shortridge

Sounds like the pack committee should be standing up and asking some questions. The treasurer should have this information and be able to present it at the next meeting. The CM may be forging ahead on her own because she's not gotten sufficient support (or, conversely, checks and balances) from the committee.

A Venture Patrol is for older, experienced Scouts. These boys should be old enough to be able to tell their parents that they want to do this on their own. They can do it collectively or individually, but it seems like that's the only way these parents are going to get it through their heads. Why do you think these parents want to come along? Are they the classic hovering types? Are they trying to relive their own Scouting days? Or do they have legitimate concerns about their sons' skills, abilities and judgment?

So was the Scout excluded from the elections because he didn't meet the rank requirements? Or was he simply not chosen for an appointed position by the SPL?

In looking over my Scouting/outdoors library, I'm struck by how often I've gone back to the same old reliables for camping and outdoors skills information. I'm wondering what camping books y'all count as your favorites, as a youth or today, and why. I'll begin... - American Boy's Handy Book, Dan Beard - inspiring and nostalgic, even if you didn't live in that era - The Complete Walker, Colin Fletcher - intimidating at first, but incredibly insightful and entertaining - Any of Tom Brown's "field guide" series - good stories and wonderfully practical details, though the illustrations could use some work - Ashley's Book of Knots - wonderful resource, though it'd take years to plumb the depths - Camp Cookery for Small Groups - good for the basics, and recipes can easily be expanded - Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip, Patrick McManus - an entertaining but practical look at the reality of outdoor adventures

"We had our own tent, though... when we needed a tent. There were a lot of nights we slept under the stars." What area of the country are you in that you avoided the Great Scout Rain Curse?

I wasn't optimistic before the election, and I'm not optimistic now. I do think President Obama was the better choice in November to put things right (though my initial candidate of choice dropped out before I could vote for him). Personally, I'm pretty jittery. I'm fairly sure that my job will be eliminated within the next year, if not the next few months. I'm not buying anything above basic necessities, except for my daughter. And yet I know there are people in my area right now who are a lot worse off than I am, by far. I consider myself fairly fortunate. funscout wrote: "The scary part is how long it might take and how much of my investments will be lost in the meantime." To me, the scary part is how long it might take (I'm expecting at least two years before things really turn around) and how many people are going to be hurt in the meantime. There are a lot of people on the edge right now - people who haven't been there before and never expected to be there. It's going to be painful. The positive side, for me, is that I have family around who I can rely on in emergencies. A lot of people don't even have that. And thanks to Scouting, if the worst happens, I know how to live in a tent and cook over a fire. (This message has been edited by shortridge)

I do think Kudu's argument is worth considering, not just outright dismissal. Certainly thought-provoking. My suggestions off the top of my head: - Get rid of Truck Transportation in favor of a general Transportation badge, to include basic aviation (not as in-depth as Aviation MB) and water shipping as well. - Merge Stamp Collecting and Coin Collecting into the Collections MB, as tracks or concentrations. - Merge Dog Care into Pets. The BSA is showing a clear and blatant anti-feline bias. - Merge Public Speaking into Communications.

I do wonder what the difference would be between a SCUBA Merit Badge and the existing SCUBA BSA patch/certification. Seems like it'd have to be awfully different to warrant a merit badge. I mean, otherwise, why not elevate Totin' Chip to a merit badge? Make Leave No Trace its own MB? Or combine Lifeguarding MB and BSA Lifeguard? Any insight from anyone who's gone through or instructed SCUBA BSA? Is SCUBA really that popular? (I ask as a complete SCUBA/snorkeling/diving/etc. novice.)(This message has been edited by shortridge)

For starters, GPS and GIS are two completely different things. GIS could easily be worked into Surveying, and GPS should be worked into Orienteering.... unless you want to replace it with something else when the next big navigational thing emerges in 10 years.

"I also advised having a steady buddy or buddies to keep an eye out on trips. That's kinda of a challenge in my opinion as the troop is a young troop with most only one scout over 13." Buddies are fine, but be very careful that you're not putting the responsibility for keeping an eye on this Scout on one or more of his fellow Scouts. That's far too big a burden for one young man to handle. If something else were to happen, the blame his buddy would feel would be horrendous. That said, his friends are more likely to be the first to know about how he's feeling and any actions he might take. Be sure they know that they can and should come to an adult ASAP, taking each and every instance very seriously. It's a very delicate line to walk, and you've gotten some great advice here.

JinKC's last point definitely bears repeating. Listen and pay attention. Go into it with an open mind and open heart. And don't be afraid to ask questions after it's over.

If there's enough going on to keep the young Scouts active, they won't even notice the cold or lousy food. My very first Boy Scout campout was at a coastal state park, Assateague Island in Maryland. It was cold, rainy and miserable, and we were all near-complete novices at everything, despite having come up together through Cubs. For lunch on Saturday, we ate hot dogs - nice and simple. The Scoutmaster only had to gently suggest that we cook more than one hot dog at a time if we wanted to finish eating by dinner. We spent the day hiking around the park, checking out the Chincoteague ponies, exploring the beaches and practicing knots and knife work. Dinner was lukewarm spaghetti, eaten huddled under a spare rain tarp (because we'd forgotten ours). That spaghetti still ranks as the best meal I've ever eaten. (Sorry, Mom!)(This message has been edited by shortridge)

I don't mean to take this off-topic, but... wow. Really? The BSA has never had a national development arm? I just always assumed it always had lots of people dedicated to writing grants and hitting up big donors for pocket change.

To me, it would largely depend on whether the skatepark is staffed or just an open-to-the-public facility. If the former, you can talk with the owners and managers and probably get your concerns assuaged about safety, rules, etc. Find out from local authorities if there are issues there about fights, accidents, alcohol, etc. If the latter, I think you'd be well within your rights to establish some safety rules and procedures. There are skateboarding associations out there that could probably provide you with more information. Your PL can probably point you in the right direction. Henson Scout Reservation, near Galestown, Md., has a halfpipe available for rollerblading and skateboarding. You might try contacting the council (delmarvacouncil.org) for some details on how they run things, safety-wise.

That has led us to consider the idea of asking Inductions to include elections training at the end of the Ordeal weekend ..." Heck, don't ask permission - just do! You're part of the inductions team - or you should be. Without elections, there's no one to induct. Mount a recruiting campaign during the weekend and then offer a quick-intro session on Sunday morning when nothing else is going on.

Yeah, elections certainly aren't as glamorous as other OA work, are they? I think that may be your primary problem. It certainly was for me when I was a chapter chief and summer camp staff rep. Most of the time, it was just me, using a member or two from the unit to help out. IMHO, a large part of the problem is that there's not much upward mobility in doing elections, compared to certain other areas of the inductions process. If you start out as an elangomat, you can rise to become the Ordeal Master (sorry, I still stick with the old terms), just to give one examples. Or you can begin helping with physical arrangements of the ceremony sites and work your way up to a ceremonialist position. With elections... well, you can gradually come to be in charge of lots of elections. Not much excitement there. One thing that worked for me on summer camp staff was tapping the small handful of staff members who helped me run elections for the regalia-clad ceremonialist roles in the callout ceremonies. That had the added benefit of providing some continuity for the candidates. Your elections chairman could try a similar thing on the lodge level - incentivizing elections team membership by creating an informal fast track in other areas of lodge operations, helping smooth their paths into ceremonies or inductions or whatever they're interested in. Personally, I liked doing elections because it brought me in contact with a wide range of units. I met Scouts from across the county that I'd never met before, and saw the diffrent ways troops operated (at least when there were visitors around). It also brought me in contact with some unit leaders who later became some great mentors. But those are really the intangibles, not great selling points at the outset. Another, more practical obstacle may be scheduling. As you know, it's tough to fit your schedule around lots of troop meeting nights. I was homeschooled, and my adviser was retired, so we both had a bit extra flexibility. But I could see where it would be a challenge for others. Not sure of the best way to get around that one.

If this is a council camp, seems like the easiest thing to do would be to contact your council. I'm sure they've run into this before, with packs, troops and outside groups using the facilities. Local council/camp rules trump anything that anyone here says.

I'm sorry if anyone thought my comment re: squirtguns and water balloons was belittling in any way. While squirtguns are clearly a bad example, NealOnWheels expressed what I was trying to say with his point about kazoos: Just because an object or activity is not mentioned does not make it unauthorized. The thread was begun to clear up some of the myths and "unwritten rules" about health, safety and training issues. I believe that MileHighScouter's argument about hand axes falls under one of those myths or unwritten rules, as it clearly is addressed in G2SS.

Another alternative, maybe a bit simpler, is pita pizzas. Take whole-wheat pitas, spoon on tomato sauce, sprinkle on cheese, and place your pepperonis. Don't try to put it inside like you normally would with a pita - using it as the crust makes things a lot easier. No veggie chopping, makes for a real easy assembly-line arrangement, and kids will love it. I'm not sure how they compare on price, though.

So squirtguns and water balloons, which also aren't mentioned in any handbook, guide or syllabus I've ever read, are also unauthorized, by that line of thinking. Better recommend to your Cub camp folks that they halt any plans for a water carnival this summer. That's clearly a tongue-in-cheek response to MileHigh's argument about hand axes. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

The problem is they have no idea what would really get them excited (that we can afford). They don't know what they don't know. It sounds as though your PLC has gotten into a bit of a rut, perhaps. Many a troop has been there, where you end up going to the same state parks, the same camporees, over and over, and there's little to no variation. The brainstorming part of "coming up with ideas" can be the biggest challenge. As socialized humans, we tend to self-censor our most ambitious ideas as "too much," "too expensive," "too ----," and don't even throw them up on the wall for others to take a crack at. To keep them from falling into that rut, and to help boost the number of ambitious ideas, try this. Pick up a current copy of Backpacker or National Geographic Adventure magazines, and pluck out those reader service cards in the back - the ones where you can get free info on gear, destinations, trips, etc. Fill out as many as you can. Go to the Web sites of tourism agencies in surrounding states and request info on ecotourism and outdoor opportunities. Then take all that stuff - the gear catalogues, the Montana tourism brochures, even the Himalayan trip-guiding company's newsletter - and give it to your Scouts. I can almost guarantee their ideas will become more ambitious. The next step is to scale them down. If your Scouts want to go whitewater rafting but the nearest suitable river is too far away for a weekend trip, try compromising by going on a long-distance kayaking trek, a "survival" canoe trek where you just bring a fanny pack of gear, or an actual build-a-raft expedition. That'll get them out on the water in a different way that's still new and exciting. And they can plan a week-long whitewater trip in place of next year's summer camp, if cost is a major obstacle. But getting those ideas kick-started seems to be your first big task.

And you are in charge of all six of these week-long programs, at six different sites, with six different volunteer staffs? Wow. Uhm, good luck with that! There was a thread on here about a year ago with ideas for knights/King Arthur-style programs. For Mad Scientists, talk to your local university and see if you can get some science/education majors involved interested in trying some new things out. That one could be the most cost-intensive with the materials and supplies. The challenge will be not duplicating activities the boys have already done in school. Without any more information, "Cubs & Bugs" seems like a very, very narrow theme. Kind of difficult to fit archery and BB guns into that category. For the circus theme, that's perfect for skits and stunts. Clowning of course comes to mind (many areas have kids' "clown classes"), as does a bicycle rodeo.

Like basementdweller said, the easiest thing to do is to have your meetings the same day, same time, every week/month/whatever. That gets hammered into their heads from Day One so it becomes second nature. They also should be trained to call the den leadership first. But especially in the Tiger program, you're going to get a lot of new parents who don't understand the whole pack/den difference. ("He/she is a leader, so I'll ask them" sounds very logical to a newbie.) That just takes time and patience on both sides. I'd also take another look at the presentation of your newsletter. A lot of the ones that I've seen over the years have dates and events scattered throughout, with no logical organization. (My council newsletter used to be horrible, before they scrapped it.) Make sure you have all your dates listed in one place. If a Bear parent has to read through two pages of Webelos, Bear and Tiger notes to find the one buried sentence about his son's den, he's probably going to miss it. You can also give extra newsletter/calendar copies to the den leaders for distribution and reinforcement. I also don't understand people who don't leave messages, but there are quite a few of them out there.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

"Rassle" actually has a deep linguistic history - and I just thought it was a hillbilly thing! From Merriam-Webster: rassle Pronunciation: \ˈra-səl\ Function: intransitive verb Etymology: by alteration Date: 1758 : wrestle They might want to spell it " 'Rasslers," though... change the second A to an E, and put an apostrophe at the beginning so it's clear that it's a slang-ish form of another word. I see no problem with it. "Bare Derrieres," on the other hand, would be an issue.

OK, I'll start by addressing the apparent urban legend that hatchets are somehow unauthorized. MileHighScouter wrote: "By the way, you will note that the word "hatchet" does not appear in the GSS, nor in the Tot'n Chip requirements. So, even though the BSA sold hatchets for 50-60 years, some things are too dangerous not to ban." Sorry, but you searched for the wrong word. The modern term is "hand ax," not "hatchet." That term IS included in the G2SS (p. viii, in the age-appropriate activities chart). And the BSA STILL sells hand axes today - two types, in fact. See: http://tinyurl.com/an8wfa or http://tinyurl.com/cu3wnu(This message has been edited by shortridge)