Twocubdad

I have to disagree with you guys. The District Award of Merit and the Silver Beaver are given for exemplary service to youth in the district or council. That does NOT mean that the recepient must serve at those levels. Service at the unit level is absolutely sufficient for the award and in my mind superior. Unit-level Scouting is where the rubber meets the road. If it ain't happening there, it ain't happening. That's not to detract from the value of what the district and council guys do (in addition to being CC of a 100-boy pack, I'm district day camp director and a member of the district committee), but Scouting is about Scouts. The lion's share of the praise, thanks and awards needs to go to the folks who are delivering the program to the Scouts.

You've got the right idea -- identify the folks you want to be CM and approach them individually. You may be right that some folks may be reluctant to take a job if the last guy to have it was stuck with it for years and spent hours and hours at it. First of all, point out that all Scouting positions are for one year only (so they have and out if they really hate it and you have an out if they're really lousy). It's fair to tell them that you hope that CC's and CM's stay for a couple years, if that is the case (it is with our pack.)I think it is also good to talk about you plans to take a turn at CM later on -- that let's them know there is an exit strategy. Take a copy of the official CM job description from the Cub Leaders' Handbook, but be prepared to talk about any local variations. In my experience, the CC and CM tend to "find their own levels," expecially if one is more experienced that the other. There are other suggestions in the leader book for recruiting leaders. Take a look at those. Good luck with it.

Would it be correct to say that if a troop chooses the "no hat" option that it's members should be bareheaded? That is to say "no hat" means "NO HAT," not "wear any ol' hat you like"? Just wearing your favorite ball cap while in uniform isn't an option.

Amen, Brother! I don't understand why we're even bothering keeping these guys in the brig at all. We could save Uncle Sam a pile of dough by just shooting them all. Better yet, give our troops a standing "no prisioners" order and eliminate the problem entirely.

I'm not familiar with the patch you mention, but to earn his compass emblem and all three points requires that the Scout earn 19 of the 20 pins. For boys who earn the 20th pin, what about awarding them a fourth gold compass point, to wear on the north positions (the one that is filled in when the get the emblem)?

I ran a Google search on Sheepherder Stoves just to see what you guys were talking about. Hundreds of his, many for sale. Didn't see much in the way of plans.

Don't know if you're still looking for suggestions, SST, but getting the info you need shouldn't be too difficult. You don't need the names of every Cubmaster in your district, just those in your immediate geographic area. Does your council or district have a web site? Ours lists units and contact names. Call the council office and pretend to have a Cub who wants to join. Ask around at the schools where the packs are. I don't know why your DE is being so difficult. He's probably just made the calculation that putting up with you is easier than dealing with 12 other ticked-off Scoutmaster who are having "their packs" raided. Still, he's dead wrong and should give you the info you need. I'd go to the mat with the new SE just out of principle.

I don't know if it applies to Boy Scouts, but we've found that for Cubs, Friday nights and Sunday afternoons work out surprisingly well. Everyone likes to think of Friday night as a big date night, but at some point in your life you come to the hard, cold conclusion that you haven't been on a Friday night date in 12 years. Why not go on a Cub Scout outing! You may try looking at some of the Monday holidays for full-day events. That won't work for Cubs (because most parents still work on holidays and have to attend with Cubs), but may be good for Scout-aged boys.

I'm with Eamonn on this. Do the math. Of the $90, you are paying out $60 to the council for the popcorn. Hard, cold, American cash. Only $30 is lost revenue to the Pack. We had a similar situation in our pack. We told the parents that we would file civil and/or criminal charges if payment wasn't forthcoming.

You are dead-on target, EagleinKY. Pow-Wow is by far the best training a Cub leader can attend. Unfortunately, it's considered supplemental training. Our council hasn't offered a real Pow-Wow in four years, but instead tacks a few Pow-Wow-like classes onto it's big Scouting University program in the fall. The courses are lightly attended, largely because at that time of year most people are taking NLE and position-specific training. In my experience, most new Cub leaders WANT to go to training. Most are motivated by the need to know how to run a den meeting. "Holy smokes, what am I going to do with these eight kids Tuesday night?" Yet when we get them to training, what do we do? We read mission statements to them. We talk about aims and methods. We explain the difference between Varsity Scouts and Venturers (which will apply to them and their Tigers in a short seven years). We build little paper bridges. All valuable, important stuff (well maybe not the bridges), but not what these folks are looking for. The position specific class get a little better. But we talk about Pack structure, job descriptions, and uniforms. Finally, as we close in on quitting time, we start to talk about running den meetings and the program level they registered for. But still, we don't answer their questions. Training needs to be a triage. Right now, we've got it backwards. New Leaders' Essentials was a good idea in theory -- that all Scoout leaders need one common class covering all the basics and principles of Scouting. I agree that is a wonder sentiment. But at what cost? At the Cub level, the cost was Cub Leader Basic Training. That means the the general Cub program nuts-and-bolts (Pack structure, uniforming, advancement) gets shoved in to the Position Specific courses. And ultimately, the real details leaders want -- the meeting ideas, the programs, the songs, skits and crafts -- get pushed off until another day. Andrew, I'll agree with you in principle, but I don't necessarily think that making traing more fun or enjoyable is what folks are looking for. If you told me that Cub leader training was the most boring, insufferable eight hours I'll ever spend, but that at the end of the day I would have all the information, skills and knowledge I need to run a great program for my Scouts, I'd say sign me up. Above all, training needs to provide practical preparation for the job the leaders have volunteered to do. The current Cub leader training doesn't do that. Maybe it's just me, but "it was really boring, but I learned a lot" is a much better endorsement than "we had a blast, but I don't know any more now than when I started." The two are not mutually exclusive. A good instructor should be able to make a class both fun and productive. But my first point, above, is that the way the classes are structured, even a good instructor has little chance of meeting the needs of a new leader.

So how is this going to work? According to our council training committee, you will be give a 12-month grace period to complete training. After that, your re-registration will be refused at recharter. So you are dropped at re-charter, but a week later submit a new application. Do you start over with another 12-months? Or say they figure that out and deny your application. On what grounds? If you appeal the denial to national, what then?

Here's one: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9152/cub-tracker.html I've tried using a couple of these spreadsheet-based trackers a couple times -- even tried hauling around a laptop to den meetings. I never really found them to be worth the trouble. I've usually found that a paper version that I can keep in a notebook is good enough.

And you're right, it's not appropriate here! I didn't intend to suggest that people use formal titles even if the person being addressed asks that you not. I'm just suggesting that in the Scouting setting, I wish adults would not invite boys to call them by their first name. The SM at our local troop is a young chap (you're rubbing off on me, Eamonn) and he likes to be called by his first name. Certainly that's his perrogative. But as a matter of example and respect, I would prefer that he not.

I agree with Mark that you should use the honorific until the person invites you to use another name. I have always gone by my middle name and it drives me up a wall to be called by my first name by a bank teller or receptionist. If you don't know me well enough to know that I don't use my first name, you don't know me well enought to be using it at all. In a Scout setting, however, I would prefer adults have the boy call them Mr. or Mrs. I think it is a lesson in respect and manners boys seldom receive elsewhere now day. I think most of our Cubs refer to our leaders as Mr., although a few like to be called "Mr. Chuck" or "Mr. Hal." One guy has always been "Den Leader Doug." It works for Cubs, but I'll admit it's a little too cute for Boy Scouts.

Bob, While mandatory training isn't coming from national, can you ask you contacts in Irving what nationals view of local councils mandating the training. I understand your and Eamonn's point that only the CO's can add to membership requirements, not the local councils. Do the guys in Irving agree with you? How are some local councils apparently getting away with the mandate?

You guys are all correct if you're dealing with a bull-headed Scoutmaster who wants to exert his authority and a bull-headed Scout who's looking for an easy way out. But you've all ignored the best advice in this thread when LauraT7 said: Another thing you can do is have a SM conference with the boys who received credit. Point out that a Scout is Trustworthy, and Obedient. He promised to 'do his best ... to keep himself... morally straight. Is it honest, obedient and moral to take credit for something he did not legitimately do? Leadership is not necessarily the application of the black-letter law.

For being the only NBA player to score 4,000 points in a season?

I've been asked to post this question by a regular forum member who has previously identified their unit, but wishes to ask this question anonymously: "Is it necessary to have one person registered just to be treasurer? Or, if the committee chairman were willing to keep the books, have another registered adult member sign checks in addition to himself, and then bring copies of the bank statements and register to each monthly meeting, would that provide enough accountability? The reason this is asked is that the treasurer was not providing any records at all, and after several attempts to get information, the committee chairman with backing of the other leaders in the pack felt it necessary to start fresh with the accounting (new account, new signers, but not a new treasurer as treasurer only)."

Questions for you, Dave. Does BSA membership provide any insurance or protection from the financial mis-deeds of the leaders? Or is that strictly up to the unit and CO? I understand criminal theft is one thing, but how about this as a hypothetical: Our unit is selling coupon books from a local car wash. We've gone through all the proper approvals for the unit fundraiser. Unfortunately I loose an entire case of the books with a value of several thousand dollars. The car wash sues me, the unit and the CO for the money. Does my BSA registration provide any insurance for the loss or legal counsel? Let's forget for the moment any nuances of how unit fundraisers should work or the dangers of non-council-sanctioned fundraisers. I'm more interested in whether or not BSA membership provides any sort of bonding for it's members. (Sorry about the earlier typos. Spell check can be a dangerous thing.)(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

This is more about American's (or maybe the American media's) irrational view of risk. In the 10 years that Great Brittian has been dealing with madcow, there have been 130 human deaths. That's 13 deaths a year. You are at far greater danger of choking to death on your Happy Meal toy. Last year's SARs "epidemic" was the same way. A handful of deaths garnered near panic media coverage. Yet no one mentions that over 35,000 people die of the flu every year.

The hardest part of learning to sharpen a knife is developing a feel for keeping the knife blade at a consistent angle. Novices are constantly altering the angle of the blade to the stone, thereby rounding over the edge instead of sharpening it. A big help in correcting this is having a wooden wedge small enough to hold on one end of the stone which serves as a reference angle. The angle of the wedge isn't critical, but about 20 degrees is good. Start and end each sharpening stroke with the blade flush against the wedge. With my Cubs, I use homemade wooden knives and wood blocks wrapped in sandpaper for them to practice on, before sharpening their real knives.

Congratulation, FS! I'll only ask of you what was asked of me: Remember those who helped you reach this goal. In the future, maybe when you have sons of your own but maybe not, honor the time and effort they gave you and other Scouts by serving the next generation of Scouts.

Our pack requires registration for den leaders and others with direct contact with the boys. For committee members in purely administrative positions, it's optional. I think it's going to be more of an issue next year when our council will require all registered leaders to be trained.

From where did this idea come that wearing a merit badge sash is immodest? FS, if not for a BOR, what would you consider a to be an appropriate occasion to wear your sash? Since you're looking for answers, not a debate, I would absolutely wear the merit badge sash and proudly so. As Eisley says, the OA sash is for OA functions. I would think it inappropriate for a BOR.

And dresses better.