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afscout

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Everything posted by afscout

  1. Mom: Look at my previous posts (2/2/11), my wolf den just make vests as a den activity. I did a google search for patch vest pattern and found one and make a cardboard pattern for the boys to trace onto the felt. Pretty easy.
  2. LOL, I just made a name tape using some tan fabric to match the shirt and took it to a hat embroidery place to do red lettering. It looks sharp, but it does kind of looks like the interpreter strip. Luckily I don't have a name that can be confused with a foreign language. I thought of using a black fabric and white lettering to match the pin on name tags, but somehow those colors make the name tag always look like an afterthought (which they were) and not really part of the uniform.
  3. One other advantage I see for having patch vests is that when other scouts see the different patches other boys have, it motivates them to attend different activities. Once they start participating more, they get "hooked" on scouting!
  4. When we transitioned from Tigers to Wolves, we had 12 and picked up 1 more. That was a lot and meeting were chaotic. We broke the den into two and it's much easier to manage. I would press hard for the CM or ACM to come in and find a new DL instead of merging dens. You could help out the CM/ACM by volunteering to coordinate activities with and mentor anyone that steps up to be the new DL.
  5. We just finished making the patch vests at a den meeting for my wolves. While I first wanted a dark brown vest to make the den stand out from the store bought vests, it turned out that the Brownies in our area wear dark brown vests. I didn't want the boys to get teased by others so I went and bought red felt. The felt was $5.00 for 72"x36" which makes 3 vests. I found a pattern on the web and made a cardboard pattern so the boys could trace the cut lines and then cut the vest out themselves. My wife had a very sharp pair of sewing scissors which worked out well. One of the other parents
  6. Totally agree with Scoutfish. We recently did a winter clothing drive and dontated it to a church charity that requires a referral from the county Human Services Office so that truly needy families received the donated goods. I was very surprised and pleased at the quality of clothing that was donated.
  7. I bought a Kodak Playsport to take HD video/pictures while I run races (half/full marathons). I'm slow enough that I can take in the sights during the race and not have to be bothered about coming in the top 500 or so. Anyway, it's great for outdoor day shots, waterproof to 10 ft, 5MP HD stills, up to 1080p HD video, image stabilization, shock resistant. I heard it doesn't do well in low light situations (no flash), but since I've only used it out when outdoors, I couldn't confirm/deny those reports. I would highly recommend getting a screen protector film since the screen scratches
  8. I've wanted a name tag since I started as an ACM. Parents see me once a month and I'm usually running around behind the scenes while the CM is up front of the crowd. There are times when they have to come to me for something and I can tell it's awkward since they don't remember my name and not sure how to address me. I don't like the plastic black nametag since they snag on thing, I've lost the frogs on other similar nametags, I've seen mag backings nametags not stay in place or come off, etc. I've read this thread and starting to zero in on either getting a spend uni shirt and embro
  9. I had a question. I want to had the boys in my den make a vest for Wolf elective 10c: Make a traditional American Indian piece of clothing. It could also double as a patch vest. Does the patch vest have to be red? I want someting that will make the den stand out from those who bought their vests. I was thinking of buying brown felt and having the boys cut out the pattern and sew it.
  10. Whatever you do in recognizing your new leaders, just don't miss one. At our last pack meeting, the CM recognized the adult leaders with thank you gifts (new neckers)...All of us, except one. Not sure why since he is a hard charger. I'm hoping it's because he already has the WB training necker, but it was awkward having him just stand there next to us who were receiving our neckers. He didn't even get a verbal acknowledgement from the CM. I asked him if he knew why and he said he didn't know, maybe he upset someone. I asked if he's going to ask the CM about it and he said why bother, he
  11. Here's the situation. I have a scout in my wolf den that comes from a single parent household. So far, he has not come to a single den meeting, 1 of 4 pack meetings, and 2 outdoor activities (1 being a service project). The Mother just got a new job so I understand she's busy/tired/etc. I and other parents in the den have offered to pick up her son and take him to meetings/activites. I've also talked to her about that since he's not a Tiger, she no longer has to be at the meetings. She says she understands and apologies for missing a meeting (usually with an excuse such as the kids were
  12. My hats off to you Adele Trapp!!! ---------------------------------- Christina Boyle, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER When Adele Trapp first volunteered as a den mother for one of Brooklyn's Cub Scout groups, Dwight Eisenhower was President and a first-class stamp cost three cents. That was 53 years ago. The mild-mannered great-grandmother has been opening her heart to kids ever since. Trapp, 96, has attended weekly scout meetings of Bedford-Stuyvesant's Pack 263 for more than half her life and has taught kids arts and crafts while offering pearls of wisdom. In honor of her
  13. Since our two Wolf dens only have one den meeting per month, we have a regularly scheduled combined wolf den outing each month. During this outing our, scouts (who were once in a really big Tiger den) get to play with the boys from the other den and we get to cover content that we couldn't fit into the den meeting. Besides, these outings get us out of our usual meeting place for some variety. While the other dens aren't invited, the siblings of the wolfs (which include non-scouts, girl scouts, and older/younger scouts) participate. It's a great activity and our CM loves it.
  14. Scoutfish, We already use Pack Master for record keeping, but need an easy to use pack web site since the upkeep of our old website it tough. BrentAllen, Thanks for the info. I guess, I just got to download it start playing with it. I just don't want to send out anything to the pack until it's set up so it sounds like I have to do the Pack Master sync last.
  15. My pack is interested in moving from our old website to SOAR MyPack to alleviate some of the web master burden. Does anyone have instructions on setting up MyPack (i.e. transfering info from Pack Master to MyPack, how to use the exisiting web address with MyPack, etc.) I reviewed the entire SOAR website and played with the demo, but it doesn't answer some of the questions I have. I called the phone number on the website and left a message, but so far nothing heard back. I'm wondering if this is typical of the customer service at SOAR.
  16. I can't remember if it starts in Webelos, but I know it definately starts in Boy Scouting where the boys can't just make an attempt to pass a requirement and have to acually do the requirement. That den leader is doing a huge disservice to her scouts if she is pencil-whipping the requirements. I hate to see what happens when those boys get the level where they have to actually know how to do something.
  17. It's funny that we really don't realize/stress how important Tiger dens are. When I was an Adult Partner with my son, the TDL was a very laissez-faire type of leader. He sent out an email about how we need to make sure all the Tiger requirements needed to be covered and that parents needed to lead the activities. As it turned out only 7 parents out of 14 signed up to cover everything. He never said that all of the parents should lead an activity. Of those 7, most of them are now DLs, ADLs, ACMs, etc. The other 6 (one left to another pack) are still around, but are not in leadership posit
  18. It is sad to see how far parents will go to make sure their son get a piece of cloth or metal. I believe that scouting is not about making Eagle, but character development. Which is better, a boy who gets his AOL via his parents arguing/bullying/threatening/bending the rules/etc. or a boy who did not get his AOL, but learned at an early age that there are hard consequences stemming from his choices/actions. Yes, we use beads/ranks/awards to motivate the boys and keep them interested. But parents need to understand that it's all games with a purpose. You don't go through scouting to
  19. I will admit it, I pushed him into it. I learned alot of skills in scouting that I still use today (leadership, knot tying, sewing, and cooking to name a few) from scouting and it has helped me be the man that I am today. There was no way my son would not at least try scouting for at least one year. If he really hated it then, he could quit, but he had to try it despite his love of playing soccer and baseball. As it turned out, he loves it and while he can go a season without playing soccer or baseball, he gets really upset if we miss a den/pack meeting. The other reason I wanted my s
  20. I just faced this issue. I changed positions and need to take off and put on different patches. I previously used Badge Magic and had problems with some of the badges coming off at the corners (counsil strip, pack numbers). I decide to just remove them and sew them all back on. The problem I had is that between travel for work, scouting activities, etc, I didn't thing I could afford the time to take the shirt to the dry cleaners (that and I have a big bottle of Goo Off in the garage). I can say that Goo Off worked and all the Badge Magic residue came off without damaging the shirt, but I
  21. We just had our first overnight camping trip of the new school year and while it was a success, I had the worst time getting the boys (wolves)to stop playing with sticks. At first it wasn't bad, a few of them were using them like walking staffs, but that progressed to swinging at and prodding others. This caused them to lose the stick privledges, but everytime I turned my back, the sticks were back in hand; rinse and repeat over and over again. The only good part, was I had plenty of fuel for our campfire after confiscating all the sticks, branches, and other stuff the boys were playing wit
  22. I was talking to a friend about scouting and he mentioned that there was a BSA ban on wearing military uniform items (BDU pants, woodland patteren Gortex jackets, etc.) while at scouting activities. Is that true? Since the Air Force is phasing out the old woodland pattern BDUs, they have been my go to pants and coat for hiking/camping. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?
  23. I had a parent come to me with this issue. Her son is in my wolf den. He is active in scouting and excited to earn his wolf rank. His mother has a problem with the wolf requirement 11d which to find out how to help the church, etc. They are Christian, but do not believe in organized religion and do not attend church. I'm not sure why, but didn't want to press since she didn't give details other then they believe in God, and is raising her son following Christian values. They just do not go to church. She wanted to know if and how he can fulfill the requirement. I told her I would think
  24. Here's the situation. As a tiger cub, even though my son completed all of the requirements, the den leader wanted to give the Tiger rank to all of the boys in the den at the same time. This wasn't a big deal since it was only a month before our last pack meeting for the year (he received all his elective beads during the last pack meeting and wore them for about 30 minutes before they moved the den to become wolves). During the summer to keep him busy, we've been working on Wolf requirements and are about 2/3 done. Talking to other parents, some haven't started working on wolf since they th
  25. I remember the old days when every boy in my school class was a Cub Scout. That's not the case any more and we're losing some ground since as more parents do not have a scouting background, they are less likely to have their children join scouting. We need to reach out to them. I think the in today's world of internet, video games, 24/7 working, scouting offers an alternative. Scouting gives me a way to bond with my son and a reason for me to want to break away from the office to go to a pack meeting or campout. It gives my son an opportunity to get away from TV, computers, and Nint
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