ScoutNut

How would you get the cake or bread out of the mason jar? Seems like you would have to just spoon it out in lumps.

Actually you could recruit from the Cadette level also for your Crew. Cadettes can be as old as 14 years or in 9th grade. Many girls stay a Cadette in 9th grade so that they can finish up their Silver Award (2nd highest award, also very difficult with many pre-reqs, much service, much leadership, and a 30 hour project). Please don't judge the Girl Scout program based on your knowledge of the Boy Scout program only. They are 2 entirely different programs. And I would caution you against sharing your comparisions with your prospective GS recruits. You might get more than you bargained

From what you have said this is not the only boy to garner the SM's wrath by dropping out. It also sounds like you will be having at LEAST 1 more boy "drop out" because he was never really in. It sounds to me like this SM was planning his own vacation from the very first and using the boys in the Crew to get it. Shame on him! Yes, you have a mess alright. The mess is the SM! Talk to him immediately and let him know that unless he stops verbaly abusing this scout (and any others who decide not to go on his vacation) that you will report him to your Council Scout Executive per the proc

Wow, that school sure is pretty full of itself. Our Catholic Church/School also has it's own Pack, Troop and Girl Scout Troops. The Pack and Girl Scouts tend to be 99% (we do have some homeschooled and "publics") from the grammer school just because it's easier for the parents, but our Webelos Scouts are encouraged to check out all of the surrounding Boy Scout Troops. Boy, if we ever told them that if they went to the school they had to be in our Troop we would get laughed out of town! I just don't see why the parents didn't just say no. What did the school say they would do to them?

Linda - I have never heard of that kind of salute and can't find it in any of the literature we have around here. Course, the stuff I could find is not all that old either. Your best bet might be to contact the National Scouting Museum: National Scouting Museum Boy Scouts of America, S505 1329 West Walnut Hill Lane Irving, TX 75038 800-303-3047 972-580-2100 e-mail: nsmuseum@netbsa.org They have a historical collection and might be able to find a reference for you. Let us know what you find!

How can you not know if the boys are officially transfered? Did they fill out transfer paperwork, or did they just disappear from your troop and reappear in the other troop? If there is a question of which troop they are actually registered with you should contact your Council Registrar. As for the money, officialy, any money earned by the troop belongs to your Charter Organization. Also everything owned by the troop is actually owned by your CO. Your council will not get involved. Because your unit bylaws state that if a scout leaves the troop, they forfit all money in their scout a

Twocubdad is right, I would cancel the campout. Then I would explain exactly WHY it was cancled to the girls. Do some cooporative, team building games with your group. Let them know that if things don't improve they will not be doing a whole lot of activities. A code of conduct, put together by the girls, is a good idea. I would also have the parents sign and return a copy to you so you know they read and understand them. If the girls are not doing much towards running the troop that could be a problem too. 6th graders are able to take on more responsibility for their own troop. Ma

All of your achievement beads can be given out at den meetings. That is why they are called instant recognitions. If you are in a permanent time crunch you could also give out any participation patches in the dens. I would award belt loops and pins at the pack meeting along with the ranks and any special awards. If you award all recognitions at pack, I don't see how any boy could go months on end without receiving anything unless the dens are not meeting or they are just sitting around a table for an hour! If you decide to hand out awards in the dens, I would make sure to bring each d

Are your current scouts still holding den meetings? If so, forget the roundup for them. Have their den leaders take applications to the den meetings with them and have the parents sign their sons up when they come to collect them after the meeting (or do it before the meeting gets started, but sometimes it's harder to get the parents to actually come in when they are dropping off the boys). Another roundup is a good idea. Or even a roundup for each school. For next year make sure you have someone at every school registration day. If the school will not let you set up inside, try for

OK Pro : Only 1 meeting per month Con : Since the odds of each committee member having a child in each unit are extremely remote, you have people running units who have no real vested interest in them other than that they are scouting. Not that this is always a bad thing, but you need to let the people in the unit work with the unit. Involvement of the families is key in any scouting program. You can't have that if you only have 1 master group running everything.

Anne - I am simply saying that you should make yourself clear. People are replying to you assuming you are asking in your capacity as a Scoutmaster. You might receive different advise if people were clear on what you are trying to do. I am not bashing large, multi-age, Girl Scout Groups. I think they can work quite well given the proper leadership and enough adult help. I also see nothing wrong with small Girl Scout Troops, wheather multi-age or single age. Once again, these can work well also, given the proper leadership. It seems that you are a big fan of the patrol method. T

Anne - I think that you should make it clear that while everyone else is talking Boy Scout Troops you are talking Girl Scout Troop. Actually Girl Scout Group from 4th thru 7th grade. Girl Scouts are very different from Boy Scouts and you can not really run a Girl Scout Troop/Group like you would a Boy Scout Troop. Even if you do form them into patrols. The dynamics are very different and the number and jobs of adults affiliated is very different. Have you asked your girls how they would like their Troop set up? Patrols is not the only form of Troop government available t

"Leaders are proscribed from having direct involvement with the Religious Award programs in their Leader capacity." Not necessarily true. Leaders can and should tell their girls about the religious awards program. They should also help their girls find information if they are interested. But the religious awards programs are NOT Scout programs. They are organized and run by the individual religious organizations to encourage spiritual growth in their youth members. BSA and GSUSA recognizes these programs, but they do NOT run them or teach them. Most of the programs should be men

Hi There! We have other boys here too! Tell us about Scouting by you!(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

Officially, a GS Gold Award Project should touch the community beyond Girl Scouting. From GSUSA national: "The whole idea of the Girl Scout Gold Award is that you do something to benefit your community and learn those skills that make you a citizen of your community and the world." Unfortunatly, some GS councils, like some BS councils, allow some questionable projects to be done. Jamie, yours sounds interesting. How are you going to be putting this together, a booklet, video, website, etc? Who, & how, will you be distributing this to. If you do some searches online you will

" Factor two were the sites themselves, most of them were very rocky -- many large rocks. Everybody had to be pretty careful not to get hurt." And you keep going back there? No wonder you don't get the younger kids or moms. When you are planning a Cub Scout Family Camp you have to plan for the whole family. Not just for the dad and Cub. If you make the location and the activities unappealing for the younger sibs then guess who has to stay home with them next time. If you guessed dad I bet in about 90% of the cases you would be wrong! This does not mean that mom or little kids don't

Check your local phone book for Boy Scouts of America. Then call or visit your local Scout office. They will be able to give you lots of info and tell you where you can find Cub Scout Packs in your area. Or you can use the local council finder on the national website and just enter your zip code: http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?c=lc You might also keep an eye out for young men in uniform selling Trail's End popcorn! Great popcorn and you can ask the boy questions on scouts! Tigers are awesome!! Nut Permanent Tiger Leader Popcorn Kernal

Laurie - Even though you say both you and the Troop are chartered thru your church, is it possible that you are chartered thru 2 different organizations IN your church? Say for instance St. Fred Youth Outreach and St Fred Men's Club? That might explain the different numbers and the different COR's.

Don't forget Charter, Charter Organization, Charter Organization Rep, Rank, and Lord Baden Powell!

Our Roman Catholic church has been the CO for our Pack for over 50 years and our Troop for over 75 years. We also have a Girl Scout Troop in every grade from K thru 8. Not all of our CS, BS or GS's are members of the church or school. We have a meeting room specifically for Scouting and room to store all of our various Troops and Dens stuff. Our church, and all of its various organizations, have been very supportive of Scouting. None of the volunteers in any of the parish organizations or the school have ever been asked to be fingerprinted or had background checks. Nor have we been asked

SCTMOM - Just what I was going to suggest!! On-line Fast Start has a great intro to every position in a Pack and the pdf document is a great additional help. After that try to get them to training as soon as possible. It sounds like you are not happy with your councils training. Try nearby councils, although New Leader Essentials does have some council specific info you may be happier with how the training is run. I have taken just about every Leader Specific course and I have found them overall to be pretty good. You should be able to get some good question and answer time with a leader

MaineScouter, I might be missing something, but if your husband is the assistant committee chair in charge of Board of Reviews, why don't you just go to him with your concerns? I realize he can't be on the BOR for your son, but wouldn't he be the logical place to start changing the way your Troop does BOR's. Especially if he is the reason they started to re-test in the first place! Just a thought. BTW - I understand how it is in a "good 'ole boy" Troop. I've got one myself. Yours does at least let you work with the boys. My SM would rather cut his own throat, and considering how

Personaly, I've been a co-leader for my dd's troop for going on 12 years now & I have loved every minute of it. I have seen my girls grow up and shared some great times with them. You want our recruiting efforts more focused. Are you prepared to tell your dd or any other girl that they will not have a troop this year because council/SU has decided that you should not lead their level? In our SU we would throw a party if we could get enough people to volunteer for ANY level! We have girls on waiting lists for a troop in my council because they can't find an adult who will volunte

Your SU should be holding registration soon. Why don't you wait until you have your new Juniors? It is very hard to have a patrol with only 3 girls. Our girls tried different forms of troop government, but they always prefered to simply discuss, vote, & do things as a group.

You mention contacting local scouts in your area. Are you a registered member of a Cub Scout Pack? Who was your son's Den Leader last year for Tiger Cubs? Cub Scouts is best NOT done as a Lone Scout if at all possible. If you are not a member of a Cub Scout Pack you should call your local Boy Scout Council (they are in the phone book) and ask about nearby Cub Packs.