gwd-scouter

Welcome Tom. Part of your post reminded me of a poem I wrote when oldest son became an Eagle. Beginning of it... A little boy came home from school one day, his smile big and bright, "I want to be a Cubscout Mom, the sign ups are tonight." That little boy was my older son, then in First Grade. I too signed up as his leader and have been a leader in Cubscouts and Boy Scouts ever since (14 years now). This forum has been such a great help to me and I'm sure you will both gain from it and add to it. Good luck and have fun with your boys!

Another tip: bacos in the jar instead of using fresh ham or other meats. no need to refrigerate or chop. Tastes great too!

Troop is looking into taking a trip to visit the Kennedy Space Center. Their website lists two weekends in February that are set up especially for Scouts. Has anyone here done this trip before? Or, if you haven't done the Scout-specific weekend at Kennedy, have you as a Troop gone there for the day and camped out nearby? Any suggestions on nearby campsites? Look forward to hearing from anyone. gwd

Our guys make the baggie omelets on Sundays on almost all of our camping trips. Their reason - no cleanup! Meat/veggies are chopped at home ahead of time. Good advice about using freezer bags and egg substitute. We also use a sharpie and write initials/names on the outside of the bags so everyone can identify their omelet after cooking. Use a flour tortilla and you really have no mess. Roll out the contents of the baggie into the tortilla - now you don't even have to clean up a plate or use a paper plate (something our troop frowns on).

Welcome to the Forum Bill Q! With your experience, I'm sure you'll be able to add valuable information, Hopefully, we'll be able to help you from time-to-time, too.

Welcome to the forum, from a fellow South Carolinian!

In the chat room tonight. Hope someone will stop by

Cheer up Its Me. From your post I gather your son just finished his Webs I year and is going into his Webs II in the fall. Definately time to find the Boy Scout troops in your area and visit them. Visit them all. Visit them more than once if possible. From your post I gather you are the den leader? If so, perhaps you can arrange for all the boys in the den to visit the troops as a den meeting. Find a troop in your area that will take your den on a campout or two. Let the boys, especially your son, know that there is so much more ahead of them in Boy Scouts. Boy Scout summer camps can be a GREAT experience for new Scouts. It's an amazing experience for a boy to go from Webelos (where the adults did mostly everything) to Boy Scouts (where the boys are expected to do mostly everything). Hope you find a great troop for your son!

We, too, were told about our decline in numbers for our District at last night's roundtable. Quite a drastic decline in all categories. We only have 4 crews on the books, but only one of those put on any kind of program this past year. Many of our troops saw a decline because recruiting was down and a lot of older boys aged out. Our biggest declines in membership are in two areas: Webelos to Scout transition and Tiger to Wolf transition. Do you other forum members see these two areas as your biggest problem in retaining membership?

he he. Glad to see you still have your sense of humor, OGE. Isn't about time that old "Americans without healthcare" issue comes up again? (This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Thanks John-in-KC for giving me something to look up. Yes, indeed, the 1972 8th edition of the Handbook does change the handshake from pinky split to the full hand. Calls it the International Scout Handshake. From reading about that 8th edition, sure sounds like the Boy Scouts did a lot of damage to the program between 1972 and 1979.

This past Monday, had a Scout go for his Tenderfoot BOR. The Scouter in charge of the BOR has been an adult leader in our Troop, serving as an ASM for a while and for the past few years on the Committee. When he reached to shake the hand of the Scout, the Scout did not link his pinky finger. This is something I've seen LOT's of Scouts and Scouters do, but can't find any reference as to why they do it. Older Scouts in our troop have been quite surprised to look it up in their book and find out it's just a regular left-handed handshake! Anyway, when the young Scout was told by the adult that he was not doing the handshake properly, new Tenderfoot Scout said, "But Mrs. B says you don't link pinkies. It's just a regular hand shake but with left hands." Scouter adult grabbed Tenderfoot Scout's handbook, flipped through the pages and said, "guess I stand corrected"! I know it's not a big deal, but I really got a kick out of it when new Tenderfoot told me after his BOR! (This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Gilski, welcome to the Forum. I must say that as one of your first posts, this will certainly stir up some debate. Was that your intention or are you seriously asking if your troop's new requirement is OK? A Star Scout working toward Life is required to do service project, but is not required to lead the project as he would doing his Eagle Project. I understand your troop's desire to prepare your Scouts for Eagle, but please remember that we may not add, nor substract, from the advancement requirements.

My older son returned from National Camping School last weekend. Last night, we were just sitting on the porch chatting about his week there and he said, "Mom, did you know there is no such thing as a Class A Uniform in Boy Scouts?" Then he said, "Don't they know that in our Council? All our summer camp information mentions the 'class A' uniform." I just grinned and said, "So, what else did you learn at school?" Thought posting this little story would be amusing for you folks.

This type of question is one of the reasons I enjoy this forum. It has helped me learn that I have been wearing my National Camping School patch in the wrong place on my uniform for years. I went to camping school and got the patch while I was a Cub Leader and correctly sewed it above the pocket (as female CUB leaders are allowed to do). Never even thought about it after that. Didn't know that once I took off those blue shoulder loops and put on the red, I should have removed the patch or at least moved it to the pocket. Oops....staring around the corners in case the UP are there.... Thanks featherbear for asking the question.

Great message purcelce! In a couple of weeks, I too will be speaking at an Eagle COH - my first. Even now as I think about it I feel my eyes welling-up.

Don't you just love that last minute stuff? Your list hits the high points. Only things I would add are: water bottle, sun screen and bug spray. Three items always needed, but often forgotten, by our guys each summer. Have fun!

I can't say anything about recipients of the Silver Buffalo award since I don't personally know anyone who has received it. But, as for the Silver Beaver, I personally know many people who have been awarded the Silver Beaver in our Council and ALL of them were very deserving. I will admit I don't personally know everyone who has received the Silver Beaver in our Council over the years, and perhaps some of them were for political favors. But, let's not cast every recipient in a negative light.

Without a doubt, white water trip in August is the favorite annual event. And, for some reason, the guys seem to look forward to our annual cold weather trip. Maybe it's because actually HAVING cold weather for the weekend scheduled is such a gamble around these parts. Lisa'Bob - your CSI Themed campout sounds like a great idea. Mind if I share with the troop?

CA_Scouter. Congrats on your first Eagle SM Conference. I remember well my first (last October). I think I was more nervous than the candidate. All the suggestions so far are wonderful and pretty much the way I handled it. We talked about his journey through the ranks. Trips he had been on. What he liked and disliked along the way. Recommendations for the Troop. Lastly, we talked about his BOR and what he could expect. In the end, we just seemed to be having a nice friendly chat about Scouting. I sure learned a lot from him and about him. A quiet fellow normally, never offering strong opinions or controversial. I didn't know he had such deep feelings about things until he opened up during our conference. Now, after waiting months to work out the details with his family, he has finally scheduled his Court of Honor. Can't wait! Good luck to you and your Eagle Scout.

I have stepped back from the forum a bit recently, but for a different reason. I actually enjoy reading some of the heated exchanges that go on here, at times laughing out loud at the adsurdity of some. At times, my "emotional energy" is depleted by the forum because... When I first found this forum I was elated. As a new SM, I had so many questions and was grateful for the advice from many of you, the words of wisdom from others, and just the simple understanding and "been there - done that" expressions of support. But, it seems after a year and a half into the process of revitalizing our troop, I've hit a wall. The guys seem to have hit that wall too. The wall of resistance. They were coming along pretty well, ups and downs along the way, but we were on our way to turning the troop culture around. BANG. Right into that wall. They really do have the tools and skills to take the initiative to plan things themselves. I am willing to let them do that. But, we just can't seem to make that next step. Perhaps they are afraid. Perhaps I am, too. It's at moments like this that the forum sometimes depresses me. I read posts and am reminded of how woefully unprepared I was to take over as SM. And, how unprepared I am still. Oh sure, I've taken training, attend roundtables, and try to keep learning everything I can from a variety of sources. I've always loved the outdoors and think I am an above average camper. But, nothing has or could prepare me for the feelings of inadequacy and failure I feel from time-to-time. I read so many posts here from folks who have troops that are organized and well-run by the scouts, that have adults that understand the Aims and Methods, that have exciting and fun activities at meetings and each month's campout, have a new crop of scouts each year, have older scouts that actually WANT to work with younger scouts, etc. etc. etc. I read those posts and I wonder how you guys ever got there. It seems such a lofty goal for our little troop. Sometimes, especially after a particularly difficult or disappointing troop meeting, I'll read one of those posts and just think to myself..."there's just no way we'll ever get there." I was a bit more active on the forum for a while, even offering advice when I thought I had something worthwhile to say. Recently, I haven't had much of anything to offer. At this moment in my scouting life, I'm feeling rather contrite about ever thinking I could give advice at all. I also know that at some point in time, this will change. I'll feel confident again. After all, "tomorrow is another day."

Homesickness is an interesting topic. I never really thought my sons ever were homesick when they went on school/scout trips. Last night, I said goodbye to my younger son as he boarded the bus for his school trip to Williamsburg. Older son was with me and as we drove home, he talked about his first long trip away from home - 1st year at summer camp. He said he didn't remember very much about it, but did remember wandering around the parking lot on Wednesday afternoon waiting for us to arrive for family night. We were a little late getting there and he said he was starting to panic that we might not show up. Of course, it's been eight years since his first summer camp and this is the first I've heard of him being a bit homesick. Younger son, who has been on school trips several times, went to a week of space camp on his own last year, and will be attending summer camp for his third year this summer - well, he just called this morning from Virginia to say they had arrived and was just wondering what I was doing. A bit homesick himself? Mr. Mal. I like the advice list you posted. We have four scouts who will be going to summer camp for the first time this year. A couple of them have only been away from home once before (that was on our recent Council Exporee campout). Boys were fine, parents were nervous. (This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Oh dear, another slam against video games. Electronic cancer for weakminded adults? Electronic drug addiction? OK, I will agree to a point that there are some youth and adults out there that spend so much time on video games that they exclude other important social and educational opportunities in their lives. But, I don't personally know any of those people. I know my sons, both avid gamers, sometimes several hours at a time but not every day, both honor roll students, both involved in band/sports/clubs and other in school and after school activities, both always among the top five in reading competitions each year in school, and both in Scouts since 1st grade (oldest now in college, Eagle; youngest in middle school, Star). Sometimes husband and I would play with them. Mario Kart is my favorite and usually results in hours of fun family competitions. I know, however, that the boys (husband included) prefer the more dramatic video games like Halo. My sons do get engrossed in whatever game they are playing and do lose track of the hours that go by. At times, we must ask them to turn it off and they'll be surprised at how long they've been playing. They have had restrictions on games they could rent or buy based on the ratings, their ages at the time, and what their father and I viewed as content of the game. The other restriction we've had for years is that all games must be turned off by 8 PM on school nights. Of course, oldest is in college now and is known to stay up 'till 2 or 3 playing computer games or Dungeons and Dragons (I'm sure there's a thread somewhere about that, too). He still manages to get up in time for his classes every day. He took 18 credit hours each semester and made Dean's list. No worries from me!

In our Troop, all the adults that have attended summer camp, either full week or a few days, have been registered leaders with the Troop. Usually, SM stays all week and other adults rotate in and out to maintain at least 2 deep leadership. We have once or twice had four adults at camp, but that is not the normal case. Last year, husband and I were the only leaders and attended all week. Looks like it will be the same this year. We love it. It's a vacation for us. Scouts are off doing their thing all day and we usually spend time volunteering to help out with the pathfinder program (new scout program) or do some kind of camp improvement/conservation project. Parents are, of course, always asked if they'd like to come with us, either for the week or a couple of days. But, we just don't seem to get any takers. Our attendance at camp is usually 8-12 Scouts, 2-3 adults.

When I was in a Pack, most dens had snacks at meetings. The boys in my den made a Cub Grub bucket - aluminum pail they painted and then each week a different Scout would take it home and bring it back for the next meeting with juice and snack bars. In our Troop we do not have snacks. The Scouts did, however, decide they wanted to have drinks during the summer months since they spend much of their meetings outdoors playing some sport (ultimate, soccer, volleball). We put in a small fridge in our Scout hut and stock it with gatorade/sodas, etc. Scouts pay 50 cents for a drink. Then we use the money collected to restock.