clemlaw

I doubt if there are many more child molesters these days than there were in the past, but there's a lot more fear of them. One of the reasons this fear is fueled is because of the large number of "registered sex offenders", and it is assumed that these are particularly dangerous people. I'm sure some of them are, but the fear is overblown for a couple of reasons. First of all, if someone is convicted of something like abducting a child, contrary to public perception, this is a very serious crime, and just about anywhere that I'm aware of, this person, if convicted, will get a long

I guess that's pretty much what it boils down to. With regard to epi...epi...ep.....threads with someone's name in them, do we allow a little bit of clemency? Or do we follow the letter of the law?

Well, it said that he had refused to do it, so I assume that he had already been asked. But yes, the request should come from the Pack leadership. But if he still refuses, I don't see any other solution. (Apparently, it's not possible to hand out the beads at Pack meetings.) Personally, I would just overlook it as a very minor offense. But apparently the original poster views it as being much more serious.

Yep, since there's a blatant refusal, there's only one solution to the problem. The den leader needs to be relieved of his position. If nobody else is willing to take the position, then the Tiger den should be disbanded. If a pack is going to run a Tiger program, then it looks like they're required to hand out the beads. But there's no requirement to run the Tiger program in the first place. So that should make everyone happy.

Well, I just don't think that "refusing to teach" history is the same as being "ashamed of the history". In my years as a Cub Scout back in the historical days, I don't recall ever once being "taught" history at a Den Meeting. In fact, I don't recall it ever once being mentioned. That's not to say that it's a bad thing to do so. In fact, as I mentioned above, I had an old Cub Scout from the 1940's come in and talk to my Den. But that was never done when I was a Cub Scout. So the mere fact that I was talking about history was, in itself, a break from historical tradition. Of

>>>>Why be part of a group when you don't care to use the program they offer and don't care to take pride in the history of the group.

Well, from the material quoted above, I was obviously mistaken. I was under the impression that they were "required" for Tigers, but not for the higher ranks. I assumed that the den in the OP was a higher level, but I guess that was just an assumption on my part. I award them at Den meetings, but my observation is that it's not that big a deal for the kids. They have more fun actually doing the stuff, rather than getting the beads. Obviously, others have a different experience. I still think that as far as infractions go, it's a pretty minor one. If the original poster is th

>>>>I never said he was not doing his job.

@ 83Eagle: Again, I was not the leader at that time. It was a family situation where if she would have said that, I suspect that he wouldn't have been able to participate at all. I also suspect that the parent had already talked with her about it. She handled it well, and in effect, she became his "adult partner" for the entire year. Obviously, ScoutNut is right, and this is how the program is supposed to work. And my reference to the "real world" wasn't appropriate, and I apologize. But I guess what made me pipe up was the fact that someone had posted a question, and

Well, I guess I've never had the problem of being asked to be a babysitter. It happened last year, but I wasn't the leader, so it wasn't really any of my business. But you informed the original poster that he had not been using TEAMS of Tiger/Adult Partners, and I didn't see any indication of that whatsoever in his post, other than a single offhanded comment about some occasion when he was asked to be a babysitter. Chances are, that didn't literally happen--the parent did not say, "please babysit my child." Since the comment was obviously not meant literally, I don't think it was

I don't think we have BOR's in Cub Scouts, so I guess I don't see how that's relevant to the discussion. If your pack is using BOR's (with or without parents), then it seems to me that puts you pretty squarely into Camp #2. But I wasn't aware that the beads were a required part of the program for Wolf and above, so thanks for enlightening me. For future reference, could you give me a link to the BSA document specifying this so that we can follow this part of the program the best we can?

>>>>>The requirements are toughand thats by design,

>>>>>If you have been using the Tiger program running TEAMS of Tiger/Adult Partners working/playing together,

I'm a TDL, and if I had it to do over again, I don't think I would bother with the beads. It's a pain for the leader to keep track of them and hand them out. It's a pain for the parents to put on the beads (I gave up trying to do it for 11 kids). And it's a pain for the parents to remove the thing to wash the shirt. I guess the Tigers get a little bit of enjoyment from receiving them. But if they didn't know they existed in the first place, they wouldn't miss them. And besides, "they already receive enough awards." As for "teaching" the history of scouting, is there some ach

I'm doing my best (hey, where did I hear that before) to make sure my Tiger parents are kept up to date on what their Tiger is missing. I'm also doing my best to let them know what we're probably going to do again as a den, and what we're not going to do. For example, for the ones who missed museum/older person visit, I've let them know that we probably won't be doing that again, so they should do that as a family. On the other hand, if they missed the hike, don't worry, because we'll probably do that again. It's looking like everyone is going to be earning the Tiger badge at about

If you ever see another guy with an OA flap on his TDL uniform, be sure to say hello, because that's me. I was kind of in the same position in the pack we were with last year. (Our council has a pilot program for Kindergartners, in case you're wondering how we were in a different pack before the Tiger year). I think they had pretty much decided that I was going to be CC in a year. We were able to dodge it, because we had to change packs due to meeting night issues. In the new pack, I think they have pretty much decided that I'm going to be the CM in about a year. Frankly, I f

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I just wanted to say that Roberts' Rules of Order (or even the less formal and less known Bob's Rules of Order) are going a little bit overboard, IMHO.

My son is still a Tiger, but I started playing it up when he was about 3. When he saw people doing something interesting, I mentioned that he'll be able to do that when he's in Boy Scouts. Yes, his father is very sneaky. He actually got started while in Kindergarten. Our council has a pilot program called "Lions" for Kindergarten-age kids. The pack we were in was always scrambling to figure out what to have them do at their den meetings, but he really loved being able to participate in many Pack activities.

Yes, I also think that if the MB program is done right, the question shouldn't really come up. Because as a general rule, a MBC should be someone with specialized expertise in a particular subject, and more often than not, that person will be outside the troop. Now, there are certainly exceptions to this general rule. In fact, the exceptions could actually outnumber the cases where the general rule applies. For example, when I was in Scouts, there were two exceptions that probably accounted for about two thirds of my merit badges. First of all, a _small_ handful of merit badges we

I forgot about that. Maybe they'll update it: "I swear, comrade, I only did it to put on my college application!"

>>>>>I'm sure they decided to use red because it's connected to the centennial and red has been around for Boy Scouts for 100 years...

Congratulations to you and your son! I have one suggestion for a Christmas present! A lifetime membership in the National Eagle Scout Association isn't very expensive. As is pretty common, I drifted away from Scouting during college. I never got around to drifting back until my son became a Cub Scout. I never got around to joining NESA until recently. I suspect that if a magazine about Scouting had kept showing up a few times a year, I probably would have drifted back sooner.

Fortunately, it's not a widespread enough problem that we need to come up with a new national form. And if they had a form, they would also need to publish the "G2TS" ("Guide to Trustworthy Scouting") that would have procedures specified in excruciating detail (including the "leave no trace" section, which would discuss how and when to dispose of old receipts). And the new form would undoubtedly create as many unanticipated problems as it would solve. Did Johnny bring back the book of 50 receipts he was issued? Fortunately, most scouts are trustworthy. And most popcorn consumers

The issue of kids being driven to school, at least around here, isn't really related to the parents being overprotective. The sad fact is that kids these days generally aren't able to attend neighborhood schools, so walking to school generally isn't an option. So if Junior misses the bus and/or has to be somewhere else after school, then getting a ride from Mom and Dad is pretty much the only option. Clemlaw Junior stands in the cold to catch the bus, no matter how cold it is. But I can understand the temptation to have him wait in a warm car. He's supposed to be there five minute

That's what I was going to say. The padded material on the ground does not do anything to prevent the types of injuries that you and I suffered as a child, such as skinned knees, cuts, bruises, etc. So kids can still have fun, and continue to enjoy those types of minor injuries. What it does do is prevent the relatively rare traumatic head injuries. Since shredded tires probably don't cost much more than cement, it does seem like kind of a no-brainer to me.