members? 5. Were you introduced to the troop? By whom? Scoutmaster? Senior Patrol leader? Your Den Leader? 6

I have attended training both within and outside my district and council. I am an Eagle and a den leader for 3 years. What I got was not so much the technical skills, but rather the offical BSA of thinking and doing. Some of the requirements seem so simple and hardly worth doing. What I learned was repeation of skill sets with increasing difficulty over time. The training helped me to slow down my information delivery so that the boys have someting new to learn at the next level. It helped me to talk the "company line" and make sure that I was presenting the BSA program, not my ver

Worst case buy one vest. Take apart the seams and make your own pattern. Have one of the boys sew it back together. I believe they do come in several sizes.

Please post your troop survey if you would. We have eleven Webelos I who will become II at the end of the month. There are at least 10 troops in our area. I have ties with several of the troops through training and family friends. Two of my scouts have older brothers so they know where they are going. The rest are just begining the visiting process. It is interesting talking to the exiting II's. One fella liked a troop because of the activity and size. Another fella felt it was too costly and over crowded in their meeting room. I am interested to see how my son reacts

Smoking and tobacco use is under a lot more attack than when I was a scout 30 odd year ago. Even so, I remember questions at board of reviews asking what I thought about our leaders using tobacco during scout events and the role modeling it protrayed. Tobacco use is addictive and harmful. Those who use tobacco don't always see the negatives. It hasn't killed them yet so what's all the fuss? The reasoning may also include tobacco and alcohol use is illegal for any boys of scout age so use of these products is no different that driving but not allowing a minor to drive. Logos and

My den is working on the Webelos science award. One of the requirements is to complete the science beltloop. One of the requiements of the beltlooop is to complete a science experiment and use the scientific method to document. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of possible scientific experiments I could offer as suggestions to my den members.

"and don't forget the District Pinewood Derby. In most districts I have seen siblings and parents racing. Lets stop them from racing too." Cubmaster Randy A race is a family oriented Pack and or District wide event. If the Pack sets up a seperate bracket for siblings, parents, and other non-member car builders, then yes they could race. Non-member parties should not be racing directly against scouts, even if the same age. Our Pack has had an open bracket where non-scouts can compete. It does not currently have such a bracket. Our district race does not have such a bracket. Me

We hold our B&G in February and include the AOL ceremony. April we have our spring campout and bridging ceremony. They are different events. The AOL ceremony is a Pack event celebrating the achievement of AOL. It is not a graduation or bridging ceremony. Roughly two months later we hold a bridgeing ceremony where all scouts advance to their next rank. The Webelos II and AOL reciepents bridge from Cub Scouting to Boy Scouting. Remember you do not have to earn you AOL to bridge to Boy Scouts. Last year we had at least 5 different troops invited to accept their new members. E

How is letting girls or silibings participate any different than allowing professed homosexuals, not religious people, or boys of a different age particiapte. BSA has a set of rules in order for you to be a MEMBER of their organization. If you don't agree to abide by the rules, you are not allowed to join and participate. Part of joining is filling out an application, paying dues to support the program, and following the rules. While siblings may attend the designated family programs such as campouts and pack meetings, they should not be recieving patches for achievements because the

Fortunately our Pack has a history of encoruaging leaders to get training. The Pack pays the cost of adult leadering training. I wanted to take the Webelos Outdoor Leader Training so I could earn my knot. I found a class, sent email to all the Webelos den leaders and Bear leaders about the date, time, location and cost. I reminded them the Pack pays for training and it was a required class for them to earn their knot. I got a few replies back indicating they were interested. I arranged a carpool between those interested since it was a 1.5 hr drive one way for a 12 hr class. Al

When my den moved up, as leaders we informally polled the parents and said we would prefer that everyone switch to the tan shirt. I offered to accept all the blue shirts and start a uniform closet for the pack. No takers in my den. One parent is saving his son's blue uniform intact as a momento. One parent handed down the blue shirt to a younger brother. Third boy still has a younger brother coming along who will need the blue shirt. I turned my son's blue shirt into a shadow box keepsake. The other leader suggested we move to the tan shirt and bought his son a tan shirt. The last b

I call the members scouts when in 3rd person. When dealing with them directly, I always use the term Gentlemen. I try to treat them with respect and as if they know the correct way to handle themselves. By calling them gentlemen, I have set the expectation that they should behave like gentlemen.

As already posted, nothing for your scout uniform. As an EMT & Firefigher you bring a host of skills that work well in scouting. Each rank of Cub Scouting has a first aid requirement. More than likely you are also a CPR instructor or have access to one. You might think about organizing a basic first aid course and/or a CPR course for all the adult leaders. Additionally you could offer to teach the first aid requirements for each of the ranks making it easier on the other den leaders. It puts a new adult in front of the boys instead of the same people everytime. The boys will enj

I always thought that PART of the merit badge was to introduce the boy to new topics for a greater understanding. I took a Merit Badge clinic as a boy 30 yrs ago. Railroading MB. It was hosted at the university in town. We built model trains and took a 3 hr train ride on a wood burning engine pulled train. I had no interest in trains at the time. But I was introduced to trains and railroading. I learned something. As part of my Explorer Post, we decided that we wanted to learn more about radio communications. We had a local ham operator meet with us for 3 hrs a night for a few

In Cub scouting, a big part of the identity of rank is displayed in the hat and neckerchief color. Our Pack encourages all boys to wear both their hats and neckerchiefs. My son seems to always be hot. He complains that the neckerchief is too hot. I decided to make wearing the neckerchief more of an event for him. I started carving neckerchief slides. The first one was an eagle head profile from the scout shop. I chose it because I am an eagle. I encouraged him to wear it. When my son became a Bear scout, I carved a bear head of my own design using the "earth" slide from the

We have several couples in our Pack. The CM and the treasurer are husband and wife. She also has been a den leader and program committee chair. Both are very dedicated individuals who do an excellent job. We have a den where the husband & wife tag team as a single den leader but also have an asst den leader. This way they always have at least two leaders. We have several others couples where the wife is not offically registered but attends almost all meetings/outings and are very supportive of the program.

I wear the uniform with pride. I wash and press both my son's and my uniform before each outing. The patches are sewn on in the proper locations. We don't wear multiple quality unit patches like a list of awards. We wear neckerchiefs with slides, not knotted because we lost or forgot our slides. I made custom leather slides and the pack paid for neckerchiefs to be presented to each of the boys upon joining. By wearing the uniform correctly and completely with pride, I teach the boys to do the same. As a leader I believe it is very important that I wear the full uniform. It is also