dedkad

If and when we do uniform inspections, which isn't very often BTW, I would have all boys wearing a Cub Scout uniform stand up. Then I would start going down the list of required things one by one and ask all the boys to sit down who didn't meet that particular requirement. I would keep going until only 1 or 2 boys were left standing and those boys would get a prize. Even those boys weren't usually in full perfect uniform, but I figured they tried the best out of all of the others, so they deserved a prize.

I Guess We were Lucky around here in Texas.

we can still throw out Candy to Viewers along the Parade Route..

Several Years ago our pack did basically the Same thing..

A Winter Camping trip..

The Smallest Cubs who would get tired before the parade had concluded rode on the Decorated Trailer..All Participants on the Float remained seating at all times.

Everyone else walked besides the Float..

 

Last Year we did a Cabin with Fireplace...

 

Both years we used a Propane Fire in the Campfire and Fireplace...So real

Our boys ride bikes in our parade, but I always figured if we ever had a float with some walkers, the walkers could each carry a sign depicting one of Cub Scout's 12 Core Values.

Our District has its own tax number that they let the packs use on their bank accounts.

Not defending the Scouts actions in any way, but sometimes when you design and place this type of art, you have to think about the type of interaction the public will have with such a piece. The design looks kind of like something you would see at a playground, and the placement in the middle of turf provides easy access to those who want to touch and climb it. Sounds like the replacement version will be stronger, and hopefully they will plant some plants around it that sends the message to "keep away".

I was doing Showman and Fitness together, so I had them mash it together: write a play with a boy saying "no" to cigerretts, drugs, and alcohol. In the end, the police officer puppet comes in, sends the other puppets to jail, and congratulates the boy for making the right decisions (that was their addition to the story).

We were also doing Fitness at the same time, and I had something similar in mind. My idea was soundly rejected by the boys.

Showman was the first badge my boys worked on as Webelos. In the spirit of Boy Scouts I gave them the sole responsibility of coming up with their own puppet ideas and play. I did have a few ideas for the play, but mine were all rejected, so I left it up to them. Without my direction, it took 5 meetings to finally put on the play, which is much longer than I had anticipated. It took 2 meetings for them just to decide what they wanted to do, 1 meeting to make the puppets and paint the scenery, 1 meeting to practice the play, and the pack meeting to present it. The boys made giant stick puppets, which were very easy to make, and we painted a sheet purchased at a thrift shop and draped it over a board between two saw horses for our scenery. Their play was Zombie Minecraft Three Little Pigs. They did a great job and their play got lots of laughs at the pack meeting, but it was definitely a time-consuming project. I would do it again, though, because the boys really enjoyed it.

Our Pack usually did the Veterans' Day Parade. Walked at the head of the line with our banner, and passed out candy provided by the VA. Enterprising little Cub Scouts started throwing the candy to kids sitting on the curb. Then they started throwing candy AT the homeless people panhandling the event...

Our City's holiday parade doesn't allow any entrants to pass out candy or trinkets. Probably for this exact reason.

@ Packsaddle, flames is what I've been told so far. This is my 2nd year participating (last year all I did was make gift decorations & walk.) Our pack has participated in this particular parade for the past 10+ years but I'll definitely check on that to make sure we're doing things correctly. Thanks!

 

@ Berliner, that is a good point. Last year, since I walked (saying pretty much what you said + chants, oh the chants), I didn't get to view it from the viewers' perspective. We actually do stop a few times (the entire line does.) But I understand what you mean on the height part. I've never participated in a pinewood derby either so not sure what we have at our disposal but I'll bring that up as well.

I've seen fake campfire flames on other floats and when done right, they are obvious from the viewer's perspective. Don't know how they did it, just saying it's possible.

My 8 y/o daughter would love that. She'd much rather be in Cubs the Girl Scouts

Has she looked into 4H? It's not just about animals. Our 4H is even offering rocketry.

Do you put all the colors on there for every boy, even if they didn't start with Tiger?

I saw the catapult at roundtable. You take a block of wood (I have a bunch left over from finishing the basement.) Then you screw a small block on top of it. (We'll have to cut that small bit.) Then glue a clothespin on top, gluing a craft stic to that, with a plastic bottle top on the end. I'm still debating about what to launch. Maybe I'll bring a few different things for launching and the boys can test to find out which materials fling best. We could even make a science experiment out of it.

 

As for minecraft, I have some issues with it. I teach the 4-5 year old class at church. I have had some major issues with one particular boy. (I suspect a number of special needs, such as add, odd, and asperger's, but mom doesn't believe in labels.) I babysat this boy one day. He showed up with the ipad. He played it nonstop for 5 hours! Finally, he had to go to preschool and his teacher, having great authority made him leave it behind. I turned it off. After preschool. the boy displayed his odd behaviors. Fortunately, my kids started music practice, which calmed him down considerably. At church, if he colors the picture I bring, he turns it into zombies. I realize zombies are the big thing these days, but they are not appropriate in a church class of 4 and 5 year olds. Anyway, fortunately, I have not heard anything about zombies at scouts. I've only heard about mario kart.

 

(Interestingly enough, the mother of this little boy is the wolf leader.)

Our Council just held a one-day zombie-themed day camp. They had a huge turnout with something like 400 boys in attendance. Zombies are big at this age!

So what is Minecraft. I got two totally different versions of Minefield, but no Minecraft.. Tried looking it up, it shows a video game, which if your just talking you and your son not at a scout event, may be what it is.. Otherwise I doubt it's that unless you are going for your videogame beltloop.

 

Do the cotton balls fling well?.. I was debating doing popcorn rather then marshmallows, but still will be messy when stepped on, and probably still would be picked off the shoe and eaten.

We used cheeseball puffs when my Webs built their catapults this year. They were each given 10 cheeseballs to try to launch in their buddy's mouth. Still gets messy, but you can't eat them if they get stepped on because they disintegrate. Also won't make a gummy mess on the ground or shoe if you can't find them to pick them up. Too light to use outside with any wind, though.

From the BSA New-Unit Application - "The chartered organization selects one of its members to register as chartered organization representative who may also serve as chair or as unit committee member if needed. All units must have a unit leader and a minimum of five paid youth. There must be at least three committee members, with one named chair. Packs must have a den leader/Webelos den leader/Tiger Cub leader who should be registered as an adult in the pack. The chartered organization also provides meeting facilities for the unit. No one may register in more than one position in the same unit, except the chartered organization representative."

 

So, to register/re-register as a Pack (in addition to 5 paid youth, and 1 den leader) you will need a MINIMUM of -

1 - Cubmaster (CM)

1 - Charter Org Rep (COR) (who is ALSO REGISTERED as Committee Chair (CC) or a Committee Member (MC)

 

IF THE COR IS DUAL REGISTERED AS A COMMITTEE MEMBER -

1 - Committee Chair

1 - Committee Members

 

IF THE COR IS DUAL REGISTERED AS THE COMMITTEE CHAIR -

2 - Committee Members

 

The Committee is responsible for a LOT of things. In my mind, if the Pack is not picking up the tab for their registration costs, the more Committee Members the better. The more folks you have helping out, the lower the chance of burnout of overworked volunteers, and the stronger the Pack.

 

Bank account access should be limited to the CM, CC, and the Treasurer, with all check/money requests going thru/to the Treasurer. If your COR is very active, you might consider putting the COR on your account also, but to me it is not necessary.

 

It seems the biggest part of your concern is "voting rights", and "quorum" numbers, per you Pack by-laws. Where do you find BSA National stating that a quorum is necessary, or that there should be any "official" voting (with specific persons not having the right to vote) involved in running a Pack?

 

The Cubmaster, Committee Chair, den leaders, committee members, and the COR, should all be working TOGETHER. Any issues, problems, questions, should be solved thru discussion, and consensus. If you feel a vote of some kind is really needed, it should be more informal (lets see show of hands kind of thing), with no one excluded.

 

I really recommend purchasing a copy (or 2, or 3 to spread around) of BSA's "The Cub Scout Leader Book". See page # 87 (2010 version) for a description of the monthly Pack Leaders Planning Meeting.

 

 

Yup, I was thinking the same thing. Don't let politics get in the way of running a great program for your kids. We register the minimum number of committee members to help save on costs. Our treasurer is one of our committee members, so they can be background-checked. The other 2 committee members are usually assistant den leaders by function, but they are committee members by name on the paperwork. "Voting" hasn't been an issue for our pack. We even invite just regular ol' parents to come to the committee meetings and their input is given equal weight with all others. The parent whose input is valued is more likely to get involved next year. Consensus is the way to go, and if it can't be reached, then the ones who are most impacted by the decisions are usually given favor.

Ahh . . . The old cross-over delima.

The person who was CM before me would hold all the boys back until everyone was ready to cross over. That would mean sometimes there would be a cross-over in February; other times not until May.

I favored the policy that a boy could cross-over anytime he has his AOL completed. Some boys crossed over on their own, most waited for their buddies. It was done when the boys were ready and wanted to go. Boys who did not earn the AOL did not get to become boy scouts until they completed the 5^th grade.

 

You’ve only got one boy, so if his AOL is complete and he wants to, you could cross him over now and be done with it. Howeverâ€â€if the AOL is not complete he waits until June.

NeverAnEagle, everything I have read says the bridge is reserved for Cub Scout to Boy Scout transition. All other ceremonies are rank advancements, not bridging.

Did the requirement for AOL and 10 yo recently change from being AOL and 10.5?? Or is there something in this rule I am not seeing.. My other thread the AOL & 10.5 yo was sited. From this one I got from ADCinNC the AOL and 10 yo in what looked like a quote of the rule book.. I went to Scouting.org and got the official statement.. Matches what ADCinNC quoted.

 

 

Meet the age requirements. Be a boy who is 11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old.

 

So did the rule change, recently.. Too many of you have it in your heads that it's 10 1/2.

 

updated : AKDenleader is having problems sleeping too I guess. I posted something similar on my other thread related to this joining issue.. They answered that the book has it stated differently.

 

"Be active in your Web den for at least 6 months since completing the fourth grade (or at least 6 months since becoming 10 years old), and earn the Webelos badge. "

"

 

Hmmm... so is the scouting.org website wrong, or is this so new a change that the books haven't caught up to the change on the website? Sounds like a clarification by my DE is in order.

Thanks for the clarification KDD. After reading a lot of these threads recently, I was starting to freak that my 11 year old 5th grader wouldn't be able to earn his AOL because he was too old and needs to move up to Boy Scouts immediately. I even called our District office to ask. They didn't know off the top of their heads, which made me even more nervous. I am relieved. It would have been a shame to lose what he has been working on for over a year as a Web I and Web II.

not sure what a money grubbing ghost unit creating professional who doesn't like some DE has to do with the train of thought.. Are you accusing my units of having a ghost unit that a DE created.. Truly we do not, we are just not very healthy at the minute, show promise of things changing, but just trying to hold things together until that wave comes.

Ok, let me through one more thought into the mix.. I am looking at the two.. And seeing that the book requirement is the requirement in order to earn the AOL. The other requirement is the Boy scout joining requirement.. So can I get a boy his AOL before he is 10.5 yo or is 6 months into his 5th grade schooling, unless he started school very very young, or skipped a grade?

I can't get him in at 10 unless he earns the AOL, He can't earn the AOL until he is 10.5 or 6 mths into 5th grade.. It almost makes it seem like the Benefit of earning AOL listed on the Boy Scout application is almost an impossible accomplishment.

My son turned 11 in October and is in the 5th grade, but he is still in Cub Scouts. For him, there is no benefit to earning AOL as it relates to joining Boy Scouts other than it is a pretty cool honor to earn. Oh wait, there is one benefit for him, he can wear his AOL badge on his Boy Scout uniform. He's been in Cub Scouts since Tiger, and AOL has always been his goal for Cub Scouts. Almost every other boy in his den will also be 11 by the time they earn their AOL. As schools continue to push back the age for starting school to being 5 in September, you are going to see a lot more 11 year old 5th graders. Seems like the age requirement for Boy Scouts isn't keeping up with the times. Do troops really want a bunch of 5h graders joining their troop in September, or is it better to wait until mid-year when they've had a chance to grow and mature even more?

Thanks for the dose of reality everyone. I wasn't planning on turning everything over to the boys. I was still going to prepare the agenda myself, assign each boy ahead of time a Readyman lesson to teach the other boys, then leave it up to the denner and the boys to get through the agenda and lessons on their own and play a game of their choice after. Baby steps for sure, but makes them feel important. I like the recommendations about confidence building. I certainly don't want to set them up to fail.

 

My biggest concern is behavior control and strategies my denner can use to keep the boys in line. The boys listen to me because I am an adult. New strategies need to be implemented to get them to listen to their peers.

I am a Webelos DL. In the past, our denners haven't really had a whole lot of responsibility. This year, in preparation for Boy Scouts, I want to try one or two meetings where the whole meeting is boy-led, so the denner will be running the meeting, kind of like a PL. My denner has not had any example to go by as far as running a den meeting and dealing with the other boys other than my own example, which differs greatly from when a peer is leading a meeting. Are there any short videos like the Quick Start training BSA offers leaders online that could give my denner a few quick tips on how to run a good meeting?

When I took my Webs to a Boy Scout event, I was immediately told by the SM that the parents were welcome to stay as long as they kept their hands in their pockets. We were clearly informed that it was a boy-led program, what exactly that meant, and what the pros and cons are, such as some things just take longer to do when it's boy-led, and there will be some chaos, but it's all for the common good. It was really hard for the other parents and me to do, but since the "hands in the pockets" requirement was clearly noted at the beginning of the meeting, we understood and were able to act, or rather not act, accordingly.

 

In your case, however, what you told the visiting folks about the program being boy-led wasn't followed through with your own actions because you said "I would have loved to have had the time to address the adults, but I was too busy assisting my Scout with his activity." I would recommend that for your next Webs visit, you choose an activity that your scout can run completely by himself and take the parents outside to talk about what your troop has to offer. I've taken my boys to several troop meetings, and all the SM's love to brag about how their program is boy-led, but I observe exactly what happened at your meeting with the adult leaders stepping in when they really shouldn't be. You need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk in order to set the example for the parents. With just one, soon to be two, scouts in your troop, and both being very young, your expectations of boy-led may be a little premature. Since they don't have an older scout to teach them the ropes, they will depend on you for many things. Does that make the troop adult-led? Kind of. Can you still implement some boy-led philosophies into the program? Most definitely. Keep the boy-led thing as your goal, but be realistic and honest with your expectations at this phase of your program.

Years from now someone will be posting this same question about marijuana use as more and more states legalize it.

Tampa - Trails End Dime Bags! I can't stop laughing!

So glad you posted this. When my oldest completed Readyman, the WDL scheduled an EMT to lecture to the boys. Boring. I was going to call this week and do the same for youngest Scout Son. This is WAAAY cooler. Hmmm....thinking....I see lots of corn syrup and red food coloring. Lay out several victims and explain and practice triage.

Just getting an EMT to speak would have been much easier, for sure. I spent hours prepping for this, but the enthusiasm the boys showed during the lesson made it worth it. It wouldn't hurt to have the EMT lecture, then do a follow-up at the next meeting with the fake victims to see what they learned.

I hope our Council does that. Our sales were way down this year because about 70% of the boys didn't even bother to try and sell any. We would definitely be twisting some arms if given another opportunity.

Years from now someone will be posting this same question about marijuana use as more and more states legalize it.

I think what the Readyman badge teaches for Webelos is really important, but it's a lot of information for the boys to learn. Unlike other badges I've done where we go through the requirements and I check them off as over and done with, I have really been working on retention on this one because this knowledge is very important. Today we had a fun meeting where the boys were presented with some simulated first-aid cases and had to treat them properly. I printed out a bunch of gross pictures of cuts, burns, nose bleeds, snake bites, bugs, frost bite, and road rash. The boys would take turns being the victim and I would tape the appropriate injury on them. Then the "medic" would come in and identify what the injury was just by looking at it and simple statements from the victim like "I burned myself on the grill." Then they had to treat it properly with the first-aid kit I had on hand plus other items that I through in to confuse them.. Although they still have a long way to go to be proficient in all the treatments for various injuries, they definitely had a good time learning about something that can sometimes be a dry topic.

First off, I would not supply them with any other craft materials to complete this requirement. If they want to do something else that meets the requirement, then they have to purchase their own materials. Tell them they can complete the project you assigned or they can pick one of the many suggestions provided in the Webelos handbook in the Craftsman section and do that. Otherwise, they will need to get permission from you to do something else.