dedkad

So for all you hand-sewers, what's the trick to sewing on the patches? The patches are so thick I need a thimble to push the needle through. It's very slow going, and I can't see how younger boys could manage.

Girl Scout cookies. yum.

If you decide to fold, I think you should spend all of the remaining money you have on a really cool outing for the boys as a group instead of sending them each off with their own money.

This is what I did. Every boy listed 2 boys on a sticky note that he would like to tent with. And we have a discussion about treating everyone well. (one of our den norms). The discussion went like this, "you will get to tent with at least one of your guys on the sticky. No 'celebrating' when you hear who you get, 'be cool'. You may be also in the tent with someone who is not your best friend, that is okay too because getting along with other guys is one of the things scouts is about and I am so proud of how you all do that." Also there is a talk about "adults are in charge and if a tent combination is not working -- going to sleep or whatever there might be a change".

 

Then as an adult decision we organized the tents with the best combinations for the den as a whole. Each boy was with at least one of his buds. (I suggest a 3 and 4 combination in your case, but a 3, 2, 2 combination might work based on what is on the cards.) At camp after the tents are all set up have each tent have an "open house" for each other so they don't feel excluded. Take an extra 2 person in case you need to make a change.

 

Hope that helps

You heard second-hand from the dad den leader that everyone wants to quit or move to a different pack. If I were you, I'd make some phone calls myself just to make sure he is accurately reporting how others feel. Chances are, though, they won't feel the same nostalgia you do about the pack and just want to make sure their boy is having fun. If you think what your pack offers is better than the other packs in the area, then fight to keep it. Otherwise, save yourself, the other parents, and the boys the stress of the constant leadership turnover and move to another pack.

This is what I did. Every boy listed 2 boys on a sticky note that he would like to tent with. And we have a discussion about treating everyone well. (one of our den norms). The discussion went like this, "you will get to tent with at least one of your guys on the sticky. No 'celebrating' when you hear who you get, 'be cool'. You may be also in the tent with someone who is not your best friend, that is okay too because getting along with other guys is one of the things scouts is about and I am so proud of how you all do that." Also there is a talk about "adults are in charge and if a tent combination is not working -- going to sleep or whatever there might be a change".

 

Then as an adult decision we organized the tents with the best combinations for the den as a whole. Each boy was with at least one of his buds. (I suggest a 3 and 4 combination in your case, but a 3, 2, 2 combination might work based on what is on the cards.) At camp after the tents are all set up have each tent have an "open house" for each other so they don't feel excluded. Take an extra 2 person in case you need to make a change.

 

Hope that helps

I had a backyard campout when my youngest son was a Webelos Scout. Decided to bunk all 7 in one tent, 10x12. MISTAKE! Most wanted to be quiet and sleep, but 2 wanted to cause trouble, and there was not quiet until almost 2 am. Other than the getting-to-sleep part all went well, but if I have another campout with my current Webelos Den, I'll separate them for sure!

I asked a friend who plays a lot of tennis, including club tournaments. Here is what he told me:

"Not sure about some of these, maybe do a google search for tennis drills. Forehand alley rally is where each person stands on the right side of the court and hits forehands to the other. It's always over the net so 3 & 4 are the same. I think 1 & 5 is where you stand close to the net on the service line and hit volleys/short hops back and forth."

But what about the environment...

But what about the environment...

I will be taking my Webelos on their first, and probably only, camping trip without a parent along, and I'm wondering how to work out the sleeping arrangements. I will have up to 7 boys going, and there is not enough room at the site for each boy to have his own tent. If I left it strictly up to the boys, I would have 5 boys who all get along and would all want to share a tent and 2 that are left out. I don't think it is a good idea to bunk the 2 left-out boys together because they both have very different behavior issues that won't mesh well together in a confined space. How do you work out sleeping arrangements on a campout without hurting people's feelings and without making some of the boys miserable?

Outside of Archery and BB Guns. Listed Below are two Activities Webelos can Participate in..According to the Rules they Can only Fire Bows, BB Guns, and Air Rifles if the following Guidelines are followed..They Can Learn about Muzzle Loaders but not handle or Fire

 

All shooting sports activities held during a council resident camp will follow the standards in National Camp Standards, No. 430-056. All shooting sports activities held outside of a council’s resident camp will follow the rules and regulations found in the BSA National Shooting Sports Manual, No. 30931http://www.scouting.org/filestore/Outdoor%20Program/pdf/30931_WB.pdf

 

 

Level 1: Air Rifle Shooting Experience

Purpose. Introduce and recruit youth to the BSA and the BSA shooting sports programs. The BSA is taking the range and the

experience to the people.

Examples. An air rifle range set up at a community event, county or state fair, a mall, a store opening, etc.

Youth. Minimum age: 8 years old. Male or female

Rifle. .177-caliber air rifle with a minimum 2.5-pound trigger pull; open, scope, or dot sights; air, CO2

, or pre-charged pneumatic

Ammunition. .177-caliber pellets

Range. A BSA-approved range, a public or private commercial range or club, a portable range, a shooting trailer, or a

temporary safety enclosure

Training. Five minutes of three rules of gun safety. Guns are tethered to a table and magazines are loaded by instructors.

Youth just point at targets and fire. Taught by a National Camping School shooting sports director certified as an NRA rifle

instructor, or an NRA certified rifle instructor or NRA/USA Shooting/CMP certified rifle coach.

Safety. Eye protection is required.

Range supervision. A certified NRA range safety officer or a currently certified National Camping School shooting sports director

certified as an NRA rifle instructor or an NRA certified rifle instructor or NRA/USA Shooting/CMP certified rifle coach

Ratio. One NRA range safety officer or one currently certified National Camping School shooting sports director certified as an

NRA rifle instructor or an NRA certified rifle instructor or NRA/USA Shooting/CMP certified rifle coach or NRA instructor for

every shooter on the line

Course. Bench rest position only, large bull’s-eye targets with a target carrier system, resetting metallic targets, balloons, and

other fun, breakable targets

 

Level 1: Muzzleloading Introduction

Purpose. Introduce and recruit youth to the BSA and the BSA shooting sports programs.

Examples. Could be held at a county or state fair, conservation club, or school program (with prior administrative approval).

The BSA is taking the range and the experience to the people.

Youth. Minimum age: 8 years old. Male or female

Rifle. Flintlock and percussion rifles and accoutrements

Ammunition. Samples of appropriate ammunition for display and explanation

Range. Not applicable. For display and discussion purposes only.

Training. Guns are not to be handled except by an instructor. Taught by a National Camping School shooting sports director

certified as an NRA/NMLRA muzzleloading rifle instructor, or an NRA/NMLRA muzzleloading rifle instructor, or a National

Muzzleloading Rifle Association rifle instructor.

Safety. Display and discussion only

Range supervision. Not applicable

Ratio. Small groups

Course. No course of fire

I have a message in to the Council, but I'm wondering if Cubs Scouts are allowed to participate in the Shoot O Rama's. What about Webelos? In order to earn our AOL, my Webelos have to do an outdoor activity with a Boy Scout troop. I thought the Shoot O Rama would be perfect for that.

I think it also causes one of two things to happen:

1. Leaders take their boys on less trips because the paperwork is too cumbersome (Sometimes great opportunities come up, but the deadline to submit a tour permit has already passed.), or

2. The boys go on the trip anyway, without the paperwork.

4.1.0.4 is not really new. While it has not been spelled out in the Advancement Guide before, it has been mentioned in the Cub Scout Leader Book, and has been a rule for many years now.

 

The only stipulations have been that the Cub can not work in two levels at the same time, and that the extension is for the rank award only.

For the boy without his bobcat badge, I would go over all the parts with him. For #8: With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the booklet, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse. I would step in and tell him to read the booklet and talk to his parent about it. The next time I see his parent--even if that means standing out in the parking lot and talking to the parent in the doorway of their automobile, and ask them to please cover this part with their son. Explain that it says with parent, so you as den leader can't do it with them. If the parent isn't the one driving them to mtgs, I would assume that their "guardian" is doing it, and ask them to go over it with them. If the parent refuses, I might spend 5 minutes in a den meeting going over it with the whole den--covering the basics of don't go anywhere without telling your parent where you are going and getting their permission. There are some what if kind of scenarios in the Wolf badge that would sort of go along with it. and then I would sign it and give the boy his Bobcat badge.

 

And then go from there. Many Many parents think that if you are spending an hour a week with their kid that there should be no reason for homework or no reason for the parent to have to do anything out of the book with them. That's part of what you have to get across to parents that they don't always understand. Go thru and highlight and sticky note the items in the book that you are NOT going to do in the year and that they should do with their parent. and then do your best to get thru the rest of it with them in den meetings. keep communicating with the parents so they understand what is expected of them.

Of course he was found not guilty. It was Florida. Look at Casey Anthony.

I have been reading this discussion with interest. When my son was a Bear, I definitely thought the Bear program was repetitive and also, "too much like school." He was also bored with the program.

 

Webelos I and II go much meatier and more interesting.

 

Baden-Powell Scouting (BPSA) has kids in grades 3-5 together as one group, and that grouping seems good to me. GSUSA has Brownies as girls in grads 2-3. I'd say being a troop leader, grade 3 (second year of Brownies) was where it really got fun.

 

I don't know why we all are pushing so hard to get little little children into Scouting. When I was young, Girl Scouts didn't even start till 2nd grade! I see moms and dads in my town trying so hard to get Daisies started for their little girls (k-1st grade) and the evening meetings are just so hard on kids that young, and the parents are tearing their hair out. We have a big retention problems in 4th and 5th grade too (Juniors) and I think it is because the parents are so burned out.

 

I have a question about pack camping. Why is is Cub Scouts don't camp just with their leaders? I know it is popular to state the Girl Scouts don't go camping, and I'm sure that's true for many troops. But many troops DO go troop camping, and if they are doing it the "official Girl Scout way" they camp with their leaders and perhaps a chaperone or two. This starts as early as Brownies, so 2nd grade, in most cases. Certainly girls in grades 4 and 5 (Juniors) are not family camping where each girl has her parent along.

 

I have been on very pleasant Girl Scout camping trips (where we prepared the girls to do most of the work through practice and progression of skills) and I have been on some dreadful Cub Scout family camping trips, where boys ran around with no responsibility, and a passel of adults did all the work. Even with a good deal of planning, it just felt like there were too many adults around. What is the point of having all those parents come along on a camping trip for the boys?

Yes, great press! http://news.yahoo.com/us-jamboree-requires-health-conscious-scouts-153904236.html

This year our most popular pack meeting was the Sheriff's K-9 unit demonstration. Last year one of the favorites was an egg drop contest. You should have seen the creative packages the boys brought with them to protect their eggs. After each drop, we opened up the package and cracked the egg to make sure it wasn't hard-boiled. I liked the egg drop because, unlike Pinewood Derby, it was something the boys could build without an adult helping. The boys were so successful in their packaging that only one egg out of over 30 cracked. We'll have to drop from a bigger height next time. 10' wasn't enough.

How about for the rest, though? What if one boy is sick or something on the day of the hike or the boy scout outdoor activity?

The dens in our pack only meet once a month (not counting monthly pack meetings). Sometimes we have to throw in an extra meeting or two throughout the year to get everything done, but I can tell you that it is possible to achieve rank with once a month den meetings. Since you are swamped with doing everything yourself, have you considered just meeting with each den separately once a month, then having one den meeting where they all come? When you think about it, trying to juggle all the dens at one meeting, is kind of cheating them out of doing things that are more age-appropriate and fun for them. Reducing their den meetings to twice a month may be cheating them out of doing some fun electives and belt loops, but they would probably have more fun at those den meetings, and you wouldn't be so overwhelmed.

I'm getting ready to take 50 scouts away from the internet (read summer camp), so I'll throw in my 1 cent. TJ, I agree that things with video screens are a form of entertainment to kids these days. I also know they are shallow and addictive. I also see a lot of people, scouts or not, that want to give back, are looking for something more meaningful to do with their time, or just want something deeper than facebook. I tell people that I'm a SM and talk about some of the things we do and they're all "that is so cool." The service young people are doing today is much better than what I saw as a kid. This isn't just scouts, it's college kids and high school kids. At the same time, to your point, there are plenty of slugs out there as well. I guess my point is that the human spirit is still there. Some people want to Live and some just want to exist. That hasn't changed.

 

I had an Eagle scout in my troop that did everything, knew his stuff, and was really great. I talked to his dad recently and this kid is struggling. He was addicted to video games. He's flailing. At the same time, another Eagle scout just called me in a panic the other day because he doesn't know what to do after he graduates from college. The long story short is he wants to do the Peace Corps but all his friends told him that was a waste as he wouldn't make any money. I told him to follow his heart and ignore the money. You could hear the smile through the phone.

 

I'm having my plc review their campouts because they're, to be honest, boring. It started a good discussion. I won't get them to sweat on every campout but they will be memorable.

 

I don't know where that leaves us with the BSA. There are still good people out there that need and want what we have to offer. I think the problem isn't the boy scouts so much as the cub scouts. The numbers are dropping much faster there than in the boy scouts.

 

Locally, we are seeing the same with Cubs. I think we would be better off to get rid of Tiger Cubs. I think we get too much burnout of kids and volunteers with 4 1/2 yrs of Cubs. I know I barely survived my tenure of 4 1/2 yrs as a Tiger Cub through Webelos den leader (along with another year as a Cub parent). Our troop is busting out at the seams at this point. The Cub pack, which had over 100 scouts when I was involved, is down to less than 30.

Without the Bobcat, he can't earn his Webelos rank, so Bobcat should be his first focus. I wouldn't worry about doing the Readyman and Outdoorsman requirements over again just for him because his past performance pretty much shows that he is not going to earn his AOL. I have a similar situation with a boy in my den, and I'm just trying to get him to focus on earning his Webelos rank by the end of his 18 months. AOL is way out of reach for him due to missing too many activities and not completing homework. Just getting the Webelos rank would be a great achievement for my particular boy.

I have the same question you have about attending the Scout meetings with the den, if one of the boys can't make it. I imagine that the boy will just have to make up the meeting on his own because I doubt I will ever be able to get the whole den together to attend a troop meeting. I thought about just bringing my son along with the boy who missed the troop activity, so at least we can say that part of the den went. I'm also hoping to visit 2 different troops, so hopefully some of the boys who miss one meeting can at least attend the other. I'm curious to see what others post.

This year our most popular pack meeting was the Sheriff's K-9 unit demonstration. Last year one of the favorites was an egg drop contest. You should have seen the creative packages the boys brought with them to protect their eggs. After each drop, we opened up the package and cracked the egg to make sure it wasn't hard-boiled. I liked the egg drop because, unlike Pinewood Derby, it was something the boys could build without an adult helping. The boys were so successful in their packaging that only one egg out of over 30 cracked. We'll have to drop from a bigger height next time. 10' wasn't enough.