OhioCM

No pictures, but I will share this.. Plan to read it at the Pack slumber party as a bedtime story ~~

 

‘Twas the Campout Before Christmas

By Kimberly Gilbert

With Apologies to Clement C. Moore

 

‘Twas the campout before Christmas, and all through the Pack

All the parents were sleeping, each one in their sack.

The wet socks were hung up on a half-hitch taut line,

In hopes they’d be sorta dry by den hike time.

 

The Cubs were all snuggled in cold weather mummies,

With too many s’mores stuffed down in their tummies.

And Ma on the air mattress and I on my cot

Had just settled down – without pillows; we forgot.

 

When outside my tent there arose such a noise,

I sprang from my cot thinking, “Oh, those boys!â€Â

So I grabbed my flashlight with the non-slip grip,

And fumbled with my front door so hard to unzip.

 

The moon shone through the treetops so clear and so bright,

I could see like the day time even though it was night.

And what to my red, weary eyes should appear,

But a blue and gold sleigh and a pack of reindeer.

 

A little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

Much faster than Eagles his den of deer came.

He held up two fingers and called them by name.

 

“Now, Tiger! Wolf, Bear! Now Weeb and Low!

On Bobcat! On Den-Chief! On Den-Leader! Go!

To the top of the tent, to the dining fly yon,

Now hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. Go on!â€Â

 

As lightning bugs flit and light like a fairy

On a soft summer breeze that moves through the prairie,

So up to the fire ring the reindeer did glide

With a sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas inside.

 

And then in a twinkling, I heard them all munch

On all of those carrots left over from lunch.

As I turned on my flashlight and tried to turn round,

I tripped on my tent line and fell to the ground.

 

And there stood St. Nick – he was dressed all in khaki!

With his red wool patch jacket that looked kinda wacky.

A bundle of goodies he had flung on his back.

He looked like a den chief just opening his pack.

 

His eyes – how they twinkled! His dimples – how merry!

His cheeks were like hot coals, his nose like a berry.

His lips they were holding a “Hot Hands†aglow,

Which lit up his beard which was white as the snow.

 

His kerchief was wreath green and rolled nice and tight.

For any good Scout he was surely a sight!

He had a broad face and a round little tummy

That shook when he laughed like a big red squid gummy!

 

He was chubby and plump – a right jolly, old Scout,

And I laughed and I smiled for I hadn’t a doubt.

A wink of his eye and a two-fingered sign

Soon let me know I would be just fine.

 

He said not a word but went straight to his work

He filled all the wet socks and then turned with a smirk,

And laying two fingers aside of his brow,

He gave a big belch after sampling our chow!

 

He sprang to his sleigh, to his pack gave a shout

(Confirming to me he was really a Scout).

But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,

“Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night!â€Â

 

This is terrific, I can't believe I've never seen this before. Thanks moosetracker, I'm sending this to my cub parents immediately.

For the last 3 years or so, we've been operating our Pack with 5 committee members, including the committee chair, the chartered organization rep, and have let the CM and ACM be voting committee members since we struggled to have other parents volunteer for things. Technically I guess they had several roles as they were duing the duties of "advancement chair", etc. The CM, ACM, and CC are all moving on in February to join a Troop.

 

We had a huge recruiting year this year, and now that 3 out of the 5 current members are moving on, we have a large number of parents that want to take on some responsibility and register. We ask ourselves where they all were 3 years ago, but that's beside the point. We've got volunteers for a new CC, CM, and ACM, as well as separate people for treasurer, fundraising chair, and activities chair. If the CM and ACM aren't voting members next year, which technically they are not supposed to be, that still leaves us with 6 voting members. There are 3 other parents that want to "do something" and really would like to be on the committee.

 

So my question is, how many committee members do you have? How many do you think your pack NEEDS? How many is too many? On the one hand I know any adult can register as a scout unit reserve and can certainly be involved in helping the Pack without necessarily being on the committee. On the other, if they want to be on the committee, why not? My only concern is having too many cooks in the kitchen. Meritbadge.org says the minimum is 3, and they have 13 possible positions listed. That seems like a lot of committee members. What do you think? A minor concern is that our bylaws say a quorum is a majority, and if we have a dozen committee members I know there will be times when we don't have 7 of them all show up.

 

Just thought of something else too, how many people have access to your Pack bank account? Ours is just the CM and the CC since our CC is also the treasurer due to lack of volunteers. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas everyone.

That's a great idea, dedkad. Readyman is unique because in most of the badges the academic portion involves learning in a way that is familiar to them from school. Forrester and Naturalist for example, the bookwork is learning about trees and life cycles, etc. Not "what would you do in this situation". We did this technique at summer camp last year. If you just ask the scouts while sitting around the table, what would you do to treat a cut or what would you do if someone broke their arm, you get some glassy-eyed stares and a lot of ums and ahs. But, if you lay on the ground and pretend to bleed and say "these are the supplies you have on hand - how can you help the injured person?" it turns out they do know what to do.

 

Their favorite activity from summer camp was actually making a stretcher from a tarp, tree branches, and lashings, and hauling each other around on it.

Anything that folds neatly and the handle fits tidily in the boy's hand will do. Going to the sporting goods store (or section) is part of the adventure IMHO. In department stores, it's usually just an isle beyond the toy section. Kinda fun watching a boy change his preferred isle as he grows.

This is true - my father handed down his wood-handled pocket knife with the BSA log on it to me when I was 12, and I handed it on to my son after a good cleanup and sharpening. He doesn't use it as his primary knife when we do whittling or soap carving, but it's his "special occasion" knife.

Austinole - hopefully the "special" relationship between the Tiger Leader and the committee member, because I wouldn't wish the fallout from that situation on anyone. But, maybe it's not as unusual as I thought!

 

The good parts of leadership have been on my mind a lot more lately since my son is crossing over this February and I realize I will miss it. All things considered, I'd do it again. The one on one time with my son is obviously the best part, but since I've been the CM they are now all "my" boys, and watching them grow up has given me back way more than I put in. 3 months left as CM and all I have left to do is... about 197 things.

I've been a Cubmaster for 3 years now. I probably don't need to recount the trials I've gone through as the CM over time, as we all go through the same thing. It seems like we've had some unique challenges in the Pack though, just to name a few:

 

Had our popcorn kernel flip out and order several thousand dollars more popcorn than we could ever sell, leaving us facing financial ruin

A committee member had an affair with the Tiger Den Leader (when their spouses found out - WHOA!)

Parent went to the council office and tried to get me, the ACM, the CC, and the Quartermaster all forcibly removed from scouting because nobody helped her carry her suitcase to her car after the last campout (who brings a suitcase camping anyway?!)

Struggled with recruitment over the years, finally building the Pack up to a sustainable level

Liberal amounts of parent vs. parent drama, with some intentional backstabbing/lying sprinkled in

I'm also the leader of at least one den every year as it's been hard to get parents to step up, meaning I get to spend less time with my own son

Too many campouts to count where nobody wants to help so the leaders get stuck doing it all

Hundreds of emails that went unread

Hundreds of hours spent making and updating a website that went unseen

 

The ACM and I even formed our own secret patrol, and our patrol slogan is "I bet Jeff never had to deal with this!" (Jeff is the former CM)

 

But then we had Day Camp this year. I took two days off work and taught a class on campfire cooking for one, and was a den walker for one. At the end of the second day, walking back to the car, my son said to me "Daddy, I loved having you here today."

 

All worth it.