O'Scouter

and a ridiculous violation of rights.

Definitely have had scenarios over the years where leaders have stolen money from popcorn sales and even from the bank account. Always a difficult situation.

I am fairly new to the forum, however not new to scouting in America. Hopefully America will catch up with the rest of the world and it will all become a non-issue here too. It's really about the kids, right? Welcome, I look forward to getting some new ideas from your side of the world.

I am really surprised.. I have never heard of a troop expecting money from the SM..on the contrary our troop tries to get together a little something for each of the volunteers. Even if it is just a box of candy or some small token. Sheesh.

Fair points.

I don't know. I have seen some pretty awful behavior on trips from some of the dads that I haven't seen from the moms. Maybe they are better at hiding it.

Since they are cubs the options are perhaps somewhat limited. When my older son was a cub we had a couple of 'outpost' experiences which essentially included boating out to one of the local islands and spending the night. The kids thought it was great, and this encouraged lighter packing, more spartan cooking and meal planning ideas. Perhaps you could locate a camping site that has a short hiking component to encourage lighter packing. As I watch people move through scouting it is almost always the same. People start out with a full set of mattresses, cookware, pots and pans and as time moves on they show up with less and less. They learn that setting up the full kitchen and tearing it down takes a lot of the fun out of the experience and that they really don't need the full sleep setup to be comfortable. I think the best way to ease people in is to make sure they have a full list of needs, make sure there is a comfort element for the parents (coffee) and make sure there is entertainment, skits or games, squirt gun fight to rein in busy boys and a treat like s'mores or popcorn to look forward to.

We just have the nesting cookware and a mess kit for each kid, which consists of a cup, plastic plate and silverware in a net bag. Some of the kids have the older metal military style kits but I don't know of anyone who likes to cook in an aluminum pan. 6 person set here http://www.amazon.com/Open-Country-W...5MZYKR68Q225BA

I wrote one 6 months ago when my eldest boy did his EBOR.

Maybe some others can offer some suggestions of other stellar camps that would be worth traveling for. It's a shame about Skymont because it is such a beautiful area. I have also heard good reports about Tesomas.

 

 

 

Frankly, I never knew there could be a panoply of adults meddling in campfire affairs until my son started scouting. But then, our kids are dressed in much more expensive foot gear. Gotta protect that investment, I suppose.

The point I was trying to make, in retrospect poorly, was that barring something significant such as scout on fire it should be left to SPL with the support of SM.

It's difficult to be diplomatic here so I won't be. This is just my experience. The director is fairly rude and ineffective toward the boys and really rude to visiting parents, our troop almost lost a leader after several failures of safety measures and an anaphylactic reaction. The activities are poorly run, and disorganized,merit badges are haphazardly marked off whether the boys legitimately did the work or not. The food is about what you would expect from a summer camp, edible as long as you are hungry, not great. But the main complaint I have with Skymont is that the staff is irresponsible, and poorly managed and trained in several cases. Bar none, the best scout camp we have been to has been Tomahawk in MN, that was 10 years ago now. We have also done Boxwell, BuckToms, Comer and Philmont (which was also wonderful)

I would not be able to recommend it for a variety of reasons.

I have never heard of a troop where the leadership didn't pitch in together to keep the boys from setting their shoes in fire.

I'd have to second Fred Johnson's suggestion of the superior hiking trail system. The scenery is beautiful and it is set up as you describe as a backpacking trail.

http://www.shta.org/Trail/TrailCamping.php

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/superior_hiking_trail.html

and this has a video about it.

We do a lot of pie iron cooking, it has gotten to be kind of a thing where we have some the troop owns and a lot of the boys have their own. Pie iron pizzas are really tasty, everyone likes them. They are great for breakfast sandwiches as well.

We have often done hobo dinners in foil packets when the cub dens were divided into camp sites but it would be difficult to get them all cooked with limited heat sources.

Breakfast pizzas are easy DO meals. DO french toast bakes are popular as well. Just grease DO, toss in cubed bread (we usually get cinnamon bread for this) pour over egg mixture to cover, dot with butter and bake. Serve with syrup.

Did someone mention the breakfast burritos in the ziplock bag?

Tacos can be easy to do. We tend to use canned diced tomatoes for ease. Make up some beans or burger in your pan, season and then everyone can fix em how they like em.

We also do a lot of popcorn in the evenings around the fire..or in our DOs.

A really easy one that we do now is pizza pull aparts. It is a large sourdough unsliced loaf, Butter and garlic salt the outside of the loaf, slice it into 1" slices leaving about an inch on the bottom to hold together. Fill the inside slices with pizza sauce, cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni, whatever you like, wrap it up in foil and put it over coals or bung it in the DO. Heat until hot, bubbly and crusty. One loaf feeds, what, 3-4 people probably. You put it in the middle of the table and everyone pulls off what they want. We usually serve this with bagged salad and dressing.

Gotta do the cobblers, cherry chocolate is the favorite right now with our guys.

Of course we must be concerned about the possibility of slandering innocent people. I think the point being made was that we should certainly err on the side of caution and take concerns seriously. This is why we all take youth protection and avail ourselves of 2 deep leadership. Having said so, there is an arrest record, and public statements by this person in writing describing choking his sister, punching his own mother in the face, (as an adult) and I have personally seen the 2 black eyes he left on a kid that I know, to which he admitted. This is not a stand-up guy. No innocent victim in this case. Just a ticking time bomb.

Of all the things that have changed scouting over the years, I sincerely doubt that would be among the most negative changes.

I have definitely heard the arguments that you put forth. We have been involved in 3 troops over the course of our boy scout experience as a family. This one is the most adult-accountable troop. We still consider ourselves boy lead because while SM or ASM are at the grocery store, we hang out at the front and wait for them to work it out. We also meet with the spl once a week and work out the agendas for forthcoming meetings and offer feedback at that time, but SM and ASMs are all in an adjoining room for much of the meetings discussing various issues with parents, we have a couple of folks who bring coffee and cookies or something. For the most part, parents are kept separate. I think the boys do better, get further when they are given more guidance. I have seen some of the disorganized boy lead lord of the flies remakes and they aren't for the faint of heart..and I'm too old for that kind of stress. The boys do more,better cooking. Dutch oven meals rather than ramen or canned soup, which I've seen a lot. It suits us.

Glad to have avoided kidney stones so far..but I hear they are unbearable. I have been on a morphine drip in the past..wouldn't want to repeat that experience, the morphine or the surgery.

Hopefully I can managed to stay away from all of it. But duly noted.

Good to know.

At our troop all the patrol grubmasters, the SPL and the SM or ASM meet at the grocery store the Thursday before, along with whomever wants to tag along, usually younger scouts. They like to have a say in what kind of bread or cheese or gatorade is bought( marshmallows or no marshmallows in the hot chocolate?). We split into groups, get everything on the list, SPL goes over the lists with the grubmasters, (pointing out possible missing items or extras they may want, or budget issues) SM pays with troop card and food is divided and brought to the scout garage (has a fridge) or to the home of a predetermined person to be brought to the campout. That way everyone is accountable, under the supervision of the SM and SPL. It works, and it helps the boys learn to be organized accountable leaders, with immediate feedback and support when they go wrong. I haven't seen many troops that do this.

Hardly compares with hydrocodone.

I think there should be some discretion certainly, especially in the case of crimes that happened years ago, and depending on severity. I would feel uncomfortable knowing someone with a recent DUI was carting my kids around. I also mentioned before in our council we have a couple of guys on pain meds on disability. I don't feel very comfortable with them driving my kids around either, even though their meds are perfectly legal(not sure on the rules regarding the pain meds while driving). When you approach someone and they literally stand there slack jawed and blank eyed with delayed responses if any you know they are in no position to deal with kids, especially behind the wheel.