scoutmom

ExperiencedUniforms, I take exception to your statement that I haven't been taught proper scouting. Do you know how many shirts my son has already out-grown that I have donated to my Pack? No, you don't. Not that it's any of your business, but, I intend to take this shirt and frame it as a momento of his Cub Scout career. You have no idea how much or how little I have contributed to both my local Pack and to my Council. So please, keep your judgement calls to yourself. BTW, it was my den (at my suggestion)that built a "Uniform box" for the Pack, and my son's too small shirt was

One of my favorite, quick, easy skits goes like this: All boys line up facing the audience. Boy #1 turns to boy #2 and whispers in his ear. Boy # 2 says "Oh, no!". Boy #3 says "What's wrong" Boy #2 whispers in his ear, Boy # 3 says "Oh, no!" This continues down the line until the last boy says "What's wrong?" and the boy before him says "We don't have a skit!" The great thing about this skit is you can do it with just a few boys, or with a large group. It helps if the boys can "ham it up" a bit with he "Oh, no"'s

Sorry to disagree, but I have ironed patches on my son's shirt and they have stayed where I put them for over a year. I haven't tried taking them off the shirt and I don't anticipate taking them off, so I don't really care what it does to the shirt. He will get a new shirt when he moves to Boy Scouts. Maybe the patched for Boy Scouts are different, but I can tell you form personal experience, the Cub Scout patches iron on just fine.

Thanks for sharing that! The kids in my son's class have learned the "sign's up" routine from me (my son is the only Cub Scout in his classroom) and now his teacher is using it to get their attention! It's so nice to hear that that kids appreciate your attention even though they want to rebel against you sometimes. Congratulations.

I've been sitting here typing and revising and changing this response to jmcquillan for the last 20 minutes. There's a lot I want to say, but for the sake of courtesy, I'll just say this. If your "trail" makes you "quite happy", more power to you. I did not "discount" your experience, I simply disagreed with you. Your tone in your reply is one of condescension and I do not appreciate it. Until you have been the parent of a child with ADHD, or any other learning disability (or medical disability for that matter) you simply do not know what it is like. If my son's Scoutmaster in

SagerScout, you are right on the money. I agreee with everything you have to say. jmcquillan, sorry, but Sager is right. Somethimes the parents of a child with ADHD make it worse. I can say that because I am one of those parents. I find that other adults have much more patience with my son than I do. Especially at Scout meetings. Here is a poem I found on the internet that related to ADHD. It's really directed at parents, but it's not a very long stretch to apply it to Scout Leaders. Here's hoping that Scouters out there will find the patience it takes to help young boys

Congrats OGE to you and your son. You should be very proud -- popping those buttons off whichever uniform shirt you might be wearing today!

BTW, "something something" means I don't know what the words are! LOL

HELP! PLEASE! Wel, I guess it's not really THAT serious. I'm looking for the words to the "Little fishey song". It was performed last year at Day Camp and I'd like to use it for our Pack meeting this month. All I remember is: something something little fishey something something little dishey something something little fishey when the boat comes in. Hands together The you put your hands together and make like a little fish swimming while you repeat the words to the song and next is elbows together, then knees, then feet, then knees bent, then knees bent lower, then one fo

OGE, If that's the only thing they could come up with to criticize, I'd say you did a terrific job! I wouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe ask one of the other committee members what the common practice is. I have seen people with the velcro, too.

I have found that a general "we need help" gets us nowhere. What has helped our Pack is to break up events into small parts and ask people individually for their help. Example: for our Pinewood Derby this year, we had general sign up sheets available for Judging, set up, weigh in, etc. BUT, we then went to specific people and asked them if they could help with one part. We managed to have enough help with every area. When I was Den Leader, I decided I couldn't continue. I had a new job with longer hours and a longer commute and I couldn't devote as much time to the Den as they des

Wait a minute, I thought profiling was wrong! I mean the NJ State Police got in a lot of trouble over that. (small joke -- everybody laugh politely) I tried to update my profile, but it tells me I have the wrong password, but I can post with this password. I emailed to the "forgot your password" thingy. I will update as soon as I can.

Here's another situation.... Let's say, hypothetically, there is a large Webelos Den (say 13 boys) and instead of splitting it up, the Den has 3 Leaders. All the Leaders have son's in the Den. One of the Leaders' sons has received (not necessarily earned) many more activity pins than the rest of the den. At one Pack meeting when this boy received 6 activity pins, he turns to his mother and says "How did I get all these?" Some of his Den mates recognize that he gets pins no one else has gotten and are feeling resentful and question the validity of his "earning" them. How would a pack,

I don't really like the "door to door" thing myself. But that may be because I live in a rural area and not in a neighborhood or sub-division! I have let my opinion out about the Popcprn on another thread, but to elaborate a little bit: We can't run a 50-50 because the BSA (or maybe it's just our Council) says you have to give people something of value for their money and a ticket isn't something of value. We can't run a raffle for the same reason. Personally I think we're being a little hypotritical (SP?) selling Popcorn for $15 for a small can of Carmel Popcorn. Is that Value

Bob White, Not all of us Scouters are as pro-popcorn as you seem to be. Yes, we do the Annual Popcorn Sale, but, I am not thrilled about it. I don't like asking people to pay $15 for a can of popcorn when they can go to Wal Mart and get a giant can for $3. In my opinion, the popcorn we sell is over priced and I am not thrilled with the quality. I know it's for a good cause, and I know a lot of people will disagree with me. Our Pack has not had tremendous success with the Popcorn sale. I know Packs that do great with Popcorn, I just don't think it'a all that wonderful.

As the parent of a first year Webelos and an Assistant Cubmaster, I would recommend the following: Make contact with your local Packs. Don't wait for them to come to you (as out local Troop is doing). Work with the Webelos Den Leaders to arrange some mutual Troop/Pack activities. Invite them on a camping trip. Show up at Den Meetings and Pack Meetings just to say Hi. Encourage your scouts to be Den Chiefs -- I have been begging for one for three years and have had no response. I guess I think you should ne the initiator. Go get those Webelos and capture their interest. Don't

I'm in Southern New Jersey. OGE, I can't wait to hear about your trip to the Pine Barrens to hunt the Jersey Devil!

Here's my 2 cents worth: When I started as a Den Leader a few years ago, it was because "there was no one else to do it". I got a Den of 10 Wolves. I begged and begged for an assistant. I had lots of unoficial help from parents but no one would commit to being official. Our pack committee was falling apart. The trett people who were consistently at meeting were moving on to Boy Scouts with their sons. I then started informing the parent in my den of every meeting. Everything. Committee meetings, Roundtables, you name it, they knew when it was, where it was and how long it was. We

You can't customize the neckrchief but you can make your own slides! My cubbies love making slides. Get them to make as many different kinds as you can think up. They love them.

From your description, things are out of hand. In my son's den (12 first year Webelos - big den - 3 boys with ADHD) his leaders (there are 3) Turn the lights off and quickly back on again to get their attention. It works pretty well all of the time. Yelling, well sometimes you have to yell to be heard, but yelling at a one kid about a wrong behavior, that is not acceptable. And push-ups! This guy is supposed to be a den leader not a drill seargeant. Go immediately to your Cubmaster and/or Committee CHair. This is not something you can let go by. You can not be afraid of hurting someone

ScouterPaul: Sorry to dissappoint, I'm from NJ. But, I lived in the South for about 9 years and some of the words still pop out. Like Hey instead of Hi and y'all. I'm fixin' ta carry my Mama down to the Wal-Mart. cjmiam: quit bragin about that low body fat thing! I should have such a problem! bigbeard: Your welcome. BTW, I like what you have to say. In regards to everyone's busy schedules, riddle me this: How do I manage to attend a work related conference at one end of the state and also manage to make Roundtable at the opposite end of the state all in the same day?

While I was reading this thread, y'all have added a page! IMHO, you folks need to get off the computer and go Scouting with your Troops/Packs/Crews! Go camping, go hiking, go jump in a lake! With the proper Safe Swim Defense guidelines in place, of course! Just a little levity to lighten the mood.

Hey Dad, check your numbers again. It looks to me like the majority does use the Public School system. Results -- 23 total votes: home school? 6 / 26.1% public school? 13 / 56.5% private school? 4 / 17.4%

Rooster, I totally understand wanting to get away from Politics and Issues. I rarely read this section and even more rarely post on it. It is just exhausting reading the same arguements over and over again. Healthy debate is always a good thing, but I feel this forum very often crosses the line of healthy. I also feel that in their passion, many of the Scouters here forget the Scout Law. A Scout is supposed to be courteous, and that seems to be forgotten often. I hope you enjoy your break and I join ScouterPaul in his request that you not ignore us all together. I have learned

TJ, Forgive me if I am repeating anyone here, but I got tired of reading after page 5. To answer the question that you began your post with ("Now that we disagree, can we agree?"), I think the clear and definitive answer is NO.