Scoutfish

Without dealing with her myself personally and not hearing her speak or seeing her body language...it's a tough call to make. But here's what I tink: She is saying she or her son are not interested anymore, but she and her son are not quite strong enough socially to say so. She says she has stuff to drop off or popcorn to buy? Kinda sounds like a stall tactic to me or a "buy time for now" tactic. You know what I am talking about? Bill collector calls, and you say you have the check in the mail. You really don't, but it gets the collector off the phone for the time being. Somebody is selling girlscout cookies at the office. You don't want them at all, but instead of saying no, you say you don't have the $$ and that the person should check back with you next week after you get paid. All you ( or rather, the mom)are doing is sidestepping the situation. Overall, you can only do so much to see this boy stick with scouting. He may be wnting mom to handle it, or he may be waiting for mom to say he isn't interested. I mean, we as scouters are known to be persuasive and not give up easily when it comes to recruiting, camping, getting volunteers or selling stuff.

While we are at it,lets ask in the souther born want to serve alongside with Yankees. Ask whites if the want to serve along side with blacks, Hispanics, asians, or other races. Ask catholics if they want to serve along side Jews, bhuddists, or whatever other relion. Of course,. let's don't forget the country music military vers rap, and heavy metal. Funny thing..Today I saw something in the newspaper that hit the nail on the head: People were supposedly taking about "Sraight rights" in the military as opposed to "Gay rights" in the military. Suppose we switched it up to read :"white rights" or "black rights" or "Christian Rights". But then you have to ask: What rigfhts are we talkiking about? Rights to what? Not be offended by something thjat actually doesn't affect you? The right to not be exposed to, and thus offended by a lifestyle other than your own? How about just living your life your way and letting others live their way. I have an openly gay cousin. By openly, I mean he doesn't hide it, but he doesn't shove it in your face. He isn't flamboyant or "girly". Matter of fact, you wouldn't even know by looking at him or talking to him. But he once told me about a job he had, A fellow worker said he was cool working with a gay guy as long as the gay guy didn't do anything. My cousin brought up a very great and valid point: Just because he;s gay doesn't mean he; sgonna hit on every male within soite no more than a heterosexual male will hit on every woman in site. JUst like a woman doesn't try to jump in bed wity every guy she sees. And tructh be told,,,I beliecve that straight men who are in the 20 to 30 range make more passes, attemps or hit on women more than a gay guy ever does to other gay guys.. The he said something else: Let a group of straight guys know a gay man is in the rom, then suddenly, all the straight guys assume they are the most attractive thing ever. They just assume that they are so hot that the gay guy couldn't control himself. Talk about an ego! Did any of the straight guys ever consider for even a moment that the gay guy might not be attracted to them in any way at all?

Yeah, but as a parent, I cannot do anything to prevent a meteor from hitting him. And when is the last time you heard about kids just getting hit by meteor waiting for trhe bus? I suppose I could say not everybody who brings a gun to camp gets shot or shoots somebody, nor does having BB guns at a den meeting mean somebody will get hurt. Matter of fact< I bet the odds are substantially stacked against somebody getting hurt. BUT, the chance is all that warrants having rules for those particular circumstances. Likewise, as a parent in an area that does in fact, have quite many amber alerts as wells as news bulletins about missing or lost kids ..not to mention a plethora of registered sex offenders( many of which are child molestors) in our Council area..then I will not take that chance. I'd rather be whayt youi consider unreasonable or even oprudish about my son's bus stop circumstanvces than to be one of the odds or rare cases of an abductor snatching my son. But then again, don't make a blanket statement of the fact that since you did it as a kid that it probably willnever happen. As a kid, I rode in many cars without seatbelts and so did many of my friends, I had friends dad's who drank a beer while driving and didn't even hide it in a bag. No wrecks. Maybe all those DUI/DWI laws are just a bit of a knee jerk reaction, right? Again,I will let my son many experiences with failure. I personally believe wrecking a bike on a shoddy, hastily built ramp is the best instructor by far. Swing on a tire swing that's knot wasn't tied good is another lesson I will let my son experience. But I will, to the best of my ability...do whatever I can to prevent him from experiencing an abduction or molestation. You are free to let you kids do as you see fit. I'm cool with that too.

WOW! I must be giving you all kinds of overtime!

Nah, 30 percent isn't a number we see. We might losr between 5 to 8 percent of our scouts each year as the year goes on. But it's mostly due to mom or dad, not the scouts. Sure, we do get the occasional scout who - due to the DE's awesome job of salesmanship at the roundup - thinks we are going camping, swimming, shooting BB guns and archery every weekend, and decides to drop out when it turns out we don't do that. But mostly, it's a mom or dad who burns out on scouting because: 1) they drive Jr from this sports to that sport to karate to after school gymnastics and then scouts. 2) Even though we explained otherwise at roundup, they think we are babysitters and get mad when we don't babysit. 3) The find out that the whoe program isn't just about their child only and get mad when Jr doesn't get 27 beltloops and awards at every meeting or that ...God forbid..the DL's actually pay attention to the other scouts to instead of just their child. The whole thing behind 70% of ALL DENS is the key thing. And it's not just rank, or sticking around all year, but BOTH . And it's 70% of the den that starts the year. Besides, it's a goofy challenge, not a make or break your carrer kinda thing. Gotta stack the odds in their favor while not just handing it to them. It's about fun!

I feel compassion for a guy or gal who worked their butt off everyday at a job and bought a $1,700.00 tv that they could afford. Even if , due to the market and economy, lost their job due to cutbacks or worse, the company went under. I do not feel bad for a guy who made barely over min wage who would rather use all his moneyy for tire snad rims and a bunch of video games while his child has caveties and he lets his house fall apart. I do not feel bad for the guy who will also be talking on his $400.00 touch pad phone while collecting food stamps before going to hang out in the park all day playing basketball or video games on a $1700.00 tv that my taxes paid for when he could be working himself. But the biggest issue here is real;izing the difference between a person who held a legitimate job,and who actually was living within their means at the time they bought the stuff they rightfully did a person who crys they cannoyt work, yet can dance, play basketball run a mile or ride bikes all day. There is a difference. Poor is not an all inclusive situation. Some poor people are lazy slobs who think all their issues, woes and trouble are the fault of others and the others need to handle it. Other poor people are people who were not poor until chance or circumstance stepped in the way. I have "kinda friends" couple who collect over $800.00 a month in food stamps. They sit on their fat ( and I do mean fat) butts all day playing video games. She decided back when she was 18 that she just didn't ant to work. She wanted to be a stay at home wife. He is just lazy and think the world owes him something. He wants a job, but he's waiting on a job that pays $800.00 a week to test out new video games. I'm serious and not making that up. Oh, they have 4 kids between them that involve 3 differet sets of parents: His, hers, and theirs. Way different from a guy who at one time was buying what he could afford at the time he bought it, but then lost his job.

Hey Eamonn, Don't think that my part was meant to come off as bashing any mods. Actually, wether It came off that way or not, I am actually in suport of moderators. It's gotta be tought to watch what other peole say anf think without intentionally or unintantionally taking sides, having an opinion or perdsonal thougts affecting your actions. I was asked to be a moderator at nascar.com, but trurned it down because I know that - even if aI do great 99% of the time - that 1 % of the time that I might misunderstand, misconstrue or blast somebody might be my own lack of understanding of what the other person meant or intended. It's got to be tough reading plain words and trying to understand the intent or tone behind them. Thing I was trying to say is that if enough people complain, site owners either shut down a site or worse: Write another 100 rules about what constitutes humor, kidding, or fun based on either the site owners opinion or, again worse: what a bunch of lawyers think - possibly from a bunch of lawyers who have no understanding whatsoever about scouting.

I plan on taking Wood Badge myself, the next time it is offered. What I will learn is beyond me, but I suspect thsat it is actually a different experince in learing to each individual who takes it. I might come away with an awesome outlook and extra pep in my step. I might come away with a jaded view of scouting. I might just come away with new freinds and contacts and nothing else. But I will not become the arrogant, self centered egotistical jerk that I have seen in all wakes of life. Matter of fact, I wish everybody could meet the most capable, smartest man I ever met. He was a hog farmer who had 3 farms.

Not being a woodbadger myself...I did enjoy this entire thread..even though I am reading it and my understanding of it is that from an outsider's perspective. First thing first: Allthough the title itself is not incorrect, I do think that from an understanding point of view, perhaps "Are Woodbadgers in it just for the beads?" is actually trhe meat of the question. Woodbadge itself isn't about the beads as the beads are only an indicator or recognition of taking woodbadge. Why tghe wearer has the beads, what they mean and wether they are flaunted have absolutely nothing to do with taking WB. Now, as having only 3 years or so experience in scouting, I can very well tell you tha6t some peole consider themselves better scouters or what not just based on having a DL patch on their shirt, a CM, SM patch or even becuase they have a nicer tent and cook stove. At my very first camping experience with cub scouts, I saw a dad who had the most contemp and disdain for everybody else because he brought a full size folding table, a gas grill, a portable DeWalt radio, a portable 7 inch tv , a weather radio, 4 or 5 folding camp chairs with bult in leg rests ( okay, those were cool!), and a tent that was a 4 room with screen porch, elevated deck with hot tube. etc.... Well, he pulled a 10 X 6 trailer to bring it all too. Well, if that's what he wants...that's fine with me. But "Mr. Superior camping dad" probably didn't enjoy the camping experience the way I did. My son asked me what that noise was in the middle of the night. After a few minutes, I figured it out: The sound of leaves falling and landing on the ground or tent. So anyways, it's not Wood Badge or a rank patch or a camp stove that has the "arrogant superior to those poor souls who are less statured than me" attitude. It's the person themselves. And truth be told..if that person had taken WoodBadge, he flaunts the beads. If he hadn't taken it, he still smirks because obviously, he knows more than the Wood Badger ever will and didn't have to take the class to know it!

I think I mentioned this before, but I recently bought one of those large yellow foam "signs up" hands from the scout store. My plan is simple: At the very beginning of our pack meetings, I am going to randomly choose a scout who happens to be in FULL uniform and have him follow me to the front of the sanctuary. I will hand him the foam hand to wear, and together, we will do signs up. The hand will definantly catch people attention, the scout wearing it will have a blast, and it will be a great start to the meeting. At this point, The color gaurd will come in and do thier thing. After we have done colors and the Pledge, I will tell everybody about the foam hand, and how I will randomly choose a scout to wear it. WE are not the kind of pack that will fuss, chastize, or embarass a scout for not wearing the entire uniform. But we will compliment one who does wear the entire uniform. And knowing how boys are, they will all wear as much of their uniform as they can to see if they get the chance to wear the hand at the next pack meeting. Funny how a simple foam hand will make them do that huh? See, the mor4e I do this Cub Master thing, the more I realize that my job is pretty much to make sure the Scouts are having a great time. I am supposed to make sure they really enjoy scouting. I am supposed to make sure they have so much fun, they cannot wait to come back! Or at the very least...so much fun that the fun outweighs the occasional ( and hopefully rare) dull den meeting. So the foam hand is goofy, kinda dorky , and a bunch of nonsense...which makes it perfect! Did I mention that I made a bet with all the scouts in the pack? If 70% of all den reach rank AND complete the entire year, I will wear a pink ballerina uniform complete with tutu while conducting the last pack meeting! Well...complete except for the slippers. I'm gonna wear my hiking boots!

My point exactly! Some people who were hard workers ...maybe even those who worked 50 hour weeks and EARNED those big scren tv's , new cars and trucks and whatnot...suddenly found themselves unemployeed. People who were used to doing the 9 to5 and paying all their bills( even the frivilous oones) suddenly found themselves in the unemployment line. And the few jobs available are hiring the young ( read cheaper pay) over the old. Again, I know abuse happens . I even reported one of my friends who not only abused the system , but flaunted that abuse. But it's exactly like the handicapped parking thing: A car parks in the handicapped area sand a guy gets out and walks into the store. Loks just fine to your eyes so he must be cheating the system right? WRONG! My dad had a heart condition and a bum knee. He could walk 50 feet just fine, but more than that and he'd start limping real bad and ned to rest his knee and heart. So ne might have been the guy who "appeared " to be just fine, but as soon as he was in thre store and out of your eyesight, you didn't see him stop, lean against the wall and his face grimmace in pain. He'd wait there for about 10 minutes until he could walk more. Incidentally, he died from heart failure on a fishing peir two hours after somebody made a comment to him about abusing the system, because they saw him pull a wagon onto the pier with a 1 lbs cooler and 2- 1 pound fishing poles. They made the comment that if he could fish, he wasn't handicaped. He died a few hours later from a heart and knee condition that he got courtesy of 22years abd 3 months serving in the US Coast Guard. He never complained that anybody owed him anything, didn't feel the govt owed him anything and only got the handicapped tag because my mom nagged him about it. Nah, not bitter about it. Just saying, looks can be decieving to alot of us! That wide screen TV may not be used because the family is cutting back on electricity. Maybe that brand new car is about to be repossesed. I have an aunt and uncle who are pretty well to do. They donate stuff like tv and vcrs to people in need. Strange inded, but the thought counts right? Could be that the Tv you see was given by people like my aunt and uncle instead of somethimng the family really needed.

Nah, I'm cool with my son staying under the care of certain people. I don't let one ruin it for all. But, again, let's be honest and realistic here: Some of you are the smartest people in your imeadiate locale. By that I simply mean....your surrounding friends and neighbors might not think things through completely, might not consider all potential outcomes or just aren't as smart as a dead cow. For instance, one of my wifes former employees was complaining to my wife just 2 nights ago about how stupid her son in law was; THis is crazy, but true: The woman let her daughter and son in law borrow her Toyota Tacomma ( read small truck) to tgo Christmas shopping for their 5 and 3 year old kids. WEll, they took the kids with them. Do the math: small truck, 3 seats, 4 people, and for whatever reason, no car seats. The 3 year old sat in mom lap with the seat belt arouind both of them. The 5 year old in the middle with no seat belt because "it was too hard to click in place". At some point , during the nighttime rain in traffic, Dad slammed into the back of another truck at 40 mph. Luckily, the unbelted 5 year old only bumped his head on the dash. The 3 year old however...was the cushion between mom and the seatbelt that stopped them. The 3 year old is gonnsa be okay, but is hurt and really sore. WEll, the damage isn't permanant! Yeah, the mom and dad are gonna get eat up in court for sure. But the thingf is, the kids were with people who couldn't rub two brain cells together. People who are parents and should know beter and I imagine, on occasion will be entrusted to watch other kids too. The Mom in law? She blames the son in law EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING WHEN THEY BORROWED TRUCK! So, that means there is one more person I'd scratch off my list of tustworthy. Point was, if you have a list of people to trust, it could get smaller on a weekly basis. As for my son, I see it like this: If it doesn't maim him or kill him, it might actually be a great lesson to him. I sewed my finger to thre sewing machine when I was younger. Yeah, I laugh about it know because it is a funny story! But my point is, I learned more respect for that machine by experience than what anybody could ever just tell me about. My son is gonna get hurt, have accidents and his fair share of cuts, scrapes and bruises. If he's anything like me...he will have a bigger than averaghe share. But leaving him alone on the side of a road is not gonna be one of those experiences...at least not at age 9. When he's 16 and waiting for the bus...sure, not an issue, but at 9....not gonna happen! Why? Because at 9, all it takes is about 10 seconds for a van to pull up, a full size adult to jump out, grab him, and toss him in then follow and drive off. Ten seconds! By the time I could run out or get my keys and follow( with my wife calling 911) this guy could easily be a mile away. With all the many turns, side roads, streets and such, The possibility I'd never see my son again is immense. So as far as that part goes.....there is no justifiable risk factor I will take. Now, as he gets older, I will have to trust him with people. Some of those people I might not know even though he does. At that point, I am not so much trusting those otrher people, but trusting my son to be the smart one. The "other" people are not my concern at that point. But my son is the one who I'd be trusting to think things through and make wise decidions. All I am saying is that depending on the area you live in, the populaton, and what activity or event is taking place...then I completely undetsand some parents doing some things. You want to see something scarey? Type in the local agency that monitors registered sex offenders in your area. I can see 28 in a 3 mile radius. And those are the ones who actually registered like they are supposed to. Althougfh I am not crazy about the idea...I do not have an issue with my child getting cut, briuses or banged up while learning not to do a stupid thing AGAIN. But being kidnapped or molested is not in the same catagory at all.

While I get pretty mad when I se a mom drive up in an Escalade and talking on a $400.00 phone , then getting out wearing a leather coat, and $300.00 stilleto boots when she asks to get a scholarship for her scout to be in the pack...I do stop and consider a few things: Yeah, that was a pretty big Tv that woman had, BUT... She might have bought that Tv 3 years ago before being laid off from her job while the conomy ( and jobs) were taking a nose dive. May be a case of what I see quite often: People who are vitems of the economy and also their own lack of fore sight. That woman might have had a nice job working in the office of a construction company. Maybe she Worked at a car dealership or even possibly any other buisness that shut down, laid off or went bankrupt due to the economy. Could be that she is milking the system like 8 maids a milkin! Things is, I don't know!

Clem, >>>>Why be part of a group when you don't care to use the program they offer AND( emphasis mine) don't care to take pride in the history of the group.

First thing we have to do is this: Make sure we understand the difference between our OPINIONS and the Cub Scouts OPINIONS! As an adult: the beads are not a big deal. They are just beads. Tiny evil things that will end up in the CO's vacuum cleaner, in mom or dads floorboards, mom or dad's vacuum cleaner or somewhere outside. If we are very, very lucky, some of them will actually last until they get to be replaced by the rank badge. As a Cub Scout: WOW! COOL! GREAT! I want to earn the next one. I can't wait to tie this on my IR badge to show how far I have progressed. Thing is, you always have at least 2 Tiger Cubs and possibly 1 Wolf who don't really know what the beads mean.May be that they weren't paying attention, or that they just forgot. But in the 3 years I have been involved in scouting, I can tell you one thing for sure: When those boys line up in front of everybody at the pack meetings...thier eyes light up when they get the beads. They love being recognized for doing what they do. And lets be honest: At their age ( not ours , mind you) even a whoile month to get a Bobcat badge seems like forever. Now lets talk about an average time to earn your Tiger badge.... 5 months? The entire year perhaps? Anywhere in between? At that age mentality....those beads are the "Atta Boy! Keep it up, you are getting closer!" that the Cubs NEED to hear! So, not sure of your position..but explain to the DL that - wether "they alredy recieve enough awards" is his personal opinomn, his personal perception, and just like a favorite color...everybody has their own. Maybe he thinks dessert isn't necessary. FIne, tell him not to eat it, But everybody else has their own thoughts, feelings and opinions about it. If he doesn't give them the beads, he is taking a big chunck of THIER fun and excitement away from them. If he just looks at you blankly, ask him this: What if his boss said that there would be no more year end/ Christmas bonuses or perks/ benefits anymore because the employees get enough money already! What if the bos just refused to do it? How would that DL feel?

I agree with NJ! A few years back, before I was involved with scouting, I used to frequent a NASCAR community website. We had foumns and we had blogs. Forums were more on the techy side , forums were just for hanging out and talking. I joined the site the first week it was started. I watched it grow from 100 people to over 50,000 fans. We had "pit crews" we had clubs, we had fan groups. Since it was a NASCAR site, well...you knew there wasplenty of good natured driver rivalry going on. I would call your driver names and you would call mine names. We laughed and then patted each other on the back. See you tommorrow! But with a site getting bigger and bigger, there weren't enough bloggers to cover the sheer mass of bloggers. Soon they hired more moderatots and administrators who used to be site bloggers. Made sense too since they were already familiar with the site, the rules and policies,etc.... But something bad started happening. If a fan of driver X wrote a less that stellar blog about driver B and wrote it in a less that favorable way about driver B..then a moderator of driver B would deleste the blog and possibly suspend the OP. People were labels trouble makesr because of the driver they liked and not based on their own actions annd words. The site Sr Admn would defend the mods saying they were doing the best they could and were really being understanding. Whatever! Used to be a time that about 25 of us would stay uyp til the wee hours lauging and joking. We pick on each other, rag each other's drivers , etc.. and we had a blast! But because somebody somewhere was a bit too overwound in the emotions dept...rule after rule after rule was written and posted that specifically defined what was considered a joke, what was considered "joking around"and what constitruted humor. Guess what? Almost nobody goes to that site any more. Matter of fact, the originakl site admin resigned because of the way the site just sunk. So, be glad of what you have and try to realize that this site is awesome! So sometimes Merlyn and I argue. Bumped heads with ScoutNut once, been misunderstood by Beavah way back when.. Hey, different opinions, thoughts, ideas and beliefs are what make the world go round. While I may not agree with some or share their beliefs, I wholeheartedly defend their right to have, to post and to express them! Even if they are wrong!

I won't use tv as a bad influence as a blanket statement. Depends on what kind of tv. Used to watch sesame street when I was littlle, It was "okay" but not spectacular. I used to love watching "The Muppet Show". Especially "Pigs in Space" My son watched "Dora the Explorer" and "Blue's Clues"Both helped him learn the alphabet fairly soon,. His speach and comprehension were acellerated too. Pretty much can't argue allthe other stuff though: SpongeBob, Rug Rats, any of the anime cartoons. But they do offer a kid a chance to relax, slow down and take a break from thinking so much. Now, another problem with childhood lost is resuyltant of a global competition: Kids go to school for 8 hours ata time, then bring home 4 or 5 hours of homework. I have nothing against education, but the developing brain needs time to rest, relax, and recharge. A kid who has no time to think of anything but schoolwork lest he fail...well, that's alot of stress too. Remember when we were in school? Most of us didn't seriously consider a career until we were in the eleventh grade. Now days, you need to plan out your agenda and decide what classes to take starting somewhere in the 5th grade. My 4th grade son is studying things I didn't do until 7th grade. Every year, I hear on the news about some school district that is deciding on wether to even have recess anymore for grades K - 5. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And yeah, we as parents schedule their whole day from breakfast to bedtime. Planned down to the second. Gotta shove and fit in as much "quality" time and activities as we can. We as parents get horrified by the thought of our kids being bored for even half a minute. I told my wife that boredom is not a crime. Boredom is the greatest inspiration for imagination that exists!

Are you kidding? It's simple science! Skunk scent is what is used to "odorize" propane gas. Basically, it's a foul smelling alarms system. Propane stinks like BS. Congressmen are full of BS. Congressmen are full of hot air. Air is a gas. Propane is a gas. Liquid propane is compressed propane gas. Congress men are so full of stinky hot air gas, that they have become pressurized and are leaking liquid BS! (This message has been edited by scoutfish)

In a funny ( strange) coincidence, we had a dark green SUV favor a residentail area about 3 blocks from an elementary school and was seen at the school too. Parents called the sheriffs dept which also notified the sheriffs dept in the next county who happened to catch the guy at another elementary school parking lot. He wasn'r a registered offender, so the most they could do is make him leave and lean heavy on him.

I drive my son a 1/2mile to his bus stop. Wel, it's his cousins house, and it's on the way to work for me. so it's no trouble. Anyways, once we get there, I hang out until the bus comes. When it's warm, they stay in the truck to get away from the skeeters. They are ferocious in NC! Right now, it's not so much for heat, but to be out of the 20 degrees and wind. Thing is, it's a a trimary road. Gravel, kinda rural,many neighbors still sleeping. A drunk , a fool driving around the curve ( bus stop is in middle of a curve) too fast or who knows whjat could happen. Not as concerned about kidnapping as much as just getting run over.

Well,I can understand some of the aforementioned stuff. Rain and cold weather? I see nothing wrong with getting wet or cold. Seems like kids today are not allowed to experience anything. I used to stand in mud puddles during the rain as a kid. Got fussed at for getting my clothes wet, but thats about it. Amazingly enough...I never got ring worm! Washing hands after touching a leaf? Gonna over protect us to the point our bodies will have no natural immunity from even plain ole air! But as far as carpooling kids with one parent...well, I completely understand why people don't ewant to do that. Let me tell you something that happened a month ago to my so. A long time family freind who is great with kids ( practically one himself) and a former scout adult as well as adult volunteer - decided to take my son and nephew to a store that was "only" a 1/4mile down the road to get a milkshake. Well, Mr.Family friend had his neices car seat in the front of his pickup as well as a surveying transit in the box on the seat too. So he tells my son and nephew they can ride in the back of the truck, as long as they lay down and can't be seen and don't tell anybody. Okay, here's the thing: The guy honestly thought that it would be no big deal and since he was soooo freaking careful, nothing would happen. What;'s trhe harm if mom and dad don't know right? He never considered that another car could cross the line, be speeding or just a drunk driver could come along and hit him even though he was being REALLY careful. So now, my wife had to handle it because if I did, I'd have been arrested! So now we wonder how many other " no harm/ no foul ? moments have happened? Is he a pedophile? Nah, absolutely not. Does he do stupid stuff? Apparently so! But let me bring up another point while I'm at it: You ever hear of a pedophile or abuser being arrested and all the neighbors say " Oh yeah...we always knew he was bad to the kids!" on the tv news? Nope! You always hear the interveiwees saying how shocked they were because nobody ever would have thought that Mr. Freindly guy would do that sort of thing! We don't know what people might do in private. We only know what they do in front of us> Look at the story that was posted a few weeks ago about the former SM. Not saying he abused the scouts, but you wouldn't have expected it from him based on everybody's past experience working with him. So while I do think parents are nuts for locking kids indoors in a hermatically sealed super sanitized indoor playground, to play in their antibacterial, temperatured controlled protective catsuits........ I don't blame them for being the ones to pick up their own kids or driving them to school as opposed to standing next to a public hiway where a kidnapper could snatch you up and toss you in a van in less that 15 seconds!

Well...I'll say this: If this is your first year of seling popcorn, You learned a great lesson. Now, it may not be the perfect solution, but we changed things this year ourselves after a $500 fiasco the year before last. Parents/ scouts sell popcorn, and can submit an order for the pack to order X number of whatever flavor, but we do not order or hand out any popcorn until the parents give us the money. If the parents trust somebody for an IOU..great! But the pack doesn't! No money, no popcorn. PERIOD

A week ago, we discussed the Pine Wood Derby at our district roundtable. Now, I'm not patting myself our our pack on the back, but i do want to pass along what we did....based on the reactions I got from other CC's and CM/s at the roundtable. We don't have a Pine Wood Derby Prep pack meeting like other units in our district. We instead have a Drive in Movie Night. We tell the scouts that they need to take a box and decorate it like a car. The more bling, the more decoration...the better. It's kinda soreta a contest,,but a contest against yourself. A contest to be creative. But not a win a trophy contest. On the Drive in movie night, all the scouts bring their cars and sit inside of them during the meeting. Instead of takking about whatever to the scouts, we instead play a movie and serve popcorn and bottled water. We used to play Down and Derby, but let's be honest: It's a very dry movie for the scouts to take in. They get bored, trhey get restless and son drool starts seeping out of the corners of thier lethargic comatose mouths! So what we did this year is change the movie to "The Little Rascals". It's great for thier age and attention span, and has a Soap Box Derby race in it. ( 2004 ? Version) The kids laugh, pay attention the whole time and have fun. The leadership as well as adults discuss the PWD, rules, time, date, etc.... And truth be told, it's adults who need to be reigned in at PWD, not the kids! Again, not patting myself or our pack on the back or trying to toot our horn, but everybody at the roundtable acted like it was the coolest thing. Maybe you or your cubs would like it too.

It's a matter of two things: NIMBY! and WIIFM?. NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard! ; refering to trash dumps,landfills, nuclear energy plants, prisions, waste water/ solid refuse treatments plants. All needed and wanted by people, just not in their communities. WIIFM: What's In It For Me? : "I am against such total pork barrel waste of resources and spending of any tax supported dollars...unless I get something out of it, in which case, it's okay!" Let the scientist explain how we personally benefit, and things will go differently!

Yeah, that does change things a bit.... So,if you haven't let the family pick up the popcorn yet, how exactly did you know what kind/flavor/size popcorn to order for the family? I am assuming there was some sort of order form? Honestly, the best thing you could do to save face for your pack within the community is to give the popcorn to those who paid to get it. Wether you get the money back or not is a side issue to the fact that people of the community ( read: your future financial support) paid to get popcorn from YOUR PACK. So the parents and or scout collected the money? But they collected it in your packs name with your blessing. Sure, it's that particular scout and/or family that is not following through, but you endorsed their actions by letting them do it. Matter of fact, you let a scout who isn't even a part of your unit yet , sell popcorn for your unit. A grat analogy here would be this: You have a store and you hire a person to run a register. A person come in and you go ahead and hire him on the spot. The employee hasn't actually filled out any paperwork or filled out the application or tax peperwork yet...but you go ahead anfd put him behind a register. He takes catalog pre orders and then pockets the money. That may be wrong of the now ex-employee, but as the store owner, you owe it to the customers to give them the product the paid for in your store. When you let that scout sell popcorn in your name, you endorsed that scouts actions and credibility. Yeah, $500.00 sucks. It will probably cause your pack to break even with all the other popcorn sales, but if you don't hand that popcorn over... Not only will you lose those folks as future customers, but the news will spread FAST! You will be known as the pack who takes $$$ but doesn't deliver. The family? THreaten them with legal action. That might be enough to get them to cough it up. If they really are in bad finacial shape..let them pay it in payments. $100.00 a month for 5 months is better than nothing at all.