King Ding Dong

Sorry, having issues with paragraphs on the iPad.

I am not a wood expert but I assume maple is a hardwood and therefor denser. I think the major difference would be if you required using the slots vs. allowing custom holes. It could also allow for better alignment if I using a narrow body design. I wouldn't take the boys trophy away. I would shame the parent who did this as it wasn't the cub's idea. Never punish a boy for the mistakes of an adult. You could give a 1st place trophy to the 2nd place winner, I suppose. Get the movie Down and Derby (2005). You can show it at a pack meeting. It is really funny. I think it is on Netflix right now.

If I ever become a SM I am so getting a Smoky Bear hat. I can't stand that stupid cowboy hat Woodbadgers wear.

It is a pilot program in Minnisota. Wikipedia says it is scheduled to roll out 2014-2015 school year. There is also some mention on merit badge.org and boyscouttrail. Allegedly a success. It seems they are not really part of the Pack but can visit special pack meetings. My youngest was itching to be a Tiger because he had an older brother in cubs, not sure how much excitement it would generate without that influence. The biggest hinderence I see is meeting times. With working families meetings before 7 are difficult and then they are up to late. The BSA could sure stand to get us parents some training in cat herding from these kindergarten teachers. I don't know how they do it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Scout

Fun, active and outdoors. The kids are not as annoying.

I believe cubs does get a little long. The problem is there is to much "school" work involved and not enough fun. It also gets hard for den leaders to come up with the supplies and tools to do some of the activities. The How To book is hopelessly outdated. There are only so many birdhouse kits you can build and in the more northern states you get stuck inside for most of the program year. I did the wolf secret code elective last week and it was a HUGE hit. I never would have guessed. Shows you how much I know. My old council in a smaller city had TONS of lockins at museums and such. Those went over big. St. Louis unfortunately has none of that stuff. Our yards were bigger and we did lots of backyard campouts to change things up. Honestly in my opinion the best thing to do at the kindergarten age is to hit the learning to read hard and heavy. Introducing a second language while their brain is still receptive is also a big one. Leaf rubbings can wait a year.

You have to interest the boys but you have to sell the parents. Are you trying to recruit from a church or school ? Our CM had luck last year by showing some Video at lunch time at the school to the 1st graders, then reeled the parents in at a school open house night. He also set up the derby track in the cafeteria and had practice races.

That is correct. By extension the Institutional Head can also by directing it through the COR. If the CM is accused of being gay, I suppose National can do it also.

Jc thanks that is good, but I still wonder if that is the best approach. Shouldn't th Cub be using his book and marking things off ( the paw prints) ? Taking some degree of responsibility for his advancement. To that end bought the spiral handbook for my wolf this past year.

Here, here. IOLS was a brief survey of Scoutcraft, and intro to the patrol method, but not much on Boy Led. I will continue to take as much training as I can through Pow Pow, U of scouting, pioneering kit, etc. But this forum is the best source I have found for Boy Led. I found out Thursday the troop is hoping I become SM next spring. SURPRISE. I am so not ready for that. Scoutcraft wise, patience wise, leadership skill wise, health wise, fitness wise, relating to teenagers wise and just about every other wise you can think of. Plus I still have a son in cubs. I need to start preparing for this possible outcome. We have Woodbadge in the fall and spring. So any suggestions on if it is worth my time are welcome. Another thing has been nagging at me recently and may be better as a new topic. Am I doing a disservice to my son (s) by being a direct contact leader ? Especially my oldest who really needs to learn independence. My plan was to start backing off over the next year, not become SM.

90% of the time 90% of the Roundtable is a waste of time. But the networking part can be helpful. I just wish it ours were at church that served beer. No such luck.

I try to tell my parents to thumb through the electives once a month, it only takes five minutes. That way they can go "oh, Tommy brought home a drum he made at school last week".

How long are your meetings? I find it hard to keep their attention for more than hour. My other concern with this approach is Webelos is supposed to be training for Boy Scouts who meet once a week even after a campout. I have coined this approach "Cub Scouts Lite" and not sure I want this for youngest.

Didn't the Air Force use them at some point ? " I don't always wear an ascot, but when I do I wear my Tiger Cub Orange" The most interesting Cub in the world.

This is the only issue that has any merit. That merit, however, is very limited. Parents have no business keeping any kind of record for their Scout. The Scouts are the ones who are responsible for their own records. The sign-offs in a Scout's Handbook should be made only by the person(s) the SCOUTMASTER has approved to do those sign-offs (see section 4.2.1.2 in the BSA Guide to Advancement). As others have stated - it is WAY PAST time to have a in-depth discussion with your COR (Charter Organization Representative), and get both the Advancement, and Committee, Chairs to start following the BSA program. My only difference of opinion is that the parent can assist the scout keep a backup record of his book if the scout does not have the means to do so. For instance a cell phone photo of the requirements pages once a month or so, just in case the book gets lost or wet. Believe it or not there are some kids out there without cell phones, digital cameras or scanners.

That swimming thing really has me perplexed. The requirements are almost entirely about DOING. An accomplished swimmer would need to read nothing to earn the badge, except a few safety and FA things. What kind of offending information did the instructor provide? Do the boys have the MB pamphlet? Providing additional knowledge beyond what is in the pamphlet is the whole point of having a counselor and not just reading the book. Listen, there is no " I don't think she can do this ". She can't. I would love to see her try and then have the all the Scouts appeal to Council and embarrass the heck out of her.

I forgot all about that. Used to do that for some reason. Here is a link http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/08/sms-using-email/

Pack I hope they do respond. I am interested in it but I want to know more about what the benefits are. What the BSA provides may not be Scouting, but that is the program we are working with. I know with my son we are just going to focus on the Scoutcraft skills and fun stuff for now. At summer camp he is signed up for pioneering, basketry, cooking, geology and swimming. He is weak on knots, but we have acouple of weeks home together to work on those. We have two nurses in the troop so they will work on FA. Maybe in the fall he might tackle 1 eagle required like personal fitness. He needs that focus on building his strength. He likes geology and is always curious what kind of rock something he picks up is. On a hike he found a 7 lb sandstone and insisted on putting in his pack and bringing it home. I known there are school systems that fall short on civics, but it seems like he gets enough of that in school. The three Citizenship MBs just seem like not fun and overkill. I will have to go back and look at some of Kudu's previous posts.

A couple of thoughts on the Program, because I get confused sometimes. The Den and Pack Meeting resource guide is layed out with two den meetings per month and one pack meeting for a 9 month school year. However the JTE and den leader knots want 3 den meetings a month. The problems find in scheduling 2 den meeting a month is 1 it is hard to get it all done 2. there inevitably are conflicts with school events, weather, sick den leader etc that then put us behind further. Maybe I am just not efficient enough with the meetings or assign enough homework. The first pack we were with was out of a Catholic Church and was huge. They held a a den/pack meeting once a month. Dens met in classrooms for the first hour then an hour pack meeting. Well organized and enough dynamic leadership to keep the boys engaged. They were "successful" because the schedule allowed less conflict with sports. Sports always seem to be a higher priority than scouts. I do have a conflict that needs to be resolved with former Webelos leader (and now CC) who has a son in my bear den. He met once a month and just did the requirements he could get done in that hour then awarded the badge. Not the program, but says the parents like it.

Yeah, what exactly does sexual activity mean ? Kissing? That's nuts. Groping? Good luck stopping that. Kids exaggerate and brag. Anything short of photos is just not evidence. Taking photos of naked teenagers is illegal and someone needs to go to jail.

Troopwebhost will do this. Not sure about SOAR.

As Frank said this is all wrong. Your AC, SM, TC all have absolutely no control over Merit Badges. Those are outside the realm of the troop. The guide to advancement is the controlling authority. If your CC cannot be convinced this is all wrong your next step is the Chartered Organization Representative. If no luck there, run don't walk away from this troop. This is not scouting. Does this idiot think the scout is supposed to drive himself to the scout shop and purchase is own Merit Badge Pamphlets. They or the worksheets are not required but helpful. The swimming thing is just over the top. The sit down should be "Thank you for your service. Your services are no longer needed."

The exploitation aspects of cookie sales are not obvious to me. I love GS Cookies. Who is getting exploited? Me the fat middle aged guy who can't resist a glass of milk and a whole box of peanut butter patties, thus shortening my life by another week ? I can't imagine being the father of a girl period. Single or married. Especially in LA. I can think of one very real problem you are going to have camping. Something not talked about enough is the need to do a full body check for ticks after returning from a campout. When we get back we all strip in the foyer, toss all the clothes in a tub and mom checks all over. There are places on your body you just can't view yourself well. Not an issue with a Mom doing that to her son, but a father doing that to a preteen to teen daughter? Many would take issue with it, even though it is a health and safety issue. I suspect you are going to need to invest in some mirrors.

I suspect many of the complaints are because the parents bought a long sleeve shirt. Unless you are in Alaska I would always go short sleeve and add layers underneath as needed. I have always tied a knot in the necker but there is a safety issue with that. When boys play "holding" violations are common. They grab for whatever they can and could potentially cause some neck injuries with a tied necker. I never could get the rubber band trick to work well. Another solution to loosing the slide is to loop one side through and leave the other side as normal. This minimizes the risk of loosing the slide.

I dont see a loophole. By not earning AOL he has not demonstrated the necessary skills to earn early entry to Boy Scouts. AOL is not that hard. Super 20 is. You are right though that if you get a 9 year old fifth grader, maybe because he skipped a grade, there is a problem. There are probably issues with homeschoolers as well. I am sure BSA has procedures to deal with this type of issue. Beyond entry, one must still consider the mental, emotional and physical challenges that a 8 or 9 year old would face trying to fit in with a troop of teenage boys. It is tough at 10 for many boys. That said, I spoke with a UC about a fifth grader who was not in cubs but was considering scouts. He said he could attend meetings and camp with the new scouts as a "guest" until he finished fifth grade or turned 11. Would likely require a parent to attend all events as well and could be credited with advancement. Not sure if that was rouge advise or not, but makes sense.