grmaerika

You are not alone. We had a Sinclair gas station with the big green Dino. Ahhh, the good old days when the guy pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windows....and even gave lollipops all around to the station wagon full of screaming brats. That was service! The milkman delivered to our back door and put the milk in a little metal cooler--it came in glass bottles where the cream set on top....and then they switched to cardboard....strange. The diaper service truck came around if you were a LUCKY mom...out with the smellies in with the new. Groceries were ALWAYS bagged by a store employee into big brown paper bags. The best part was us kids got to live dangerously...we even crapped in the woods.

Everybody sounds alot more organized than us. I'm going to suggest this sight to the new leaders. Thanks again for the good input.

All helpful advice. Thank You.

Thanks for your reply. That is a huge help. That is along the lines of what I was thinking, at least splitting it into two groups, or like you said, possibly three. I like the idea of meeting all together to see how we could split it up. I would love to mix the schools because the Catholic school parents are all eager, and have involved Dads. All I did was ask the first Dad I met if he wanted to be Den Leader and he said "Sure!". I'm not sure how this will all work out.I really feel we could get other Den Leaders from the Catholic school,but this year I have to concentrate on working, and am unable to commit to the Den leader position.My co-leader is already volunteering for everything at our school and does not want to add den-leader to the list.Our school is majority immigrant and minority, so it has alot of challenges.Thanks for your input, I'm going to suggest what you mentioned.

Is there a hard and fast rule about the number of boys allowed in one Den? We just had our JSN and got 6 news boys from our local Catholic school, and might get 8-12 total from there , total. Our Den only has 3 (possibly 4) boys, and we did not get anyone on JSN from our public schools. I was Den Leader last year, but have to step down due to work. We recruited a Den Leader from the Catholic school bunch, and we have a mom from last year who is willing to assist. Our Cubmaster wants to keep all the Catholic school bunch together in their own den since they have such a high number, and keep our little group separate. I'm wondering why can we not just have a super large den? That way we would have all the parental support we need. I'm willing to help out as much as I can, and the other parents seemed super eager to join in the Scouting experience. So,any ideas on Den size?

Welcome, I'm new to scouting and new here also. It's been a great help and inspiration. I hope you like it.

What is the meaning of the BSA symbol that we all wear on our uniforms? The small round one with the purple background and the fleur-dis-lis with the knot?

So, for all you moral relativists out there, do you think any sort of "morals" have a place in in scouting? Do you have any sort of moral compass? I thought that is what the Boy Scout insignia stood for--a moral compass pointing true north. I'd be curious to know what sort of behavior you deem "good" or "exemplary", since as leaders of boys and young men we are to set an example.You don't seem to care at all about sexual morality...which is in my view the most important. What do you consider sexually moral?Or immoral?Do you condone sex outside of marriage? People who swing both ways? Having more than one sexual partner? Do you think divorce is good? Do you find any of these things to have anything at all with morality? and if all these things are good or ok, why isn't it good to shoot your mother? People get hurt in all of these other circumstances. Why not just go around stabbing people? Is it ok just because the wounds don't show? Someone asked how I form these sweeping opinions.....by being raised at the bottom of the craphole when it comes to morality...by being raised by moral relativists..by being single mother, by getting to know the people hardest hit by immorality, yes, gritty mean street smart man -killer lesbians and straight up hard core cross dressing queers, alcoholics,drug addicts, thieves,etc... I thought by getting involved with scouting I'd come into contact with people who believed possibly in right and wrong and a few morals, or at least people who wanted something better for their kids. I get the sneaking suspicion nobody on here has seen jack squat of what immorality can do...excpept possibly if you work as a prison guard.How do you get off with this morally relative attitude and think you are doing any body any good? You are not! And I'm sure you will have some morally relevant comeback for that.I'm just keeping up with this thread to see how low you all will sink.Personally, I'm glad to be out of the swill hole, and I hope no other poor kid has to go there.

i don't know how old you are, but there is nothing new about gangs or ethnic conclaves within big cities. Ever seen the movie or read the book"Gangs of New York?".It seems this has been and always will be part of the urban landscape. First generation immigrants tend to have connections here from their home country, and live in the same areas where they share a common language, can network, buy their ethnic foods ,etc..It's a survival mechanism for new comers.Alot of people come as refugees and are not highly educated, but some people are . It's my impression that people tend to ghettoize more if they are on the lower economic rungs of the ladder, so you get alot of kids from the same ethnicity and lower economic status going to the same schools. Then you get the generational cycle of poverty, where people just can't for whatever reason seem to break out. I see this as nothing new. But,what is new it seems is that degenerate behavior,over sexualized popular culture, horrible filthy language, sloppy dress and scantily clad women, violence , is totally accepted, celebrated, even encouraged by popular media. Being religious is seen as something out of the dark ages. All these rude behaviors used to be something in the juke joints and bawdy houses,or at least seen as degenerate, things that good girls and boys did not do. Now you cannot even watch network TV without encountering smut and bad language. Watch an episode of "Lost in Space" from the 60's. My God, it sounds like they are practically speaking Shakespear! That is why we do not even subscribe to cable TV, so much garbage.Even tho I cannot understand my neighbors who mostly speak Arabic, Amharic,Spanish, and other African languages, and we are in kind of a little ghetto type building, we have a great thing in common----the value of family. These immigrants come with strong family ties and respect for the family means something.It is a struggle for every parent here to fight against popular American culture.Everybody comes here to make $$$ and escape war and poverty. It is an uphill battle to work a low paying job, survive in the city, and keep your kids from absorbing every piece of garbage they are bombarded with.Thank God for organizations like Scouts, YMCA, church youth groups and schools that give a darn. I'm really scared of what High School will bring for my grandson. I just think our culture is permeated with filth, drugs, violence, and the kids are acting like wild animals.Is this progress? Number one problem---the demise of the family.Kids without a dad at home to kick their butt for acting up at school just tend to get big and out of control..who's raising the kids?Single parenting is darn hard!Look at marriage stats especially for African americans. Look at out of wedlock birth stats.But in this ---hey, anything goes, "The kids are all right" culture, who pays? The kids!Save a child, keep your family intact, preach those old fashioned Judeo Christian values and you can be part of the solution. And also, extend a hand to a struggling parent. A neighborhood used to mean something. Twenty sets of parents keeping an eye on you.Everybody in each others business. Those were the good old days.

Sherminator, i am saying that the opposite could happen just as often. Now, most couples are heterosexual, and maybe one family in.. I don't know the figure,20?, just for examples sake might have a child that turn s out to be gay. Now, reverse that. You have homosexual couples adopting kids.Say three kids for instance, I'm wagering that that there is a good chance their kids will choose a homosexual lifestyle, by choice, since that is how they were raised. It is less likely that they will be heterosexual, because of the modeling of their parents behavior.It all becomes choice, not biology. Which I argue right now is that homosexuality is as much a choice in our day and age, as it is is a biological drive. I choose to kiss women and live with a woman because I can(not really.. Oh I AM a woman BTW), because men have been a total headache to me all my life. That's a choice. Since i've made that choice and have a daughter( good chance that a lesbian actually has a child by a relationship with a man), there's a good chance she will decide she likes girls too, since that's what mommy does.That's why I'll never buy into the whole kids do what comes naturally to them by their own biological nature even tho they are raised by gay parents.It all becomes choice. Do you really think lesbian women like men? My experience is most do NOT. Why would they ever be a good parent for a boy. The same goes vise versa for gay men. Most of them do not like women. And all gays have a distorted view of the opposite sex. How is that a healthy environment for a child? if it's any anything goes world, then let it all go.. you know porn, drugs, theft etcc. Just let it all go. Who cares anymore? Many a lesbian woman has a child or children by a relationship or relationships with men! Really, how gay is she?

the point made that at a young age kids try to mimic or please their parents is exactly why I'm against gay marriage. Period. It's not limited to two consenting adults. It extends into family. Nobody will ever convince me that if little Johnny grows up with two dads kissing and sleeping in the same bed, he will not grow up with this a a set standard for behavior that has been taught to him and modeled for him. Regardless of his natural tendency to be heterosexual. Sexuality is a far far cry from the color of your skin. people choose all the time to be homosexual, they do not choose the color of their skin.it's a myth that everyone who is gay is born that way. Many many people do the flip flop because they have no success with heterosexual relationships , experience abuse etc...Guess what, they don't have any greater success in their gay relationships!Sex and sexuality should have no place in scouting, except that is the BSA, but inevitably family and relationships does come into the picture.That is why I'll never support gay marriage. It all becomes "choice"..i mean why not go have sex with a camel for that matter? In that world absolutely nothing is considered perverse. And if you want to be open to all that, why have any moral guidelines at all? It all becomes perfectly relevant.

Hey! What's wrong with being a Redneck? Many a good man has a burnt red neck, and people sing about being rednecks proudly on country radio.....Just poking a stick in the wasp's nest here....

It wasn't long ago when being in a racially mixed marriage in Virginia was illegal. I experienced the tale end of this back in the late 70's. Not getting served, getting spaghetti spilled on me in a restaurant, not being rented apts.Shock and wide eyes when I informed people ,yes these are my kids.Strange comments and jeers etc...And they still have the box called "other" on the race section of forms.Seems like everybody has their turn. It might be akward for me to have to interact with "two dads" at a Pack meeting.Even tho I've been discriminated against myself I still have my own discriminations. Just like the people who looked at my family and thought"that's just not right". I just ignored them and really, it never bothered me. I laugh at the comments now when I think of them.But I still really puzzle at the "other" box on forms. Seeing as so , so many people are mixtures of alot of things, especially in the southeast.Black and White is pretty ridiculous.I think this is what people have tried to explain to me on the gender issue. I see male and female and a very few "others", but some people say there are like six different genders or something. I never really researched it. I guess there was White Troops and Black troops back in the not too distant past .Maybe we'll have something like that in regards to sexual identity in the not too distant future, like one person said, more of a local thing.Which got me to wondering--what are the rules in Europe on this?. Like for Swedish or Dutch Scouts for example.

These are some great ideas. Our resident camp at the council camp costs 160$/youth-70$/adult for 3days and two nights. The day camp is 175$ for four days.The day camp is useless unless a person can afford to take all four of those days off of work, because the commute would be insane, really impossible to squeeze in . DC is second to LA I think in traffic. So these fun outings you all have put together sound great. Even tho a couple of parents have said they want to camp, I don't think they have any equipment to camp. We have one family with a park ranger dad, and I think they are the only ones who have any idea about camping. I haven't camped for 40 years!I don't think our Pack is really into camping because when I had reservations about moving on as Wolf leader , mentioning camping as one reasons, a Webelos leader said we don't really do alot of camping.Our Pack doesn't look too rugged to tell you the truth. Our Tigers are really active, wiry, and busting out with energy. I hope to continually keep physical fitness and outdoor activity as a big part of our program.We had a great hike at Great Falls Natl. Park on saturday. We had to keep them from beating each other with sticks, but all in all it went great.They actually got worn out.It's great to read what you all have been doing.

Scoutfish...aww,you'll look real purdy! Have fun and congrats to your Scouts for winning that bet.