dedkad

After the accident last year I clarified when we need to have a tour permit and when we don't. Our council wants one filed if the activity is not taking place at our regular meeting site.

You can never have too many volunteers. If she does a good job on the things that she wants to do, why remove her? Why not have co-committee chairs and let them split up the duties to serve their interests?

My experience has been that you are more likely to get negative responses from volunteers if what you are proposing is going to be more work for them. If you are willing to shoulder a little extra work this summer by planning those summer activities yourself (like it looks like you've already done), I'm sure the success of those events will be enough to encourage volunteers to take on the planning of at least one summer activity next year.

Google Handfasting.

Done! Good luck in your event.

I ran the derby for 3 years with our Pack. I developed these rules over the years, and they worked great for the last derby I ran. These rules are consistent with the rules in the box and with our Council-wide PWD rules.

PINEWOOD DERBY RULES

PACK ___

Dated: _____

NOTE TO PARENTS: It is important to let your Scout know that there will be winners and losers in this event and prepare him accordingly. Every participant will receive a medal, but you can use this as an opportunity to stress some of the goals of scouting:

• Sportsmanship and good citizenship - Follow the derby rules, cheer on the others, and be a gracious winner and loser.

• Personal achievement – The scout has learned woodworking skills and turned a block of wood into a race car. He has followed the Cub Scout Motto – Do Your Best!

• Family time – The scout has worked closely with his mom, dad, or other adult partner to learn about woodworking and to construct the car.

Parent Involvement – The pack recognizes that adults will be involved in helping their scout construct the car and that there is a lot of variation in the abilities of the individual scouts and adults. The only requirement we have with regards to the level of parent involvement is that the Cub Scout learn to work with his mom, dad, or other adult and that the effort be one of the Cub Scout doing his best.

Rules for Construction of Cars:

In order to race in the competition, the car must adhere to the following rules. If you have any questions about the rules, contact _____.

• Only one car per entrant.

• No cars, wheels, or axles used in previous years’ races may be used.

• Cars must be built from the official Cub Scout Grand Prix Pinewood Derby Kit supplied by the pack. The main body must be made of wood, but other materials may be added to embellish the car.

• Wheels must be “BSA Pinewood Derby†(included in kit). Wheels may only be cleaned up slightly to remove casting marks and square tread surface. Any attempt to remove material or tread or alter shape of the wheels, will result in disqualification. You must have all four wheels attached to the side of the car.

• Only official Cub Scout axles may be used (included in kit). Removing burs and polishing is allowed.

• Pre-cut kits are prohibited. The pre-cut wedge kit is not allowed either.

• Width shall not exceed 2-3/4 inches.

• Length shall not exceed 7 inches.

• Total weight of car shall not exceed 5 ounces. Weights attached to car must be firmly affixed and are not allowed to shift.

• The car must fit on the track. (The car will straddle a center guide rail that is 1 5/8†wide and 1/4†high, so make sure you have enough clearance.)

• Wheel bearings, washers on the wheels, and bushings are prohibited.

• Only dry lubricant (graphite or silicone) can be used. Liquid lubricant not allowed.

• The car shall not ride on any kind of spring.

• No double-stick tape allowed.

• The car must be free-wheeling, with no starting or propelling devices.

• Cars must be labeled with entrant’s first and last name on the bottom.

• If the front of the car is not completely obvious, then the front must be clearly marked on the top of the car, to ensure it is loaded onto the track facing the correct direction.

WEIGHTS: Any weights you attach to the bottom of your car run the risk of dragging on the center rail. It is recommended that you countersink weights that are attached to the bottom of the car. Why use weights? Your block of car starts at 5 ounces. When you carve out the design of the body, you are taking weight off the car. Adding weights back on gets it back up to the maximum of 5 ounces and helps the car go faster. You can buy pinewood derby weights at the Scout Store or at Michaels, or you can use washers, coins, fishing weights or whatever. Any kind of weights are allowed, and they can be attached anywhere on the car provided that the dimensions and weight of the car stay within the maximum allowed.

Decals and embellishments are allowed and encouraged. Although the winners are based on speed, it is fun to see the different designs and creative ideas the scouts come up with.

There are a lot of resources available on the internet for how to design and build cars, and tips for increasing speed. A good place to start is on the official Pinewood Derby website: www.pinewoodderby.org

Race Day Rules:

All cars must pass inspection to qualify for the race. Modifications may be made to the car at the designated repair station prior to official check-in.

The scale at the event is considered the official scale, and all cars must comply with the weight limit according to the official scale.

[fill in info here regarding what your race format will be, such as double-elimination, fastest car if you have a timing system, etc.]

All decisions of the judges are final.

You and your son certainly did your homework. That troop is going to experience some major growing pains with that big jump in membership in such a short time. They are going to need your help on the Committee, I'm sure.

The fact that the requirements for each adventure pin are different for each rank means that boys will be getting a new set of adventure loops every year. Sounds like a big pack expense to me.

Personally, I wouldn't let the lack of response from your Council on your fundraising ap stop you from doing your proposed fundraiser. I've submitted several applications to our Council for fundraising activities and the only time I ever heard back from them was for one fundraiser that they did have a problem with because it involved bingo. I figure a lack of response is an implicit approval.

It's only a matter of time.

You can upload photos to Costco's website and then share that photo album with the troop. I'm pretty sure the only people who can access those albums are ones who are personally invited.

 

 

So this is clear that if a "Den 10" strip is worn, the colors go underneath. The patrol patch is used in place of "Den 10" strip, correct? So it would stand to reason that the colors would go underneath that patrol patch.

Again, back to page 32 of the Webelos handbook: "The colors are pinned to the right shirt sleeve just below the U.S. flag. The colors will cover the den emblem and Quality Unit insignia." Den emblem = patrol patch, so your patrol patch will be covered.

A search on YouTube and watching some videos makes me think that elementary backstroke and resting backstroke are the same thing.

We did a spring round-up last year, but only a couple of kindergartners came and they slipped out early with their parents so we didn't get a chance to talk to them. Recruited again in the fall but couldn't convince a single parent of the 5 interested boys to step up and be den leader, so we ended up with no Tiger den this year. Hoping to recoup that loss with a Wolf den recruitment this spring and fall. That's great that you were able to actually go to the classrooms and talk to the boys. We send flyers inviting them to our meeting, but that's it. Sounds like you are going to have a great year next year!

As qwazse said, couldn't he move to the next lower den? I had a boy join my Webelos den in 5th grade for the first time as a Cub Scout. I told him up front that our den was only going to be together until February when the rest of the boys earned their AOL and bridged over. He said that was OK. He came to our meetings until January, then moved down to the den below us. He will stay with them until he turns 11 this summer and can move on to Boy Scouts. Everyone is happy. Do you not have a den below you that he can move into?

Depending on the car, sleeping in a tent might be more comfortable. I would give up my spot in my car to the boys before I'd do it myself.

Good question to ask on this thread, but I don't know the answer. I would think that theft might be an offense that would keep you from being a den leader because den leaders are often entrusted with money.

Scouting just needs to remain relevant and youthful in order to compete. I appreciate the knowledge of the old Scouters, but if some of them came up to me when I was young, I think I'd be turned off. When I was in Young Life in high school, the leader seemed old to me, but he was probably only in his mid to late 20's. However, he was also assistant football coach at my high school and had his finger on the pulse of the culture at the school. He made it a point to not only recruit those who could really benefit from the program, but also those you would consider the "cool" kids. And he made it fun. That's what kept the kids coming back every week. I think our recruitment could benefit from a strategy like that.

One of the troops my son looked into joining was an Elks troop. I don't know if it was because the Elks is a service organization, but that troop would do a service project every other month. My son ended up joining a troop chartered by a church. You'd think the church troop would also be service-oriented, but he's been attending meetings for 4 months now, and they haven't done a single service project, unless you count Scout Sunday where I think they ushered at the church. I was just wondering what the norm is for service projects for troops. JTE says they should be doing at least 4 a year.

You can say that about any of the products coming out of China these days.

 

Stosh

I do, and try my best to at least avoid ingesting anything knowingly produced in China, or putting lotions from there on my skin. I won't buy utensils from China either.

I think if a few non-Scouts wanted to attend on an individual basis, that would be OK. Having a whole other group come could possibly create an "us" and "them" attitude and would be counter-productive.

In our pack, the meetings centered on calendar activities - what are we going to do this year, who is in charge of each event, what worked last year, what would we change. The meetings still tended to bounce around a little, but after a short distraction, we would always come back to the calendar.

Have a cousin that lives in Texas. Where he lives they have not be able to have open fires (consistently month to month) since 2009. Here's the latest burn ban map.

Things were so bad here in California this summer that one of the National Forest areas not only banned campfires in the backcountry, but also any type of stove. Hope the backpackers liked trail mix.

The Roundtables are a great source for information and networking.

Speaking of bug juice' date=' Bryan has a post about this yesterday. Nothing like a 5 mile hike to prep a can of soda for lunch. Some of those hydration bladders are 2L as well. [/quote']

 

Yeah, I read that blog post yesterday. It prompted me to email the Scoutmaster just to "inquire" about what the troop's policy was on soda. Kind of hoping it will put a bug in his ear to take action on this. There were several posts on Bryan's blog about how some boys will become dehydrated because they refuse to drink enough water, so things like making lemonade packets available was encouraged. But soda really has no redeeming qualities unless you're looking for a caffeine fix, so I just don't see allowing soda as good policy.