ScoutDad1996

Thanks for your insight CalicoPenn. Actually, my son is only 12, and he just began being a Webelos den Cheif just before the holidays. I think one of the things that bothered Nathan so much was that at this particular camp one of the Webelos groups coming out was the den that he just started working with, and he wanted to be able to show this den leader some of his skills.

I know there has been alot said about using other methods instead of these firestarters, and he showed several. It just came as a real blow to him to have his SM and 2 ASM's tell him that they would not want to use them. I asked my son if they told him that he couldn't pass them out, and he said no, but he felt so uncomfortable after being aproached by 3 leaders that he didn't pass them out or even show them.

Thanks for the comments, but the real issue is how do I approach the leadership about their personal opinions. This is what really hurt my son's feelings. He now feels that what he does is not good enough for them.

As for the synthetic fiber issue, has anyone ever ran a load of laundry that is 100% cotton and checked the dryer lint, and then ran a load of all synthetic fabrics to see how much lint comes off? I have, and the sythetic fabrics produce far less lint because synthetics do not shed as much as 100% cotton.

Hi all. I am very new to this forum, but have been involved in my son's scouting life for the past 7 years, (since Tiger's).

On my sons last campout, my son volunteered to show a group of Weblo scouts fire starting methods. In preperation for this task he made several (40) firestarters from egg cartons, parrafin wax, and dryer lint. Now, I have noticed several websites showing this method as an easy and THRIFTY way of making these.

When he showed them to his leaders, they objected and told him that he could not use them because "they had hair in the dryer lint, and hair smells really bad when it burns." They made him use store bought fire sticks and would not budge on their position.

Now my son does not feel comfortable going to these same leaders for rank or merit badge counseling because they made him feel like what he did was not good enough for the standards they have set.

Any help with this will be greatly appreciated. I have already told my son that I am proud of what he did in trying to work on this task. I just do not know how this should be confronted with his current leadership.

Thanks.