WDL Mom

Just got an email from my District Training Chair. She does have the video and the powerpoint! That makes me feel a whole lot better! Any suggestions or advice would be apprectiated. Thanks.

Hi All, I have been working on becoming the Pack Trainer for our unit. I have been through the Trainer Development Conference last month. I have been asked to help the District Training staff by leading the Tiger Specifics session in two weeks. I agreed to help out, and asked for the relevant syllabus. What I received was a packet that I am pretty sure is out of date. It still lists the uniform as the orange shirt and doesn't mention the Blue option at all. There is no number or date anywhere on the syllabus. I did not receive the video, powerpoint, CD or any other re

Hi All, Here is a proposed activity for my Webelos II den for this summer. Visit a local certified commercial COPE operation. * Participate in 7 low ropes team building activities. * Slide down a 300 ft. zip line over a restored prarie area. * Pan for gems and minerals. * Wagon tour of the restored prarie. My question is in regards to the Guide to Safe Scouting. The only thing I see in it regarding COPE that might pertain to Cub Scouts is: "Units may participate in age-appropriate initiative games, but under no circumstances should attempt

Hi, I just did an introduction to Compasses with my Webelos I group last month. The Scout Shop sells an inexpensive basic compass game that I used. Basically you put out 5 or 6 stakes at specific locations in a circle. The circle can be in a gym, or a field. Each stake has a letter on it. Then each scout or pair of scouts gets a list of compass bearings. They start at letter A go, 140 degrees and write down the next letter and so on. At the end, they check the letters that they got with an answer key. The boys get a lot of practice with bearings in a short period of time and they ar

Lisabob thanks for the explanation on the age guidelines for Cubs transitioning to Boy Scouts. Beavah: I find your comment interesting, sort of a reverse den chief... In this case, a council is lookin' at things and saying, "Hey, we're seeing a way we might be able to be of better service to kids. Maybe if we encourage the slightly older 5th graders to hop into willing troops while they also finish up in cubs, it will build connections. Those boys might be more likely to continue, and they might pull their slightly younger pack-mates along. I don't know if my Council thinks tha

Sometimes this mode of communication is a bit vague. Lets see if I can do a better job clarifying. My question was (I thought) quite simple. Had anyone seen a program where a boy was registered with a Troop and also continued to work on his Arrow of Light at the same time? Apparently no one has seen this, other than trying to help a boy whose Webelos den had dissolved. My Comment: "My son will be 11 at the end of this upcoming August which is the beginning of 5th grade for him. He will be an "old" 5th grader. My understanding is that he could join BS in the fall and

Hi, I realize that this could all be rumour. I am not upset, more curious than anything. I believe that our Webelos to BS transition was particularly poor this past year and this may be an attempt to address it. My son will be 11 at the end of this upcoming August which is the beginning of 5th grade for him. He will be an "old" 5th grader. My understanding is that he could join BS in the fall and skip his entire Webelos II year. Which would be tough for him to do with me being the DL I may check with my den and see when they all turn 11. Would be interesting to know ho

Hi All, I was at a meeting and "heard" that our Council is considering the following: Webelos II would be "allowed" to join a Troop as soon as they turn 11 AND they would be "allowed" to also remain with the Pack and finish up the Arrow of Light AT THE SAME TIME. The idea being that the WebII's are getting bored and we need to get them into a Troop sooner.... Though, I am not sure how many kids this would effect. I do not see how a kid can be registered in two different levels at the same time. Does anyone else's Council or District run this? How has it worked?

Hi, Our school district doesn't do flyers in backpacks anymore. Not for outside groups or many of the school functions. Instead they use email. They send out the fliers via email to the whole school list. I like the idea of Little League, might also check out spring soccer. We have never done a spring recruitment. Seems like our district waits until fall for some reason. They do allow Tigers at Day Camp, but we usually only have a handful, and typically they are siblings of existing scouts.

Hi, For a day hike, I would try to keep it in the 2-3 mile range as suggested in the Outdoorsman pin. Trying to get some boys this age to hike 6+ miles would be like pulling teeth. I agree that it needs to be more than just a 3 mile walk. Some things you could discuss during the hike might include: Buddy system What to do when lost. Map and Compass 10 Essentials Animal or plant identification Leave No Trace Pack a sack lunch or cook on the hike. Choose a couple that are doable and fun! Good Luck!

Hi, I used the pamphlet this year with my Web. I den. I did pick and choose what we discussed in den. We used the center poster, that described the effect of drugs. Had the guys find the grossiest effect of drugs on the body... they liked doing that. The boys also discussed the possible drugs that they may be offered. I did cover medicine and how it needs to be taken correctly and with adult supervision. We also did role plays using the NICE strategy to get out of situations where drugs are offered. I did not go into a lot of detail about different categories of drugs, o

Hi All, I took the Trainer Development course this weekend in order to become a trainer for our Pack. My question is: how is this program run in other Districts? There are no districts in our Council that use pack trainers as far as I can tell. The District Training chair is new, and she is trying to get a handle on how this is run. What courses beside Trainer Development is required? Is there any monitoring of the Pack Trainer by the district committee? Where does the Pack Trainer get the syllabus and training material? Our District Training chair bought some of the training ma

Hi, Yes Webelos should do most requirements in den. However there are specific ones that HAVE to be done at home. For the Citizen pin, boys are required to earn the Citizen belt loop... it requires the boys to chart chores for a week. For the Fitness pin, boys are required to either plan a week's worth of meals with their family or record their meals for a week. Anything that has to be done at home (especially something over a week) will end up with stragglers. I send home den notes and email reminders to the parents. I have even at the end of den meetings conferenced

Hi All, Our topic at Roundtable this week was training. After the discussion, I had two questions about things that didn't seem to jive with what I have heard from other sources. I would appreciate your input! 1. A Baloo trained person is required to attend Pack camp outs. Pack submits a Tour Permit without the required Baloo person. The Council incorrectly issues the Permit. Something "bad" happens on the trip. The Tour Permit can be "retroactively denied" by the council and then the BSA insurance would NOT be in effect. 2. Webelos Specific Training is only "good"

Hi, I taught High School for 7 years. I wondered what in the heck those teachers were doing at the Middle School! Why if they would only do this and that, the problems we have would be solved! I have spent the last 12 years teaching Middle School. Now I KNOW what they do! Now if only those Elementary teachers would get on the ball... The schism is natural, due to different programs and ages. The cure IMHO is building relationships. Relationships between the scouts and between the scouters. Sending a den chief to a Pack is a start. Scouters need to network across the program,

Hi, Whatever you plan, keep them moving. They won't sit still for long. My guys like food, fire, building things, tearing things apart, any form of tag, capture the flag, or dodgeball. At our last den campout we made marshmellow catapults for the engineer badge. Though we didn't make them like in the Webelos book. We used a mouse trap, big pink erasers, a plastic spoon and a whole lot of duct tape. It was amazing how long they shot marshmellows around the cabin. Do a hike with a purpose, an astronomy hike, or a Geocache type hike, night hike to identify as many critters as

Hi, In our District, we finally put together a listing of all troops in the area and have mailed it to all Webelos II boys and their den leaders. The flyer also includes a checklist of the types of activities that the Troop has done in the past. Roundtable allows Webelos leaders to choose which session to attend... either the cub or the boy scout discussion, depending on what is of interest. Otherwise not much is done. Haven't seen much done consistently on the Cub side or the Boy Scout side. It is pretty much hope they all finish Cubs, hope they bridge, hope they stay in Boy Scou

Hi, I knew we weren't alone in our lack of committee. I also know that we need to do more targeted asking of individuals. As the Web I den leader, I know my parents best, and I would feel comfortable asking them to commit to a specific task. I don't know the parents of the other kids nearly as well. One suggestion I made to our CM was to have each den "run" a particular event. So that the parents for that den would be in "charge". The Web. II's would do Blue Gold because it includes their bridging ceremony. Web I's would run the Derby, because they have seen it done for a n

Hi, We also ran the Webelos stations seperately from the other Cubs. This past summer, the boys earned their Scientist pin, last year it was Engineer. Not sure what is up for this summer. If we had 6 rotations for the day, 2 of the Webelos rotations were for the Scientist pin. The difficult part was getting all the boys rotated through the stations. We had over 200 Webelos, and it took about a day and a half to get them through one station. Though with 5 days of camp we were able to cover all the requirements. Might have been a bit easier if we had a third adult to staff

Hi All, Our Pack has a committee that is so inactive, that it is basically nonexistent. Last 3 meetings have consisted of myself, (the Web. I DL) and the Cubmaster. We also have a trained CC who is also our COR. We do have a treasurer as well. We have monthly meetings and all parents are invited to attend and participate. No one shows. Events, campouts, advancements, BG, Pinewood Derby are all planned and run by the den leaders and Cubmaster. I know that this isn't "by the book", but, it is what we do. How do you change this? We are so used to doing "everything"

Hi, This was a first winter den campout for any den in our Pack, as far as I know. Our Pack does tent camp fall and spring, but in the winter, it would only work on a den level due to the need for cabins. There is no way our Pack would have the appropriate gear to tent camp in the winter in the Midwest. The cabin we had a heater and the boys were toasty all night. I was more comfortable in the cabin and playing outside than I have been at many of the cold, windy rainy fall/spring campouts! I would encourage others to give it a shot!

Hi, Your over achiever might check into the Religious Awards program. The program is done at home in conjunction with the families' church or religious institution. It took my son a couple of months to complete as a Bear. Isn't there also a Scouting Family Award?? I vaguely remember seeing it in the Scout Shop... Anyone else heard about this, or had a scout go through it? One other thought... this boy might benefit from being a denner for his Wolf den, with age appropriate responsibilities. Good Luck!

My Webelos I den "survived" their first winter den campout! Temps were in the mid 20's with about 3-4 inches of snow. We spent all day Saturday, Saturday evening and came home Sunday morning. We sledded, captured many flags, built mouse trap marshmellow catapults and played games all night. The kids really seemed to have fun. They also: Ran a duty roster - without complaint! Cooked on a camp stove Washed pots and pans Hauled water Went to the outdoor latrine It was good. I am tired.

Hi All, I have a Webelo I son, that insists that every patch he wears be on his uniform! He is currently wearing the Khaki shirt and has the Outdoor Activity award on the flap of the right pocket. Can he also put a patch on the lower part of the right pocket in the temporary location? He also wants to wear his Compass point emblem on the button as well! To me it is a bit much... 3 patches in a very small space with one overlapping... Is the Compass point emblem from the button considered to take up the spot for the temporary patch?? I suggested a patch vest,

Hi fgoodwin, In our Council in 2005, Product Sales were 27% of the Annual Budget, Direct Support was 24%. Both, I agree are to be considered "major" sources of income for the Council. As for changing our presenter... I think we are stuck. The gentleman is on the Executive Board for the Council. He is actually a nice guy and a parent in our unit. As far as I can tell people in the unit like him. The presentation is unfortunately like being held hostage.... Our CM is a very nice guy and unlikely to rein the presenter in.