SeattlePioneer

I've been rebuilding a pack that was down to a single Cub Scout 3.5 years ago. We actually have developed some pretty good quality adult leadership, and we have quite a good pack committee. In that 3.5 years, we have mostly had monthly committee meetings, and every one has had good parent participation. While BSA recommends spending several hours of committee time putting together an annual plan, my assessment is that our committee isn't interested in spending time on that much detail. So I draw up a list of proposed den and pack meetings dates, pack committee meeting dates and pack activities. This proposal is e-mailed out to parents and we devote our July Committee meeting to deciding what changes we would like to make in that proposal. I welcome any proposed changes, and I regret I don't get more than I do. I revise the plan to reflect the suggested changes and it's considered again at our August committee meeting --- usually without much in additional changes. I save the plan as a notepad file and include the annual plan as an e-mail attachment whenever parents are reminded of meetings and activities. That has worked out pretty well as a method of giving families input into our activities and keeping them reminded and informed of what will be happening in the next year.

I would call it a Scout like program using many of the methods of Scouting. Keep in mind that many BSA units don't use all the methods of Scouting either. Of course it has one thing no Cub Scout or Boy Scout unit has --------- GIRLS!

I think the patrol should be commended for getting the nickers of everyone from the council to the national media in a twist with an exercise in creativity that was a function of their normal duties as Scouts. I wonder how intentional that was and where the impulse came from and how it was developed. Was this boy led ingenuity or was there an adult in the woodwork someplace?

It looks like a family late to a Cub Scout Pack meetings to me.

The DE from my district was appointed to be Camp Director after he had been there a year. He's had extensive experience as a camp staffer, so he took to it like a duck on a june bug. Rather than being a District Executive distracted by being a Camp Director, he tended to be a Camp Director distracted by being a District Executive! He wore his CD patch on his uniform, not a DE patch. Not that much of a problem though. District volunteers pitched in and made things happen. After three years as CD, he was promoted to being a District Director and his Camp Program Director took his place as District Executive of our district.

The evidence is in. It's unlikely that Baden P will be an AHG unit leader. Others may make different decisions. I think these threads have done a good job of bringing out various issues and discussing them. People will make their own decisions based on their own values.

I don't know if there is an "official" way to wear Wood Badge beads. However, I was instructed to put on the beads first, then the neckerchief and then pull the neckerchief down through the lanyard so that the beads rest on top of the neckerchief. Where "official" or not, I find that works well. However, these days I rarely wear the Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle and beads. I see Wood Badge as being over promoted and the neckerchief and such being yet another advertizement for Wood Badge. I don't discourage others from taking pride in completing this training, it's just the way I've come to feel after seeing too many Scout activities marred by promotions for Wood Badge, beading ceremonies and so on. Just too much, too often, for my taste.

At our last Council Roundtable, the Coucil VP for Membership suggested to District Membership Chairs that a goal should be to promote FCFY programs because they would promote Scouts remaining in the program. She mostly has a background in Cub Scouts. I wound up disagreeing with her for the reasons often described in this thread. But her approach is characteristic of those who adopt National's program goals without much experience in what makes a good Scouting program, in my view. I probably wasn't real popular with her that evening.

Baden P's last post seems narrowly judgmental and Christian. Let me be the first to introduce an ecumenical note: Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hello SR540, > Apparently we've both been excommunicated. It's Baden Ps way or the highway.

Whine, whine, whine.

Personally, I think that making a troop flag would be FAR superior to buying one.

Hello DLChris71, As Basement suggested, usually an important thing is for boys to be with their buddies. That he got put in with another den is unfortunate. But Cub Scouting achievements are supposed to be done primarily as family activities. So I would plan time with your son to do the activities he is interested in and you are interested in. Being a Den Leader is a pretty big burden. Perhaps you can pick an activity or two your son is interested in and discuss presenting those activities for the den to give the Den Leader a break from organizing activities.

> Hello Scout Nut, The FCFY emphasis of national certainly makes it SEEM like another year of Cub Scouts. I think the advice of people responding on this thread is correct, but you will find lots of troops that have adults frog marching boys in New Scout Patrols through the program, and thence on to Eagle.

I was one of three camp Commissioners for a week last summer. I had four troops assigned to me and I did a camp inspection each morning and checked in with the Troop leaders morning and evening. I think that was pretty effective in picking up on issues and dealing with them. One evening troops were responsible for cooking their own dinner. I discovered the next morning that one troop hadn't succeeded in getting a fire started and mostly starved that evening. This was a Scoutreach Troop and the Scoutmaster was an Eagle Scout paid by the council to serve as Scoutmaster. I don't know where he was that evening --- he should have been available to help them when they needed it. Perhaps I should have done another walk around to check on how troops were doing with their meal, but I didn't think of doing that. I remember one issue brought to me by a Scoutmaster. He had gone to check out an axe for use by the troop, and was handed an axe with a broken off handle with a splintered end. THAT was disgraceful! I would suppose that the staffer issued him what he had, rather than taking the initiative to see to it that the axe was repaired and delivered to the troop when it was repaired. Since this was a staffer who was using poor judgment, I suggested that the Scoutmaster bring the ace to our morning meeting with the camp director and program director, which he did. That solved the problem and probably resulted in the staffer getting some counseling about how to deal with that kind of problem. Another issue was smelly kybos. My experience was that these problems were generated by inadequate cleaning by Scouts. I was a little slow figuring that out or I would have helped organize an effective job of cleaning the offending kybo by Scouts to see what difference a quality cleaning job would make. The Camp Director was the District Executive in my district who I had worked with and knew quite well. He was promoted to be District Director in another district while we were in camp. The Program Director at camp that week was hired as District Executive a couple of weeks later so I'm working with him regularly. (This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

Hello AHGnBSAMom, Sounds like you have a fine program that is well adapted to your situation. I'll ask again about tag along boys, do you have those and what do they do?

Actually I've done district training for recruiting nights in June. That's about an ideal time, but mostly the well prepared and experienced units don't bother to attend and the weak units that most need the help aren't thinking about recruiting yet! Last year my August Roundtable was about how to improve popcorn sales. That went well. Last September we did a Roundtable on planning recruiting, which combined with an ice cream social at the Roundtable. My experience is that weak units don't plan recruiting events on their own, so holding one late isn't really a handicap. Also, getting people to turn out for ideas on planning a recruiting night works pretty well as a Roundtable event, but poorly if you try to schedule it as a separate event. So last year we helped improve popcorn sales markedly with our August Roundtable event and September helped with fall recruiting, despite being later than I would have preferred. This year the August Roundtable will be on recruiting, which is the best time for doing it for weaker units, I think. I'm certainly glad to see hot dog units planning earlier though. That's certainly desirable.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

Congratulations for building a solid foundation for the success of your Troop.

What information do YOU need as the registrar? What information do the Scouts need? Can you post the location where each Merit Badge is meeting and have the Counselor check the people in at their program?

Personally I oppose a goal to frog march new boys to 1st Class in a year. That's a formula either for disappointment or watering down advancement skills. Providing structured opportunities to meet requirements --- that's fine. When I was Scoutmaster thirty years ago, it often took boys 2-3 years to complete First Class. I recall one boy whop was petrified of swimming. He didn't want to come close to the edge of a pool. It took him several years before who worked up his courage to take swimming lessons and overcome those fears. I still have a vivid recollection of him popping up from underwater next to me at a pool swim with a big grin on his face. Some things can't be rushed. Seattle Pioneer

Well, Cub Scout Dens are organized by grade level. The skeleton of the program is provided by the requirements and electives of the den achievements and electives. So those elements of the program are pretty much fixed. Too often, I see packs organizing large dens of boys that may have between 8-20 boys. That's too large, and presents opportunities to give boys more choices by increasing the number of dens. Last summer I had twelve boys and their adult partners in my Tiger Twilight camp held in conjunction with Cub Scout Daycamp. About the first thing I did was to give boys the opportunity to choose which of two dens they wanted to join. I was lucky --- six wanted to join one den and six the other. As the Tiger Twilight Camp Director, I had the program planned out, but each of the two dens rotated parents so that several had the opportunity to be the Den Leader for their den. Dens shared a common program, but each made their own den flag, had their own den name ("Bengal Tigers" "Saber Tooth Tigers") had their own den cheer and rotated between doing common activities but at different time for each den. Boys that age mostly want (1) to be with their buddies (2) to have fun and exciting things to do. Tiger Cubs are famous for being enthusiastic about doing pretty much ANYTHING --- for about 5-10 minutes. So I don't see a choice of activities to conform to the interest of boys being critical for young boys. Taking advantage of the skills and interests of adults is more important. If you have a large group of Tiger Cubs, Wolves or Bears, my bias would be to have one adult in charge of organizing activities for each of those dens --- being the Den Leader in Chief. That Den Leader in Chief should take advantage of the skills offered by adults when possible to organize the activities for each meeting and outing. Then each group of 4-6 boys should have an adult den leader who will carry out the activities planned for the meeting or activity. That gives boys and adults a small group they can pal around with, plus the advantage of a common program organized by the most motivated leader. That's the theory I aim for, anyway.

Hello Basement, I'd bet that if I had met the same parents you did and chatted with them, they would have found it to be as good an organization as I do!

> Personally, I'm not big on attending pro sports games. To me they are 'way over produced activities, and I don't relish turning innocent children into "fans." Still, Cub Scout ranks usually require attendance at some kind of sports activity. I've fulfilled those requirements by doing Cub Scout Olympics and such where the Scouts are the competitors. I've often thought about having a den meeting at a Little League game one of the den boys is playing in, or one of their soccer games and such. Roast hot dogs for the Cub Scouts and team members. Do den cheers to support the team and such. Being a FAN at a Little League game makes sense to me, while being a fan at a Mariners game does not. I'll bet you could make that a fun activity, and perhaps recruit yourself a den of new Tiger or Wolf Cubs as a bonus.

American Heritage Girls good. No, they're evil and bigoted. No they aren't. Yes they are. Only bad Christians think they are OK. That's not true. Yes, it is. This thread sucks. That's true. How's that for a summary of 250+ posts? I think applicants for this position should post some summaries of their own so we can all help judge. Always glad to be of help.

My favorite welding story dates from my first day working on a street crew for a natural gas utility. We were going to install a new gas service for a house. This involved breaking up the pavement up the street in front of the house over the gas main and digging up the gas main at a depth of about three feet. It was a steel gas main 2" in diameter under about 50 PSI pressure. The gas fitter got out his welding torch and got down in the hole with the steel fitting he proposed to weld on the live gas main. He got the gas main WHITE HOT in order to weld on the fitting. Of course the gas main was white hot on the INSIDE of the gas main, too. The gas fitter explained me that as long as there was no air mixed in with the gas, the gas in the main could not burn or explode. There WERE rare episodes where a slug of air might start a fire or explosion inside the gas main. Also, he explained that the gas main was 3/16" thick. He only needed to get the outer 1/8" of the steel main good and liquid in order to weld on the fitting needed to add the new service. That left 1/16" of still solid steel between him and the burn unit at the nearest hospital. I thought that was the most AMAZING thing. Still do, really.