Faith

To the OP, as far as I know pages/groups can only be created by Facebook accounts. Following Facebook's TOS, each person is only allowed one account (I know many do not follow that but discussing rules here, that's one of them for Facebook itself.) If you create it under your name, you can assign admins but you will also be one, you may be able to leave it once your time is up but no one can boot you from it beforehand, even other admins (we found this out earlier this year in our group.)

Speaking of our group, this prompts a question from me that relates to the OP. Our pack created a private group back in 2010 for the parents in our pack to share photos, chat, get info on upcoming events, etc. Since we are a pack, not a troop (and none of our cub scouts are 13 or older), there are absolutely no scouts themselves in our group (as that would be against Facebook TOS.)

That being said, I see on the page linked above: "Therefore, no private channels (e.g., private Facebook groups or invite-only YouTube channels) are acceptable in helping to administer the Scouting program. "

The last part - 'helping to administer the Scouting program' - I try not to pick apart things but if our group is not being used to administer the program itself, does that count? I guess it depends on your definition of administer.

I know all these rules were put into place with the scout's safety in mind (I wholeheartedly agree, especially considering my job involves nothing but social media and I have seen the dark side of it in many forms) but if this is something solely for the parents, does it still apply?

We have four administrators (two of us are new since the other two have since moved on to Boy Scouts) to ensure nothing funny pops up in there when another isn't online. We have close to 80 adults in our group (every year we clean it up to make sure the only adults in there are presently part of our pack) and everyone behaves and utilizes the group well.

Each year I have a complete schedule of events, activities and achievements we'll be working on drafted by August. This is made available to all my den's scouts and their parents. We have a few that play sports, they come when they can and work at home on what they miss. Normally by November/December those sports are over with (football mainly) and they pick back up with us. Granted, a few boys did not like trying to do both and dropped out before re-charter but we have a few that balance both well.

I have tried many things for this issue in the past three years - quoting some of it.

After every den meeting I would send an email to the den explaining what we covered and asked parents of absent scouts to complete the missed stuff at home.

make an achievement poster with the requirements listed that you have done or asked to be done at home. Each meeting for a short bit put stickers on what each scout has completed.

They don't get the bead. How is this hard?

When you have a moment each boy who didn't advance and tell him if he reads his book and does the activity with his mom or dad, and they sign off, you'll get him a bead for the next pack meeting. Let him know you really would like him to earn it, but if he doesn't want to that's okay. Leave it up to him to talk to Mom and Dad.

I always send messages after each meet and we tried the chart (which wasn't as effective as I'd have liked it to be but we can say we tried.)

I also make sure they know if it isn't completed, they don't get their bead(s). Last year we had some boys bust behind at the end after sports finished up (even though they knew what was required all throughout, they held it off) but most did get it done in time and I did assist them during one of our last meets. We still had a few boys not ready by B&G when most receive their rank. That was ok. They saw the other boys get theirs, then used the last 3 months to earn theirs as well. It sounds a bit tough to some but for us it works!

KDD, whoever has that mentality, I'd love to swap lives with them for a bit. (Yes, I know there are plenty out there!) I have to just about sign away my soul to get time off to do all my den meets and attend one camp out a year, night shift is not ideal for scouting but we make it work! However, if I'm taking and paying for a trip to Philmont just to answer some questions, I better be hitting a lot more locations on the way there since I can't even do that for a normal vacation

Thank you Fehler! I knew I'd read about that sometime before (LNT) but it totally slipped my mind when making this guide. Adding in that bit for now, at least they'll know its a work in progress.

Appreciate it you two and again, apologies for hijacking

Ahh I didn't think about that. Sadly, not a chance in this world that'll happen with work and everything else! Ah well, it'll be available one day Thanks as always!

Lol, well looking for less helpful but better than nothing - have you seen any info on any one of them, at least? I've seen so many aspects covered, including how many awards no longer tie directly to the scouting principals/basics/what have you (which is where I'd have thought they would go into more detail) but so far, nothing.

Without making a new thread on this topic, can someone help me out? I am making a guide for our leaders that'll condense the basics of the new program. I've went through 20 different pages I know grabbing info and comparing, including the new requirements (adventures.) I know belt loops, pins and immediate recognition items are going away, with new adventure loops and pins taking their place. I read the reasoning, saw some of the Webelos titles for pins they can aim to earn presently are also going away. My question is, is there a list somewhere of the awards that are not going away? Ones that will br recognized and will still be obtainable? Examples: Leave No Trace Award, Whittling Chip, Outdoor Activity Award, etc. I may have overlooked it, information overload today, lol. Thanks!

I always wondered about this award, we have a den that meets three times a month, every month and they have never earned this (I'm not sure how they'd go about it as I've also never seen a den leader receive an award in our pack.) Our den meets twice a month, September - May. June, July & August we do a 5-day day camp, a water day and a pack meet, no den meets. So we'd be out of the running regardless.

I personally would aim 8-10, only because of what's mentioned many times here - the numbers fluctuate so much. Den splits, every year, have been a thorn in my side.

Tiger year, before I took over our den, we had 25+ signed up. The den leader ignored half of the parents when it came to contacting them (she didn't have the time) and by the time I took over in December, we were down to 9 regulars. After re-charter, 4 due to 5 leaving with the den leader and her son. If we had of split early on, I think we would have kept quite a bit more in the program.

Our wolf year, we started out with 25 or so. When I mentioned a den split, we abruptly dropped to 12 scouts (within a month or so's time.) At re-charter, we had 15 scouts. It was quite overwhelming those last three months but since no one was volunteering to take over that late into the year, I pulled the extra weight with my assistant den leader to try and not lose anyone.

As Bears (with a recent recruitment session at the schools), we are at 25 registered with roughly 17 coming to meets. I and the CM plan on a split within the next month or so to try and keep as many as we can without killing me this year. But I'm worried when it comes up, we'll have more drop out. Always a sticky situation for us as I do my best but like most, I still hate to see them go at the mention of 'help.'

So long story short, even though that's my ideal number, obviously I have trouble keeping my den around that total Good luck!

I was sad to hear how the turnout went but reading further, kudos to you for venturing on and having a positive attitude with the upcoming pack meet. It sounds like a great time!

I have a feeling we'll see some of the same this year with our Webelos I but on a positive note, I'm so proud to see how far our volunteers have come in the past year and I hope you see the same in the near future. More and more here are signing up once we had a new CM and assistant CM take over. We've also had lots more volunteers help out with trying new events we've never done before as a pack (PWD earlier this year, our first show and sell tomorrow, among other things.)

This was after seeing my first year with the pack go quite sour with so many volunteers and scouts leaving due to inactivity, a CM that abruptly moved away, no communication among half the den leaders and parents, etc. None of the Webelos (I and II) from that year made it past WII, which was very disheartening.

We're trying to change things up to get new interest in the program and keep some of our 'regulars' actively interested as well. Take it one meet at a time, remind yourself you are doing your best and don't give up!

I just wanted to pop in and say thanks for everyone posting tips about this. I'm over the Bears this year and we will be working on this soon. I didn't know about letting the soap dry out beforehand (we'd already decided that's what we'd start out with.) I'd also wondered about the bulkiness of the knives but I like the approach of small steps now, bigger ones later.

How did it go? I've managed to have a pretty successful den for the past year or so now and like everyone else here, communication is essential. I talk to the parents at least once a week, meeting or not, to let them know what's going on, what to expect, etc. At first I was worried I was bothering them too much so I flat out asked them. I didn't have any object to my calls (or texts with info) and we went from 4 regulars Tiger year to 12 regulars Wolf year (and we're double that now before the upcoming den split.)

Logged in today to see that mine had reset and disappeared, no more bright red notification

Unfortunately it's so true' date=' One nice thing about being in full uniform: you get noticed and/or publicity. My pack was going to take their group picture on the USS YORKTOWN as soon as we we came back from visiting Fort Sumter. So we full uniform, or at least as much as some folks had, in stead of the pack t-shirts. When we got to Sumter, the rangers picked our guys to put up the current US flag, and also lead everyone in the ceremony or posting the colors.[/quote']

 

Totally off topic but I'm so happy to see someone on here in my neck of the woods (somewhat.) We just camped out at the USS Yorktown back in February with our council

 

Back on topic, Lenae, I wish you luck with what y'all decide. I agree that the tailoring will help if you already own a pair of the official pants. I had to have my own uniform tailored (it fit in the waist but the length was ridiculously long on me.) Maybe in the future I'll see about having the same done for my son.

I agree with T2Eagle. In this situation, I think a similar cheaper/better fitting pair of pants or shorts is better than jeans or pants that stand out drastically. I also support looking neat over '100%' uniform suited if part of the uniform just doesn't fit right and there's no official alternative until the scout grows more.

Our school system here requires uniforms to be worn at all times. So my son has quite a few navy blue uniform pants and shorts. We bought him a pair of the scout switch backs his first year in scouting but like your son, they fit awkwardly. He wears the rest of the uniform in entirety, except for the pants. The school uniform pants are half the price, fit better and are the exact same color. You really can't notice a difference unless you get up close and inspect. I encourage parents who cannot afford the switchbacks (or dislike them for various reasons) to let them wear a pair of their uniform pants from school. So far it hasn't caused any issue.

Welcome, Joseph! Just post in whichever area that applies to you and I can guarantee you'll get advice from one person or another

*tears* That's about how it works. My number has went up again, I know its from the comments following my own. Too badthere isn't a reset anywhere. Not like its a huge issue (especially after some of the ones I personally saw last year when I tried signing up for 3+ months...) but still annoying. Its all LOOK AT ME and there's nothing to see...

Glad you posted about this, as my husband and I have been debating for awhile what to get ourselves once we retire our current one. We have an older Coleman 8 man tent (has a rain fly and the floors wrap up the sides, which works great.) Its at least ten years old and has been used quite a bit. Our boys are 7 and 4 & we are not sure when to separate them from us at family campouts, which is our main deciding factor on what we go with. I like the idea of two smaller tents, personally, but until I know the boys don't mind going into their own, we're probably going to stick with this size one (or until it bites the dust.)

Same here Brewmeister, I'm starting to think jblake47 is onto something here. Sadly I have no access to such a thing to get it worked out

That's grand Today it was at 4. I went in and had ONE notification I could actually see. I cleared it and the number went down to 3. I assume your reply here is what made it go up from two but there was no notification I could see for it. Funny how that works (or...doesn't work, actually.)

Is anyone having an issue with clearing the 'Messages' number? I've had mine stuck at one for well over a month now. Today it changed to two. Wasn't sure if anyone else was still seeing this (I know I saw something about it earlier this year - or so I thought!)

Welcome Loomans and Saundramanns!

Hello! I'm in the same boat as you. Current Bear den leader, been with our den since my son was a Tiger. My youngest will be in scouts in two years also. Hope to see you around!

Welcome aboard