WonderBoy

As a stay-at-home dad, it's amazing how much of the work supporting my sons' Cub Scout Pack goes on during the day. Trips to our Council office to iron out problems or pick up supplies (advancement or otherwise) from the Scout Shop. Running over to the school where we met to deal with scheduling issues and access our things in our storage closest. Going to our school district offices for usage agreements for the school spaces. Deposits to our bank. Popping into our local Park District to reserve shelters for our outdoor events and our annual pool rental for family swim night. 

If a few of our volunteers didn't have the privilege of at least slipping away from work for "lunch", I'm not sure how we would function. So there's plenty to do. It may not be the volunteer work you'd prefer to do, but a lot of the time it's the necessary, invisible work that's required to make things happen.

Just my $0.02, YMMV and my free advice is worth every penny you paid for it.

My Midwestern Pack registration fee is just the National fee, a local council $2 insurance fee, plus Boy's Life if they want it.

Our popcorn sales cover all other Pack expenses. The Pack provides each Cub their new Handbook for each rank, new Scouts with our custom Pack number patch, awards, patches and a Pinewood Derby Kit. We pay for a couple of Pack wide activities throughout the year such as a family swim night and, if sales have been particularly good, maybe a local jumping/trampoline park. We also cover adult registration fees. Depending on this year's popcorn sales, we would like to provide a yearly budget for each Den to cover costs for various Den activities.  We sometimes pay material costs for service projects in support of our charter organization, although usually they pay for the supplies and we provide the "muscle".

Scouts currently cover any fees for individual events & some Den activities.

When I visited my 11 year old at summer camp in June (2018) I noticed that a large minority of the camp staff were wearing the "original" red-topped knee high socks. I guess they'll no longer have to scrounge eBay for more... (And while faded, I still wear the couple of pairs I have left over from 1981.)

7 hours ago, scoutldr said:

My dad was a WWII submarine veteran.  I learned from a very early age that submarines are "boats"...everything else is a "target".

And since I flew in Navy patrol planes, they were all, and most especially submarines, "targets"... 🤣

Isn't a Scout supposed to be Thrifty? Now how is this Scout supposed to earn this money, if not from Unit fundraisers? A paper route like I had? They no longer exist without a car and drivers license. Cutting lawns? Maybe, but they'd have to use a tool the GTSS wouldn't let them use as a Scout.  Options, obviously, open up upon reaching 16 years of age, but they tend to replace much of the time spent Scouting. Other than Mom & Dad, what other good options are there for Scouts, especially younger ones, to earn their way today?

1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

Apparently a margarita machine is frowned upon.

Of course they're frowned upon. Most troop sites aren't wired for electricity....

42 minutes ago, The Latin Scot said:

I've always kind of wondered about these scenarios since, frankly, I am an odd duck in the Scouting community. I am not married and have no children, ...

Today's society makes it incredibly difficult for men to make a difference in the lives of young people. But as long as you take the right precautions, it can be done. 

Well @The Latin Scot, let me tell you, being married and having kids doesn't always help in this regard. Being an "older parent" (my peers' kids are mostly out of college), I frequently get the "stink eye" from people when my five year old isn't immediately adjacent to me on a playground or other gathering ground for kids. It's bad enough explaining that I'm his father, not his grandfather, but if he's not within an arm reach suddenly I'm automatically some kind of child predator. And heaven forbid I suggest a play date between our kids...

Welcome! There's certainly a lot of thoughts and ideas on this forum. Some of them are even good ones! 🤣

7 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

IMHO, Scouting should be leading the comeback of "free range  parenting"  

My $0.02,

I feel like we're still having a hard enough time selling this ideal to some of our own. While visiting my oldest last night for Family Night at his very first week at summer camp, I found myself having to repeatedly explain to other parents from our Pack why I wasn't spending any time with the Troop at camp. 

On 6/22/2018 at 5:52 PM, Kryten said:

The Men. it" also sexist.

I have heard from a lot of male leaders  on this topic. BSA is implying that male leaders are not to be trusted around female scouts.

the bigger problem is getting female leaders to camp. our local cub packs have already ran into this problem.

 

So far this mini-discussion revolves around camping. But it applies to ALL activities. And as a Cub Scout Pack, this is VERY problematic. Do we have to cancel a Den meeting because we don't have a Registered, Trained Volunteer of the correct sex? Or what about a Pack meeting? Do we send all registered, girl Cub Scouts home from the Pinewood Derby while any unregistered, girl siblings are free to stay because of the only two registered females in the Pack, one is out of town and the other is sick?

6 minutes ago, ItsBrian said:

I’m more afraid of forgetting how to do a specific thing, even though I know that I know everything that will be taught.

"You never really know a subject until you've taught it." I can't think of anywhere this hasn't applied in my life long learning quest. What's hard is remembering that what's obvious to you may not be so to your students. So try to have at least two different ways of presenting/sharing/demonstrating/explaining ideas. As you gain experience yourself, try to add more of these "tools" to your teaching "toolbox".

Another tip (worth what you're paying for it!) is to try and avoid "over teaching".  Your students are at the start of their journey. What you know has taken years to accumulate. Don't try to "dump" the entirety of your knowledge on them in the five(?) days you will be with them. Spend the time working on building a strong foundation for their future growth.

And the Cub Scout leader in me is keen to remind knowledge lenders to "Keep it Fun!" Just my $0.02, your mileage may vary, don't take any wooden nickels, etc...

1 hour ago, NJCubScouter said:

You mean the tabs were red?  The actual garter (the part that went around the leg) was brown if I recall correctly - but people didn't see that because the sock was folded over it.  They only saw the tab - which in "my day" of wearing garters and tabs (say 1972-76) - was green.  If I recall correctly.  I seem to recall that around that time, they had "reorganized" the colors so red represented Exploring.

 

My memory was Boy Scouts wearing green tabs. Explorers and Leadership Corps (remember those?) wore red. At least that's the way I wore them. My original socks are long gone. They were pretty thin and I seem to remember almost always wearing a short pair of wool socks over them (properly rolled or folded down to the top of my boots, of course) for any practical activity.

The elastic of my old gaters isn't in great shape, but surprisingly, it was the the little bit of faux leather holding part loop part of the hook that rotted away first. 

Between socks, garters and tabs I remember almost always finding one of them lying around when we policed our campsites before leaving for home. 

55 minutes ago, MattR said:

Those Iowans! They need to come up with their own city names. There are two cities I've lived in with duplicates in Iowa. Waterloo is the other. BTW, my wife is from Iowa and we drive to Dubuque multiple times a year. It's pretty along the Mississippi.

Either way, that's a great story. Every scout needs good friends in a troop,  or OA, in order to stick around. The friendships that started in cubs are great. An adult pointed out to me that a scout has to make friends by the time they're 14 or they won't stick around.

Ha!, Waterloo (Iowa) is just a few miles down the road from Denver.  And if you think Iowa is bad, you should check out southern Illinois. Frankfort, Cairo, Vienna... plus Illinois butchers the pronunciations. 

Yeah, 40+ years later I still meet up with my Scout buddies several times a year, in spite of us being scattered across the country. And, being a non-linked Pack, I find myself frequently telling parents that despite all the "great", logical reasons to pick one troop over another, sometimes the best reason to pick one is because that's the one where their friends are going.

52 minutes ago, MattR said:

Something also that's amazing is that scouts in Colorado were reported in a local Iowa paper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver%2C_Iowa#History

News from a local Iowa paper:

Five from Denver graduating class earn Eagle Scout rank
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_51085d5b-392e-58ae-9ad4-b3a2ad6aa46d.html

(Like with many news outlets, even here we sometimes get so caught up in the bad news or even just that stuff that needs improvement or fixing, that we can forget about all that stuff that goes right.)

I have so many great memories from my time as a Scout... summer camps, high adventures, my Troop's annual Thanksgiving weekend pilgrimage to Civil War battlefields, NJLT @ Philmont, and a trip to the National Jamboree. But probably my best memories were afterwards, when I saw the tangible benefits of Scouting paying off.

So there I was on day three of our land survival course while I attended the Navy's Naval Aircrew Candidate School. There were four Marines with our class of 35+ sailors, running around the woods, making shelters, catching & eating snake (and snake soup!), and all the good stuff at which a Scout would feel right at home. So apparently I must have come off as something of a "city slicker" for some, unknown to me, reason. Anyway, I'm relaxing under a improvised shelter (they supplied us with parachutes, for cripes sake!) when one of the Marines turns to me and says, "Taylor, this is all just a big campout for you, isn't it?" While I took that as high praise coming from a Fleet Marine, I realized that Scouting had provided a much more tangible and concrete skill set than I had ever expected to have.

@FireStone - Well... no, I hadn't ever looked into the BPSA. Thanks for sending me down that rabbit hole.

@MattR & @desertrat77 , Thanks for taking on this responsibility.

In my head I picture your recruitment going much like my recruitment as Cubmaster: "So... we noticed that you're coming to all the meetings anyway..."

1 minute ago, HashTagScouts said:

That is one of my other concerns- are we now going to see more youth age out and not stick around, feeling they are no longer a scout, but also now not a scouter...

18-20 year old ASMs are about to effectively become JASMs... except they can't be by themselves around youth under 18. Sigh...

Never a staffer, but back when my Troop went in 1980 & 1981, I think, it was referred to as the "Northern Wisconsin National Canoe Base".

I seem to remember a total of six high adventure bases being listed at the time: Philmont, the Sea Base, what is now Northern Teir, Land-Between-The-Lakes in Kentucky, the Wisconsin Canoe Base and something in Maine(?).

We also did the 50 miler afloat one year. And we kind of wish we hadn't. We were doing a "whitewater trip" that year and between the distance and our conservation work we didn't feel like we had enough time to "play" in the whitewater. But some great memories. In spite of all the mosquitoes...

20 hours ago, ItsBrian said:

I forgot to post this, but I got a Contingo auto spout and it has works great.

Contigo Autospout Ashland Water Bottle, 32oz , Smoke https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D67ADCS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_sFQTCwMjtYSyK

I'll second the Contigo. I adopted one after being unable to reunite it with its original owner. It's since become my goto, every day bottle. I ended up buying them for the two of my boys currently in Scouts also.

I've really come to like the fact that they have an internal straw because that means I can take a sip without tipping my head back and hence taking my eyes off the road while driving. Of course that does complicate cleaning, but as I only put water in them it's only a minor inconvenience. I personally prefer the 24 oz size as it will still fit, barely, into my van's cup holder and daypack's drink bottle pouch. And so far they seem up to the task of being boy-handled by my sons. 

Correct me if I'm wrong (which is an assurance in an online forum 🤣), but if your jacshirt is "vintage" then you're free to put what you what on it...

Although personally, once you get past the pocket Scout emblem, some award patch on the other pocket, a large center back patch, a felt Philmont bull and maybe one or two others somewhere, the jacshirt starts to look a little crowded & "busy". 

Welcome!

2 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

As for spats - I think they look very odd in the photo above. From a color standpoint, I do see how it ties together the white of the gloves and flag supporters. I actually love my white NESA neckerchief because the white sets off the colors of the uniform very nicely. But what we see above are spats,...

Gaiters, on the other hand, are an entirely different matter...

Those are not spats in Eagle101's photo above. Those are leggings. And not the kind that my youngest son's preschool teacher wears to school. I state this based on the fact that I had to wear them for many weeks while Uncle Sam's Navy tried to teach me stuff in boot camp, most of which I'd already learned thanks to Boy Scouts & Explorers (aka Sea Scouts).

Spats are short, cover the shoe, but not the pant leg and are/were worn with formal wear.

Leggings may be considered a type of gaiter, but not all gaiters are leggings. Rain gaiters may go up to the knee & hook over the toe of a boot, such as motorcyclists sometimes wear. Snake gaiters are a thick, tough material such as leather, for obvious reasons. And then there's the extra tall kind that include a boot to go fishing in. 

It's nice to know that 28 years or so after the introduction of the tan & green Oscar de la Renta uniforms we're still clear as mud about what to do with a collar and a neckerchief. (Prior to that the uniforms had NO collar, which certainly encouraged neckerchief wear as they looked ridiculous with them. And prior to THAT, if I remember correctly, the uniform collars were small and easily covered by the neckerchief.)