Scoutfish

New here and fairly new to scouting. I already made my first post ( http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=258197 ) But probably should have introduced myself a little better first: I am a 38 year old male. Father of one. I have been married for 14 years now.I install garge doors for a living. I used to be first captain, then worked my way to Deputy Chief of a fire dept and water rescue squad ( volunteer). Right now, I'm just a parent volunteer, but have started taking classes ( ten so far) and am working on being a den Leader. First though, I pl;an on being an

BklynEagle; I had a friend who signed his son up at the same time I did at the school round up. We both paid our pro-rated dues and paid for pro-rated mgazine suscriptions. Then my friend found out that: 1) He had to drive a whole 12 miles to the den/ pack meetings, and 2) He was expected to stay at the meeting with his Tiger Cub, and not just drop him off. This friend grumbled about how his parents used to always drop him off when he himself was a scout. He then told his son that he had to wait for a Tiger Den to form in our area before he could attend . Told him was some sort

The same thing that happened to everybody: We turned into a "it's not my fault/ it's all about what I want" society! Scouting must be all about my son only, Therefore, pride or whatever takes a backseat to whatever my son thinks it should be! It went AWOL along with taking pride in your neighborhood, your school, your work and how well you do your job! I would say more, but I have to run the final pinewood derby car plans through my computer so I can go ahead and start building for my son!

Many Hats, It happens sometimes. What could you do differently? Who knows. I only know to put it into perspective this way: About 10 years ago, the wife and I went on a family (her family) vacation that consisted of driving 3 states away. We were visiting her mom's family. We consisted of 4 families (mine, 2 different sister in laws' families, and the parents) that stayed in 2 different cabins ( 2 families per cabin)at a state park (great prices by the way!) The oldest sister to my wife wanted to know who was gonna watch her kids , and at what time. My wife looked a

F Scouter; Let me clarify; I by no means meant that -being in the military was the only way to serve. I just wanted to point out that while we take for granted things like hot fresh served meals - others are eating cold food froma plastic pouch. But I whole heartedly agree: There are many, many ways to serve your country in an outstandingh fashion while not actually enlisting in the military There are those who take care of out citizens, those who work for and look out for the public, and of course, those who take care of our servicemen and women wether directly or indirectly.(This messa

"doesn't feel the need to help out if it's not her weekend with her son." I'm not trying to be cynical here, but that statement says it all to me. Any and all parental involvement is welcome, but as an assitant, the priority needs to be more for the Troop/ Pack/ Den than for an individual child.(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

We are in the midst of our "Scouting for food" campaign. Today, I had a neighbor bring me his bag of canned goods to my house. He explained that he has (in his words) "Coast Guard stuff" to do this weekend and wouldn't have been able to leave his canned ggods on his doorstep as the door hanger asked. So After thanking him and his departure , I noticed he put a MRE in the bag as well as the canned goods. It took maybe an hour, but it dawned on me that here is a guy who is in the Coast Guard Reserve, used to be a 12 ywaer active Coastie, and still does his duty to his country...and

Simply put, the greater good of the WHOLE pack/ troop is a priority over any one parents feelings. She is not an ASSIT, she is not assisting you. She is concentrating only on her child at her convienance!

Okay, I'll be the odd man out here: As a former captain and asst chief of a volunteer fire dept and water rescue unit, I had experience with folks who also had children on our "Jr Squad". These parents wanted to be Jr Leaders - that is what we called adult leaders of our jr squad- , but in reality, they only wanted to hover over or work with their own kids. At first, i too thought : "Any help is better than no help."...but soon found out the contrary. THis position was taken up for personal reasons and personal interests only. That adults kid had more than plenty of one on one time wh

JM, I completely understand you on the popcorn issue! My take on it this: I just signed my son up, just filled out the paperwork and handed over money. The first thing I got was a box of popcorn and the literature for popcorn sales. I didn't know what den my son was going to be in, who his leader was going to be, what nights we were supposed to meet. But I sure knew what popcorn to sell. ^The issue I have is not selling popcorn...but, WHEN, it needs to be sold. Why not wait a month? As mentioned before school just started, vaction just ended, and everything is just a whirlwind

I appreciate any help. I want it to be fun, yet I want it to be productive too. I don't want to be too harsh and militant, yet again, I don't want to be too much of a "fun slacker" either. Know what I mean? I want to find a good balance, and do something good for these guys. And maybe somewhere along the way....everybody has a great time!(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

I'm fairly new to scouting. Last year, my son just started as a Wolf. This year, as you would assume, he is a Bear. Now, I'll be completely honest, up until a month ago, my involvement was just "accomidating my son". That pretty much sums it up, It was something I did for him. Now, don't get me wrong...I helped out as much as I could. I was involved. I cut wood patterns for 28 boys. I toted, copied, printed, dug, nailed, sawed, chopped..... you name it, I helped out. Same thing this year. Helped out any way I could. But then we went on a camping trip ( last year, previous plan