Alassa Eruvande

Our pack simply does not award all these "play patches" as we call them. For one, they are expensive. Second, it kind of lessens the importance of the "real" patches, the rank patches. I also was not in favor of the instant recognition beads. I figure, if the kid and his parents aren't motivated to complete a rank, a plastic bead isn't going to motivate them. At my brother's pack, in another town, they award a patch for anything and everything. Sneeze five times in a row? There's a patch for that. Show up for a meeting? There's a patch for that. Obviously I'm being sarcastic, but barely. ;-)

When I stepped up to be a den leader for my son's Bear den, no one had ever done den flags at our pack, so I was sort of on my own. At summer day camp, the kids made flags with their handprints and signed their names with sharpie markers. The flag was made of unbleached muslin and had grommets on one side and was attached to a PVC flag pole with zip ties. The zip ties were attached to eye hooks in the PVC pipe. For my son's den, we did that, but instead of zip ties, grommets, and eye hooks, I sewed a pocket up one side and just ran the piece of PVC pipe through the pocket. The upper end of the pocket was closed, so the pipe wouldn't poke through and the flag would stay on. Home Depot even donated the length of pipe, from their stash of odd sizes. Flag stand was a gallon bucket with a slightly larger piece of PVC pipe set in plaster. This worked well for indoors, but next time I'll use something a little heavier, as a stiff breeze could knock it over. The kids had fun making their hand prints, and we carried that flag to all our events, including camping. Also, after each den meeting, one boy got to take the flag home for the week and keep it at home, then bring it to the next meeting. Sort of like when you get to take the class hamster home over the weekend at school. I used it as a reward for a job well done, or good behavior, or whatever. The kids really got into it. At the end of the year, we drew names and one boy got to keep the flag. For Webelos, the boys chose the patrol name "land sharks", so we made a new den flag with a shark and a palm tree. I made the flag the same way, with muslin and the pocket, and used fabric paint to draw the pictures of the shark and tree. Then we cut a shark bite on the end of the flag. Same as before, the kids got to take it home for the week, we took it everywhere, and drew a name just before crossover and gave it to one of the boys to keep. For future flags, though, I think I'd make it smaller and of a lighter fabric. I have a Tiger cub coming up next year. :-)(This message has been edited by Alassa Eruvande)

Gosh, I love this site! I come here mostly for help with particular problems and always find an answer. Today I was looking for how other Troops do their meetings. My son has just crossed over to Boy Scouts, and I am finding the meetings a waste of time. The SM insists on it being "boy lead", and his own kid is the main kid (I don't know what his title is, Senior Patrol Leader? It's a very small troop.). So they have a couple of scattered announcements by the boys, no info for the parents, and then the boys run outside and throw a football. I spoke with a parent whose boy crossed over last year, and she said that is a typical meeting. It's no wonder the Troop doesn't grow and new kids don't stay; if you aren't into throwing a football it is a very boring meeting compared to Cub Scouts where we always had an activity. Another issue is that the SM's kids are home schooled, and I know their mother incorporates merit badges and stuff into their curriculum. (They actually live across the road from me.) So the SM seems to think that that is how Boy Scouts is. You do everything on your own at home and come to meetings to have your stuff signed off. Campouts are even less organized. They don't even cook breakfast, and just do hotdogs every supper time. I mean, aren't you supposed to at least attempt new things? The campout we attended as the Arrow of Light requirement saw the kids running wild with more football throwing. No planned activity. One kid was trying to set up an orienteering course, but he and his dad received no assistance from anyone, including the other adult leaders. The "hike" they took consisted of running on the trails and not even looking at anything. I mean in Cub Scouts, we always stressed slowing down and taking time to look at things along the way. This hike just seemed like a foot race with no finish line. So how does your troop handle being "boy lead"? Boys essentially have no networking, so they don't know what resources are out there. Do you suggest activities and let them vote? Who sets it up? Who calls in the "expert" who will do a demonstration and teach a new skill? Also, our Troop consists of fairly young kids. I think there are only one or two high school age boys. With the recent crossover, they added six boys, which is probably a third of the membership now. I think another third are the boys who crossed over last year. So you can see how easy it is to descend into chaos without a little more adult guidance. As far as choosing another troop, we live in a rural area with only one troop in town. We'd have to go to another town to find another troop, with kids that go to different schools. I'd like my son to stay with his friends, and I'd like to help see this troop grow and become more fun for the boys. (Okay, more fun for the parents, too!) Thanks for any advice.

We will be crossing over in about a month. I did offer to the parents that the boy could cross over at a later time than his den, and thus have more time to earn the AoL. I haven't yet heard back from them, which makes me think I *do* care more about it than they do. It is strange, though, because up until now this kid has been a good member of the den. I believe it is more on the parents, because what can the kid do if they don't bring him to meetings or camp outs? He also goes to a different school than the rest of the den, so he doesn't even see the other boys except at Cub Scouts. Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm going to proceed as we've always done in our Pack, and award the career arrows to those who have completed the AoL.

The things standing in his way of completing the AoL are the completion of several requirements, including the required badges. Which also makes me wonder about his future commitment to Boy Scouts. I've emailed his parents about extending the time for accomplishing the requirements, so we'll see if they are interested. I keep reminding myself that I can't care about it more than they do. :-(

Are the career arrows only to be awarded to those Cub Scouts who have earned the Arrow of Light? Or can any Cub Scout receive them? I have a group of 9 Webelos 2s, one of which did not complete the AoL requirements. He does intend to cross over to Boy Scouts, and has completed everything else up to the AoL. I'd hate for him not to receive an arrow. The past two Webelos 2 leaders in our pack did not have this issue, as all their kids received the AoL and all received a career arrow. Thanks for any advice.

Are the career arrows only to be awarded to those Cub Scouts who have earned the Arrow of Light? Or can any Cub Scout receive them? I have a group of 9 Webelos 2s, one of which did not complete the AoL requirements. He does intend to cross over to Boy Scouts, and has completed everything else up to the AoL. I'd hate for him not to receive an arrow. The past two Webelos 2 leaders in our pack did not have this issue, as all their kids received the AoL and all received a career arrow. Thanks for any advice.

The Space Elective for Bears activity (d) says "Build a model of a rocket or space satellite." Does that mean only a non-launching rocket? Because I was thinking of getting a couple of rockets for our Bear den to launch. There are kits for littler ones that the label says are appropriate for younger kids with adult supervision. Just for the "cool factor" as well!

Happy Birthday, BSA! Scouting has sure opened the door to a lot of fun for the Eruvande family. Our pack's celebration will be in two weeks, and we're having fajitas and cake. (Not necessarily in that order!)

Thanks everyone for the info. Just to clarify, because I think it came across differently, our particular den is not doing the RE together. I do have a Baptist Bear cub who has done his RE, and I wanted to know what sort of documentation is associated with that particular program. ScoutNut cleared that up. My own son has done Light of Christ, and, yes, we are waiting until Webelos to work on Parvuli Dei. I bought the workbook this year and it seemed a little over his head at the moment. John-in-KC, I knew about the NCCS website and have even shared it with the Religious Education coordinator at our church, specifically the parts about the Rosary patch and the American Saints. It is a great resource! Thanks! SSScout, thanks for the PRAY website. I didn't know anything about that one. Finally, I love this website! For someone who has never been involved in scouting until last school year, it is a great resource! I've been doing a lot of lurking and learning! Thanks to whoever runs it.

Yes, it's a family who has asked about the religious emblem. I told them about the different programs and that our particular local scout shop only stocks Catholic and Protestant in the store, but could order whatever they need. Since they are Baptist, which of course is Protestant, I was unsure if there is a separate "Baptist" program, or if it is all rolled up into "Protestant". And then, what sort of documentation is there? I'll probably just have to do a little gentle probing to see if they actually did the RE. Thank goodness we don't let the parents enter their own achievements. This particular family thought that doing 12 random Achievements would get a Bear patch, without realizing you have to do *particular* achievements, ie, One for God, Three for Country, etc.

Well, my son has only done Light of Christ so far, and we got a certificate, patch and medal from the Archdiocese. The purple knot patch came from the pack, after I presented the awards chairman with the certificate from the Archdiocese. The knot wasn't awarded by the Church. I just don't know what the other faiths do to recognize the scout's completion of their program.

I was wondering about the different religious emblems for Cub Scouts. As I am a Catholic, I only have experience with the one for Catholics. Anyway, do each of the religions who have a program for the religious emblems also have some sort of seperate ceremony to present the emblem? Do they provide a certificate, patch and/or medal? I ask, because I'm ADL for my son's Bear den and I'm in charge of recording and keeping up with achievements for the den. How do I verify that the cub has actually done the requirements for the religious emblem? No one seems to do the emblems much in our pack, so the people I have asked don't know.

*starts breathing again* I didn't know it was for a re-enactment. Makes total sense now. Thanks for the clarification. Really, I'm not one of those hovercraft moms. I just didn't know there was reenactment stuff to do associated with scouting.

@ jblake47/Stosh: "Without a RangeMaster, have the boys load a fully functional gun, which they kept in their tents the night before, with 65 grains of black powder (open and exposed), stand behind someone, while putting the barrel over the shoulder of that person, aim at other people and pull the trigger." I am really, really new to scouting, so can you please tell me why you had the kids aiming at people and pulling the trigger? Believe me, I'm no anti-gun person, but I genuinely want to know about this one. If you're pulling my leg, fine, but as a complete newbie, I'm a little dumbfounded. *Alassa, trying not to suck the air from the room*

Thanks for the great ideas, everyone! We've done a bit of Ivory soap carving, on the night the boys got their WC. (Even my 3 year old, who is the "mascot" of the den got to "carve" some soap with a plastic picnic knife! ) Nobody got cut, whew! Those web sites look promising. I think we'll stick to sticks, for a while. I'm thinking of having them whittle their sticks for marshmallow roasting. Maybe we'll try a simple pattern for a slide, especially if it rains at camp. Keep the ideas coming; I'm so clueless about all this "boy" stuff! Thanks!

Hi, everyone! Brand new asst. DL here. All of our Bear cubs recently earned their Whittling Chips. I would like to have a simple project for them to do during our upcoming campout. I have been able to locate small blocks of balsa wood at Hobby Lobby, but I need a simple pattern to get the boys started. All I have been able to find so far are fairly complicated patterns on the internet. Does anyone know of any simple patterns for novice whittlers? Or, should we just stick to shaving craft sticks for a while? The boys are all so eager to use their knives and I want them to do so, but I recognize their limited skills. Any input is appreciated at this point.

Well, after about ten minutes of looking I finally found the button to click on to post a new message! I'm a mom of a bear cub and also the asst. DL for his den. Last year was our first year in Cub Scouts so we have learned a lot! We've got 12 boys in our den, and probably at least that many in Tigers, Wolves and Webelos, each. Our Pack has grown a lot in the past few years. I have no previous experience with scouts. I wasn't a Girl Scout and my brothers weren't Boy Scouts or cubs. My husband was a cub scout for a couple of years, but didn't go on to Boy Scouts. So we are basically starting from scratch. But I think I'm having as much fun as the boys, which is saying something! We are blessed with motivated parent-leaders and great kids in our pack! I found this great site while doing a search for camping activities. I found some good ideas here and elsewhere. I've also had fun lurking around a bit, and there seem to be a lot of knowledgeable people here. I'm looking forward to at least doing some more lurking, and have bookmarked this site in case I need some more ideas.