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Jackdaws

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Everything posted by Jackdaws

  1. Yes I read that between the lines in October and warned our troop to expect that to possibly happen. If the lawsuits attempt to go after local councils, they will want to strengthen their war chest so to speak.
  2. I also expect some snide comments from people to the scouts who are out there currently trying to sell camp cards. You know the whole " why should I pay for an organization who abuses kids? " or something to that effect. It is not the scouts fault and their adults are forced to step in and try to get them to move along. Sigh.
  3. I fully expect to see membership fees either double or triple in the next year or two. If the BSA can find a way to not hit us with another increase, it would be great otherwise it may really scare off those who are on the fence and pondering the future of the organization. My son will be 13 next month and is a First Class currently. I am going to try and light a fire under him to push forward towards Eagle. I am hoping we can hang long enough. Best I can figure with the time requirements for rank, it would be about 18 months till he can earn Eagle. I feel that is kind of young, but
  4. This actually something we are working on putting in the Troop handbook. Asking that the parents continue to medicate the scout so they have the best possible experience.
  5. This was a very real struggle in our troop till the end of last year. Some parents see the BSA as Baby Sitters of America and would send their son on every possible campout/lock in to get a break. But they would not medicate their son during the outings thus creating constant chaos in our troop even during the week at troop meetings(no evening booster dose). If enough boys from each patrol was present for a campout, we would sometimes combine the groups and it would be groans from the others if one of those 2 scouts were in their patrol. We tried to preach patience and understandin
  6. Webelos should be creating their own menus. Its required for Cast Iron Chef. You can break down meal planning by the ranks. That way everyone has a role. Logistically this may create some issues. Depends on the size of your pack. As mentioned above, dietary restrictions are a challenge. My son has a nut allergy so PB& J are a no no. But my son knows he must be careful. We have had youth with dairy issues and families with the religious restrictions. Baked beans were almost always on the menu, we had a family of Seventh-Day Adventist and could not have pork. We would mak
  7. Politics is the issue. You could have a scout who goes above and beyond and earns a lot of merit badges and goes on every campout but if the other youth don't like them they wont award it to them. Troop elections are a popularity contest at times
  8. Yes on having the youth (bears and up at the least) planning out the meals. We usually had something around if someone wanted something. Usually it was left over pancakes from breakfast that we just covered and put on a table incase someone wanted a quick snack. I know its sometimes frowned upon(for critter purposes) but most families bring their own snacks. Personal pizzas are always a hit. Just need some loaves of French bread, sauce, whatever toppings you want, some tinfoil and a fire. Kids get a kick out of getting to make their own. Trick is trying to get the cheese to me
  9. Really its a little of both. We are just now starting to have interaction with other units that have girls in them so we are trying to make sure we have our bases covered.
  10. Sorry we keep getting off your question. We want our boy scouts to know that they cannot be one on one with a female scout. It maybe innocent but the other parent may not view this as that. We are going to tell our boy scouts that another female cannot be your buddy when we do joint ventures. I got onto my son when he was a wolf for being in our tent with a female sibling tagging along. They went to the tent to get my phone and play games on it. The flap was open. I sent her back over to her family and told my son that is not to happen again. No one other he and I shoul
  11. I totally get that. I live in a metropolitan city that does have some very rural areas w/in our city limits. Our own district is quite a mixture of country and metro areas & 2 counties. I just kept telling those people who fought me on it and who I know live here in the city to go to the library to try and complete it. Some of our libraries have meeting rooms you can reserve that have computers in them for more private use. We gave people 8 months to complete it and each month at roundtable and district meetings I caught crap from people complaining. I had one person compla
  12. I left being the training chair about the end of 2018 mainly due to frustration on trying to get it thru peoples heads that it was not ME implementing these rules, its coming from lots of other people before it gets to little peons like me. If they want to complain, start in Irving TX and work their way down but let me know how it goes. At the time of the new YPT roll out and for several months after they (council) said that no in person trainings for YPT could be held w/o the SE and other key people's approval. Everyone kept saying it was like a 3-4 hour training when the online vers
  13. Prior to the new YPT rule coming into effect in 2018, our pack would hold several group Youth Protection trainings for all parents/guardians. We would do a parent orientation right after round up and then a couple more before we went camping for the first time. We filled out training rosters and I submitted them to council for them to hold. Then they came out with the new training and no one could get an in person copy to do a group training. It had to be cleared by the Scout Executive and several others at council. Jeepers. We had to drop committee members because for whatever rea
  14. My take on all of these. I don't think this has to much to do with lawsuits and all that hullabaloo. My guess is membership #'s down with new rate increase and losing LDS. 1) Round tables is usually the same old faces month in month out. I haven't been in several months due to taking a breather from my husband's health issues but am wanting to get back in the fold now that I am CC for the troop. I gleam a little bit of info from each one I go to but like another said its a chance to see friends and network on some levels. They need some way to get the info out to more units and en
  15. Wow that's sad. Certainly a lot worse things that a young man can do with his future than enlist in the military. Seems like they would be proud...
  16. Yes, one letter did say something not totally horrible but wasn't overly glowing. The way I interpreted it was that with some prodding, the scout is helpful. It made me kind of smirk when I read it. Like "yeah I can see that"...
  17. Thanks! I tried to do a quick search in the GTA and it failed to bring up a result. I think my computer is scouted out. LOL.
  18. I have a scout who was recently awarded the rank of Eagle. He is asking for his letters of recommendation back for his Eagle memory book and possibly to have displayed at his ceremony. The advancement chair said he is not allowed to have those letters back. Why is this? Once the scout has been awarded Eagle, what is the harm in returning the letters to the scout? FTR I read the letters as I sat in on his Eagle BOR. His older brother received his letters back after obtaining Eagle. We have a different chair from when his brother went thru the process.
  19. Great story. I am hoping for our troop to start working on E-prep prior to June 1st (Hurricane season starts). Many people here in Florida are not very well prepared for a disaster. I have supplies but not everything we should have. But being a scouter has given me a lot of supplies needed.
  20. Sorry to sound stupid here but what is a BB device? Tried to google it and it only came up as Blackberry devices. never mind. I re-read it and saw it was a gun. Sheesh. More coffee!!!!!
  21. Good hiking boots would be a good gift also. Sadly I am not sure if my sons feet are done growing yet. He will be 13 in March and is in a men's size 11 shoe.
  22. My son has I believe 2 pairs of these. My only complaint is that the belt loops are really tight for a BSA belt. But we got them since its hot here in Florida and they are a good fit for summer camp as they dry pretty quickly. https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/magellan-outdoors™-mens-back-country-zipoff-nylon-pant#repChildCatSku=102410545
  23. Wanted to follow up. I sat in on one of our scouts Eagle BOR last night and while there, I asked the District Advancement Chair about the not needing to find another counselor. I told him I already knew the answer as I have read the GTA and other materials but I wanted to hear it straight from the horses mouth. He confirmed that any youth needs to seek out another counselor to finish up a partial from summer camp. Can't wait for the drama to ensue from scout and his parents on this. I will simply hand them the MB section of the GTA and said let me know when you need to find some
  24. I always liked the "Don't judge the hero by the size of his cape" picture as a marketing tool. Maybe do another marketing campaign similar the one they did a few years ago, with the cape and dirty scout etc. I thought it to be really clever and pardon the term "cute".
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