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mashmaster

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Posts posted by mashmaster

  1. I remember some one on this board posting they allow girls in their pack but I don't think they are registered. BSA is not likely to take such a move anytime soon. It would be viewed as an attack on GSUSA.
    Eagledad I'm not sure about that. BSA openly welcomed American Heritage Girls until the decision separated them.
  2. Recently, we had an overnighter that had limited capacity, So I gave priority to leaders kids and committee member kids prior to doing the first come first serve. I made it very transparent and I got two new committee members from that because they wanted into the event. It was interesting that the event ended up getting all that wanted in, but we didn't know that until later. No complaints from parents as they all recognized how much the leaders put in.

  3. The Idea behind one Scout Oath and LAW... All Scouting Units are Boy Scouts of America. Why spend Years Learning an Oath and then Having to learn a New one when you Transition..

    even Venture is Going to Boy scout Oath and Law.

     

    The Majority of Scouter and Former Scouters can Recite the Boy scout Oath and Boy Scout Law but Very Few can still recite the Cub Scout or Venture Crew Oath?

     

    Quit trying to make Cub Scouts and Venture Crews a separate Organization. They are Not Step Children.

     

    A Leader will adapt the Program to the Boys and still stay within the BSA Rules and Regs.

    Sure 7 year Olds may have difficulty saying the Oath and Law Perfect every time. But I suspect by the Time the say it several years they will Know It and Remember it.

     

    One of the biggest Problem in Cub Scouting is changing Leadership every time you turn around. Yes I did it also..I transitioned with Boys in my Tiger Den to Wolf..Leaving No Tiger Cub Den Leaders.

     

    Next Problem is not allowing the Boys to Participate in Activities they want...Boys quit because scouting is not fun for them anymore. Telling a Boy, who may be part of a Climbing Club already,

    they can't climb more than 6 feet off the ground will cause them to drop out.

    Or the Boy Who Plays Local Pee Wee Football already they can't receive a Football Badge because they are not playing "Flag Football" instead causes problems.

    BSA is "Regulating" itself into trouble

    The interesting thing is that by far, Cub Scouts are the dominant population of scouts, so technically the rest of the programs should adopt their program, right? :-) No I don't think boy scouts should become more cub like. But they are hardly step children.
  4. Just got back from weekend #1 for woodbadge. I had a lot fun, I do think that much of the training isn't awesome since I've done a lot of training before. But working together in the patrol method is a bunch of fun. The biggest problem is being partnered with 2 people in the patrol that are total dead weight. I guess that is the experience that the boys will have to deal with when they are in scouts. My son is a cub still so I feel like this is preparing me for that future transition.

  5. I am on the fence on whether I want it to change. While it's nice that it will be the same for all scouts. I also think that it's one of the things that sets Webelos apart to know they they are graduatiing to being a boy scout.
    As long as it doesn't become the one finger salute :-)
  6. My husband in the Wolf Den Leader (he was also the Tiger leader) and I help with all the "behind the scenes" planning.

     

    We have a new wolf scout that joined about 2.5 weeks ago. He was not a Tiger. His Dad has gone through his book and sent us a list of everything he has done. We are thrilled to have someone that is so excited about it, but we want to make sure we are doing this right (my husband goes to den leader training next week...hopefully, that will help.)

     

    However, I have a question or two that I perhaps I can get cleared up before training.

     

    He marked that he completed Elective 23e. Attend a Day Camp in your area. I was under the assumption that this was the week long day camp in the summer that is held by the district. He attended the one night / one day Cub / Akela Campout. I do not think that would count for Day Camp would it? I do think it would count for 23a. Participate with your pack on an overnight campout.

     

    Next on Wolf Elective 20, he has to complete these while he is a wolf, right? For the boys that were Tigers last year, the summer time would count, but if they just joined, it would start when they joined. Is that correct? So playing basketball last winter would not count.

     

    Next, he said he completed a large number of belt loops. First, he has to complete these while he is a wolf scout, right? He only joined a couple weeks ago, so I guess I am doubtful that he has done all these team sports in the last couple of weeks. Do I just accept it and move on? He also said that he and two other scouts went on a hike at the Cub Akela campout and completed their hiking belt loop. My husband was unable to attend this portion with our son due to another family commitment, so I don't know what they did. Do I just accept it? Or do we ask him if he actually went over all the safe hiking rules (requirement #1) and for that matter for the #1s for all the sports. For example, my son rides his bike frequently, but that doesn't mean he gets the belt loop. I feel like first I have to sit down with him and go over #1 and #2 (the rules and demonstrate the proper safety equipement.) For that matter, the dad said, "He rides his bike all the time." (Biking Belt Loop).

     

    We don't want to alienate him, but if he is incorrect, we would like a nice way to explain it to him (and everyone else.)

     

    Thanks for everyone's input.

     

    Yes day camp is a week long camp hosted by your council. Was it overnight? If so, then it qualifies for the overnight trip.

     

    The Wolf year starts at the end of the program year which is usually the end of the school yearish. In our pack, the cut off date is June 1st. So May 31 = Tiger year, June 1=Wolf year. The stuff they do prior to being a scout doesn't count.

     

    Explain that the loops all start from when he joined scouting, my guess is that they didn't understand that delineation. Hiking is the easiest to get, so that can easily been done. You can verify with him that he did cover all the requirements but you need to believe them because a scout is trustworthy. You want them to be excited to be scouts, so I would make sure they know when he starts earning the loops and that they should do the requirements to the best of their ability. I have my questions about some of the belt loops the boys earn but there isn't much to do about it and you don't want them to turn away from scouting.. Maybe have the CM talk to them about the loops but their isn't much you can do. He is doing a disservice to his own son if he is actually skirting the rules, but not much you can do.

     

     

     

  7. I don't like it. I think that it is trying to force cub scouters to become boy scouts. I like have separate programs. just my opinion. AFAIK the entire program is changing soon too for cubs. I'm not sure exactly how. How often has the cub program changed before.
    I heard that it is changing to be more like boy scouts and have more outdoor requirements. Next summer they are supposed to roll out more info at Philmont according to my sources.
  8. We doubled our Pack size. We added nearly 40 boys.

    Recruiting/Boy Talks work!

    Now we must turn our focus to RETENTION!

     

    Congrats, We do the boy talks and buddy cards.... but they don't work well for us. Our biggest problem is the sports programs in the area really recruits hard and here in Texas, parents seem to be sports crazy.

  9. I don't have a problem at all with the book stuff you refer to. We do present and talk about them in different ways than what is in the book. I do den leader training and instruct the new leaders to drop the den leader resource guide in the trash.

     

    For example, the food pyramid or "myplate" stuff goes much better when you have two bagged lunches, one happy meal and one brown bag healthy lunch. Then explain that the happy meal has been on the counter for a week. The boys really react well to that.

  10. If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck it is a duck....

     

    I'd get leaders Baloo trained, it is easy and file trip plans for each trip. It helps protect you for the just in case moment. I hope you never have a moment like that but you never know when that will happen.

     

    Protects you from a bunch of things potentially. By taking the proper training, district will back you when someone gets injured and goes after everyone involved including the leaders. Let alone the fact the training helps provides an amount of consistency across units and leaders. This is the same reason that I insist that all my parents and leaders take in person YPT so that when I tell their darling son to not go into the woods by himself they understand why, and why when I tell them that they are not to enter the restrooms with the boys they understand. I am in a way protecting them as well from keeping them out of potentially sticky situations.

    I transposed district and Council. Of course you wanted to jump all over me for that. While most parents see it as "stuff that happens" there is always the one that doesn't and causes issues. I've had parents complain to council about me telling their son not to play with a 6ft+ tree limb (swinging it around wildly) and not letting him go run off into the woods. Council was right there for me telling the parents that I followed guidlines correctly.
  11. If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck it is a duck....

     

    I'd get leaders Baloo trained, it is easy and file trip plans for each trip. It helps protect you for the just in case moment. I hope you never have a moment like that but you never know when that will happen.

     

    Protects you from a bunch of things potentially. By taking the proper training, district will back you when someone gets injured and goes after everyone involved including the leaders. Let alone the fact the training helps provides an amount of consistency across units and leaders. This is the same reason that I insist that all my parents and leaders take in person YPT so that when I tell their darling son to not go into the woods by himself they understand why, and why when I tell them that they are not to enter the restrooms with the boys they understand. I am in a way protecting them as well from keeping them out of potentially sticky situations.

  12. If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck it is a duck....

     

    I'd get leaders Baloo trained, it is easy and file trip plans for each trip. It helps protect you for the just in case moment. I hope you never have a moment like that but you never know when that will happen.

    • Downvote 1
  13. When my son first joined our pack, everyone, regardless of whether they were in the Tiger Den or Webelos Den, were wearing Den 1 patches. I asked about it, and was told that they were Tiger Den 1, Wolf Den 1, etc. After I became Committee Chair, I learned from the District officers that is not the way things are supposed to be done. Each den is supposed to have a different den number. So now every new Tiger den gets its own unique den #. We plan on recycling den #'s once the boys age out. We still have boys in different dens all wearing Den 1 patches because we didn't ask existing boys to swap out to a new den #, but eventually the new (and correct) tradition will be all that remains and each den will have its own den # and that same den # will remain on the boy's uniform throughout his Cub Scout career.
    That is just crazy.
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