SagerScout

Bob - that makes me realize the difference, the new tents are more like fashion fabrics and any decent tailor should be able to work on them. You used to have to go to the awnings guys because they had the heavy-duty machines but my Sears Kenmore can handle the new tent fabrics just fine. The manufacturer would certainly be the most reliable choice ,as they would have access to the exact zipper for the replacement. But I have to repeat my warning about dry rot or UV damaged fabric. If it won't hold a patch, don't waste the time or any money. Tents are one of the items that have g

Oh yes, Rooster7, we are in agreement on this one (someone mark it on the calendar! Rooster and Sager agree!) It frankly never crossed my mind that the boy and his parents might NOT be in close consultation and agreement when planning such an event. That said, if it were my own son, I would defer to his wishes on a ceremony such as this, even if they conflicted with my own. After all, he would be the one that earned it. (I've never grasped why families manage to make wars out of weddings, either. Yes, my step-daughter hurt my feelings at her wedding, unintentionally. So what? It was

That story makes you realize why we have to go to training sessions that for many of us seem like celebrations of the common-sense obvious. Sheesh. How many stupid things can one adult teach a couple of kids at one time? As a GS leader I had a trail riding accident occur with my troop. I had done my level best to follow all guidelines, but the horses had their own ideas. A snake spooked them and it was off to the races with inexperienced riders aboard. Four fell, one was hurt badly enough for an ambulance ride. Boy, was I glad that I'd exceeded Safety-Wise standards for adult

No one's grandma sews? Torn seams are not hard to patch, broken zippers are more of a problem but not all that hard. You're not looking for beauty, just performance. However, that said, in my area and climate, six-yearold fabric can fall victim to dry rot and if that has occurred, don't even waste the time to thread the needle, it's replacement time. My parents in North Texas used the same heavy canvas tent for 20 years but I've had newer tents literally disintegrate in 4 or 5 years after a few beach outings and being stored in a moldy garage (the only kind of garage available on the S

We have only one boy in our troop who is embarrassed by the uniform. Not incidentally, he is the only boy in public school - the rest are homeschoolers. The other day as we were making plans to go to the scout canoe challenge to be held in downtown San Antonio, his biggest concern was that someone from school might SEE HIM IN UNIFORM (turned out to not be a problem as troop T's were the UOTD, but we didn't know that at the time of our discussion). I pointed out that if it occurred, his friends would see him in a canoe, racing on the San Antonio riverwalk, an area normally closed

I'm guessing he's having trouble fitting in, and agree with those who say a friend in the troop would help. Considering we're now on our THIRD troop, I'm pretty familiar with this problem. My son is, well, sometimes annoying. I love him, but there it is. I thought for a little while that this troop was going to lose him too and I would have to register my son as a Lone Scout, which would have been OK with him (he does want to make Eagle) but not at all ideal from my standpoint (I want socialization for him). But as it turns out all I had to do was put two copies of the Troop

I'm with the "ask the boys" contingent. If they can't agree (one wants his own, one wants a buddy ceremony) go with two and work in a brief recognition of the other at each of them. No sense in forcing the issue and potentially ruining the day for both.

OK, well, maybe OGE's son is a bad example. What I meant was that he apparently got to the point to where he was pretty open about his condition. What I have observed is that "normal" kids are often more trouble than theoretically "abnormal" kids. I have a girl in my troop that is pretty handicapped (low IQ) but she's no trouble at all; another girl that was a "normal" girl was a giant pain in the you-know-where until she gave up Scouts for basketball. I've come to the conclusion that God has given us all different gifts, and some teacher/child pairs are just more productive tha

I'm with Red Feather, we can and should do our best to get what help we need to keep kids in scouting when at all possible. Dealing with kids with "labels" of one type or another is part of the package, like it or not. We don't know the story in Kentucky at all; I would hope that it's better than it sounded but you never know. Nonetheless, as some of you may recall, we had a scout assault another scout in our troop, and he was rapidly removed by the CO as a danger to others. We were grieved, but the safety of the boys comes first, and the offender's mom was in such deep, deep denial

Best of luck on your plan! Sign up the younger brothers? When selling popcorn, hand out cards with the contact information for your troop. Make a flyer for the school bulletin boards. I like the realtor idea, didn't think of that one. Have a bring-a-friend night and make sure that meeting is tons of fun. I heard about some older girl scouts hosting a "secret" "just for girls" lockin at a pizza place with games, they got several dozen girls there and THEN told them it was organized by Girl Scouts. Sneaky but several joined - and most said they would not have gone if they'd kn

Geez. I camped overnight in my own tent with my patrol at SM training, and never thought a thing about it, nor do I believe any of the gentlemen scouters in my patrol thought a thing about it. I do the same at campouts with the troop, normally setting up at a little distance from the boys and the male SM, mostly so they won't know if I snore and I won't have to listen to the boys talk all night. At summer camp I hung my distinctive hat outside the latrine and showers. No worries. If I were to lust in my heart for some other scouter, that would be between me and God and I'm sure He an

Like sctmom, this story hits close to home for me as my son also has significant emotional problems. He's not soiled himself, but he has definitely locked up on us in scouts on several occasions.In several cases, teasing has triggered the melt-downs. He's never violent, at least not toward others, but becomes unresponsive. Gandhi's got nothing on him for non-verbal protest. Well, except Gandhi had better reasons. Support, time, patience, and kindness make happy endings. He's always embarrassed and contrite, and I believe wishes with all his heart that he didn't have this problem. Te

We have a miscellaneous assortment of what was on sale, and haven't broken anything yet, but it's only been a few items. Down here, the more mesh the tent has the better. The skeeters are usually too bad to go tent-less, although if I could figure out how to secure the mosquito netting that might work. The biggest dilemma is whether to risk putting the tent under a tree. The shade is almost always desirable - but falling limbs are obviously not. South Texas trees are not tall, and wind gusts to 40 mph are not unusual if you're camping near the coast. Last summer we decided

I "hip hip" the hooray for Bob. He's almost always gentlemanly, even when he's wrong - which appears to be a rare occurrence. And I am disappointed in Yaworski's ornery responses.

We do all want to know how excessive is "excessive." In my case, I also want to know if the discipline was concealed at all. In a bass-ackwards way, I'd feel better if it were not. If dad said, "Son, get your hind end over here and let me whup it" for some good reason, then does exactly as he promises in view of all to see, I'm probably going to find myself reluctantly with all those on this board who consider that a parental right and/or duty. I personally disagree, I've not used such methods on my kids since they were 3, but at least this parent is trying to teach his son and we do

Sorry, folks, I've been away so couldn't let you know that I was never a boy, although I gather the more alert among you already know that. I'm well past the chick stage as well, although fortunately my husband of 19 years still seems to think of me that way. Thank God. However, I'm delighted to report that I know TWO boys extremely well, since the moments of their birth, 14 and 18 years ago respectively. I'm further pleased to report - without a shred of parental modesty - that although both boys have had emotional problems requiring the intervention of some of the "trained professio

TwoCubDad has said it far better than I did. My son would have been removed from that troop too if I thought that behavior such as was described was considered no big deal.

Proving that I'm not working the way as hard as I should be, I saw the original version of your post, Yaworski, and managed to be both offended and amused as you proved Bob's point so perfectly. It's odd, too, because despite being both female and saved by grace, I unfortunately must confess that in person, I have been known to swear like a sailor. I know it doesn't reflect well on me, and I am trying to improve my vocabulary. But you know, the nice thing about the computer is that it has a BACKSPACE button so that I can exercise more restraint here. I wish you would too.

I agree with Sctmom, if your kid is ADD you'll see a difference with drugs almost immediately, if he's not he'll just feel jittery and sick. He might not see it himself, though, you have to look at his completion rates on papers. Our ADD kid made it, mostly unmedicated, through 12 years of public school. Left without a diploma, got 1250 SAT's the first try, and absolutely smoked the GED a month after leaving school (99th percentile on 2 of the tests, down to a poor 76th percentile on one of them). He just started college and he already can see that learning might be fun. Thank goodness

Yaworski, you wrote: " All of you expect everyone to be nothing but goodness and light. Don't fight, don't fight back, never be angry, don't play rough. But you folks are the same ones who are afraid to go out at night, expect the police to protect you and are willing to send our young men to die in silly places like Somalia and Bosnia. " I'm not afraid to go out at night, because a) I think most people are pretty nice, and b) I don't mind taking reasonable precautions to assure my own safety, which generally involves avoiding unsafe people and unsafe situations. Where unsafe situa

Yaworski, you wrote: " All of you expect everyone to be nothing but goodness and light. Don't fight, don't fight back, never be angry, don't play rough. But you folks are the same ones who are afraid to go out at night, expect the police to protect you and are willing to send our young men to die in silly places like Somalia and Bosnia. " I'm not afraid to go out at night, because a) I think most people are pretty nice, and b) I don't mind taking reasonable precautions to assure my own safety, which generally involves avoiding unsafe people and unsafe situations. Where unsafe situa

Sctmom, you clearly have a Born To Explore child there. Encourage his explorations as much as possible. Then make sure that he has some opportunity for those kinds of adventures in Scouting. It's a lead-pipe cinch he ain't gonna get it at school.

Oh, and I don't know if my council is special this way, but we have tons of really cool council-arranged events that we can choose to attend. Usually they're pretty cheap, and generally pretty fun. From the lazy leader standpoint it's fabulous - most of the hard work is arranged. Be sure to actually READ the program guide, if one comes home. I send them home with my girls who apparently promptly trash them, so we read it in meetings now.

Bob White seems pretty bright, experienced, and well-read in scouting. That's why I am always eager to hear what he has to say. We don't always agree, although we often do, but he does seem to have the knack of disagreeing agreeably - most of the time. If he has a snappish moment occasionally, and I'm not saying that he has, well, he's human too. On the other hand, there are other individuals on this board who just can't keep a civil keyboard in their head. I've been guilty of that myself, when tired and aggravated, but do try to keep it under control.

Umm, I disagree that "religion is a belief in God." I would say, rather, that religion is comprised of a set of beliefs regarding the way Man should relate to God, and God to Man. I know a great number of individuals who believe in God and not in religion. Some of these individuals actually self-identify as atheists, despite an actual core belief in some kind of a Higher Power, because they have not found the religion that expresses their own relationship with God. They have fallen into your semantic trap, which I find to be a common one. I also know a fair number of individuals who a