Eagle309

I just got back from summer camp. The week went fairly well. They had a COPE program for the adults one hour a day which I attended. This was great as it aided in building commaradarie amoung the adults as well as giving us some realy good ideas for things to propose to the PLC for troop meeting "games". The low point was the day before we left. First, I got an 'urgent' call from my wife at the office. My grandmother had died (not unexpectidly, but nonetheless). Then they had an adult 'scoutmaster' recognigion at the campfire. Since I had attended and signed in at the leaders meetings, I was called up. When all was over, the other parent (who stayed in camp most of the week, not even comming to many meals) had apprently been told by the SM that they were acting SM and should have gotten the recognition/award. I appologized for the misunderstanding and gave them the award (belt buckle), but they did not speak to me the remainder of camp. I had a couple of issues come up that I would like adivse on also. First off, how do you deal with a very homesick scout? On night two shortly after the activity this boy (first year scout) was in a near panic attack over missing his dad. We got him to the health lodge where he was calmed a little. This process repeated itself the next night and even more the next day. His dad came up for parents night, but fortunately made the scout stay. He was miserable the rest of the week and had many trips to the health lodge or chapilin for this. Despite all this, he did complete the week and earn 4 merit badges in addition to some Tenderfoot/2nd/1st requirements. Is there anything more I should have done and how should I follow up with this boy? Secondly, how do you deal with untrained parents along who meddle and mess things up? I know the best answer is don't have them along, but sometimes in order to have enough adults just to go this cannot be done. In this case, the parent was a MC. The scout made a log into what he labled a 'Scout beating stick' and threatened (in a playful manner, but nontheless it was wrong) some younger scouts with it. The boys themselves remidied the manner-- when this scout left camp for a while, the 'stick' became fuel for the fire. His parent told him who did this and then allowed him to make another one. I was speachless and in no position to do anything.

I just got back from my fisrt year at Boy Scout summer camp as an adult. I attended as a Scout for 3 years but that was over 20 years ago. Our troop had no scouts tapped out since we had none elligable who were not already members. However, I did overhear from some of our first year scouts something upsetting that was going on. They were told by some older scouts that becomming an OA member involved a blood oath which of course left them never wanting membership. Our troop OA rep told them that all about the Ordeal was secret and he could not say anything. Maybe I know more than I should, but as I understand it, the ordeal basically involves sleeping outdoors alone, little food, and a day of work, all in silence. After our reps comments, I dared not tell the boys this, but just told them that any type of blood oath is against BSA policy so I was sure it could not be part of the OA. Was our rep. eing over secertive, or would it have been OK to let the boys know the basics of the ordeal as stated above? My other question is can and should I, as I am soon to be Scoutmaster of a newly forming troop, seek OA membership? Would it be benficial to our troop to have an adult in the OA, or don't it matter? Would it be overwhelming for an adult to be helping in OA and in a troop?

I spoke with my sons SM last night. He is on the committee that organized the event. The information was in error. Registration goes till midnight. Thanks to all who responeded for affirming that we shouldn't have to choose between scouts and school.

My oldest son has just recently crossed over to Boy Scouts. There is planning in place for a council wide camporee type event this fall. We were all set to go then we found out that we had to be on site and checked in by 3PM on a Friday in mid Septenber-- a school day. The site is over a four hour drive away. Hence in order to go, we would have to take him out of school on Friday. Before I even started to talk to him about the seriousness of missing a school day so early in the year (and at a new school too), he said he did not want to go and miss school so near the beginning of the year. I will still go with the troop as an adult, if there are not enough adult leaders already going. My son will not be going. What disappoints me is that he had to make a choice between school and scouts. Do others see this happening very often? I am hoping this is a rare occurance that happened because the council was in a bind scheduling wise.

IMHO it is the responsibility of the Scouter to "Do their best" to "keep themselves phlsically strong..." If another Scouter feels that someone is not living up to this portion of the Scout Oath, they need to remind them about it. We do need to be "Kind" also and remember that the obese Scouter may be "doing their best" and be quite sensitive about the issue. That being said, let us be careful how we define obese. This hits close to home for me, since I am technically (based on that BMI junk that seems to be the gospel in determining obesity) obese. I've been told when trying for life insurance that my premiums would be a lot higher than normal due to my weight. While BMI classifys me as obese, I am around 14% bodyfat (based on skinfold calipers) which is an acceptable range. I am a competitive athlete in powerlifting and strongman so I have a lot more mussle mass than normal. So, lets keep the BSA away from blanket classifications.

Our pack has always awarded ranks as earned. The boys are always so proud of their accomplishments, it would be wrong not to recognize them ASAP. Before I was CM, the exception to this was the BnG in which just Webelos II got their AOL and crossed over. This left some boys who had just completed their rank on Jan disappointed that they had to wait an extra month to be recognized. When I took the CM job, I insisted that if time were a factor, we would need to cut something else, if the boys earned their ranks, they would recieve them at the monthly pack meeting with proper ceremony, BnG being no exception. There were no objections and there are now no dissappointed boys either.

We had the same question in our pack. We did not see one in the book so we inquired at the council. They told us that the BSA considers hockey to be a contact sport (like football is) and hence it is not an activity sanactioned by them. Hence there is no hockey belt loop and it is highly unlikely you will see one in the future.

This indeed is sad news. I'm from the Gerald R. Ford council whose camp, Camp Gerber is literally right around the corner from Owasippe. (I'm not sure if the property lines abut or not.) I fear the crystal clear nights may soon be drown out by the lights of development.

The church that charters us has imformed us that due to its busy schedule, we have only two hours to use the building for our Blue and Gold. In this time we have the meal, skits from each den, awards culminating in Arrow of Light and cross over, and finally desert. In my opinion (as Cubmaster) the schedule is too tight for two hours especially if Murphy rears his ugly head. What could we cut out/abbreivate to make sure we can get done in time? My vote would be for the desert, but parents have already been told to make something for this.

While it doesn't cover quite all 20, in order to earn the compass emblem and all 3 compass points, it does take earning 19 of the pins.

A couple of months ago, a Webelo II scout was comming home with his mom from the doctor where she had just had an allergy shot. By the time she got home, she was having severe stomach pains and nausous. He had to help her into the house where she sat in the bathroom and was unable to move any further. The scout remained calm and called 911. Although the nausia and pains had lessened the mom was taken to the hospital by ambulance and by the time she had gotten there she was swelling all over. She was having a severe reaction to the allergy shot. The hospital administered antihistimes and she was able to go home a few hours later with no real harm done. It is debateable wheither she would have gotten better by herself without medical help. We recognized this scout at our Pack meeting for his application of the skills he learned (remaining calm and calling 911) when earning his Readyman pin. Should we nominiate him for any recognition beyond the unit level and if so what? (Certificate of Merit perhaps?) I am very hesitent to do so because the scout is my son and the mom my wife so I may be overly biased as to his deed. However, I am the Cubmaster of the pack and it is my job to give any boy in the pack the recognition he deserves.

I am looking for the opionon of some Boy Scout leaders as to what I should emphisize and spend the most time on in preparing my Webelos for crossing over. I know the Arrow of Light requirements, but what knowledge/skills are most important for these boys to have to help them get a good start in Boy Scouting? Second question -- do you loose a lot of new (boy) scouts after summer camp. The last two years, the majority of boys who crossed over in Feburary from our Pack, quit Boy Scouts shortly after attending summer camp. They all had camping experinece and in fact had a blast at cub scout camp. When I asked some of the parents as to why the quit, they said either summer camp was either too much work, or too little to do and they got homesick. Do the boys get too much fun at Cub camp and find the scout camp too dull by comparision, or is a week just too long for some 11 year old boys? I remember having a blast at Boy scout camp, but we didn't have Cub camp back then so I had nothing to compare it to.

Hello all. I recently discovered these forums and have been reading them for a few days and find the information invalueable. I decided to register because I can use some advise on a variety of topics that have come up in my scouting experinece and maybe I can even offer some small bits of advice myself. I was in scouting beginning in second grade with cubs and continued on into Boy Scouts earning my Eagle in 1983. When I was about 16, our Scoutmaster formed a coed Explorer group which I also was in and remained in until I was about 21. I returned to scouting 3 years ago at age 36 when my oldest son joined as a Wolf. Midway thru his Bear year the den leader quit (job transfer out of state) and I registered and took over the role . Last year my younger son joined as a Tiger. At the Feburary crossover, the Cubmaster also crossedover with his son and I was asked to take that job too. (That would be my registered position. The first year Webelos leader would be the regestered Webelos den leader while I would still lead the second year Webelos.) Since we have a very good pack committee that plans the pack meetings and the committee chair does most of the administrative paperwork, my job would basically involve being the 'Big Kid' emceeing the pack meetings. This sounded like fun (without very much more work) and has proven to be so. I was recently approached by our committee chair who wants to see a new Boy Scout troop start near by. (The ones in the area the prior years cubs have crossed over into are a little ways away.) The chair has worked with a nearby nature preserve to obtain a charter. They have asked me if I would be willing to take the Scoutmaster role. What we plan on doing is crossing my Webelos den over to another troop for a year and 'shadowing' them. This will give us a year to get the groundwork laid for the new troop and to get a new Cubmaster trained for the pack I am in. I have just taken the Scoutmaster fundementals course and am going on my campout this weekend for the Basic Leader Outdoor Training. As you can see, I am fairly new to scouting as a leader and am in the process of some major transitions, so I will probably be posting a lot of questions soon.