SeattlePioneer

I began serving as an adult BSA leader in 1981 as an Assistant Scoutmaster and served as Scoutmaster from 1982-1987. Currently I'm Treasurer for a Cub Pack, am Camp Director for the district Tiger Twilight summer "day" camp, am Unit Commissioner for a pack and help organize recruiting for several packs. MANY packs would benefit from troops in their area providing some advice and support from time to time. I have our pack recruiting night scheduled for September 12th, and I'll be asking Order of the Arrow members at the neighboring troop to attend the recruiting night and help manage our rocket launch activity. That ought to be a fun service project for them, and families who see older boys taking a responsible interest in the Cub Pack should impress new boys and their families. If I were a troop leader, I would aim to have a good adult troop leader aim to attend pack committee meetings and report back to the troop on what kind of help the pack might need and what the troop might reasonably do to be of help. I couldn't attract that kind of help from our neighboring troop, so I've taken to attending the troop committee meetings which gives me the opportunity to let the troop know what kind of help would be useful.

Hello jamesprepatrip, I have no children, but I started volunteering as a Boy Scout Assistant Scoutmaster in 1981 and served as Scoutmaster of the troop I joined as a leader from 1982-1987. I've volunteered as an adult leader with numerous packs and troops, and am currently Treasurer for a Cub Pack and Unit Commissioner for a pack and a troop. The background I brought to Scouting was in backpacking, climbing and leading outings I brought from the Seattle Mountaineers. The kind of background you have would be badly needed by many Scout Troops who find it difficult to find skilled outdoor leaders. Personally I think you would be warmly welcomed as an adult leader by many troops. One easy way to shop around for a troop in your area would be to go to beascout.org and to select the volunteer option. That allows you to identify local troops in your area that you can contact about visiting. Another option would be to identify the district executive who served in the district you live in and e-mail or preferably visit him for information on troops you could contact. Unfortunately, all too many Scout troops are poor at following up inquiries from interested adult leaders. I'd aim to call the Scoutmaster or Committee Chair and preferably meet them for coffee or attend a Troop Committee meeting to find out more about the Troop. And visiting your District Committee meeting which meets once per month would be another good way to be introduced. Look up your council website and then identify the district where you live. Usually the district has a website where the time and place of the district meeting is identified. In short, there are a variety of ways for an adult like yourself to get involved in Scouting as an adult. I hope you will give it a try! It may pay to shop around for a troops that you really like and has a need for your services. I tend to volunteer with weak units that need help to develop a quality program, but many adults like volunteering with strong troops. I hope you will give that a try and let us know how your efforts work out.

Perhaps there should be a separate set of requirements for adults to earn the "Recruiter" Strip. As a district membership chair it would be nice to recognize Scouters who organize their own recruiting events which result in new boys signing up for example. Perhaps Council Membership Chairs ought to consider enacting their own program like that to use and encourage use of nthe Recruiter strips by both youth and adults.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

Hello jamesprepatrip, It's not clear if you8 are leading nthese trips as a hobby or as a professional. I'm always disappointed that Scouting retains so few of the leaders the program develops as adults. May I ask why you haven't considered volunteering as an adult leader? Or perhaps you would, if you were asked.

Hello briveigh, That's very nice! Personally, I tend to supply Scouts with resources and let them design their flag. That can be something of a mess for Tiger Cubs and Wolves especially. I encourage them to lay out what they want on the flag material and look at it before gluing stuff on, but I leave it up to them. I often look for stuff on Recruiting yard signs, recruiting posters, look at the Scout store for a patch designating their den level or whatever. I recently got access to a color printer which allowed me to find Cub Scout images on the internet and enlarge them and print them out in ways that would be useful on den flags. But that's just my style and bias. Scouts and leaders should be encouraged to try their own stuff --- which is of course what I did. Right now I probably have about eight den flags in my house, many Tiger Cub Den flags since I work with Tiger the most.

When I get a new youth or adult application, I establish a new record in my hotmail account that includes most of the information on the application. I also include information on what leadership positions and activities adults have done --- such as leading the popcorn sale or planning food for a pack campout. This is Cub Scouts, so all e-mail addresses are those of parents. These records are organized by den, which allows e-mails to be sent out to dens or to the whole pack easily. I send copies of the records of each den to the den leaders, and copies of the records for those in the pack to pack leaders as needed. That hasn't been an issue at pack meetings thus far. If parents want to restrict information in other ways, I would be delighted to have someone take on the responsibility of maintaining pack records. Frankly, I'm surprised at the negative reaction to sending out birthday greetings. But it's easy not to do something, so that's another bright idea that wont be put into practice.

Do what works well for your program, would be my advice. It might be possible to have a portion of your activity as a meeting to recognize Scouts and give them awards they have earned. Any activity, meeting or outing should be a QUALITY activity or don't do it. Recognition is a separate program and the general rule there is to recognize boys promptly after they have earned an award. Combine those two general aims and I see good reason to recognize boys during an outing if there is a reasonable opportunity to do so.

Personally, I'm BIG on den flags! In our pack, each den makes a new flag at our June campout so that they have a flag for their new den level. The flags are color keyed, with Tiger Cub orange, Wolf yellow and Bear blue. Scouts usually have fun making their flags, and they can be useful in getting dens together at activities. I'm also big on lashing together poles from which to hang the den flag. I bring tree branches that boys can choose for poles and cut to length. One pole is lashed to the vertical pole and the den flag is staple gunned to the cross pole to hold it out so that it's displayed all the time. I find that even Tiger Cubs are strong enough to operate the staple gun if they put their whole weight on it. Scout shops usually have generic ribbons for Cub Scout 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. You could easily hand out ribbons for den achievements of various kinds, or make your own. We haven't awarded ribbons or other recognition of the kind you suggest --- but we should. I think your have the right idea.

> I am increasingly sold on the standard Beavah describes, which leaves substantial responsibility in the hands of unit leaders to decide how to run their programs. Some may have high standards and others may be interested in greasing the skids for boys to achieve Eagle. I'm not especially concerned about reigning in either. This argues for treating many of BSA's "rules" as guidelines to be interpreted in reasonable ways by unit leaders. It might be that at the margin there are irresponsible leaders who should be reigned in by council leaders, and that's probably fine too. I usually look at BSA "rules" carefully. Often --- most of the time, I find them to be effective guidelines to good ways to operate the program. But from time to time they get in the way of operating a quality program, and when they do I am increasingly willing to modify those guidelines to choose a quality program over a rule bound program.

As a district membership chair, I wear the recruiter strip. My main reasons for doing so is to encourage Scouts to earn it too. "Adult Association" is often providing an example in a way that boys will emulate. If Scouts see a cool patch they can earn and an adult who is wearing it, they are a lot more likely to choose to earn it themselves. The other reason is that when I'm talking to boys and adults about it, I can find it to point it out when there is a reason to do so! I can't really think of other adult leaders who wear the Recruiter strip, but I wish more would earn the strip by organizing recruiting for their units, and then encourage the Scouts in their units to earn the strip themselves. If this is really a youth award, that designation should be changed in my opinion. I'd like to see the "Recruiter" strip on as many uniforms as I see the "Trained" strip. In my view, everyone should take a hand in recruiting and learn the methods and skills of recruiting.

Hello sailingpj, I think you make the useful point that DESPITE what National thinks, Scouting is still a program owned by the units that organize the program. They have a lot of room to decide how they will organize and manage their programs. Some choose to use that by organizing Eagle Mills and program to grease the ways for Quartermaster. Others choose to have programs led by highly experienced volunteers and professionals interested in passing on real skills that can lead to professional opportunities. A few months ago a Sea Scout leader was relating his experience when he was appointed a US Navy Admiral. He received a phone call from Eagle Scout and US President Gerald Ford informing him of his promotion and remarking on his experience as a Scout Leader "Keep it up," was the encouraging word of the Commander in Chief. Decades later, he was still doing that. If leaders like that want to ask some serious questions at a Board of Review, it would be foolish for National to try to stand in their way.

Get a Pack Committee established and a GOOD Pack Committee Chair to take charge of it! The "Cubmaster Who Does Everything" is not a viable model. Schedule monthly Committee meetings just as you schedule den and pack meetings. If you are going to volunteer for something, volunteer to be the Committee Chair and to get the Committe working together to take charge of things the Cubmaster is currently doing. Once you do that it will be a LOT easier to recruit a Cubmaster and a new Assistant Cubmaster.

> Actually, I don't think it works as well as it might. I think it's reasonable and prudent for leaders to encourage youth and adults to stay well hydrated, especially in how weather when doing vigorous activities and in out of the ordinary situations, such as camp or outings. Heat and dehydration injuries are FAR more common than excessive water consumption. At a hot weather Idaho summer camp (Camp Grizzly), one of our adult leaders, an old Idaho boy, wound up in the hospital after returning from camp with a kidney infection probably due to lack of adequate hydration. The camp staff made a point of demonstrating and encouraging water drinking during meals and other activities in hot weather that was around 90 degrees most days. I think that was a good practice.

I'm thinking about how to use this on line resource. Parents who complete the youth application at our pack recruiting night will supply their e-mail address id they have one, presumably. If it's legible, I could send a short e-mail welcoming them to the pack with the English and Spanish den handbooks as attachments. Directions to the local Scout shop would be included for those who might be interested in shopping for uniforms, den handbooks or whatever. One of my aims is to avoid overwhelming new parents with too much information at the recruiting night.

> A favorable word on district leadership? Basement's account must have been hacked! Seriously --- what has been happening there?

Gladiators were entertainers too. Who were the gladiators and football players entertaining? The spectators.

Keep in mind that the e-mail address this would be sent to is that of the parent, and the parent is going to decide whether and under what conditions the Cub Scout sees the birthday greeting, if at all. When I send out notices on pack activities, I generally use an opening of "Hello Cub Scouts and Cub Scout parents..."

Camp cards? What dat?

Hello Shilue,

I see that Cub Scout Handbooks are now available on line in both English and Spanish. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/blog/729.asp How might this resource be useful to you and your pack? I'm thinking about e-mailing the handbook to parents who attend our recruiting night right away so they will have a chance to check out the program. Perhaps there are some "E Reader" types who might prefer to use the on line handbook rather than spend for a book. It would be possible to supplement the on line handbooks with a list of Tiger Cub, Wolf and other requirements so that parents could sign those off in the traditional manner without a handbook.

I was coming home from our council Roundtable last night, and got stuck in traffic from the Seahawks Football game that was just over. Wow! Look at all those people! Many fat dudes wearing Seahawks style jerseys (yeah, right, like they are playing football) Lots of people painted up in various weird ways. It struck me --- THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO WENT TO THE COLISEUM IN ROME TO WATCH THE CHRISTIANS BEING THROW TO THE LIONS! The very same, I swear! I wonder, did the Romans take little children to watch like those at the football game?

I routinely include the birthday of Cub Scouts and adult leaders from applications in a Hotmail record to keep track of memberships. Birthdays pop up on my e-mail list as a matter of routine. I'm thinking it might be nice to have a Cub Scout birthday greeting that can be sent to Cub Scouts and perhaps leaders. Does anyone do that, or have a sample greeting that might be used? I'm thinking that something like that could be made up on "Word" and then sent as a PDF file or something. How would parents likely react to receiving that kind of greeting?

> Ahh! You are witnessing the birth of an adult led troop! The adults are engineering a program that can be expected to slide boys right into the Eagle's Nest with a minimum of fuss and bother. I don't know of anything that would interfere with adult plans to carry out such a program.

> You had a mom who could sew? I did a thread on sewing on patches recently. The consensus seemed to be that it was unreasonable to expect Cub Scouts to sew on a badge, and that expecting parents to do so might be too much as well.

> Oh, my. The idea that the homosexual issue involves what people do in private is a quaint notion from decades in the past. That was an argument to justify the politics of the past. TODAY we are dealing with the ability of homosexuals to squash any and all opposition to any form of their sexual expression. Anyone who has the temerity of suggesting that any aspect of the homosexual agenda is wrong is subject to ridicule, attack, boycott or whatever. The very idea of DIVERSITY on this issue is a bad joke. We are getting to the point where thought control on these issues will be enforced.