Scouter&mom

I think it really does depend on how prepared you are. Being in the deep south, our boys would not be prepared for the cold weather. As Beavah mentioned us Southerners just don't usually have the skills to deal with it. Most of our boys don't have the proper clothes and equipment for type weather. Most of the boys at my son's high school only have one winter coat -- their letter jacket, unless they hunt so they might have a coat or coveralls for that.

How much autonomy does the district committee or a district event committee have? Especially from the professionals? We have a district camporee coming up, that a committee of experienced volunteers have been planning for a while. This committee consists of SM's and ASM's several of whom have chaired previous camporees. Can the committee really not send out leader's guides without the DE's approval? This event is basically a duplicate, with a few updates and changes from the previous one. We are in a very small council with only 3 professionals (oops 4, they hired a new one first of the yea

VP of program Planning? Training frequent enough that all can get it shortly after joining? Training that is available soon after registration, before role is changed (especially for Cub Leaders). Wow!! I want to change districts and councils. If our council has a VP of Program planning, I don't know who it is. Our program planning for council (and district to a degree) is done in several marathon sessions by the volunteers who will be heading up various events. As coordinator (dean if you like that term) of UoS and member of district training committee, I am a member of the progra

I have to agree with gwd-scouter. The ship is HOT in the summer. I haven't done the sleep on the ship, but I did tour in June. The best places on the ship were sitting in the snack bar directly in front of a fan and the captains galley which does have AC. I know many that have done the trip at various times and say they do a great job, they have several different programs for different ages. You didn't say where you were coming from or where in the Carolinas/Tennessee you hope to camp. Also, do you really want to hike in and out, when you will be climging 9 million steps in the ship?

Maybe she should talk to son's teachers.. I know can't have Scout meeting at school, but I would be willing to bet teachers would work with boy outside of school hours.. Take a look at what boy is doing in school and approach the teachers about being a counselor for those subjects. Be sure and show them the requirements for a merit badge. For example, band director could be counselor for music and bugling. Science teacher could be counselor for a number. Since registering as MB counselor only is no cost registration... and teachers have already done background checks.... most would be wil

It's been a while since I was active as GS Leader, but I will explain how it was. Each of those special patches had a specific set of requirements depending on the age level of the girls. For example, Girl Power (the only one I remember) had some basic self esteem requirements and some recognition of female leaders/trailblazers for Brownies, but got much more into things like Title X and even rape, abuse and sexual issues for Seniors. At that time, each patch had a brochure that you could get from local service center. I haven't been in ours in a few years, so I don't know what they have an

Brian, Even if you think you can't serve on the committee, I can tell you as a member of our district's committee, we are always looking for people who can and are willing to do training. We are a very small (membership number wise) council with small districts. We have very few district traiing events since we have a large number of experienced scouters. Just over a month ago, we held our council University of Scouting, and as chair of the event, I can honestly say that I spent more time calling and emailing asking for instructors, than I did in the other parts of planning the event.

Yes, I don't mind telling Parents our den will camp later, but I really hate for our parents to lose their money. Thanks for the info on who will be the decision maker. That lets me know who to contact and push as necessary. Registration for one Webelo and one adult is $27.. meals are not included. Den (adults and boys) will be cooking. Our den has set cost for food at $15 per pair, and the pack will absorb any we go over when we buy groceries. We are in a very poor socio-economic area and many of our parents are already reluctant to spend $42 to take one boy camping for the weekend. We

Okay, I guess I wasn't clear. My concern right now is a council Webelo campout. It will be at council camp (about 30 miles from CO). Webelos dens camp for two nights and work on activity pins or skills to transition to Boy Scouts. The event is council event and is planned and run by a committee of volunteers. I am a den Leader and only involved in planning for our packs Webelos dens. Right now, the path of Ike is still extremely unsure. We have 6 Webelos who were in CS last year and have camped, but we have 15 who have just joined the pack within the last couple of weeks at school nights and

I am in an inland council, but parts are within 50 miles of coast. We have had lots of rain, wind and flooding from hurricanes and tropical storms over the years. For others of you that deal with tropical weather, how much time before an event do you cancel/change plans? Several weeks ago, we changed our troop camp-out to a camp-in in the church social hall due to TS Fay. We ended up having 9" of rain that weekend, and a tornado watch all weekend, and a couple of radar indicated tornado warnings. The boys cooked on stoves on the covered back entrance, and managed to do most of their act

I collect actual arrows from my friends that shoot bows. I get them to give me their broken/bent arrows with fletching/feathers intact. I then cut to approx 15 in, and hot glue a wooden arrowhead on them, decorate with some leather strips and feathers. The boys think they are cool because they are "real" arrows. I have used wooden cut out Christmas trees as the arrow head, just take a wire brush on drill and buff edges a bit, then stain with stain or brown shoepolish. This is a "thrifty" arrow that also embraces recycling and re-use of discarded products. PM if you want a picture, I can e

NLE 2004 SM/ASM specific 2004 IOLS 2005 Web DL 2005

Neil and Snoring Bear both mentioned daughters dating/marrying Eagle Scouts. My daughter who was active in GS until she moved with college is also engaged to an Eagle Scout. My daughter actually credits her soon to be Eagle (hopefully) brother with her meeting her fiance. He is mgr of Scout Shop in her college town and she went to shop with me and her brother to look for something our local council shop didn't have. She went back to get her brother a birthday present, was remembered by and soon was dating "her" Eagle Scout. Just curious how many times, having a Scouting family influences

Sounds like you are doing what lots of troops do (although probably in reverse). They often have younger Scout patrols, so that they can learn the basics in their patrol. Also many outings are restricted by age, rank, or skills requirements. I think it would work; however, you need to talk to the adventurous boys. Would they really go if THEY re-structured patrols so that they could do patrol outings? Would the parents buy off on it? We see parents that are concerned about letting their kids do more adventurous activities. Some are more comfortable if there are older Scouts, who the parents

Does anyone know how long the standard syllabus for Den Chief training recommends the class take? I dont' have a syllabus handy and can't find anything on Natl's website. I can probably get the syllabus from someone at the council next week, but since today I am trying to work out the schedule for a training day I need to know before I can get someone with the council to look for me. I just need to know if it is 1 hour or 3 hours or what. Thanks for the help

I, like Scotteng, am an ocean and water person. The idea of being out in the brown dry high country doesn't encourage me to give up my limited vacation time and money to go to training. Besides Sea Base being more attractive type place for me, it is also much closer to home. I can drive it in one day easily, where it would take several to get to Philmont. Flying isnt a real option, since I am several hours from an airport that goes anywhere. I hope the Seabase training goes well, I can't make it in 2009, because all my time is already allocated for several family events, including, hopef

We move the boys up in February at Blue and Gold. This allows us to spend the fall working on BS skills, like tents, and menu planning and get in a camping trip or two. Maybe even join the Boy Scouts on a fall campout. We have BS camporee in late March or early April so the boys still have the better part of two months to become part of the troop before camporee. This is the plan I hope to follow next fall with the Webs den that I am going to be DL for. (I am excited about going back to Webelos from Boy Scouts.) They are lots of fun and I enjoy getting them all excited about making the

I am going back to Cubs with glee. We finally have enough adults for the troop, so I am able to go back to Cubs. I will be the Webelos den leader (again), giving me the opportunity to help introduce boys and parents to Boy Scouting and the new experiences they will soon be able to enjoy. My son is 17 and was thrilled a few years ago, when I got to move back to Webelos and help bring up a new group of Scouts. Your son would probably be glad to know you were involved without being right underfoot. Having the room to grow without a parent right there is a big deal to them. Just last week a

Our CO turns over basically the entire church campus to Scouts on Monday nights. Cubs, Boy Scouts and all ages of Girl Scouts too. Since there are several buildings with various size rooms, we get to spread out. All Cub dens meet in various rooms that open into large activity room. Dens meet 3 weeks and pack meets in large activity room on 4th week. Having everyone meet at the same time makes it easier if someone can't be there.. we may combine two dens for the night or borrow leadership from another. The other advantage is that retention is so much better when the entire family can have Scout

Okay, I am talking extension cords for summer camp only. We are in the deep south, where it was over or near 100 degrees each day, temps at night only slightly lower, and no breeze anywhere in the wooded campsite. Humidity was never below 90%. Sleeping a night or two in that kind of heat is doable, but come on, a week is not a great introduction to Scouts for all the first years we had. I work on a Marine base, and every afternoon as I left work to head to camp, either the red or black flag was flying for the weather. If the Marines aren't supposed to be doing physical activity because of t

Question on the canvas... How do you keep cool in the canvas? Here we usually only camp a couple of weekends when the temp even gets below freezing? We have canvas frame tents at camp, and we run miles of extension cord for fans so that everyone can sleep. We actually had one night this year, while the troop was at camp that the temp got below 65. It seems so much easier to adjust the fly and open the window on a dome tent to let some breeze in-- if any breeze even exists.

I will agree that NO was not prepared for Katrina, and there were some issues where bueuracray got in the way of sound decisions. But NO is not the only place that has happened. Back in 94, we had the floods that made the national news. The town I was living in was at the juncture of a major river and two large creeks (river size). The river and one of the creeks have power dams and lakes that control water level. Our flooding came from upstream, too much rain burst too many ag pond dams, and we had more water than anyone knew what to do with. No one was expecting the amount of water we got h

Our troop has a scout backpack that we encourage them to bring to every Scout event. We purchase "school type" packs on clearance, out of season, and present them to the boys when they are inducted into the troop. We have them put handbook, paper and pencils in their bag. I was happy to see all remembered them for summer camp and used them throughout the week. We have not had them put the other "essentials' in their pack, but I really like the idea. Several of them did Emer Prep or Wild Surv at camp. I will have to check with them, and have them lead the charge towards making their packs

Because I finally get to be a Boy Scout!! I actually grew up with my dad as an ASM when I was small, then my cousins and brother doing cool things in Scouting. I always wanted to be a Boy Scout. I was jealous that they got to camp and hike and boat more than I did. I always did outdoor things, just couldn't find a Girl Scout troop in my area that did. When my oldest was ready to join Brownies, I was a little skeptical, because she had been an outdoorsy kid too. Well she joined a troop with a great leader, who was willing to do anything with the girls. As she moved up, I became a l

As a member of the district training committee, I have seen how bad the "official" records the council has. Last fall, I was told there was not a registered leader in our district that showed as trained. Now we are not a large council or district, but I know many of the Scouters have been Scouters for over ten years and have not just completed Woodbadge, but staffed it. So yes that is a nightmare. The committee chairman has written each unit leader asking for training info, and so far he has only heard from 4 units. SAD.. Our council, who has not offered BALOO or OWL, in my memory, is n