Pack18Alex

BD, absolutely. I don't think it occurred to anyone, "G2SS changed on this minor point 3 months before Day Camp, we need an alternative Skill project for the Wolves, and therefore our volunteer Scouts/Venturers need to do double work that day." I really enjoyed being a volunteer at cub scout camp. I got to shore up my weaknesses (the scout spirit, some of the working with youth issues), and realized how strong I was in my strengths (organization, understanding regulations, etc). I got to have a ton of fun, get outdoors and out of the office for a week, and improve myself... hard to comp

Thanks everyone. Only two Wolves were in that class, I was Den Leader, and one was my son. I was actually VERY impressed with what they covered. My son is meticulous at using his knife skills at home, practicing on vegetables. The other wolf was meticulous as well. If it wasn't for the G2SS requiring Bears for carrying pocket knives, I'd have no question that they did what they were supposed to do. Regarding the refresher, sounds good. We will be doing a Whittling Chip Den Meeting later in the year for the Bears and the Webelos who don't have it, I might send the Wolves that earned

So the Whittling Chip is a Bear Achievement, normally done then. According to the March Guide to Safe Scouting, pocket knives can be carried by Cubs, Bears only. During Summer Camp, they did the Whittling Chip with all the levels, and the report sent from the Camp to the Cubmasters/Leaders said that they all earned their Whittling Chip. I know that with Merit Badges, once signed off on, the Scout Master has no authority over it, what to do with this one? My read on it doesn't say ANYWHERE that only Bears/Webelos can earn their whittling chip, just that "this activity is appropr

One thing I would do, if you haven't found a Pack Already, is look at the events going on in the summer, and just show up. In our problem, our do-everything volunteer that had to drop it all (and actually earn a living that was neglected while being super-scouter for 4 years) still had her contact info on everything and stopped checking her Scout Email address. If you show up to a summer activity, you'll find the leaders there, introduce yourself, and talk about signing your son up. If your son is shy, perhaps not bring him if he doesn't want to be embarrassed. Otherwise, bring him and g

I find at the Cub Scout Roundtable, positions are useful. Not because it really matters all that much, but the Den Leaders cajoled into going like knowing that there are other Den Leaders there and not just Cubmaster/Committee Chairs there. As the Boy Scout level, I'm guessing it's pretty useless, because either you're a Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster, or someone on the committee, the specificity doesn't really impact it as much. But I'd cap everyone at their highest (and therefore official) position. I'm not a monarch with 12 titles, just a volunteer that works hard for the boy

Are they required to attend Mass or are they required to leave the Camp Site to head to the Church for which the Troop is attended? If it's the former, you definitely having a Scouting violation. If it's the latter, I don't see any problem. As long as those whose religion prohibits or discourages them from attending Mass are permitted to wait with the cars outside without any punitive action being taken, I don't see the problem. I mean, you'd disclosing it to new members, it's not something sneaky and embarrassing, you're a Catholic Unit that requires participation in Catholicism on Camp

My unit roster lists the multiples, and I was specifically told that our COR was allowed to be her son's Den Leader, but Cubmaster should be different and ideally Committee chair as well. Not disagreeing with what you are saying, just pointing out that they let us put that down.

It's Ziplining, there should be someone working on the Zipline at the booth, that's your second adult (doesn't provide 2-Deep, 2-Deep requires two leaders or one leader + one parent), but does cover No-1-on-1. Regarding the 1-on-1 issue. Technically, the leader should never be with a youth, not their child, alone and out of site... Pretty simple though, if there is no employee on the platform, just a parent, the last Scout to go is the Parent's child (1-on-1 doesn't apply to your children), then the parent goes. So if you have two parents, one goes EITHER 1st, 2nd (after their child)

KDD, My Pack Committee has two MBAs, 1 CPA, 2 JDs, and two small business owners. It's a running joke in our district, that if you are having trouble with budgets/spreadsheets, ask our Pack for help. However, if you need someone to actually do something with Scouts, my parents are useless. That said, if the parents went rules lawyer on me like you have, I'd be frustrated, but at least I'd know that the parents cared. As it stands, few of my parents care. But I'm one of the MBAs on the Committee, so I actually have a pretty solid handle on this side of the operation. That said,

Might be a Council Rule. Last year, we re-chartered with a CM/DL combo, and a CC/TL combo. The only rule in our Council is that CM and COR be distinct people.

PTOs are 501©3's that file a 990 Tax Return. Churches are 501©3's that file no tax return. Ultimately, the BSA Units financials flow up to the CO. However, since Churches don't file Tax Returns (First Amendment, Congress can't regulate them), whatever the Pack does disappears beyond whatever financials the Church Treasurer generates. Let me give you an example. Cub Scout Pack collects $750 in dues via Paypal. Over the course of the year, spends $725. When the PTO adds the Pack Financials to the P&L, it adds a line, "Income from Cub Scout Pack, $25." When it does it's balance

My Pack has a Banking EIN "for banking purposes only" linked to the EIN of our Charter Org, but that was because of some stupidity at the Charter Org level. If your Bank is under the EIN of your CO, then your Paypal Account that links into that Bank Account should be with the EIN of your CO. If you have an EIN for Banking purposes only, use that EIN. If you use your CO's EIN (and your CO isn't a 501©3 Church), consider getting a separate Banking EIN for the Paypal Account anyway. That way, the 1099-K will be issued in your Pack's EIN. The financials ultimately flow up to the CO, but y

" IMHO, BSA just needs to get back to the basics and do a bunch of redesign. One of the biggest is getting back to focusing on program materials and camping and letting charter orgs run their program. Maybe co-ed or not. Maybe multiple orientations. Maybe 100 kids or 10 kids. Maybe ONE unit for kids 5 years old thru 20 years old." Yeah, this is our biggest problem in the unit. We're a niche group. Our core group is Sabbath observant Jews in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. We also get traditional Jews that aren't observant, but like their children's involvement in it. They live in mix

In late 2008, the economy collapsed. Venturing is a teenager program for high school and post high school age youth. The age group able to get a job if money is needed. The collapsing economy doesn't impact cubs much, it's a cheap after school activity. Parental second jobs can drain cub scouters but won't impact cubs as much... A month of cable costs about as much as a year of cub scouting. Boy scouting's core age is middle school and beginning of high school, when youth are still unlikely to be working. Bad economy might curtail troop activities a bit, but it's less costly. I think that a co

KDD, did you get an approved tour plan, pretty sure a Den Campout for Tigers would be rejected. If anything went wrong, the homeowners liability coverage would be on the hook, since BSA will wash their hands of you.

Personally, if I'm in a situation like that, I use the double covering used on the Sabbath and holidays (European Jewish tradition is that one wears a hat on those days, but in Synagogue, only unmarried men wear a hat. So I have a Kippa on over my hat). If I'm not in a uniform hat that stays on (like a Scout Hat), I'll have a Kippa (skullcap) on, so I can take my hat off without problem. But yes, Christian tradition was to remove the hat out of respect. Jewish tradition is to wear the hat out of respect. America is a Christian country, and I see no problem showing respect for the flag A

So there are three terms: Pack Overnighter: camping with your family in your pack, at an approved location and tour plan Family Camp: Council run program with multiple packs all participating. Multi-pack campouts must be approved by Council (and therefore Family Camp) Family Camping: this is when BSA families affiliated with a Pack, Troop, or Crew camp. As far as I can tell, Family Camping is almost the same thing as Pack Overnighter, except it's NOT limited to Packs (can include Troops/Crews). However, it looks like for Family Camping, you must include siblings, while a Pa

It's a problem with numbers and values. When I went to Cub Scout camp, those boys were all determined to be there. Many of them had spent every weekend for two months selling camp cards to be there. If I told them to take a hill, they'd have taken it with nothing but rocks. I'm going to have to dial down my expectations with my regular unit, while also trying to bring that "Scout Spirit" with us. One thing that helped us, regional events. When we went to Cuboree (which we had never been to before), the boys came back "getting it." Sure they traveled with our Pack from event to eve

"How far are we to carry the double-standard. We do flag ceremonies, we wear uniforms, we salute in military style, we form troops and patrols,... and yet we are not supposed to be reflective of the military." My explaination to people is that we're a civilian uniformed service chartered by the US Congress. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the much better known National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps (NOAA). We're not commissioned, but we are chartered by Congress. When we are in uniform, we're no different than any other civilian (non-military

I realize that this is more work than you necessarily want to do, but I think you could make your life less insane with an annual schedule of events, and ask the parents to step up more. I would look at your calendar of when your Den Meets (around holiday/school schedule). I would lay out the Wolf Trail/Bear Trail along the calendar, so you know you do Achievement X this month, Y that month. So whenever the boy ages into the Den, they begin on the trail as scheduled. It'll take a year to finish the trail, but they'll finish it by their birthday. 8 month program w/ 2 Den Meetings/month g

We don't do duplicates in our Pack. I mean, a parent could certainly go to the Scout Store and buy them, but as a rule, they don't. We award each Loop/Pin once and only once. If they are re-earned as Webelos Scouts to satisfy activity pin requirements, I don't foresee a second loop, just a requirement satisfaction... One that I might really gloss over if they had earned it as a younger Scout... I realize it has to be "earned" as a Webelos, but I'd probably be okay with a much more glossed over "earn" as opposed to a detailed earn.

We debated commission (extra 7% for us) or prizes, and went with prizes. We don't do much with ISA for our cubs, it ends up being hokey, we mostly use it to fund the "big tickets" we can't fund otherwise, usually camping gear. Going to push the "acceptable" prizes to be the outdoors/scout stuff. Things like the Compass clip on, the Compass/Whistle/Flashlight, the Pocket Knives, are all great Scout Level gear. You have to hit the $1000 level for the prizes to all turn absurd in our Council. I expect the kids to sell at least one thing to get the patch, hopefully a few more to get somet

We awarded a boy the Video Game Loop/Pin at the last pack meeting of the year. I commented that this was one I thought all the boys could earn, which got chuckles out of the parents. Most of the boys play a lot of video games. The Loop/Pin that focuses on limits, understanding appropriate games, etc., seems like a way to channel that in a good direction. I'm not committed on using Tiger "Arrows," but I was musing about it a few weeks back.

Interesting. I wonder if that would work. Have the boys wear Activity Shirts to a meeting or two (or under their shirts) and get a volunteer to sew the arrow heads on. Thanks for a great idea! My thought on the patch vest was to get the boys to wear their patches, and get the boys not earning patches to want them more.

ScoutNut, I understand that that pack at Day Camp was wrong. I'll drop the very, very, because their boys were awesome Scouts, never complained, always did their best, and were super contributors. They also took over from Pack leadership that imploded in October and did their best with the program. I try to follow the program to the letter. I just noticed at our Council Camporee and District Cuboree, I didn't see ANY boys with Elective Arrows, so I can't really get ideas at Roundtable, so I came here. We had no planning last year and a late start, so I marched through the Tiger Trail,