Basementdweller

So how does the scout know about the awards????

Slow down there Chris.....Your in Cub Scouting right???? In Cub scouting the most important thing is the boys are with their friends. It improves retention and the boys enjoy coming to the meetings even if it is for some lame craft. What you don't want to happen is all the Jocks in one den and everyone else in the other. Or the kids that have active parents and show up to everything vs the kids who are not so lucky. What will happen is the weaker den will die. When you have jocks in both dens you can have some really fantastic kick ball games or other inter den competitions.

How about have the program work as intended??? Scout contacts merit badge councilor and makes an appointment?

Deaf, I think the quote your looking for is "Attendance does not equal completion"

Chris as a parent you will no longer be signing off on your scouts advancement.....he will be required to demonstrate it to someone else, It maybe a youth or adult leader.... Plus if your resident camp has a trail to First class or first year scout program......I would hope the troop leadership does some quality control and just doesn't blindly sign off on the requirements. We had a problem with overwhelmed councilors and poor program..... Timelines......People it takes what it Takes.....Some boys are great cooks, other great with rope, others camp craft. Some are even good at nothing. I like to see my boys advance, but they are expected to have these skills. First class gets you to philmont, northern tier, jambo and sea base.......When a scout goes he is expected to have the advertised skills.

fish read the reviews on the gi hammock.....It will probably be too narrow for you I support an american company as opposed to chinese......my hammock is a warbonnet blackbird, made in boulder colorado and my quilts are made by hammock gear in ohio....... Of course I have more than $39 involved. But to me it is more important to support american industry than save a couple of bucks.

Those you serve are all Catholic and that is great.......We just don't fit their membership requirements. The residency and religious beliefs would be problematic. The parents I spoke with were unaware of these requirements. And both agreed...... Seattle your right in scouting is scouting is scouting and it is all good. I have said it before and will continue to say it.......Remove the adults from scouting and it would be much better.....All of the politics and drama would disappear. Baden Powell Service Association is a better fit for us.

Since your going to do it anyhow. Limit class size, Limit class size, Limit class size, limit class size you simply cannot have 30 scouts in a woodworking class expect a councilor to do his job properly. I would limit it to 10 or 15 per session to give them a chance to do a decent job. A bit of perspective.....you have a 3 hour session, 180 minutes. if you have 30 scouts in the session it gives the councilor less than 6 minutes per scout to verify knowledge.....how can you expect him to do a decent job??????? Two councilors 30 scouts 12 minutes per boy.

Advancement is only one method.... What do the boys want? I dont have a problem with a motivated scout workin advancement. I do have a problem with adults and leaders forcing them thru advancement. Have them plan their outings.....have fun...attend a week long summer camp and you will be surprised how quickly they advance without being forced.

Deaf scouter Just say no to Merit badge boot camps, universities or days...... Search the site to see why

This is why don't like Merit Badge universities. So scoutnut..... I am not sure if your a merit badge councilor or not, but mine say nothing about what I am merit badge councilor for........I am registered as councilor for 10, despite this I have only counciled three times in 4 years, and on the councils list for all. I received one MBC card for all and it does not list them individually. So in theory, once you get registered as a MBC you could council anything.... Honestly, I tested our system....I signed up for nuclear science merit badge, I am an engineer, but in no way qualified to council the merit badge....Next revision of the Councils MBC list I was on it as a councilor for Nuclear Science. I could go on and on about unqualified MBC's...... But isn't where the SM comes in???? He directs his scouts to quality MBC's. So if they are registered as MBC for anything it is valid........ So Rascals issue is the boy did not fully participate in the Merit badge university....Missing 1/3 the course. Did not do any work prior to the event. Did not follow the procedure of getting a SM signed blue card. Then gets greedy and walks away with 4 or 5 merit badges without any effort. Is this a hill your willing to die on????? While I agree with you that the scout did not adequately participate to earn them...I am not sure what could be done after the fact......There is no way he earned 4 or 5 merit badges in 2 hours. The leaving early was a slap in the face too... I think I would have a SMC with the lad and ask him what he thought, did he meet all of the requirements adequately, effort, was it in line with the other scouts???? Ask him about showing up late and leaving early...... who knows the lad may surprise you???? I would give him the opportunity to do the right thing. Now what if the scout chooses not to do the right thing????(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

Had a couple of parents approach me regarding AHG's at church yesterday. Discussed my objects to the organization with them.....They found it as objectionable as I do..... No sale thank you very much......

Chris the other thing to remember is every council is different......Our council does not use the BSA myscouting tour plan at all. We use doubleknot to submit our tour plan and then we don't need one any longer if we camp with in our council and don't do high adventure.

Cross what happend???

I did it one year under a neighboring districts credentials......DE set it up. The accreditation stuff is nothing but common sense in my book......I don't dislike them.....

Why not start talking about popcorn and fall recruiting?????? It is almost too late for summer activities???? Summer camp deadlines have already passed as have sign ups for most of the cool stuff round our town....

Sooooo, Is there an Official process or flowsheet somewhere???? My understanding of the process is 1. scout desires take a merit badge 2. Scout asks SM for permission to take the merit badge. 3. SM gives scout a signed blue card and merit badge councilor list. 4. Scout calls makes appointment with one of the MC 5. Scout meets MC and completes requirements 6. Once MC is satisfied the scout has completed the requirements he signs the card and returns 2 parts of it to the scout. 7. Scout turns Blue card into the SM or advancement chair to get it recorded and awarded. Is that about right????? I would not accept it if the SM did not sign it in advance and some extreme circumstances..... How about the dad or mom that goes to the Scout shop and buys a stack of merit badge cards? Signs up to be a MBC and then starts signing cards for scout son??? Would you reject them???? On what grounds?????

The best rest in the woods is hanging between two trees. Hammocks rule. the best part is my entire hammock sleep system weighs less than 4 pounds total...in the winter it jumps to 6..... If you gotta sleep on the ground then my recommendation is to go try the sleeping pads out. Any decent outfitter will let you try them out. You cannot take anyone elses recommendations for gear......If you do you will spend lots of money for bad results. Thermarest is a respected brand. Big Agnes is high dollar for what you get, I really don't like their sleeping bag/pad system. great concept poor execution. Alps Mountaineering quality gear reasonable price, especially when bought off Steep and Cheap 60-80% off retail. I would drive to an outfitter and try it out for yourself.....or REI has an excellent return program....Lay on it and try it for yourself. But it is a lot of messing around shipping and such. http://www.rei.com/search?cat=4500026&cat=4500449&jxBrand=Therm-a-Rest&hist=cat%2C4500026%3ASleeping+Pads^cat%2C4500449%3ASleeping+Pads^jxBrand%2CTherm-a-Rest

Zscout I would hope your council service center would not accept it...... It really isn't that big a deal to get a few signatures......If it is you should resign and let someone who feels it isn't a big deal. I would never sign an address label for someone to stick it on stuff that needs signed.... It is a check and balance sort of thing.....

It isnt rocket science as someone in your neighboring district to run it under their credentials. Who cares if you get reconized as a acreddited camp.....the boys dont care.

Interesting that you wantedto remove your committee chair about a year ago. Now the cubmaster??????? Unless he is violating the scout oath and law, guide 2to safe scouting or youth protection.......... I would say back off......

Eagle.....their council does not run a Traditional resident camp.......Fish and I had a debate about this last year...... Because of the utilization of their camp they do not have the ability to host webelos over the summer. so they run this event over a weekend and invite Current Bears who will transition to Webelos at the end of school. This creates a ton of confusion for everyone involved, Transition dates, Bears earning Webelos pins... Chris.....the important thing to remember about webelos is this is the transition period from cubs, parents signing advancement, to Boy Scouts, were Youth and Adult leadership in the troop, sign off the Advancement..... The belt loops at this point in the game are pretty ridiculous.

So where does the James West money go???? Does it go to salaries????? Camps????? Let me see Send 12 boys to day camp or knot for the shirt....you already know my choice, but $1,000 is out of my reach anyhow.

While I think the belated Eagle thing is good.....I also think it is ripe for abuse.

twocubs it is easy to see what he took ask to see his training cards......IOLS he is good....OWL or WOW or Baloo needs to take IOLS..... http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/what_makes_a_trained_leader.pdf