5yearscouter

Well you could walk in a christmas parade, adopt some angel tree kids and then go wrap presents for someplace like the angel tree program. You could go sing christmas carols at a senior center or hospital--depends on how scared they are of rsv or the flu in your area. could include decorate a tree with them, make cookies and bring(check dietary requirements) or make a craft with them or bring premade crafts. You could adopt the wing of the hospital, esp children's ward etc. be sure to check what they will allow, but it could involve making and wrapping little crafts/decorations, or

Be careful putting the hand warmers directly on your skin. My youngest got an actual burn on his foot from having one in his sock overnight. I always recommend putting them between two layers of clothing.

We found this list somewhere on the internet and it helps to get your brain thinking of what to bring, what to avoid, how to pack, etc. COLD WEATHER/SNOW CAMPING TIPS: Be prepared!! Know signs of hyperthermia and frostbite. Drink extra WATER to avoid dehydration. Bring extra snacks like Granola bars, trail mix, peanut butter crackers, etc. Keep a pot on the stove or thermos of hot water available for warm drinks, cocoa, instant oatmeal or Cup-a-Soup. If you get cold, eat or drink something hot. All meals should be hot meals Dutch ovens keep food hot longer. 1-pot mea

I prefer the flexible clear hosing you can get at home depot. A roll lasts forever, sections store easier than stips of pvc, they are soft so when kids are playing and land on the neckerchief it doesn't hurt their neck. we have some sea shells from the dollar store we glued to the hose almost 8 years ago and I wish I could remember what kind of glue I used cause that has lasted forever.

After calling and emailing and nagging everybody I put in our popcorn order on time for extra stuff for the take order sales. The deadline was Nov 3, so I started nagging for them on October 24th, leader mtg 26th, pack meeting the 31st. Last Wednesday I get an email from 2 moms that they sold popcorn and wanted to know when to turn in the orders and money. I know I can get more popcorn but it takes driving across town, so I asked them for the info on what they sold RIGHT THEN! and I'd even go to their house to get the forms and the money. I still don't have their orders.

I know I always feel bad when we order the wrong amount and I have to take some back. I get there to return like 1 case of each kind of microwave and a case of the $20 caramel, and there are piles and piles and piles or returned popcorn. The guy at council was shaking his head when I commented, he said that one pack in particular drove him nuts because he tranposed their numbers on one kind of popcorn, so instead of ordering 54 cases, he ordered 45 for them. And they brought back like 35 cases. I forsee next year they'll try something different once again, as they keep trying

I must be looking at too much christmas stuff, ad not enough political stuff, cause I got artificial trees and holiday party info in my ads.

ok, so to think of it from a totally different perspective, how much you can get away with not having, and how light can you go with what you already have? A lot of that will vary based on what the boys want to do, where they are going, time of year, and how much do they really cook, and are these tiny guys who can barely carry their sleeping bag much less other gear, or do you have some strapping 6 footers who can carry a bunch of weight without any trouble? We are in AZ. LOTS of places we go, we just have to carry water. so the boys get used to the idea that they need to be able to c

Yeah right now with 15 scouts plus siblings and 15 adults at least, usually closer to 20-30 adults, trying to get everyone around a campfire to cook a hotdog is an exercise in frustration. not everyone can get to the best coals, and holding your hot dog over the flames ends up with a sooty dog that barely gets hot. of course you can make a bunch of charcoal in a charcoal chimney, make a shallow ditch in the dirt long enough everyone can stand shoulder to shoulder or so close to each other with 1 row on each side, line the ditch with the hot charcoal, and let everyone roast their dog tha

Yeah there is a lot of overlap, but you do need to be careful and make sure they all don't do the exact same thing, or next year the Tigers will balk with "I already did that" or more likely you'll hear their parents talking about it.

Yeah it really needs to allow units to choose a person or two to have this access, rather than just the key 3 people who don't actually DO anything with the paperwork, advancement, membership or training records.

"No, men and women are not "the same". However, generalizing that all women are the same, and all men are the same, is just as wrong, and narrow minded. Perhaps you need to get out more, and broaden your "experience". YUP! Sure "everyone" wants their son to join scouts to get a male role model. But that doesn't work when most everyone who joins comes from a single mom houshold, now does it? or when dad is working 2 jobs and isn't around enough to come to meetings. Over the years, hmm...almost 8 of them now, I've seen a lot of moms as Tiger leaders, and some moms

My cubbies vote every year that they want a competitive race, that they want to know who was faster than who. so yes, the adults set up a certain roster of racers to make sure everyone races everyone else. and they get to race everyone else at least twice, so there is plenty of racing. We don't give out big trophies, or even little trophies. We traditionally give a chocolate car for 1st place in each den with a 1st place patch for that scout, and then we have a car judging contest, so that each scout ends up getting something--there is often quite the competition between the bo

Since the cubs can still use hand saws and sandpaper there should be no reason for derby cars to become even more dad made vehicles. It's all about expectations. We expect every boy to make their own car, but of course we know dads often take over. So we have a bit bigger bragging rights to dad built cars racing against other dads so they put their energy there instead of in the boy's work. doesn't work for all of them of course, but it helps. We all know the secreat is in well smoothed blanced tires with no burrs on the nails and lots of graphite. One year the car that won was s

My oldest went to the 2010 Jamboree. He LOVED the pre-jamboree tour of the east coast, he raved about it, he wants to go back to Boston and have the whole family go see all the historical stuff with him. However, he says Jamboree was just huge crowds and not all that great. It was something he's glad he went to, and he's really glad he didn't have to pay full price(someone backed out at the last minute and he got to go for the cost of what the other guy still owed, no refunds at the last minute). And he refuses to let his younger brother go to the 2013 Jamboree due to his concern

In our pack we encourage every boy to cut out their own Pinewood Derby using hand tools. Hand tools like a saw are still safe for scouts. So boys use a vice or clamp to hold the car and a coping saw and start cutting with the parent helping them to guide the coping saw to create the shape they want. Then sand the heck out of it first with a wood file, fill the cracks with wood putty and sand some more with finer and finer sandpaper the prime, paint decorate tires in place graphite and race even tigers can use a hand saw to cut out a derby car with parental guidance to

A worry with 7 year olds (or other young kids up to and including young boy scouts) tenting alone, is the buddy system in not in effect--they have to go out of their tent, wander around in the dark to find another tent, wake someone up in order to go to the bathroom. But a bigger worry is the young ones get scared camping, esp in the middle of the night when all the lights go out and the coyotes howl or the elk bugle, etc. And if they get too scared they are apt to decide they hate camping. If pack campouts are to give the boys a safe intro to how fun camping is, tenting alone may have t

A worry with 7 year olds (or other young kids up to and including young boy scouts) tenting alone, is the buddy system in not in effect--they have to go out of their tent, wander around in the dark to find another tent, wake someone up in order to go to the bathroom. But a bigger worry is the young ones get scared camping, esp in the middle of the night when all the lights go out and the coyotes howl or the elk bugle, etc. And if they get too scared they are apt to decide they hate camping. If pack campouts are to give the boys a safe intro to how fun camping is, tenting alone may have t

Yeah I think if this is a newly formed patrol, it's a bit much to jump to "you aren't showing scout spirit ad you can't advance." I see the mention that the scout "wanted to change the Patrol Name, something the PL had already said wasn't going to happen and to drop it." Now that looks like it went on from there with at least 2 scouts still wanting to change the name of the patrol, maybe the PL or APL and their leadership skills is the issue? Just cause your leader says "drop it we aren't goin to change the patrol name" doesn't mean the subject is dropped, eh? 12-13 year olds can be

Our troop chaplain pretty much spearheads this job in our troop.

What we could do a few short years ago, is certainly different than what we can do in schools today. But to compare what worked in the 80's and 90's to today is ridiculous. Sooooo much has changed in the acceptance of outside visitors into the schools and classrooms. Many schools do not allow ANY volunteers inside the school unless they've passed a school background check and have been fingerprinted.

I know why a lot of the school stopped sending home flyers. Most of the people who drop off flyers drop off a pile of flyers, say 700 of em. Then the school staff has to sort them into piles counting out each one. if they have enough school volunteers to do the work, fine, but when they don't have any volunteers or time, it uses up a lot of staff time. And then there is the issue of who do you allow to send home flyers? every tom dick and harry? every sports league? every youth group? There really are quite a few different groups that want to send home flyers nowadays, fills the t

GREAT! Did you hand each parent a leader application? if not, your first meeting hand out a bunch of those and explain that cub scouts is a family program and the parents are who makes the pack GO.

Yeah it's really tough when school districts won't let you send home flyers. And usually if they won't let you send home flyers, they won't let you go talk to the boys within the schools like Seattle suggests. Actually I don't believe any of the school districts in our area will allow adults to go into the school and talk to the boys. Occassionally we can set up a table in the meet and greet night before school starts, but that's hard cause we recruit from 12 different schools that have meet and greet on the same night the first thursday in August. I don't have enough leaders or pare

I'm not sure nag is the appropriate word....