blw2

I have a lid lifter As others have said, works great. It's really a perfected design but I find that it doesn't store all that well. Just a little longer than my DO is wide..... Maybe a folding version would be good.... I think I would suggest the claw hammer

And the next piece of the equation is completed.... in my thinking anyway. the follow-up in the book.... see what we did! All bookwork doesn't have to be a drag! Then the last piece that my pack struggles with..... Once they have the patch or pin, what good is it if they never wear their uniform to show it.... or some nice old lady points to a pin and asks about it?

I understand the point you're making, and agree with it to a point.... but something is missing. Why then bother at all with the patch or pin? I've seen this happen a few times now with my boy. Strikes me that the award is meaningless. Sure they are getting the lesson and having fun.... Priorities B and A! but for the sake of the award, it seems to me very similar to a pencil whip situation.... a give me.

Gaga?

I was all set to do this as the fun part of the activity for last week's meeting, but ran out of time. The boys still had fun doing our charitable project, so all is good. I'll keep it for next time, or some time in the future.

I'm guessing those were nylon "back packing" pants.... regardless..... makes me think of the many times as a kid playing for hours out in the snow in jeans, sometimes without even long johns under..... They'd be stiff like that, except at the knees. Would have to lay on the floor and let mom pull them off our purple legs, and stand the in the corner like a mannequin to thaw.....

I feel your pain. It's a fine line disciplining someone else's kid, especially at the cub level. We have a few like that.... screwing around and not taking things seriously. We were recently on an overnight at Sea World, one kid cuts the corner between two walkways, right through the plant bed. So I stop him and nicely point out the difference between the sidewalk and the flower bed. He stopped, looked at me, and turned back around to catch up to his friends before I was even finished. In my opinion, this is where the parent should pull that kid aside. Things like that happen all the time at pack meetings too. Very frustrating..... especially when it's my kid! He hears about it for sure! There are so many parents though, that don't have nearly the level of expectations, and if that's the way it is at home, I think that's one of the things being lost with our lack of uniforming, and pride in it. When you are wearing a uniform that indicates that you are part of something honorable, I think that it makes a person stand a little taller and make an effort to project some of that honor. But what are you going to do when even the DL's refuse to wear the full uniform, or wear it untucked? ugh.

I'm with you.... I actually would like to have one as a novelty item.... Might get a few laughs for a pack meeting with it. I have an old outback style felt hat but never wear it. Too easy to mess it up..... Tilley hat for me if outside for extended periods....otherwise no hat.

I think I might add one more comment..... I'm assuming you are the boy's den leader. Award it. What are they gonna do, fire you? dock your pay?

I have been known to put a small dab of glue on the pin backers

I have to ask.... you say "We like...". Is that the adults or the boys? Why no popping?

I need a little bit of fun for my next pack meeting. Thinking of running some sort of balloon pop game. ~~Any other suggestions for something easy but fun. I just need to fill 10-15 minutes with some action something such as this one: ~~BALLOON BOTTOM POP You will need enough balloons already blown up and some kind of cushions or padding to ensure that no injuries occur. The group is divided into teams and lined up at one end of the course with whatever is to be used for padding in front of them - the balloons are placed at the other end of the course in some kind of container - netting or paddling pools will work fine. At the start signal the first person from each team runs up the course and collects a balloon. They run back to their teams and burst the balloon by sitting on it using the padded area. When the balloon bursts then the next member of the team can run up the course to collect their balloon and so on. The winning team can be the one where all its members have popped one balloon each - or the game can be run for two balloon pops for each person. If it is not possible to split the party into equal teams then the game can be played for a fixed amount of time - say one minute, and the number of balloons popped by each team counted to find the winning team. Variations can include almost any balloon game that is run over a course - Balloon Waddle - Balloon Hop etc - see the RACING GAMES section for ideas to include at the time everyone is running back to their team with the balloon. What are your thoughts? Ever done it?..... any pit-falls?

our pack has always done it at B&G. I suggested that we award them when earned. I must have grown a 3rd eye based on the looks I got. Biggest excuse.... which is valid.... is that AOL should be a big deal and nobody wants to arrange for a big deal once, let alone twice. I had suggested that we could do the AOL when they earn it.... December or whenever that is.... at the pack meeting.... and we could even do the crossover at a different time. Doesn't have to be B&G. I also suggested that I wouldn't be interested in attending another B&G like last year's. My son was bored, as was I. All about the 2nd year WEBELOS. That also offended some folks. Regardless. I'm a big believer in instant recognition.

I don't mind the Centennial. Don't love the zip-offs since the zipper falls right at the knee and the added bulk there rubs when walking, but they work. I didn't think I would, but I like my microfiber shirt (except don't like the look of the huge cape vent on the back...). Not sure what it's called, but I don't think they make it anymore.... I honestly see no reason to not wear it for every event we do, but the vast majority of our adults will push the T-Shirt at any opportunity. And since to 99.9% of the folks at least in my pack the T-shirt means only the shirt with whatever pants they want to wear.... we end up looking like a hodge podge public school class out on a field trip.... no scratch that..... they at least all wear their field trip shirts! I am uniform guy. I buy into the unfirming method, and I like the connection to the past with the universally recognizable uniform. The centennial fits the bill close enough I think..... personally I would like to stick to the tradition uniform look..... BUT yielding to popular opinion..... I am interested in in something nicer than a T-Shirt but maybe something a bit more casual for the schlepping non-uniformers we have. Get rid of the T-Shirt all together. And replace the field uniform with something else. It needs to have a method for displaying rank and awards (although I am finding the boys aren't really motivated by awards so that's minor) I saw once something like a polo/golf shirt... was it from Canada, or England, or??? anyway like a nice golf shirt with small insignia that could be sewn on the sleeves, etc... The one I remember was a long sleeve rugby type shirt, with merit badges sewn on the lower sleeve. Maybe an idea for the scouts in cooler weather. I'm imagining a short sleeve version here in the South..... smaller insignia, awards, and patches sewn on the breast and the back sort of like the way Girl Scouts do with their vest???.

I actually like the "every parent leads" requirement. I would like to transition to that, but it's proving very difficult. & I'm a fairly good sized pack with 41 boys..... that's at least 41 adults to pull from.... realistically more like 80.... and even more with grandparents that would like to be involved in their grandson's life..... I spoke with someone at University of Scouting from a different unit. they did basically that, said that every parent has to do "something". They would start their Tiger parents off in small roles.... like bringing the snack to a meeting.... Another aspect I liked is their 'tradition' was that a 1st year WEBELOS parent did CM. ~~I think he said that usually a Bear parent would be the ACM. These are parents that have been involved a couple years now so they know ~~how the pack operates.... not scary to the new Tiger parents This way, it was a 1 year commitment for the big job. the CM would still be around for his son's WEB2 half year in an advisory role / safety net. I wish I remembered what he said about the DL's and other roles, and keeping them from getting burned out.... I want to transition to something like this, but can't get traction. We have a good group of den leaders, but can't fill other committee roles I've tried blanket emails asking for general help face to face general invites to help face to face targeted.... I need you do do X.... I even set up a sign-up genius with everything from Assistant CM, treasurer, etc.... to someone to bring snacks to the November pack meeting.... and I have even appealed for folks to consider grand parents that may want to get involved.... Always the same...."well I work full time", or "I coach my son's.... & don't have time", or "I travel with work"... etc.... Thanks Mattman578 for that CM Minute idea...... I'm chewing on using that one at my next meeting, or some variation on that theme.....

No, waste of energy and money, in my opinion. We have one DL I think that uses it. My son's den leaders tried, but it was never very effective. As Assistant DL, I tried to make it happen on numerous occasions. Found that the boys and parents weren't all that energetic about going through the books in the first place until crunch time..... they would never respond to my many attempts asking for progress updates (by email, at meetings, etc...) often they would forget their books or they would just say, yeah we need to get on that, but they never do.... and further more, with the advent of the "Class B" concept, the boys often don't have their uniforms on anyway.... and even if they do most don't care about the bling yeah sure, it's cool, but it's dropped or lost before the meeting is even over & in my 4 years as scout parent and leader, I have not once seen the boys compare progress, look at each other's awards, or in any way show either pride or motivation in earning an award for the sake of the patch. NEVER. My son has almost always worn his Field uniform to meetings, with rare exception. His first couple years he was very energetic in earning belt loops and awards, but I think it was for the fun, spending time with Dad, and for the sake of doing it. I really haven't seen any result form the bling.

I had a lengthy discussion with our Council's Training Chair (not sure if that's the official title) ~~a long while ago while on my quest to get BALOO. One point we discussed was that we have a few leaders in the pack that are also active in their older sons' troop and they have IOLS, and have the opinion that the "higher ranking IOLS" will supersede the need for OWL or BALOO. WRONG Right or wrong, the idea is that the needs, focus, and requirements are different for these three separate and distinctly different classes. (Never mind that around these parts they lump OWL and IOLS together into a single class. That's a dumb question.... why would you ask!!!) My baloo was a complete joke. Completely held indoors and was no value to me and several other very experienced campers and even Eagle Scouts (yes, I know some eagles can barely pitch a tent...) I would not cancel & I would consider it a family event, making sure that every scout had a parent or guardian and camped with that parent or guardian.... and I would make sure that at least a few other registered and trained leaders (YPT etc...) were on the trip

Well, the problem I see with a store is that it must be stocked. .... not that it's a bad idea mind you, I actually like it, but every good thing has an opposing problem.... there would be higher dollar stuff and cheap stuff for those scouts that only want to spend $1 but still you have to have something for everyone. 50 scouts means 50 items in the store (at least), every time the store is open! The raffle idea is something I thought of, but I didn't think about a twist like "on time" With the exception of a well stocked store, and maybe even then, there will likely be disappointed boys But I have seen all of these ideas used with success and fun. Even the auction. It's great fun. It's just a matter of execution.

I voted yes if done right. Hey, I figure you have to do as CM, or in any leader role, what you are comfortable doing..... all with the aim of learning and fun. A big part of scouting is getting the boys in front of a crowd, doing skits, songs, and such. Some leader's thing might be high energy action and games others might have a humor gift I can imagine a leader out there someplace that could do a little comedy/musical routine with guitar. (ever seen the youth minister on the TV show The Middle?) Your shtick is puppetry. It must be a strength, so use it. You must be good at it if your son wants you to do it..... but now if you only thought you were good at it, but really aren't.... well then..... you'll know pretty quick if you pay attention. if the boys are paying attention, great! If they are laughing, even better! The lack of an appealing shtick is my biggest burden as CM.

I must agree..... Too bad. I wish that I would have caught this thread sooner, before it degraded for future readers, here's my comment My pack always charged $70 per year and no explanation of where the money really goes. Seemed high to me, especially since we pay additionally for any camp fees. Sp when I started as ACM, I wanted to be able to answer the question so i added it up. This was his Wolf year I took my son's uniform as an "average" scout took his uniform and piece by piece added the prices form scoutstuff.org every belt loop every book every patch and award estimated the cost of the T-shirt religious medal book cost religious medals cost pinewood derby kit national dues boys life subscription etc..... Then divided by 1-1/2 years or whatever it was, to get an average cost per scout per year. I was honestly surprised how much it was then considered the costs of supplies used for den meetings, supplies for pack meeting activities, decorations for B&G and Pinewood...... It worked out to a lot more than $70 per scout. In the years since, i have come to realize that my average was likely a bit high, since my son was very energetic about awards his Tiger year, and that has greatly tapered off. I'm not sure if he earned a single belt loop last year for example..... BUT the cost is still way more than $70/year we've now increased to $80 with the dues increase last year....... and considering a less than stellar fund raising outlook this year, we'll probably come up short.

Great question..... this all may be a bad idea, but to answer 1st it's not all about teaching. It's having fun. What boy doesn't like to walk away with good "stuff"? but beyond that, it's reinforcing good behavior (or behavior modification to look at it another way) if you do it for uniforms, it's encouraging uniform wear.... what I picture is ask everyone in uniform stand up. if you don't have scout pants on, sit down. If you don't have scout socks on, sit down... and go like this until only the boys in full uniform, or as close to it, are standing.... and they get money I'll bet more boys would be in more complete uniform the next time.... teaching responsibility with money ~~

follow-up post So I ran the relay race as described in my last post.... the only thing that fell through was the den leaders. I asked one to be on each team, but they didn't understand to make a boat. They were just corralling each team, and I didn't realize this until we started to run. It was organized chaos with no really clear winner and the boys had a great time. We ran two "organized relays".... once then reset. Then just let the boys run randomly for maybe 10 minutes It was perfect, just what I had hoped.

I didn't think this through, and it was a train wreck. OK, so I got this idea from somebody Running an auction at a pack meeting. So I print up some pack cash, $5 bills, $1bills Every boy gets $5 for showing up to the meeting Then a boy that does something....helping, showing up in uniform, good behavior, etc.... get an extra $1 They can save the cash form meeting to meeting Then at some point in the meeting, I'll auction off a few items.... patches, stickers, flashlight, other trinkets for the scout store or wherever.... So I tried this at our last meeting, but to keep the start simple I didn't give the extra cash to do-gooders. So every boy has $5 So the first item comes out of my bag, a Cub Scout Frisbee. You'd think these guys never owned a toy before. It was mad chaos..... every boy immediately screams "FIVE DOLLARS!" The next item..... a Cub Scout Pencil. I simple wooded pencil, nothing all that special....."FIVE DOLLARS!" I basically had to give the item to a random boy.... so a few boys got stuff, and the rest went away disappointed. What a train wreck. So now I feel like I need to continue with it.... the boys sure did get excited.... but I need to tweak it. I'm thinking for the next mtg I'll give every boy $1 for showing up. Give the boys that do the opening flags $1 When I notice a boy acting especially good I'll give him $1 and my wife suggested I give a few bucks to each Den leader to award good behavior during the pack meeting. I'm not sure about doing tis in my pack, but occasionally I might award money to the boy(s) in the most complete uniform. This way I'm rewarding good behavior and giving out differing amounts so that every boy can't run up to the same dollar amount.... Any thoughts? What else am I missing?