FScouter

Snap, crackle, pop - Rice Krispies (Scout Krispies?) I think I'd give them some key words related to lightening, thunder, storm, etc. to help get their own creative ideas flowing. If the boys make it up, they'll remember it no matter how long it is. Is a yell part of a Cub Scout den identity?

Gee Mr. E, did you ever smoke dope??? Did you ever get a girl pregnant before you were married? Did you ever get so drunk you couldnt stand up? Did you ever get locked in jail? Did you ever ? Just because a question has been asked does not in any way mean the only two courses of action are to be honest and tell the truth, or to lie. No one has any obligation at all to respond to personal questions about ones past. One could answer in the way Eamonn did and make a lesson of it. One could answer in other ways too that do not lie and still provide a lesson at the same time. Well son, thats a rather rude and impertinent question, but let me tell you something. I am not a perfect human being by any means. Im 50 years old and Ive have 50 years of experience making mistakes. Ive done a lot of dumb things. And I have learned a lot from mistakes Ive made. I am still learning all the time, but still I sometimes do dumb things and make mistakes. And even though youre a smart kid, maybe smarter that I was at your age, Ill bet you have made a few mistakes and done a few things youre not real proud of too. Even the smartest of us make mistakes and do things were not proud of. But the smartest ones know that that they can learn from the dumb mistakes that other people have made. Dope and drugs are dumb things to do. Dope has destroyed many families and many lives. You dont have to experience dope to know there is no good in it. Life if full of choices. For your entire life you will be faced with making choices. You know in your heart choices that are bad.

Boys that don't attend meetings, don't do campouts, don't particpate in troop events also don't get elected or appointed to positions of responsibility. Likewise, boys that don't participate don't complete rank requirements either. Council and national people don't get involved in these kinds of advancement issues unless the Scoutmaster is denying a boy advancement because the boy missed some meetings or campouts or was below an arbitrary attendance percentage. Ask the boy if he considers himself "active" and what he has done to remain "active".

There is no such policy. Rumors of ridiculous "policies" such as this get started and propagated by persons that dislike rules and policies in general. As if to say we don't follow rules and policies because policies are ridiculous, and here's an example.

It is no more appropriate to mix uniform insignia from different programs than to wear a trained patch if one is not trained. There is nothing wrong with wearing a correct Cub uniform to a troop meeting. If it is too much an effort to remove the patch, then the solution with the least effort is to continue wearing the Cub uniform for the next 2 months.

I like Lisabob's suggestion. Since you are a trained Cub leader, leave the Cub emblem in place until you are a trained assistant Scoutmaster.

"My question is why do conservative xtians feel this need to be persecuted?" Your purpose in using the term "xtians" is ???

Don't be fooled people. 9 hours of training material cannot be presented in 4 hours. What you get may very well be top quality, but what about the quality of the 5 hours that got skipped? As district training chair I've learned that some of the trainers that are really expert in the subject matter are also the ones that skip over the parts of the training syllabus they don't like or don't agree with. Another angle is that a trainer that takes a 20 minute segment and finishes in 10 minutes really doesn't have knowledge and presentation skills to do the job right.

If you feel there are MB counselors that are letting boys slide by without really completing requirements, make your concerns known to the district merit badge dean or district advancement chair. They are the ones that approve counselors and should appreciate knowing about any of their appointees that are not holding to the standards.

Kudu's correct that the 9 points of Safety Afloat are part of several "afloat" merit badges. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

Safety Afloat is an adult leader training. There's little benefit in it for a boy.

Welcome to the forums! As we know, Scouting is a non profit organization. Income comes from registration fees, sales of merchandise, uniforms, insignia, camp fees, publications, event fees, donations, etc., etc., etc. The way I look at it, every penny received is used to provide Scouting to youth.

While in uniform, it is appropriate to keep the hat on while saluting during the national anthem.

Did you ever see the Beer Guzzling merit badge? That ought to be a funny one for the boys.

One of the purposes of the board of review is to determine whether the Scout has completed all the requirements. That doesn't mean to simply make sure all the boxes are initialed. Through careful questioning (not retesting) the board should be able to determine if a requirement has been completed. For example, "Did you have any difficulties when you cooked dinner for your patrol? Would you do anything different next time? How did your assistant help?" If it is clear that requirements were not completed (the boy may even agree that he really didn't do all the parts of the requirement), the board should not advance him. Boards of review are covered in the Troop Committee Guidebook, and in the Advancement Committee book. There is also a unit of training available. See http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/18-625/index.html .

"What message does it send? We don't like long winded announcements!" What it says is "We don't care what you have to say and don't want to hear it, so shut up." It's simply rude to say that to someone that wants to talk to you.

So, what do you all do with the dirty dishwater?

"...if the troop is only seeing 20% participation at monthly activities, there are probably bigger issues ..." EXACTLY! Juggling boys around to come up with a pseudo-patrol is not a solution. Too often we take actions that do more to mask the problem than to solve it. The real solution (though more of a challenge) is to fix the attendance problem.

See pages 176, 179, or 186.

I'm surprised the merit badge book doesn't cover this?

"Swill" may not be the best term to use. How about "soup is the last course of the meal." I teach boys that the first step in washing dishes is to serve ALL the food in the pot, and to eat everything you're served. Wipe your plate with a roll.

How do you know the SM and assistant SMs are being honest?? If there is any doubt, perhaps they should not be authorized to sign off rank requirements. Same with Scouts authorized to sign off. If there is so much doubt about their integrity that boys must be retested by adults, they should not have been authorized in the first place. Why authorize anyone, boy or adult, to sign off rank requirements if they cannot be trusted to do it properly? Maybe the SM should be the only authorized signer? But then how do we know he can be trusted either?

The chairman (volunteer) of the district camping promotion committee should know all about the national camping award. It's described in his book. By the way, setting up and tearing down the campsite is NOT a requirement for a qualified camping day.

Did anyone mention that the catalog has a full page of uniforms sized for women. If the men's uniform doesn't fit well, try the women's uniform. If the Scout Shop doesn't stock all sizes / styles, they will order what you need.

The Scout Shop should have the camping log which includes the award application, #33690A.