funscout

One time at a Cub Scout Round Up, I did have a parent ask me if Gays were allowed in scouts. She was very nice about it, but said that she wouldn't sign up her son if Gays were allowed. I won't even tell you how the two male leaders with me "played" that up, after the mom and son had left the building! I won't add any more discussion because I'm going to go get a turtle sundae.

Our District has also awarded BB and Archery belt loops after participating in Day Camp. I don't have a problem with that, since it is the only way a Cub can earn those. Some of my Cubs did both activities with their parents, but since it wasn't at a BSA sponsored event, they couldn't get the belt loop. Now, that doesn't make sense. Personally, I don't feel the need to have every single boy recite the safety rules, when I see him following them every single time without being reminded. For the boys who DO need reminders, then, yes, those boys should be asked often, to tell what the rules are. One boy who has ADHD and forgot his meds. one day (not mine, this time!) could TELL you all the safety rules, but could not follow them without an adult (lucky me!) right next to him at all times. When he was on his meds. he did just fine. In our case, the Pack Member in charge of signing up the Pack at Day Camp, is the one who gets the information on what each den earned that week. That person has been ME for the last several years, and I attend all 5 days so I know what was worked on and what wasn't. We also have attendance records, so if a kid missed a day when an achievement was worked on, he doesn't get that achievement. After I have had a chance to look over the records for each den, I pass the information on to the Den Leaders, not directly to the families. As far as sports belt loops are concerned, we have been given Ultimate frisbee belt loops before, and I guess I didn't even think about the 30 minute practice. You are right about that. However, in our case, the boys did play on more than one day, so it could be fudged to be counted as practice. I think you are right about the awards, but I also wouldn't want to get so nit-picky that the boys don't want to come back to Day Camp or even stay in scouts. I know Cub Scouting is a family program, but I have tried hard to help those boys whose parents aren't interested, to achieve as much as I can help them achieve.

My brother was a very picky eater. Each year that he came home from a summer camp he would announce, "Guess what? Now I like spaghetti! (or other food)" My older son's friend is even pickier. At Summer Camp he would eat cereal if offered for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner, the only thing he would eat was the dessert (sometimes). He is a tiny, skinny kid, and I worry about him since he doesn't like to eat. I don't know how he survived the week on so little food.

I am not a card-holding member of the uniform police, so I can't advise you as to whether you are correct or not, but from what you wrote, it looks okay to me. It would be in a much better place than the ones that hang off the button, anyway! I never wear a temporary patch in the plastic "hanger/protector" because of where it lands after being put on the pocket button.

I agree with LisaBob that parents should be notified of their son's misbehaviors. I would not want my sons getting away with something that I would not allow at home. However, I don't tell every little detail of a minor infraction. Some parents take it too personally and over-react, while with others, it's obvious the boy learned the behavior from the parent, and the problem is laughed off. Sometimes I've felt like a real heel when I can tell I just ruined a parent's day. I can relate, because my younger son has ADHD, and every day I hear of something he did wrong. It does get overwhelming. Just yesterday, I showed up at school to watch him in his class play, and instead found him in the prinicpal's office. As soon as I saw him, I realized I had forgotten to give him his Ritalin. I almost started crying, because I knew it was MY forgettfulness that put him in the situation. After talking with the prinicpal, I agreed that my son's actions couldn't be condoned, but, I explained that it was MY fault, since I had forgotten his medication. I ended up just taking him home for the rest of the day. I didn't want him to be further punished for something that he truly couldn't control without his medication.

Our final Pack Meeting was a big hit. The families got to go fishing or play games such as frisbee, catch, badminton, etc. Then we had a cook-out and the Pack Meeting. After that, the families who had chosen to camp overnight got to continue the activities until dark, at which time we had s'mores and fellowship around a campfire. One Mom later told us that her son, who is very shy and quiet, woke up twice during the night with a big smile on his face and told her, "I had SO much fun. I can't wait to do this again next year!" Needless to say, this will be a repeat, and we're hoping to do an early Fall Pack Camp-out in addition to our Spring one.

Thanks for all the good advice! I had forgotten about the belt loops and pins. We will be having our planning meeting for the 2006-2007 year in a few weeks, and it will be nice to have a Tiger Leader on board for that. I need to check to see if he filled out a leader application when he signed up his son. If not, I'll get him an app. and have him take Youth Protection and Fast Start online. Hopefully he can get his other training done soon, but we'll make sure he knows the basics before he starts meeting with the other Tiger pairs.

Check with nearby Packs to see if one of their BALOO trained leaders would be willing to camp with your Pack. I don't know if it's okay for 2 Packs to camp together, but if that's the case, then maybe you could find a "brother" Pack with BALOO trained leaders who would like to join you. My Pack just had our end of the year Pack Meeting and Camp-out. I am currently the only one who has taken BALOO training, and I will be done with Cub Scouts when my younger son crosses over to Boy Scouts next Spring. I keep reminding the other leaders that there won't be any more camp-outs if they don't get trained. It's not that they don't want to do it, they have simply had conflicts every time it has been offered. BALOO is usually offered both Fall and Spring, but this year our Council switched the Spring date to the same weekend that we were having our Pinewood Derby. If they had kept the original date, some of our leaders could have gone.

We just had a Spring Round-up and got 3 Tigers officially signed up for the coming year. One of the dads was chomping at the bit to be the Tiger Leader and to get going immediately with meetings. Our Pack usually suspends meetings in the summer, but we do have summer activities planned and we always notify all incoming Tigers so they can participate, too. Although the other Committee members and I have no problem with him meeting with his small den in the summer, we think he should stick with the family portion and electives of the Tiger book. We always get more boys who sign up in the Fall, and we'd hate for them to feel like they were already behind when they've just joined. Any thoughts on this? We certainly don't want to dampen this guy's enthusiam, I mean, how often do you get someone who jumps at the chance to volunteer before the Pack has a chance to even ask anyone? He was a scout and can't wait for his son to experience the fun that he had as a Cub Scout. We're looking forward to having new ideas and enthusiam pumped into our Pack from this fellow!

Pureice, Amen to your post! When some of my cubs rush to a den meeting still wearing their soccer/baseball outfit, I'm thrilled that they made it at all. In my older son's troop there are always boys showing up in the Fall in football pants since they would rather show up on time, than stop to change into their uniform. As it is, they have to eat in the car in order to make it to the meeting on time.

We have 3 Packs and 2 Troops that sell popcorn in our small community. I wish the Packs and Troops didn't both sell popcorn. It gets frustrating to hear people say, "I already bought from another scout, or My nephew/grandson/etc. is in one of the other units, so I'm buying from him." It's hard enough when a family has 2 or more Cub Scouts selling popcorn, but then when you learn that your sons will be competing for the popcorn sales their whole scout careers, it gets pretty tiring. The Unit Money-Earning form asks whether you've checked with neighboring units to avoid overlapping territories for the same fundraiser. When you're in a small community, it's impossible not to overlap on the popcorn sales. We've tried to go to neighborhoods where we didn't think any scouts lived, but have still had a hard time with sales.

My District's Day Camp used to start out with a very boring first day. The kids had to sit and listen to a 40 minute lecture on rules and safety for archery and another 40 minutes of the same for BB shooting. Some kids never came back for the rest of the week, and I couldn't blame them. Who wants to go to camp to just sit and listen to adults talk? Luckily, things have improved, so the boys now get a quick demonstration and a short talk about safety and then they get to do what they came for - shoot arrows and BBs! It's too bad some instructors think that the more information they give, the safer the kids will be. They forget that kids (and many adults) will tune out after only a few minutes, so the rest of the talk is just a waste of breath.

Trevorum, I guess my husband and I would be considered "wackos" by your co-workers. I have no problem with a group of people sharing a casual lunch, but I would be uncomfortable lunching one on one with a male friend or co-worker if either of us were married to someone else. A former co-worker of mine (female) was told by our (male) boss that he wanted to take her to lunch on her birthday. She asked me to come, too, because she was uncomfortable with the one on one situation. When the boss found out I was joining them, he suddenly had a conflict. My friend was VERY smart to not go alone with him. (the boss and my friend were both married to others.) Sure, for the most part any male/female scouters who share a tent will be strictly platonic, but like others have said, it sends the wrong message to the kids. I'm glad to know that although GSUSA has slightly different rules on the male-female tent issue, they, too, would not allow unmarried (or married) couples to share a tent. I don't know what my niece's leader will say to this, but if she's unwilling to follow the rules, then I'm certain my brother will look for a different troop for his daughter.

Gern, Like you and your wife, my husband and I trust each other completely. That being said, neither of us would ever purposely put ourselves in a situation where we could face temptation. That means that I would never share a tent with another man, my hubby wouldn't go to lunch/dinner with a female co-worker (if it's just the two of them), etc. Although neither of us can imagine ever being tempted to "cheat" on the other, we show our respect for our relationship by avoiding uneccesary temptation.

Maybe the GTSS should say "cold weather camping" instead of winter camping. This would allow cubs in Hawaii to camp during "winter" months, but not Minnesota cubs. Of course, there would need to be guidelines as to what temperature would be the cut-off for warm vs. cold weather camping. And then we'd have to take windchill into account.... Maybe we should just rely on our own common sense after all?!

I think you are right to have your son continue with his age-mates, rather than skip ahead to be with his grade-mates. If he skips to Bear, he won't get a chance to earn his Wolf badge. I only know of one boy in similar circumstances, and he stayed with his age-mates because of the problem LisaBob mentioned. He would have been too young for Boy Scouts if he finished Web. II with the boys in his grade. And then what do you do? Go for a 3rd year of Webelos, when he's already earned everything? Conversely, the boys I know who have been held back a grade, moved up in scouts with their former grade-mates, because they didn't want to repeat a rank.

Okay, I'm a little confused. While I would not want to have a Webelos DEN camp-out in the winter, is it okay for a well-prepared Web.II (and his Dad) to camp with his prospective troop at Klondike Derby in January? Before I read this thread, I was planning on allowing my younger son to do this just like his older brother had done when he was a Web. II. After reading the first responses, I thought it wouldn't be allowed. Later responses led me to believe it could be allowed. Maybe my son won't even want to camp at Klondike and this will be a moot point, but so far, he has wanted to do everything his big brother has done.

Lynda J, you are right, it would be worse to have an unmarried couple where only one is a parent of the child, and who knows how long the "significant other" will be in the picture. This was the case with my niece's leader. I still don't think unmarried adults should share a tent, because that tells the kids that it's okay to sleep together without getting married. I've never understood why a couple (especially one with kids) refuses to get married, but then expects the same benefits of a married couple. They have the right to do as they want in their own home, but they need to follow BSA or GSUSA rules when on camp-outs.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm going to suggest to the troop that they do their sign-up and payment 2 weeks in advance, but allow the boys to turn in the permission slips as late as the day of the camp-out. We also need to be better about reminding the PL to call his Patrol mates who missed the sign up meeting, so they can call the Scoutmaster if they want their name on the list.

Thanks, scoutldr, for providing the name that I couldn't think of.

I agree that current video and computer games are addictive. Pac-man type games were fun, but certainly not something you'd spend hours playing. We were the last hold-outs of my older son's friends to finally buy a Play Station. The only good thing I can say about it is that it's a wonderful incentive for our boys to behave, get homework done, etc. They HATE to lose their video privileges! One time I decided to try out one of my boys' favorite computer games to see why they had such a hard time getting off it when we said their time was up. I put in the CD for Zoo Tycoon, and THREE hours later I was absolutely stunned to see how much time had gone by! I was stiff from sitting so long, and finally understood how addictive these games can be. Needless to say, I was way behind with housework that day. Imagine my embarrassment when I explained to my husband why the laundry wasn't done!

Our Council has offered incentives/rewards for Packs who increase their membership numbers each year. New Cubs were given a fishing lure at the time of registration last Fall, and were invited to go fishing for free at a Council sponsored event. (I don't know if this was National or just local "Hooked on Scouting") They were also given a voucher from our Scout Shop for 10% off the cost of their uniform. I agree that competent leaders are the best defense against retention problems. I'm not sure what incentives they had for troops.

I agree with campcrafter. This could be the best thing for him. When people can help others, it sure does wonders for their own self-worth. Definitely keep an eye on him, though. I have an uncle who is a recovering alcoholic. He went through 6 wives and countless jobs before finally going straight. He tried rehab. a couple times, but kept falling back to drinking. His current (and longest lasting) wife convinced him to try the medication (I don't know the name) that causes vomiting when mixed with alcohol. That's the only thing that has succeeded in keeping him from drinking.

Eaglebeader - I like your troop's way of handling this. It sure would help avoid having disappointed boys. It would also make the lost permission slip issue a non-issue. After my son's got lost, I made sure he didn't turn in any other permission slips too early, for fear they would be lost, too.

I'm just wondering what other troops do about this. Our troop requires permission slips to be turned in at least 2 weeks in advance of an outing, in order for the tour permit to be turned in on time, and to allow the cooks time to plan menus and do their shopping. This point is stressed all the time, but there are still some who try to get around this. If the outing is local and the parents are transporting their own kid, then the 2 week deadline is not strictly enforced. Last night we had 6 disappointed boys who won't get to go on this weekend's camp-out, because they didn't get their permission slips turned in last week. All of these boys were absent last week, due to a school committment. Hopefully some of these guys will plan ahead better for next time. One time my son's permission slip got misplaced and he was almost not allowed to go to Camporee. In this case I personally saw him hand it in, so I know he turned it in about a month in advance. I was able to drive him there, and another boy who had signed up couldn't go at the last minute, so there was enough food. Since boys are in charge, it is does happen that permission slips get misplaced. I'm just curious how other troops handle this.