Brewmeister

Here's where I am coming from on this. In the ideal world mentoring between older and younger scouts is strong, everybody remembers to do what they are supposed to do all the time, and young scouts are willing to approach anybody and ask for help when they don't understand something. But what happens is that the real world isn't perfect and these things don't always happen. And what I've found is that scouts, particularly those that have been used to "following the leader" since Tiger cubs, are a little lost and frustrated when they get tossed in the deep end of boy scouts despite ev

Yes, but it's so much easier to not do something constructive.

I'm thinking more like an introduction/orientation handout...something you might give out to new scouts that says "here's how things work in boy scouts." Does anyone use anything like that?

Keeping in mind that the scout handbook has all you need to know... Looking for some ideas/samples of document/resources troops have created for new scouts/families.

(2) Craft and school activities that turn off boys who thought it would be mini-Boy Scouts. They leave and while they might have liked Boy Scouts they usually don't give scouting another try. Opposite problem...boys who join and don't like to do the camping that our pack does. Although most have stayed around for events & derbies, we have a few who we can never seem to get to go camping.

Yeah, BSA24, I guess I never equated outsourcing uniform manufacture to accepting immorality.

Almost all of our departures were due to parents--mom or dad lost interest, divorces where it wasn't important to the parent with custody, etc. At the Cub age the parents have to be the ones making the decision. I know of only one case where we lost a cub due to not being interested in our program, but that was a scout who never attended camp or any activities outside the pack and den meetings, and who missed a fair amount of the latter due to sports.

We really haven't learned much from Sodom and Gomorrah...

You hit the nail on the head AZMike. A private club that sets its membership policy but does no harm to anyone...they must be destroyed. A religion with fanatics who kill people who don't agree with it...it must be feared. That's really the nut of it, isn't it?

This is not that hard. Private groups have a right to set their own standards. Private citizens and groups thereof have a right to support groups or not. The day the BSA changes its standards for money is the day I leave it.

I can't figure out what this is...I thought it was actually official based on the graphics and logos. Appears it is a site hawking...something? Anyhoo, I don't have a problem with the military connection in theory. As has been pointed out, remember why scouting came to be in the first place. And my experience is, given free time in the woods, boys will tend to find "guns" and end up in an epic battle....

When I first became Tiger leader, it was the result of the cubmaster at the time talking to the group of new parents at recruiting night and asking "who wants to be the tiger leader?" Since I had to be there anyway... Fast forward a few years and we realized there had to be a better way. So I talked to the other DLs who had been tiger leaders and created a "HELP!" document unique to our Pack. I then run the first tiger meeting, and the first two go see its are scheduled by utilizing some recurring community and district events that happen in October and November. At the first m

The way I look at it is that we already have all the dump camping gear. Now we need a way to use the dump camping gear effectively with patrol boxes. We currently have jumbo Sterilite containers that we use when we go canoeing but they have drawbacks. I built one box since I started this thread just because I like to fiddle with stuff. So we can try it out on the next campout. We've already been discussing what to do for backpacking. Since we already have plop gear it would be a matter of having an additional set of lightweight gear and perhaps swapping stuff between the types depend

Priced out the supplies for a wooden model...over $70 per box, $35 in plywood sheeting alone.

Much has been written here about the merits of big-box patrol kitchens versus lightweight camping and cooking. That's not what this thread is about. Faced with a troop currently outfitted with regular/larger-sized cooking gear (i.e., regular sized pots and pans, etc.), the problem is how to effectively split that gear up into boxes of stuff that can be used by patrols, as we inch our way toward a patrol structure. I have seen many people advocating the use of giant platic tubs. We have those. However, the problem is that the stove goes on the bottom and everything else gets stac

Well, we do still have the "troop method" issue to deal with but we are making progress. I've made it a ticket item. We'll probably be a bit of a hybrid for a while but hopefully will make it closer to the patrol ideal.

Congratulations! (Beavers are the best dam builders...)

What I decided to do was ask my son to read all the requirements beforehand. He quickly understood how involved they are. I told him it was going to take some time and we discussed how it was his responsibility to be sure he had completed everything fully. At the meeting, there were some tabletop excercises to handle some of the "describe and prepare" stuff. They also reviewed all the requirements so that the boys understood it was their responsibility to do and keep track of tasks, camping nights, and so on, and report back when they are done. As it turns out, this is a regular session t

Perhaps complicating the discussion is that the first meeting is tonight...the more I read the requirements with a knowledge of the troop's typical program, the more leery I am.

You might recall that a number of months ago I asked about a troop organized merit badge clinic for personal fitness that seriously shortcut the requirements. At the time my son, with a little coaching on my part, decided to do the badge as written. Fast forward a few months. Now the troop is starting a clinic for the camping MB. The first meeting is tomorrow. I already knew this was one of the harder ones (despite being done at summer camp) so I looked at the requirements. Ummm...yeah. I have no idea how they are going to do all this individual planning and execution in a group setting.

Does anyone argue that Webelos get the lion's share of $$$ spent on them when it comes to awards? Let's see, 20 Webelos pins alone at $2 apiece... Tigers could just as well argue, why do I have to pay full dues when all we get from a rank standpoint is a tiger totem ($2) and badge ($2). They are in effect subsidizing the Webelos. So we charge the full dues at the beginning of the year and give them multiple ways to avoid paying them through fundraisers. Fair enough--suck it up!

The problem with all the grand planning and occasional navel gazing that goes on in this forum is that out in the real world only a very small percentage of people involved in scouting truly understand and care about scouting. Maybe "care" isn't the right word, but there is only a small percentage out there who make scouting their passion.

Not from a scout, but this one is my favorite: "You really have your s**t together." Wish I had a warm and fuzzy one for you, but that's the one that really sticks out.

Wow, basement....just wow (again).

It needs to be in a document format, so something that would render as a PDF or other document that could be both electronically send and printed if necessary. I'll look into OpenOffice.