meschen

It is untrue that Dens are supposed to hold their meetings with a Boy Scout troop. Most recent version of the new Cub Scout requirements are at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/program_update/pdf/Appended%20Requirements.pdf See pages 27, 32 and 33. Webelos will still need to attend only one Troop meeting (requirement 2) and one Troop camp out or outdoor activity (requirement 4) Finally, for my 2 cents, I'm going with the warnings that have been put out several times. This is all a work in progress. Don't believe anything until you see the new handbooks.

Don't walk now. Make this a great year for your second year Webelos. Remind the Pack parents occasionally that your last day is that date of bridging and after that you're devoting 100% to your time to your son's Boy Scout Troop. They will need to step up to keep the Pack running after that date. Let them know that you're willing to help train new leaders before you go, but after that date, you will have very little time to help the new leaders. End of message. One suggestion I can make is that you probably need to ask people to step-up one-on-one. Whenever I ask the parents as a group for help, all I get is the sound of crickets. I'm usually much more successful talking to parents one-on-one and asking them to take on a specific role. If it is a signification commitment, I usually give them a few days to think about it, but will follow up with another call to let them know I'm serious. That's the best way I have found to battle the "someone else will do it" syndrome.

@skeptic Revisit links in the original post. This has nothing to do with the adoption of technology within the Boy Scout program. Its an entirely new program which seems, based on the STEMscouts program website, to have no connection to outdoor activities, or any of the other of the aims and methods of Scouting for that matter. From what the site shows, it is purely lab (classroom) based program. Nothing wrong with that in general, but I fail to see the connection to Scouting.

Scouting without the outing?

There is a lot here, I just want to make two quick comments: 1. The Patrol method is not going to significantly increase your Camporee attendance. That is a Troop spirit issue and you're fighting an uphill battle. What the Patrol method can do, if the PLC is properly vested with the ability to plan the Troop's activities, is to identify an alternative activity that the Scouts might actually want to attend instead of a Camporee. Are you willing to let them make that decision? 2. It has taken me a while to learn this lesson, but the only person who should have a say on what Patrol a Scout should be in is the Scout himself. PLC's, or much worse, adults leaders will only make the Scout unhappy if he is told to join a Patrol that is not his first choice. You might you wind up with a Patrol without a qualified Patrol Leader, but that is one of the reasons the Troop Guide position exists.

From the point of view of a Troop leader, I want the boys earlier than April or May. I agree with T2Eagle. One of the best experiences for first year Scouts is summer camp. But they (and more so their parents) need to be conformable with the leadership in the Troop before they commit to a week of summer camp. The earlier they bridge, and the more opportunity they have to meet with the Troop and to camp as members of the troop before they need to commit to summer camp, the more likely they are to attend summer camp. From the fifth grader's prospective, mothers may be a bit reluctant to make the move, but the Boys themselves are excited move up. Many of them are "done" with Cub Scouts On the Pack side, we've moved the Pinewood Derby up to January and bridging is now in March. Everyone seem happy with this arrangement.

Our unit requires class A uniforms for SMC's and BOR's. The practice is not unusual. That said, I recall such a conference about a year ago where the Scout was wearing an oversized uniform short with a Assistant Scoutmaster patch on it. Asking the Scouts to get a 100 on their uniform inspection before starting is a bit beyond what I would expect see. IMHO, retesting is wrong. The guidance in the Scoutmaster Handbook for board of reviews specifically says there should be no retests. This Troop is skirting that guidance by doing the retesting during the Scoutmaster Conference, complying with the letter of the law, but not the spirit. That said, I know of other units in my area that do retest. It is simply the way they do things, and fighting it is pointless and will only engender hard feelings. My suggestion: Troops come in many flavors. Jump on beascout.org and see if there is another Troop in your area. It might well be worth a visit.

Honestly, the ideas are reasonable, but this is not really new. You’re just borrowing Boy Scout terminology (Patrol and Patrol Leader) to replace the existing Cub Scout terms (Den and Denner). The only thing that is really outside of the box, is having an Assistant Denner. You may giving the Patrol Leader a bit more rope than he is used to; make sure he wants it and doesn't hang himself :-)

While you are certainly free to set your own standards and terms for volunteering, keep in mind that the four boys on the outside looking in also deserve a qualified and dedicated leader. If you’re not going to let the other boys in to your Den, which is your right, you at least owe it to the other boys to show enough goodwill to pitch in and help recruit another leader. You almost certainly know the parents of the Bears better than the Cubmaster or Committee Chair does, and know what they are capable of. It is likely that the next best Den Leader is a parent of a boy who is in your Den. They’ve seen a Den program run successfully. If another parent in your Den is even the least bit inclined, you owe it to the boys to enthusiastically recommend to that parent that they take over the other Den, even if it means giving up one (or even more) of the boys who are now in your Den.

There is something to be said for the adult leaders being in their own area, camping and cooking their own meals. There is he added benefit of introducing new ideas to the Scouts while keeping the adults out of the Scout's kitchen. Until we did this a few times, the Scouts were convinced that Friday night dinner was required to be hot dogs and/or BBQ beans. But to treat the adults as a full blown patrol. is wrong. The idea works if it is simply the adults standing WAY off to the side and letting the Scouts do their own thing.

We do have the following unit policy: "While most positions do not have a rank requirement, no Scout below the rank of first class will be appointed to a POR other than APL if there is a qualifying scout with the rank of first class, star or life who desires the position and needs it to meet their POR requirement." Keep in mind that Patrol Leaders and S.P.L's are not appointed but elected. Our Troop recommends Patrol Leaders and the S.P.L be first class, but it is not a fixed requirement.

As a Troop leader, I can say one trip a year with the Webelos is enough. Webelos and their parents seriously limit what the Boy Scouts can do. We have to limit activities to those Webelos are allowed to do and I end up chasing away the helicopter the entire time. "Yes I know Johny Boyscout might just burn that hamburger. But that's how the Boys learn. By doing, not by watching some adult flip the burgers for them." Webelos have Webelos Resident camp, council run weekend camp and a Pack campout. They do not need to be with the Troop more than one time.

Splinting Den has been a headache in our Pack for years. We tried it five times in the last dozen year. The one and only time it worked well was when we had a parent who wanted be a Den Leader and asked for the position and the two leader had very different opinions on what Cub Scouts should be. Each of the parents pretty much knew who would be the better leader for their boys. The other four times we should not have bothered. Parents whose kids change soccer teams and baseball teams every year go ballistic when you suggest that their Den be shuffled-up. More than once, the current Den Leader wound up with the kids who attend regularly and the new Den took in the less dedicated boys. I had one Den Leader who wanted to put all the boys with special needs in the new Den. We had another Den Leader who always insisted we should force one of the parents of the new boys who was completely new to Scouts to be a Den Leader and put the new boys in their Den, while all the returning boys enjoyed the leadership of a trained and experienced Den Leader and one or more trained and experienced Assistant Den Leader. I've taken the "never again" position. We now use the “super Den†approach – one Den with multiple Assistant Den Leaders, with a maximum ratio of 5 Scouts for every leader. Most Den meetings include multiple activities. When the Den gets large enough so that there are too many boys to do an activity, the Den Leader sets up a station for each activity, assigns one leader to the activity and then rotates the boys through the stations. Only the opening, closing and game are done with the full Den. It’s more work, but it works. I’ve never been in your position – we’ve never had more than 18 boys in one Den. Ideally, if you do find another Den Leader who genuinely wants the job I’d go with two Dens. If this was your Wolf year, I could see three, but in my experience, most Dens cap out in size in the Bear year, so you should be fine with two. As for how to split the Den, in hindsight, unless there was a CLEAR divide created by schools, I’d have the Den Leader pair up the boys with their best friend and then pull names from a hat. But understand that no matter how you split the Dens, someone is going to be upset and you will likely lose at least one Scout in the process.

Did popcorn with my son and was our Pack's Popcorn Kernal for five years. In my experience, your first time at a store-front is the most productive use of your time. Saturdays and Sundays from 10 - 1 in front of a grocery with a good volume of traffic is usually the best time to sell. If you return to the same spot in the next week or two, you'll see a big drop in sales. Selling at work is the next best option. If work rules allow it, bring your kid in to do the sales or deliver. Door to door is were you start working hard to earn your sales. Sunday afternoons between 4 and 7 seemed the best (we're west coast so most NFL games were over) in our neighborhood. I do highly recommend keeping your order forms from one year to the next. Don't bother trying to go back the next year to people who said no the year before. You save a lot of time just knocking on doors where you had success and then spend the rest of your time in new territory. Red wagon method is better for sales than take-order, but is a lot more work for the leader running the sale if your whole unit is involved. Draped01: The no return policy is abusive, and IMHO, a non-starter. Councils should be able to accept returns any time before take-order forms are due and not get stuck with product.

Thanks Richard. It looks like this chapter was once only applicable to Cub Scouts and with the change in title now applies to Boy Scouts. This looks like the source of the information we were given at Roundtable. Now I only need an official BSA definition for "small juice can."

At our District Roundtable, someone mentioned that it was no longer permissable for Boy Scouts to operate catapults built as pioneering projects. We have built such structures in the past and used them to launch tennis balls or water balloons at non-human targets under the supervision of an adult leader who happens to be an archery rangemaster. Does anyone know the source of this? Is it an actual BSA policy (or a change in policy) and if so what is the source? I can find nothing in the G2SS. Or is it just a local interpretation?

Allow me to split hairs here: Scouts earn their rank badges on the day they complete the final requirement for the badge. They should be recognized and presented the badge at the next regular Pack meeting. Prompt recognition is important for the Scouts. That said, we only have one AoL ceremony a year because the local lodge's OA team is not available on a regular basis. Progress beads should be presented at Den meetings. Just because some of the Den Leaders don't present them, there is nothing stopping you from using them in your Den.

Our Pack has always supported sibling and parent cars. We very clearly state when we give out kits that parents get to compete in their own division so that they keep their mits off of their Scouts car!!

We go overboard. Sixty-ish cars last few years. Medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each level (Tiger/Wolf/Bear/Web1/Web2) Trophies for top 3 overall and best design. Also we give each scout a blue "participant" ribbon available from Scout store. Those are a pain, but it gives us a chance to say something nice about everyone's car at teh end of the derby. We've considered a "safe driver" award for slowest car, but haven't done it yet.

Pack gives our Scouts who complete AoL and Arrow. Scoutmaster gives incoming Scouts a BSA Handbook and Troop hat at the same time.

I've seen this happen, and have done it myself once or twice with Scouts in my son's unit who I know very well outside of Scouting. Still, I try never to do it. Two concerns I would have: 1. It’s a slippery slope. Scouts will follow their leader's example and joking around between Scouts can easily devolve into more malicious teasing. 2. We have a pair of Scouts with autism spectrum disabilities in out unit. One thing I have learned is that those young men have a much more difficult time dealing with "shades of grey" when it comes to rules. We need to keep rules clear in order for them to cope. For them, there is no lighthearted teasing, even if they are not involved in it on either end.

I wonder why I am still amazed at BSA's long and storied history of mishandling public perception.

Our patrols use Patchtown. They have a huge supply. Jambo troop have been using custom patches at least as far back as I can remember (Ft. A.P. Hill 1981)

The no double-dipping rule actually is an old requirement (included in the 2004 revision). The only change to Dog Care was the addition of the now ubiquitous career requirement: “10: Learn about three career opportunities for working with dogs. Pick one and find out about the education, training, and experience required for this career, and discuss this with your counselor. Tell why this profession interests you.†As far as overlap is concerned, Pet Care is the obvious one. The other one I thought of was Family Life requirement 3: “Prepare a list of your regular home duties or chores (at least five) and do them for 90 days. Keep a record of how often you do each of them.†Taking care of their pet can be one of the selected duties / chores.

The no double-dipping rule actually is an old requirement (included in the 2004 revision). The only change to Dog Care was the addition of the now ubiquitous career requirement: “10: Learn about three career opportunities for working with dogs. Pick one and find out about the education, training, and experience required for this career, and discuss this with your counselor. Tell why this profession interests you.†As far as overlap is concerned, Pet Care is the obvious one. The other one I thought of was Family Life requirement 3: “Prepare a list of your regular home duties or chores (at least five) and do them for 90 days. Keep a record of how often you do each of them.†Taking care of their pet can be one of the selected duties / chores.