SctDad

Well it seems like you have a great thing for busy parents who are busy or are single parents. Couple of questions come to mind. Is this babysitter a trained babysitter through whoever trains. Are there too many kids for her to watch, and is that the reason why they are running the halls. I would tell the parents and babysitter if there continues to be issues with the kids, then you may have to cancel the program. Don't get me wrong, having a young lady to watch the siblings is a great thing. Maybe she needs some help. See if there are other parents or siblings that want to help. I know that this may be a problem, but try to entice other siblings to help by having a small fee for the baby sitting. Say maybe $2 per child. That is not a lot. Maybe thhis will help the sibling try to keep a better control of things. Or maybe you can have the parents who are using the babysitter to take turns helping her out. If there is still no cooperation, then I would tell the parents that are using it that the service might stop if things keep getting out of control. Talk with you CC and COR. THey may have started this.

Are you talking raffle or door prizes. If it is a raffle where people give money for tickets then you can't do that, but if you are giving away door prizes than that is different. I think parents should be asked to volunteer for something. But forcing them to is different. I also believe that all leaders should be trained. Fast Start is not hard and it is not long. I would say that NLE training be taken at the earliest convienance.

BearDad I think that this new unit that you are involved with has some issues. Find out why the only parents can be volunteers. OUR CC is not a parent, and the person who is serving as a temp WDL is his father. So I guess you could say he has a son in scouting. (LOL)Our ACM has no boys in the program. He has an infant daughter, but that is it. OK maybe the fact that he is an Law Enforcement officer also helps with his character. But I would also make it known that there was a dedicated volunteer was turned down simply because he has no son in the pack. I think that is wrong. But maybe they have had some problems in the past. Find out why they won't let him volunteer. If that is still a problem, maybe the old CM may want to move to a district position. Or a UC.

The only problem that I have is that I think that there a few of the boys in my pack would not be able to answer some of the basic questions. I just can't get the parents/boys to work on stuff outside of the meeting. I have told meny of them that there are certain things that I am not going to go over in the meeting. Reason, I am trying to avoid it being like school.

Dug WELL SAID I have a hard time disagreeing with you, in fact I would like to meet you sometime and shake your hand. I guess I think like you on many facts and thoughts. Maybe we can talk by e-mail sometime.

My question is, where does it say that you have to be a para-military unit to march in step with everyone else. Come on, get off your anti-military kick. But if you must, then I guess we will have to exclude a few more things from the scouting program. Retreat at camp and all the bugle calls. I am sorry if I am wrong because i think it is sharp looking to have a group of scouts walking in cadence, all in step together, and presenting the colorguard. One last comment, when you see the flag passing by, stand up, and take off any NON-uniform hats. Quit being disrespectful.

"When was the last time anyone really needed to whip the end of a rope?" AActually at our last campout. I could have easily melted the end of the cheap plastic rope that was coming unraveled, but I decided that while I was sitting around the campfire that I would fix it permanantly. and yes I even considered making an eye splice. As for the Axe issue. Maybe out west they frown on the use of ground wood for fuel, but that is not a major issue in this part of the county (East). And yes you can go and buy bundles of fire wood from the store that is already split. But when it comes to starting the fire I find it easier to take a piece of that split fire wood and split off smaller pieces to use for kindeling. a lot more effective than just cramming in more paper and dryer lint. I think that the reason why a lot of people are getting away from some of the "outdated" skills like most are talking about, is they just do not know how to be creative. Why not learn how to navigate without a GPS. Remember, batteries fail, and according to Murphy, right when you need them the most.

I had some issues with this last year and I let a lot of it slide. But this year we have 4 times as many boys and our den meetings and pack meetings have been starting on time. One thing that we have been doing is playing games before the meeting. Just trying different group games and things seems to be working. We stop the games 5 minutes before the meeting starts so that everyone can get to their assigned den areas. (Yes all our dens meet at the same place) Then we do our openings and actvities. If you are late, then you are late. After the first of the year, we are going to start doing crafts and stuff before the meetings. I have a bunch of Build and Grow kits from Lowes. Hammers, aprons and Goggles. we will be setting things up like this. 6:15 I will be at the meeting hall or another leader with a key. The kits will be available at 6:30. at 6:50 clean up will begin. All the boys will have some of the plastic coffee cans (I have saved plenty of them) to store their projects in. They will also put the hammers, aprons and goggles back at this time. This should not take long. THis activity counts for most levels in some kind of advancement. They will also be able to show them off at the pack meetings, because these were activities that they completed. Once boys stsart seeing that there are thing to do before the meeting, and they cannot do them because they show up at 6:50 or later, then that should help to improve timeliness. I am also going to start using some of the activities from Program helps and BALOOs Bugle to have them do before the meeting. I am also going to try to make sure that I keep things different so that there is a variety and the boys do not know what every activity is. I will still probably use games and stuff. I will let everyone know how this works after January.

The Fall Fellowship that Eagle92 Talks about is the one that I went to this year. I had a great time, despite the wet and COLD weather. Just reminded me of my ordeal. Our Lodge is one that has several activities along with trying to send people to MOAC. I think it is great for the youth to see stuff like this.

I would say try approaching the local troops and see if they had something else planned. I know that last year, my Cub were not in the parade because we were at day camp. The local BS Troop has not participated, because they have not been very active. Personally I think that it would be nice to see at least a Scout Color Guard with the Flags at the parade. Then you could probably take the extra ones and sell the hot chocolate to the cold people. We used to always march in the parades in my hometown. Christmas and Memorial Day. In my later years, I went from marching in the parade to riding on the fire trucks for the FD that I was on at the time. Look into it, maybe they might need some help.

I think that they should just find a moving company to come in and haul-house. Go out and buy their own land. The city wants their money, and that is all that it boils down to.

I was thinking about taking the blades out of the saws, they still make the same noise. Thanks for the good safety point.

jet I like that idea. Maybe use dowel rods. They might make for a better rod. But it is up this scouts parents. I like the other suggestions too.

I would say get him the rough twine that you can get in the spools at Lowes or just about any hardware store. I would first have him try making his own rope with the twine. I remember a machine that we used when I was in scouts. I have been looking for the plans, but no luck yet. I think that I am going to try to make it from memory. After he makes his rope, then have him start working on the other projects. I would get the Pioneering MB Booklet, Scout Handbook and any old ones that you may be able to get a hold of. I have seen some of the neatest poineering projects in the old ones. But not so much recently. Look through the old publications, they might help you out. Maybe they can make you a gateway to you driveway.

I remember some of the leaders asking boys what it is that they want to do as scouts. Camping is one of the most popular answers. So if boys want to go camping, then why is it we don't take them. THere are too many boys that go to Cub Scouts and never go camping. there are not enought fun outdoor activities. If all we do is come in and do learning things in meetings, well they see it as school. And they already spend many hours a day there. As for boy scouts, the problems are the same that have been around for many years. THe Fumes. (Car Fumes and Perfumes) But if we can show them that there are benefits, then they will come out. Take them on the high adventure trips. Go on a two day hike. Go canoe camping. There has to be something that can keep the boys attention. I know that when I was in scouts, we made a simple trip to climb a mountain. It only took a day to go up and down. Really only about 5 hours, but it was something that worked and we looked foward to each year. Cabin camping, local camping. These are all things that can be done for a relative low cost. Keep the activities busy. Make them fun and challanging. Summer Camp is not the only thing to do each year. If you can find the leaders with the motivation, then the boys will follow.

I know of a couple of cabins that have been used for many years, but not that long. I guess that it is still structurally sound? That sounds like a great place to spend some cabin camping. Hope it holds up for many years to come. BTW, where is it???

Chekc with your local YMCA. They may let you come in and swim for free if it is for advancement. Not to mention the pool was indoors. So if you have one like that in your area, then this is something that you can do in the colder months.

I guess this must be the perfect ceremony. No one took the time to tell me different. guess that goes to show some of the priorities.

Here is one thing that our loadge is considering doing. We know of a few people in our area that are newly wheel chair bound and they are using substandard, makeshift ramps that are not safe. So we are going to build them a quality, Sturdy ramp that will be what they need. We also have a work day at one of the local camps that is used for day camps.

I was going over stuff for our Pack meeting in December. I thought of an interesting little ceremony for the awarding of the craftsman Activity Badge Scene: Cubmaster at the front just finishing up with another award or just after a skit. Props: Need some kind of screen for WORKSHOP. Have table and tools behind it also. Have a piece of cardboard or plywood cut out to the shape of the craftsman activity badge with rope to hang around the boys neck. WHen the previous part of the meeting is finishing, have the Webelos DL sort of interupt the CM. WDL: Mr. CM, I hvae noticed that there are X Webelos with mistakes on their uniform, you may want to take scouts (Give names) into the work shop and we can fix them. At this time the CM and WDL lead boys to the screen and have all behind it. While behind it, bang hammers, have a saw to make cutting sounds, maybe a power drill to make drilling noises. Maybe have the WDL stick out his head and say "Almost done" about half way through. Then have the CM and WDL walk the boys out with their Large awards hanging around their neck. Also have the actual activity badge and card ready to present. WDL: These boys have worked really hard, give them a round of applause. What does everyone think of that.

Eagle92 Whats wrong with the Deuce, it is just a big pick-up. OK OK REALLY BIG. I am guessing that some of the surplus equipment would be at the seabase. Or maybe I am wrong.

I think no one objected because they thought, there are more important things.

Sounds like you have a great group of boys.

Here is the deal with equipment as I see it. If I issue a sleeping to a cub scout, then I am issuing it to them for camping with our troop. TO have them turn around and then sell it on craigs list, that is just rude, and may be illegal, depending on how you you issued it to them. Now is I GAVE it to them, and then they decided to sell it, then they are responsible for having one on the campouts. I'm sorry, if you sold it, thats your fault. I guess you would not have one, and if it is cold, then I would have to have the parents come and pick up the boy for safety sake. And tell them, that they need to buy a sleeping bag before they can go on anymore. Plain and simple. If they sold equipment that was not theirs to sell, they are to give the troop/pack enough to replace it, and would probably be asked to leave the unit. Sorry that the boy gets the effect, but they may see their parents for who they really are.

Eagle I would say no problem. But then with some of my mroe recent comments, I am probably going to be chastised by some of the board members here. Contact me off list by e-mail. I have some more information that may help you that is local. It costs, but stuff is cheap.