ScoutNut

BSA National has nothing at all to do with popcorn sales. Those are ENTIRELY council organized, and run. Some councils do not sell popcorn at all.

A few years back our council had some delivery issues with Trails End, and switched to Camp Masters. Gotta say I was really disappointed in the quality of their popcorn. So was our council. We switched back to Trails End after two years. Per BSA, the Pack determines how to include the Academic and Sports program, into their Pack program. The Pack also determines how the program is funded. There are many different ways to fund the program. Some Packs pay for everything but multiples of the same loop (our Pack). Some Packs will include a belt loop fee in their annual Scout dues. Some wil

While the Tiger Cub might not read well, their Adult Partner can. The Adult Partner should be doing everything right alongside their Tiger. Also, there is not a lot of "reading" involved in the Tiger activities (achievements or electives), more simply doing fun stuff. Doing fun stuff is the same for many of the other electives in Wolf and Bear. Also, there are some electives that the boys are completing without ever realizing it. Include stuff done at school, after school, and with their family. It can add up. There are LOTS of FUN Wolf electives. Some are very easy to slip into a d

Tigers (and Wolves/Bears) don't cross over to their new Cub levels until the END of the SCHOOL YEAR. When/if they finish their current rank award has nothing to do with it. That Day Camp Pack is very, very, wrong. My Tigers each year always complete enough electives to get a handful of beads. All of our ranks end up with a number of arrow points, along with belt loops, and other stuff. It is not an either/or situation for electives vs belt loops. Electives are great fun for filling in time in a den meeting! I generally did at least 1-3 per month.

You are the COR, not the IH of the CO. Who is on the books as the head of the Charter Organization? Who does the IRS paperwork each year? This is a call that should be made by the Charter Organization, not just one person. Your CO, fortunately, or unfortunately, is the parents of the Scouts. Do they know that they "own" the unit? I would get all of the parents together in one room and talk to them about the reality of the situation. Then let the owners of the unit decide what they want to do, or not do, for the Scouts in THEIR Pack.

The Pack is self-chartered by the parents of the Scouts. If there are no Scouts, and the parents you do have no longer care, why should you?

GSUSA does not charter community groups to run their program. There are no organizations that can have "owned" a single unit for 50 years. All GSUSA groups/troops are individual, and "owned" by their local council. That said, there have been GSUSA troops in our Catholic parish school for 50+ years. There is also a troop of "older" girls (grades 6-12) in our area that has been around for about 15 years now. The leaders love working with the girls, and have formed a "permanent" group. As with BSA, a lot of what GSUSA groups/troops do for activities depends on the comfort level of the leaders.

Actually, there was no "animosity" between Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low, and Baden-Powell at all. In fact Daisy was great friends with B-P, and his sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. She worked with Agnes, and B-P, on the newly created Girl Guides, and even organized Girl Guide troops in Scotland, and England. It was her work with the Girl Guides, and seeing the affect it had on the girls involved, that caused her to decide to bring the program to the USA. Daisy included girls from all backgrounds in her program, including girls that were disabled (she herself was deaf). Juliette Gordon Lo

Speaking of Activity Badge counselors - a great place to find those are your council's list of Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselors. There are many Merit Badges that are similar to Cub Scout Activity Badges. Art Athletics Camping Chess Citizenship in the Community/Nation Communications Engineering Family Life First Aid Forestry Geology Music Nature Personal Fitness Swimming Theatre And more Contact your Boy Scout Troop's Scoutmaster, and ask about Merit Badge Counselors. If he is no help, contact your District Commissioner, or District Executive. Heck,

That is for den leaders. BSA encourages parents, and others, to be Webelos Activity Badge counselors. There is no BSA requirement that a Webelos Activity Badge counselor be registered. A den meeting is not considered to be an "outing". Two-deep does not apply (although a very good idea). The major YP rule to be followed is no one-on-one.

One year, at Graduation, I introduced the new upcoming Wolf den leaders from my (now former) Tiger den. We had a pretty hefty sized den that year, and I had recruited 3 parents. After the introduction, I had a dad come up to me all upset because I had not mentioned his name also. I apologized, and told him the more, the merrier! For that den of 12 we ended up with 3 registered leaders, and 3-4 other parents who helped out on a regular basis. Another year I had 4 Tigers. Every single parent wanted to be involved with the den. For the Wolf year we had 3 registered as leaders with the others h

If you can get two parents to work with the Webelos that would be GREAT! One does NOT have to be a registered leader. It is not even required that they take Youth Protection, although it would be HIGHLY recommended. If I remember correctly, all of your Pack's Cubs meet at the same time/place. If you are on premises for the Webelos parents to call on if necessary that should be sufficient. I would do a combined start of meeting flag ceremony, then have the 2 parents take the 5 Webelos off to do their own thing. Find out if any of your Pack's families (not just the Webelos) have a tale

As the Cub Scout program (except for LDS) revolves around the school year, and there are lots of different end of school year dates across the country (and even some year long school systems), BSA has made June 1, as the date that their computer system (ScoutNet) automatically updates all registered Cub Scouts to their next Cub level. This is why newly graduated kindergarteners can not be registered as Tiger Cub Scouts until June 1. The system does not see them as eligible until then. Cub Scouts is flexible, and the Cubs love "bling". However "bling" is not the focus of the program, an

If what you need is ADULT volunteers for your Pack, having Boy Scout YOUTH work with the Cub Scouts is not going to save your Pack. You need to get your Pack families off of their dead ends. Your first priority should be to find a Cubmaster. If none of the Pack families will step up, how about talking to non-Scouting members of your CO? You are the IH, is there a COR? How about a Pack CC? As IH you should be working with your COR, and your Pack, and Troop, Committee Chairs, to make, and keep, your Scouting programs healthy. To few doing to much - you, as IH, should NOT be doing ever

4.1.0.4 is not really new. While it has not been spelled out in the Advancement Guide before, it has been mentioned in the Cub Scout Leader Book, and has been a rule for many years now. The only stipulations have been that the Cub can not work in two levels at the same time, and that the extension is for the rank award only.

Good Grief! The more they try to slice, and dice, things every which possible way, and the more they try to cover their back sides, the more convoluted it becomes, and the more opportunities for abuse there are. Unit leaders, and committees across the country will read ONLY that they can now deny a signed off merit badge. I can hear the crazed cackles of glee already!

I would say that it has been at least 6 years, probably more, since BSA changed the requirements for a new Pack to be - 5 paid youth 1 Charter Organization Rep (who can also double as a Committee Chair, or Committee Member) 1 Committee Chair 2 Non-Chair Committee Members 1 unit leader and only 1 den leader This was done so that small Packs would still be able to charter.

You need to have a good talk with your other (tardy) adult. Is this adult a leader, or just a parent? Do they at least help out during the meeting, or sit on the sidelines imitating a piece of furniture? You need HELP! If this other adult will not step up to the plate, and you can not get any parents to help, you need to contact your Bishop, and make it VERY clear to him that you can NOT do it all by yourself. He needs to call some help up for you - as soon as possible. The boys are not getting the most out of the program the way it is now. BTW - for a combined meeting, with no

The annual cardboard box vehicle derby is always a big hit. We do it in March, or April, after the big push to finish up the rank award requirements is over. It is a relay race where we pit den against den racing a cardboard vehicle thru various stations. The first den to have each member finish the race wins that race We usually race Tiger vs Wolf, Bear vs Webelos (usually only 4th grade are left at that point). If one den has less members they get to pick which of their Scouts runs a second lap so that both dens run the same number of laps. The two winning dens race against each other t

There is no rule that a den of Webelos must cross to Boy Scouts together. There is also no rule that they must all go to the same Boy Scout Troop. When your son has met all of the requirements to join Boy Scouts, and it is what HE wants to do, then there is no reason to hold him back. And, just a note - although many see it as unimportant, the Cub Scout program only utilizes dens. Even if it is the Flaming Raptor Den. The Boy Scout program utilizes patrols. While it is true that Webelos are transitioning to Boy Scouts, they are still Cub Scouts. Dens, and patrols (other than both bei

"we need to set LDS aside because they have special status with the BSA." No, they don't really. They simply more fully utilize the Charter Organization concept than anyone else. From the BSA Charter Agreement - "The chartered organization agrees to • Conduct the Scouting program according to its OWN POLICIES AND GUIDELINES as well as those of the Boy Scouts of America "We can "set the expectation" that they participate, and highly encourage them to participate, but when push comes to shove we can not drop them for that reason alone. " This is inaccurate. A

Again, GM, you really do not seem to have a clue, or care, how BSA is actually set up. You blame "BSA", your local council, and/or the national organization, for problems within your individual Pack. BSA can NOT "REQUIRE" all parents to volunteer. BSA does NOT OWN their units. The individual Charter Organization owns their own units. As long as it does not interfere with the BSA program, or harm BSA in any way, individual Charter Organizations can implement whatever extra requirements they want to on THEIR Scout units. Some Charter Orgs DO require parents to volunteer their t

You can be a "fair weather" camper and still experience rain. I have often camped with beautiful, clear days, and had a shower in the middle of the night. Even a heavy dew on the ground cloth can end up under the tent. It does not matter if you are staking down your tent or not.If moisture gets between the ground cloth and the tent floor it will cause the inside of the tent to get anywhere from slightly damp to sopping wet. I seems that you have just been very lucky. If you want to protect something left outside, get a tent with a vestibule, and put down a cheap throw rug und