EagleInKY

We provide a "parent's handbook" for the Webelos parents. We did this while the Webelos were visiting the troop meeting. It allowed the Webelos to participate in the troop setting and kept the parents a little more than arm's length away. Our manual is centered around the aims of scouting, and how we implement it. There are a few "policy" type statements, but it's meant to be more informative/informational. Looking back, I'm glad we did the intitial orientation early. However, I wish we had a second orientation closer to their crossover. They had forgotten most of what we went over.

Our troop is providing a color guard for our CO's Memorial Service on Sunday, May 30.

1) I'm not big on chemical experiments w/8 year olds, but that's your call. We used to have the boys cross a bridge and then pull off their Tiger Orange t-shirt to reveal their blue uniform shirt underneath. I guess this is the last year for that tradition. 2) Any two adults serve as 2-deep, as long as one of them is a registered scout leader. As for parents at meetings, we encouraged our parents to stay, and they usually did. It helps with crowd control at that young age, and it ensures that communications are making it home. We've found that it is harder to get parents to dis-engage as they get into Webelos & Boy Scouts.

Don't forget that you have to get permission from council to use the alternative requirements. I haven't been involved with this (but expect to next year). My understanding is that the approval is supposed to take place before the work begins.

Our pack charges an annual fee each January. This includes rechartering fees, Boy's Life and enough to cover cross-over items. We take the total cost of cross-over items over the life of a cub scout (books, neckerchiefs, etc.), and divide it by 5 (# of years) and come up with an average cost of those items. In the end, it comes out to about $40. We typically "round-up" to the next dollar or two. We don't charge anything other than that for dues, we try to get most of our ongoing operating funds from popcorn proceeds. As for a family that can't afford it... we seem have one nearly every year. Typically, we tell them to pay when they can. Most eventually will. If they don't it's not a big deal (as long as it continues to only be about 1 a year).

ProudEagle summarized it very well. To me, it sounded like trading favors. Vote for me and I'll do this for you. I believe he knows that there are 3 members of his patrol that would never vote for him. He's trying to get the other 3 to go along with him, so he'll win 4-3. I encourage an open forum in our election process as well. Boys express what positions they would like to fill. They are then nominated by their peers. The election is held a week later. The voting is done by secret ballot, and the final tally is kept a secret. Dan asked, Are you separating the other issues with this scout from this one? How can I? His behavior is a fundamental part of who he is and how I interact with him. He continues to be disrespectful to his junior leaders and to the adults (although better, he is still a far cry from where he needs to be). Ultimately, I'll butt out. But I will provide the usual coaching to the boys before an election. That is, they need to elect a leader who is qualifed to run their patrol. If they don't, they pay the price. Unfortunately, so does the rest of the troop, the SPL and the adult leaders. But that's part of the game, isn't it?

Our young troop (1 year old) is now a perfect 9 for 9 on rainy campouts/outings, including this past weekend. Some have been just minor rain events, but we have had a few dooseys: - We've had 4 with severe weather (Severe T-storm warnings or Tornado warnings). We never had to evacuate, but stayed close to the weather radio. Luckily, the severe stuff has usually missed us. - Klondike this year - Snow turned to freezing rain. The district ended up calling it early and sending everyone home Saturday evening. Worst I've ever been in as a scout was at a council-wide camporee back in the 70's. A huge storm came in during the night and flooded the field. We stayed up all night in a large tent, sitting in a couple of inches of water. The next morning, when the sun came out. We stepped out of the tent to find that most of the other troops had bugged out during the night.

2CD - I have the same philosophy. The first two months of troop meetings and activities are centered around Tenderfoot and some 2nd class requirements. We just had our "Tenderfoot Weekend Campout" this past weekend. The older scouts teach and review the skills to the new ones. Most of them are now only the the fitness requirement away from Tenderfoot. We have another campout in 4 weeks that will allow us to tie up any loose ends.

Dan - Campaigning I'm okay with. This sounded more like vote-buying to me. Well, I guess that's not that different from how campaigning works today, now is it?

I've written about a particularly challenging young lad in my troop. See http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=46779 for more info on him. SMRichmond's comment about bullying in the SPL election is remotely similar to what I see potentially happening in our next PL elections. This weekend, on a campout, I overheard this boy (we'll call him Billy) talking to one of the other boys in his patrol. The boy he was talking to is not one of our shining stars either. He is a little slow, and tends to follow the crowd. He doesn't have any initiative, and is easily encouaged to follow along - especially when it's our problem child doing the encouraging. Anyway, Billy was telling him that if he voted for him for PL, he would make him his APL. This is the second time I've heard Billy say this to him. I also think he's working some sort of deal with another boy in his patrol. It reminds me of Survivor, how the contestents are all finagling some sort of alliance with each other, trying to make it to the end. Have any of you experienced this? Any advice? Or do I just butt out and see where it goes?

Right On, KS. Richmond dude, I agree with him completely. I've got a similar "rigged election" issue, I think I'll spin off a new thread.

'73 - I love your idea. I'll share that with our pack. Traditions like that are wonderful. We don't do a crossover for our Webelos I guys. Everyone else gets to cross over the bridge. We don't let them. We tell them that their journey is not done. We challenge them to press forward to the goal. We also honor them as being the new "leaders of the pack". With the Webelos II crossing to Boy Scouts, they are now top dog. Passing a token of some sort, like eagle1973 suggested would be a great addition to the ceremony.

LOL Rob. I'm not an SUV-basher, but that's hilarious.

Hmmm, interesting? I guess one question is how does she have the time to be a leader if she doesn't have a few hours to dedicate to training? Since she's an ADL, I might give her a little slack. I would insist, however, on the Youth Protection and Cub Leader Fast Start. Both of these are available to be self-taught (YP is online, Fast Start is video). She really would have no excuse to not take those two. After that, you may have more success getting her to attend regular training.

My son made tried out for the track team a few weeks ago. A letter was sent home a few days later, he had made the team! We were told that we owed $55 to pay for uniforms & travelling expenses. (We weren't given any "outs" if we couldn't afford it, were'nt told that we could pay over installements, we were just told we had to pay it). Here's the interesting part. They chose about 80 kids for the team. As far as I know, they all paid the fees. The uniforms were sent home. They were nice, but used. We have to return them at the end of the season. Second, since my son didn't make the travelling squad, he'll only be running in three meets that are held at his school. So, bottom line, I paid $55 for my son to wear a used pair of shorts and a tank top three times, and for him to run at practice a couple of days a week. As for the portion of my fees that went to travelling expenses.... I don't think I got my moneys worth. My point - I agree with FOG. Parents routinely pay much more for sports-related uniforms and equipment. I think we are very fair in scouting. There's no excuse for not being properly uniformed.

Oh man, FOG, how did you know we had a XXX Patrol? ;-)

I tried disabling various parts of Nortons last night, and tweaked every configuration setting I could find. The only way to get to the site was to shut the firewall down completely. Thanks for looking at it Terry.

I would apologize to the ODL regarding how it was handled, but not that it was handled. The ODL did not have the time to commit what was required for the den to be successful. Talk to him about other leadership opportunities that would best fit his availability. And, yes, get your COR involved.

Hey fellow Kentuckian. I know we've chatted several times, since we're in a similar spot. Our troop started last year as well. Seven 11 year olds and two 13 year olds (new scouts who had dropped out after earning their AOL). We've been building a boy-led program and it's really starting to take off. It took us 8 months to get the PLC working, but it's still far from perfect. I still lead much of the meeting, but have given decision making on all things over to them. Sometimes they end up flipping a coin, but it's all part of their learning process. Every meeting, I give more and more responsibility to them. What is really helping is meeting with the leaders (PL/SPL) one-on-one to help them plan and gain the confidence they need. I help them lay out agendas, plans, etc. It's a little heavy-handed, but they learn more about planning in this manner. The scouts don't realize this, they just see their SPL or PL seems to know what he's doing, and thus gain more confidence in him. Just keep working up that ladder, one step at a time. You'll get there.

We're "inducting" scouts - moving from new scout status into regular patrols. The PLC determined which boys are going to each patrol. The PLs want to do some kind of induction ceremony on our campout this weekend, but haven't been able to come up with any ideas. They asked me if I had any, so I thought I'd try here. Does anyone have any ideas?

It's the only pre-college item that remains on my resume. After 20 years, I believe it is still an important item that shaped me into who I am. I list it under community activities - Boy Scouts of America, and I list it along with the positions I have held.

Well, I wasn't going to call myself a geezer, but after seeing AK and a couple of others, I guess I have to put myself into that bunch. My name is John. I became "associated" with Scouting first when my older brother became a Cub Scout in Murray, Kentucky, back in 1970. I joined in 1972. I continued through to Eagle at age 17, and became an ASM at 18. By that time, we lived just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. I continued as an ASM for 5 years, until I got married. During those years, my older brother also earned Eagle. My mom and dad were both active leaders. My mom served on both the Pack and district levels. My dad at the pack, troop and district levels. My dad continues to be active today. He just recently started a new pack at his church. I'm not sure how many units he's started, I would guess around 10. My mom is not as active, but is serving on the new pack's committee for now. Back to me. During a 10 year break, I occasionally helped in a variety of ways. I was a UC for about a year. I didn't really get back involved until my son joined Tigers in 1997. I was Tiger Leader. The next year I became CM and co-lead our den through Webelos. Last year, I started a new troop associated with our pack. I remain CC of the pack. YIS - John

I left town last Saturday. Friday evening I decided to pay one last visit to Scouter.com from my home PC (which has Norton). It couldn't connect, I assumed the site was down. I got back in town yesterday. Last night I decided to pay a quick visit to the site. Again, it was still down. I decided to try it from my work PC, and here I am. So, something had to have changed. Has Scouter-Terry replied to anyone?

Welcome to the campfire, Woodsmith. Your problem, as well as Scoutmom's, is not that uncommon. In many troops the committee role is not understood. It is mostly due to a lack of training and a "we've always done it that way" attitude. Some troops have over-involved committees, others have committees run by the SM. Neither reflect the model that the BSA promotes. Let me also say that having an involved committee is a good thing. It's an over-involved committee that can cause a problem. I encourage our committee members to hang around, attend campouts, etc. That way they understand the program and have a better appreciation of our needs. The suggestions here are all good. The key is training. The Troop Committee Challenge is a good activity for this. I would be careful and put it in the vein of you are trying to provide the best troop program possible for the boys. You also need to be careful to not alienate him, or some of the boys that may be attached to him. If its seen as you "running him off", then it would likely work against you. One other thought. Might it be that this fellow wants to be a SM and not a CC? It is possible that he is not in the position that fits his interests. If his desire is to be with the boys, then recruiting him as an ASM might be a good idea. Then, find a person that is a better fit into the CC role.

All MB counselors must be either registered adult leaders or registered MB counselors. If you have a person willing to be a MB counselor and they aren't in either category, they must be registered as one or the other. Typically they are registered as a MB counselor. They fill out a regular app form w/a code that indicates MB counselor. There is no fee for this, although I understand that it does cost the council. In our council, I've never heard of a MB counselor being notified that they are "approved". It's been my experience that you put the paperwork in ahead of time, and if you don't hear anything, you proceed as planned. MB Counselors do not have to be YP trained. They do need to know the YP policy regarding not being alone with the scout. The scout also needs to know to take a buddy with him when he goes to the counselor. As for the unit doing a background check... I don't do anything formal, but I am generally cautious about who we ask to get involved. If a boy has lined up an MB counselor I don't know, then I try to find out a little about them.