Jon L.

I found this site in my own searching (see my post above this one.) The trick is, can you read spanish? It's got other countries, too. http://www.scout.org/

Last year I had 3 different troops represented for my boys and the confusion made the ceremony seem awkward. To prevent this confusion this year, I tried to suggest having the OA represent Boy Scouting and just have the boys bridge to the Scouting movement in general. Afterall, the OA is considered the "Honor Society of Boy Scouts," so who better to represent scouting? My Weebs leader disagrees and strongly feels that the Scoutmasters from EACH troop should be there.(Fortunately this time they've chosen the safe troop.) So, after long thoughts, I think the best way to handle this may be to have a separate Pack meeting to focus on the boys receiving the AOL and bridging on to boy scouts. You could do it as a retrospective on the boys' cubbing experiences leading up to receiving the AOL. Then you can present them with their AOL and bridge them across by troops that they will be joining. (Man, bridgings have become confusing since my day! Then, we thought we had to go to our parent Troop, so there was no conflict like this.)

Our pack, is growing incredibly fast now days and I was looking for insight on how larger packs operate. This year, we will be bridging 4 boys, and we expect to gain another 20 or so in the fall, between tigers and others. That will bring us up to over 60 boys. Last year after bridging, we grew from 33 to nearly 50. We don't have a problem with finding leadership and we have a very active pack program. How do you folks do it? How do you make a pack program that meets your goals for the boys? What's your tricks for effective Pack meetings and activities? I'd appreciate any insights.

Thanks, Stan. I thought of the same two words: SCOUT SPIRIT

Good point, Mike. Kind of devalues the Eagle badge, doesn't it? It seems that when I went through the Eagle board (and sat in on some since then,) the Scoutmaster was supposed to be present. If you feel you can't slow him or help him change his attitude, maybe stating your concerns at the board can make a difference. After all, they essentially get the final say...

In preparing for our Blue and Gold, I am looking for any information on Cub Scouts (or Scouting in general) around the world, Particularily from the Scandinavian countries, Mexico/S.America, and Germany. Anything would be great, Ranks, traditions, or history. Thanks in advance.

Check out this site: http://www.wtrfrd.com/pack339/339pine2.htm We used it at our last PWD and it was a great success. A couple of benefits from it: (1)The boys get to race more and aren't disappointed after two races. (2)You can control how long the race takes. (3) You can keep the boys' attention better. the only down side we saw was that nobody knew who placed until the last race (or is that a good thing?) We added a double elimination among the 1st place winners to determine the overall pack winner. If you want more info on how it worked for us, let me know, I'll be glad to share any hindsights I have about this method with you.

As with every other posting, I understand the problem. How do you slow a boy down without fustrating him? And in my opinion, I think part of the problem lies with the "new" requirements for rank. When I got my Eagle (1986: I'm not that old!) the requirements included a time in rank, which if I remember correctly, as I was a Scoutmaster before my son entered Cubs, the new rules don't include this very clearly. This, to me is a shame, as boys need the time to learn what Boy Scouts is about. Now, recently I did meet one Scoutmaster that had a solution to this. His approach was through the Scoutmaster's Conference. This is your chance as Scoutmaster to slow a boy down a little and test him to see if he is really grasping the concepts of the requirements. He would use questions to see that the boy really understands what he's accomplished. Give him questions like what he will face at his Eagle Board: situations that require reactions. It's one thing to know enough to get the requirements signed off, but is he REALLY prepared fo the added responsiblities? That's what this SM and ASMs would try to determine. If the Scoutmaster felt he wasn't ready, or rather, hadn't sufficiently learned what he needed, He would reccommend the boy to review the requirements and try to understand the importance of them a try again in three months or so. Considering the value of the Eagle badge, this seemed that only fair way to make sure a boy is getting the most out of Scouting that he can. Something else to consider, I guess...

Hey Joe, That doesn't make any sense. If he did something bad enough to be kicked out than surely someone should talk and the parents should be made aware of the reason. It almost sounds like a personality conflict... If you want to get answers, you may want to bring it up at a Unit Committee meeting. Then again, maybe he'd be better off in another unit.