SSScout

RE: Flag possible misuse/disrespect/unusual purpose/smiler/what if/ wait a minute... I recommend the movie ""BRONCO BILLY"" Dir/Stars Clint Eastwood. In an interview, he said it was one of his favorites. Be warned, some adult themes, perhaps a PG13 rate. Any one else remember it?

Coming in to this late, perhaps, but after being a girls soccer coach ( 1st season no wins, second season half and half, third season league champs undeafeated, fourth season 2nd place) and a DL and CM, and now ASM, I see some parrallels between good coaching and good Scout leadering. In both,if done right, the coach /SL requires something of the child that the child feels OBLIGATED to provide. If the parents see a benefit of the child attending, there will be a DOUBLE obligation that the child feels. Can he/she dissapoint the C/SL? In CS, we require parent participation, less so in BS, but obviously if the parent participates, the boy gains accordingly. How often have we (CSL or SL) seen what I call the "soccer syndrome" ? Drop the boy off and come back in 2 hours. Even SLs can use that to advantage, but it means making yourself indispensible to the Pack/Troop, and that can have poor consequences too, especially if one has not succeeded in training/providing for your successors. When one moves on, is there someone left to continue the Pack/Troop? A good S/L inspires and leads by example and training, but remember, "a boy does not live by training alone". I still think that learning to run and kick straight is great, but somehow one has to show the Scouts that SOMETIME it might be nice to know how to find your way in the woods, or in a strange city, or know how to stop bleeding or breath for someone who can't. Your average soccer coach won't teach you that. Or reward you for knowing it.

EVERYTHING should have some ritual, some ceremony attached to it. After the "battlesribbons" got to be a little cumbersome, we got some tri-fold presentation boards and glued all the streamers to them, chronologically, for display at B&G, etc. The most recent ribbons were on the Pack flag. When we received a new ribbon, the CM would announce the new ribbon,(usually after rank awards), how the Pack had earned it, and then ask one Cub to come forward (most advanced, most deserving, soon to move, pick a reason) and hold the Pack flag pole down, then call another Cub forward ( same criterion)to tie the ribbon to the pole. Much pride exhibited. Make sure to rotate this "honor" thru the Pack. YiS, SSScout

Lion Cub= 1959. Back before I earned my dinosaur herding merit badge, I was a Cub, and my mom was a Denmom, and my dad cut up scrape lumber and sheets of cork and set out little pots of paint for lots of Thunderbird trophy hangings and key holders and I learned the importance of washing out your brushes NOW not tomorrow (no latex!). I think the idea of a Kkid Cub scout program is great ( I hope National reads these screeds). 1) insist that parents accompany Ks and 1st graders. No Baby sitters etc. I could not believe when one year we had 14 nascent Tigers one year and NOT ONE family would join. Everyone of them pleaded "too much time involved". I call this the "soccer syndrome"... drop your boy off and come back in 2 hours. We asked for one meeting and one activity a month, all pre planned and pre scheduled. Couldn't do it... 2) Don't call it Lions (what is LfL? never heard of it) Call it another animal, smaller, craftier....FOX Scouts! Leave Lion for another time. Here's your sequence... Fox...Tiger...Bobcat... Wolf...Bear... and What the hey is a ..a .. Webelos?? The sequence is only a little out of logical ordernow... Putting a LION first is not apparently logical to me. 3) Gotta make things. Hand eye. Dodads for mom to hang in the kitchen, dad to put on his desk and make big over. 4) Make awards for the PARENTS. They can earn a patch or pin for getting the boy to the meeting, helping with the paint and glue. Kkids are FOXES, mom and dad are er, whats a male fox called? Possibilities???

Six looooong pages and how much is actually about "BSA and Religion? And the 'other' topic? Who (or what) are you fellows worshiping? Yes, I think the 'other ' topic should have spun off loooong ago.

Unbelievable. What Scout (age not important) would EVER turn another Scout away from his camp? Scouter4321 has it all. As CM, I knew our pack had the responsibilty for the C/O ceremony. We always made sure our Webs had invites to visit our neighboring troops (5 or 6), since we had no "connected" troop. No uninformed choices. We would do it at a barbecue in the spring. Our District OA group always made a bang up appearance with flaming arrows and appropriate words as the Cubs crossed the bridge. Not unusual to have 2 or 3 SMs to receive the Cubs. I would remove the blue epaulets and the SM would replace them with red ones as the boy crossed the bridge. Once the SM forgot the red epaulets! We borrowed some from the UC and the OA group! As Bob the Tomato says, "It's for the kids". How long ago was the slight that required THAT SM to not be allowed in THIS SMs camp?

"The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask they will know one another, though the diverse liveries they wear here make them strangers." = William Penn =

I do love catching up on all this discussion. Jargon and linquistics fascinates me. wyomingi: "Gaffer Tape" : Gaffer is , if I remember correctly, Cockney slang for an Old Man. This led it to be the theatrical term for the fellow who is in charge of Lighting the Stage ( use to be with candles ane kerosene lamps) . The "Gaffer" is now the fellow in charge of the Lighting and electrical arrangements. "Gaffer Tape" is the stuff used to secure the e cables to the floor (so one doesn't trip over them) and the e cables to the battens (pipes) that hold the "babies" and "fresnels" and "ellipsoids" and such (spotlights). To canoeists, it's Duck Tape. To HVAC mechanics it's Duct Tape. To Red Green it's essential. FYI: "Best Boy" is the "Gaffers" assistant. TT4N.

Teach your Scout to Sew... " BADGES? WE DON' NEED NO STEENKIN' BADGES!!" " Teach.. your Scout to sew... your Daddy's patch... will never fall off... and see ... him stick his thumb.. he's not so dumb... he'll beg his motheeeer... and... don't you stop to ask him why... he'll just look at her and cry.. til she gives in and sews it oooon and he'll tell her "Mooooooom, you know I love you!! " ( apologies to CSN&Y) (personal experience) The aerosol can works , but not permanent. On the BACK of the patch, shoot a small bead around the edge of the patch, just inside the edge. With putty knife, smear it around til you have a thin even coating. On a table, QUICKLY place the patch BACK DOWN in place on the uniform, and place wax paper over it. Stack some heavy books on top and leave it over night.Next morning, carefully peel off the wax paper. Artfully done, no smear out the edges of the patch. It will eventually fall off, depending on how strong your laundry detergent (lasts longer if you never wash it!) Will NOT stick to nylon jackets. Plastic backing allows patch to be peeled off cloth. Soak Back of cloth with wd40 to remove most of stickum, but some stain will remain, no matter what. The sheet material is more permanent. I used it for my new uniforms when I had to get ready for Jamboree. Follow the package directions AND::: place a white handkerchief over the patch and iron (wool setting 30 secs.)Avoid getting it on the iron at all costs. DO NOT DRY CLEAN. everything desolves and patches come off. You can touch it up with another litte piece of stickum, should the patch start to peel off. I would never use either for the wool leader jacket, but the patches on the Cub Scout poly felt vest have not come off (aerosol can stuff.)

WOW! Really interesting replies to a small inquery. I leave a note on the board in the morning and come back and...And I had no idea there were so many retired (I know I have a money exchange activity to attend to) scout type people out there. Scenario: (this is fourth hand to you folks) Cub Scout from family who espouses a religion that will not say the PoA loyally (and I say correctly) does not recite the PoA, as his parents desire. He does know it, can correctly recite it (per the rank requirement) and participates in flag ceremonies (carries it in, posts the colors, etc. But CM has conniption fit. He is ex-military. How should Pcomm or other parents react?

Glue On Patches . Thoughts as they occur to me... An adult Leader leads by: Example: Properly attired. Correct Badges in place, uniform clean and worn without embarassment (even into the Mcdonalds on the trip). Do all the ASMs wear Scout uniform? Only the SM? How 'bout the CC? Anyone else? Encouragement: Take the Scout aside and remind him kindly and without rancor of his badge placement and uniform usage. Is there a problem you can help with? Guilt: Perhaps a SM minute could be used to ask about the pride of being a Scout. How to honor those that have trod the trail before us. What happens when we wear it "in public"? Instruction: Unit Commissioner (used to be called Neighborhood Commissioner?) comes thru and gives a Uniform Inspection, with appropriate reward for the best Patrols (advance notice given, natch) and appropriate comment about good and poor appearance. Hand Sewing: The practice of making the patches with the plastic back makes'em much harder to sew on. The needles don't go thru the plastic easily. The lack of uniform coloring makes it hard to find matching color thread. (MBs use to be rimmed all in green. Howmany different hues now?.) The "Badge Magic" works for a while, but falls off all by itself eventually. Don't dry clean!!! I would never use the "BM" on the wool leader jacket. Teach your Scout to Sew... " BADGES? WE DON' NEED NO STEENKIN' BADGES!!" " Teach.. your Scout to sew... your Daddy's patch... will never fall off... and see ... him stick his thumb.. he's not so dumb... he'll beg his motheeeer... and... don't you stop to ask him why... he'll just look at her and cry.. til she gives in and sews it oooon and he'll tell her "Mooooooom, you know I love you!! " ( apologies to CSN&Y)

It is good to make'm think. I'm only a fledgling ASM, but as a CM, the circle up goodnight was new to my pack. The previous CMs only marched the flags out and said goodnight. I marched the flags out, then gathered the boys in the hands-over circle and spoke of the Scout family. Then I invited anyone else who was a Scout or had been a Scout to join in the circle. The family gets bigger! Then I reminded everyone that family includes moms and dads and bro and sis , and invited everyone else to join the circle (hands over hands is HARD for some adults!). More reminding about the family that is Scouting, and perhaps how family helps each other, picks each other up when someone falls. Then ,if the time feels right, a short pithy something, then the SM benediction(...til we meet again) and SQUEEZE hands goodnight... MORALITY is what one does when one is with others. CHARACTER is what one does when alone... YiS...

Flag burning is , I seem to hear , either a very extreme form of protest or an extreme form of respect, depending on the context. And context is always an important consideration in making a judgement. Question: What sort of person (that is to say, why) would not recite the "Pledge of Allegiance" during the usual flag ceremony? And how would you react to such?

I must agree with trevorum. The numbers do sound a little dated, but yet they ring true. They are "close enough", I think. Scouting is, after all, a self selecting group, disregarding the non-participatory parent. Once a boy becomes a Cub or a Boy Scout, it will become apparent early on if they like it or not. As Scouters, we need to be sensitive to what 'enables' that self selection. YiS SSS