SpongeBob

At least one Cub Scout pack has banned them (other than in this forum): http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/NEWS/702210350 ""It's a safety issue." Virtually every school district has banned Heelys, along with grocery stores, Cub Scout packs, churches and any place where kids congregate." I am not aginst Heelys. They have an appropriate time and place where they should be used, and under appropriate conditions, like bikes, skateboards, and knives. I will check with the school to see if they are allowed on school property. If so, we don't need a rule,

You did come off a bit harsh, but I expect that here. I'm going to wait until the next committee-parent meeting, and I'll bring it up there. If they don't want to do do anything about it, I will need to do something else.

I was just wondering if anyone thought that they are like rollerblades and that they fall under the skating section of the G2SS. If they fall under G2SS, then I don't need a policy at all. I'm not sure if the insurance that our council offers would cover any injuries if they are intrepreted to be rollerblades when the rules for skating are not being followed, and I don't want to get sued. To me, they are just as dangerous as rollerblades without brakes. (Just Google Heelys on Google News if you don't believe me.)

Anyone have a unit policy regarding Heelys? (www.heelys.com) After seeing a segment on the news about how docs in emergency rooms were seeing a bunch of injuries from them, I personally think that they should only be worn with proper safety equipment. (My son does not own them.) I have been being very tolerant, but I reached the end of my rope when boys were rolling all over the banquet hall at Blue and Gold. G2SS doesn't explicitly include them, but I would assume that they would be under "Skating Guidelines". I just want to know how other units may be handling them, and w

For some reason, that den doesn't go anywhere. Not as a den and not with the pack. The parents see that den as a babysitting service, and is the only den that is like that. I always invite them. I just don't anticipate the parents wanting to go and actually purchase stuff and go somewhere, and then have to set their gear up. I think that if we camped, we need to go it when we know it won't get too cold, and when I can pass my BALOO knowledge on to them. I "trained" the Wolf parents before we camped in tents at Resident Camp. They thought I was a bit nuts when I told them to keep

I have to aggree to not letting a CC be married to a CM/SM. Not a rule, but good avdice. Short term it may be OK, but long-term it is not. You'll probably lose both of them at the same time when their son transitions out. In addition, the CC and SM/CM also give a very wrong impressions of their duties when they are married to each other. Things get done behind the scenes, and when their replacements come in, they don't understand how much planning has to be done or what they are even responsible for. Also, if one of them tries to do something that is wrong, can you expect the ot

I think what needs to be done is that the parents should be told that upon repeating an elective, the "Do _Your_ Best" bar should be raised. Now if you ride the same bus to school every day, how can you Do Your Best to do it better? In my opinion, you can't. You have to ride a different mode of transportation. As for the book reading, it is still Do Your Best. There isn't any set level of achievement that needs to be obtained. So if a boy can only read two and three letter words, and the parent has to help with anything bigger, then that is fine, because HE is doing HIS best. Then up

It may seem strange that only one den would want to go camping as a pack, but the leadership in the pack is changing. The wolves are the first of the new blood. They don't sit back like the older dens and just say, "we've never done that before" or "that's the way we've always done it". (If I had a nickel for everytime I heard that....) If I can't get the bears to go to day camp or resident camp, I don't think they'd want to go to pack camping where they would have help out in the setting up and tearing down. The first-year Webelos's don't have a leader (long story) so no parent is i

I wore mine at the 2nd weekend of WB last Sept. Most of the participants wearing them had the same complaint: The shorts are too short. As for the ladies, the inseam comes in only two sizes. For me, they are too long and too short. I wish I had purchased a pair of men's, since I have a hole on one leg hem seam now from it dragging on the ground. The belt did not survive even one day. The end of the nylon belt started unraveling. I tried to melt the end but, it didn't work. I ended up duct taping it. Don't sit too close to the fire. A fellow scouter did so, and the bottoms o

The parents of the Wolves want to camp very badly. They have approached me and I tell them that is has to be done at a Pack level. I have BALOO and CPR/First Aid, so that isn't a concern. The problem is that as I understand it, these boys can only do it if it is sponsered on the district/council level or if the entire pack was invited. 1)Now if we get that far to plan the event, and no one else is interested, even after repeated phone calls, and the Wolf families are the only ones going, is this considered pack camping? (Which is very likely to happen if we did this.) 2)The boys in t

At resident camp last summer, I talked with the Wolf parents about earning it then and there. I suggested that I would give my son another year to mature, and maybe we'd do it at resident camp next summer. Surprisingly, all the parents agreed with me. I would suggest having a meeting with the parents, and see if they can come to a consensus about it. Maybe their points of view will influence the parent that wants their kid with a knife.

She is not the one deciding when her son crosses, although she may have a large part of the decision. Her and the WDL want to make to boys wait. Maybe February is a bit early, but I think that end of May is really too late. I was actually a bit shocked when the WDL told me that the Webelos II's were getting their Webelos Badge at B&G next month. It seemed very odd to me that they didn't earn it last year. She seems to run her den to cover every aspect of most of the pins, but my belief was that the Webelos rank is a transitional rank where boys are expectd to show a little independence by

She is leaving in May. I am a firm beliver that Webelos II's should crossover in February (unless there is an unusal circumstance), but her son is a Webelos II and she wants all of them to wait. Two UC's even confirmed that B&G time is a better time to do this. So if he crosses over in late May, joins a troop in June, he goes to camp for a week with people he barely knows, or more importanly a troop that barely knows him. Some days I question her training, but I have seen the pack's adult leader training report, and yes, she is. The CC and CM before her were married to each

ScoutNut: Our committee is: CC, Secretary and Treasurer. Yes the CC is trained, but she is also leaving. CC is trying to replace herself. We have approached other parents on doing specific things, but they are not interested. Some are understandably too busy, others just don't want any responsibility. I do make paper copies and email copies to the committee and den leaders. I had the comment that I send out too many emails, and I don't think they even look at the paper copies beyond at the committee meeting. I personally feel that without a chair or parent to organize these events, t

I signed my son up for CS a year ago, and was recruited as a TDL. I sure many of you have been there, done that. We had a bad CM. Really bad. Would skip committee meetings, not return phone calls, abuse pack funds, pack meetings were a sea of kids running around without ANY ceremonies, you get the idea. But the biggest problem was with the committee. They wanted his blessing on everything (although they are not required to have it), and if we can't get a hold of him, the boys ended up suffering. We do not have any written by-laws. We have one the expired in 1992. It was the

Your District Training Committee may need help. Part of the Centennial Quality District program requires that districts get more leaders trained. It sounds like yours only offers it twice a year, and that may not work well. My district is already re-aligning themselves to provide training more often and in different formats to suit the working single parent. They used to do it on a Saturday (YP, Essentials, Specifics), but they have divided it up into a few weeknights. There may be other postions with in the committee that may need extra help as well to meet the Centennial Quali

Last night we had a parent at our committee meetings suggest that when people arrive at Blue and Gold, they are greeted by a person who gives them a lei. Then she added that we should figure out what the Hawaiian word for "welcome" was. We just kinda looked at her and said, "Aloha?"

I found large tubes at an recycling company, and each boy is making his own tiki/Easter Island head (aka Sqidward's house). I bought yet an even bigger tube for the Wolves to make a palm tree. (It's a prop in their skit & for wolf elective) I'm getting a beach backdrop (google Scene Setters or Insta Theme). And I'm making this http://www.stumpsprom.com/catalog.cfm?caid=774221 The also have a good idea for a waterfall http://www.stumpsprom.com/catalog.cfm?caid=774172 I'd use some thin sheer material, and a fan to make it move. I'm bringing a beach chair from home.

I was planning on covering the Michigan Badge next year. I want it to complement their studies of Michigan in school. We do the CPT stuff. We've been on a few events. It's a bit difficult for us though, since we are not in CVC, and all the programs must be held in CVC-area parks. What the problems ends up being is: 1. Tour permit required for all the events. 2. At least an half-hour drive, and parents are paying for gas. 3. 5 of the 7 boys in my den (including my own) are in wrestling with the tournaments and weigh-ins on Saturday and Sunday. I may be able to get back into it in Mar

He has already been denner; we rotate it around. I let him do it first to set a standard for the other boys. He did the family award last year, and I'm sure that his family will do it again. I had to get on the committe about the program. I got them to agree that if the family bought the book and did it, the committe would buy the recognition. So far his family is the only one willing to spend the few dollars for the book and acutaully do 10 things together. I don't think a religious award is appropriate for them (I've already asked). They are definitly reverant, but they choose to p

One of the reasons why this boy go so far ahead was that over Christmas break, he was sick. His parents decided to make the best of the time, and work in the book. I wish more parents thought this way! As with many policies in our pack, we don't have a policy on belt loops and pins. The parents of this boy don't have a problem paying for them themselves. I got tired of asking to committee about them, and now that the boy has them, other boys are wondering why he makes clinking noises when he walks. I tried to pitch it to the committee as motivation to have boys tuck their shirts in. (I'm

I have a Wolf who has completed nearly 70 electives, and is one part of an achievement from his Wolf badge. I want him to keep his enthusiam and pride, but I how do I encourage him without making the other boys (and their parents) feel bad? He also would like to complete all parts of the achievements. Has anyone ever given out a special award for that? It's common with the Webelos pins, and I've heard of it being done wtih Bears, but not Wolves. After he finished his last part of the Wolf achievement, I'm going to head him into the direction of belt loops and pins. He isn't very

I wish my husband would catch the Scout spirit infection! Congrats! I had a very warm fuzzy feeling at my breakfast, and I wish I had mine there!

I have been trying to get my committee to write some rules. Like most of our "pack policies", they are not written. This year I begged then to adopt written rules - the district's rules - but they didn't. The unwritten policy is that it can't weigh more than 5 oz. But it's not quite that simple. We had several boys make their cars narrower. They had to pull the axles way out to get it to fit on the track. One boy made his car so that when it was at the gate, he had a 1 inch head start. Some boys added all the weight on to the bottom, so they got stuck going down the track. Some measurements sh

At my roundtable, the breakout session for CM and MC has told us to always remeber the three F's: Fun Fast Finished Ours is set up like a pack meeting. We sing a song, lead by an energetic fellow, who is tone deaf, and doesn't care if he makes a fool of himself. Come to think of it, most of the RT staff is that way. We laugh at corny jokes, some repeatable to kids. We do cheers, we have an advancement ceremoney every month, sometimes with real awards, and other times made up. We have costumes, props, a ceremonial table. We repeat the Pledge with no pause between "One nation" and