blw2

We work closely with our CO's calendar to avoid religious ed conflicts Most of our meetings are on Fridays. Not usually sports conflicts then it seems We've had lots of boys show up late or even leave mid camping trip for sports to return after the game. Den leaders work their schedules as much as practical around known events In the end I don't worry about it all that much as CM. If a boy or parent chooses sports over scouts, then that's the way it is. unfortunately that's the way it is more than I would like but I am not aware of any time when scouts was chosen over sports. I'm not a sports guy so I just don't get that.......

We used to have a dad that liked to smoke meat We have access to one of those pull behind grill/smoker trailer things One through our church and another that our pack's bank has available. We'd collect a nominal amount, say $20 per family for food for the weekend cereal, or even those precooked eggs and biscuit things you can get from Costco or whatever, maybe sandwiches for lunch, then smoked meat + sides for dinner. That way new campers can show up with a cheap tent from K-Mart, and air mattress, and a flash light and that's all they need. Cheap and easy. oh, and a chair You could simplify further.... a grille and boxes of Bubba Burgers We'd camp a state park, 1 or 2 families per site, + an extra site for the pack's cooking and gathering area. It takes somebody to coordinate, collect money, etc... and make reservations, but otherwise pretty easy. I like the idea of a state park close by, and allow non-campers to come for the day.

Old thread, but I agree with earlier posts. Most parents won't read email, & I'm not convinced that any of them ever look at the web site. I used to maintain the web site and blast out email announcements and such when acting as ACM.... now I have a new parent that is taking the web site. I'm not encouraging it much any more, but I do ask her to post links for upcoming stuff, just so that when I make an announcement at the pack meeting I can just say check the pack's site, instead of printing 50 copies of which 40 or so I'll be cleaning up after the meeting. And the biggest problem I see for these commercial scouting package sites (SOAR and the like) is the big focus on tracking awards. After much analysis, I've concluded that this is a lot of work for nothing..... for Cub Scouts anyway. Likely more useful at the troop level.

When I ran the boys through the chip, I brought in a variety of cheap pocket knives for demo and practicing opening and closing + brought in a bunch of table knifes and ivory soap for practice. I found that the soap is better to be scraped off rather than cut. To me, the goal really isn't about making something so much as to practice knife handling and whittling, not carving. A proper carving knife has a big handle and very small blade.... and that's not what we are trying to teach. In the time allotted, the boys aren't going to make any real works of art anyway.

So I was brainstorming with a coworker who is an AWANA leader. What I'm planning to do is set up 4 gutters split the boys into 4 teams, not by den, just purely random If I can, I'll get a Den Leader on each team as anchor man, fall guy, or cheerleader..... Have them line up and do a relay, as soon as number 1 finishes the next runs...... I think each run will be 2 ways up and back to stretch it out....

Oh, I'll bet that would be fun! My son's den leader did stomp rockets a couple years ago. That was good fun too.

Based on my experience, I personally think 6 is a bit small 8-10 seems like a good range to me 10-12 is ok, since you will usually have a few boys that can't make any given meeting..... more than 12 seems like too many. A lot depends on how active the boys are..... if every boy has perfect attendance, then yeah, maybe 6-8... but I'd still lean towards the 8 as my target den size.

great! How many boys and how long did it take to run? Did you just do a timed thing as I described, elimination ladder, or just a free-for-all?

Thought I'd expand a bit..... The reason i was considering doing what I'll call a simplified version is.... well actually a few reasons We are stretched for volunteers in our pack. Not getting a lot of folks stepping up, so a little hard to get all the required harbormasters, and such and get everything arranged and organized. Thought just keeping it simple would work. Even though it is a great learning opportunity, my real goal is to have fun. Too much structure can sometimes squash the fun out of things. Not that there's anything wrong with a structured race.... just a different purpose. I would rather keep it about the boys and their design and fun. We have enough of the "teaching moments" with dads building the pinewood derby cars.... keeping it simple keeps it cheap..... like you, I was thinking no big fanfare with trophies and such.... Again, I'm just thinking that keeping it simple would make it easier and also just make it a fun activity..... I like the idea of a more organized thing as you described, giving the boys the opportunity to really study and design..... but that takes more volunteers and more time than I really have. My current thought process is to do this; Give the boys each a piece of cut pool noodle, some sticks, and sail material Give them maybe 5-10 minutes to shape and assemble. Early finishers will race first maybe set up 2 or 4 pairs of gutters with a parent or leader at the end of each gutter with a stopwatch. Let the boys just line up and run at random..... maybe 3 runs each boy with time written on the sails or something with a marker. After, the boys could line up and run against friends or whoever they want..... for a while, then snacks or whatever and close the meeting Your Thoughts?

Yeah, I'm really curious about the actual mechanics of how you folks run the regatta and keep the non racers reigned in so that they don't run wild. and how long it takes etc... Maybe we could start the boats or give them the materials this coming meeting, and set to run in November..... but I have some other stuff to do in November too.

Our pack historically has lumped crossover + AOL presentation + B&G into one event. Many of our old leaders, some old scouts and eagles, think that the B&G IS the crossover event and all about the WEBELOS. I'm suggesting to our current 2nd year Web leader that he can award the AOL whenever they earn it, at the next pack meeting. If he wants to.... trying to set the seed that there are three different things here. There is a problem with the age requirements for crossover. Some boys start 1st grade young, and so they will only be 10 when their dens cross out of the pack in Feb or March or whenever.... they will be left in limbo if they don't earn their AOL. Seems like a good way to loose boys form scouting.... for them to not have a place to call home.

I actually tried the paper airplane and hula hoop idea once at a den meeting. It was really just chaotic too hard to keep the order. Boys had fun but I doubt if it was in any way a memorable meeting. Tahnks for the idea though.... maybe with more control it could be a fun thing. And thanks for the other thoughts too. The only reason I wanted to do it all in one meeting is that I was just trying to keep it condensed. Now that I'm thinking it through though, I could make that work..... hummm.... a stopwatch you say? Just let every boy make a run, or two, or three.... and take the best times? Seems like it could be a little chaotic with the boys having to wait a long time while the other boys are running..... how do you make it work?

I'm trying to be more active this year with our pack meetings. Want to get the boys up and doing stuff rather than sitting and listening. I'm thinking of trying to pull together a Raingutter regatta ad-hoc. Am I crazy? My thought is something where the boys have a few minutes to throw together a boat (or space ship or similar) and then run a race at the same meeting. I'm not looking to do a long formal thing like we do for pinewood, it's just about having fun for a regular pack meeting.... 1 hour to maybe 1:20 tops I've never done either of these before We have roughly 40 boys on the roster, but maybe only 25-35 max show up to any given meeting What do you think.... how would you run something like this?

some great suggestions here for sure..... to get people to step up.. I'm going to have to print this out and read it when I can concentrate on it a bit more..... Our CM has called a meeting this weekend for parents and the committee, that would actually be a good time to do such things, but it's a bit hasty at this point. …. But the letter idea or question is a bit different and separate from this. I’m thinking more of a reference piece, framed under a welcome blurb…. Welcome Here’s who we are or what we do This is how we work This is who you call Etc….. QUOTE=Sidney Porter;n414783]I don't know how big the pack is, but I would make an effort to talk to each of the parents and scouts. In my opinion the CM is the person that can work the room, not send a form letter. ......... I don't think that the CM role is the behind the scene stuff that should be the committee / committee chair. It may be that you should be the CC or get a better CC so you can be the CM. I don't have that personality to be the CM. good luck I don't disagree. I, like you, don't feel that I have the personality for it but I seem to be the only one with interest and energy to do something for the pack. I probably would be a better CC than a CM, but as it is I'm trying to step up to the need. I actually think part of our problem of why folks don't step up is the unknown and the fear of not knowing what they would be getting themselves into... but there is more to it. I have many times approached people, trying to practice the age old advice of direct invite..... Usually get something like... "well, I work full time, and uh..... " I always feel like asking if they think I don't!..... but I bite my lip...... QUOTE=Sidney Porter;n414821] ….I have seen situation where people complain that no one is helping but then you will see people go to the leadership and ask if they need help, and the leadership don't know what to tell them to do because they are caught up in the moment of doing rather than leading. I’ve seen that too, in fact I have been that leader. I spent a good bit of time in the past making up a list of the jobs, who is doing what in the pack. Sometimes it’s tough to recall t the moment....because as you said, I’m caught up in whatever…. or it's not a good time or place for a discussion.....Sometimes I find it’s a delicate balance, but mainly could likely be solved by better preparation

Hi Everyone! I've been away for a couple months, taking a break from scouting. I was getting discouraged form putting too much energy to the pack while not having the parents and other leaders "reciprocate" Our pack takes the summer off..... good and bad I think... Anyway, I'm back now trying to get some positive energy in preparation for the year. I tried and tried last spring to get a planning meeting together, with no luck or interest. Now, others are scrambling last minute to make it happen. starting out a bit disorganized but I'm trying to keep it reigned in.... I was CM on paper last year, to do the behind the scenes stuff, and agreed to take on the full role IF the committee agrees and supports it. If someone else wants it, great..... well since we haven't yet met, I still don't consider it firmed up. I wish that I had put a deadline on the offer, in hind site.... but as it is, it looks like I'll probably be the CM this year, my son's Web 1 year.... So, there a few things about the way the pack operates I wouldn't mind shifting a bit. One of those is to be more inclusionary of the parents, more or less unofficially "requiring" them to do something if their boy is registered. Even if it's a not registered job of organizing a camp out, or helping with an event.... or registering as a leader or committee member.... I was thinking about writing a little letter, welcoming new folks to the pack, and existing folks too. Something to the boys and parents.... something to pass out at round-up, and to either give or email to everyone. something to tell a little about the pack to help them feel part of it and included what we do, how we work.... briefly explain our email communication.... nicely nudge them to volunteer to help set some simple expectations without being to overbearing etc.... Any ideas of what I should write or what I should include?

I've read here before that some make it as you've described some will set some arbitrary thresholds, such as attend x% of all troop meetings & y% of all camps..... I looked into it a few years back because my son, then a Tiger actually did get perfect attendance, all den meetings, all pack meetings, and all outings and camps..... but our unit didn't participate in it. By the time I was able to sort it out it was the following year, and seemed, well silly to back track it.

I've read here, or someplace, before that some make it as you've described but some will set some arbitrary thresholds, such as attend x% of all troop meetings & y% of all camps..... or maybe all troop meetings and x% of the camps or all troop meetings and no outing requirement..... I looked into it a few years back because my son, then a Tiger actually did get perfect attendance, all den meetings, all pack meetings, and all outings and camps..... but our unit didn't participate in it. By the time I was able to sort it out it was the following year, and seemed, well silly to back track it.

back on the original topic..... what we need is a good old fashioned corporate merger! re-branded to "Scouts" or some such thing

I have to wonder about the logic in it..... if you sell an item for say $2, I guess the most you can expect to profit is $1. True, the corn is expensive and NOBODY likes it, but it still sells....... and it seems like you've got to sell a lot of bars to equal what you take form one bag of corn..... even after council's cut.

I think this is a bit narrow focused...... Personally, I abhor the word "Fair", but still, I like the idea of letting the girls in. So that aint it. Yes, I can imagine ways in which it could be bad... But I can also imagine ways in which it would be just fine. My thought is this. Separate dens for the girls at the cub level, separate patrols at the troop level. The patrols could even meet at different nights or places if necessary to keep things separate, coming together for only certain things. At the pack level, coming together pack meetings and trips.

I would recommend that you copy this into a letter and mail it to him, certified mail, return receipt! With one addition that I can think of right now.... and that is a section regarding the uniforms. I know, I know, a can of worms..... I am a believer in the uniform method, and I think that we have been getting lazy with them. I think the activity uniform concept has really made it worse. I think that perhaps with very few tweaks, there's no reason the field uniform isn't appropriate for almost any activity a scout does (hiking, camping, etc...) why not wear it so that it can fill its purposes? Hey now that I think about it, Steve Irwin used to wear what was essentially a Field Uniform shirt wrestling crocs, and even when scuba diving! I can't believe I never thought of that before now...... The beads at the cub level are just stupid in my opinion. Cubs need a better way to display their patch collection.... on uniform. Regarding Faith.... I guess I see your point, but I personally see nothing wrong with pushing Faith to a visible place. I suppose though, that that could be a CO prerogative though. We push the Religious Medals program..... as a CO program, and I think it's a very good thing. A major portion of two of the 4-1/2 years of Cub Scouts in our Pack

Looks like you've digested the requirements and differences a lot more than I have had time to do.... BUT I think the bigger issue is that the leaders would need to actually do just that. It's hard enough to get the time as a volunteer to figure out the whole plan anyway, so the last thing My WEBELOS DL or I want to do is have to figure it out (figure out the old way, then the new way, then figure out the best way to merge the two given where they happen to be in the process..... and that could be different from one den to the next because they marched through the requirements differently..... and even different form one boy to the next!) when there's really no good logic behind changing mid stream (that I can see right now, anyway)

A parallel question that may be a precedent to consider..... In Boy Scouts, what happens when a new edition of the handbook is issued? Currently on the 12th edition, so this has happened a few times now...... a scout is someplace along the line between crossover and Eagle. What do they do when a new edition is published? Throw out their old book and pick up a new one, starting over? Continue using their original book?

Right on Fred What is their "rank" in 5th grade? Well starting in 4th, they are in the WEBELOS den, working on their WEBELOS rank by the 5th grade, they have probably earned their WEBELOS rank, and they are still in the WEBELOS den, right? Simple. I get why we started having the 1st year WEBELOS and 2nd year WEBELOS split out..... and then out of laziness, or whatever.... that became shortened to WEB1 and WEB2..... then 90% of folks don't care enough to sit and think about what that really is or where it came from...... Then some of those 90% folks get on the committee to decide the new program..... and here we are!

Yeah, honestly I think the beads are just dumb. Good idea in theory maybe, and if we had never picked up the idea of the lazy uniform (my new name for the activity uniform, or what some folks call "Class B") I've tried to encourage them, thought about it from all sorts of angles In the end the boys don't really seem to care all that much, and very often don't wear them anyway..... if they even wear their field uniforms at all..... Leaders seem to dislike them too.