DeanRx

A couple points to ponder: 1) The form states the practitioner must be certified and licensed... it does NOT say "in good standing". As one who does practice, most states (unless the license has been revoked) still considers someone to be licensed even if they are under investigation, stayed, or on suspension. Most practitioners can remain "licensed" even in an inactive manner (costs less per year to renew). They cannot legally practice untile they bring their licensure out of inactive status and make up any and all CE credits required by their given state. Maybe she falls into that c

Some good points already made. 1) Use of the Denner system. AS they get older, your job as a DL should be to plan and task assign the meetings. Then as much as possible, have the scouts carry out the "plan". example - have the denner in charge of leading the pledge at the start and help with handing out supplies, etc... durring the meeting. Than have another scout be in charge of leading the game at the meeting. Have a 3rd be in charge of setting up the snack / etc. Have a 4th lead the closing with the Cub Promise or Law of the Pack. Make it very short and very specific in the begi

I tend to side w/ Beavah on this one... 1) The guy appologized, to both you and your kid (which at the time it happened he probably thought it was just fun and games... a water fight and a kid gets pulled overboard into waist deep water... WHY was this an issue in the 1st place)? If he got a little rough, then tell him so and move on with life. 2) Then the guy makes a general appology to the unit b/c the "offended" women don't want to be named. Well, my first question is: Did these women (including Mike's wife) ask him to STOP and tell them it made them feel uncomfortable at the ti

fbh1 resurected one of my FAVORITE threads of all time !! Best part about this thread.... the banner adds that automatically link to the topic on the sidebar !! Too dang funny

Eric- I'm going to assume you are not a troll and this actually happened the way you say. I would STRONGLY adivse that you keep any and all discussions regarding ANYTHING about sexuality as brief as possible and refer anyone that might ask you to a trusted adult in their own family OUTSIDE of the scouting environment. I'm not saying how you handled the situation was "wrong". Only that something you view as a well intended education session, can easily be viewed by an over-protective parent as obscene and inappropriate. Discussions of masturbation can easily slide into the "hav

I'm jealous !!! Wish I could be on staff at NT !! Haven't been there since I was 15, but if I could get out of that pesky go-to-work-to-pay-the-mortgage-and-buy-food-and-diapers rut I'm in... I'd be there for the summer. Hope he has a BLAST !

I think they are all great suggestions... I have used the Code of Conduct (Have the scouts make the rules... they'll police themselves). I have used the group reward candle (it stays lit until someone breaks a rule - one warning per meeting - them its blown out)... candle gets to the base - its a pizza party for next Den meeting !! Those two items and a gentle reminder at the start of each meeting is really all it takes. Also - I would advise having a game or two dispersed thru the meeting. My den meetings always go like this: Flag Salute structured event / discuss

evmori - Problem is if one uses your definition o f"firearm", then it would be OK to allow the scouts to shoot at each other with air-rifle BB-guns... no gunpowder or black powder used.... just air... While I think the reg as it satnds is vague and ridiculous, I also do not advocate for allowing scouts to pick each other off with BB-guns. lagosscouter - asks what can be done to get the rule changed? Thats a VERY good question. As many a pro scouter will hurriedly offer up when confronted with a volunteer that asks "WHY?" something is the way it is... the often repeated answer is, "Well

If its something you do not feel comfortable addressing, or if it is taking so much time from the meeting that you have to disrupt meeting activities (for this one scout) on a regular basis, then YES the DL should ask for parental involvement and support at the meetings / activities. We have a scout in our Den with a very mild form of autism. He is mainstreamed in the classes at school, so most the boys don't know anything about his condition. He does from time to time get out of hand. Usually, not physically distruptive, but he'll sometimes decide that he doesn't want to participa

From the online G2SS... Unauthorized and Restricted Activities "Pointing any type of firearm or SIMULATED FIREARM at any individual is unauthorized. Scout units may plan or participate in paintball, laser tag or similar events where participants shoot at targets that are neither living nor human representations. Units with Council approval may participate in formally organized historical reenactment events, where firearms are used and intentionally aimed over the heads of the reenactment participants. The use of paintball guns, laser guns or similar devices may be utilized in target

JoeBob writes, "I can see both sides here, but I'd have to agree with TwoCubDad. 1- For Eagle to be withheld in the first place, something has to be seriously amiss. 2- If the problem is indeed the scout, and not the troop's leadership, to circumvent whatever stain is on his record by using politics demeans the Eagle Award. 3- Why should the SM endorse this behavior and further cheapen Eagle? " Well - I guess I would say for a council or national to over-rule the unit on the matter (most times the council and national want nothing to do with unit policits, unless its a YPG, a

What is ther reason? Cost? They sell the Program Helps, right? Why not just adjust the cost to reflect the actual price needed to break even on publishing them? I don't know of a DL, CM, or committee what wouldn't be willing to pay 3x as much as face value right now for that resource. Fast tracks is fine, but its ALL about advancement. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought advancement was only ONE of the cores of scouting, not THE core. Great - less fun and games and more homework at the Den Meetings... we should have no problem with recruitment / retention after next y

2Cub- Sorry to hear you had to go through something like this. I fail to understand WHY it should ever come to this point in an Eagle's journey, but I guess it has and will in the future for some. That being said - if (for some reason, I would think / hope it would be rare) that the council / national would side with the scout and overrule the unit, then the unit shoud be obligated to present the award in the same manner it would present the award for any other receipient. They are a scout from your unit, they earned the rank, you present it to them - period. So the father cal

Horizon- While I'd agree that the photos on the flyer could have been done by a "volunteer", they were distributed from the COUNCIL ACTIVITIES OFFICE, I personally picked them up for our unit, from the council office. They were physically handed directly to me, by a professional scouter in the council scout office. That means that they were at least viewed (if not reviewed) for accurate information by a PROFESSIONAL SCOUTER in the COUNCIL office, prior to being handed over to me. I think its stupid personally. Stopping kids from pointing even their fingers or sticks at each ot

This is a common issue that comes up for many "requirements" for various ranks. Just because an activity is a requirement for a rank does NOT mean that younger scouts are automatically banned from the same activity. One should consult the G2SS as the authority book on age appropriate activities. However, the G2SS, does not trump common sense and personal responsibility. Trust your best judgement. In our pack, yes, boys can earn their Whittlin chip as early as age 8, but we try to encourage them to wait until they are Bears to do so. It gives them a goal and something to l

Here's a heaping dose of irony / hyprocrisy to throw on the campfire.... G2SS bans the pointing of "simulated" firearms presumably because BSA (whether right or wrong) has decided that they want kids to be taught to not point weapon-like insturments at other humans or even human shaped targets. OK, I don't agree, but its their policy, so I enforce it for scout outings. Now for the irony - had a pack campout a couple months ago where it was brought into question because it was going to be HOT and the boys wanted to have a squirt gun fight. Reasonalbe people prevailed on this one and

Tony- I agree, but I'm not sure I have a good answer. My expirience the loss of W2 before transition to a Troop can be directly linked to 3 factors: 1) Parental burnout by the time Webs comes around 2) Kids choosing different activities that compete for time / talent (i.e. sports, band, drama, etc...) 3) The fact that these boys are placed in limbo, somewhat by national BSA policy. They've already DONE all the cute craft stuff and shot BB-gun / Archery a bunch. They want to go canoing on a river, they want to rock climb, they want to shoot a .22-cal, they want to do high C

We have a Den in our pack that has been as high as 15 at one point. The DL has been asked about a split several times by both the CC and myself(CM). They want to stay together and have at least 3 ADL's that keep things running smoothly. They often split up den meeting activities into 3 sub-dens, but the boys take turns with who is in each sub-group, so they still get to hang out with all the kids in the den. I'm gald - it works for them. They are affectionately known as our "pack within a pack". Best part is, when these guys get ready to bridge over to Boy Scouts, the DL is already t

I would tend to agree w/ Colorado... you can always start small and add boys, or if some drop you can always combine dens. Its much, much more difficult to split a den that had become too large to manage. Leave room for growth, if possible. As for setting up Tiger dens... if it really is THAT big an issue, I suggest having each cub submit the names of 3 other Tigers they would like to be in a den with (thier buddies). Then you can promise that most will get 2 out of 3 and everyone will get at least 1 name out of the 3 on their list. Then drop the names in a hat and draw if needed.

No REQUIREMENT that parents have to "volunteer", that kind of takes the volunteer part out of it... We do, however, make up a poster board every summer during our program planning meeting listing the events (and approx. month / time of year) each event takes place. Then at a couple of the summer gatherings, we announce the roster of events for the coming year and that we need volunteers to chair the subcommittees that run each event. If the slots are not filled, then the roster is at the back of the room for every pack meeting, with the CM(me) giving a gentle reminder of the spots still

Gern- Sorry to offend and touch off the great conservation vs. environmentalist debate... that was not my intent. My point is, there are factions within the environmentalist movement that a over-zealous in their application. The fact that some advocate for absolutely NO USE of certain areas. Well, if we can't entice folks to go out on a hike and SEE what is worth saving / preserving, then its dang hard to get them to realize the value in doing so. Hyper-enviornmentalism has led to me having a 2nd grader who can speak to you ad nauseum about the hole in the ozone and "global warmin

SSScout- I get your point, but if its the difference between a "regulated" activity and an outright ban, I'm in favor of having a "rock throwing" range. The idea of painting them yellow and having to pick all of them up is a little outrageous, but to each their own. Its better than the last council Fun w/ Son I attended w/ my scout where the camp director let everyone know at the 1st nights campfire that, "Sticks are to be left on the ground... any scout swinging a stick like a lightsaber, sword, or baseball bat will be subject to discipline, up to and including being asked ot leave

Sorry... you'd need to define the 'pornography' and the context before I could comment. Sexting / internet - confiscate electronics (better yet, don't have them at events anyways), call parents and turn Jr and offensive material over to mom and dad, let them deal with it. Last thing I need is an accusation that I as an adult leader was 'looking' at a scout's naked girlfriend on his iPhone. Print media - confiscate, again turn over to mom and dad, let them deal w/ it. Language, symbols, hand-signals, cartoons, hand drawings, etc... I'd start w/ a "knock it off", followed by a SM

I'm not sure 'mandatory' is the right word here... how about 'strongly encouraged'. If these are the only two things the CO is really asking of the unit and gives in both time, meeting space, and maybe even money to the unit... its not too much to ask for the unit leadership to strongly promote participation. There's a HUGE difference in, "Well, we're going to do this... but its not mandatory...." and then an adult leader is seen standing on the sidelines during the event. Versus... , "This is an important event. It shows our patriotism, it is really the only thing our CO asks

I see a few things impacting BSA's ability to recruit and retain: 1) While the core values of the organization are what draws many a family (i.e. a parent that wants their son in scouting), a couple core values can drive people away. The gay intolerance issue (while I support it) must have an honest appraisal as to its impact on membership. Couple this with the religious aspects (again, something I like and support), and scouting to the outsider can easily appear to be a middle-class, Christian guided, youth organization. Even if folks don't have strong opinions one way or another on t