King Ding Dong

My wife fully admits she climbed trees all the time as a child. She has an absolute cow every time the boys try to do it now,

Tree climbing? Without a brain bucket and belayed? Shhh. Don't let Texas know about that.

Not very effective handgun registration apparently.

The only ER badges my camp offer are Swimming, Lifesaving, FA and ES (2 hours per day). Seems reasonable although the 1 hour for the others is a bit skimpy IMHO. I would much rather see 2 solid MB earned in a week rather than 3 or 4 (or worse). The camp manual advises no more than 3 my my new SM and ASM encouraged 4 against my recommendation.

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/North_Star_Award.pdf

Is there a requirement that a scout has a copy and/or have read the MB pamphlet in order to fulfill the requirements and earn the badge? I have not seen one. In the case of The Swimming MB I can't think of one thing in that pamphlet my son did not already know although I am sure there was some obscure detail or two. That said, I would imagine in most circumstances reading the pamphlet is a really good idea.

The core principles of most religious denominations are similar and and non-conflicting. It's the other "stuff" that make the fight like cats and dogs and as the old joke goes "I pushed him of the bridge". To answer your question. They can probably get away with it because the only recourse council has ultimately is to pull a charter and that is not likely.

Hey jp, you seem to really be into making patches and stuff. How about you come up with a "Support your Local Uniform Police" patch we can all wear to Roundtables?

Looks like mistakes were made. Gee, I have never heard of anything like this happening under other Presidents or Attorney Generals. I sure miss the good old days.

We have been doing by den. Usually the pack supplies the charcoal for some grills. Usually people just bring hot dogs and brats. Will try and step it up a bit for my Webelos den this year. Trying to cook for over 10 people is a real pain. We try and keep registration fees low and make activities pay as you go.

When I hear these stories about councils that can't even provide basic functions like MBC lists it really makes me wonder if they deserve to be councils. I am in one of the big ones so I realize we have more resources than the smaller ones, but seriously how hard is it to maintain a web based MBC list? This is intro level web programming stuff any college MIS major could do. Our council requires every MBC to reregister online every year verifying current contact info, otherwise you are dropped. I will admit the online list is open to all against GTA recommendations.

Any of you guys have some vacation time to come knock some heads at my troop? I will have you start with the parents.

Have you tried natural consequences like no flags no breakfast ? Don't participate in cleanup no next meal? Are the parents supportive of consequences? (Probably not and that is your biggest problem). Find out how much sleep he normally gets. My troop has a real problem with respecting lights out time and frequently are up past midnight. This is hell on my son as he needs 10 hours or he is a mess in the morning. It is starting to click with him and he starting to crash after cracker barrel instead of staying up chatting with the rest of our delinquents.

And the a Scout will likely get grounded for running in a parking lot.

He is only 12 so I hope he doesn't have a girlfriend yet! No Eagle projects currently in the works but I am sure he can find something. I can certainly use him with the Pack or some CO events. Not my call, just thought I could advise the SM. The local food bank recently put a minimum age limit like 14 on volunteers so the boys have to do a bit more planning than they used to I hear.

You are in tough spot. He likely needs some therapy but suggesting that to Mom is WAY above your pay grade. Hopefully she will come to that realization. How is he with weekend campouts?

3rd attempt at camp? Does this mean he is a 3rd year scout as in 12 or 13? Not having any friends in the troop can be hard on any kid as well. Do you have any exceptional scouts that could be his buddy and help him fit in?

BD was going to help us out with the CPAP issues but forgot about I guess. I carry a big marine deep cycle battery and inverter to power mine but do not use the humidifier. I doubt it would warm the air significantly. I know what you mean about the cold air, though the problem I have is the condensation build up especially below 32F. I just keep a rag and wipe my nose a lot at night. I have heard of people putting the machine in the sleeping bag to help warm the air but men get stinky camping. I get two nights out of one charge and use a wheelbarrow to haul it to the program hall for charging at summer camp. There is a device called Provent that works for some people and seems reasonably priced for short term usage. I am going to test it out soon. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/treating-sleep-apnea-without-the-mask/

I was talking to one of our scouts at the pool the other day and he is excited about earning Star. I inquired as to what he was doing for his service hours and he is planning on using the arduous labor at the Ordeal in the fall. Our new SM knows squat about OA so I was wondering if this is considered bad form or permissible?

Our pack presents the parent pin to the scout on his collar upside down and then when he does a good turn he presents it to his parent. I suppose if you want to take the risk of stabbing the cub with a safety pin and getting sued you could pin the bobcat badge to him. I have heard of actually holding the scout upside down and pinning the bobcat to him but I saw some memo from National that considers that hazing, I think. Oh, here is an old thread on the subject. http://www.scouter.com/forum/cub-scouts/16757-bobcat-tradition

To answer your last question about any awards he can earn from going to camp. Attending day or resident camp is one of the requirements for the Outdoor Activity Award. I will get yelled at for saying this but it looks like a OA flap so many of the boys love to show it off. http://www.scouting.org/Home/CubScouts/Leaders/Awards/CSOutdoorActivityAward.aspx

Fred to be fair on the "fairs". Some around here require registration be by troop some require individual registrations. They almost all require some sort of nominal fee that must be made by credit card. In my state 12 year olds cannot have a debit/credit card (legally).