saschuster

That is such an awesome idea! I have thought about doing something similar but my problem with doing anything other than taking applications and money as fast as I can is time. Our schools here give us 1 hour and not a minute more and they are tapping their feet and looking at the clock about 15 minutes before our hour is up! Last year at one of the schools i had a craft and the older scouts were working with the new boys and we ran over and you better believe the school was on the phone with council the next day letting them know!!

My son loves legos and we had bought at target some sets that came in containers that we large enough to make first aid kits. I had the boys bring supplies for them and they were large enough to put in bandaids, first aid cream, gauze, rubber gloves and a whistle. We put a small rope on them and when they went for a hike, they could carry it or hang it around their neck. They worked great. Target still has the lego set, about $5 each I think

I am glad we aren't the only one with this problem. We had our round table last night and this is how bad it's gotten! The district chair was there, no commissioner, not district trainer, camping chair, FOS chair so no agenda! I told the district chair, who is also my COR, our round tables suck and we need to spice them up and make them fun and if the district people running the show can't make it, they need to be voted out and someone interested put into place. I am to CC for my pack and the district membership and SNFS chair and our pack is hosting the spring district cub family camp so I can't do too much but I am always willing to help. He actually agreed with me....that is a first so I think our next meeting with him will be very different. Thanks for sharing your ideas, I made some notes so lets see how far I can get with these ideas!!

Our round table meetings are terrible! They usually start out ok and then they turn into a gossip or talk session and nothing gets done. I love to talk but I can do that at home and to spend an hour and a half talking about stuff that has nothing to do with scouts is a waste of my time. I think our problem right now is our District Chair, who only has a few months left in the position. He has been in scouting for years and change is NOT in his vocabulary so any ideas anyone ever had in the past were immediately shopt down so people stopped coming and the ones that do come, come to hang out and socialize. I went to a meeting in another district because we meet together once during the summer and wow, what a difference!! It was definitely a little corny but it was fun and it was standing room only! They give out awards for participation, they have recipe contests....with the food there to sample and they were just very interested in being there, questions or ideas were discussed and I feel like that is what our district needs. We are getting a new chair, hopefully the one the nominating committee approached. If he takes over, I think things will definitely get better and more people will start attending meetings. Can I ask what topics you will be covering at your meetings? I would love to help out more with the district once help is welcomed!!

We are doing a project in the fall to support our holiday party. I am looking for scout packs in other countries for our boys to become pen pals with. I am having a tough time finding email address and websites, any suggestions??

I pretty much run the pack my son is in as the cc not because I want to and I want to have control or be in charge but it is hard to get help/ I have some great leaders but outside the meetings, they don't do much including come to pack committee meetings and round tables. Parent's, they are even harder to get to help out. They love to show up for everything but coming early to help or staying late, forget it. There are some that will go above and they are great appreciated but there are just a handful of them. It's gotten better, especially with the leaders because this year I decided I will get help, or we won't have an event. I cancelled a few small things and they knew I was serious so it's starting to get easier for me but I still do a huge majority of planning and getting events set up by myself so I know there you are coming from!

I can almost understand the parents who turn in a list of 15 belt loops their son earned in a year. They boys want the shiny belt covered in awards. The parent's will half way have the scout do the requirements, the leaders will talk with the boy and in the end, we hand them out. Now, when it's a leader doing it, I have a huge problem with it! This woman has been a pain in my tail since before she handed me her application and let me know, she liked to be in change and do things her way and she would be in the office with me eventually. So not happening! Her and her husband are the assistant den leaders in the Webelos den, they were upset I said assistant because they have all of their "legal" training, whatever that is. She yells are certain boys, she is rude to some of the parents and last night she let me know the boys would be earning their basketball and ultimate belt loops. I told her, unless they were staying late, there was no way all of the boys could earn two belt loops in less than an hour unless she was cheating. I also told her, a trained leader should know the requirements and be the example for the boys and follow them. What do you do with leaders like this? It's hard enough to get parents to step up but I would rather have to take the den myself on nights when their leader is out than have her in there screaming at kids, telling the parents they need to be at meetings every week or not come at all and tearing though requirements without the boys getting the entire meaning and fun out of them!

Great job! I am so excited to get my bead but I still have 4 more ticket items to go!! Fox Patrol 92-67

Wow Ann, just wow! I can't believe the man came to your house drinking and he was driving with the kids in the car. I have had to tell my CO that a parent was drinking at at a district camping trip, to which he did nothing and to make that even worse, his "pet parent" who told me (I am the cc) that the dad was drinking, decided to leave the next day and bring back her own bottle to have that night....again the CO did nothing. We have informal meetings at my house, no kids, and we have dads that will have a beer but never would I have an official meeting and kids there and let anyone drink so good for you for reporting this. I like how you are trying to keep things together, I am sure it's not easy to just say, the heck with hit, I'm leaving! I have worked hard the last two years to build our pack of 20 to a pack of over 40 and it would break my heart to see it disband but you have to make a decision, make it work by yourself or walk away. I have learned, it can't be done by one person and getting parents to help is tough so good luck to you!

Whew, and I thought it was just me with every weekend from April until the end of June booked with Scout events!

Wow, the parents in our pack would bolt for the door without their kids if we told them to drop and leave! We have to tell the parents of the younger scout they can't leave and they pitch a fit over having to stay. We had a very disruptive mother late last year and it got to where she was spreading gossip about leaders and other parent's, she told her son to tell his den leader he didn't have to listen, and she was finally told to leave by our COR. If I had handled it as the CC, it would have been a smack down in the parking lot so definitely use your support if you have any!

I had asked this same question a while back and got some great suggestions! Mess kits, a compass, a water bottle. I think what I am doing for our boys is a Boy Scout coin with the scout oath on it.

And That is what we do this for! Great story, thanks so much for sharing even though I was almost in tears reading it. I love to hear those kinds of things. I think I said this before, if you ever move to the Atlanta area, look me up, we need more dedicated leader like you! I have been involved in my sons pack for only two years and I did it because no one else would. I started as a Wolf leader, was talking into committee chair a few months later and just finished my second weekend at Wood Badge. I now have a completely different way of looking at scouting and what all of you as leaders do and why you do it. I always knew this was something I did for my son, but it didn't click until our class was standing around the campfire Saturday night talking about how scouting has changed their life.

That is AWESOME!!!!!!

I just got home from my second weekend and wow, it was amazing. From one Fox to another, this is what we did... Patrol Leader - Give me and F Patrol - Fun Patrol Leader - Give me an O Patrol- Outdoors Patrol Leader -Give me and X Patrol - Xcellent Patrol Leader -What does that spell? All Together - Fabulous Foxes We were also talking about TV shows one morning and came up with a song to the tune of the Fact of Life You take the good, you take the bad, you want then you have the fox's five, the foxes five We said five because there were five of us. Sam 92-67