mashmaster

There already is one:  Equipment reviews and discussions.  Well, technically it is a sub-forum of this forum (Camping and High Adventure) but I don't see how it would make a difference.  It's just a little more difficult to find than a main forum.

Hard to find, yeah, I never saw it.  If I have been here for a while and never noticed it, I bet most everyone else has too.

I think there should be an equipment forum added so we can all share reviews of good and bad camping equipment when used with scouting adventures.  For instance, I am looking at lightweight cots and trying to decide what works and what doesn't.  Do I go with Thermarest ultralight?  or a chinese knock off.  Or Helinox knock off.

What do y'all think?  AM I the only one that would find this useful?

Just watched 12 angry men with my son and he was blown away.  He couldn't understand why it was in black and white though.

Our council just made it official to us.  No more tour plans.

I have no problems with a simplified tour permit.  The current one is a pain in the butt.  I actually think it is a good idea to let council know where we are going but having to fill out the same info every month is a pain, and since we don't know the actual attendees until a week before council always makes them send us a warning that it is within 2 weeks of the trip.

We used the Alps Mermac 3 tents then recently switched to the Bass Pro shop eclipse 3 tents.  They are about the same size, I like the Alps better but the eclipse was 1/2 the price and Bass Pro gave us a discount. 

Kicked you out?  That is an issue.  I would encourage you to find your unit commissioner and attend the next committee meeting with him/her in attendance.  I have never been a fan of related people holding critical leader positions in the same unit cc/cm/treasurer....  

Sadly, even in boy scouts I see parents lobbying for their kid to get something signed off or telling them exactly what to say to the scoutmaster.   When I ask the boy the requirement in the book 9/10 times the boys will either tell me iin great detail how they did the requirement or own up to the fact they need to work more on it.  The other time is usually a honest mistake by the boy and how he interpretted the requirement.  

Yes, parents come argue the points with me but the boys don't.  That is an easy discussion to have.  "Johnny is doing fine, he knows what he needs to do.  I trust him to get it done.  Together, we will see him learn from this.  We are proud of him."   It is all true, and the parents agree.

Popcorn is currently our only fundraiser.  The committee is tight lipped about what it spends on, but best I can tell, they use it to pay for handbooks, kerchiefs, slides, & advancements.  Most everything else is on the parents and/or den leaders.

 

Using the above method was suggested with future popcorn sales to help stock the pack inventory (e.g. I think at one level a tent was a prize, or maybe some sports balls or something).  It seemed a bit like cheating to us, but never having been in charge of selling popcorn before, we did not know if this was commonplace or not.  

A couple of things.

 The budget shouldn't be a secret.  I assume everyone is invited to the committee meetings and they should be covering the financials at each meeting.  Ask questions and they should tell you, if not, then ask again.  Careful, you may end up being treasurer.  I doubt anyone is being dishonest, they probably just are doing what they do.

If the scout was getting the popcorn scholarship, then it actually can pull money from the scout.  If he isn't then the group as a whole wins.   In our boy scout troop, all fundraising is put into a general pool for the troop.  Some maybe ear marked for a purpose but the troop works together.  For the top sellers over a prespecified amount or the top 3 sellers, they might get a special prize for doing well.  Like a caveman dinner with turkey legs cooked by the scoutmaster or something like that.

In my experience, it is pretty easy to reach the required nights for OA if they are active.  Getting to First Class takes longer than the nights camping.

See my post. It should work.

I did Col. Flagg and it worked, thank you.  Eagle, I am sorry you didn't get a slot.   Maybe one of the open dates will work for your crew or a crew won't pay.  Fingers crossed for you.

that is awesome

We are totally bummed out here.  For the 9th straight year, we have NOT received a spot at Sea Base.  Thank God we are not betting the farm on this lottery.  We would all be homeless! I am beginning to wonder if the lottery is the best way to go.  I wonder if it could be adjusted so that troops who do not get a spot one year had an advantage in the lottery the following year.   I know units that have gotten a spot 4 years in a row.  Any ideas?  Just doesn't seem fair.  Now to disappoint my scouts again, but start planning a different adventure for 2018.

 

Dale

I am sorry, that sucks.  I am sure you filled out it out correctly.  Did you apply for multiple adventures with the options of 10 different dates for each?  

Good luck!  I am not sure if there are any other packs in your area but you might want to ask around.  As said earlier the person who is actually paid by BSA is the District Executive.  He or She is the person that can help you get some clarity with your Committee chair and Cubmaster if you can't make any progress.  He has a vested interest in keeping your son in scouting. 

Everyone here on the forum is here to help you as much as we can, we believe in the program.  It is worth it and sadly you are getting a bad start.  It is a great program.  If you are willing to volunteer as you said, you can get all the training you need to become a leader yourself .

Good for you guys!!!

 

our troop has entered the lottery for that same timeframe, but i haven't heard anything about it yet.  Missed the meeting last night IF they announced it...

 

Sadly though, my son will just skate under the age/grade requirement to go, so he'll be left out cold.  He'll be 13 by that September, but not graduated from the 8th grade.  Many of his friends I think will be 14 by then so they'll be going without him.  That really is a shame....  it's things like this that will drive a kid away from scouts.

 

I hope you folks don't have any cases like that in your troop.

Lottery results were announced today, so fingers crossed you got a slot.

My son made the cutoff by 5 days and is bummed his buddies can't go with him.  He has an August bday so he is the oldest in his grade.  I agree the age part sucks.

Congrats! You'll have a great time. Which adventure are you doing?

Coral Reef Sailing

Woohoo, we got a slot sailing in June of 2018 :-)  I just had to be happy :-)

I liked to old marketing campaign of "Prepared for Life" 

Worked through it with Stosh.  Thanks for the help.  

Moderators, you can close this thread

""Adult intervention""?    If it involves going INTO the tent/cabin,  that would need a parent or guardian.  Emergency situations?  You do what needs to be done, deal with the legalities later. Speak at length with the parents.  Maybe might need TWO adults for an "intervention" to meet the requirements.  In general, do everything in public view.   At the Jamboree, I was asked to counsel some troubled Scouts.  I would say  "step into my office" and sit down in a field 20 yards away from the camp, where everyone can see, but we can speak quietly.  

We are  here for the Scout. Thank YOU,  Mash (may I be so familiar?) for your work on behalf of our future.  

Thanks SSScout, I am working with the parents currently to try to find the best situation.  Your notes jive with my initial thoughts and I am chatting with Stosh to get his opinions as well.  

We have a new scout that is joining that may require adult intervention a couple times a night and monitoring during the day as well.  I would like to privately chat about how you have dealt with this situation before.  I certainly don't want to see anything like this prevent him from scouting.

Thanks in Advance

Looks like BSA hasn't updated their skit policies to reflect their membership policies.  

 

How could someone, with a straight face, stop some kids from doing a cross-dressing skit after the recent membership policy change? Hypocrisy thy name is Boy Scouts.

interesting point.  But I'm not going deeper into that.

How about using squirt guns?

 

I know, the BSA says yada yada and I had a patrol get their skit pulled in the middle of the skit because they used a pillow but then the summer camp staff used a wig for a damsel in distress. How prudish are the people at National if they won't let a kid stuff a pillow under his shirt and act like a woman in labor? I can guarantee you that any woman that has been in labor would not consider it sexual. (This skit is writing itself. How about a skit where the scouts poke fun at National for not allowing them to portray pregnant women!)

 

I'm not making fun of you Mashmaster, I realize you're trying to follow the rules. It's just that there are lots of rules that just get going too far and start taking all the fun and purpose out of scouts. There are no simple rules for what is humor and what is crude. Funny things are about pain that didn't go too far. How many scouts laugh about things that went wrong on a campout? Those are the great stories. Things need to go wrong. Adventure is about going out towards the line and hoping you don't go over. Scouts is about letting kids make mistakes and then learning from them. Why not do that in the context of skits? If a skit is offensive then there's an opportunity for someone to learn how to apologize and for someone else to learn how to accept an apology.

Agreed the cross-dressing thing is a little odd, I have never had a boy come to me wanting to do that yet.  And who doesn't like a good squirt gun battle?

Yes and no to the last point in my mind.  I have had times in my life that someone has said something to me and apologized and all is well.  I have also had others where what they said could never be undone, I'm not going into the details on that.

Is it ...

Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, or Reverent?

 

And not the striking opposite of any of those?

 

Most of your limiting cases might fall under not being kind.

But not always. Some really good skits might get precluded by your tight boundaries.

Agreed, but this is a really hard problem to define.  I get tired of the consistent rejection of skits "Do you really think it is funny because he got run over?"

Aw, does that include the "important papers" skit?

I don't know that one...  We need a thread of great skits!