trainerlady

My son (Webelos II), another Mom and son (Webelos I) and 1 more Webelos II and I leave for the Dan Beard Council Cub Adventure World in about 2 weeks. Do any of you have any tips for things to bring to the camp that aren't on the list? Any secrets for getting around camp? Any must do activities, sights to see, etc? We are travelling from Michigan to go to this camp. All the boys have been to our local Council's camp over 10 times (3-4 summer cub camps) and wanted a change. We parents picked the DC camp from researching the internet. Any advice would be appreciated. Yis, TL

I don't know what other knots are on the discontinued list right now. I don't think there are that many, if any others on the list. I'll check after teh holliday.

Since I just tried to re-order the knots for my store and they came up with our system's "discontinued" marker after them, and I didn't recieve them in the last three orders I've placed for them, I'd say we will no longer be available when the current supply around the country is gone. As for Ebay, it ticks me off no end that low-life, so called scouts and scouters snap new stuff up and then sell it on Ebay. Jambo stuff which was supposed to be restricted to registered participants and staff is all over Ebay. Stores were denied the profits of selling these items or even ordering them for customers on an as needed basis to insure the specialness of the items. Anybody can get it now if you pay enough. Want a Jambo patch for your shirt, cough up enough cash and it's yours. Sorry for the rant. My advice to all those that have earned the knot, get 'em while you can.

Just got the poly/wool uniform shirt and shorts into my store for a volunteer wanting to look spiffy for his Jambo job. They ARE the OLD stuff! They have brown buttons and embroidered BSA strip on the the shirt and the shorts are OD green not forest. The only catalog I've seen them in is the Jambo catalog and on Scoutstuff.org they aren't in the regular catalogs yet. Personally I think they are leftovers from the last generation of uniforms. It's a "if people see them then they'll buy them situation". They won't sell if they aren't advertised. And who in their right mind would want a DRY CLEAN ONLY uniform. Good for a super duper fancy dinner, not good for every day.

Eagle 92 has it pegged. I was on the available to stores site today for National Stores and found dozens of items that are out of stock until early June or longer. Some items on the list were mind blowing - how do you not have Cub neckerchiefs in stock, handbooks for all levels not in stock, and not have some sizes of uniforms on stock. Belt loops, pins and patches are just the tip of the iceberg. Some items were listed as having an arriving at the warehouse date of 1-2 months ago and they still haven't arrived. The slow boat must have gone the long way to the USA. Since the items aren't arriving they can't be sent to stores. Supply needs to work on its just in time delivery system. Because right now its a never available syetem.

They were supposed to be in the warehouse to ship out by mid April. They have not arrived yet as I can't get any into my store. The slow boat must have taken a detour again. These aren't the only things to arrive/not arrive on schedule. I won't rant about my feelings on the current state of our suppliers. All I can say is keeping checking back.

At my scout shop the only person to but the awards is the council field director in charge of programming. The council buys the ribbons and after a den turns the completed requirement form the council issues the den a ribbon and a congratulations letter. A DE usually comes to a pack meeting and presents the ribbon in front of all the families. The same goes for pack suumer time award ribbons.

You're close. Tiger neckers are new material (nice and soft) and a little bit smaller (about and inch in long edge length). Wolf and Bear are not changing at this time and Webelos are about 6 inches longer on tha long side. Several BS neckers are being re-designed - about 10 inches longer on the long sides and 6-7 inches on the shorter sides. Some of the less popular (at least in my area)designs have been "retired". Some have just been upsized. There are several new color combos too. Not all of the new or redsigned stuff is in the stores or on scoutstuff yet. It's a 6 month role out period. Adult leader, commissioner and eagle neckers are getting upsized too.

As a National Supply employee I wear a pair 40-50 hours a week. I greatly prefer them to the nylon ones. They convert to shorts but don't have ankle zippers. The centennial nylon ones don't have ankle zippers either. Only the first generation switchbacks had ankle zippers. My only complaint about them is the "break in period". They are a little "stiff" when they are new. After a few washing they great. Definitely warmer up here in the great white north. I do miss the zippers at the ankles, but appreciate having to keep a lot less inventory in my store from their discontinuation. Now I only have to stock and count 1 inseam length for each waist size. We used to have to have 4 lengths for each waist size. Too much stuff in too small a store.

I wear a wide brimmed, green, mesh, camp hat made by Columbia for most summer activities. I sweat a lot and sun burn easily, so I need to cover my ears and nose as much as possible. For fall, spring days when the heat and sun aren't so strong here in the great white north I wear a ball cap. Right now it's my WB patrol cap (go antelopes). For winter give me a Team Canada toque. So I guess it depends on what season you're talking about for me.

I have a whole den of hang around and wait kids. We are just finishing up our first year and every boy could have AoL after our campout in late May. I will have 1 20 pinner, several 15-18 pinners and the rest are lower teens. Almost all could be 20 pinners if their parents just helped them with scholar, family member and handyman. Unfortunately they won't meet the age requirement if we went that way until December of this year for 2 of the 10 or March to May 2011 for the rest of them. We are picking the 6 months after grade 4 graduation and crossing over in December. We plan to spend the fall doing troop visits and working on the hiking BL and pin. I really have a hard seeing how Webelos is supposed to be an 18 month program if you offer a year round program and go to summer camp or day camp. We met 4 times over the summer break and went to day camp and now we're done and have to hang out for 6 extra months. Luckily 3 of those months are summer break. My final thought of the night on this subject is go recruit the grade 5 boys. They can do the program and prepare for BS with their classmates. Some of these boys want to join, but get told to wait until next year, you can't get anything out of Cubs. The handbook says otherwise. Go get them!

Scoutfish you are close on the requirements. But the handbook says be a Webelos for 6 months after graduating fourth grade or be 10.5 years old and earn the Webelos badge. In my reading of the requirements the comma after the age/grade clause separates the Webelos badge from the six months part. The Webelos badge says be a member of the den for three months. Therefore, first 3 months can be part of the total 6 months, not 9 months. Theoretically a boy could join in grade 5 as a never ever in September, get his Bobcat in a couple of weeks, take 3 months to Webelos. Then another 3 months to complete the needed activity badges and Aol and graduate to a troop in March or April. He'd have to be determined and have a good DL, but it can be done. I doubt he could get all 20 pins but getting the 7 needed for AoL is not out of the question. Basementdweller, since Webelos/AoL is a 18 month continuum program the June 1 date requirement isn't part of their program. Webelos/AoL is designed to flow from start to ending with AoL and hopefully a crossoevr to a troop (separate events and not necessarily completed by all in a den) It does come into play when going from Tiger to Wolf, Wolf to Bear and Bera to Webelos. RR, For the Webelos badge a scout earns citizen, fitness and one other badge of his choice. These badges count toward his needed total of 7 for AoL. They don't re-earn Webelos badges. They do re-earn belt loops that were earned in Tiger, Wolf and Bear if they want to count them towards a Webelos badge. As a current Webelos leader I confused as to why your kids haven't earned Webelos yet. Unless you got a really late start this year, it only takes about 2-3 months to get the three needed badges.

BP You are right our camporees are poorly run and poorly thought out. The ideas of what the activities will be are pie in the sky and the publicity is the same the execution however is less than adequate. You are/were lucky to have a great committee to plan and execute the events. Not all of us are that lucky. In fact in our area it is a case of lets play chicken and see how long we can wait to plan it, "maybe I can get out of planning this if I wait long enough" is the usual game plan here. I agree we miss out on a possible recruiting oppotunity. But I still feel that it is up to a unit to sell itself to a potential scout, not the responsibility of a district/council to do it for them. The webelos will spend time in a troop not in a distict. When a webelos or more importantly their parents see mass confusion and sometimes marginal safety they re-think their involvement at the next level. Camporees in this area are highly competitve events or offer very specialized activities when they fly. At no point are there any webelos activities or a chance for webelos and scouts to meet. A well run, well thought out troop outing where parents can interact with troop leadership and kids can interact with each other beats the crap out of a poor camporee. The problem I see here is troops EXPECT webelos to come to them. They do very little to make themselves known to the webelos, parents and leaders in the cub world. Troops don't send kids to staff cub events or daycamps. Denchief is seen as a job for kids that can't a "real" troop. position. As a parent of a webelos and a webelos leader, its more important to me to see what the kids will do week to week, month to month, not what they're going to do once or twice a year.

BP You may want to check the newest version of the G2SS. Cubs can visit a camporee but can't camp at one with a troop. This is what our council said went through last year. Being on the campping committee for one of the largest councils in the country I think they have it right. Yes you can get around the statement, but if you're caught do you really want to explain it and defend it. Camporees are not a good events for cubs and their parents to get to know a troop in a camp setting. The troop does very little of its own planning for the event. The purpose behind the visit is to get to know your potential new unit and for the parents to get a sense of comfort in letting Junior go away with these "new" people in a couple of months. As a parent I want to see how meals, chores,activities and discipline are handled by the potential troop we'll join. Their actions at a camporee aren't necessarily those they'd have at a troop campout. At a highly structured event like a camporee there is very little time for scout/webelos interaction. The scouts are busy earning points in their events towads the overall championsi of the event. Camporees make a great carrot to dangle in front of cubs to join scouts. Hey when you're a scout this is what you get to do. But they are not in most cases age appropriate for cubs or webelos. It isn't much fun to stand around and watch others have fun. Go on a troop campout of 2. Invite a troop o 2 to come on your pack campout. But don't rely on a camporee for your troop activity. It just isn't a realistic view of the troop.

Thanks you ScoutNut!! The books have been available in Scout shops for over a month now. My store has sold out of its first 50 and "borrowed" 30 more to tide us over until the next 100 arrive. The books have so much more info in them than what is available on the websites. You get background info needed for rules of games, safety info, and variations on acitivities to complete the beltloop or pin. Get the book. Most of us don't have the luxury of WiFi in our meeting places or have internet on demand. A book can be passed from parent to parent at a den meeting. The boys can sit with the book and plan a meeting. Gym and school teachers will possibly even work with scouts if you copy the requirements for them. They don't want to go to the web for it. Webelos son got 6 sports pins and beltloops last year because the gym teacher had a paper to work from. Support you local scout shop, buy the book. (Commercial is now over)

Jersey As a Webelos I den leader I'd have no problem signing off on pins outside my den meetings if they were done at a community sponsored event. By this I mean, a pin class held at a local science center, museum or nature center,YMCA's, etc. I also wouldn't have a problem with ones done at a scout camp, be it a daycamp or resident camp, or other scout event (merit badge mania comes to mind). All I ask for from those events is a requirements sheet signed off by the instructor so that I know what he did. I do have problems signing off on ones that done at home that aren't designed to be done there. Scholar, family member and handiman are good do at home pins. If the scout can produce completed signed off requirement forms or a signed off book with the instructor's name, the pins are his. If he brings me completed worksheets such as those found on www.meritbadge.com or www.usscouts.org in his own hand writing and tells me about the completed items then the pin is his. I will however remind him that it would have been nice to know that he was working on a pin by himself. We are fortunate to have dozens of locations for scoouts to go to work on pins in my area. I try to keep abreast of what is happening when and offer it to my boys. Not everyone can go to each class, but it's an option we have. In fact most of my den has done 6 pins using science center/museum oppotunities.

Have you thought about D Bar A Scout Ranch in Metamora, MI? They have a overnight horseback program called Yucca Trail. It's like a mini cavalcade at Philmont. Actually it makes a great prep for that. The kids get a horse ride out into the 1700 acres of camp, pitch camp and stay out with their horse, then come back a day or two later.

This Is also the post I made on "Once again " thread. It fits here too, so here it is. The BSA is a uniformed organization! Not sometimes, not when it's convenient, not just from the waist up. Football players wear it all, so do baseball, hockey and soccer players. Ever seen half dressed football player? IF you don't dress you don't play. Let's take it a step further ever seen a half dressed McDonald's employee, a half dressed nurse, firefighter or EMT? IF your job says you wear this, that and the other thing for a uniform you wear it or you're fired. What's wrong with instilling this in our youth? Not every worker that wears a uniform gets it paid for by their employer. Most don't get that luxury/perk. Some of my council's poorest units are the most completely dressed units. They might not be the best fitting, newest or spotless uniforms but the kids are in a full uniform at every meeting and every event. They are PROUD to wear the uniform. These are kids that might only eat twice a day thanks to breakfast club and free lunch programs. The unit, the kids and the parents have made a committment to scouting and follow it through as best as possible. The kids get a full uniforms one piece at a time, sometimes paid for with rolled change or from piggy banks cracked open on my store's counter. These kids have NOTHING but they want a full uniform so badly that they save their pennies for it. There are several uniform closets in the council open to all and some for a given units only. There are second hand stores, EBay, Craigslist, etc. If a scout wants it and a unit expects it and it is known then it will happen. A full and complete uniform is not an added requirement for any part of scouting. It's an epectation and should be a given. After all uniforms are one of our methods. If you aren't using this method how many more are you sidestepping, glossing over or forgetting? State the expectations, make them well known, and follow through on the expectations. You will ultimately be a stronger unit and have better members for it.

The BSA is a uniformed organization! Not sometimes, not when it's convenient, not just from the waist up. Football players wear it all, so do baseball, hockey and soccer players. Ever seen half dressed football player? IF you don't dress you don't play. Let's take it a step further ever seen a half dressed McDonald's employee, a half dressed nurse, firefighter or EMT? IF your job says you wear this, that and the other thing for a uniform you wear it or you're fired. What's wrong with instilling this in our youth? Not every worker that wears a uniform gets it paid for by their employer. Most don't get that luxury/perk. Some of my council's poorest units are the most completely dressed units. They might not be the best fitting, newest or spotless uniforms but the kids are in a full uniform at every meeting and every event. They are PROUD to wear the uniform. These are kids that might only eat twice a day thanks to breakfast club and free lunch programs. The unit, the kids and the parents have made a committment to scouting and follow it through as best as possible. The kids get a full uniforms one piece at a time, sometimes paid for with rolled change or from piggy banks cracked open on my store's counter. These kids have NOTHING but they want a full uniform so badly that they save their pennies for it. There are several uniform closets in the council open to all and some for a given units only. There are second hand stores, EBay, Craigslist, etc. If a scout wants it and a unit expects it and it is known then it will happen. A full and complete uniform is not an added requirement for any part of scouting. It's an epectation and should be a given. After all uniforms are one of our methods. If you aren't using this method how many more are you sidestepping, glossing over or forgetting? State the expectations, make them well known, and follow through on the expectations. You will ultimately be a stronger unit and have better members for it.

How about a different twist on this situation. You have a good sized "troop" of soon to be BS here. Why not start them on their road to BS by breaking them into patrols and having the patrols assigned to an ADL with the DL acting as a "SM". Each patrol can have a patrol leader/denner. Make each patrol responsible for a different part of the meeting each week (opening, closing, snack, etc). The patrols can decide what they want to do to complete a particular activity pin while working with their ADL. As leaders you decide on which pin you'll do this month and next (plan your year as you normaly would - you are doing a yearly outlines right?) Then come up with 2-3 options that would fulfill each part of the badge. Toss it up for a patrol election and go with it. The Eagles do option A and the Cobras and Foxes do option B . This is how a BS troop works. Gradually back away from the planning and let the boys have more say in what, when and where. In a year you'll have a great bunch of BS ready scouts. Teach them to be boy led and let them fail with a safety net. You should an awesome transition rate. The couple of big packs in my area that use this idea have near 100% transition and near 100% retention 2-4 years into BS. Just a thought. Everyone can be with their friends, no hard feelings, no need to rustle up another half dozen adults to serve as DLs and ADLs.

92 thanks for the info. I actually have boys that won't be 10 until October or November of 2010. They are the ones that'll have to hang out and wait. They'd barely be 10 at crossover in late November (six months after 4th grade graduation). Thanks again.

Eagle 92 as Eagle 90 stated above me they are in the stores now. Mine haven't arrived yet, but are on the way. I reccommend that you get to your nearest Scout shop ASAP to avoid the "gems". It won't be long before they take over the country. Initial orders were limited but large reorders were made immediately once the news came down from upon high about shelving the regular ones. My pack committee said yuck to the idea too. I'm still reserving judgement on the AoL badge. Seeing will be believing.

Irishspring works well too. It's a bit firmer out of the wrapper. That's what our summer camp uses. I prefer the scent of ivory though.

Let the boys do what they can as Webelos II and if they want they can finish off as Scouts later. Just remeber that 12/31/10 is the last date to earn ribbons. They don't have to earn all the ribbons either. The program doesn't need to be done as a pack either. Each boy can pursue a ribbon at his own pace or not do one if he chooses.

Snow White I'm with you. I think they'll update the Webelos book to incoprporate the new BLs. I can't see as how they couldn't too many of them fit so well into the program. I also hope they add a Webelos badge or two too. My boys will be high teens or 20 pinners by spring with their AoL just about done and nothing much to do for 5-6 months but wait. They'll be hanging out waiting for 6 months past grade four graduation. I guess it doesn't pay to run a year round prpgram at the Webelos level. They finish too soon to go on to BS. Scoutfish, Go to Webelos leader training if you can this spring. Get a Webeos leader guide book and study it a bit. With some prior planning Webelos can be very easy to run as a DL and fun for the boys. Without proper preparation Webelos can a a diaster. Remember to use your local resources for badge counselors.