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Is there a rule against using swords in Cub Scout ceremonies? I did a great knighting ceremony in February, but someone complained to the Cubmaster, so I couldn't repeat the ceremony this month. The Someone used to be a professional scouter at the area level, retired. His grandson is in my pack. He knows everything there is to know about Scouting. Which is annoying because I think I know everything there is to know about Scouting. If it makes a difference: yes, it was a real sword, but no, it was not sharp. That is: the blade had no edge. I had about as much chance of accidentally hurting this boy with this sword as I did if it had been a baseball bat. That might be a good idea: a knighting ceremony with a baseball bat! What do you think?

I had a lot of success with a knighting ceremony. The Webelos kneeled before me, and I said: "I dub thee, Webelos!" and I touched his right shoulder and then his left shoulder with a sword. You could do that with a whole bunch of kids and just dub them to their different badges of rank.

The Martian is brand new, so its unlikely to appear on many lists yet, but i think it is really excellent. It is rated PG-13 for language, but it has lots of really good examples of American heroism. I just love it, and before the end, I felt like the United States really had sent astronauts to Mars. :-)

There are tons of complaints online about merit badge fairs. I'm hoping to start a thread where we can collect some good examples. Merit badge fairs are not going away. As merit badge counselors, how can we offer a truly excellent experience for our scouts? Please comment below if you have seen good examples of how to conduct a merit badge fair.

My son crosses over to Boy Scouting next month. The first merit badge he wants to try for is Chess. The first requirement is about the history of chess. I want to buy him a book, but the titles that pop up on Amazon don't look like they would be appropriate for an 11-year-old. Any suggestions?

I taught ILST last week, and one thing that came up was how Sergio the merit badge fair was. Some say in class for six hours to earn a citizenship badge. I love social studies. I was history major in college, so I signed up as merit badge counselor for the three citizenship badges, and I want to organize some activities that he's ours will enjoy. I want to share my ideas here, and j hope you will share your ideas, too. Hike up and down the historic district in the neighboring town Attend the cinco de mayo festival downtown.

I think the LDS packs meet all summer.

blw2: Latter-day Saint packs meet year-round and advance their scouts from one den to another on their birthdays, rather than in September, so some of them really will have boys earning their badge of rank in September.

Has anyone bought any of the new leader guides? I just want to know if they are bound or if I should plan to buy three ring binders to hold them, too. Does anyone know? Also, it looks like there are new guides for the den leaders, but not for the Cubmaster. Is there a guidebook to help Cubmasters plan pack meetings?

Well, the space derby is wire guided, but not gravity powered. It is powered by a rubber band. We are getting set to do a cub mobile race. The boys and dads are VERY excited about it, but I haven't included it as a recruit event.

I have to ask this question every year. <sigh> I had the old system of knots all figured out, and I have not been able to acclamate to the new list. I'm tying to encourage all the leaders in my pack to work towards earning a square knot. Mostly I'm trying to make sure I don't miss anyone who has earned one (because I was passed over more than once). Anyway, I'm going to tell my den leaders about the den leader knot <easy>, and I'm going to tell my Cubmaster about the Unit Leader knot. He won't be serving long enough to earn the Cubmaster's Key. But I'm stuck on which knot to offer my pack committee members. They work hard, too. I know there used to be knot for them. Does anyone here know what it is called now? Thanks.

Some of my dens meet twice a month, some meet once a month, and one meets less regularly. :-( I leave it to the den leader to work out with the parents. The boys are very active in sports. I don't want to make them choose. They are too young. They are still advancing, so I am content.

I haven't read the new tiger handbook, but I remember that the one-foot hike was part of the old program, and I think its a lot of fun. I actually see a lot of kids at my elementary school (K-2) doing this sort of thing at recess. They bring me moths and robin eggs and leaves and rocks all the time. They are so proud of the things they find. I love it. I have read some of the Webelos handbook, and I really like it a lot. The layout is very simple and friendly. The requirements are listed in a much more straight forward way. Admittedly, it was the old bear book that had the most complicated layout of requirements, but... My favorite part, so far: "Despite what you may have heard, you don't have to retire a United States flag if it accidentally touches the ground. In fact, it's okay to clean or repair a flag that becomes dirty or torn." (Page 125) Also: "Your den or pack may [retire a flag] as part of a ceremony, but your family could do this as well." (Page 127) There are still a few requirements in there to "discuss" something with someone. One of the goals of the new program was to reduce these. I wish they had eliminated them entirely, but...

We do a face painting ceremony for bobcat, tiger, wolf and bear. We do a neckerchief ceremony for each den at the end of the year. The Order of the Arrow does our crossover ceremony for us. We need a new ceremony for the awarding of the Webelos badge and for the Arrow of Light award. We were using face paint ceremonies, but the boys don't seem to like them anymore by fourth grade, so I came here today to find out what you do that you really like. I found a page with dozens of ceremonies listed on it, but I don't want to read them all, and try to figure out what might work. I want my friends at Scouter Forum to tell me what is working well for them.

When I recruit at public events, I collect email addresses of interested parents. Then I invite them to our recruit event the following week, but I love the idea of the boat. It would really draw children to the table. In the past, I have good results with stickers, but boats would be better. One year I used rocks. I bought some decorative river stones at the Dollar Store and drew paw prints on them with a sharpie, then I had a page on my table, they could figure out if it was a bobcat print, a wolf print or a bear print, and they could take the rock with them. It was surprisingly popular.