seattlecyclone

I'm far from an expert on this, but I know different Muslim women have different standards they hold themselves to. For example a recent coworker of mine would show up to the office in a sweatshirt and pants all the time but she would always keep the traditional head scarf on. It's possible that the new mothers in your pack would find the long-sleeved version of the uniform shirt to meet their modesty standards, when paired with their typical head covering and a long skirt. The only way to find out is to ask them. Thanks for being kind and trying to work with them as they do their best.

I second this idea. Your numbers are low and you don't foresee recruiting anyone from Cub Scouts for two years. Those six Scouts aging out this year or next would still be eligible to participate in Venturing if they remain interested and living in the area. The funds and equipment and existing relationship with a chartered organization would all be great startup assets for a new crew. You could reach out to the other troop in town to form a nice feeder relationship between the two.

Our pack does a month-long fundraiser every fall and that covers most of the costs. Families pay national dues and buy uniforms/handbooks from their own pocket. Everything beyond that (campouts, awards, pack meeting activities) is covered from the fundraiser. Administration of the fundraiser is largely delegated to a couple of parents who are not uniformed leaders in the pack. Money has to be collected one way or another. I don't think there's one right way to do it. Find a balance that works for you and your unit. I'm sorry your experience with fundraising has been so negative, but I ass

$110/$90 for our council here in Seattle. Our pack actually charges a bit less than this per Cub, and none per leader AFAIK, making up the difference through fundraising.

Interesting discussion. I would have perhaps thought that uniforming among adults would be helpful to set a good example for the youth. However the norm in my son's pack is that adults very rarely wear uniforms. The Cubmaster will usually be the only uniformed adult (if any) at most meetings. Assistant Cubmasters will wear a uniform a few times a year for the bigger award ceremonies, while most den leaders and other adults don't even have uniforms. And yet, the kids all have uniforms, with insignia mostly in the right place, and they wear them frequently. I'm sure it's different at the Scouts

Ah so we've entered the malicious compliance phase of things. I see. That's usually not a great sign.

Yes, you mentioned some parents serving without a uniform, as though limiting their participation due to their religious beliefs or sexuality is a perfectly normal and justifiable thing to do. Such limitation is soon to include a prohibition on attending Scouts BSA camping trips. Removing a leader for untreated substance abuse disorder is not equivalent to removing a leader for homosexuality. One is something that is a potential danger to youth. The other is not. I would hope the children of these people understand the difference. Exactly. One mark of a good leader is to

You speak as though they were wrong to ask for that privilege. One of my pack's assistant Cubmasters is himself an alumnus of the pack. He continued on to a local troop and earned his Eagle rank. He's everything anyone should want in a Scout leader. Also he's gay. He and his husband (who holds no uniformed leadership position) contribute a good deal of time and effort to helping the pack go. What kind of lesson would we be teaching their sons to say their dads aren't fit to be Scout leaders, based on nothing more than who is in their family? It's not a positive lesson, that's for sure. Ma

Nah, those folks excluded themselves. They decided they didn't want to associate with an organization that would have openly gay people as members. They could have decided otherwise. This is not equivalent to the BSA telling people they can't join. LDS individuals who want to join are still welcome to do so.

Yep your pack's treatment of the "Duty to God" thing sounds very much like mine. We have members from a number of different faiths and the religious adventure is left entirely to each family to complete on their own time. It seems we're kind of in a "don't ask, don't tell" phase in regard to this issue. Atheists are officially forbidden, but unofficially tolerated so long as they can smile and nod when "God" comes up in the oath and don't make a big stink about it. That policy was unsustainable in the military and I suspect the same will prove true here.

It most certainly is not and does not. "The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God." This is inherently unwelcoming to anyone who is less than certain about the existence of God or any obligations to Him. "The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members." There are a growing number of people wh

The LDS church was never "excluded" from Scouting. They chose to leave on their own. Regardless, the BSA continues to welcome any LDS-member individual who wishes to join a unit chartered by an organization outside of their church. But you're right, any change is likely to push away some number of people while it also brings in some other number of people, and it's certainly possible that distancing from the "Duty to God" concept could result in a long-term reduction in membership.

@DannyG Seems to me like "duty to fellow humans" would be a much more appropriate phrase for this family you mentioned and the way they interpret the "duty to God" requirements. For them it has nothing to do with forming a relationship with any divine being, and everything to do with teaching their kid about the importance of helping other people. There's a certain amount of mental gymnastics that needs to happen for an atheist to convince themselves that they can fulfill the spirit of the requirements despite a lack of any belief in a higher power. This family you mentioned is perfectly willi

I have no polling data. I do have a bunch of friends my age, who are parents, who don't belong to churches and aren't including any notion of God in their kid's upbringing. Many of these folks would love to bring their kids into an organization that instills values of independence, leadership, respect for the outdoors, service to the community, and all the other good things Scouting teaches. But if you tell them that membership in this particular organization also requires their kid to regularly swear on their honor that they will do their duty to God (what God? what duty? their family be

How do you figure? Gallup polling says that only 36% of Millennials (i.e. most of today's parents of Cub Scouts) belonged to any church (or synagogue, mosque, other religious organization) in 2020. Compare that to when I was a Scout in the 1990s, and 67% of our Baby Boomer parents belonged to a congregation at that time. That's half as many families to draw from, at least easily. For the now-majority who don't belong to an organized religion, a "duty to God" requirement is something that is a non-starter for a lot of families. It's something that many of the rest of us might put up with, and d

To be honest I don't think most of us give it much thought. As residents of such a very large country, international cooperation doesn't have the same immediate relevance to our daily lives as it might in a place such as Europe. As a youth in the BSA I was told the world crest on our uniforms meant we were part of a worldwide movement of Scouts, but we never traveled internationally as a troop or met with Scouts from a different country to compare notes on our experiences. When we did a Philmont trek we had to drive a distance about the same as Stockholm to Paris, but it was all in the same co

Others addressed this already, but the basic tip that I would provide to a beginner is to just sit silently during the prayer and continue with the meeting as though nothing happened. For a one-off situation I'd recommend just leaving it at that. Choose your battles. If it's a regular meeting that you'll be exposed to often, you can have a conversation with the leaders involved where you express your concern about the inclusivity of a Christian prayer being delivered to a group of mixed faith. This conversation could go one of two ways: the person might say "gosh you're right I didn't rea

This year our pack did something more like https://www.instructables.com/Pump-Rocket/. No vinegar/baking soda. Instead the pressure comes from air delivered through a bike pump, and a bit of water in the bottle becomes propellant once the pressure ejects the cork.

The type of "talk" you're referring to can be unavoidable as part of raising a non-Christian kid in American society. There will be occasions in America where you may find yourself one of a very small number of non-Christians in a group, and the leaders of the group therefore feel empowered to begin a meeting or a meal with a short Christian (or at least Abrahamic/monotheistic) prayer. Phrases such as "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on our currency are well-established pieces of our "secular" society, as much as many of us may find such things non-inclu

I won't lie, participating in BSA events as a non-Christian can be uncomfortable at times. I remember as a youth being taken with the rest of my unit to Sunday-morning "non-denominational" (but still Christian / Protestant) services at camporees and also at Philmont. Though that was more than 20 years ago now, I imagine there are still districts and councils that put on similar programming today. I didn't get the impression from my unit leaders at the time that attending such things was optional. You would do well as a leader to make sure the non-Christian youth in your unit feel empowered to

One more thing on the topic of clarity. If the chart titled "Age Appropriate Guidelines for Scouting Activities" is intended to be a list of strict age limits for any particular activity within the Scouting program, the title needs to be changed ASAP. The common understanding of the word "guideline" is that it is a suggestion. Most of the guidelines in there look like very reasonable suggestions indeed! As strict rules they're perhaps a bit less reasonable. Introducing some of these skills in small doses and with careful supervision, a bit earlier than mentioned on the chart, seems like a

The rule is now clearly stated: packs may not organize campouts longer than one night. The idea that this rule has always been clearly stated is laughable. Other unclear aspects surrounding this rule have been pointed out above. Is "den coordinated camping" for Webelos subject to this rule, or does it only apply to camping organized as an entire pack? Exactly how much involvement does the council need to have in planning an event for it to be subject to a longer time limit? Is the Circle Ten Council's approach of saying "hey we cleared this weekend in the camp calendar for packs to do two

Exactly. I think in reality most folks would choose to stay over Saturday night instead of Friday so they can arrive before the evening and have some actual time for programming at the campground. But still, being able to get the travel and setup out of the way on Friday gives you all day Saturday for actual program activities. Apparently that's dangerous though.

Okay, but...the part where you're interacting with the thousand unknown people is the daytime part, the part that the Webelos are allowed to attend! For the actual sleeping part everyone retreats to their troop campsites. I fail to see how sleeping in a tent with a troop in a campsite near other troops is any riskier than sleeping in a tent with a troop in a public campground near non-BSA campers.

One question that pops out to me about that: is a Webelos/AoL den-coordinated campout considered a "pack unit coordinated campout" (and therefore subject to the one-night limit) or is it a separate thing entirely since it's just the den and not the whole pack involved? Regarding the ability to go along with Scouts BSA activities, it seems to be saying that the Webelos/AoL dens can stay overnight at troop-coordinated campouts, but can only be day visitors at camporees. Putting these rules together it seems they're saying pack-organized campouts are more risky than council-organized campout