WisconsinMomma

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Good luck!

Great explanation. Maybe the way to get around all this is to hire a bus to/from camp. I'm serious. If the adults come from a need for transportation, then upgrade your transportation so you can have your Scouts back??

I was very happy as a den leader for 4 years for my middle son's group, and so I've already had the most wonderful time in Scouting. Of course, it's easy to say that when it's all over, it was hard work. My youngest son has a Bear den leader and that den is stable. One of the volunteers for CM stepped up to help his son's Wolf den, and I think that was a great move for him. When my middle son crossed over, I offered to be ACM,and you know that's not a bad role, not much responsibility, no pressure, etc.: ) Maybe I should take a nap and be content with ACM. When I was a den leader

Thanks, I just needed to vent. I spoke with the CC and COR and shared my feelings. My impression is that the COR wants to install her choices, twist arms to get the volunteers she wants, and presure them to take multi year commitments. I will make some popcorn and wait for my orders.

That sounds kind of hard to believe, but I believe you. Wouldn't everyone acknowledge that there is a difference between a family trip and a BSA trip? My family goes camping and we go on trips and we can go backpacking or do service projects or learn skills as a family. We do. We have great family trips and outings and it's part of who we are and what we do. But a BSA outing is different and it puts the boys in a different group of people and that is good. It also gives the structure for advancement and recognition and very clear instructions, safety rules, best practices and requirem

Good question Was it effective????? LOL. One of the parents in my son's therapy group has a story of her son who hit another kid. He told the kid to stop a few times, then said, stop, or I'm going to hit you, the other kid didn't stop, the lady's son hit the other kid, and THE KID STOPPED. So her kid learned his method was effective. Her kid didn't get into trouble at school either, because he warned the kid -- stop or I will hit you. LOL. Sorry, it's only funny when it's not your own kid.

Our PWD has winners for speed and design too. Some kids really get into the design, others get into the speed. Thankfully the kids are generally sportsmanlike about the whole thing. We had a beautiful parent car once. The kid was so proud of that car, too. Given that that kid's parents soon had a very ugly divorce, I am happy that this kid and his dad made some good memories together with that car. In the end, it's just a PWD.

As far as I can tell the request has been respectful and courteous. Different people have different styles, some are rule followers, and some are change agents. It's all OK. My opinion would change if the girl or her family starts trashing the BSA and behaves poorly, but I don't think anything is wrong with a polite request either.

Our Cubmaster retires in Feb. I am assistant Cubmaster. I have offered to be Cubmaster if needed. The Pack recruited another person to be Cubmaster, but his son's den needed a Den Leader and he chose to fill that role instead (and that's an even better job, being a Den leader). The CC asked me to fill in as a temporary CM, then the CM asked me to be CM and introduced me at the Pack meeting as the next CM who is shadowing until the transition. At the last Committee meeting (I was at a school board mtg that night), the COR and AOL DL and whomever else discussed pack recruiting and the COR

I think that's cool. 3d printing is cool. The Scout will learn different manufacturing techniques and that's OK! Maybe the car will run well, maybe it won't, but it will be a memorable experience for the kid making that car. Unless the Pack has specific rules against it, why not? Why not let the kid have some freedom?

I think that how this will go, is that people who will take the job at it's offered pay will take the job. If they are smart, they will either a) take the job for a short time and trade up to a better paying job, b) be the second income in their family and have a spouse's income to help, or c) have worked other jobs, become financially well-set and take the DE job for the community service later in life. Not everyone needs to make a big wage. Some people will find these jobs fit them, others won't and that's OK.

Pensions are going away all over the place. In the sense of being thrifty, the BSA must look at its operation costs and keep it lean. The BSA will need to have good enough compensation to attract and retain talented staff, and if the pay and benefits are not good enough, they will fail to get the best people. Organizations and individuals all need to look for the best deal they can get.

Stay in communication with your son's school and teachers. What can the school do to help and what can you do at home to help? I'll say that the transition from elementary to middle school was rough for my oldest, it's a rough time for a lot of kids. Best wishes.

I was speaking to a parent the other day about school stuff and raising kids, and teens, etc. etc. and I asked, you have the two boys and your oldest is a daughter, right? She said -- actually my oldest is nonbinary, so we use different pronouns. OK, so, honestly this is new stuff for me, and it takes me a little time to wrap my head around. But, this is our world and this is how things are working right now. So, this nonbinary child, they can be part of Scouting. I have very little experience with in-between gender identity, and I don't even know if that's the appropriate way to des

Scouting Heritage ranks as #82 on the list of merit badge popularity from 2016, with about 5,000 badges earned in a year. (Compare that to the 75,000 first aid merit badges earned.) Good for people interested in Scouting history, but it's not vitally important information to the program. If we say Scouting is not all about the Eagle rank, then it's not all about Eagle scout history. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/03/23/2016-merit-badge-rankings-unveiled-these-were-the-most-and-least-popular/

I don't know or particularly care who the first Eagle was or who the first female Eagle will be. This is small stuff.

First off, thank you for helping your troop. They need a Treasurer and you will be fine! It's OK. I'll tell you exactly what I think -- I think you can come up with the system that works best for you. You do not have to use QuickBooks. You just need the Scout bank records and a register and you can record things the way you want. There are online, cloud-based softwares available if that's what you want, or you could use a Google spreadsheet. Quickbooks has an online subscription for $7/mo, and maybe that is affordable or maybe not. Ask the last Treasurer what the heck is

Sounds like the newest members are sisters of current scouts. Maybe they'll bring in some friends to build up their dens. Best wishes, girls.

Here they just call it the Y and I suspect the intent was to lose the C.

In his first year, my son came back from camp and he enjoyed Exploding Kittens. We are also into playing Munchkin recently.

I realize this topic is not pulling people in, but thought I'd follow-up with a breakdown of the kids at my son's practice last night. Two teams practicing, approximately 26 kids -- that's 22 boys and 4 girls. I noticed that the girls stuck together for the partner practices, so things like skating around and passing a puck back and forth. Also when they were lined up to do some drills the girls were sticking together. However, I noticed my son having a brief chit chat with a female player. Overall, the coaches kept the kids very busy with their practice. These are

I think this is an absolutely wonderful story. A young person with an interest in teaching is volunteering and helping the BSA with guiding younger children, with mutual benefit. Looking at the photo, she is not wearing a uniform, and so I'm taking this as a -- here's a teen who is helping out at meetings and at camp. That is wonderful. And I'm glad she is recognized for it. Not being local, I guess I'll trust the locals to understand and follow BSA policies correctly. As for the title den leader, I'm assuming the reporter messed up.

So sorry about your crew and crew member, qwazse.

Wow, that is very sad for the kids and adults. Side note: doesn't that cardboard classic sledding sound like fun? Wonderful idea. It's hard to imagine being a Pack that receives a trailer and a pinewood derby track from a disbanded unit, then getting a call from the unit who is re-forming and wants their stuff back, not to give it back to them? I feel bad that their pack got dragged into this mess. People need to talk to each other to work these things out. It sounds like their relationships are so bad that there's no communication at all. Wouldn't the Scout Executive

I think it's right to take a non-confrontational, non-intimidating, one small suggestion at a time approach. It will take a lot of patience. While on the one hand, my family is newer (1.5 yeas) to Boy Scouting -- my kids are growing up right now and a year is a long time for them! So I am very impatient in that sense. That said, I can focus on our family and our family life moreso than Troop life. Our Scoutmaster, who I think is doing a nice job overall, is leaving for a new job in another state, so the baton will be passed to a new Scoutmaster almost immediately. I will try to