AKdenldr

Okay all, links are terrific. What is the recommended size for a girl scout troop? (I know b.s.a. den is 6-8. And there have been lots of discussions on these forums on how to make other sizes work.) --AK

Wow, all that in 3 short days. Focus on the boys. Focus on your son. -- AK

Thanks all for all the discussion and responses. AHG will not work for this group as per Basement's observations. IM_Kathy -- yes, you are on to it, some of the problems may be related to the Journeys and the newness of all the changes to the program. Can the girls work on old badge programs now, or was that just part of the phase-in period? Former cub mothers will not step up until current leader is gone. (I'm not doing it for them, I'm on to Boyscouts.) I don't think anyone is interested in changing the whole dynamic to coed or family style -- just enriching the exper

Thanks Basement, A whole new program is probably not the answer. These capable parents could enrich, or plan differently within the G.S. program once they understand it. Previous troops at this school have done very well. As I said, this is a new leader who is departing. -- AK

Background: The Cub Pack at our school is thriving. A number of my Webelos (now New Scouts) have younger sisters in girl scouts. In particular they are brownies. (and because of the family nature of cub scouting they have done a lot of cub scouting through the years.) The experienced and capable cub scout moms, and now Brownie mothers, are having trouble making sense of the brownie program. (Current Brownie leader is a new leader and is moving.) The girls want to do "fun stuff like cub scouts". I understand that the program is broad and can be focused to address the interests

In another post a discussion raised a question for me: Does anyone have any idea what National BSA makes on their uniform, awards, handbooks etc? I assume that this is part of their revenue because those little tiger badges can't cost close to two dollars when manufactured in bulk. I know when I worked in retail minimum markup was 100% on clothing. Any thoughts? -- AK

Pack -- just saw the recharter 34! Amazing, from a pack that was going to fold after the first den, then after the second den formed, then after the third den disolved in the Bear year, etc... Of course 6 WebIIs on the way out, but a real culture of scouting for boys has developed at this small school.

Wanted to let you know since I got both of these ideas from the site: Did sock wars at our Blue and Gold -- 34 cubs and their siblings and 3 leaders, while the adults were in another room hearing the FOS presentation. Kids were not bored by hearing an adult message, and for some reason, donations were very high. A double success!

I'm finding that folks are using email differently then they did only a few years ago. I think part of it is that they are reading on their smart phones and not at a sit down computer at their desk. I'm now sending out emails with "RESPONSE REQUiRED" or "ACTION" in the subject line. There is a feature in my email that asks for a response email back. This only works on some folks email addresses. But bottom line, I am calling folks more. Folks are using their phones differently also, so now you can usually catch them on their cells. I start off with, "I hadn't heard from you on

After school den meetings have snack. Younger boys need snack to recover from long school day. Older boys are always hungry.. As den leader I made snack assignments for the year on the calendar. I had one or two shelf stable emergency snacks stored at our meeting place. Before meeting email detailed who had snack (and who the adult help was and who was denner.) After a few missed snacks parents and boys tended to remember. As a den we set expectations as to what a healthy snack was, and by in large this was followed. Pack meetings currently have potluck as they start at 6 o

Potluck! Pack provides the lemonade and the Blue and Gold cake ordered from Costco. All other food provided by assignment by den (salads, sides, main dish, etc...). She can bring a Boston Butt if she likes as her contribution. Food for camping should be planned with boys in mind for eating and helping cook. -- AK

see praypub.org. My God and Family experience last spring with 4th grade boys took 6 45-60 minute sessions. I'd be surprised if 3 1 hour long meetings would do it for the God and Me. Ask the parents to look into if God and Me is appropriate. Their church should be able to advise. It was a worthwhile project and even last week we had another good think happen because of the religious medal classes. -- AK

Ann, I found it helpful to get and read a copy of the boy scout handbook -- especially the Scout and Tenderfoot requirements. They repeat and take further many of the experiences in the outdoorsman, AOL, citizenship Webelos program. I say give the boys more choice in their den, elect denners, be acitive, use community experts, get outside, get camping, and associate with boy scouts, have fun. Ask the boys what they want to do. Get the parents out of the business of signing books. Have your experienced webs teach your new- scout webs the stuff they need to know. Have fun and use

Okay all, DE sent a document announcing the FOS targets. I'd never seen them before, shocked me a bit. Is this typical? $ 75 per registered Cub $100 per registered Scout. If we meet our goals we get 15% off camp. Thoughts?

Okay Ann, I think we all need an update. How did the committee meeting go? -- AK

Ah now that my WebIIs are AOL, and I'm mentoring older son (and buds) as Den Chiefs, I'm able to pop my head back into the younger dens -- I'd love to do it all again and better this time! Wolf book was the hardest -- because half of the den's parents still didn't get it yet! If I did it again I would invest more time in parent education in that year. The whole thing was a learning experience for me. In what other program do you get to spend so much time with your son's friends doing so much interesting stuff in the community? Folks just open their doors when we call abou

Terrific! This is what I use for the mailbox: https://www.catalogchoice.org/ - AK

You need a parent volunteer to take this over for you. Say that the multiple requests and tracking down paperwork is taking you away from the boy's program. Once the volunteer does it once they will communicate to the other parents what a pain they have been and what a lot work it has been to collect all the paperwork. or, reward the boys who have it in on time. Big attention getting award. -- my experience

Never used them. We only have one den per rank, ever, so it's not as if you get the dens confused. We could have used den blankets, however, that would have been cool. (younger scouts sit as a den at the pack meetings). -- AK (That said, after the boys went to Web Resident camp they brought back a flag they had made -- mighty proud. But of course by the time the rest of the dens do this.....we'll be gone.)

The boys are the number one volunteers in the whole darn scouting movement. It needs to be fun for them. You don't have the boys, you don't have a program and you don't reach the boys. Uniform and advancement pushes can undermind this. That said, I was amazed how much the boys liked having a uniform inspection. At the younger ages the boys who were uniformed had better behavior in the meetings. We use treats to reward uniforms. ("Have your shirt and book? Thanks for being prepared! Here's a piece of candy, put it in your pocket for after the meeting"). "If you wore your sh

Thanks qwazse, boys already FC and have firstaid mb. Will look into EP. Thanks Adam S for you comment. That certainly would be one way to go. Another would be to know where the items are located and suggest the boys look there. "Hey I think there is something in the ______ merit badge about this stuff, are you interested? Lets take a look." -- AK

Ziplock pack it out, or burn tp in nightly campfire. Have a woman friend who reuses a bandana for #1. Dries it out in between needs to go. -- AK

Just asking, My son and his scout buddies are interested in taking the Red Cross Babysitting course. They have grand ideas of making money and its nice to see some initiative. They are following through either way but, Are there merit badge(s) this type of training fits into? -- AK

Den Chief no. But the lines don't have to be so black and white. Boy could join the troop and return as a guest with permission of WDL. He wouldn't be able to earn the Web awards, but could do the fun things with his guys. (Guests have good behavior.) Or stay a Web for now and continue to participate as a guest at troop with permission of powers that be. He wouldn't be able to earn the scout awards yet, but would be well practiced when he did bridge with his den. My thoughts.

Trying to change up our family meals for the light weight stove. If this works, scout can take for dinner on upcomming troop backpack weekend. Thinking hamburger helper lasagna and dehydrated ground beef. To reconstitute dehydrated ground beef, say a pound original weight, how much water would you add? Would you just add the beef to the water for the noodles -- or reconstitue earlier in the day? How? Thanks much