andysmom

I am a merit badge counselor and a Mom of a scout with Aspergers. My son reads the work books and does the worksheets prior to contacting a counselor. HE calls a counselor himself. The worksheets, in my mind are not supposed to be used in place of talking and working with the counselor. I fully expect that he will do, show, demonstrate and discuss every requirement with his counselor. That being said, I hope that if there are writing components to the merit badge I would hope that the counselor would accept the write ups he does on the worksheets. He is doing environmental science at summer camp this year and has been working on the sheets. He will participate in all discussions and demonstrate anything he needs to demonstrate. He will be able to better research endangered animals from home and we have been discussing ways to reduce pollution at home, school etc. In my mind he will get more out of the merit badge than showing up at the summer camp meetings an hour every day for a week. If it states in the requirement that a scout must get his parent's and his counselor's approval before doing something, the scout needs to speak with a counselor first. I am a counselor for the family life merit badge and there is a requirement that a scout needs to do a project around his home that would benefit his family. The requirement specifically states "With the approval of your parents or guardians and your merit badge counselor" do the project. I have had a scout show up to our first meeting with the workbook, including the family project, done. We sat down to discuss the requirements and I signed the blue card for the the requirements after discussing them with him but I would not sign off on that requirement. I explained that there are reasons requirements are written the way they are. It is about the process, the following directions and doing things the proper way. I offered to get him the names of other counselors that might not be as "rigid" as I am and might sign off the requirement. This was 3 weeks before his 18th birthday and the last Eagle required merit badge, and his project was finished. Sorry, I have too much respect for the rank, the program and myself to compromise my values. To the boy's credit, he said he wanted to do it the right way and we came up with a project he could do and the badge was finished a week or so later.

When my son makes Eagle (crossing fingers) my husband will wear a suit and tie (he is the Scoutmaster). When he wears his Scoutmaster uniform that is his role, he is the Scoutmaster for ALL the boys in the troop. In his suit and tie he will only be the proud Dad of his son. Being the father to his son is his only job that day.

My son has life threatening food allergies. He is allergic to egg, dairy and tree nuts. It is not always easy to plan meals around those restrictions for me, so I don' put that responsibility on others. My son brings his own food and cooks his own meals using his own chuck box that we have provided him with. He plans meals with his patrol, tells me what they are having and we plan his meals as close to theirs as we possibly can. He might need a different brand of pasta sauce or hot dogs than the boys would normally buy and it would no doubt be more expensive for them. The boys in his patrol know about his food allergies but I am not quite ready to trust them with his life. The added benefit of him cooking his own food is that he is getting pretty good at it.

Ours are $150 a year, include registration, Boys Life. We give crossovers a necker and book. Camp outs are $5 a weekend for food, troop covers cabin/site fee and an additional $7 for food. Extras like climbing, canoeing, etc are extra.

Our SM stepped down after 7 years this past spring. We gave him a framed print of Norman Rockwell"s "The Scoutmaster" because he gave a Rockwell print to every scout who earned Eagle. He loved it.

Our troop recently celebrated it's 100th recharter. We had a catered dinner with former Scoutmasters and Eagle Scouts were special guests. We had commemorative patches made. Each attending former scoutmaster was given a framed patch and was recognized. We had tables of photo albums and memorabilia as well as a slide show. Local public officials were invited and many attended with citations etc. It was a memorable event. Most of the "unit alumni" were contacted by word of mouth, I guess everyone just knew someone. Congratulations on your milestone.

The way I see it is if someone is selling a huge quantity of restricted items then yes, I would think there is something shady going on and "honest folk" might want to avoid this seller. If, however, I put on eBay a couple of the 2010 cub rank patches that got put back into my advancement box for whatever reason(a boy earned it but never showed up to get it, miscount during purchasing, etc)why is that a problem. I am talking 1 or 2 patches here. It is a way of building up the pack's account and clearing out stuff that we won't use and maybe someone else can (collection, replacement, whatever). If someone is purchasing patches, the Centennial Eagle patch for example, to wear when they didn't earn it, then I feel sorry for them.

Hi all, I am newly registered but have been reading for a few weeks. My son earned his AOL and crossed to the troop last month. I served on the pack committee for 3 years and was advancement coordinator for 2. My husband was the pack committee chair for 4 years and served as assistant den leader since our son was a Tiger. He has served as a Unit Commissioner and recently gave that up to become the District Training Chair, he has completed Wood Badge and has served once on Wood Badge staff and has been asked to serve as staff again. He is an ASM in my son's troop and has SM aspirations someday. I am currently on the Troop Committee (since Sept 2011) and recently completed training at our council's Pow Wow in Advancement changes for 2012, Life to Eagle and Effective Boards of Review. We have a very active troop. Since being on the committee we have given 1 Eagle, We have reviewed and approved 2 Eagle projects, we will review another tonight and have 9 more boys actively working toward their Eagle rank. I am looking forward to learning from all of you.(This message has been edited by andysmom)(This message has been edited by andysmom)