cajuncody

I know that some of you would choose to stay but the thing is I am trying to get a "better" position with the school than my current one and it doesn't look good to have complaints (no matter how insane) during that process. In the pack this small group of parents is the committee that I recruited ( go figure) and things have been going down hill anyway. They changed the blue and gold and didn't tell me till the day of it and then complained that I was late. My son has seen the "bigger" and "better" packs and has been talking about things that they do that our pack committee and parents say are too far to drive to so I think he will be happier there.

Also, what pack wouldn't want a scout or two and a fully trained woodbadger (on that final ticket item), day camp director trained adult volunteer?

Just here to vent, last month we had our Pinewood Derby (they should remove this activitiy from Cubs) and a parent was not happy. there was a scoring error and her son lost a trophy position due to correcting the error. Well, the next day I was at work (I work at the school the boys go to) and her son yells something at me in the hall that was inappropriate language. I stopped and told him very quietly and calmly that it was not nice, used inappropriate language, and showed a lack of scout spirit. Well his mom called and told me that I was in the wrong and the problems at the derby were my fault then she went to the principal and complained that I "embarrased her son" and shouldn't have spoken to him at school, that I was out of line and should have let the staff at school handle it (which is what I am, staff at school). A monther of another boy in that den told me her son was embarrassed for the first boy and that I obviously didn't know how to deal with children (I work with them every day and am trained) and that I missed 3 events over the course of the year. (Actually I missed 2, one I was sick and the second my motherinlaw was in the hospital out of state).

So, long story short, Principal came to me and said there was a complaint but I did the right thing. I was livid about this group of parents ( now 3 or 4) so I quit, I am not going to let a volunteer position interfer with my work. I am looking for another pack but will not be with one at the school where I work. Rumors are abounding with the pack families and I am rumored to be a very childish person who can't work with children.

Why can't we all just get along and do what is right for the kids? Was I wrong?

Kristi

I am putting my beading on the calendar, June 25th at our District Cub Day Camp. I have invited my patrol and am very excited!!! My Guide will not be able to attend as he is going to be at Philmont at that time but I want to go ahead and have it then to promote Wood Badge to all adults that will be there on the final day of Camp with their boys.

I used to be an Eagle, a good ole Eagle too, but now I finished Eagle-ing and don't know what to do, I'm growing old and feeble and I can Eagle no more so I'm gonna work my ticket if I can

Back to Gilwell Happy Land, I'm gonna work my Ticket if I can!!!

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle

SR-725

Wow, sounds like a mess. Little vague on the details, could you answer a couple of questions? Was registration pulled before ticket complete? Did CO request the registration to be pulled? Can Scout Exec. do that? Could you give us a vague idea why he did?

Kristi

I can think of many good reasons to take woodbadge. One of the best is the contacts in scouting you make. One of my patrol members is the new DE in a neighboring district. Another good reason is the insight it gave me on my roll in scouting, now and in the future. I learned how I can improve myself and my pack. It is true that I could learn how to improve myself through a business course but they don't deal in scouts. Over all it was a great experience that I think everyone should have.

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle

SR725

The privacy in ticket items comes from some people's lack of imagination. What works for one person may nor work for another yet some might be tempted to just copy ticket items so they don't have to come up with their own. My Cook Off idea came from here but was only based on a fantastic idea that was presented by someone else, the rest was related to my pack and our current status. It wouldn't be "Your Ticket" if you just turned in 5 ticket items someone else came up with. That makes some people reluctant to share.

Kristi

I agree that ticket items are personal, however, that being said I must admit to borrowing an idea from this site to be a ticket item and it went over very well (Thanks Eamonn, even thought you didn't know it). The ticket item was for diversity and in a thread ethnic diversity in food was mentioned. I put a pack level spin on it as our pack doesn an annual "cook off" and wanted to prepare a cook book to go with it and my ticket item was to hold an "Ethnic Cook Off" with Russian, Arabic, Scottish, and Hispanic food and to print a pack cook book from the submitted dishes. The troop guides thought I was very creative and it opened up a good discussion on thinking out side of the box for diversity items (my stand by diversity item was "A Month of Sundays" where my pack would visit a different type of church every Sunday for a month).

Since this ticket item really came from here I don't see a problem sharing it, again, Thanks Eamonn.

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle . . .

SR-725

I will try to help on this as I am a Day Camp Director. I attened Camp School last April and I guess that makes me certified (or certifiable). The budget should determine the cost of camp for campers. If there is a surplus it (in my council area) goes to support other camps, if there is a deficit council has to cover it. Cost of camp includes the shirts, patches, and supplies. If your council sets a price without checking the budget they run the risk of charging too much and running people off or charging too little and going into the red. The Camp Administrator is the person in charge of the budget. In my Camp that is the DE.

Kristi

Funny, this brought back some info I found while working on my patrols Wood Badge Project. Did you know that when the scouts were exiled from Russia due to Comunisim that one of the places they fled to was China? They are now located in Australia and are just making there way back to Russia since Chernobyl (sp). This is from the web page on Russian Scouts:

"Huge groups could be found in almost every country, the movement spreading in a two pronged direction along with the White Russian emigres. One wave moved through Europe, establishing groups in France, Serbia, Bulgaria,and other European countries. A much larger mass moved through Vladivostok to the east into Manchuria and south into China where very large groups of thousands of Russian Scouts came into being in cities such as Harbin, Tientsin and Shanghai.

The Chief Scout of Russia, Colonel Oleg Pantuhoff first resided in France and then moved to the USA where large troops of the National Organisation of Russian Scouts were established in cities such as San Francisco (Gerie Street), Burlingame, Los Angeles etc. He returned to Nice, France where he passed away at a very mature age. Other troops worked in Argentina,Chile & Paraguay.

As Communism reached China in 1949, the Russian Scout troops of Scouts, Guides, Cubs, Brownies and Rovers emigrated once more. "

For more info check out http://pinetreeweb.com/norsold1.htm

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle

SR-725

I used to be a person

And a good old person too.

And then I went to Wood Badge,

And they made me person stew.

My feet are wet and blistered.

I'm aching in the legs

And my brain is gone.

And ere too long

My hair will look like Craig's!*

*(take hats off and rub head indicating baldness)

"Take only Photos, Leave only Footprints" (really tiny, faint, barely there footprints)

Kristi

For photos showing the adult leaders or parents how about "Wind Beneath My Wings"?

Or of course there is "On My Honor".

Kristi

I used to be a Eagle, and a Good 'ol Eagle too,

But now I'm finished Eagleing, I don't know what to do.

I'm growing old and feeble and I can Eagle no more

So I am going to work my ticket if I can

Back to Gilwell, happy land; I'm going to work my ticket if I can

( My first virtual round, sniff sniff, so proud to be working my ticket)

Kristi

How about the female leader in the front right of the photo with the tan shirt and blue pants?

Is that one?

Kristi

That is what I am doing. Last year I attended our University of Scouting and was really disappointed with some of the classes I took. I thought to myself then that "Hey, I can do that" or "I could have done more with that subject". Well, as I was filling out my registration form for this year I was emailed and asked to teach a class. I didn't think too much about it at the time and continued to complete my registration. Well, as the saying goes, it's time to put up or shut up! I am tossing the registration in the trash and volunteering to do a class instead. What better way to practice my leadership skills. I will probably learn more by teaching.

Any one else ever do that?

Kristi

I am only now starting on my 3rd year of Cubs and just finished the practical part of woodbadge. I am now working my ticket. In my opinion now was the best time for me. My time before Woodbadge gave me a chance to make some mistakes and to learn somethings on my own. I also had time to complete all the other training and attend University of Scouting and Day Camp School. It is still early enough (eldest is a bear youngest will be a tiger next year) for me to use it in Cubs. I learned alot (both before and after). I would say go for it.

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle

SR725

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=1213805

Eagle Scout Gives Homeless Kids the Gift of Friendship

(ABCNEWS.com)

Oct. 14, 2005 Six years ago, Greg Sweeney had a radical idea. While volunteering to read at a child-care center for homeless kids, when he was just 12, Sweeney realized how few male role models homeless boys have.

"A lot of them live with their moms in the shelters or transitional housing," he said. "Not many of them lived with their dads or older male adults and most of the shelter workers and volunteers are women."

So Sweeney got more than a dozen volunteers and started Cub Scout pack 506, exclusively for homeless boys.

He had no problem finding boys eager to join. But he did face unique obstacles.

"Some weeks we'd come and there'd be 18 kids and the next week we'd come and there wouldn't be any at all," he said. "Mostly because their moms lived in homeless shelters or transitional housing so their family's lives were kind of hectic. So they really physically couldn't get to the meetings, not that they didn't want to come."

With attendance erratic, volunteers started dropping out. Salvation came in the form of a $2,000 donation.

"The money allowed us to pay a driver to come on every Tuesday night, go around to all the shelters, and pick up all the kids bring them here and drive them back," said Sweeney. "So no matter how far away they moved after they left the shelter, they could still come to Scouts."

Sweeney is now 18 and a freshman at the University of Delaware.

This week, for bringing scouting to the lives of more than 100 homeless boys, he received the National Caring Award.

Scouting has helped the boys in ways he had not foreseen.

"This mom told me her son was in four different schools between September and December because they were moving around the city so much," he said. "So he really didn't have any place to make friends beside cub scouts. He'd come in every week and he'd give everyone a hug and laugh and he was probably one of the nicest kids we've had."

Sweeney's life is rooted in scouting. Following in his brother's footsteps, he became a Cub Scout at 6 and an Eagle Scout at 16. As important as scouting has been to him, he says that it means even more to these boys.

"It seems to be a lot more important in their lives because they don't get too many chances to make accomplishments like that where everybody recognizes when they get a merit badge or a rank and there is a court of honor," he said. "I don't think that's an experience they get anywhere else, you know, where people are clapping for them, and say 'good job,' you know? They look at their badge and they say, 'I got this. I earned this.' And that's something special."

ABC News' Bob Woodruff filed this report for "World News Tonight."

(This message has been edited by cajuncody)

HELP!! I just heard that my new cubs families are missing the pomp from our awards. They are not happy with the ceremonies in the Program Helps. I need a show stopper for this months awards. Please give me some fantastic ideas like the flaming neckerchief ceremony I used at last years cross over.

Kristi

Yes, that is true, but the one board they have now is overfull and I am afraid that they will see it as "Their Board" and push our stuff off to the side or off the board all together. We are trying to rebuild relations with keeping them up to date and I want to make sure the info stays up when I put it up. Do you think this could be a problem?

Kristi

That is a good question. I do not know, but it would be an interesting thing to find out as I do a lot of substituting in the CDC class at school and would love to see some of these boys involved in scouting.

I will check on that.

Kristi

I have, as one of my ticket items, to create a "Pack Awarness" area at our CO. I want to hang a bullitan board in the entry way and keep it current with scout related info for 3 months and to create a scrap book of items posted there to increase awarness at our CO of what we do and who we are. This was approved. My question is, do I supply the board, does my pack supply the board, does the CO supply the board (they did offer), or should I do some type of fundraiser? Any are possible, I just want to know what the rest of you would consider appropriate.

Kristi

SR-725

I used to be an Eagle

Just a fun question, no rules to quote, no passage to look up . . .

Now that Woodbadge is over, What do you do with all those totems you collected?

I took them off of my staff (except for my patrol totem and my patrol guides totem), strung them together and hung them in my office. If I am asked to staff or want to put them on for a pack meeting to increase awarness, I can hang them back on in one string. I just really don't see adding 5lbs to a hiking staff for "everyday" use.

What did the rest of you do with yours?

Kristi

10 years in May, starting 3rd year as a leader. I must say that my husband is just now leaving the storming area and moving into the norming. He travels alot and is not home to participate. That is why scouting is important for our boys. He is just now coming around since most of the training is finished. He doesn't like it if when he comes home after a week or two on the road and we are off scouting. Now that he has accepted it I think he will learn to like it.

Don't take it the wrong way, he supports me and has taken time off from work for me to attend Day Camp School and Woodbage, and University of Scouting is coming up. He always has great suggestions for activities but doesn't like to "talk scouting" that much. Hoping to get him involved this year.

Kristi

As one who has just started on my tickets I thought I should respond.

I am a CM and took WB for my pack. I was afraid that since the Cub version was no longer offered that I might be in over my head but I was wrong. It is true that alot of the Boy Scout methods are used but I "Rocked" on the first half day that we worked as Cubs. The only thing I had problems with was the Boy Scout Oath and Law after that but I have a good memory for written words so it was minor. We did function as patrols but most, if not all, of the information presented carries over for all aspects of scouting, work, and life in general. I have used what I learned at home, in scouts, in church, and in work (I am a substitute teacher).

Aside from the great reviews of the course I have to add that it was fun. I have rarely had so much fun working so hard with people I didn't know. Well, I know them now! It was too cool last night to be watching the local news with my children and to see a patrol member on TV, both my boys started jumping up and down yelling "There is Pete!" My boys came to our patrol meeting between weekends and my eldest considers himself a de facto Eagle, and yes, they can sing "The Song" with the best of them.

GO FOR IT! You won't regret it.

Kristi

I used to be an Eagle

SR-725

So I need one adult per child??? Please tell me I read that wrong!

Kristi