cubbingcarol

Can't wait for tonight as we get back to our weekly Daisy meetings!!!! I've got 14 girls registered, 7 are returns from last year.

Gotta love this Scout stuff!

Carol

I had my boys use precut material (canvas like, got the cheapest I could find) and made tipis. They lashed small dowels together for a stand and when finished with their material wrapped it around the poles like a tipi. Looks really cool.

We stayed in blue until Blue and Gold during 1st year then made a 'presentation' of their tan shirt. Right before that, the boys had voted on their den name.

Carol

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Some people will moan and groan because they were not told about such and such (boo-hoo, wah-wah) yet the info was right there. It's usually the same ones all the time. My suggestion would be to have the loudest repeat offenders volunteer to be the phone parent. Their 'job' would be to call all with upcoming events, etc. If they did not want to do that then tell them sorry because you send out info in all those other ways and you don't have time to call everyone too.

my $0.02,

Carol

My Bear den might be interested. Email me the info

leighton13@yahoo.com

Let me start by saying I am not experienced with multi-age (level) troops (or dens for that matter).

I am the Daisy leader (my 2nd year as we went ahead and started dividing last year as they are now mandating). So I am still relatively new at GS. I have been a Cub Scout leader for going on 5 years now (my youngest son is Bear so not too much longer to go woo-hoo!!).

I have 6 returning Daisies and have signed up 6 new ones (so far), so we are just the right size in my book. That is reason #1 for myself.

Reason #2 is planning meetings, stuff being too old vs. too young.

We are fairly good sized unit, 40 girls strong. We are only about 2 years old. All of our troops meet separately 3 weeks out of the month then on the 4th week we have our 'Power Hour' (kind of like CS pack meeting).

Just my 2 cents

Carol

I hate the way the girls have 2 year programs. Our unit was brand new this last fall so we all decided to start splitting the grades like they are mandating for this year. The year went great but way too fast. Last Sat. at our bridging banquet I said 'goodbye' to four of my Daisies as they became Brownies. I hope they stick around (the Brownies leaders are sort of undependable at times, don't send out a calender, etc.). I just hated to let 'my girls' go. I will bridge up next year with my daughter and get them back for one more year. Just my 2 cents, plus I wanted to get something going for this particular forum. Does anyone know of strictly GS forums?

Carol

We have one activity planned for each summer month for all the girls of the SU. We will have a couple of SU meeting (esp. to finalize plans).

Our region is also having several camps for the girls.

I (Daisy troop leader) am not having regular meetings during the summer.

Carol

I will be volunteering with our regions Girl Scout Twilight camp. Cub Scout day camp with my middle son.

And we as a family are loading up the old pop-up trailer and heading to Yellowstone and South Dakota late June and July!!!! Yeah!!!!

Carol

We have done a few things together but will be doing lots (just got our towns Girl Scouting going again after a hiatus due to no leadership, training etc.) The reason being because my husband is Cub master, Scoutmaster, Service Unit manager, I am Wolf den leader, Assist. Scoutmaster, Daisy troop leader. We are a small pack but larger service unit. There just wasn't as much for girls to do here in town as there is for boys. When we had our initial sign-up back in September we had about 20 girls sign-up. I firmly believe in mixing the sexes, I mean as families we raise our boys and girls together. Don't get me wrong, I like dealing with them seperately too! (I was really excited about doing girly things after 5 years of Cub scouts)

Carol

My name is Carol. I started Cub Scouts with my oldest son as his Tiger leader and he will be crossing over next week with his AOL. Next came my middle son last year as Tiger. This year my daughter FINALLY became a Girl Scout as a Daisy and I am her leader. So since last September I have been the leader in 2 dens and 1 troop. I was soooo ready to do 'girly' things!! We have 10 girls who are pretty much faithful. It is awesome. My husband is right along with me, he is Cubmaster, Scoutmaster and Service Unit Manager. I am also a committee member on the Boy Scout committee. I think those of us that are really committed to Scouting all wear multiple hats.

Gotta love this Scout stuff!

Carol

If anyone thinks kids today don't know about Star Wars they must not go to the toy or video game sections. My boys (and youngest dgt) ages 10, 8, 5 respectively have loved Star Wars since they could walk. Of course Dad does too (and I like the movies). Two years ago when we went to Disney World, Dad made us all stand in line so he and the kids could have their pictures made with Darth Vadar.

A Star Wars themed Blue and Gold sounds AWESOME!

Carol

I did just to try and win the 'Den meeting in a box'. Did not really gain anything from it.

Carol

FYI- talking about the quiver of arrows idea- vinyl would probably be cheaper than leather. I purchased 1 yard of vinyl last year for about $5 and we have made 6 pocketknife holders that are worn on a belt, and 6 medicine pouches, not to mention 5 'animal hide' looking things for the boys to attach their fun patches to. Still quite a bit left over.

Carol

1. I am the Webelos II leader and Wolf den leader.

2. 3 meetings a month unless the day of the meeting happens to be a holiday or school was not in session.

3. 1 pack meeting every month, special meetings periodically i.e. bowling party, skating party.

4. Den hike or fishing trip in June, day camp and parade in July, swimming party for end of summer in August.

We usually do our Pack camp-out in April or May.

Carol

I gotta ask, what did you make your edible campfire out of? That sounds cool!

Carol

I guess I would have to say chicken fried steak with gravy. Homemade fried okra with cornmeal as a light coating. Some folks like it boiled but I can't get past the slime. And apricot fried pies, yum-yum! Basically just good ole southern foods (most of it fried).

Carol

And just about anything slow smoked/BBQ'd

They are supposed to supply the pack with a meeting place but they can't dictate you must use it. By all means explore other meeting areas.

Carol

Why can you not ask the grandmother of the one boy? What about other grandparents or aunts, uncles, cousins etc. etc. The leader doesn't have to be kin at all as long as they get proper training. We actually had this EXACT problem a couple years ago with the WebII leader moving before school started. My DH the CM tried everything and everybody he could think of, no luck. Instead of letting the den fold (we are the only pack in town) he stepped up and led the boys until crossover in April. Now we probably could not do it as he is the CM and SM and I am WebII, Wolf and Daisy leader but if it came down to letting the den fold I'm sure we would try something even if all of us leaders had to take a month at a time leading the group.

Just be sure in your selling tactics to STRESS the point that it will be a short year if everything goes as planned!

Good luck vibes going out to ya!

Carol

Advertise before i.e. flyers home from school, ad in the local newspaper, radio/T.V. and have the boys wear their uniforms to school a few days before.

As far as the PWD cars and track, I think it would be fun as long as the cars aren't too fragile and that there will be responsible persons monitoring the cars and track.

Good luck!

Carol

We have never done telephone recruitment. Too impersonel for me. We do the 'back to school night' and 'spring sign-up' nights. During our spring sign-up we had 5 Tigers!! No telling how many we will get next month. I agree that the word of mouth is the best advertisement. As far as the responses you were talking about, being fully trained covers most of the questions you are likely to encounter. We have never (in the past 5 years we have been involved with recruitment) been asked about policies such as you state. Most of our parents just want the boys involved in something wholesome and fun. Four out of the five Tigers were the only boy in the family and the parents wanted them to have time with just the 'guys'!

Don't know if that helped or not.

Good luck anyway!

Carol

This is my tribute to volunteering in Scouts

My hand has a mind of its own

Causing me to shutter and groan

For I can't stop its lifting

My mind still adrifting

Past the undertaking I'm trying to postpone.

The new booklets from BSA are actually very good. My Webelos I den actually read through them and talked about what they read. The only thing I find could be adjusted is the statistics of ages, they are targeting 6th-7th graders in my opinion. Still they are interesting to 9-10 year olds.

Carol

We use face painting ceremonies for all our rank advancements except AofL. The parents love them as much as the boys. We too use the colors as they relate to the Scouting values. Have had no complaints from anyone.

Carol

Our council has a seperate Webelos camp during the summer. As for Day camp they do not have (at least not in the past 3 years) seperate Webelos events.