Basementdweller

OH I could go on and on. The Council has a number of competing IOLS programs, of course the CD for each of these is on Woodbadge staff mostly as TG's. It appears that they loaded their patrol's with members of staff from their IOLS staffs. The IOLS Patrols came in completely practiced and schooled in the games. I was in one of the outcast patrols. Our troop guide was good, but we were pretty clueless as to what was going on. the stuffed animal kidnapping???? Please I am 40 years old. I didn't take days off work and spend time away from my family for this crap.

The list came off of some mental health website discussing what a cult is..... Seems to fit. There are a bunch of great woodbadgers, don't get me wrong. Gotta run, you will find a bunch of woodbadgers just like that. they are the same staffers that have the staves with all the stuffed animals and irrelevant crap on them. I have met some really quality individuals who have participated in woodbadge of course I discovered they attended and received their beads inadvertently. they never told me.

Another Cult warning sign "I know a few hard core scouters who if you didn't finish your ticket would want to hold a Court of Dishonor and strip you of your totem."

Point 9 I can think of the win all you can game. That fits.

How about another new Boy scout uniform for a money maker? The current uniform is called the Centennial uniform for a reason..... Is that not about the money???? I have hear rumblings from a fellow who seems wired into national somehow. New uniform is coming very soon. My complaint, our council requires training staff to have the Current uniform I am not spending another $150 on a uniform. Socks, shirt, belt, Pants and Patches. Looks Like my training career is over.

We signed up for the bags to be picked up at round table. DE said he had ours......Had a box with the Pack and troop number written on them. Round table ended went to pick them up and they were gone.........Another Troop picked up our bags and left. oh well. Ask the DE for more and there is none. Guess no food for scouting this year. Oh well, Hopefully who ever took them actually uses them, in our area they give out a huge number of bags and I was told less than 5% ever get returned.

Dude desserts for the Blue and Gold Banquet. I have made a bunch of cakes with a bunch of boys without a significant male influence in their lives. Then I am about sick eating one piece of each cake.

Leadership skills are leadership skills, whether taught in a class room or in the outdoors. I disagree with only 4 or 5 items. I am closer to 10. 2-5, 11-13 for sure and a little of all the rest.

I am guessing the light saber fights in the campfire smoke with flashlights is prohibited too.

Woodbadge as a Cult......Makes a lot of sense to me. found a cult check list......while not all fit, an alarming number do. 1.The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law. ‪2. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. ‪3. Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). ‪4. The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marryor leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth). ‪5. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avataror the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity). ‪6. The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society. ‪7. The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations). ‪8. The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities). ‪9. The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt iin order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion. ‪10. Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group. ‪11. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. ‪12. The group is preoccupied with making money. ‪13. Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities. ‪14. Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members. ‪15. The most loyal members (the true believers) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" As everyone on this board is aware...... My woodbadge experience was filled with self promoting and self important scouters. It was two weekends filled with stuffed animals and inside jokes. Great fun........NOT. I would not recommend Woodbadge to the serious scouter. Money would be better spent at the NOLS schools. I took nothing from the two weeks except for skepticism on BSA training courses and cost.

Scoutfish I would take the training, simply put, it will help you help your son. Plus you will never know when you maybe asked to step up and help the troop.

I recharge my cpap machine batterys with solar....... I have two panels at 10 watts each. The can charge at 1.2 amps minium for bout 5 hours during the day that our campsite gets sun light. my cpap machine uses 400-600 ma to run. During an 8 hour night I use a max of 4.8 amp hours. 5 hours at 1.2 amps gives me 6 amp ours, so no problem. Battery capacity you ask...... I use two small gell cells that have a capacity of 7.2 amp hours. so I could go for almost three days before a required recharge. Solar works.....I use it to run my dehumidifier at home. I have 45 watt kit with an inverter. works just fine.

I have heard reference to a scout needs so many square feet in a tent? Can anyone site the source and how many it is??? I am preparing for the committee meeting regarding our tenting issues.

It is all BS, the rules are randomly enforced. How about the Scouts on National TV appearing on the Platform at the Palin intro in Dayton Ohio during the last presidential election???? Yep right behind the candidates.....What was the penalty, I spoke with the council office and they said they were informed that they were not to remain after the flag presentation. I then asked if they were penalized in some fashion. NO. I asked to speak with the SE who said there would be no penalitys but they were informed of the rules. A District troop BEGGED and got a Troop trailer for Free. $5200, same one our troop had asked for a discount on. It got mentioned to the DE who did nothing, but what is he gonna do??? I hear they are begging a place that does the plastic wraps to do one for them for free. The funny part is the troop is a wealthy troop. Just like the Packs who own their own bb guns......who go canoeing.....who go den camping, who rent swimming pools with out lifeguards. The rules only impact those who chose to abide by them. FOS is BS too. SE Cry me a river, Driving a donated Jeep commander. It was supposed to have been auctioned off. Yep this topic has gotten under my skin.

Scoutfish........A piece of personal advice. volunteering is good and noble. But wait until your son is in the Troop first. You need to spend his cub years bonding with him and sharing the experiences. In a couple of years he will be in the Troop and you need to step back and let him enjoy his Scouting journey without dad always being there.

I have been Program Director at our district Cub Day Camp twice. While it was enjoyable, I found the work to far exceed the reward. I sent 6 months in prep and did not receive a single thank you, well the DE did. for all the effort I received a bucket load of complaints from the times it ran, location and activities. I have come to the conclusion that the day camp is expected and taken for granted. I don't believe the parents understand that we are volunteers. Got a fortune cookie the other day that fits. "He who expects no gratitude shall never be disappointed".

poo poo the rules all you want. We have a Neighboring Pack that solicits food donations for their blue and gold, very successfully. They get a number of prime ribs and turkeys from the local butcher, a national grocery chain donates the sides or at least the ingredients for the sides. They get a local party house to donate the hall. National can make all the rules they want, enforcement is impossible. What are the penalties gonna be???? I am growing in the opinion of putting on the best program you can for the boys. I will not violate the safety rules, but fund raising and such.......It is on.

Scoutfish in an earlier post it was said she also has a 15 year old boy scout. It is possible that she is revering to her experiences when he was a cub

Scoutfish in an earlier post it was said she also has a 15 year old boy scout. It is possible that she is revering to her experiences when he was a cub

While it is noble to reach out to the mom.......what is the cost gonna be to the pack. Just went thru this, It isn't pretty fun or anything else nice. I do not have the time or the resources for this. This is Cub scouting not family counciling. My job is to provide the Cub scouting program to as many boys as possible. This woman is making that much more difficult than it should be. I still contend you wasting your time and resources with mom. Sure the easy road is to boot her and the scout out, your other volunteers are already telling you they will not help if she is involved.. So it has already degraded in to a her or us scenerio.

so how many families are you willing to lose because of her? After the last 6 months in scouting my charity is gone. I would simply ask her to take her son and move on. I lost several familys because of a aggressive type A female ACM, she stomped all over parents and volunteers. I will never ever chase one scout, compromise what is right and best for the group for one scout, volunteer or parent ever again. this women is creating a poison environment, people will seek a friendlier Pack to participate in. I say get with the COR and CM and have her thrown out. I just isn't worth it.

The Webelos Den shouldn't have a bunch of Parents just hanging around. Just my opinion, but aren't we supposed to be graduating them into boy scouts. IM, the ego comment is about many scout leaders trying to be the White Knight. In rereading the the entire thread, It does seem that the Den Leader is the problem, Instead of removing the young man and lone scouting him to AOL, why don't you be his "adult" during the regular den meeting when mom isn't available. IMHO this would be a better solution, being that the den leader doesn't like to deal with the boys.

google sites are free and ties into google docs, picasa's and all of the google offerings. a great free resource.

my recomendation is Scouttracks. The best reports and interface of any out their. I like it better than any of the Packmaster offerings. It actually list the requirements and you can then expand the requirement and see exactly what it is instead of merely checking off on 1a and not knowing what it is. Plus any web browser gets you access, parents can enter their own scouts advancement, Data kept on the providers server, everyone can access the data. I think it is the best cub software going.

It isn't circumventing the requirements????? One of the points of Webelos is to remove the parents from signing off requirements and having a Den leader approve completion. The lesson this young man is learning is I don't have to try to get along with anyone and my parents will bail me out. I think he needs to stay in the den and deal with the situation he created, If the den leader throws him out then he needs to find another pack. Im Kathy get over the ego trip, you have no right or need to intervene. You are not helping the situation, you are preventing the lesson that needs to be learned here. The boy screwed up and now needs to apologize to the den leader and his mom needs to do the same.