scoutmom

LauraT7,

A big AMEN to that! Well said.

By far, the best trainig experience I have had to this date (I'm doing Woodbadge in the fall)was Outdoor Webelos Leader Training. Not to take anything away from the staff on the course, but what made it so memorable were my fellow participants. We got to be 3 Cub Scout Dens for a weekend. As a female, I must say that I was always jealous of my brothers when they would go off on weekends and do scouting stuff. I wanted to be a Boy Scout! (always was a little tomboy) OWL training gave me that opportunity. I went that weekend not expecting to enjoy myself, not sleep well, and miss my son an awful lot. Well, at the end of the weekend, I didn't want to go home! We had formed bonds and friendships that have continued. I don't see these people very often, but I do, we greet each other with our "den cheers". I came home from that weekend feeling rested, refreshed and absolutely on fire for the Scouting program.

I hope that my Woodbadge experience will be a good one, but OWL was such an amazing event that I don't think anything will ever be like that. We just had the right group of participants and staff, the weather was incredible, the food was great and all was right with the world.

Regardless of anyone's personal feelings about going to war, I think this is the time for us all to show our support and thanks to the men and women who have put themselves in harm's way to protect and defend us. My prayers and thoughts are with all members of the Armed Forces.

Boy, I don't feel so bad about the condition of my car now! Actually, I got to clean it out yesterday and gave to the new Cubmaster, 2 plastic tubs filled with Pack records, 1 box of plastic knives and forks, 2 tubs of candy used for prizes for games at Pack meetings, a grocery bag full of 5x7 cardboard pieces, American Flag and Pack Flag and their stands, 2 folding grill racks for use over a campfire, assorted craft supplies and a ream of paper for flyers.

Still left in the car are my bag full of training supplies (syllabus, Wolf, Bear and Webelos Handbooks, Scouting and Boys Life Magazines, assorted completed crafts, etc..) a set of camp cooking pots, and my brief case for work. Also in the car are various items that my son has left in there including a sweat shirt, his religous education book and bible, empty Gatorade bottles and a large assortment of trash!

I wonder how long it will be before it fills up with Boy Scout Supplies?

I tried to edit that but it told me I wasn't authorized.

I meant to say "it" was cold the first night not I was cold. I was nice and warm at hime in my bed with my down comforter!

Well, my son came back today from his first Boy Scout camping trip. He had a great time and can't wait for the next trip. I was cold the first night (22 degrees) and he was not happy. He was cold and a little homesick and it was "horrible". Thank God Saturday got warmer and he had a terrific time. He rates it an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10! LOL He was so excited and proud of himself he couldn't stop talking the whole way home. (about a 30 minute drive) It's nice to see his enthusiasm and his new found self-confidence.

He's already asking his Troop leaders when they can plan a trip to Philmont!

So, I think we have a Scouting addict on our hands. Hey, there's worse things to be addicted to! I wonder if there's a 12 Step program for Scouting..... (joke, that's a joke - please don't take offense anyone!)

I'd wave my magic wand and make all parents willing to volunteer and do so with a smile on their face in a spirit of cooperation!

Oh, I do like to dream.......

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone. Jon is dissappointed that ther is no Troop meeting tonight. (Ash Wednesday) He did decide to go on the camping trip and I think he is lookin forward to it a little more. We went out and bought some new hiking boots and that made him excited.

ozemu,

Jon was in that frame of mind last year. Everything was boring and nothing was fun. I'm glad he snapped out of that. He, like many other boys, struggles with ADHD and sometimes the medication can make him a little depressed. We've made some changes in meds and vitamin supplements and he seems to have a much better attitude these days. It's so nice to see him happy and excited about something other than Game Cube!

I'll let you know how the camping trip goes!

These are the words I heard from my son all day this past Sunday. Our Blue and Gold Banquet was on Saturday and he earned his Arrow of Light and crossed over to Boy Scouts. He was so excited. Sunday, he was reading his Boy Scout Handbook (pack gift to the Scouts crossing over) and he can't wait to go on his first camping trip, because he's sure he's going to catch his first fish, ever! It is so nice to see him this enthusiastic about Scouting.

We had a great turn out at the B&G. We had representative from each of the 3 Troops in town and each Troop got some of our Webelos. I am very proud of the way Jon made his decision about which Troop to join. He waited until he had visited each Troop and then he thought about the positives and negative of each Troop and made his decision in favor of the Troop where he would "have fun and learn lots of stuff". Some of the boys based their decisions on where their friends were going and some even changed their minds at the B&G! Jon made his decision (ignored my two cents worth, to boot) and never looked back. I'm so proud.

We had our first Troop meeting last night and I think today he's feeling a little overwhelmed, because now he's not as excited about his first camping trip. He's having some anxiety about being away without me, but I really want his first camping trip to be a complete break from what he was used to in Cubs. I want him to stop relying on Mom and the best way to do that is for Mom to stay home. I'm sure he'll do fine.

Anyway, I just wanted to brag and say how proud I am. I didn't even cry at the B&G. I really thought I would, because I have been with some of these boys since Tigers, and it is a little touching to see how much they have learned and grown over the years. I sure am proud of them.

If the Cubmaster, Assistant Cubmaster, and Den Leaders didn't come to our Committee meetings, they wouldn't exist. In a perfect world, Committee and Leaders would be separate, but for us,this is how we make sure we are delivering the best program we can. More parental participation is desired, but hard to come by.

OOPS! That was supposed to be "teeth"!! Boy is my face red!

OOOOOOHHHH! A subject close to my heart! My son is a Second year Webelos and we are getting ready for cross over (Feb 22). His Den visited the three troops in town (yes, we are lucky!) and he made his decision. He picked a different Troop from the one I would have chosen, but it's his decision. 2 of the troops presented well run, boy run meetings and got our guys involved right away. The other troop consisted of, "OK you boys sit on the floor and I'll tell you about our up coming camping trip". A big bore to the Webelos and to my mind the bigger problem was that it was not boy-run.

And let me tell you, it was like pulling teet to arrange these troop visits! Lots of phone calls and "I'll get back to you". We are a small pack but this den is large (13 boys). The troop we "feed" hasn't had a boy from us in 2 years. I would have expected that Scoutmaster to be knocking our door down last year when these boys became First year Webelos! A good part of our Pack Leadership will be leaving when this den crosses over, and NOW the Scoutmaster is concerned about the Pack. Hello ---- where where you for the last two years???

Anyway, can you tell I'm a little frustrated?? My son has made his decision and I'm happy if he's happy. I'm looking forward to him crossing over and me taking a big step back. I didn't thins it was possible, but I'm burned out on this Scouting stuff. I'm looking forward to a break, but I don't intend to be completely un-involved. I'm just taking a big breather. I'll probably jump back in with both feet come spring!

mk9750 - don't worry, we're not in the same town! I'm in Southern NJ. I wish I had a Troop locally that made the kind of contact you troop has! I guess in a perfect world we would all have everything exactly the way we want it!

I also agree with eagledad that Leader burn-out is a big issue. I've been there and it really saps youe enthusiasm when you feel you are working harder for the Cubs to advance than the boys are working.

And I think ScoutNut has a good point when he encourages more interaction between the Troops and Packs. I would love to have the Boy Scouts participate in some of our activities and vice versa. I'm just tired of begging. It almost puts me off scouting completely, but then I see Leaders from other towns and other areas in our district and I realize, not everyone has the same attitude.

My perfect Scouting World: Packs and Troops working together for the best interest of the Scouts; Boy Scouts interested in and excited about helping Cub Scouts transition and sharing their own love of Scouting; Leaders who respect one another, including their differences; and last but not least, parents who willingly volunteer to help so that I don't feel like I'm responsible for everything!

I can dream, can't I??

Here's my $.02 worth:

From my experience, there has not been a troop (3 in our town) that has approached anyone in our Pack regarding Webelos transition in the last 3 years. I have personally requested a den chief from 2 of the Troops and have been told repeatedly that there is no one available. (They're too busy with sports and band and other activities) We currently have a den of 13 second year Webelos who will be ready to cross over in Feburuary (maybe!) and we have visited one of those troops. That was done last spring and our Webelos Leaders initiated that contact and it could not have been a more boring meeting. Boy run? Not in my eyes.

As far as Ed Mori's assertion that the Pack doesn't fully prepare the boys for Scouting, I can sort of agree with that. However, the Packs are not trained to deliver a Boy Scout Program. We are trained to deliver a Cub Scout Program. Without a open stream of communication between the Pack and the Troop, Webelos transition is going to be culture shock. I know my son and the other boys in his den are not ready for Boy Scouts. I am not a Boy Scout Leader, so I am at a loss as to how to prepare them better. Our Webelos Leaders and I (Cubmaster) have made efforts to build a relationship with the Troops in our area, but the attitude seems to be that if we want to join Boy Scouts, we know where to find them.

Personally, I have considered taking my son to a troop in another town who's Scoutmaster actually invited us to join his troop! I plan on leaving the decision on where to join up to my son. Afterall, he'll be the Boy Scout, not me. I will give him my opinion, though.

EXCELLENT!! You go, ScouterPaul!

Boy, this thread took a big detour. (and personally, I don't care who you share your tent with, but do it on someone else's thread ;o -Joke, that was a joke. Please don't anybody attack!)

I don't plan on staying after February as I have made some commitments at the council level. Everyone in the Pack is aware of that and I am looking forward to moving on. I love Scouting,and working with the boys, but I'm not always so fond of the parents. Sometimes we parents make being a Scouter a difficult job.

I thought you folks might like to hear how this situation worked out. Before I "officially" went to our DE, I spoke privately with an individual that I know and respect from our local council. I explaind the sitiation and asked for advice. The advice was to talk to the CM and document the incident for the Pack records.

Well, after we talked, the CM decided to resign. Not because of anything I said - no threats or anything like that- but because he realized he was wrong and he didn't have the nerve to stand up in front of the Pack and tell people he was wrong. Our next camping trip was a few weeks away and I made sure everyone knew the rules. The people who brought the beer haven't shown up to anything since.

Anyway, I will be serving as Cubmaster until February when my son crosses over. My biggest challenge is recruiting someone to take over at that time.

Not the ideal ending to this story, but hopefully things will work out for the best.

Thanks, NJCubScouter, I appreciate your comments. I did refer to sexual meaning not harrassment. And just for the record, I do not condone "humping", even while dancing, as the correct conduct for a child. And I think that is my biggest concern. We are talking about children. At least that is the impression I got.

In my opinion, any act that includes "humping" has a sexual meaning. I would be concerned about this boy and I would have contacted his parents immediately. I do not agree that he should be removed from Scouting entirely, but perhaps a suspension might be in order.

I'm a little surprised at the responses from some of the members who generally seem to be much more conservative. I don't see this as a situation to be taken lightly.

Oh how sweet! Congrats to you and your wife. Laurel is a beautiful little girl and what a pretty name! Health and happiness always.

I believe the event is called "Beach Jam" and is held in October and May. You can contact the people at Maury's Pier for information.

We have never gone as a Pack, but I have heard from others it's a fun weekend.

I started with Den Leader Basic Training and Youth Protection. The next year I went to Webelos Leader Training, Outdoor Webelos Leader Training (OWL), which included Youth Protection,and Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO). I also was trained in Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat. After all that training I was invited to join the District Training Team and have served as staff for several training sessions including another OWL session. I have also received the new Scouting Fundamentals as well as Specific training for Cubmaster and Pack Admin. I have now been to no less than 6 sessions of Youth Protection. I think I can repeat that video tape in my sleep!

When my son moves up to Boy Scouts, I anticipate even more training at that time.

Thanks for all of the input, everyone. I guess I knew all along what I have to do, but I wanted to get your collective opinion.

I don't think handling this on a local level with the CO and COR will do us much good. Our CO is very uninvolved with the Pack and basically the COR only signs the Charter. Not the best situation, but it has been working up until now. We have made efforts to involve the CO more with the Pack, but we don't get much response.

OGE, yes, other adults were ther and saw the incident. Thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious. I have no choice but to address this issue. I intend to make an appointment with our DE, this is not something I want to do over the phone or via email. I also intend to bring it up at our next committee meeting.

I am prepared for the fallout from this, but I'm not sure about my son. He is a second year Webelos and will be moving up to Boy Scouts in February. He is well on his way to the AOL and I hope this doesn't cause him any problems. You know, "Your Mom is a snitch", or that kind of stuff.

What makes things a little more awkward is that I work for a Drug and Alcohol Rehab. I am not prejudiced against alcohol and I partake of a beverage every now and then, myself. I can however, recognize behaviors and attitudes that might point to a problem. I'm not suggesting any of the people involved have a problem, but why you cant go two days without a beer, is beyond me.

Anyway, thanks everyone and I'll let you know what happens from here.

I recently had the worst experience of my Scouting career - not that long, a little more than 4 years. Our Pack went on our Annual Family Camping weekend recently and was it ever a disaster!

Friday night began with no power to the pavillion we reserved at our Council Camp and no flush toilets. There was no power to the camp at all. Then we had one of the most horendous thunderstorms I have ever experienced. Did I mention that I was fighting a horrible cold/sinus infection? And my tent leaked? And the power company wouldn't come out to check the power until it stopped raining. Well, it stopped raining Saturday around noon. The power company came out and told us the meter was shot and an electtrician had to come out to replace it. We finally got power about 6PM and the boys spent the day fishing and they didn't really care about not having power.

Dinner went well and everything seemed back on track.

I am one of three people in our Pack who are Baloo trained and I was in charge of this weekend. The rain and the power problems shot my schedult to pieces, so we went with plan B. OK, no big deal. Well, our Cubmaster took the boys on what was the highlight of the weekend. They went on a night hike- no flashlights- just glow sticks so we could see where all the kids were. It was pretty cool watching them hike from far away - just seeing the glow sticks bobbing up and down.

Anyway, they came back from the hike and I notice one of the parents with a can of beer sticking our of his jacket pocket! I went to the Cubmaster and asked him to ask this man, who is a very good friend of his, to not have the beer can in his pocket. I didn't ask him to stop drinking - like I should have. I didn't ask him to leave - like I should have. I asked for him to not have it out in the open. And for that I got my head snapped off by our Cubmaster telling me to not be such a prude. I gave up and walked away. Later that night, the wife of the man with the beer (who is a trained leader) walked up to where I was sitting with a beer in her hand, and popped it open right in my face. I just shook my head at her and her response was "oh yeah!"

I made it very clear to everyone that there is no alcohol allowed on BSA property. I worked very hard to put together a good program that was fun and safe for our Scouts. These people's behavior put our Scouts at risk. I am feeling unappreciated and insulted by these people. I know I should have asked these people to leave, but I knew I would get no back-up from the Cubmaster. What would you have done? And what do I do now? DO I let the issue go? DO I report it to Council? Do I bring it up to the Committee? Advice appreciated!

The only redeeming thing about this whole weekend is that our Scouts had a good time in spite of the rain and no electric or flushing toilets!

Sorry for the long post.

Experienced Uniforms,

I apologize for being overly sensitive to your remarks, but I just came off a disaster of a Family Camping Weekend and I've been feeling very un-appreciated. (But that's another post - please check it out under General Topics - I's appreciate your comments)

You are right that you can not gain a person's inflection from the written word. I often hear condesention and superiority in some of the posts I read, although that may not be the intention. And I do know what an emoticon is, but I took yours as being smug. Not your intention, my interpretation.