fauxc

For money.

I heard that there was some software out there specifically for scout accounts. Has anyone heard of this? Is so, please let me know. Thanks

I agree with a lot of the others on here about starting on time. My meetings run about 45 minutes because I am limited by the school. I get there early to setup and I have two denners to help me setup. They are required to be there early to help setup. I start with the opening ceremony and then every month, I elect two new denners. If I started late then the ones that show up late would just show up even later. It's the same ones every time and they show up late to the pack meetings too. I am a firm believer in starting on time even if only two boys are there. For my pack meetings, I give raffle tickets to the boys that are there on time.

I came up with an idea to make a custom sort of plaque. I'm going to get a piece of oval wood plank from the craft store and glue their position patch along with the pack patch numbers. Then I'm going to woodburn 2012 - 2013 and get an engraved plate with their name on it. The last thing is to drill a hole at an angle and put a small $" x 6" flag in it. This will be more personalized.

I'm looking for some ideas for Leader appreciation awards including DL's, ACM, and CC. I know there is a Den leader appreciation plaque from the Scout store, but this is specifically for den leaders. I was going to get knives engraved, but that cost $35.00 just for the engraving. Thanks

I'm looking for a good summertime activity to kick off the summer. I know there is bowling and skating, but I'm looking for something different and interesting. Any ideas? Thanks

I have a parent that brought up that we should allow the boys to wear class B's at den meetings in front of the boys. The reasoning was that they get sweaty when they play games and the den meetings are more relaxed and that Class A's should only be worn at Pack meetings. Personally, I feel that they should wear the uniform for several reasons. This shows that they are proud to be part of a group and it shows respect. It also shows what awards they have earned. The uniforms are made to get dirty and are rugged for this reason. The parents should help support the fact to the boys that the uniform should be worn to den and pack meetings. I also think that if they wear Class B's to the den meetings then that will eventually change to wearing no uniforms at den meetings and then that will move to the pack meetings and we will lose all respect and importance of being in uniform. Anyone else have this issue?

I hear an Ichabod Crane Halloween story that involved a cub scout in the story. Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this? Thanks

The first time that I gave them to the boys, I added the beads by stringing the bead on and then looping it back through the same hole. At the next den meeting, I handed them the beads. They went back to the table and either played with them or dropped them on the floor or tried to put them on. At the den meetings after this, I put them in a sandwich bag with a post it that had their name on it and what the beads were for. I then called them up presented their beads and told them to give the bag to their parents to put on at home. For the most part they stayed on unless they pulled at them. I did end up handing out some extra beads at the end of the year.

Currently we cook individually at our Pack campouts and I would like to try cooking as a Pack for several reasons. 1) It teaches teamwork and cooperation with the boys. 2) They get involved in the process 3) It makes it easier to cook at the same time and allow more time for other activities. Has anyone tried this and has it been successful or any suggestions on how to start it? I was going to start with my den by cooking as a den and then the rest of the pack would see how easy it is. I know that there will be some push back because some will say, my son is very picky or we have tried that and it didn' work. Thanks

>>OK, first of all, a slingshot/wrist rocket is WAY different from a toy gun that does nothing>Your slingshot problem at your Pack derby event is NOT a "toy gun" problem, it was a supervision/behavior problem.>What happens when those same boys (or others) find sticks in the woods, and, pretending they are swords, start stabbing, and hitting other kids? Will you ban all sticks? What happens if some of the youth start throwing acorns/pebbles/rocks/shoes/water bottles/etc at other kids pretending they are grenades of some sort? Will you ban touching anything that can possibly be imagined to be any type of weapon? You need to address the BEHAVIOR involved. >I would also mention that BSA considers wrist rockets/slingshots to be the same thing as BB guns. As such they are not allowed at any kind of Pack event, and can ONLY be used at district/council events under TRAINED instructors. >I am also a bit concerned that you brush off the comment you made that a den leader is willing to quit the Pack over the issue of toy guns, by stating he is just "stubborn". That is not being "stubborn". This sounds like you have stirred up quite a hornets nest that has divided your Pack.

>>Obviously lots more going on here than just a Scout bringing a toy gun to an activity. >What kind of gun? A full size replica AK47?>What function? Pack, or council? Campout, or den meeting?>Why MUST the Scout bring it?>Why would the den leader quit over this?>Care to share the parts of this you left out?

I have a den leader threatening to quit unless his son gets to bring a toy gun to a cub scout function.(This message has been edited by fauxc)

I'm curious to see what other packs do about toy guns being brought to a scouting function such as a campout. Do you allow it or do you think it falls within the guide to safe scouting: 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 shooting events with council approval and following the Sweet 16 of BSA Safety. Council approval means the approval of the Scout Executive or his designee on a tour permit specifically outlining details of the event. (However, law enforcement departments and agencies using firearms in standard officer/agent training may use their training agenda when accompanied with appropriate safety equipment in the Law Enforcement Exploring program.)

I should have made that clearer. I don't think that we should be held solely responsible. The parents still need to be held accountable for their own children. We are all volunteers and can only be in so many places at one time. If I tell little Johnny to join the rest of the group so we can keep an eye on him and he refuses to and his parents do nothing about it, then I can only do so much for his safety. I try to keep as safe as possible. I currently have a parent telling me that it's ok to bring toy weapons and toy guns to pack events even though there are families around and other children so you can see the responsible parents that I have to deal with. My argument there is that if we allow that then we are pretty much saying violence is ok and where does it stop. Not all parents agree with either one of us, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Since we were doing a derby, the leaders were helping with that and watching the boys inside a pavillion. This was at a campground so it's hard to monitor everything that goes on since it is a large area. I don't think that the leaders should be held responsible for every single pack event to constantly watch all of the boys. The parents need to take some responsibility too, so I don't blame this on the leaders. We are taking actions to change things about more parents supervising, but I'm coming into a pack that pretty much didn't have much of that in the past, so one step at a time.

Calico, I'm the CM. The problem was there weren't any leaders that saw this because they were busy with running the activity. One of the boys told me that it happened. I plan on telling the leaders if this does happen in the future to take away the weapon and notify me and we will have to speak with the parents.

I agree that it would be considered the same as BB's and Bows and arrows. My main issue is that they weren't just shooting things to shoot. They were shooting other boys and someone could have gotten seriously injured. Personally, if my son was doing this, I would ground him in my own way, but I want it to be know that this is not tolerated what so ever. Bringing it is one thing, but shooting it at others is another. I will come up with some rules of things that are not allowed at scouting events. The sad thing is that this should be common sense and the parents should teach their kids this. Since the bears are allowed to earn the whittlin chip, we will have to keep close watch on this because knives are even more dangerous.

I had a situation at a pack event where one of the boys brought a wrist rocket and was chasing and shooting acorns and other objects at people. I didn't hear about this until a few days after the event, but I want to address it right away so that is doesn't happen again. I'm thankful that nobody got hurt. I don't believe this type of weapon or even a toy weapon has anyplace at a scouting function. I plan on having the den leasers speak about the seriousness of this in front of their boys and their parents. I also want to state that if it happens again, there will be some sort of disciplinary action that needs to be taken. Has anyone had this situation happen before? If so, what did you do about it? Also, are there any scout guidelines that talk about this that I can bring up or refer to? Thanks

I'm looking for a Tiger induction ceremony that uses paint on the face. I have come across this in the past, but I can't seem to find it anymore. I'm also looking for a short ceremony because of limited time. Does anyone have this or know where I can get it? Thanks

We are doing the Space Derby for the first time. Does anyone have any bracket sheets in a printable format that I can use for this? Thanks

Wow, I see that there are many different views regarding this award pin. I see views on both sides, but since the BSA states that is designed to continue the year through the Summer, I believe that is how I'm going to do it. I only had one Tiger last year that joined in June 2011 before the year started and that was because he was a sibling. Siblings are the only cubs that joined that year in June. For that reason alone, I feel that the Tigers that joined in September should have the opportunity to earn all 4 pins starting with Tiger. If they did join in June, then they can get a tiger pin for that and the next year they will get wolf and so on. I feel that this is an important award because it show that they took the time to complete the activities and not everyone is able to earn it.

Brewmeister, What do you do for new Tigers that joined in June and completed the Summertime activities?

5yearscouter, I copied that directly from the national website and I have seen it listed on many other sites the same way. The way that I understand it is that it is an award designed to continue throughout the summer for the current pack so it gives an opportunity for the tigers to earn it since most of them don't join until September. I don't think most of the Pack was awarded this the previous years becaue of Summer commitments, so we decided to do 2-3 activities each month to allow the boys an opportunity to earn it. I agree that it is confusing that sometimes they use the rank patch colors instead of the uniform colors. (This message has been edited by fauxc)

Here's what the summertime Activity award requirements say: The purpose of the National Summertime Award is to encourage packs to provide a year-round program by continuing to meet during the time periods when school is out of session for several weeks or months. If a pack is in a "year-round school" (or is part of a home-school association), the pack could earn the Summertime Pack Award by having a special pack activity during those breaks. Boys who participate in three summertime pack events (one each in June, July, and August) are eligible to receive the National Summertime Award pin. The pin is worn on the right pocket flap of the Cub Scout Uniform, pinned onto the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award, if present. Multiple pins may be displayed for each year the award is earned. Since the goal of the Summertime award is to have Packs continue the program through the summer, the summertime award scouts receive should match their current rank rather than the rank they are working on (ie, boys who have attained the rank of Tiger will receive the Tiger pin even though they are in a Wolf Den and working towards the Wolf rank I understand all of this and agree with it because that means that my tigers last year have an opportunity to earn their tiger pin because they didn' join in the summer of last year as most tigers wouldn't unless they were siblings. Here's my questions: 1) Last year and previous years, they didn't run it this way, they gave them the pin of the rank that they were working towards. For example, if they were going into the 2nd grade (Wolf), they earned their wolf pin. The only thing that I can think of to do for these scouts is to give them the pin that they should have earned the previous year so they don't have duplicates. 2) New Tigers this year that did the summertime activiites, would they earn a tiger pin and then next year they could earn another tiger pin or would they just get a generic summertime activity pin? Thanks