swilliams

My brothers' experience was pretty good, from what they've expressed. Given that I'm 15 years older than the first of my brothers and we were in a different ward when I grew up, though, I remember friends of mine strongly disliking scouts and complaining about it. It was only when I met a boyfriend years later, who'd been involved in a different troop, that I got a good look for myself into what scouting could be when the troop is run well. I debated posting, because I don't want my comments to be taken as being a negative reflection on the church, but it's hard to ignore the fact that ther

Thanks, all. This has been a tough year. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what exactly it is we're teaching the scouts by example. Good responses here, that help me remember to try and make sure whatever gets done, is done in a way that you wouldn't be disappointed with, should it be a scout's actions, rather than my own.

Our den leader's son has been having health issues for quite a while now. I stepped up in January and started planning and hosting den meetings at our house. Note: I'm not formally an assistant den leader, but just wanted to try and help out during a tough time. After a bit, I was able to arrange for meetings at our elementary school, and our den leader said he was ready to take the reins again. During this same time period, we've added four new Webelos scouts, and one 5th grader who is hoping to get his Arrow of Light (our pack doesn't have an AOL den) before crossing over to the troop.

Wonder what 'Expert Fitter' means. That wasn't a option for a degree in fashion, patternmaking OR merchandising when I was in school. Maybe it is now, and I'm just too damned old, lol. Not sure how I feel about the whole untucked thing. I have to admit, tucking in the shirt and wearing a belt is a pain, but at the same time, untucked just seems wrong - too undisciplined, maybe, as much as I'd rather not do it.

I have a background in fashion design and patternmaking. Can I tell you.... there is nothing more aggravating than BSA uniforms - particularly the fit of the pants. Is this my opportunity to rant a little? First, though, I hate that new shirt. It's odd-looking and a side opening on a pocket is not a great idea. I don't like the placket over the buttons. It may look 'cleaner', but it makes fastening and unfastening the buttons harder. The pocket on the pants looks too high, and I'd miss having the depth that the current cargo pockets have. Unlike with other pants, I actually carry

Not quite sure how it happened, but we're missing one of our 2017 Scout Sunday patches. Anyone have an extra? I don't really have much to trade, but might be able to come up with something cool.

Bugleson is a Tenderfoot, and has been an APL for a month now. He went to the training event, then attended the first PLC. Afterward, in the car going home, he told me he wasn't sure he was supposed to be there. I told him to ask his SPL at the next troop meeting, but for my own curiosity, is this something that varies according to the troop you're in? He wouldn't (or couldn't) tell me exactly what it was that made him think he wasn't supposed to be at the PLC. He did tell me that no one specifically told him he shouldn't be. Ah, eleven year-olds.

Our pack still hasn't had more than one, or maybe two, inquiries from girls. This whole issue is, for now, a moot point for us. I'm following the issue through this forum, though, so that if/when it does come up I'll have seen what has been working for others.

I have a number of issues with that article, lol. It pretty much sounds like Girl Scouts being bitter, more than the magazine not being in on the whole idea. Although, on reflection, maybe they're not, since they published this. This part is funny to me. "Even with Cub Scout dens remaining single-gender, Girl Scouts leaders are not confident the Boy Scouts will be able to offer adequate programming for girls. According to Archibald, BSA has made no public statement that indicates that they intend to alter their programming in any way to serve girls." The whole reason my daughter d

I never realized how little my son knew about how to have a phone conversation until he was given his first blue card and had to call the MB counselor. We did exactly what you posted above, along with the scenario of what to do if he got voicemail. Now that all of my kids are old enough to be left at home alone, I recently went out and called home for something. My youngest (Bear/almost Webelos) answered the phone. No 'hello' or greeting. I got, "Who is this?" Haha. Hopefully we've fixed the phone manners now. (They're pros at texting, though.) For this reason, I'm happy that our

This is for our pack CC, but I agree anyway. My older boy crossed over last year, and I'm one of the more consistent drivers to get scouts to camp, so I think I have a pretty good idea of how the patrol method works. Because our pack only has one AOL/Webelos II scout, we folded him into the Webelos den. Recently, we had him take a look at the different methods of starting a fire, choose one, and use EDGE to teach the rest of the den. I'm very undecided as to whether I'd want this position, but I'm worried that if I don't, we risk getting another half-hearted person in the position and

The CC made an official statement today that she would be stepping down. Maybe I should start a new thread, and I'll definitely search through some older ones, but talk to me about what the best and worst parts of the CC job are, and why you would or wouldn't consider the position, along with what you think are important qualities or qualifications for someone in this position to have.

I'm still new to this, but this seems pretty spot-on. As our den has grown more disorganized over the two years we've been here, one of the boys has dropped (others come sporadically). His family has said it's because he has swimming, but my daughter is in the same swimming program, so I know you can choose which days of the week you practice. If he were having fun in scouts (Cub), I think the family would be more willing to arrange his swim schedule to make time for the two-ish hours a month we have den meetings. At the Cub level, I agree that the adults are what can make or break the

Welp, the parent who has been helping me get Scoutbook rolling met up with our CC to show it to her. She told him she has no interest in continuing as CC. (As you can see from the original post, that's no surprise.) Might be time to put my money where my mouth is. We'll see if we can get another committee meeting scheduled before the end of the year and see what the other leaders' thoughts are. In the meantime, we're building cardboard box ovens, tying knots with rope (and licorice strings), and planning our three-mile hike. I found a packet of compass games to help teach compass ski

Attendance at pack meetings is okay. I've found they're a little late for some families (7:30 - 9:00), mine included, but at least they're on Friday nights. Some meetings have received a better response than others - a favorite for a couple years running now is 'Parents vs. Scouts'. We haven't lost too many scouts, but we have lost some. When we moved here 2 1/2 years ago our pack was at about 50 scouts. It's hard to know how many we have now because we have some listed that I know have dropped, and some that are active but never turned in applications. We had 37 scouts who attended Pine

Well, here's one positive thing that has come about from trying to get a system in place for advancements - even if we never use it. A Webelos scout showed up as being registered to our pack, but I had no idea who he was. I called council to see if maybe there was a mistake. There wasn't: he transferred to us from another pack in town that fell apart and didn't recharter. He's been on our roster since December, but no one ever reached out to him. I called and spoke to his mom - he'll be coming to our next den meeting.

A little background: I'm just a lowly grunt. Ran our Blue and Gold last year, then took over Advancements at the beginning of this school year. No one stepped up to take over Blue and Gold, so I'm still involved there, though at least I've been able to divide up the work load between myself and some other parents. (I've also been unofficially acting as Assistant Den Leader for Webelos, since the Den Leader's son has been quite ill.) The CC and Cubmaster don't seem to be trying to actively fill committee positions, have no plans for recruiting, have little interest in actually tracking adva

I can tell you my son doesn't want girls in the Troop. He's eleven, so his age may play a big part here. I went to pick my daughter up from a Confirmation class and noted that with the exception of three girls sitting in the last pew, all the boys were on one side of the church, and all the girls on the other. I asked my daughter if the teacher made them sit in segregated groups. Nope. We still haven't received any serious inquiries, so all this may end up being a moot point for us - at least for the foreseeable future.

It looks like Scoutbook Lite is the database, and Scoutbook is a more comprehensive tool for your Troop or Pack to do things like send out email, keep a calendar, etc., as well as enter your records. (Someone please correct that if I'm wrong, since I've not used either. This is just what the info out there points to.)

We're no longer licensed to use Packmaster, and only the Arrow of Light den leader (who was also the advancement chair) entered anything last year. No going back to it, which is why I created Excel sheets that duplicate the individual history report. I've been taking those reports and manually entering the achievements into Internet Advancement, so that there's some kind of record for the boys. One of our den leaders hasn't submitted anything at all this year, but just went out and bought all the belt loops and Wolf ranks and handed them out to his boys. When I told him the ranks are usua

I took over as Advancement Chair last fall. Our Cubmaster had declared Packmaster too difficult to use, and moved us to a site called Scoutlander. For months now, the advancement page has said 'in pilot, contact us if you'd like to use this feature'. The Cubmaster says she has tried to do this, but hasn't received a response. As a result, I've had nothing other than Internet Advancement and an Excel spreadsheet I created to work from. For who-knows-what reason, we'd never heard of Scoutbook until about a week ago, and we had no idea that this was going to replace Internet Advancement. (T

Hi Summerfun. I realize your post is slightly older, but wanted to add my two cents on the matter of the cultural and religious 'defined path'. As a non-practicing Mormon, I totally get this. Keep your chin up. Even though it's tough to face the disapproval you might get from some members, the example you'll set for your son and others by being strong and doing the right thing will outweigh bucking the cultural tide - particularly over time. If there are non-LDS troops nearby, I'd take your son for a visit and let him see what he thinks. Given the differences in the program, he may like i

I would also think trying to retain youth once they reach the age of 18 would be tough. Too many go away to college or university, and even if they're still living in the area where the crew is established, school commitments may keep young adults from being able to really participate fully. Still, we're going to give it a go for my daughter.

Venturing could use some serious PR. I'd never heard of it until last year, so out of curiosity, I asked around a bit. Of the 7 or 8 parents in our neighborhood with daughters my youngest son's age (9), only one of them thought they knew what it was. None of them could tell me which town(s) have crews near us. My almost 14 year old daughter does want high adventure, and will be joining Venturers in the fall.

I was told they come longer (like the unhemmed pants), and you have to make them the length you want. I haven't seen them in person, though.