gumbymaster

As for a ringer event ... Well, anyone when meeting someone new want's to put their best foot forward. It's encumbant on the Webelos leaders and parents to follow up with what a more normal event would look like. In my Son's case, he arrived at his decision based on the Troop's recruiting event. They were teaching scout skills, and at a fire building station, my son and one other boy in the den were having great difficulty getting it. Even after most the rest of the webelos and boy Scouts went off to play a game, one of the older Scouts stayed and very patiently worked with him unti

For reasons described elsewhere, I have not done Woodbadge, but I am also not afraid to recommend it to others. For better or worse, my anacdotal experience is that we do not tend to lose Woodbadge trained leaders. They may be drinking the coolaid, and some may look down on those without beads around their neck - but they do stay with the program longer and provide some much needed stability; they disproportionally fill in district volunteer positions. So, as far as inspiring leaders to go out there and do a job (hopefully a good one actually based on their training), as a program it

I tried to get the pack to adopt them a couple of years ago. I made the 2'x3' blanks, I got poles, made stands. One of the Dens made one, and brought it to the pack meetings, but that was about it. Now to be fair, (after a fashion), our Dens do not meet as often as I think they should, and so the extra time to decide upon and decorate the flag would have negatively impacted the planned den schedule.

Back in the day ... and for all I know they may still do ... We ran a program for 11+ aged youth. It was a week long event for participants. Staff usually met one weekend a month for the 6-9 months before the event. We had an explorer post to cover everyone 14 and up. Boys less than 14 were usually associated with a Troop participating in the event. Girls under 14 (and non Scouts) were registered into a Campfire unit. Then they ran the event. I'm not necessarily advocating this as a means of sneaking girls into to the Boy Scout program ... mearly as a way that some of the m

The Tourniquets in use in the field today are very different than the common notion of a twisted swath of cloth. The DoD spent a lot of money to develop a Tourniquet that would serve the function of reduced blood flow without the same degree of damage to the limb. Unless you have and know how to use these devices, the prior guidance on tourniquet use should remain.

In my youth, it was the tradition of my troop that the Scout planned his own court of honor. After all, a scout's career will be very different than that of his fellows - OA, venturing, camp staff ... the types of adventures that defined THEIR eagle journey. The Scout worked with the SPL for the troop to run flags; they worked with their parents to work out a budget and the type of refreshments they would do. The scout would generally select a few speakers (Scoutmasters, School Teachers, OA/Crew advisors, Scout peers) to describe their journey from the eyes of others. Maybe a slid

Swimming is a good example. If the requirement is to demonstrate, I would view that as having to demonstrate that to the MBC. I am all in favor of allowing a scout knowledgeable in the subject matter to "test out" and just show, demonstrate, discuss, etc. with the MBC to complete the requirements. These Scouts do not need the (maybe) prepared course of instruction that the MBC has, and as the MBC cannot make knowledge of the extra materials they teach a condition of earning the MB, this should not be a problem. I also have no problem with an MBC putting together a quality instruction

I think I am with krampus on this one. 1. While the religeon followed by many of you here may associate that type of image with a devil or other ungodly demon. MANY other religeons in the world do not, and in fact, some may revere similar figures. 2. the Krampus (the traditional one, not the forum member) is a long standing tradition in the culture of germanic tribes of europe - as old or older than Santa Claus / St. Nicholas, and a lot less (currently) culturally insensitive than the Dutch tradition of Black Pete who serves a similar role. If anything it would serve as a reminder of the c

I'd kind of like to think of it as like that undercover boss show. Where the guy at the top gets into the trenches to see how things really go.

Although it is a technicality, the entire tax code is a collection of technicalities. If you are not in the "businsess" of shoveling walks, and you do it without any expectation of renumeration, then the $10 he give you can be considered a gift, which as long as you do not receive more than, I think it's $13,000 this year, from him in the year - it can be considered tax free. On the other side of the coin, if I pay the local boys to mow my lawn - unless they have incorporated or otherwise structured as a formal business, if I pay them more that $600 in the year, I have to file a 1099 t

Why Don't we do that? Our professional Scouters work for us, not for themselves. I think it would be a great idea if we made it part of the job requirments that each month the council executive / ceo go on an outdoor activity with one of the troops from the council. See how it is really done. What boys are really like. What resources our leaders really have available. How well (or not) is our Boy led program going. Mix it up with different troop sizes, locations served, types of activities. Who really selects Council executives anyway? Is it the membership, or the corporate s

For me, it's almost an opposite problem. About half my pack come from a single school - the one we meet at (rented space). About a quarter go to an elementary school that has their own "associated" pack. (Our school district has some interesting dividing lines for school assignments; and many of the families at the second school are friends of families at the first.) The pack runs a JSN at "our" school. In general, the pack committee is comfortable with the current pack size (45-55 boys) There are not many other options in the nearby area, one recently folded - so the area is very

I don't think that those that were up in arms about the change because of the level of effort, but rather the level of committment. While a Scout can join at any age appropriate time; with the old Webelos program being 12-18+ months; the leaders more so than the scouts have a perception of it being wrong that a boy coming in right at the end and in six months, with no prior scouting, the boy can get the coveted arrow of light (an award that they can continue to acknowledge into their adult scouter years with a knot). To them is was like allowing someone to earn an eagle award, just by

Thank you for volunteering. Thank you for recognizing the problem. Thank you for trying to find a solution. Your pack should have a unit commissioner. Check with your council to find out who it is. While they do not have any authority to implement change, they will probably be your best resource for guidance on how to go forward. First and foremost, ask yourself the following questions: 1. How far am I willing to go to solve these probelms (would you be the cumbaster or committee chair instead of a den leader?) 2. Are there any other parents willing to step up and be leaders

I am very sorry for your famiy's loss. I always valued her comments and advice here on the forum. ---- I lost a Scouting mentor a few years ago, and we held a memorial service for him at the camp he loved. This was secondary to the service the family held where he lived. We used the camp chapel (which was particularly appropriate as he had led services there for summer camp for 30+ years). Scouts young and old were invited to speak to how he influenced their lives. We ran a slide show capturing his years of service to scouting. It was a very nice way to say goodby to an old

This what was we had for summer camp staff. I've probably spent two years of my life living in a Baker tent. For my Scout Troop - we lived in 3 man dome tents (with 2 per tent). This was in the Bay Area of California, with most camping between Redding and San Luis Obispo.

Well, there are quite a few issues here, and clearly any of us here on the forum can only give general advice, as we will miss some of the specifics of your situation. First, Thank you for being a volunteer. BALOO and the other training you have taken has certianly taken much of your time, so as a Scouter, I thank you for that. Second, other than as the BALOO parent, If you specified that you have a specific role in the Pack, I missed it. The other parent may not realize the importance of the BALOO training to the unit, nor your role in leadership for the camping event. Thus she may

I can't say I disagree. I am normally pretty good about peeking ahead into the syllabus before I take courses in this case I did not - so I didn't go in with a frame of reference for what OWL should have done, in this case I was only looking for the BALOO. The vast majority of which was stuff I already knew from my own Scouting.

The OWLs training component added about an extra hour to my BALOO course. By IOLS was all about every outdoor component of the Scout->First Class Rank Requirement Skiils. While the Webelos do work on Scout Skills; the IOLS, at least in my course, focus really would not work for Cubs, and you would still need some extra training on the neuances of Webelos vs. Boy Scouts if combined.

OK, I'm not a CPA but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night (ok, not really) As I understand it ... (largely based on interpretation of Bad Wolf's unit's former IRS accountant) ISAs - for example a virtual account for each scout maintained by the troop is fine. Scouts / Parents deposting personal funds (check/cash) into the ISA for the scout to later use for activities and events (also ok) Troop sells a widget as a fundraiser. Troop makes $5/widget and puts $2 of that into the Scout ISA and $3 into the general fund (does not pass the IRS litmus test - individual level of effort differ

It sounds like you have a lot of good ideas and a lot of energy. You certianly seem to have a lot of talent at recruiting. Maybe you should consider, for next year, starting a new pack and then, as they get older a new troop. The DE should be more than happy to help you find a chartered organization, and it sounds like you could very quickly put a strong unit together - as long as you remember not to do everything yourself (or just you and the husband). Make use of the new parents you recruit.

Yeah, my co-workers won't let me dive (them) to functions if they can help it, I'm too slow (compliant). My wife has learned to live with it, if it's my car; but is always ready to take over if I "need her to drive" (hopefully asked).

Technically, they don't HAVE to work on the new program, they just CAN'T work from the old program. If the Scout and his family do not care about Advacement or the AOL rank, there really is no problem, and the boy can do any of the activities the rest of his den are doing. If you really want to be a stickler for the rules, your single AOL Webelos, CANNOT be a den. (I forget if it is three or four members required). So in the realm of between a rock and a hard place, some rule has to be bent if the Scout is to participate fully. In the end it needs to come down to what is best for th

I had my own made. I found the right kahki fabric for the background (1/4 yd @ ~$10/yd). Made an image document (photoshop, paint dot net), created borders (white) with red lettering (relatively easy to read font), a small fleur-di-lis followed by the name (modeled the size and shape of an interpreter's strip), and then used "image to sewing machine" conversion software (free 30 day trial) to create saf, dst, and jef format files, took it down to a local sewing and embroidery shop, and had them use their equipment to auto stich them on the fabric (not sure which of the formats they ended up

In my troop, in the early 80's we were expected to turn the collar under if we were wearing the neckerchief (which was generally what was expected), and leave it out if we did not have a neckerchief. I'm not sure when that changed, I'll have to look at old pictures when I get home, but I think that before I aged out, wearing the collars over the neckerchiefs became the norm. (Maybe parents got tired of ring around both sides of the collar)