SctDad

KB - I like you spin on the name

But we are providing for the oppurtunity for someone to receive a nice 20' Flag pole set, with a stitched flag.

But I think that we will post a paper next time on what we plan on doing with the money. I am going to also be working on a putting together a general budget to show how our money is distributed and how it still costs less to be in scouts

Thanks for the help and keep the responses coming

Trust me I know the feeling. I have tried the Bushmans hats. Have you tried the XL version. I think that is what I would need.

Try looking at ebay for your hats. They usually have some with reasonable prices if you can find one.

Yes I posted as ACM. That is because I am also the COR, Com.Mem. The wolf Den Leader, and in a few months I will be the Cub Master.

We have a very small pack. 5 boys. We are trying to get things going, but all I hear parents complain about is the cost of this stuff.

On that note, they do not have a leg to stand on about the cost of stuff. I have had one parent who has activly helped find us money.

I am trying to help these boys with a quality program, but I have one parents who said that she pulled her son out because it cost too much. As for costing too much, the uniform that her son wears was bought by another parent. And the only other thing that she had to pay for other than registration was a $25 daycamp.

Sorry I heard about that the other day and that just got on my bad side

We are a small pack and we are trying. I come here to look for some advise.

I have been look at some of the issues that we are running into with with our cubscout pack. I am looking for some examples of By-laws or some other type of rules that might help me with setting standards in reference to things like fundraisers and how the funds will be used.

Example: We are using a flagpole set raffle for a fund raiser. I have told all the parents that for every boy that sells 50 tickets (@ $2 each) we will pay for their registration at the end of the year. I have also said that if we sell 300 of the 500, after we draw the winner, we will draw another, findout which boy sold that ticket, and give him a free trip to day camp this fall. 400 Tickets Sold 2 Scouts to Daycamp. 500=3 scouts. You get it. but it seems like no one is selling things. I know times are tough, But I have had the tickets out since 20th of may. THey are $2 each. I sold $20 worth in conversation yesterday.

That is my rant and I am looking for something that I can put down on paper so when Billy only sells 5 tickets, his parents don't have a leg to stand on when they ask, "Why didn't you pay for Billy's Registration."

I have two things that I am going to be using. There is a Leader Trax program. I think that I have it on my laptop, if you PM me I can probably e-mail it to you. and there is also a paper version of a form for tracking leader tracking. I have that too. Let me know if I can help you

I have one question, are these boys Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts. I ask this for a reason. I know that there are Spanish Versions of all that Cub Scout hand books

Here is the link for the page

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/default.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&C2=BOOKS_LIT&C3=CUBSCOUTS&C4=&LV=3

YOu can find the spanish versions of the handbooks there

And here is a link to Spanish materials that are also available.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/SearchPage.aspx?page=LIST&free_text|=Spanish&answers_per_page=15

Here is another thought. If you area is like my area since we have a high hispanic population, we have several spanish speaking churches. Maybe you can recruit someone from that church to do one of several things.

Provide a translator that would register as a member of the BSA, say in a chaplains position.

Or maybe they might consider starting a troop that speaks primarily spanish so that the hispanic population can benefit from the scouting experience.

Those are some thoughts. Hopefully this helps

OK maybe what I am getting at is could I do this.

Have a pack meeting at the bowling alley and have an awards ceremony there at the end. Something like they can earn their bowling beltloop while and be awarded it at then end. Something like that.

Does that help everyone out.

I was looking over some of the plans that we have for next year.

I have a question about pack meetings. DO they HAVE to be the big awards ceremonies that they describe in all the books. I was thinking about doing things like Pack bowling night, day trip to the nature center, Visit to the Fire Fighters musuem, and things like that.

The question that I have is, would this qualify as a pack meeting.

I know that the Tiger Cubs have the Go- See its, but I waws thinking about doing more free type outings with the boys.(This message has been edited by SctDad)

I asked our lodge advisor about getting a book so that I could get the admonition. He told me it was on the back of my card. If there is someone that can PM me and direct me to the words on the back of my membership card (Example 3 rd line last 2 words0 then I should be able to type it in.

ANY HELP

Gunny

I agree with you on two out of three of your electronics that you would prefer not be brought. I only have cub scouts, but I ask the parents to please think about this when we go camping.

"We are going camping to spend time with our children and away from the busy world. I ask that parents recommend that the boys leave the Electronic games, PSP game boy advance, and stuff like that at home. Lets get back to basics. I also understand that in the world today that parents will carry cellphones no matter what I ask. That is fine as long as they can find it only as a needed thing, and not talk on it all day. I did tell them that if they wanted to bring an MP3 player that was fine. Come on, we took walkmen and radios when I was in. Something for a little music was ok as long as it was not the only thing that you did."

I am not going to be the electronics police, but they were pretty good this past time camping. I think that the only time the boys got on the phone was to call home real quick and say good night. They were all tiger Cubs and this was their forst campout. So if they wanted to call home for a quick 5 minutes that was great. A lot of the boys enjoyed the other things that we had there to do, especially playing cards. You know how many decks were out at one time so they could all paly war. I had a small shortwave radio playing music and that was all. The parents really only used the phone when the Tigers wanted to call home real quick. It was a great campout. I hope they all go this way

I noticed that about the patch on his uniform too. I saw that he was wearing an ASM patch on his right pocket instead of his sleeve.

Yes the girls look great, but there are definatly errors in the uniform.

I think that they might have a policy much like that of the military. Being that the only actor who can wear a proper and correct military uniform in a movie is one that has served in uniform. Example R. Lee Emery. USMC Gunny SGT if I remember correctly. I have seen many people who wear the uniform in movies, and being a soldier, I can usually pick out the uniform mistakes very quickly. But sometimes they make it very difficult. Example, they may make it so the ribbons are on the wrong side or out of order to make the uniform wrong for the movie.

Good topic though

Ok I see everyone telling us to make sure that the boys and parents drink water. There are some other factors that I would like to put in.

First drink water. (Like everyone else said. The hotter it gets the more water. 1 qt an hour should be good)

But if you are drinking that much water, you need to make sure that you are not flushing out your electrolytes.

It may be HOT, but EVERYONE MUST EAT. If you drink too much water and do not eat then you can suffer from a condition known as hyponutremia. BAD NEWS. Ask anyone who has been in the military.

Who remembers salt tablets. There was some truth behind them. If you are out with the scouts and it is hot and humid, have meals that are high in carbs, and a normal ammount of salt content. (Bag of chips for example)

As for treating emergencies:

Heat exhaustion - Get them out of the heat. Allow them to sip water. Loosen restrictive clothing, Cool them back down.

Heat Cramps - Cramping feeling in the legs and belly. Cool them down and get them out of the heat. They probably did not eat right. Same other treatments as above but add seek medical treatment if condition does not improve quickly.

Heat Stroke - Persons skin is HOT AND DRY. NO SWEATING. DIAL 911 and get person to medical treatment immediatly. This is a life threatening illness. The body is too hot (103+) and needs to be cooled. Same other treatments as above but NOTHING TO BE TAKEN BY MOUTH.

Those are some of the things that my past 11 year in the army have told me.

I have started using a large book with pockets in it for the awards. There are document protectors for the leaders to insert their notes. It works good and I even made a cover in the colors of the Cub Scout flag for the front. I hot glued some patches on it and made it look all real nice. If anyone wantes more information let me know and I will try to post more specifics.

I found an MS Excell file that all you had to do was to plug in the information about the trip and the Cub Scouts names for each den, and it would do the math for you.

If you contact me I will try to get it to you.

Novice_Cubmaster

I have heard about the ziplock method. But I have also heard that there is some things to be said about the baggie presentation.

I have some other ways that I do my presentations and prep also. But I am still learning.

Anyway, we had our ceremony tonight.

Enter preverbial monkey and football.

First off, my contact with our CO was not present at the building 1 hour in advance like he ALWAYS had been before. Tried calling, no answer. 15 minutes after it was all supposed to start we decided to post pone everything. Then one of the other parents made a call and got us the multipurpose room at the primary school. Only 1 mile away. Got every thing back in vehicles and moved locations. Disadvantage is that we no flags, no snacks, and had to do a lot on the fly because all of our stuff was locked up in the building. Good thing I made most of it today before the meeting.

No I did not do the boiling pot presentation that I had planned, wasn't able to get the right pots and dry Ice. Put that one away for now. Also no OA for crossing over, then again, no crossing over, Boy scout troop never showed.

We did have an OK ceremony, I tried a AOL ceremony with some candles and it was OK except I had my order of the rays wrong and was corrected by one of our recipients.

ANY Way very tired here, got NO sleep at work last night, so I am going to bed. If anyone else has anymore questions, just let me know.

DYB Mike

I like the idea with using the parents to show how they can help the Cub just one more time. I think that will make for a great addition to the ceremony.

I think that I will keep the boys away from the pot for now.

Thanks for the advise guys. It was all good.

I understand that we do a lot for the 'love of it' but there are some things that we would love to do, but we can't because of cost. I haven't charged for gas to this point, because most of our parents have driven their own kids. But we are also Cub Scouts, so that parents are going anyways.

I think that we are going to start suggesting carpools, and splitting gas costs. I love this stuff, but there are some things that need reimbursement.

First off, I am no SM. Nor did I make it to the Rank of Eagle (Unfortunatly)

I would think that with Eagle Scout being held as highly as it is, I would ask some thing like this.

"I know that you have completed all of the requirements, but do you think you are ready to hold the highest rank, and honor, of the Boy Scouts of America, the Eagle Scout. If so tell me why."

I would listen for sincerity and honesty. That is my $0.01 worth. Take what you like and leave the rest.

YiS

SctDad

I have a ceremony that I am thinking about doing. It is a Tiger Badge award ceremony. I am thinking about it as a trust ceremony too. I have it set up so that everything is safe. Take a look and give me some feedback. What does everyone think.

Tiger Cub Graduation Ceremony

Equipment

Large Pot

Dry Ice

Container for dry ice

A way to separate dry ice from badges to keep Cub Scouts safe

Personnel

Tiger Cubs with adult partners

Cub Master

Tiger Leader

Set-up

Place dry ice in container and place container in pot. Make sure that they are separate from the badges so that the boys will not contact the dry ice when reaching in.

Place badges in another container

Cub Master: (Tiger Den Leader) do you have boys who have earned their Tiger Badge.

Tiger Den Leader: Yes I do

CM: Then have each of them come down by the fire with their parents behind them.

(Call out each of the boys to stand in front of the smoking pot.)

CM: The final test of their commitment to the Pack. Inside this pot is their Tiger Badge. They must reach in and find their badge. At that point their parent will then place their badge on their uniform.

When the boys reach in the pot they will find their badge with a parents pin attached. The parent can use the pin to attach the badge to the uniform temporarily

After the boys have each reached in and retrieved their badge, then they should move to the side and wait for the other to finish.

TDL: I present to you the Tiger Cubs of Pack 162. Please give them a round of applause as they have worked very hard to earn this rank.

What does everyone think???

Here is the link to the trax

http://madsenco.com/scouting.shtml

A good tracking program will work wonders for you. If you are unable to afford the $60 program then there is a free program that uses excell. It is has just about all of the different levels of Cub Scouts. I have the programs and it does make it easy. I have used it and I like how it works.

Let me know if you would like the link, I will have to find it again.

I would say that you need to your parents one thing. HANG IN THERE. If you are able to get them to hang in for the first year, then things will get better. Have meetings. Find out what your new parents talents and hobbies are. Thhis can help you. See if there are parents that, if not willing to take a leadership role, can take on a special project, like Pinewood Derby, or Blue and Gold. If you have the parents support it will be great. And let them know that if they are willing to help, it will make everything work so much better. I have a few parents who help but I will be looking for more.

I went through and saved a pack this year and I still have lots more to learn, bbut some things just take time.

Hey there. I am from that area originally. Or at least maine. I probably would know the area you are from. I worked at Camp Hinds one year up in maine.

Any way, Welcome

SctDad

First off, I may be wrong, (I have been before) but who is it for a school or church to tell you which pack to belong to. If you are not happy with the program are you supposed to keep going even if you scout is not gaining from it. I don't think so. If they say that you must do it this way then here is my suggestion, start a new pack. Make your DE's day. Gather enough of the boys and find a new Charter Org. Check with your American legion.

Some people bring up some good points about numbers, Army squads can be anywhere fro 7 to 11 (John, sometimes they do not have enough rifleman) FEMA and the national incident command system says span of control is 5 - 7. I think that you should have the CC look at how you are working your program and ask the parents if there is any help that they might suggest.

Sorry about your bad luck with your CC

after reading some of these posts, I feel fortunate with my group this year.

We went camping this past weekend, and when the everyone showed up (i went a day early with my son and another parent and cub) the boys pretty much took off to have fun and chase each other around. The parents pretty much sat back in the kitchen area that we had set up talking. We were pretty laid back but we did have times where the boys were under close supervision. Like when fishing and when roasting marshmallows. For safety reasons of course.

I do not know how this is going to be with next years tigers. (All of the boys who went camping were tigers except for 2, one webelos, and one brother, who will be a tiger next year) Hopefully they will do much like my boys have done.