Scouter&mom

We have troops in our district that don't have quality... Boys are given merit badges and rank and really don't have a clue. We have a young man in our troop ask questions of our SM about how Scouts can receive merit badges that obviously they haven't earned. A friend of his from school and church who is in a different troop (one of those Eagle Mills) was wearing his hiking merit badge. Well the friend, when asked, couldn't even talk about where he had done his hikes. Don't you think a 14-15 year old who is an honor student could even remember one of his hikes (at least one of the 10 milers or at very least the 20 miler) .. especially since he is quite overweight?? The same Scout who was questioning his friend is also very aware of how much a checkoff most merit badges are at summer camp. Our concern is how to answer the conscientous Scout how the other kids are getting away with things like this. We try to do right, and just tell them that we are living by the Scout Oath and Law and hope they are mature enough to accept that.

Putting the leadership development into University of Scouting, or saying have the Cub leader earn a degree at UoS assumes that your Council can manage to put on one that is worth going to. Our council is really struggling with training. We got a bumper crop of new leaders in the fall (new SE emphasized recruitment) and training has only been offered one date. As pack trainer, I am working to train leaders in our pack (yes, I went to trainer development), but it took me over 3 weeks to get a syllabus for New Leader Essentials and I work less than 5 minutes from council office! The UoS that our council offered was within weeks of the time new leaders signed up at school nights and only offered NLE and Position specific classes. Nothing else to encourage anyone else to attend. I am attending another council's UoS next month. Driving 4 hours and staying overnight two nights at my own expense because I want to attend a well done UoS and learn something to bring home. When I decide to attend Wood Badge, it too will be in another council. Don't have a lot of faith in my own council's training. Yes, I do support our training. I taught three classes at POW WOW.. the only problem was information was only allowed to go out of council office 10 days prior to event, so attendence was very poor. Let's remember many of us live in those council's that are no where near "perfectville" and have to do the best we can to provide the program to the kids.

I have not been to WoodBadge.. maybe one day... but I think that the intent is similar to that of NYLT for boys. Many of the things, I see discussed here, are very similar to the things in my son's NYLT book. The team building and interpersonal skills are the same. The most common complaints I hear about WB are the same as the ones I heard from my son. the standard "Death by Powerpoint." He recommends it to his buddies. Says it was a hard week, but a great week, that he learned lots. Oh yeah, he went out of council, since our small insular council couldn't get enough boys to sign up. He had to learn those teamwork skills quick, since he knew no one there. I am thinking when I do WB, it will be in another council. Just don't have the belief in too many people in our council.

My initial thought is they need to pick one den and stick with it. Then as I think more about it, it depends on how many parents you have doing this.. If it is just one or two with special circumstances, I think I would take them as they can come. If I found out from the parent it is a short term situation, I would ask the den leaders to make the boy feel welcome and live with it for a while. This could be a family in which someone has medical issues and they can't always control their schedule. On the other hand, if it is just the parent can't seem to make the effort then I would explain how the boy doesn't become a part of the group that way.. that boy will always be a visitor no matter which den.. and strongly encourage the boy's parents to make a committment one way or the other.

Aquila, Thanks for the source. I'll admit that I have no clue where the booklet from my son's Handbook is.. and that it has been years since I even looked at it. Yes, I keep my YPT course current.. and I have looked at the booklet in the Tiger book briefly last year, and the one in the Webelos book the year before.. I am aware of bullying and abuse and my son and I have had several discussions relating to both.. just not connected to reading his handbook.

I think adding them in as rank requirements will get the info out to the boys earlier. Those that need the info are more likely to get it this way, than in some "boring" required merit badge. Those boys that are being bullied may not stick around to do the merit badge. Internet bullying is not something that just occurs with "at risk" kids. My own son was very upset and concerned that others would see, when the teenage girl next door caught him carrying the garbage out in his PJ pants, took a picture and put it on her myspace page. These pants are loose and baggy and show less than his gym shorts and no more than jeans, but he was upset over her posting his picture in PJ pants and no shirt. My first question was "WHERE CAN WE FIND THE BSA OFFICIAL ANSWERS?" What are "THE three R's?" I know lots of words that start with R that could apply to personal safety and I know more than three things you shouldn't do on the internet. Requirements book (when the new one comes out) will only list what the requirements are. New Handbook is not scheduled out for a long time.

And the million dollar question, what happens to the poor Scout who is involved in an international event that is open to WOSM and WAGGGS members. We have some local young people.. Scouts and Venturers that have just signed up to attend an international event early next year. If we aren't a WOSM member, are they just out of luck??? As so many of us have said over and over, it's all about the kids.

One thing I did many years ago with a group that had very little exposure to knives was make one out of card stock (old manila folders). Cut one piece in kind of an elongated oval with a fold on one long side. It should be shaped like an old pocket knife. then cut blade out of another piece. Secure blade inside "case" with brass paper brad. Get a red lipstick and run it along the "sharp" edge. Let the boys practice opening closing and passing. If they get "blood" on their hands, they were handling it incorrectly and have been cut. (For you tough guys that don't have lipstick go to the mall and ask for a sample and then watch for the reaction... sure to brighten someone's day)

in a few weeks, our troop will be doing their first camping trip since it began to get colder. We have a number of new boys that have NO real outdoor appropriate clothes. Temps will be lows in mid-30's highs mid-60's. We will be car camping (primitive site with water and privies) in state park, We will be doing some hiking on established trail (with some elevation change - but only minimal). I am working to put together a bare minimun clothing list. Most of the boys only own jeans and cotton, here in S GA. We only have WalMart and a couple of locally owned (and expensive) hunting stores. I need suggestions on bare minimums that won't tax parents budgets too much.. Oh yeah, since we are so far south, you don't find good outdoor clothing in thrift stores either. Only "serious" outdoorsmen have cold weather gear, and go elsewhere to get them.

I bought 5 of the DO at Harbor Freight last fall. One for me and 4 for troop. It took a little time to season them but now they do fine. They were much less than Lodge, less than $20 each. I know Lodge is the gold standard, but with proper care, they will do as well. In fact, we impressed visiting Webelos with brownies in DO a couple of weeks ago. If you are not sure what to do.. check out one of the charts with temp and # of briquettes and use that as a guide. A 12" DO has almost same surface area as 9x13 pan. We just followed directions on box of mix.. 20-25 min at 350.

Thanks for the suggestions... The idea of doing science "tricks" was good, especially since we also had a class on Cub Scout Science and they did some things that would work well. the idea of the boys learning tricks and taking them to nursing homes was also really well received. All the communities in our council have nursing homes that the boys could visit.

Yes, as Eagle said... Be sure to include the visitors in everything you possibly can. last week we had 8 boys from a pack across town come visit. Most said they were interested in our troop. Parents commented that we were the only troop that actively included the boys and made them feel welcome. All we did was let them participate in learning out to set up a camp stove.. and let them help mix the brownies we cooked in the Dutch ovens.. or maybe it was just that food always wins boys. But every parent that was there commented on the fact that our boys included them and made them feel welcome.

Mandatory training? Can't see it working in my council. Training available at the district level 3-6 times a year is amazing. Our council tends to offer the Leader Specific training once a year. I went to "Trainer" training and was told each district would have a training library containing syllabi and training materials for BSA standard courses. When I tried to get something to use with the new leaders in our pack, our DE didn't know about it, he did tell me we had a district training chair, but that he was pretty sure that she did not have the library either, since he didn't know it existed. He did find me some new den leader packages. A month later, still haven't seen a syllabus for anything. Two weeks later our CE chastisied me for not having anyone from our Pack at UoS. He doesn't get the economic reality of our part of the country. Lots of single parents, and lots of low income parents who work shifts and all kind of hours just to keep a roof over their heads. Flyers for POW-WOW were mailed less than two weeks before the event. I am not going to tell the Dad, who is a Tiger Den Leader, he can't re-register because he didn't go to training. This dad lives 60 miles away, and drives up for every weekly meeting. Training is the weekend his son is with him and he doesn't want to leave him to drive 80 miles to attemd training on how to conduct a meeting. He has done the on-line training (YPT and Fast Start). Even as the Pack Trainer, I am going to accept that he has done what he can at this point. If we make it to hard for him, we will lose him and the boy. This is a man who was a Scout as a boy, has his son excited about Scouting, and has some great skills in working with the boys. Think we will just keep him... "Trained" or not.

WOW!!! thanks for the reminder that we never know exactly what they may be getting, when we think they are just hanging out and having fun. Will help me deal with those boys who make it part of the time and don''t seem committed. rarely go on trips, Mom won''t make committment for them to be gone.. she needs the older one to help with all her younger kids.. She has 5 kids from 13 to less than a year... At least they are there some of the time, and having the other adult influeces can make the difference.

I am teaching a class at our upcoming CS Pow Wow entitled "Where to go with Cub Scouts." The idea is to collect information on places to take the boys that relate to the Theme of the month. Being in a small rural council, many of these are easy for me to come up with plenty of ideas; however one theme has me completely baffled. April''''s theme is "ABRACADABRA" . Please if anybody has any ideas of places that might relate to magic let me know. We are a long distance (way out of council) from a city that is large enough to have magic shops, we have no big auditoriums that might have a show. The only thing I can think of is there are a few clowns that do parties and do some elementary sleight of hand. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. posted this already in CS forum, then realized it probably belonged here. sorry if you see it twice, but this theme really has me stumped

You do know there are other professional jobs with BSA don''t you? Some are only available in certain areas, but there are others besides the DE/CE route. Camp rangers require different experience. Scout shop manager, regional scout shop manager, etc work for National supply division and require different experience. These jobs also have different demands and pay ranges. Whichever you consider, remember pay will vary greatly depending on location.

GaHillBilly, One suggestion I didn''t see, is to consider attending training in other councils if you aren''t happy with what you are getting from yours. Those of us in Ga are lucky, because we have a number of councils within a couple of hours drive. I know when I attended Webelos Den Leader there were only two of us in the class, so it made following the syllabus awful boring. I enjoyed outdoor leader, since there more adults along, some of us with lots of skills, just along for the check off and the fun of camping without kids and some greenhorns, who were amazed with everything. I am planning to attend another councils University of Scouting in January to get an outside viewpoint. Our council is also a bit "close minded'' and not always open to anything different. When I decide to take Wood Badge I am pretty sure I will go out of council to get me outside of our local cliques. My son did NYLT that way, and learned group dynamics and leadership quickly, when he spent a week with 40 boys from the other council who he had never met.

As others have said, the most important is to share info with others who are along. I know with my brother (TypeI) it is apparent to those of us who know him that meal time is late; he gets short tempered and his responses become unusually terse. I have not been diagnosed with Type II, but have the tendencies and am working hard to prevent it -- trying to lose weight and excercise more regularly. I have found in the last few years, that I become a bit of a "grouch" if meals are too long delayed. My strategies include keeping some snacks handy and having something a little healthy available for a quick breakfast. Having someone along who is aware, and can tell you that you are becoming a "grouch" or lethargic or whatever the case may be is helpful. My best friend gets so caught up in activities and having fun, he sometimes forgets he hasn''t eaten until he is reminded by one of us that realizes skipping meals isn''t for him.

I think our troop is one of the rare troops in our Council that have several boys with disabilities of different types. I know ADD and ADHD are learning disabilities and there are lots of boys in lots of the troops that have one or the other. I am not going to address that, because I think you may be talking about other types. We have one boy who has CP.. and other than the fact that he uses either crutches or a wheel chair to get around.... is no different from any other of our "normal" boys. We also have two other boys, one who has Asperger Syndrome and has real issues with conceptual things. He is excellent at keeping us on schedule and following a routine. He is a fairly skilled athlete and being an older boy, we will likely loose him soon. He has stated that as he gets more involved with things at school (like golf team), he is less interested in some of the things we do.. Isn''t that normal for a 16 year old?? We also have a boy with autism in our troop and we do things a little different with him. Since we have communication issues (he doesn''t speak much and then it is often sounds that aren''t truly words), we ask that he has a parent (or other adult) with him at meetings, camp, etc. He particpates as he can when we play games etc, and Mom, Dad and rest of his family work closely with him on skills. Several years ago, there was a troop here that was entirely made up of boys (young men) from the Easter Seals Center here. It was dis-banded after the Easter Seals Center flooded and people were scattered everywhere. One of the things that I feel should be emphasized to everyone who works with scouts is something my daughter, who is a occupational therapist, told me about working with our boys. THE DISBIBLITY SHOULD NEVER BE AN EXCUSE FOR MIS-BEHAVIOR THAT WOULD NOT BE TOLERATED IN OTHER BOYS. If things like foul language, or fighting, or other behaviors are not tolerated in "normal" boys, they should not be excused for boys with disabilites. The resultant consequences (like calling parents, time out, or whatever) should be the same for all the boys. Yes, sometimes they might have to be tweaked a little, but should basically be equivalent.

Have you talked with someone at your council office? Our council arranged for the DE''s to visit the kids at school and to send home flyers. The other thing they did was arrange to have local TV and Radio run public service announcements. Our professionals are really involved in getting the word out for school nites. We couldn''t do it without them. Too many schools compared to the number of packs. Also our packs sponsors tend to be concentrated in a quarter of the county and kids scattered everywhere.

just thought about another thing.. you can always go camp on one of the old Navy ships.. I know they do camping on carrier on Yorktown at Patriots Point in Charleston SC.. And on the Lexington where-ever it is.. Probably have the same thing at the Battleship in Mobile.. Haven't been there in 35+ years, but would bet they do camp on ship for organized groups.

Have you looked at the camps in North Ga? Camp Sidney Dew (NWGA Council), Camp Rainey Mt (NEGA Council) and Robert Woodruff (Atlanta Area) are all pretty close to you and have varied programs with options for more advanced Scouts.. whitewater trips, climbing on real rock, trail rides, etc.. Several of the troops from our area (South GA) make the trip up each year. I have heard good things from the leaders on the various camps. don't forget you are also real close to the Smokies.. We are headed there next month even though it is 8 hours of driving.. just to get up in the mountains and do a little lite hiking.

Welcome to another Georgian.. At our council camp, they allowed the boys their hands slightly.. I understand the issue.. A good friend of mine who was a football player, weight lifter and Marine, battled to pass the Marine Corps basic swim qualifications, because of floating.. he had no fat and was very dense. He finally managed to pass it, and then the next level of qualification (which didn't require floating).. he now maintains that level.. says he won't let it drop cause they almost drowned him getting him to float. I float well, but being female and not as fit as I once was, both help..

Looking for suggestions for short (2-3 hour) hikes in Rock Island area. I have to travel there for work in a couple of weeks and will have at least one afternoon free (and a couple of evenings). I need somewhere that as a female alone, I will be comfortable, and somewhere I can find from my hotel near the river. I also would be interested in visiting other scout troops and scouters.

You get there by boat only.. it is part of national park service, take a look at their website.. St Mary's is near FL line.. there several FL state parks just across the line..along the coast and more inland on the Suwanee River (Fl has a canoe trail down the Suwanee) Also Okeefenokee Swamp isn't far. (probably less than an hour).. the Land of the Trembling Earth exists in a time warp. A four hour boat tour I did 30+ years ago is still a highlight of my teenage memory. Back about that time, our council used to hold a camporee there every year.. but it grew too big and more people became aware of environmental impact of the swamp. When are you planning to come?? what else you do depends on that. summer is great for hitting the beaches.. but the bugs will eat you alive inland.. winter isnt' the time for beaches, but great for canoeing, hiking, because the bugs and snakes aren't so bad.