Fehler

Three "Big things": 1) FIll out the BSA Adult Application. 2) Fill out the Merit Badge Counselor Application (see http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34405.pdf) 3) Complete Youth Protection Training, print out the certificate at the end. Turn these three things in at your council service center, and wait. More details: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/boyscouts/guideformeritbadgecounselors.aspx

You're looking for a sleep-away camp? None here, all Cub Scout camps require parents/adults/certain number of leaders from the Pack the boy belongs to.

No, ban push-ups outright. That's a line not to be crossed. Is the guy an actual registered leader (ASM, MC)? Tell him to get registered, and get trained, before trying to interact with the boys again. That will probably scare him off.

Make your elections on a meeting near the end of the month, and have terms start officially the first of the next month. Gives time for office transitions, as needed.

Make a plan to get your Eagle. Yes, you have another year and a half (don't make your plan to earn it at the last minute, every plan needs some "scratch time" worked in. Chart out what Merit Badges you are going to earn and when. Chart out when you will begin the process of your Eagle Project, when the certification/verification will occur, and when the project will be complete. Chart out when you serve your position of responsibility. And include when you will have your board of review, and your court of honor. Include in your plan as much specific "whos", "wheres" and "whens". Don't just say "April: Earn a Merit Badge". Say what merit badge, and who your councilor will be. (Don't plan bare minimums on the MB's, you may find that you can't complete some due lack of interest or scheduling problems with your councilor). Have your Scoutmaster/Eagle Adviser (better include their names on that schedule) review it to look for big flaws (like "Can't do a scoutmaster conference in July '15, we're going to Russia that month" kind of things). If you haven't picked a project yet, then get on that schedule when you are going to research possible projects, and when you will have that project picked, and give guesses (based on estimates of how long other scout's projects have taken) on when you will propose, get accepted, and complete your project. You will want to include in this plan other major things that are going on. Football Season? Major musical performance? Better know when those things will be, so you don't have them happening at the same time as when you need major things done. Now, once you have your plan, add the steps for getting your drivers license. When will you take classroom training? Behind the wheel instruction? Written and BTW Tests? Practice time with your parents? slot those things in, with the goal of "achieving" the license at the same time as achieving the badge. Don't make your schedule to go against your parent's wishes (by scheduling the license app complete before the Eagle BOR). That's asking for an outright rejection. Once you have a schedule, the big thing is to START FOLLOWING IT. Is your first step earning an Eagle-required MB you're missing? Then get it done when you said it will be done. A schedule is nice, but its just paper. Show your parents you can follow the schedule, and you will impress them. If you've found that the schedule is hard, space stuff out. If you find that everything is light and easy, go ahead and tighten things up. Schedule "down time" (take Baseball season off from scouting, for example), to prevent burnout, if that doesn't change when your final goal will be. And once you start following the schedule, and shown you have a plan for both the Eagle and the license, then you are in a position to negotiate. Got three MB's done sooner than planned? Maybe move behind-the-wheel training up a month so it doesn't coincide with soccer. Have a merit badge counselor who lives across the county? Plan to work that in with driving practice with your parent. Show your parents that having the license sooner will help you accomplish things on your path to Eagle, but give good, solid reasons. Saying "it will be easier to meet with X councilor" is not a reason, since you need a buddy when meeting a MB councilor, and your parents won't (shouldn't) let a youth drive with another youth alone. You will never be driving other scouts. But you may help with the driving on a family trip (got those on your schedule?). And sometimes, the answer will still be "no". A scout is obedient. Deal with it, get Eagle done sooner if that's what it takes, (tighten that schedule down to the week), and go on with your life.

If you're looking to include a Belt Loop, consider playing marbles on a heart-shaped ring layout. If you're stuck indoors, you could do some sort of Newlyweds-type mother-son gameshow competition. Make a set of questions (try not to get too embarassing, but 1-2 groaners can be fun), have the boys sit next to their mothers, ask to see how much they know about each other, and go ahead and keep score. But have a couple of "gimmies" in there than anyone can get right. Mother questions (to ask the boys): What is your Mother's middle name? When is your mother's birthday? What city was your mother born? Where did your mother go to high school? Name a food your mother hates. Name one thing you have in common with your mother Boy questions (to ask their mothers): What is your son's favorite food? Who is your son's best friend at school? What is your son's favorite video game? Who is your son's favorite fictional character? What is the scariest movie your son has watched? What was your son's favorite scout activity?

I use the Den Cheer as the closing ceremony for our Den Meetings. Our Pack Meetings start with a flag ceremony, promise, and law, and then goes to the "Den Role Call" where the Cubmaster asks if a certain den is here, and they respond with their cheer. And right before the closing flags, we do our "Pack Cheer" (which was Cubmaster shouting "Who's great?", and the boys screaming "Pack 38!", repeated 3 times getting louder.) Not much call for cheers/applause during the meetings themselves, unless we have a speaker/presentation, or when a Den does a skit.

Den Meetings should have some ceremony involved, and it could be as little as saying the pledge at the start, and doing a cheer at the end. Its a way of reinforcing to the boys, "ok, the meeting has started" and "now the meeting is over, run wild". Does there need to be a flag procession, full pledge/promise/law recital? No. But find something, make it consistent, and it will help the boys focus.

If there was a large electrical generator nearby, you wouldn't be lost. At least, you wouldn't be lost for long after the emergency repair crew comes by.

Avoid any policy that allows/requires scouts to drive other scouts. That's just asking for trouble (and could be illegal in some areas, depending on the number of youth in the vehicle).

No one's screaming, but this is as good of a place to ask questions/get answers as there is. Things I'm hearing I like: Removing the 12-24 "Achievements" from Wolf/Bear, to a more managable/trackable number. Getting rid of the "Progress toward ranks" beads that look pointless and are easily lost. Mature the Tiger badge up a bit, less "Baby Faced". Arrow Points are a farce to all but the most dedicated Den Leaders/Parents. Things I'm wary of: Too many "required" journeys that require multiple meetings to finish. We are hit and miss in regards to Den Meeting attendance, and we get a trickle of new scouts all through the year. I can accept three journeys (and I'll call them "journeys" like Girl Scouts for lack of a better term at this time) as required for each level: Faith, Health, and Citizenship, and each should be able to be completed in 1-2 meetings max (and one meeting only for Tigers). The remaining 3-5 elective journeys for each rank could be pulled from a list, with each rank requiring 1-2 "outdoors" journeys such as camping, naturalist, geologist, etc. Wolves and Bears can share the list of elective journeys, with the note that journeys earned as a Wolf won't count for your Bear, same for Webelos/AOL. And each journey completion device is a Belt Loop. Don't make it a series of 5-7 small patches to be sewn on somewhere, like a sash. Pins are just too small in their detail, the boys like holding, sorting, and displaying those loops too much (at least mine do). One more thing: We only do one Den Meeting per month for Tigers (and we have a Pack Meeting and a weekend event every month). We don't kick Den Meetings off until October for new scouts. If Tiger journeys require 2 den meetings to complete, and there are 7 of them, we can't fit them into our year. Even switching to two Tiger Den Meetings a month will still push Tiger Badge to the end of the year, and forget having any ranks done by the Blue/Gold Dinner in February, and anyone who joins late.

Rather than trying to discuss the New Cub Scout delivery system in one big topic, I'd prefer breaking out the changes into separate discussions. So, no more Belt Loops after May 2015. Good, Bad, or Meh?

So the guys behind Duck Dynasty are entitled to their beliefs, but the guys behind Lockheed-Martin are not.

I'm happy that the "My Plate" requirement reads as "or whatever the hell the USDA is calling food groups these days"

Wow, a Potter-themed Camporee just became the coolest idea ever.

Get some holiday themed duck tape, and make some duck tape wallets. Its a perfect seasonal gift! We also enjoyed doing the Belt Loop Display Case: http://cubscoutcrafts.com/belt-loop-and-pin-display-case/ I modified it by using 1X2 wood, used wood joiners rather then nails, large rubber bands rather then elastic, and added a hook so it could be hung on the wall. Could count as the wood project or the display project. The boys ran to show them off when we were done (and some of my boys had over 20 belt loops from prior years they couldn't wait to put on it).

In Mental Skills, both Traveler and Scholar can be tossed off in less than an hour. Of course, if you do Traveler this way you'll miss the fun of setting up your own compass course, or riding on public transit.

Just turned in my Merit Badge Councilor application.

I was doing Showman and Fitness together, so I had them mash it together: write a play with a boy saying "no" to cigerretts, drugs, and alcohol. In the end, the police officer puppet comes in, sends the other puppets to jail, and congratulates the boy for making the right decisions (that was their addition to the story).

Oh, I thought this was going to be another Square Knot rants. But Hey, mine is simple: =AOL==DL=

Do you have more than one set of gutters? I never tried more than double elimination (after a good 15-20 minutes of "practice runs"). Our actual heats last about 20 minutes, so our 16-18 boys end in an hour. We do this at a park in August, near a playground, so boys are happy to be done and get a chance to run, and we get some visibility for September recruiting.

Look for one with a "Cub Scout" logo on it.

Was this a "closed" National Park at the time?

I hear enough complaining about the part of popcorn sales that goes back to council to support programs in "those areas". If you tried to push the issue more, they're liable to think they are already supporting you through the council share (which we know is bogus).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/02/1243123/-Stealing-from-Girls-Stealing-from-Communities Interesting commentary (part 2) about councils' decisions to close camps, and open "Leadership Centers". Focusing on how these camps were gifted/built for Girl Scouts, and how the GSUSA councils are disposing of the properties for their own benefit and not the benefit of the communities from whence they came.