King Ding Dong

Careful with the "ranked up" terms. On June 1 you move up to a new den and are on a new trail, you have not earned a new rank. You get the rank when you complete all the requirements for the rank. I am starting to get the feeling that when the BSA is not clear about something, they are just being flexible. Pick a system and stick to it.

If she looks hot in it, why not ?

They aren't going to like this, but from the pictures looks like they are going to a have a more LIBERAL policy on guns.

But once you have title or deed to that mountain feel free to blow it up.

Can you egg Irving for us ? Lol

Maybe not that many 10 or even 5 years ago, but now....it's no big deal among their peers. The BSA survey showed that. The majority of the youth in the BSA don't want the COs to have the power to deny membership to gays. That number will only climb.

hi Ma! Welcome

Been eating at Arrrrbys

What do think of the Den Meeting Resource Guide ? I started last year but we got hopelessly behind try to follow it. I have been looking over the Bear plans and I just don't see how to make it work. We are meeting immediately after school on premises. We can make some field trips work, but the bike stuff would be a logistical mess. Bear at least offers a lot more flexibility, so if we do the bike thing on a Saturday and some cubs don't show they can do it own their own or pick another one to do. My first two years as a leader was a small group of Webelos so that went fairly well, (except some of the science experiments I never could get to work. Tiger was easy enough because all the dads really pitched in. (Different city) Wolf last year was a pain, the prep work involved was just to much and I wasn't getting much help from the parents and the other leader was soaked at work and had a newborn. A meeting with the teachers to check their plans could save some work, just more time up front.

By book work stuff also mean all the crafts. I don't have as big an issue with Webelos as they are getting older and can do more on their own. Although Citizenship was pretty dry, but hey we have lots more of that in BS. And yes, if you don't do it in a den meeting it probably didn't get done at home. Wolf, #12, 7, the bike safety quiz, food pyramid, job charting, read books about important people. All important stuff and certainly a building block for the schoolwork MBs. But where is the fun and adventure ? Bear 5,8, emergency phone numbers AGAIN (are there really communities without 911 ? ) 11 be ready AGAIN, 13 spending, chart chart chart, bike safety AGAIN, 17 they do this at school, 18 jot it down, school, 19 -24 ok now this fun. Go to a library ? Seriously. They do that every week at school. Part of my point is this is not the stuff we sold them on. We sold them on PWD, camping and games not charting, books and scissors and glue. Planning for and gathering all these crafting supplies is also a pain. At least in BS advancement is an option, with Cubs it is the program. PWD, yeah those pre made kits and CNC axels are something else. Down and Derby was a great movie.

"Basically I don't personally like to be associated with anything racist, one way or the other, for or against." Was just a confusing sentence to me, especially the for or against part. I understand what you are trying to say better now.

Sad to see a Scouter could be so rude. That would never fly in my district or unit. Fortunately, the custom here is for the FOS rep to request an audience and the Unit schedules a time for them to speak. They honor it and thank us for our time.

The disgust with all the cub book work has been rearing its head recently (and probably for a long time). So my question is how do you handle it ? Do you suffer through it ? Try to make it fun ? How ? Rush through it and decidedly not "do your best" ? Assign it as homework and have Akela sign off on it with a wink, wink, nod, nod say no more ? I don't have 10 hours a week to brainstorm and come up with a lesson plan that makes all the school work "fun"

I have mentioned this in other threads but feel this topic should be separated. My UC has informed me that there has been a modification in the Membership standard. I have not seen it in writing and am curious if anyone else has heard if it. This is how it was described to me. If a religious CO only has members of its own organization in its unit, it may continue to bar gay youth. He has told me this modification has been used to satisfy several COs that were not going to recharter.

DC, I still don't understand how the local option was forcing an opinion on morality on another group ? The proposed policy would have left the churches to do exactly what they were doing.

Um, I am understanding you correctly ? You don't want to be associated with anything that is against racism ?

Tribal Life USA

Had a committee member tell the SM that if he wanted her two older boys to show up for troop meetings he had to offer more merit badges at the meetings. Seriously. So what good is it to have the older boys show up if all they are going to do is sit through a MB class ? I have not had a chance to point that out to him yet.

Why would he want to continue that ? I think BD said it best..Cub Scout Troop.

Touché.....

Yes it is a pity that happens. Unfortunately one need only look at the most vocal evangelical Christians to see why that happens. My grandfather was a Southern Baptist Missionary over a whole county of churches in Arkansas and I spent many summers down there with those folks. Nice people but racist with a capital R.

You are correct on the academic belt loops and pins the requirements diverge much more than on the sports ones. A belt loop can be earned in less than an hour, a pin will generally take several hours over many sessions to complete. If a boy has already earned a belt loop Ina given subject and would rather put in the extra effort to earn the pin instead of taking the easy route and earning the belt loop AGAIN, I say common sense takes over and he should be allowed to go that route. It's more work and more in depth and he will actually learn something. That's why we do scouts. If someone feels differently and wants to stifle a boys ambition and make him only earn the belt loop AGAIN, that's their prerogative and they can certainly never be accused of not following the letter of the law.

Nobody won, and the conservatives were the ones pushing people out of the organization. It was a compromise, that nobody was happy with. In fact my UC tells me there is a new policy if a church has only members of their congregation they can kick gays out of the unit. There was no promise of fame and fortune. There is only doing the right thing. I am doing the same thing I have been doing for the BSA, what about you ?

Interesting. Seems like the majority of folks seem to think just the opposite. I must admit to thinking that it seems like Scouts will be more fun as a Scouter. I sure did as a youth.... seemed like all we did in cubs was arts and crafts. There are days I really feel like chucking that book in the circular filing cabinet. Bear and Webelos are not so bad, Wolf sucks.

Are you saying there is an Eagle at 11?