Sparkie

Our summertime events start with our Pack Olympics (also used for recruiting new scouts...especially anxious Tigers!). We hold 4 academic and 4 athletic events (every boy receives a medal...sometimes there may be a tie for 3rd . Our other events include a miniature golf outing, local (Schaumburg Flyers) baseball game, visit to a local creamery (including an ice cream tour and samples , swim nite at a local pool, FAMILY CAMPING! (a must for any pack), and finally...our Pack picnic to kick off the new year! We also include participation in council camps over the summer.

Sparkie

Laura, I am so sorry to hear about Scot. I know how special he was to your scouting family. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your Troop.

Sparkie

Our summer camp offers 41! with 5 required for Eagle. The addition of a Fine Arts area last year (painting, art, sculpture, theatre, public speaking and music) may explain the higher number.

Hi Leonus! sorry this took me awhile to post, i'm sure this site will give you some good ideas:

http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/ceremonies.html

Sparkie

and all you wonderful volunteers (and professional scouters) for all the work you do!!!!! My son, has just been choosen by the 8th grade faculty as one of ten students showing Outstanding Leadership (2 boys, 8 girls). This has just overwhelmed me because at home, my son is a follower. In fact, i always say i wish he would take the road less traveled, and take a few chances once in a while. As a side note, my son is in Spl. Edn. (except for math and sci.) because he has nystagmus (his eyes never stop moving). So school has not been easy for him.

I firmly believe that scouting has helped him develop a sense of self-esteem, and given him a wonderful start to the leadership skills needed for the future. And although i may not notice this on a daily basis, it has apparently shown brightly at school.

I know people don't tell you enough how much you are appreciated. Although you may not have helped my son, you are helping someones son, and that means alot!

YiS

Sparkie(This message has been edited by Sparkie)

This is a hard question (for me anyway), and i'm not sure i have the answer your looking for. However, i would like to mention a couple of items. First, I would NOT plan a meeting with only one adult leader present (2 deep leadership). Secondly, make sure the scout who was hurt (?) by the incident is comfortable with a leader (not necessarily the SM) that he can go to in the future. Although it sounds as though you will be covering this when you meet with him, i just thought i'd mention it.

This is a young group, and sometimes i find we (as leaders) forget that they need to be shown, or at least given some "what would you do" situations they may come across as a PL.

Good luck with your meetings. Situations such as this really test our leadership capabilities! Let us know how it goes.

YiS

Sparkie

Welcome leonus, you've come to the right place for ideas!

At our B&G in Feb. i crossed over 11 scouts. I was very lucky to have a Webelos leader who offered to make a bridge for the boys to cross over. At one end of the bridge stood the Webelos II and their leaders, on the other end stood representatives from the troop (including boys). The den leaders removed the boys blue loops, and neckerchief, the boys would then cross the bridge when i called their name, and then the troop welcomed them (with the Boy Scout handshake that they hopefully remembered from AoL) and put on red loops with a new troop neckerchief. It sounds simple, but is very impressive. We did a little ceremony before the boys actually crossed over, i'll try to find the site where i found it and post it later.

I hope that helps!

Sparkie

Well, in life before my little scouts, i was editor for 2 monthly Broadcast publications (for advertising agencies). Post kids...i'm, still in publishing, working on Who's Who in America books from the comfort of my home (surrounded by scouting stuff!).

I must say scouting is an important part of our family life. I have seen it teach my oldest son (now 14) valuable life lessons, that i know he wouldn't have learned if he wasn't in scouting.

dan...you are absolutely right! My scout spirit dwindled very fast over there!

dsteele...glad to see your still scouting-i'm with NWSC-North Woods .

I've been by www.scouting forums.org i wish they had more activity over there, i think it's a nice site overall, just not utilized enough.

Our coun. only allows you to be a counselor for 6 MB, and you CANNOT do it for troop only, or you are denied your application. Shame on them for making up their own rules!

Congratulations Matuawarrior!!!

Hi Laura!

Great news about the boys sleeping on a submarine! Our troop had Subway sandwiches for a snack that night! LOL. FYI, don't forget about seperate sleeping areas for female leaders. When our troop went on the USS Cobia, the committee decided females would not be able to attend for this reason.

Sparkie

A Bump for Tues. nite chats!

Sparkie

Welcome to the forums Mama Bear!! In answer to your question....a big NO, a scout can never be to excited about scouting . You are in for a wonderful experience with you son! My suggestion is to let your son set his pace, if he wants to work on his book, great, if he wants to work on belt loops and pins, also great! The way i see it, if he's coming to you to do things, he's not being overwhelmed or pressured. I'm sure his enthusiasm will soon inspire others in his den.

Sparkie

What about taking a can and punching holes in it with a nail (usually a design of some sort is used). I know there's a name for this art, but i can't think of it . When they are done, put a candle in it and place it outside at night for a nice votive/luminaria effect. I have to warn you though, the inside of the can is now sharp, so they have to be careful putting the candle in.

Sparkie

Troop_368_potlatch - as you can see, i have just recently discovered these forums as well as the msn chat group. In regards to your question, i too found no-one was ever in the chat room so i just picked a night and time to see what would happen. It seemed to work well for a few of us, so we just made it a regular. I think it would be great if you could get another nite (or day) going. Otherwise, pop a note over here and we'll join you! I think it's safe to say it's supported by users of this forum!

Sparkie

Bumpity Bump! It's another chat nite! Can we beat last weeks record of 8 scouters????

This boy sounds like my son (although younger). Are there other boys in his grade that are in Webelos, or have they already crossed over? I would recommend keeping him with the boys in his grade level, which most likely is Boy Scouts.

My son reads at a 6th grade level (he's in 8th) due to an eye condition, although he's mainstreamed for math and sci. (go figure!). You would never know he was developmentaly behind when he is with the other scouts. In fact, scouts that don't go to his school don't realize he's in special classes (except for math and sci.).

I would venture to say that the scouting program will also help him become more independent and self confident, and that will reflect both at home and school! I have really marveled at how my son has grown because of scouting. I don't know many 14 year olds who can pack themselves for a 2 night campout and not have "mom" double check their bag!

Keep us posted!

Sparkie

Great news sctmom!! I'm glad to hear he's giving it a chance.

Sparkie

I am so glad to hear you have choosen another troop. There were obvious Youth Protection policies being broken here, not to mention the other issues of shutting out parents and potential leaders. It sounds like you made the right choice!

First of all i want to thank anyone who takes the time to read this, this is a really sticky situation. Here is the situation (i'll try to keep it Readers Digest style!).

Last year our SM stepped down, he is still actively involved in the troop. During his term of SM, he "rubber stamped" Eagle projects, without letting com. mem. ask questions. The project was presented, he said "sounds good" it was approved. Now....his son is trying to work on his Eagle. Unfortunately, we (troop com.) have denied his project 2x.

His first project was to teach challenged kids soccer after school. He does not have to recruit the kids, they already meet after school (for extra help) and then they have free time in which one of the choices is to play soccer. Note, his 2 brothers BOTH did similar projects to benefit this same orgn. (dist. almost didn't approve 2d brothers for this reason). Soccer supplies are already at the school. Because of the issues above, we recommended he find another orgn. to benefit. And to recruit kids who would otherwise not be playing soccer. Lots of other issues, like who would be teaching who, but i think i've given you a good picture on this one.

2nd project is to plant flowers in beds (already existing) at a church. For the past 2 years parishioners have volunteered to plant these beds, some have perenniels. The flowers he was going to use were annuals (he did not know what a perennial was). Half of the beds were already spoken for by a parishioner, but he had included those areas in the project (NOT!). This sounded more like the Gardening MB than an Eagle project. There is no changing of the landscape, no new edging. From a committee viewpoint, we did not see this as a challenge to the scout. We recommended he dig up some grass around the church sign out front where there are no flowers, and make it a flowerbed. In other words, do something constructive and challenging.

Other issues, he did not come to the com. in full uniform, he did not have the proper signatures (let alone his WORKBOOK!), nor did he have a copy of his project to hand out to us.

AND...aside from all that, the CC son is going to be presenting a project in which his mother runs the program (remember the first project above? this scouts mother runs the program for challenged kids).

I'm thinking we (the troop) need guidelines to give parents/scouts on what factors into a good Eagle project, and what is expected by the troop/dist. We do encourage attending Life to Eagle seminars, and we are just now going to appoint a sr. scout to mentor the Life scout. Everything i've read just seems so subjective in regards to Eagle projects, there has to be some sort of baseline!

What issues does your troop look at when a project is presented? Thanks for your time, really!!

Sparkie

I do not see this skit as offensive, i have seen worse! Let's face it boys love bodily function humor. Although it's hard, i try to pick and choose my battles with the boys in the pack/troop (in regards to language and humor). There are so many far worse things out there than this skit. JMO

Sparkie

Congrats! I'm not sure of any official responsibilites. However, my suggestion to you is don't hold back in making recommendations to the committee. Venture back to your own experiences, and pull ideas and thoughts of what you have done, or what would have liked to do. I think you'll find alot of answers there on how to make your troop better. I also like Eagledad's suggestion of helping/mentoring Life scouts on their way to Eagle (without interferring with THEIR project of course!), your experience will be invaluable to them.

Sparkie

Actually, as Bob White has said, the correct person to be asking this question is your sons Camping MB counselor. I would recommend your son talk to his counselor; and, if it's going to stress/worry him to get "this" MB, there are plenty of other Eagle MBs he can work on with more than enough time to reach his goal.

Sparkie

Well it seems i really was missing something! My council neglected to mention this point "...large Oval to be worn alone, not with diamond shaped badges such as the Bobcat....".

That's why i need these boards!!

Sparkie