Twocubdad

Sorry for the mutiple posts. Something was gummed up with the network.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

I would say that's a fair conclusion. I don't think anyone believes it proper for your SM to not even consider the boy's project. Since you are the advancement chair, what is the opinion of the troop committee chair? If the CC is of no assistance, perhaps it's time to contact your unit commissioner.

Mark -- based on your criteria for Personal Finance, that is, being old enough to "take Lucy out and need money for a movie," my boys at 14, 15, or 16 won't pass either. I know that was just an off-the-cuff example, but how is your minimum budget not an added requirement? As leaders, I think we need to meet boys where they are. Certainly I would expect a higher level of sophistication and refinement from a 17-year-old than a 12-year-old. But that's true whether the badge is Personal Finance or Basketry. If national intends to set a minimum age for Eagle, they'll write it into th

A difference is that in Boy Scouts, the ranks of Scouting are cumulative. Every First Class Scout has previously earned Scout, Tenderfoot and Second Class. That's not true of Cubs. The oval Webelos badge gives no indication of the prior awards the boy has earned. Now I can't say that the average nine year old thinks of it in those terms, but I can tell you that none of the boys in my den wear the tan uniform without the diamond badges -- even the brand-new boys wear their Bobcat on the tan shirt. They give them up only after earning Webelos and going to the oval -- no one wears a tan s

You are correct that a boy joining as a Webelos could wear his Bobcat badge on his tan uniform, but would remove it if he wears the oval Webelos badge. That boy would also have the option of wearing both the Bobcat badge and below it the blue Webelos diamond, as long as they are available. Scout's choice. I joined in '67, shortly after Lion was dropped and Webelos implemented. We received a Bobcat pin (which everyone quickly lost) and Wolf and Bear badges. No one thought about "completing the diamond," there were just two badges, side-by-side. Back then, the Webelos Award WAS the Arr

Depends. G2SS says drugs and alcohol are prohibited at "activities on property owned and/or operated by the BSA, or at any activity involving participation of youth members." So wine with dinner is okay unless your dinner is held at a Scout Camp or if boys are present (and don't forget the color guard).

My understanding is that the blue diamond will be available for another two years, until the last boys to start under the old Tiger program age out of Webelos. Those boys should be Bears this year. Our pack still awards the diamond, since the majority of the junior Webelos are still in the blues. For these boys and older, everything I read in the Insignia Guide makes either the diamond or the oval optional, regardless of which uniform they wear (blue or tan). When a Webelos changes to the tan uniform, it is permissible for him to move his Bobcat, Wolf and Bear badges and add the blue We

I look forward to taking Wood Badge at some point, hopefully the next time it is offered. Unfortunately, because we are a small council, it is typically offered only every two years or less. I had wanted to take the course offered last fall, but the timing was bad and I was already committed to camp school, so my hour a week was booked. At the time, there was a similar thread to this one which I read with great interest. I have to say I was somewhat put off by the lack of information both here and in the information coming from our council. Wood Badge may be the greatest thing since s

Isn't there a great whitewater river up in the mountains they're getting ready to dam up? You probably can get one last run in before the dam is finished. And don't forget to take the archery equipment! Serious, some of the best whitewater on the east coast is in the mountains of GA and NC. Warner Robbins is in the southern part of the state, right? So I don't know how much of a haul that is. There are tons of river services around that area, but the granddaddy is Nantahala Outdoor. Their web site is at www.noc.com .

I think the exact quote for the G2SS makes it clear: "The activity commonly referred to as "War Game" -- in which individuals shoot paint or dye at one another -- is an un authorized activity." As you can see, the section self-defines "war game" as what is probably more commonly known as "paint ball." It isn't a ban on games in which boys pretend war manuvers, like capture the flag, king of the hill, or anything similar. I wouldn't read this to prohibit laser tag. I think the policy was probably written as much in response to the version of war game/paintball where people run around in

With Easter around the corner, look for the little Peeps candy. Used to be only yellow chicks, but now they come in all sorts of colors. I think I remember little white bunnies from last year. Add a licorice string for a tail and you're set. You may try shaping and painting marshmallows, too, but that sounds like a lot of work in you need a bunch of them.

Amen to the cheap prizes. This year we had a bunch of boys order the Scout walking stave. It's a rake handle -- a plain ol' round, unfinished, yellow pine stick. They're $1.99 at a hardware store. Very disappointing. Same with the football. Looks like a real football in the picture, but is really only a 4-inch ball. You can usually get the new kids to sell (usually with a lot of parental participation), but the older kids, who ought to be your best salesmen, won't participate if they think the prizes are a rip-off. This year my son's just got Scout Bucks, which I think is a great wa

Acco, you are right about the responisbilities of the CC and CM and the relationship between the two. I equate the two to being Chairman of the Board and CEO of a corporation. What I don't agree with is keeping the den leaders separate from the pack committee. No, the den leaders don't need to sit and watch the treasurer and I pay bills, but we don't do that at committee meetings anyway. We do, however, plan upcoming pack meetings and special events. Input from the den leaders regarding these events is very important. They are, after all, the people with the training, knowledge of th

We are fortunate enough to have two tracks -- newer one we use for racing. We set up the old track and have a couple Boy Scouts run it as an open track for the boys who have been eliminated from the official racing. We kep tying to get parents to build car to race, but no luck yet. We also sell pizza and subs by the slice (at cost) and have a big bucket of lemonade for anyone who wants it. Honestly, we don't have a big problem entertaining the boys during the race. Our guys really get into cheering for their buddies and watching the race. One thing that helps is that we schedule

Acco-- you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly why I think the system is broken. Most Scouts see being a den chief as a really tough, lousy job (and I know we've heard from others here who don't) and SMs see sending a "good" scout to a pack as a net loss from the troop leadership pool. I don't know how to accomplish this, but I'd like to see as sense of duty or obligation attached to den chief service, the way some churches view missionary service or some countries require mandatory military or community service. (No, I'm not suggesting that den chief service be mandatory -- if yo

I don't think it matters. Anyone with a good understanding of what needs to be covered is fine. I think the Cubmaster is the logical choice. When I first became involved with our pack, we had a similar situation with our CC. Attended half the meetings, hadn't a clue what was happening in the others. Generally, whether he was there or not, either myself or one of the other den leaders, would scribble out an agenda on the blackboard. Being a group of reasonable adults, we worked through the agenda and went home. The lack of an official chairman didn't make much difference to us.

I agree completely with your definition of discipline. I don't believe discipline and punishment can be used interchangably. I've wanted to make make that point a couple of times, but didn't want to get side tracked. The definition of discipline I like comes from The Citadel, I think. "Discipline is training which makes punishment unnecesary." A disciplined scout has the self control and character to keep himself out of situations where punishment may be the end result. To become disciplined, one undertakes training, practice and study in advance of a situation where he may get himse

If a scout leaves the latrine a mess, making him clean it is an appropriate "punishment" and may teach him that there are consequences for his actions. If a scout causes his entire patrol to be late for, and thus miss their free swim period, revoking that scout's swim privileges the next day may be an appropriate, constructive form of discipline. If a scout abuses troop equipment, giving him extra quartermaster duty may allow him to better understand the need to properly care for equipment. And I say MAY in each case as it is the responsibility of the adult leader know each boy

Ed, can you and Bob define punishment for me? Can you provide me with some documentation from the literature? Thumbing through the Guide to Safe Scouting, I find the following (all of which are in bold-face type. Added emphasis is mine.): "Constructive Discipline: DISCIPLINE USED IN SCOUTING SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTIVE AND REFELCT SCOUTING'S VALUES." "Adult leaders of Scouting units are responsible for monitoring the behavior of youth members AND INTERCEDING WHEN NECESSARY. Parents of youth members who misbehave SHOULD BE informed and asked for ASSISTANCE in dealing with it."

Well, in the situation presented, "deal with" could include re-working the duty roster for the patrol to require that the two boys who had shirked their responsibilities did their fair share. I'm not suggesting corporal punishment, or anything that could be a YP violation. But what I'm reading here is that the appropriate response of the SPL and SM is to sit on their hands until a meeting of the troop committee can be called. Tell me what I'm missing(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

We're splitting some pretty narrow semantic threads here. All the "methods for controling behavior" sure sound like punishment to me. Certainly, serious infractions should be handled as you describe. But in Pamalam's situation, don't you think it would be appropriate for the SPL to assign the offending Scouts additional kitchen duty to make up for the assignments they missed, or something similar? This may be controlling the situation, but if you are one of the two scouts, I bet you think of it as punishment. As you say, every scout has the responsibility to behave in scout-like m

What you're telling me is just the way I understand it. It's like the airline industry: at a given level of seniority, a pilot may choose to be the captain of a small plane, or the co-pilot of a larger plane. In a position like this, where the job function is fairly static, 5 or 6 years is about the maximum anyone can be effective (and that time may be as short as three years). You spend a year learning the job. Another year is spent putting your program in place. After five years, you should have met your goals and be looking to move on. Beyond that, the job starts to become a bure

I've got a copy of "Age-Appropriate Guidelines for Scouting Activities" which is a bar chart listing probably 50 or 60 activites and a graph indicating which are permissible by age. There is a distinction between tubing and rafting. Tubing is listed as a separate activity from rafting and the chart shows it as appropriate only for Webelos and up -- i.e., NOT permitted for Tigers, Wolves and Bears. "Rafting -- flat water" and "Rafting -- flowing water" are listed separately, but both are approved only for Boy Scout and Venture ages. For Tigers, Cubs and Webelos they are approved as

I feel like our council is fortunate to have a good corp of DEs. I know mine does a pretty good job and of what I know about the others, they seem to be pretty good as well. Most of the complaints I hear are a result of not understanding the DEs role. I participate at the council-level on a couple of things, and my exposure to the middle management guys has been positive as well. My perception is that most of the guys in our council are already on the second rung of the ladder and are on a track to take them up through the organization. We don't have a lot of entry-level guys who burn