scoutdad

Orange cover Guide to Safe scouting 2003 printing: A Webelos Scout may participate in overnight den camping when supervised by his parent or guardian. It is essential that each Webelos scout be under the supervision of an adult. Joint Webelos den-troop campouts including the parents of the Webelos scouts are encouraged to strengthen ties between the pack and troop. This states clearly that a Webelos scout must be supervised by his parent or his guardian. You cant supervise if you not there. His guardian would be just that , a legal guardian. No where does it say anything abou

Last summer I went to FSB as an adult leader along with 6 boys and another adult. We did the coral reef sailing program. One of us adults (me), was required to be certified in safe swim defense, safety afloat, and pass a Florida boating safety course. The scouts and adults were asked to help with handling lines, anchor, capturing and tying up to the buoys and if needed anchor watches. As you can tell this is not just a simple charter service but a working learning experience, and no doubt that is the reason for the USCG wavier. Also, we never cruised for 12 hours straight, we would stop

Eagleinky "-SPL - Appointed by the SM. (I know several will disagree with this). The SM & ASMs appoint the SPL from the boys who have served as PL or ASPL. Our opinion is that you need to prove yourself in a patrol leadership position before taking on the SPL role. Therefore, the patrols know that electing a boy to be PL is - in essence - nominating them for future consideration as an SPL." Far too many adult leaders prefer to select the best of the litter rather that train the one elected. YIS Scoutdad

How many boys registered? 21 How many boys active? 19 How many Patrols? 3 Does your troop go to summer camp in or out of Council? In Does your troop go to Dist/Council Camporees? yes Does your troop support FOS? yes Does your troop sell Popcorn? If not, what are your fundraisers? yes Does your troop use NSP, FCFY method? Yes, yes Does your troop have a Venture Patrol? Sort of. Does your troop have a feeder pack? yes How does your troop recruit non-Cub Scouts? Buddy campouts Has your troop seen your Unit Commissioner in the past 6 months? Who? What? Is your Unit Commissi

I believe that every scout is at some point and in some way worthy of praise. Believing that, I would rotate who is selected as " the very best". But I cant stop there, the scout that is never dressed properly needs positive attention too. I would look carefully for some aspect of his scouting experience that was positive and let him know what a good job he was doing. Maybe with a little pride the next week that uniform might just improve a little. I think Wallace has a good attitude and I like his style. YIS Scoutdad

Without debating the merits of the many methods proposed here, I would like to point out that all focus on the negatives. What might be a better response to scouts not wearing the uniform properly is to select from each den/patrol the very best example of a properly uniformed scout to come forward and be recognized. Nobodys feeling could be hurt, a few scouts would be proud, and rest would be determined to "be up front" next time. YIS Scoutdad

SR540Beaver "A guardian can be an adult designated by an absent parent." If the adult in question is the "guardian", then why can't he sleep with the boy? Why, because he is not the "legal guardian" that the G2SS refers to. The new G2SS is a change from the past and makes clear, at least to me, that they intend for each Webelos to have one of his significant adults in his life with him on a campout. YIS Scoutdad

SR540Beaver- "Keep in mind that Webelos can camp without the pack (as a den) and without a parent present." The current G2SS (orange cover) states: A Webelos Scout may participate in overnight den camping when supervised by his parent or guardian. It is essential that each Webelos Scout be under the supervision of an adult. I understand this to mean that a parent must be present. YIS Scoutdad

Philmont mess update- Had committee meeting last night and the issue of the finances of the scout came up. Not a fun meeting but no blood was spilled With four adults out of seven having a stake in the trip it felt like I was defending a young man accused of slashing the tires on the cars of 5 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices. I reiterated that the scout said his participation was conditional at the beginning. They disagreed. I asked when was the last time he indicated an interest in going. They were insistent that he was still set on going in June. The last time funds were taken f

I remember those days well... On the nights where the program/craft is just not hitting the spot and the den is sliding in to chaos, just remember these magic words - "who wants to play a game?" No mater what they are doing to destroy the meeting place, all of that will stop and you will be presented with eight sets of eager eyes looking at you intently. Check your scout shop for a book called "cub scout leader how to book". lots of games. I always had a game in my back pocket just in case the kids got bored. YIS Scoutdad

Reading SPL- 15s post and his difficulties with adult leadership led me to ponder the Boy Scout program. In the Boy Scout program, all of the roles, expectations and boundaries are set out in the various publications; handbook, SM handbook, SPL handbook, PL handbook, Guide to Safe Scouting, Oath, Law and etc. There is then no need for adult intervention, other than to reference the scouts to the appropriate source material. In the Boy Scout program, the adults are not seen as authoritarian, but a mentors who guide the development of the scouts by well posed questions. If any of the parti

Hi all! Just finished second week of woodbadge and had no idea my topic was still under discussion. Yes this is a vacation for the SM. My perception is that for the scout back in Nov. -Dec. Philmont looked like a good idea, but I believe him when he said he gave a qualified yes depending on funds. One of the thing I came away from a woodbadge role playing exercise was when things are not going as you would expect with a youth, find out whats going on in their life before taking them to task. The time to address this was months ago when the first installment was due, or periodically wh

Thanks for your comments Barry. The one thorny issue left is the money. I took over being treasurer a few months back and began giving the kids complete reports showing all transactions. In the past all they saw was their balances. I think this scout thought that when he didnt come up with the $75 that he would be dropped from the crew. Unbeknownst to him money was being taken out of his account. His account is now $108 in the hole. I would like to clear this up rather than have this hanging over his head. What should be done? I tell these guys (my son, this scout and the other new sc

Before we trash this scout lets know a little more about him. The scout in question is an extroverted kid with a big heart. Real good kid. The divorce hit him hard, didnt see it coming or at least acknowledge it. Being extroverted he craves being around other people and tries to please adults. His adult brother went on the last trek to philmont and I do believe he was interested in going in the beginning. The hard reality is that his parents will not help fund this trip. Years ago mom and dad had been heavily involved in troop. Mom even lead a white water trip to Colorado. Troop pict

Eagledad- Sorry for sounding a little legalistic with my plan, but problems arise out of poorly communicated expectations. For now with this adult leadership, clearly spelling out expectations would be helpful. As for the fund rasing, that is an important part of the trip and as I have outlined might be a good growing experience for the scouts in planning and saving. This is not the only scout to drop out. Another scout droped in Jan or Feb after dad paid the $75 in Dec. My son recruited his best friend into scouts in Jan. (he's 14 or 15) and the SM hit him up to go right away. H

"To blame a boy for an adult not being able to participate in a scout event seems sort of backwards doesn't it? I mean who is here for whom?" But this is the SM's vaction we are talking about here. With the SM and another adult going who neither have a son going, the crew needs boys without with an attached adult. Just to be clear, I agree whole heartedly with you BW. What I need is a clear defense for a course of action. I believe that without any indication from the kid's parents in support of participation that there was no "contract". The least I would expect to prove suppo

Good day all! I have a problem and I would appreciate some advice. We have a crew going to Philmont next year. One of the boys has dropped out. This may require an adult to drop out because there is now only 4 boys and 4 adults. The boy that dropped never paid any money but the troop forwarded payments based on his participation. SM (who is going) is really hot about this kid. In SM minute last night he referred to an untrustworthy scout causing an adult to not go to Philmont. Kid says he never was real interested in going, but he did say he would go if he could find the money(back

"Germans?" "Don't stop him, he's on a roll!" Whos with me! Lets go down to that middle school and show them what scouting is all about! Let s go AAAAAAAA! Whats wrong with you guys? Afraid? "but Bluto. theyll make fun of us in our scout uniforms" Guys when the going gets tough .The tough get going. Follow me! AAAAAAAAA! No! Blutos right, misguided but right. We cant let these boys get away. Oh sure, we could recruit them conventionally, but that would take years and cost billions of dollars. No what this requires is one single senseless act. As adults, well let

Thanks to all of you for your input, I knew I could count on you. Fat Old Guy, you have it nailed. The boys wont elect him to a leadership post because of his mom, so she decided to have take bulging for a POR. When they joined she signed up as an ASM but she never finished the training (no surprise!). In May she was after me to set up the swimming tests but it is a very busy time of the year for me, and with summer camp coming up, usually all of the swimming requirements are done there. She asked the SM if she could do it, provided there were 2 adults and a lifeguard. He agreed and the

Help!! Having read this forum for quit some time I hope you can give me some guidance. We have a new scout (bridged in January) that mom has pushed hard to get first class by our June summer camp. To complete his second class swim requirements she arranged for our troop guide, who is a BSA lifeguard, to test her son and a few others a the local pool in early June. At the pool the guide had them do the second class swim test and the first class swimming requirements including 9c, which is now only part of the swimming merit badge. I had heard that none of the new scout had done very

so this guy shows up to apply for the job of bellringer. The caretaker asks him if he has any experience and he says no. Alright, let me show you where the bell is and how to ring it. The caretaker opens the door to the tower and together the start to climb the long way up to the tower. About half way up the caretaker turns to the young man and asks "did you latch the door?". answer- No. down they go and latch the door. Once more they climb the stair to the top of the tower. When they reach the top the the caretaker says " all you have to do is pull real hard on this rope" The caretake

Great ideas! I've been teaching junior leadership for our troop and would also like to "spice it up". I like Eagle74's idea of using videos. OGE: Where do you find the 11 leadership skills in the Scoutmasters junior leadership training kit? I understand the 11 skills are or have been a part of Woodbadge. I think I own every resource our scout shop sells and I haven't found this one. Is there a new leadership traing kit to go with the new PL and SPL handbooks? Shouldn't there be a kit that talks about the four leadership styles: Telling, Coaching, Persuading, and Delegating? YIS

I was just thumbing through a copy of "Norman Rockwells World of Scouting" that a friend had given me. On page 33 there is a picture of Ernest Thompson Seton with the caption "Ernest Thompson Seton, the first Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America, was six feet tall, spare, sinewy, and athletic, with a shock of unruly hair and a bushy mustache." The picture shows him with flowing collar length hair. When hair styles changed to shorter hair were the life scouts required to grow their hair out to advance? Food for thought. Scoutdad

Bob you hit the nail on the head! When I was Cubmaster we has a Webelos den with a kid who the other scouts identified with as the "leader." His mom was the WDL and he was a bit of a moma's boy. He had the same attitude as CubsRgr8's. By the time for cross over he had convinced all but one of the 9 boys to shun Boy Scouts. BTW the one who crossed joined in the fall of 5th grade. What to do. If these boys are group leaders they need to be turned around. Personal attention from the Den Chief (if you have one) would help. If not, and you are attending activities with a troop, then ha

Every year I help with the Pack's fall sign-up and we are always getting 2 or 3 5th graders interested in Boy Scouts. It's a real question of what to do with them. More often than not the WDL is uninterested because they are finishing up their two year program that fall. If you tell the kids and parents to wait until next summer you loose them. I've toyed with the idea of forming a den and registering them with the Pack but rather than working on all of the cub/webelos advancement, instead prepare them for Boy Scouts. Teach the Readyman and outdoorsman skills and introduce them to the Oat