SSScout

I once stood up after Meeting and announced that we had just become aware of a new invention that would revolutionize the transfer of information and knowledge. It was portable, easy to carry and inexpensive. Needed no batteries, worked out in the woods or in a building. Usable in many light levels, even in pitch dark with a small adapter. It was quickly adapted to many uses and anyone, young or old, could quickly learn how to avail themselves of its utility. Folks were even discussing how to loan and borrow them thru public venues. You could see folks start to sit up and pay attention, right up to when I said" it's called THE BOOK. " and reminded them I was on the Meeting's Library Committee.

Al: If you're still reading this, I second all the above advice, boy led, boy responsible, SM and ASMs, find a new Troop, be sure to talk to ALL the other families, check your ripcord, walk to the door.... One more thing comes to mind.... "follow the money" has always been good advice in many social situations. Who (as if I couldn't guess) is the Troop treasurer? How were dues and expenses handled? If "they" are the CO, then "they" own any money left over.... And when you call Council to check on the Charter , ask about the "slush fund" , some Councils keep seperate unit accounts to help even up shortages and overages on the books come charter time. If the unit otherwise has a respectable record, leave with a "good-by and thanks for the fish."

If the boy is as you present, there are other witnesses, adult preferably. Ask to speak to the parent, this time with the other witness(s) in company. Make sure that the parent realizes that to accuse YOU of being (in effect) a liar about his boy's behavior is also accusing these other good people of the same. In my career as a sub teacher, I had to participate in such a meeting. It was not pretty, but it finally got the parent to confront his own daughter (!) about her behavior. Things improved over the next few weeks. If necessary , (it will be), you may have to have the same meeting between the parent, the witnesses, AND the boy. The provocation of such might even make the boy act up in his parent's presence to prove your point. Be prepared to give specific examples of his language and behavior, giving events and places and times. Good (better?) Scouting to YOU, my friend.

I think Mr. Rowe is doing Good Work, and he has been badly, unfairly treated by the self appointed pundits of both press sides (liberal and illiberal). There is, after all, "too much empty bandwidth" and "the air time has to be filled". After some consideration, I do think Mike hasn't come to grips with the facts of Walmart's labor relations history. Mike responded to the Aimee's comments " You guys are in a labor dispute, and my foundation doesn’t take sides between employers and employees. " well and good, but he has to understand how it looks. Niether of Mikes detractors played fair, and just jumped on the chance to make a splash, taking things out of context and not following up to check facts or quotes. He looked bad (from their seperate viewpoints ) despite his protestations. 250million over ten years? Paid out/invested how? In training programs? Pay and benefits for employees (who can then buy more American)? Buying new decor for Mr. Walton's board room? I would invite Mike to my Eagle CoH anyday, but WallyWorld can still afford to pay their employees a better salary and treat their overtime in a legal manner without being told to.

Nope. No luck. Tried sending to qwazse, I get " "Please enter at least one valid recipient. Type in the first four characters and you will get a list of matching user names" I will try again with and without caps. OK

This is a new system. Just got back in from a Scout org conference, saw the above, did not see anything from Scouter.com in my regular email, checked the "messages" block above by my log in, and there's Qwasze's test. So if this is the way it's suppose to work, I would not know I had a message unless I purposely checked the "message" section above right. In the "old" system, we received a notification in our regular email, but it would have a code number to respond to, so we would not have the direct email unless we listed it ourselves. Scouter.com acted as "chaperone" between folks. If we wanted to respond directly, we could, if they provided the email. Here, we still don''t have that directness. I cannot send a file directly. Like the song said, "Is that all there is?"

Five Rivers Council, Camp Gorton (Finger Lakes) , Camp Brule... smaller, personable camps . Very traditional camps. http://www.fiverivers.org/

Of course, we could talk about Discipline, Expectations, Plans, Activities on a cabin camp. What was expected? Were there outdoor activities planned that didn't come off? Was the Plan B not well thought out? SPL and PLC should have things in hand... Home Troop has a winter cabin camp at Broadcreek, MD. Expectations are that there WILL be hikes, map & compass, Totin' Chip instruction (wood stove to stoke), cooking requirements passed (both indoor and out) and for the evening, board games, the famous "I Doubt It" tourney, and a late movie (last time it was "Second Hand Lions" and Popeye cartoons). Too much snow or rain? Well, they are Scouts and the hikes and compass course still go out. You have a dry, warm cabin to come back to. Come sleepy time, ( 12 midnite ?) Scouts are detailed to serve the woodstove, and Scouts are tuckered out and sleep. Like every other boy, Scouts will tend to live up to expectations. If there are any.

I really like this Faith and Chaplaincy forum, it certainly ... oh, darn. As an "experienced " parent (read: OLD...), I have come to the conclusion that it is the parent's duty and responsibility to give their off-spring a belief that they can either accept or reject. And, the fact is that ALL parents are doing just that, whether they are conscious of it or not. The example of their lives is closely being observed, judged and accepted OR rejected. Is the "PM" function functional yet? I'd like to offer the "Scout's Own" curriculum I do at IOLS. I haven't figured out the Dropbox thingy to use. "Esoteric belief" : Something strange to my personal ken.... (?)

Way to go TwoCub. Couldn't have said it better. Scouting is what it is, and "making the best of it" is , or ought to be, the 17th point of the Scout Law. Or something. I was on a campout with 6 beginners and the SM. SM had a tent, I had a tent (both well used and trusted), boys divied up in three two boy tents, two Troop tents, and one boy shared his NEW tent. New tent was not seam sealed, it seemed. It poooouuurrreeed down rain. New tent became a covered bath tub. One troop tent had a corner leak. I gave up my tent to three of the boys, SM moved his son in with him, I slept in the car. We "the made the best of it". The next morning, sun came out, we had a hot breakfast (oatmeal and maple syrup as I remember). Dried things out, went home late. Soggy, muddy, sleepy, but Scouts still. Two of those six, come to think of it, became Eagles.

Huzzar: True, true, Lenni Lanape. William Penn, Lord Delaware, Zwaanandael, if things had happened differently, we might be speaking Dutch on this page....

Go to NASA website. Depending on where you are, they will often provide a "special" for you, an actual astronaut , with space suit to come to "ooo " and " aaaahhh" over. And, check out your local Astronomy club (set up a sunspot scope), local college/university for the Astronomy/physics department. Local rocketry club (launch possible for your site? wow factor there!), local aviation modeling club (same thing), Mention Scouts to the local Hobby store, bet they can give you the names and numbers. "ask and ye shall find, seek and ye shall be given" or something like that.... Oh, and don't forget to contact your local newspaper and TV news desk. Such "good" news is often very popular with them. Good PR for Scouts and the local Packs!

"A Scout is Referential"... no, that's not it... A Scout is Refrigerated.... ummmm no... A Scout is Revved up... ah shucks, I give up. I guess I'll just have to go back to the source.... “â€ÂReverence to God and reverence for one's neighbour and reverence for oneself as a servant of God, is the basis of every form of religion. The method of expression of reverence to God varies with every sect and denomination. What sect or denomination a boy belongs to depends, as a rule, on his parents' wishes. It is they who decide. It is our business to respect their wishes and to second their efforts to inculcate reverence, whatever form of religion the boy professes.â€Â†Robert Baden-Powell, “Aids to Scoutmastershipâ€Â

Very sad. Poor preparation, poor leader oversight, dumb idea to begin with (in hindsight), glad no one was bad hurt. Let's go knock over some rare, unique rock formations instead, at least THERE, we can avoid injury and help prevent future injury (he said with one eyebrow cocked and tongue firmly in cheek). Sc99: Most OA chapters claim some fellowship with a local tribe, use their language and names.. Here around the Chesapeake Bay, that's the Delaware Lenape. But most standard OA ceremonies are really generic, and not intended to imitate any specific tribe's ceremony.

Very important considerations. Thank you for bringing it up. Much like sexuality, how much of this subject (the Scouts faith in a supreme creator/being/spirit) is appropriate for the Scout Leader to concern themselves with? Doncha tink dis otta be in da "Faith and Chaplaincy" forum?

Flag football, two hand touch, both good. But in my poor experience (I coached my daughter's soccer team, and watch college football alot), the injuries in world soccer vs american football (see Australian lately?) are very different, and almost entirely dependant on the COACHING and the REFFEREEing. If the coaches encourage hard, collision play, you will have injuries. see: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/football/head_injuries/ The problems come when the kids stop wanting to have fun and start wanting to be the pro-player.

It is cooked. It is sterilized (212F for twenty minutes?), and so safe to eat. It is easy cleanup (toss the plastic bag). It is fairly easy to do (scambled eggs in the plastic bag is easy too). It does involve carrying a couple of specialized equipment pieces(a grid and pot to fit and a "cozy"). So ya pays yer moneys and ya takes yer cherz. I think the higher heat of the DO or reflector might be more tasty to my palate. I sometimes demonstrate Bisquik and powdered milk premixed and carried in a ziploc, add water, mush it up, squeeze it into a greasy pan, fry it up and squeeze jelly on to it . The Scouts are always impressed, but few ever plan that far ahead to premix stuff to take on the hike.

I agree with The B: The Council would be expected to send any refund to the entity that made the original payment: parent, Troop, Lions Club, etc. The Troop then would refund the family that they understand had a good reason to not go to camp.

Absotively, we only talk about things that everyone agrees with, so don't expect much acrimoniousity here. Right, Pack?

Hello, NeverAnEagle, are you still out there? Any improvement?

My mom was a Cmpfire Girl, 1920's. I have some very interesting old photos of her and her girl chums in indian teepees and various regalia. Massachusetts and Maine campouts. Surprisingly, I can't remember her ever speaking about it, but she (and dad) was very supportive of my Scout career, Den mom and all.

Just arrived here. 2 Samuel 12 comes to mind. "You are the man". Perhaps if you can come up with an example for the B/E to chew on .... "Hey, Pete. I have a problem, maybe you can help me with. " And here you explain to him about a young Scout that has a problem in making rank. Could an Eagle like him help? What might he sugggest? Maybe looking at the SLaw and SOath might help. Duty to others? Friendly? Courteous? Helpful? Is an Eagle obligated to return his good fortune to others? How could we / he help in this? I would not point out his hypocracy (would he know the word?), being an Eagle Scout but behaving in this way. ,,, but sort of lead him into a corner he has to find his way out of. Does this help?

Didn't Coleman come out with a propane fired microwave camp oven last year? Or was that the fifty feet of shoreline my son borrowed from the nextdoor campsite when he went off to the camporee....

I pretty much agree with what's been said. In a small Troop, you might only have one active, organized Patrol (up to 8 or ten boys, max.). If that is the case, then they have "A" Patrol Leader, elected by the boys. He should choose an Assistant Patrol Leader, with the SM's approval would be good. The SM might counsel the boys alittle about what makes for a good leader, but not try to sway them in their choice. When the Troop gets big enough to have two or more Patrols, (four , or six to eight boys each), then the Troop needs to have an election to elect a Senior Patrol Leader (see above comments), he chooses an Assistant SPL, and they're off to the races (or Camporee!). In a Big Troop, the SPL, ASPL, and other boy Leaders are "usually" not considered to be in their home Patrol but in a "Green Bar " Patrol. They organize and facilitate (run?) the Patrols in the Troop. Some Troops just consider them as temporarily out of their home Patrol. "it depends". Part of the learning process in Scouts includes finding out what happens when one chooses poor leaders (however judged) and what happens when one is elected a leader, but has no experience in being one. Mr. Scoutmaster, how do you like your tea, with honey or milk?

The idea of "advancing" at the February B&G stems from the wrongly held idea that the bigger the event the better. The B&G should be a fun , celebration about Scouting. Show pics/movies about the years adventures. Have each Den make a skit and LAUGH at it, whether you can hear the Tigers say their lines or not. Eat home made spaghetti, and cake. Let your Commisssioner (if you have one) come and give a pep talk about Scouting and compliment the boys on their uniforms. Let an "old timer" come and reminisce alittle about his time in the Pack (by this I mean a BOY SCOUT working on his Communication Merit Badge). As has been said, the Cubs advance at the end of the year, regardless of their EARNING (!!) their badge. The badge (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Web1, Web2) is awarded when it is completed, at the next Pack Meeting. Webelos to Boy Scout Crossover should be a Special Event (bring in the OA) and the Pack should NOT "give up" with the B&G . The Pack year runs from September to September. The parents who say" well, we're done.." in April or May are cheating their sons of the wealth of adventure and knowledge available to Cubs thru the rest of the year. Beside the "normal" Den/family trips, and activities, here's what I suggest makes for a successful and well appreciated Cub Scout Pack calendar: February: B&G banquet (see above) March: More awards, more skits, more plans: Cub Scout Day Camp? Webelos Overnight camp?... April: MAYBE Webelos crossover. If you have to, make it a special night, away from the "usual" Pack Meeting. Webs should have their Troops picked out, and maybe even transfer membership. Troops (if they have their act together) will already have the nascent Scouts signed up and reservations made for summer camp. May: More awards, badges awarded. Look to the Council Cub Theme (attended Roundtable?) Go to the park, have a "buddy" Hike with your local Troop, this is the young Cubs, not just the Webs. Wolves are capable of 3 miles of easy walk. June: A last Pack Picnic. Make a show of the boys "Moving Up". Webs may or may not be present. Hotdogs, horse shoes, frisbees, get ready for the Summer Program: a hike or museum visit a month, doesn't matter if folks are "on vacation", schedule it, give'm the opportunity Earn the Summer Activity Award. Pack Tradition, as has been said, changes with the parents and their memories of Packs past (might not even be this one). And remind your parents, their son is only 7 (or 8, or 9, or 10....) once. Again, repeat the Cub Scout Mantra with me: Kismif, Kismif, Kismif....