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WisconsinMomma

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Everything posted by WisconsinMomma

  1. Did you get it worked out? I imagine that even if a pet store does not need volunteers,they are public and you can visit their reptile section anytime...
  2. They look nice. This is small stuff.
  3. I always feel bad for the kids. Sounds like the decision to remove the family is already made, but if you want to or can offer to have the boy continue if the mother agrees to limit her participation, then you may have a win. I wonder if the mom has some mental health concerns, but that is not anything that you can do anything about. If you cannot manage the mom situation then it sounds like you are set on the path to removal. If you can work with the mom to have her just focus on her son and getting him to and from the meetings, and attending his den meetings, then that would be a nice re
  4. Good information. Our cub Pack is usually camping the day of Jamboree on the Air and I think the Troop camped the same weekend this year. If setting up a ham radio is easy, then it seems like it would be a cool thing to get into. I don't know any ham radio operators, but I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to find someone.
  5. Is it possible to involve parents and families on an occasional basis? I don't get the impression that parents and siblings want to do every activity and trip, but maybe show up once in a while. At Troop meetings, we have a group of moms and younger siblings who hang out down the hall while the boys meet in the gym. That's not interfering. My husband is an ASM and goes to summer camp and says with the same breath that he does nothing and that what he does is important. This year I almost went to camp to do nothing too but the schedule did not work out. I don't see the big problem if I
  6. OK, I need to clarify because Tampa Turtle mentioned quality control in regards to an upcoming AT hike and how to (discern? manage? control? decide?) who should go on an advanced hiking trip, and whether any parents or younger scouts should be allowed to join. I also made note of the phrase, "the best scouts" as in, the best scouts might be leaving (paraphrasing there). I don't know if that kind of thinking works IRL or not, but it sounds like the more skilled and older scouts are more... needed in the troop? Anyway, that's the context, TT, please chime in to clarify i
  7. Here's a follow up question --- what is quality control in Scouting supposed to look like? Is there supposed to be quality control? We have adult leader training and the handbooks and the publications -- is it supposed to go beyond that and if so, what does it mean and look like in action? (This may be straying off topic, or not!)
  8. When people have more enthusiasm than experience, I can understand it's frustrating. I am high enthusiasm, low to moderate experience with the BSA. There's a lot to learn. That said, enthusiasm for the program and for the outdoors is a good thing if it can be guided appropriately. I don't doubt that the AT is difficult hiking. My Wood Badge staffer who was with our patrol wants to hike the AT but he came home from his trip with an achilles injury, and he's a very experience hiker. In your troop's parents shoes, I would be comfortable with an explanation that training and conditioning
  9. Here's another idea, just make some shorter hikes that are prerequistes to the big hike for new hikers, so -- in order to sign up for the AT, parents and Scouts at whatever age or level need to complete the following pre-AT hike events, at whatever training mileages are appropriate for beginners. The hiking merit badge has hike length intervals that might be perfect for the AT pre-training. I think you can work it out -- don't lose your positive attitude! ETA: As for differences between moms and dads, of course there are differences. It seems my husband goes alo
  10. Here's while I'll pitch in with individual perspective. 1) You have older boys who want to go on a big AT hike. Cool! 2) You have parents of younger boys who want to go on an easier AT hike. Cool! This doesn't sound too difficult. The older scouts can plan their big hike and with the Scoutmaster, decide their expectations for the trip. If the end up saying something like, we're doing XXX miles and this hike is designed for very experienced hikers, then that would be a great way to position the event. For the parents of younger scouts who want to do
  11. Oh, I agree the list is very limiting, but also, I think generally the spirit of these requirements is that Scouts build a variety of experiences. Someone should request / recommend an update of this badge, but that doesn't help you right now, Hawkin. Do you have any offbeat places in your home that need curtains, like maybe a garage window or a basement window? Think about every room in your house. Otherwise, I think it's totally fair to ask your counselor if you can repeat and see what s/he says. Good luck!
  12. I think the world is a better place because of Scouting, and the world would be noticeably worse off without it.
  13. I have my sons' backs, of course. Right now there are no girls in their program. We will see how it goes, but if girls join the program we'll take it one day at a time. FWIW, my oldest loves girls and his friends are girls more than boys. He's preferred the company of girls since kindergarten. I wonder -- for his First Class requirement -- could he invite a girl to a meeting? But no, it's not the right thing to do yet. Both my boys have worked with female merit badge counselors and they were both great. Their camping experiences are right now, all with guys, so I'm not going to cro
  14. BackPack, I don't remember where you are in your Scouting experience, are you over 18 and done, or still in the BSA youth program? Did you have any female merit badge counselors? Just curious about how it worked out for you. Of course there are some things that are very personal and private and there are some topics that I would share with only a select few, and I may prefer a same-gender person to talk with. That's normal. But, say the Personal Fitness merit badge -- or any merit badge -- could be counseled by a male or female. For example, at the fitness center where I work,
  15. Having a different perspective is not disrespectful. I am a mother of three boys who will be in the program over next 10 years and I care about them very much. I disagree with the assumption that adding females makes the program mediocre. I am making the case for girls in Scouting (I have neutral feelings toward it and will go with the changes as they happen). You are entitled to sharing your point of view, but not entitled to shutting down mine. As for working with youth, I have some experience too! We all have different things to bring to the table.
  16. Here's a link to an interesting article about B-P: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/30/bensummerskill.theobserver 'We scrambled down the bank where we were sitting... and he came towards us demanding: 'What the dickens are you doing here?' 'Our `patrol leader' said: 'We want to do the same thing as the boys. We want to be girl scouts.' Baden-Powell said: 'That's impossible, this is only for the boys.' 'We thought he was going to send us away but in the end he said: 'I'll think about it.' We went into the arena when it began to rain and then joined the march-past. We were put a
  17. How do you cover chartering? Is that extra? What kind of fundraisers does your Troop do?
  18. FWIW, my oldest studied Martin Luther King's, I have a Dream speech for Citizenship in the Nation. I believe MLK is mentioned in the booklet.
  19. And here are the Aims and Methods -- while they refer to boys, it's not particularly male-centric, and God is only mentioned once: Aims of Scouting -- character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness Methods of Scouting The methods by which the aims are achieved are listed below in random order to emphasize the equal importance of each. IdealsThe ideals of Boy Scouting are spelled out in the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, the Scout motto, and the Scout slogan. The Boy Scout measures himself against these ideals and continually tries to improve. The goals are high, and,
  20. Hi BackPack, OK, I am very curious about the questions you have that are so male oriented and where an answer from a woman would be less useful. Care to share any examples? I once did some research with alumni of a boys' high school and one of the most interesting comments was from a man who said that after he graduated, he didn't believe women were as intelligent as men, and it took him a while to overcome that bias. Interesting, huh? Here is the mission of the BSA, and I think it's so interesting that it has no reference to males: The mission of the Boy Scouts of America i
  21. Here is another idea if you have a pet shop in your town. Ask the pet shop if they would allow the Scout to volunteer at the store and help care for one or more of their animals. A local small pet shop near us takes kids 12 and up as volunteer workers and they can help with the animals and get some light work experience.
  22. Our Scout Shop staff is all for selling multiple uniforms! LOL. I am trying to be thrifty. I have one shirt for Cubs, and no shirt yet for Boy Scouts, although I could put together a shirt with a Troop Committee patch. Two uniforms would be plenty!
  23. Thanks for the great feedback. A no-show would be very annoying if that kind of thing happened. I want to encourage Scouters to go to Wood Badge, and maybe more personal encouragement and support would be a better way to do it.
  24. Ben Hunt was local to my area, and in the historical cabin that honors him (that he built) there is a canoe made from I think, old shipping crates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Ben_Hunt Here's an article he wrote for Boy's Life about it: https://books.google.com/books?id=gdvlr4TKT4cC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=ben+hunt+canoe&source=bl&ots=86njDgJYvX&sig=yS0gBE8edjpfFTpJ8z2uqqCgglM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZ-5-pgN_XAhXnllQKHeA9BtAQ6AEIRTAI#v=onepage&q=ben%20hunt%20canoe&f=false
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