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 complain with that. I'm aware that the council/district made a technical mistake. However, awarding the Chip to the two Webelos that were there and NOT the two Wolves (one of whom is a younger brother of a Webelos) seems remarkably unfair, and discouraging a youth that has every reason to be proud of their achievement. I brought up the analogy to a SM and MBC, because it seemed like in some regard, that was fair, and how I'm handling some of these situations. I ended up awarding Fishing Belt Loops that I wouldn't have the boys didn't get 30 minutes of practice (lightning, overcrowded camp, etc.). My son and I went fishing so he could wrap up the unit (reason I love being a Scout Parent/Leader, my son has been bugging me to take him fishing forever, never got around to it, well, Scouting called, and away we went, great family moment). But the Den Leader with the Webelos awarded it, so despite my feeling that it wasn't completed, we're awarding the loop.

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 their Whittling Chip to that one as a refresher and have my other Wolves. Next year, we'll do Whittling Chip for Bears, but I thought that recognizing it and giving them the "chip" early (even if in practice they can't do anything with it) would be a good motivator for day camp next year. I was just trying to deal with the conflicts, an activity that I am advised is inappropriate for wolves was done at a council approved district event, the leader of that event told me that the boys earned the award, so I'm trying to reconcile to conflicting policies. Since the boys are unlikely to carry knives this year, and we'll redo it next year, I'm not hugely concerned with the safety aspect of this. My main concern was reconcile two conflicting BSA guidelines, Always follow G2SS, and Always award earned achievements ASAP.

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 appropriate for Bears and Webelos." I wouldn't schedule Wolves to work on their Whittling Chip, but they went to camp, did the work, and earned it, and it doesn't seem right to not award their achievement. Our inclination (I'm ACM/CC, CM and I discussed it) is to award the Whittling Chip to the boys that earned it with the card to sign. The Wolves won't be able to carry their knives on Campouts until June, but parents can carry it for them and they can use them supervised. In all likelihood, they'll get their first knives from Popcorn sales at the earliest anyways, so December/January timeframe, so we're talking a few months without carrying them to Scout functions. I think that our solution complies to G2SS and the spirit of awarding things earned. Thoughts?

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 get him involved in the activity. We're all volunteers, but most of us have jobs and/or lives as well. If someone shows up, one of the parents will talk to you about it, possibly a leader, and tell you where to show up, with an application, etc. If you're super gung ho, find the online form, leave the Pack Number blank, and fill it out and print it, and bring a checkbook for any annual dues. Want the royal treatment? Go to myscouting.scouting.org, create an adult account, take Youth Protection, print out the certificate, and bring an Adult Application to that first meeting. If you show up with your paperwork, willingness to volunteer, and youth protection, I promise you, you will be welcomed with open arms! Fillable Youth Application Form

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 boys. I really like Roundtable. In the beginning, I got a lot of information. Now I like seeing people every month to swap war stories and help the newbies.

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 Campouts to a certain extent. Perhaps your religious disclosure to new families needs to include them signing a statement that nothing in their personal religious beliefs prevents them from participating in Mass during camp outs, which would preclude that Scouting violation, but that's not an issue of substance. You have in here the only violation that may occur. You could require that everyone be Catholic, which would avoid this. I think you can also handle the communication/disclosure better, and or the opt-out procedure better. But as said elsewhere, that policy no doubt excludes Scouts that might otherwise fit with your program, but that's a reasonable tradeoff to make, just make sure it's done properly

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), or 3rd, and one goes last after their child. If you have one parent, he goes 1st (with his child going second), he goes last (with his child second to last), or he goes anywhere between spot #3 and 3rd from last, therefore preventing him from being in 1-on-1. It's not really that hard to avoid one-on-one issues.

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, the "working with youth" part is a little tricky for me, but I'm growing as a person (and parent) via Scouting. However, your advice of "Ask Your Council" is 100% correct. There are 50 States in the Union, plus the Federal District, plus overseas territories, military basis, etc. They are ALL governed under different laws. I think that SOME councils are inter-state, most are intrastate, and will guide you in the proper procedure for complying with YOUR state's laws. However, there is zero consequence to having a "banking EIN" even if not required by your state, and I think it will keep your Unit Screw-ups from really impacting the Charter Organization. I highly recommend it. I'll be the first to admit I don't know how to tie a knot (beyond the ones I learned to teach the Wolf Scouts @ Day Camp), but I handle the paperwork well. I come here because experienced Scouters have advice on the Scouting side of things. I have some experience on the business/organizational side, so I share that with the people here.

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 sheet, it adds a line, "Cub Scout Bank Account, $25". All done (ask an Accountant for the exact terms, I'm an MBA and can read an Income Statement and Balance Sheet, I don't generate them. With the new regulations, electronic payments are reported on a 1099K. so now, the PTO gets a 1099K from Paypal for $750, and an income of $25. The Accountant needs to report this as: 1099K: Income, $750 Cub Scout Pack Expenses, $725 (the balance sheet is unchanged). However, that requires the Accountant to real the P&L from the Cub Scout Pack, which is a disaster, and somehow report your expenses for that $725, of what is likely to make no sense. So if you're chartered to a non-church, you can simplify everyone's life by operating under a separate EIN. Because now the 1099K is linked to the Cub Scout Pack, which won't trigger an automatic flag. The CO can staple the 1099K and the Pack P&L to the return as a Statement, and no problem. The problem is that if the CO doesn't report the 1099K (since the Pack Treasurer didn't give it to them), it can trigger an automatic audit, which will make the PTO not happy. While attached to the Pack statement, and the Accountant doing the return (likely a 990-N) won't be confused.

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 you'll create less confusion at the IRS with this 1099-K that will be for less than the amount connected to the Pack. Ultimately you'll include the 1099K in the report you give the CO each year, but you won't cause a Red Flag at the IRS's automated systems, nor confuse the accountant doing the tax returns.

" 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 mixed neighborhoods with schools with small Jewish populations, and they like their sons having other Jewish friends. So for us, if we want youth programming for everyone, we should have a Pack, Troop, GSTroop, plus maybe a Crew? At the end of last year, we dwindled down to 12 Active Cubs and 6 Active Boys in our program. We're looking to rebuild numbers, but I don't see a scenario where our Pack grows beyond 30-35 and our Troop beyond 20-25, and that's BEST case scenario. With 18 Active male Youth (and some are from families with 2 boys in the program), to run BSA's program we need: Scout Master Assistant Scout Master Troop Committee Chair Cubmaster Pack Committee Chair Webelos Leader Bear Leader Wolf Leader Tiger Leader That's 9 required adult positions, 7 if you assume that the Pack Committee Chair and Cub Master are also Den Leaders (which they are in our unit). That's before filling a single committee role. If you're one of our Mega Churches with 60+ Cubs and 100+ Boy Scouts, terrific, you can run separate committees for all levels. If you're a small unit like ours, you're killing us with paperwork.. and guess what, that paperwork takes away from time we could be spending actually running the program which would help us grow. The difference between us have 18 youth and 80 youth is quality of programming and recruiting, and letting us have more flexibility in administration would be dramatic. BSA puts out GREAT program materials. It has a solid organization structure (compared to GSUSA's "do whatever you want") approach, but flexibility to administer the program. I'm sick of talking about gay scouts and gay leaders. 70% of the units are in religious institutions, please let us worry about "moral leaders" according to our religious guidance and get BSA back to creating more and better programming and raising corporate money for developing camp sites and district/council programming that make it easier on us to run great units. That's what BSA does best.

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 collapse starting in 2008 is far more likely a function of the economy, since venturing was growing until then, whole the collapse in cub/troop levels was longer and less likely to be cyclical. From a marketing point of view it is generally more cost effective to upswell your existing customers than get new ones. Refocusing the troop on the middle school level where it is strongest and orienting venturing as a less all encompassing thing that a high schooler can do as a part time activity will help amongst suburban youth where BSA is strongest. I think that at the cub level, coed would help dramatically since parental involvement is much higher and families with multiple children likely have both genders. I know that my daughter aging into GSUSA has sucked time and resources into growing a second program. However that leaves a troop doughnut hole where coed would basically destroy the program as we know it. At every training session by wife attends she laughs about how often the leaders remind everyone that this is NOT BSA bit a different program, but GSUSA has almost no structure beyond cookie sales and the "journey books," which leaves parents to adopt BSA Structure because they have nothing else. In a time where every family had a stay at home mom, this division worked fine, moms could work the cub program (with it's heavy parental involvement) for two years and finding a dad for Webelos (who evolves into an ASM) and the troop. With the rise of single parent homes, many of our units are dying for parental involvement and families with children of both genders find coed activities like karate and soccer easier to manage. We are having our GSUSA unit housed in the same building and sharing infrastructure as much as possible, and my wife is using BSA Youth Protection Training and This is Scouting for her parents because GSUSA has no equivalent programming. I believe is GSUSA adopting the name Girl Guiding in the US instead of Girl Scouting we'd have gone coed 10 years ago. I'm not advocating integrating the youth programming, btw, I'd want girl dens, patrols, and possibly a separate girl troop. I'd like a shared committee to oversee Pack, Troop, and Crew so families could actually volunteer in one place. I think that we'd see a growth at all levels because we could spread the parental roles more broadly. But I think venturing is always going to be the most cyclical. When the economy is good, a Crew is a great past-time for youth with cool outdoor activities. When the economy is bad, those same "go-getters" that would be in the crew are likely to be working to save for college and/or help the family through rough patches. I think BSA is trying to figure out a 21st Century program that works for modern families. My unit is almost all boys from intact homes. Most of the units in my area are NOT like this. The leaders are, but most of the boys that join cubs are there because their mom wants them to have a positive male role model in their life, and chafe at the need to volunteer. If you are a single mom with 2-3 children at home, it's much easier to try to get the ex-husband to pay for soccer than it is to volunteer every week, even if you think scouting would be better for them. My single moms with a boy or two (and no girls) love the program because they struggle with "boy stuff." The single moms with boys and girls like the program in concept, but are impossible to get to step up and volunteer. Parents that volunteer "GET" the program, reinforce it at home, and will have children that can Scout through Venturer. Parents that don't "GET" the program will migrate them to other programming before they are old enough to make their own decisions and choose. Perhaps Venturer can survive as "different enough" to grab lapsed Cub Scouts that want to get back involved in scouting as high schoolers (since no 14 year old is going to join Boy Scouts), but I think that the current market segment makes it a niche program instead of a core program, and BSA would like to make it part of the core.

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 AND my faith. Not justifying self righteousness, but one can show respect for both. One can also raise one's hat out of respect without uncovering their head.

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 Pack Overnighter only includes siblings if you have age appropriate programming for them. Cub Scouts can do: Pack Overnighter Family Camp Family Camping Troop can do: Family Camp Family Camping Weekend Overnighters So the Troop cannot include parents without siblings, and our regional Cuboree is a Family Camp program, whereas when your Pack Camps out, it's either an Overnighter or Family Camping, with apparently minor differences.

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 event, station to station, but being in a field full of Scouts, our boys finally got "scout spirit" from the units that had it. But weekly meetings don't cut it. At the troop level, the weekly meetings are hopefully all building toward the troop activities. At the cub level, it's enjoyable activities to build camaraderie and learn skills. One thing I've noticed, the recognition for accomplishment is huge, and gets the boys proud and excited. Obviously at the troop level you need to do this more maturely, but all people like recognition, and leadership and teamwork is a part of that. But begging the parents is a problem. However, giving out a patch and recognition to the boys that participated in the event and getting the boys excited about the next one seems to work.

"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) uniformed Corps, we follow uniform protocol regarding the flag. When we are in Activity Shirts (Class Bs), we're no different than a soldier in their camoflauge field uniform. We're not military, but we are uniformed. I mean, my local police, highway patrol, state troopers, and firefighters all have uniforms. Even TSA has uniforms. There are non military uniformed services. "Your historical couch is also off by several decades; Scouting has denied that it's junior military since its first decade of existence, it's BP who popularized the label "peace scouts." Well, I'm reading Scouting for Boys, and it makes it very clear (at least in the desire to excite young boys with a sense of adventure) that part of the reason to master these scout skills is so you can service King and Empire, filled with very militaristic and policing examples. We certainly have a history in the military, and while Scouting wasn't formed as a para-military group, the original manuals were teaching skills that would give you an opportunity to serve your King in the far flung regions of the empire.

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 gives you 16 meetings. You can schedule 16 Bear Achievements, and the 12 Wolf Achievements + 4 groups of Wolf Electives. Try to line up the Wolf/Bear ones that are related. So the boy finishes around his next birthday when it's time to rank advance. Scout Camp can supply Belt Loops/Pins/Electives. LDS Webelos is one year, right. Figure you have 14 Meetings for Webelos Activities and 2 Meetings dedicated to "Troop Stuff." Schedule a meeting for Scout Master discussions meeting, and a learn Scout Sign/Oath/Law meeting, and get a Den Chief/ASM/SM to come in for those. Schedule the Den Hike/Campout with the Troop as well. Across 14 Meetings, you can do 7 Webelos Activity Pins w/o trouble and complete the Arrow of Light.

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 something to bring on hikes/campouts. I'm excited for the program, hoping to get a Scout Trailer for our Pack if we hit our sales goal, which we'll hit if the 4 families that rocked camp cards push popcorn a bit, and everyone else sells $10-$50 worth. Having the prizes lets us recognize the boys that are working hard, trying to do it ourselves to control it a bit seems like a lot of extra work for no reason.

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, but we got stuck with a few achievements left that were hard to schedule, and I did electives, but the boys didn't "see" the progress. I'm pretty sure if I was handing out elective beads during the year, I'd have gotten them to do some at home. As we've made a big deal of a real pack meeting (we used to meet as a Pack then break into Dens, never a Pack Meeting), the boys are super excited to show off what they've earned. I want to make the electives more of an emphasis. We're going to have 16 Den Meetings this year, because we have an active Pack schedule and we take a week off before/after major weekend activities to prevent burn out. That's enough time to maybe earn 10 Arrow Points along the way, 20 will be seriously pushing it. Extra problem for us, as a Jewish Pack, we are SERIOUSLY restricted in what we can do on Saturdays, which includes at Camp Outs. That makes it hard to rack up electives, hard is not an excuse to not try, but the boys really need to do it with their family. I agree it's not either/or, just looking for ways to make this more exciting for the boys and reinforce the idea that they are Scouts 24/7, not just in the meetings. Also, at the beginning of Tiger, the boys can't read that well. I'm going to ask my Wolves to bring their book every week, and we'll sign off achievements as we go. But I'm hoping for more ideas, which I'm getting, thank you Scouter.com!