SeattlePioneer

What ABOUT that crying baby? How might a new mom be expected to participate in the Venturing program? By the time the Venturer aged out of the program she would be ready to be a Tiger Cub Den Leader!

I think it's very common for adults or Scouts to teach skills they haven't mastered perfectly themselves. It's very common for such teachers to go back and review and practice a skill before acting as an instructor. The idea that every Scout who gets signed off on a requirement is going to have learned that skill perfectly and continue to be the master of it indefinitely is a pipe dream. I learned knots as part of a Seattle Mountaineers climbing course, and that was true there as well. That's also true at the adult leader skills training for Webelos and Scoutmasters. You get an introduction to a skill, but you are only going to master it by using and practicing the skill over time. That's not an excuse for being inadequeatly prepared when you are teaching --- it means you need to prepare in advance as necessary to be the teacher.

Interesting thread. Personally I would not formally ask the young lady who the father is or whether he is a Crew member. Not really your business unless the information is volunteered. Very likely you will find out informally before long. If some parents are already unhappy about keeping this person in the program, how are they going to react to issues like Crew baby showers before long? Is the unit entitled to take notice of the fact that several families are unhappy enough to perhaps leave the program? Interesting issue. Perhaps it should be discussed at some length at a parent meeting. The social prejudice of the law these days is to prevent employers and schools from taking action to discipline or discharge single pregnant women. While the Crew isn't bound by that social prejudice, it's worth considering. Also, what is the reaction of the Crew leaders to this issue? Judging by the television program "16 and Pregnant" most expectant teen aged moms have bigger issues than Venturing that come to dominate their time and attention before long. I would expect her to drop out before long as the pregnancy starts dominating her life. Friends can be expected to dump her as the interests that used to unite them dissolve under the new reality. Unfortunately, the reality of a negative example might prove to be a positive education to others in the Crew.

Dehydration USUALLY isn't a big issue in western Washington State, but when our Troop made a pilgramage to Idaho's Camp Grizzly it was a big issue with temperatures above 100 and very dry air. Just about every meal part of the program was cheering on a camp staff member as he chug-a-lugged a quart of water to provide inspiration and a (more or less) good example. Result --- none of our Scout had heat related injuries. One adult wound up with a urinary tract infection probably related to dehydration. Soda pop not an issue. Frankly, if I were unhappy with the program at one Scout Camp, I'd explain my unhappiness to the camp director before I left so he'd know why I wouldn't be back the next year. A lot of Scout camps compete pretty hard for troops to attend. Most aren't going to put up with bad program ----and that includes both overmarketing soda or making it unavailable, in my book. Having sodas and candy available at the trading post places a degree of responsibility on Scouts to behave wisely. Some such pleasures are fine in my book ----overindulgence is not. A Scout who overindulges should probably be counseled and aided in making wise decisions while at camp by pack and troop leadership and adult leaders.

Blancmange identified Troop 94 in Dubuque, Iowa as being chartered by aq United Auto Workers Union local. I asked for contact infomation from the council and who the Chartered Organization for the troop was. It turns out to be UAW Local 94 as the chartered organization for Troop 94! That's an interesting association and identification right there! I'll report back again when I get a chance to talk to someone in the troop leadership.

I believe I've seen notices that the requirements would be out in late January, but I don't know where I saw that....

As Cubmaster for a struggling pack, I'm looking for ways for the pack to be more a part of the parish community. I've also been looking through the new BSA National Strategic Plan: http://digital.scouting.org/strategicplan/strategicplan.pdf . The national plan places emphasis on Scouting's role in promoting vigorous outdoor activity by youth and adults. I'm wondering if Scouting and a Cub Scout Pack might help be a spark plug in a parish school and church in promoting running, swimming and cyling as activities to be incorporated in church and school activities whenever possible. Suppose "Running, Swimming, Cycling" was the method we promoted as an organization inside the parish and school, with the idea of encouraging program planners in these organizations to look for ways to incorporate these activities in both everyday and special events. It might be that creating and promoting this kind of program might be a worthwhile Eagle Scout project to get things started. Just to throw out an idea, suppose the parish school adopted "Running, Swimming, Cycling" as a program. Children (adults too?) might be given an opportunity to run a suitable distance during recess or other school activities, and those meeting a certain standard would be recognized. A school or parish cycling night might be a time to bring bicycles in for maintenance and a safe bicycling qualification, and parish activities might include family cycling outings. Swimming might include recommending swimming lessons available in the community and family swims where children could be recognized for meeting various swimming achievements, perhaps using those from Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts as models. This might create a Scouting franchise in the school and parish that might lead families into Scout membership as they recognize and adopt Scouting methods and goals and make them their own.

Regarding Objective 3: 1. We have started an innovation grant program to enable any local council, unit, employee, or volunteer to experiment with ways to more effectively achieve the BSAs designed future. [June 2011] Interesting idea that proposes to be democratic and allow volunteers to get grants. Anyone have any bright ideas they'd like to propose?

Hey Blanc, Thanks for there reference to your very succesful troop chartered by a labor organization. I've e-mailed your council asking for contact information, and I'll contact a Troop leader and ask them about anything that makes the troop distinctive because of it's Chartered Partner ---- whether the CO encourages membership by union families, for example. It might be interesting to do some survey research on the impact unions have as chartered organizations for those 250 or so units chartered by unions, but I suppose I'm not ambitious enough to do that. Anyway, what I've learned so far gives me a little more encouragement towards asking the Boeing Machinist union here in Seattle about chartering a Cub Pack. Personally, I don't see labor unions being put off by the atheist and gay objections to Scouting. Unions tend to be pretty practical organizations that aim to serve the interest of their working class members. Scouting is a way to do that, and I think that would take priority over politics. That would be my expectation, anyway. Thanks for the comments by everyone!

Ummm. Condemn "retesting" all you like, but a Scout who can't start a fire in the morning to cook breakfast has been retested and has discovered that his skills are wanting. The Patrol Leader who CAN get the fire started is going to command respect for his skill. Those that can't are going to need to learn from someone who has the skill. LIFE is going to retest Scouts, I hope. They are going to learn themselves the importance of learning a skill, not just passing a test. If they learn that, they are learning an important element of Scouting, and an important element of good character for life.

You guys are TOUGH! Personally, I tend to be not so tough. A Scout who has completed a tarining regiman and performed the skill during the course of the training tends to get it signed off if it has been done with a degree of competence. I tend to look for opportunities or games that require the use of the skill to further develop it and cause it to be practiced. Perhaps more to the point in BOY LED troops, what standards do your Scouts use before signing off requirements?

A hundred men will test today.... But only three win the Green Beret!

I have no objection to selling candy, soda, snacks and treats at the trading post, or soda pop vending machines. The menues I've seen at summer camp look fine to me. They are a balance between what boys want and will eat and what is good for them. There are enough choices of each to keep boys (and adults) fed. That's what I've seen. No big issues for me.

Hey acco--- I've never seen soda pop served in summer camp mess halls, have you? And speaking of that article in "Scouting," is it just me or does Chief Scout Executive Mazzuca look like he's definitely on the porky side?

Heh, heh! Assistant Cubmasters ---- you're pulling my leg!? TWO Assistant Cubmasters --- wow, you are really telling a stretcher there! Three or more?! Aint there a law agin it? I guess I have Assistant Cubmaster envy!

My district has a number of activities aimed at Cub Scouts: 1. Cub Scout Bowling Tournament just held in November with about 150 Cub Scout-Parent teams registered. The Cub Scout rolls the first ball and the parent rolls the seond ball if it's needed. Three games. The 1st, 2nd and 2rd place trophies are awarded to the best in each den level, including Webelos. 2. Cub Scout Marble Tournament about a hundred Cub Scouts turn out to play seven games of marbles with the best score in each den level recognized with trophies. 3. District Pinewood Derby Championship ----maybe twenty Cub Scouts turn out with three trophies awarded for each den level. 4. A Scout Troop sponsored a Webelos Overnight in July. 5. The same Scout Troop sponosred a "Haunted Hike" at Halloween for Cub Scouts at a Kiwanis Club camp. 6. Another district does a "Cubolooza" in August, essentially a camporee for Cub Scouts and Cub Scout Packs with an overnight camp a Cub Scout competitions.

Below is the link to the District web page for the Alpine District of the Chief Seattle Council. It's probably the strongest and best organized district in the council. http://www.seattlebsa.org/Alpine I direct your attention to the "Membership" link. That's the first district membership page in the council, and there isn't a council membership page as yet, although our Vice President -Membership is working on one. You might be interested in looking at what's there ---- and the link on updating your "BeAScout.Org" pin is something every unit across the country should do if they haven't done it yet. If your district has a "Membership" section, I'd be glad to have you post a link so I can look at it. I contacted my DE about putting up a Membership section on our district web page. I have a bunch of files I think would be useful for people to be able to link to when planning and promoting a recruiting night.

Hello Scout Nut, Actually, I rather like the idea of not doing the early recruiting. It does tend to make it difficult to absorb boys brand new to Cub Scouts when established dens are working to complete requirements for badges and the program they have planned. Perhaps it's the fact that school usually last until the middle of June that has caused that kind of adaptation by the council ---- I really don't know. Getting new Scouts in just when the dens are being reorganized for the new year and program sounds best. But we live in an imperfect world.

I'll be candid, I haven't read this initiative. I may or may not. My priority as a Cubmaster is to introduce Scouts to hiking, camping, swimnming, bicycling and other outdoor activities. Secondarily to get Scouts started to learn how to cook things THEY LIKE to eat. (at our pack campout last June the boys made taco for dinner and made pancakes and sausage for breakfst. For a number of boys it was the first pancake they had ever turned). Thirdly, the boys do the den program that has a nutrition achievement to complete. When I lead discussions it tends towards the mind bending idea of why a diet of Halloween candy isn't recommended. The third is a slightly academic approach ---the first two are intensely practical by nature. Perhaps someone can tell me what I'm missing if I don't read this.....

Hello Scout Nut, School around here often continues into the second or even third week of June. Your council likes it's practices and that's fine. My council recruits kindergarteners during our spring recruiting efforts, which start in March and peak in April or early May. This does cause some issues --- I mentioned the Bobcat Den I lead in the spring for these early recruits. That is in a thread I started a few weeks ago. And this is a COUNCIL plan and program --- not a pack program.

Hello moosetracker, Heh, heh! You sound EXACTLY like the person my February Roundtable is aimed at --- a leader of a traditional Scouting unit who doesn't know how to recruit and retain Hispanic Scouts, but probably needs to learn! (and I include myself in that number). Firstly, I'll repeat again --- I'm Cubmaster for a Cub Pack in a low income area that was down to one Cub Scout two years ago and about to fail to recharter. Now if had failed to recharter we wouldn't be worrying about FOS contributions, the quality of the program or watering down the program for white children, because there would be no Cub pack for anyone to join. This past year's FOS drive at this pack produced reasonably good results --- the DE who made the pitch was DELIGHTED that the pack was thriving at the time and was happy with the donations he received. And had the pack failed the FOS take would have been $0.00. It's not just Latino families that struggle to pay the costs of Scouting in this pack. That's an issue for a goodly number of families. We don't do expensive outings and we don't do the expensive Council camps as part of the pack program --- although I inform parents of those options and would be glad if those who could afford it took advantage of those opportunities. So far, no one has. Instead I've looked for low cost but fun and quality pack activities, and we take advantage of all our district Cub Scout activities. September -- harvest festival at the home of a parent where Scouts picked apples, crushed the fruit and made apple cider among other activities October --- hike involving a visit to a Sea Scout base and learning something about seamanship and sea scouts. Also a hot dog roast November --- district Bowling tournament December ---- Pack swim during a regular family swim at a public pool January ---- den outings (TV Station visit for Tiger I hear) February ---- district marble tournament and so on. As a pack serving low income families, we gave families a choice of paying our $60 pack membership fee or selling $200 in popcorn to get a free membership. 80% sold the $200 in popcorn and a number sold quite a bit more than that. If you read my opening post you'll see that one of my aims is to encourage Spanish speaking families to work together to contribute to the leadership of the pack --- such as organizing the Blue and Gold dinner for example. This would be ADDING TO the leadership base over what we have now. Frankly I don't know if I can make this work. We had high turnover this past year among families, which impaired my hope that the pack would survive and prosper on it's own leadership. But if we could recruit and keep more Hispanic families, that would IMPROVE not hurt the odds of surviving and thriving. Our district was ASSIGNED the Soccer and Scouting program for several years along with an additional District Executive whose only task was to organize that program. It basically didn't interact with the traditional Scouting program and volunteers of the district. And again I suggest that if you don't like the Soccer and Scouting program ---- fine! Learn how to effectively recruit and retain hispanic families in large number in traditional Scout units and I'm sure Councils would be glad to deep six add on Soccer and Scouting programs.

Personally I find the marching-in-with-the-flag ceremony too complicated for younger scouts, Tiger Cubs and Wolves in particular. I have two flag ceremonies I like to do which are easy. 1) A den crowds around the flag. Each Scout and adult leader grabs onto the flagpole with their left hand and gives the Scout salute or hand-over-heart with their right hand. Do the pledge. This can also be done with a den flag for the Cub Scout Promise or Law of the Pack. 2) Unfold a flag of suitable size for your group. Each adult and Cub Scout holds onto the flag with their left hand, stretching the flag out, and saluting with the right hand. Say the pledge. Bonus: Cub Scouts practice folding the flag when completed. A big flag may suffice at a pack meeting, or you can use more than one flag if desired.

No Scoutnut. Councils routinely recruit Tiger Cubs in Kindergarten in the spring. Parents fill out the application and pay their membership fees and start participating in den and pack activities right away. I think District Executive don't process those applications until June, but those boys are still Tiger Cubs. Just another examples of how rules are bent or adapted to make the program work.

Frankly, soccer and scouting isn't the issue. The issue I'm raising is how to recruit and retain Hispanic youth into traditional Scouting units. If we did a better job of that soccer and scouting would probably go away.

My district executive tends to give me accumulated stuff rather than throwing it out, since I tend to find ways to use it. A few months ago he gave me eight nice blue ribbons, suitable to hang on a unit flag. Printed on them is "Council Membership Award" presumably left over from a council initiative in some past year. I have come up with an idea to use these --- a district membership award. The DE and I would come up with some ways units would qualify to receive this ribbon. They would be included in the recharter packets and also promoted to unit leaders at Roundtables and by e-mail blasts. Those who complete several of the achievements would receive a ribbon for their unit flag. Some ideas I have for achievements include: 1) Hold a spring and fall recruiting night 2) Have a designated unit membership chair who would help plan and carry out the unit membership plan and help with a district membership activity. 3) Update their "BeAScout.Org" pin. 4) Maintain or improve on the unit's recruiting and retention of Scouts over year 2010. Some units are always on the lookout for an award to win. Others might adopt this as a plan for improving their membership practices for the year. Others will pitch the sheet and ignore it of course. Does this sound worth a try? How would you improve the promotion of this award? What would you add or delete as requirements to win the award? If we have a reasonable degree of success with this, I'd take it to our Council Vice President of Membership and suggest it be considered as a Council award for 2012. "Bright ideas are cheaper than baloney. Bright ideas that WORK are rare gems. You never know which is which unless you give the bright ideas a try" Seattle Pioneer