gcan

Last spring, we went to a boy scout recruitment night with our Webelos. The boys were totally 'wowed' by the 2 troops that had flashy power point presentations, and completely ignored the closer, friendlier troops with people we know in them. I learned my lesson, and have a power point all ready to go for our school open houses this week and next! If at all possible, I'd reccomend you at least have a laptop or one of those $40 digital picture frames that you can run a slideshow on, it seems to really attract the short people. And i will let ya'll know how it works out for us!

My pack has 2 W2 dens... one den is going to the troop that shares a CO, our den is going to a troop that just this year formed in our town. Troop 1 (same Co): We asked for a den chief as W1's, they told us none of the boys were interested. They are in town but very few kids in the troop are from town. They never once invited us to visit. They do not come to any town events, help out in town, are basically invisible. (and they actively avoided the 12 that crossed over last year) Troop 2 (brand spankin new): is 90% last years W2's from our pack. In the 9 months they have been in existence they ahve helped at several town events, been present at Veterans', Memorial, and 9/11 services, and have invited us to several things, including a campout. Troop 1 is unbelievably po'd that our 8 boys have essentially made up thier minds. (The other den has 4, 2 of whom don't plan to continue). they have pitched fits at council because this other troop moved in, they have only recently (like, August) even acnowledged us as scouts. What do we, as Webelos parents and leaders, do about this? I'm afraid that there are so many hard feelings that this WILL negatively effect everyone involved. but how do we cross over and 'fix' this, when we are seen as part of the problem anyway? i honestly don't want to point fingers, I think this bickering is rediculous anyway. It's SCOUTING, for Christ's sake, not a political campaign! but how do us lowely Webelos leaders get the rest of 'em to start acting like grown-ups??

Our local Home Depot let us come in during den meeting-time and build one of thier wood kits. They also have Kids' clinics once per month, and Lowes has them 2x a month- all free!! The Home Depot rep actually offered to bring the kits, ect. to a den meeting, but as we met in the library we opted to go there instead. Craft stores are starting to stock leather kits... and sometimes they go on sale. You could also have them help build some of the scenery for a school play, pretty intense project, but our boys thought it was really cool to have something they did up on stage in front of "a billion people', lol.

I, too, do 'force' my DS to stay in an activity until the season or whatever is finished, but I don't force 'scouting or else'. It's soo easy for them to get bored at the start when it's all hard work! For example, he was in karate for a few years. he wanted to quit because it was 'hard work'. I made a deal with him to see it thru until he got his brown belt, after that he could quit if he wanted. Well, he wanted. But then he wanted to quit scouts, too, at the end of his Bear year. I kinda agreed because the meetings were out of control and he was learning nothing but bad behavior at them. I pushed him thru to the end of the year (although with less-that-good attendance). Another mom and I discussed (at the suggestion of our kids, lol)splitting off into our own den; now DS is going to get his AOL in a few months! If a kid wants to quit, find out WHY! Our den lost a number of kids because the DL couldn't control the meetings. When we split off, two of the kids came back, two stayed in that were going to quit, AND two more sets of parents elected to come with us to save thier sanity! maybe they want to quit because karate, or football, or whatever is thier priority. Not all kids like the same thing, and not all kids get out of scouting what we'd hope they do. JMHO!

thanks for the great ideas! I will check out oriental trading tonight... I also saw an idea to use plastic wine 'goblets' and glue 'jewels' on them, time to shop! And I never thought of marbles- it fits our theme, AND it's a belt loop, lol. Any idea where i could find marshmellow catapault instructions?

We are camping in a castle in September, and I'm searching for some good ideas for activities. So far we've come up with Bocce ball, Chess, and making coin bags. I wanted to do a pool noodle joust, but I think I'm being outvoted. Any other ideas? Our Webelos will be there all weekend, the rest of the pack will come up Saturday during the day.

We DO 'double dip' with certain things. When a project takes more than two cracks at it (say clean up a memorial one day, plant flowers and arrange flags and markers the next day), we let it count for two things. Or if there are two components to something- a conservation project, followed by a nature hike or campfire or whatever. In your case, Wingnut, I personally wouldn't count it for both requirements. But, say you built it, then took another whole meeting to do some fancy decorating, then you could use the artwork component for something else. JMHO!

here's another thought- if I recall correctly, all the levels of cubbing have some requirement about fixing a bike... if you have time before hand, I bet you could convince a local bike shop to come out and do a safety check and show the boys how to fix any problems that might occur? Or maybe make the store the initial meeting spot? Or at least have a mechanically inclined grownup read up on bike repair and go over the more common points with the boys beforehand. You could also probably pick up some pamphlets on Bike safety at the local PD or even the library. How about having a Cop dad/uncle/friendly local type talk with the boys before hand about the rules of the road? Not only would adding something like that satisfy the "no-fun-without-a-predesignated-reason" crowd, but they could learn a lot AND get some requirements done.

I've been watching this thread with interest, and was staying out of this p-ing contest. But i DO have to take exception to this statement: "I don't think you will convince many Cub aged boys that to take a bike ride to see pretty trees wil be fun." Are you kidding me? I'm really, really hoping you don't seriously believe that. And do you 'hide' shiny things in the woods to give hikes 'a purpose', too? I think it sounds like a great idea, I think the kids will have fun, I think it will work! (again, my only concern is that the little just-got-my-training-wheels-off boys won't make it the whole way). BW, I think you are really missing the point of the whole Cub Scouting program. Sometimes fun doesn't have to be structured. Sometimes you can start simple (ie a bike ride) and the boys will FIND fun. Sure, they COULD stay home and ride bikes around thier suburban blocks. But what about the interaction with thier parents, the comaderie of biking with thier friends, the challange of a loooong ride? Nissan, good luck- let us know how it turns out!

I'd be very, very leary of having 6 year olds cross roads after biking 10- 15 miles. I'm assuming you've already checked that all of your kids CAN ride bikes? Some of those tigers may still have training wheels- I'm tellin you now they will never make it 17 miles. Sure, it's all downhill, but then there's the whole balance thing to take into consideration. You said there is a bus that takes you to the top... will the bus be able to make midway stops? You could either do the bottom half of the trail, or have someone do pick ups at designate points on the road... I would definatly plan for some kids/ parents to not be making it to the bottom.

One thing I forgot to mention- Collect old Boy's Life and Scouting magazines people are willing to part with, and let interested boys and parents take one home with them!

Trevor, I love that flyer! We will pass flyers out to the schools in the fall- I think I might steal your idea, if its' up for the taking! We have Pinewood derby cars, lots and lots of pictures, books from every year to thumb thru, and applications. We also have a Spanish-speaking boy scout on hand at two of the schools to talk to the parents. He HAS come in handy- so if you pull from an ESL population, you might want to consider it. Oh, and a cub scout or two from that school is always a good idea! Depending on your pack budget, Oriental Trading Co has some cheap pencils, ect that you can get engraved with contact info.

lol, Jblake. But you are absolutly right- don't show them fear, or you're a gonner. We actually had a seperate parents' meeting to discuss all that important stuff with the 'rents, while a teenage sister hung out in the Burger King playland to keep an eye on the kids. you want to cover Den Dues, your expectations of the parents, what you need THEm to work on (read the parents' guide, work on the Faith part and Family Member). Our first meeting included: having the boys determine the rules, which we wrote down on posterboard (ie no hitting, not saying mean things, being quiet at 'signs up', ect). We also worked on Fitness and Citizen, with some craft projects and posters. Sitting down activities, mostly, but it was a good start because the boys began the year knowing that sitting-time is for just that! We did Every Other meeting outside (Athlete, sportsman) for a few weeks to keep them hooked, too.

I'm glad it went well! Sounds like not only did they have fun, but both learned AND practiced some good scouting skills! Good job, DL!

Wow, nissan, you sound like my old High School geometry teacher. I went in actually liking geometry, but because he was so hard-line "my way or no way", I ended up hating it. Very few kids in my HS took 2nd year geometry. Lets look at the requirement that seems to be causing so much dissention: 2. Be an active member of your Webelos den for 3 months (Active means having good attendance, paying den dues, working on den projects). 1-It does NOT say consecutive, for starters. technically it could be ANY three months, and you insisting the boy must earn a passing grade of 67% can and probably will bring up this arguement from his parents. 2-paying dues can be at any time of the month. Yes, they are due the 1st/last meeting of the month. Johnny's mom bought milk this week instead, can she please send it next month? 3-yes, 'good attendance' is arbitrary. Obviously a kid who shows up once a month does not have good attendance. But say you have meeting on Wednesdays, and Johnny spends every other Wednesday with dad, who doesn't bring him. Or pack mtgs are on Thursdays, same time as baseball, but he can always make den meetings and comes to pack events on Saturdays. Someone else advocated being flexible- I wholeheartedly agree! these are KIDS, not Marines. Work WITH them, not in front of them. DOn't give johnny the Aquanaut badge if he didn't do the 100'... but try to help him get there. If you withhold a Webelos badge from a kid that did everything BUT show up more than 67% of the time, you are gonna have one big old mess on your hands, and will ultimatly lose at least one scout whether you get overruled or not. And probably become infamous at council, too, but maybe that's just here in Jersey...

Two things- a. you DO have a written record of his acheivements, his DL should have been signing off on his book this whole time. b. there is nothing you can do about giving him his AOL. It certainly sounds like the DL is being a putz and not letting this boy cross over because HIS son isn't ready, though. Are you friendly with the DL? Maybe a simple phone call- "hey, I heard from X's dad who says his son is ready to cross. What's up?" If there truely is no record of the boys advancement in his book, however, you might want to take that up with the district Those books are supposed to be signed off on for a reason! That said, there's nothing you can do. DAD can take it to the district, though. And isn't there something about not being able to hold 2 positions in the pack anyway?

I second (or third?) the opintion that 'active' is a really open-ended statement! Making every single scout event is really, really difficult (which is why there is a perfect attendance award!). But, by the same token, the parents really need to explain why little johnny only shows up once every 2 months. Honestly, if the kid is making an effort, I don't see the problem. That said, without attending den meetings regularly, the boy will not be getting quite a few of the badges/pins/ BL's the rest of the kids get anyway. It sounds like you want to withhold his Webelos badge due to attendance issues- I think this is a really, REALLY big battle you are undertaking that you really don't need to. Little Johnny will already see the results of his lack of attendance in the awards the other boys recieve. If he is able to complete every requirement BUT the 'active' bit (which, again, is totally interprative anyway), then I don't see a problem in giving him the Webelos badge. But I would certainly have a talk with the parents about the reason Johnny didn't get X, Y, Z badge!

the fishing vests are a great idea- we just couldn't find any that weren't the 'shorty' vests, and we ahve some tall kids! You can buy them at Wal-Mart, among other places, for about $15. it hasn't really taken off in our area, either, but we saw it on another pack and liked the idea. For the past few years, only the Webelos were encouraged to get them, but it sounds like you all have the younger kids wearing them too? maybe i can plant that seed around here...

not that this is the problem here, but in my experience people procrastinate/ drop the ball/ lag behind because we LET them. You're right, as long as the council/pack/den lets kids sign up late, they will have people sign up late. But I for one don't think they should be as accomidating. Yes, you ahve last minute changes- the parent who was able to find the money to send Jr., the kid who's dad decided he didn't want that week for vacation after all... but if the general expectation is that there will always be more space, people will always be late. I'm not saying you should ignore the problem, but really it isn't your problem! It's the CM who will now have to transport his kid, GO if there is no room in your den to take him. In the future, though, stick to your deadlines. We have the same problem- a prominent member of the community is always late with sign ups. Guess what? He had to explain to his kid why everyone but them was spending the night at a baseball game, and sleeping out on the field. We had a (public)deadline, we waited an extra 5 days for our ok-this-is-really-it deadline, and they wanted in a week before the event. Didn't happen. If you allow them the expectation of getting 'in' whenever they feel like it, they will live down to that expectation. Now, re: keeping them on the same page when they are not together. See my post about our boys going to camp a different week, lol. But honestly, again, don't make it YOUR problem. Dad dropped the ball, the kid ends up not with you. then if he wants to earn the pins and badges along with everyone else, dad will have to work with him at home. Dad created the problem, let dad be the one to fix it!

a neighboring pack had the bears make them as a project for one of the requirements. Den dues paid for the few dollars worth of felt! We allow our boys to wear thier vests anytime they are wearing thier full uniform- they are awfully proud of thier accomplishments, and enjoy being able to talk about where this patch or that one came from. that said, we made our own out of TAN twill fabric (from Wal-mart for about $2 a yard). One of the Webelos' grandmoms made them for all the boys, and they turned out great! they are durable, and hold up to ironing on patches. The red felt turns all the patches pink when you wash it... even without washing it, the boys seemed to balk at wearing the red- to "girl scouty", i was told by a pack of 9yo's. There are a number of patterns on the web! I can send you a picture, if you want to see how it turned out.

a neighboring pack had the bears make them as a project for one of the requirements. Den dues paid for the few dollars worth of felt! We allow our boys to wear thier vests anytime they are wearing thier full uniform- they are awfully proud of thier accomplishments, and enjoy being able to talk about where this patch or that one came from. that said, we made our own out of TAN twill fabric (from Wal-mart for about $2 a yard). One of the Webelos' grandmoms made them for all the boys, and they turned out great! they are durable, and hold up to ironing on patches. The red felt turns all the patches pink when you wash it... even without washing it, the boys seemed to balk at wearing the red- to "girl scouty", i was told by a pack of 9yo's. There are a number of patterns on the web! I can send you a picture, if you want to see how it turned out.

FWIW, i would have the Webelos 2's do the actual raising of the flag, with the other boys saluting. Only because it sounds very possible that it will become a yearly tradition, and that will give each year a chance to do it eventually.

karen, that is such an awesome idea! That will come in handy at our next group therapy session for my work kids- mostly foster kids who tend to be embarrassed and bitter about thier circumstances. Thank you!

karen, that is such an awesome idea! That will come in handy at our next group therapy session for my work kids- mostly foster kids who tend to be embarrassed and bitter about thier circumstances. Thank you!

wow, your SPL will make it far in life if he has that much backbone among his peers now; you have every right to be proud of him! We actually had an 'incident' with Webelos at cub camp last week. We weren't aware of it until a mom came storming in demanding to know what we were doing about the boy who called her son and his friend "those black boys" and "rotten jerks" We spent a good hour sorting out the situation with several of the boys involved- Ultimately, the 'name caller' (who happens to also be african American), was consoling his best friend (an italian American kid), who the two AA kids had (among many other things) been making snide remarks about his lack of athletic ability. He pointed to a group of 4 kids, said "don't worry about what those black boys said, they are just rotten jerks anyway." We ended up reprimanding the initial two who'd complained to mom for non-scoutlike behavior (exessive competitiveness, pushing, pretty much just being rotten jerks, really), as well as letting the other two know that ANY time they were unhappy with the way other boys were treating them, they could come to us and we'd respond immidiatly. I guess my point is that you need to investigate before you cry racism. Kids in our area are for the most part very tolerant- they have to be, it's too diverse to be racist and survive grade school. But they still refer to others as "that black kid in the red shirt" and "the white kid with the hat"- IMO perfectly acceptable descriptive terms. I do step in when the kids call each other "my N-ggas", as well as when they say "my dawgs" just because it's innapropriate- they aren't being racist, just repeating what the 'cool' teenagers say. Trevorum, your boy in that instance was definatly being ignorant, and the recipient showed pretty storn moral character by being able to forgive. I guess my point was that as the (sometimes only) upstanding adult in a childs' life, we need to explain to them WHY some things are innapropriate to say because often they really DON'T know. I advocate zero tolerance with a good, healthy dose of common sense!