afscout

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 brought a general use scissors which had a hard time cutting though 2 layers of felt. I also brought my wife's sewing machine so we could sew the shoulder seams right there and the boys could walk out of the meeting wearing their new vests. So for $2.00 for the felt (and my wife's scissors and sewing machine), we were able to make vests that look just as good as the $15.00 CS vests and get two electives done. Now the hard part, my son as a ton of patches he wants sewn on his new vest.

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.

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 easily. The other thing is that is looks more like a cell phone than traditional camera or point and shoot, takes a little getting used to (for old folks like me), but I can easily slip it into a pocket (I guess I actually have a use for than media pocket on the scout shirt).

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 embroidering the name in red or getting black fabric and having the name done it white. In either case, I would cut, fold and sew the fabric into a nametag size patch and sew it on to the shirt. For those with military experience, it would be like how they sew the cloth badges on BDUs. Which do you think would look better, red on tan or white on black?

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.

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 had other stuff to worry about. He a old hand at this so I'm not as worried, but can you imagine if it was a new leader that just got recruited and not quite sure about this CS yet?(This message has been edited by AFscout)

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 sick or she was really tired after work). She has never accepted any offers of help. She also sends me a lot of emails saying she has things to drop off for our donation drive (but doesn't), needs to buy popcorn (I don't think she did), etc. I've come to the point where I don't rely on her for anything critical and if she comes or follows through with anything, I take it as a bonus.

Sadly, the boy is a great kid and can really benefit from being around boys his age and doing activities. The last time I talked to him, he has not done any of the acheivements for the wolf rank. It's not looking good and I think we're going to lose him. Anything else I can do other than start showing up at his doorstep before meetings?

My hats off to you Adele Trapp!!!

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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 decades-long commitment, she has just been honored as the world's longest-serving den mother by Guinness World Records.

She overtook Marion Rohner of the Hudson Valley Council Boy Scouts, who served 43 years.

"It's beautiful; it's very nice," Trapp said as she was presented with a certificate of her achievements at St. Phillips Church on Decatur St. this week.

"I'm not out for an award."

This is not the first time Trapp has been a record breaker.

In 2005, when she was 90, she was celebrated as the oldest employee in New York's public school system for her work as a full-time school aide at Junior High School 258 in Brooklyn.

"She loves children. If we are at home, I'll hear her say 'Where are the children?'" said her daughter Evelyn Rainford, 75, who is cub master to the same Brooklyn scout group.

"She's just a simple lady who loves children. That's the bottom line."

Trapp, who lives in Crown Heights, has seen generations of young scouts come to St. Phillips Church, where the two-hour Tuesday evening get-togethers are held.

One of her former scouts, who is now retired, has brought his own kids and grandkids through the doors, her daughter said.

"The children, they look at you as though you're their parent," Trapp explained.

"You have to really take care of them because they make themselves a part of you."

Trapp arrives at meetings each week decked out in a bright red, slightly frayed jacket covered in badges of merit from her years with Pack 263.

It sits over her dark green pants and brown shirt, held in place with a regulation scout necktie.

Given her impeccable attire and manners, Trapp has little patience for any boy who isn't equally well-dressed and behaved.

Still, the youngsters respond with adoration.

"She's fun," said Zachary Bentley, 10.

"She's helpful. She gives us good advice."

Adrian Israel, 12, marveled at the thought of his den mother appearing in next year's edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Then he revealed another reason he's so fond of this hard-working woman.

"She never comes without food," he said

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 positions. I wonder, what if all of the parents were told that they had to lead an activity? Would we have more of the 13 parents involved?

I know I got more involved because I lead an TD activity, found that I could do it easily and I liked getting involved with not just my son, but all the kids.

There should be a special online training, just for Tiger DLs that emphasises this point.

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 get the ranks, you do it to help develop good character. Cheat at the game and you lose the purpose.

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 son in scouting is that it seems many young people are only in it for themselves (What's in it for me?, What about me?, What do I get? etc.) I wanted my son to learn about service and helping others. Through Scouting for Food, community service projects, winter clothes drives, etc. he's learning about service and hopefully become part of his character.

In the end, I truly believe scouting will help him become a solid and independant adult which it my greatest wish for him (that and a fear that he will boomerang and try to move back in with us after he finishes college)

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 had to work at it (took a few hours to let the solvent to it's job, getting off ALL the residue off the shirt, and washing/drying the shirt) and it took two washings to get rid of the solvent smell.

For the record, if my son outgrows his shirt and I have to remove his patches, I'm doing the dry cleaning in a mesh bag method.

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 with.

Anyone else have this issue? How do you deal with it?

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?

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 about it and get back to her. I'm leaning toward having her, as the boy's Akela, discuss ways to help them worship in their own way and signing off on the requirement. This would be much like if the family followed a different religion. Any other suggestions out there?

Also, how will this affect him in scouting in later years. I know Eagle is many year a way, but don't they still have the required reference from a religious leader? He's a great kid and the mother is always helping out at meetings and activities. I hate to lose them over religious practices.

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 thought it would be all completed during den meetings or they couldn't start until the new school year. I know there are a ton of electives that he can work on while the other boys complete their wolf requirements, but it's a long way to wait for all of the boys to finish their requirements. My question is how to your packs handle this? Do you award the rank when the entire den completes the requirements or do you award the rank when the individual boy completes the requirements?

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 Nintindo and go explore the world around him. Could we have done this without scouting? Yes, but would we? Probably not. It's too easy to stay late at the office to catch up on work or to be too tired to take my son out to play catch. By being involved in scouting, I have to be at activities and can't make excuses. For my son, scouting activities are fun so I don't have to drag him out kicking and screaming. In the end, it helps me raise my son to be the man I want him to be and our world needs.

The key is being able to get the message out at recruitment events. Some parents that had a background in scouting are easier to recruit, but we have to aim to get the word out to those that do not have any experience in scouting. Even if the boy wants to join, it's up to the parent to say "yes." And once they are in the pack/troop, we have to get the parent involved to start growing the new adult leaders. I see how too many units rely on a handful of people to do everything and once they leave/burnout, the unit folds. My own pack has that issue. This year, I'm going to do my best to break that and get new people involved so the pack can continue on. I'm sure it's going to be tough, but in the end it'll be worth the effort.