Armymutt

I try to teach mine to use natural sources of tinder and we use the flame wands to light that. My favorite is reindeer moss, which grows well on the edges of the pine forests here. Our fire rings are very deep and very small, which makes it really awkward trying to use much else to start a fire. Not enough enough room to do decent DO cooking without pulling coals out of the fire ring. Then there was that one dad in another pack we got jammed in with during Cuboree. He had something that looked like an incendiary grenade. I try to teach mine to make small fires.

What are you using, flint and steel? 9V battery and steel wool?

No one has been able to answer the question of why BSA thinks that Scouts today are less capable than their peers 100 years ago. The organization would have died out if the same rules were in place, yet this seems of little consequence. Why can't a patrol go camping? Page 18 of the 9th edition of the Boy Scout Handbook says, "The goal of a patrol should be to be so well trained in camping that it can take off on its own overnights." Why are we assuming youth have become enfeebled in the past 36 years?

I'm hoping that troops like that still exist when my kids are old enough. Lots of new people to the program and are timid about it. I told our chapter chief last night about a game we used to play - star gazers. Sort of a quiet duck duck goose, except the guy walking around had a belt and would drop it into someone hands. They then started whipping the guy to their right, chasing him around the circle. Once he got back, it was repeated.

While working on the two projects I mentioned earlier this semester, I am developing a plan for expanding Scouting into underserved areas. In doing so, I have been reading a lot about youth programs in general and Scouting in particular. One thing stood out to me. Scouting survived WWI because the PLCs took over and ran the units while the adults were off at war. During Desert Storm, my troop was in the same situation. Our adult leaders were fighter pilots or ground crew and deployed. That left me and another 16 y/o to run the troop for 8 months. According to the G2SS, we were not allow

Literally in the Cub Scouts forum.

Yeah, Roundtable is kind of boring. I get boring lectures all day. Don't really want to do it for fun. It's not so much a Man Park. It's a combo in-person and Zoom, and the presenter always is on Zoom. Ever try to sit in a big room and listen to someone lecture from their home computer to a laptop projected on a screen? Shoot me! At this point I go to try to figure out who is in our district so I can put faces with names.

Is this hypothetical unit a Pack or a Troop? A Pack is far more reliant on parental involvement. A Troop can work with very few. For a Troop, I would look at the 1920s. How did it work then? Why the focus on a district? My first Troop as a kid (well, second, but because the first sucked) basically ignored the district and council. It was first chartered in 1933 and ran like a pirate ship. Probably still does. I never attended a camporee or council summer camp with them. Until they bought some land in southern MO in the 60s, they would pack up the boys in a bus, have a parent drive it

If the parent doesn't attend, who takes care of their Cub Scout? We aren't a drop off Pack.

Are permission slips required when parents are attending an event? Seems redundant. I can't imagine a parent taking their Scout someplace and then saying that they are not allowed to be there.

I haven't experienced this issue. About the closest is skipping Scouts for another activity. I caused a bit of an uproar at our University of Scouting. A class was discussion bending the Scouting schedule around everything else in order to retain Scouts. When it was done, I asked why we would sell Scouting as the lowest priority activity. People were shocked. I pointed out that no one in their 40s mentions that they were a high school quarterback. Even the guys who played in college aren't sticking it on their resume 20 years down the line. Eagle Scouts proudly wear t-shirts, tie tacks

I think their communications are in person at the meetings. I'm busy being a Lion parent for my daughter at the same time. When it's not my turn to lead, I try to get over there and find out what is going on. They aren't good about returning emails or text messages either.

Our Webelos den has a campout planned at our church - if they put it on the calendar. I'm not sure if they are having parents attend. For some reason, they don't feel it is necessary to discuss these things with the Cubmaster.

We don't allow drop offs at any rank, unless it's really necessary, like retrieving a sibling from an activity down the road. We had one family who thought Scouts would be a date night for them. When the meeting could last 30 minutes to an hour, you're not going to get much of a date out of it. The best chance would be to run to the gas station and microwave a burrito.

That's the thing. Where do you draw the line between parent observation and parent interaction? If a parent can observe any event, to me that means they would have to not engage with the Scouts, unless there was a problem. I don't know of any parents who would go on a camping trip, stay off by themselves, and not get involved, whether it's helping set up camp, eating dinner with the troop, etc.