ScoutNut

Straws with balloons attached. Funnel shaped paper cups either blown by lung power, pushed by fingers, or attached to balloons.

I would prefer to reward good behaviour, instead of punishing bad. Consider a bead jar. Take a medium sized jar, put lines around the jar every couple of inches or so. Have a good sized supply of beads on hand. Everyone who comes in uniform gets a bead to put in the jar. Everyone who remembers to bring his handbook gets another bead for the jar. You can give out beads for any number of "good" things they do. Like - proper use of the Cub Scout Sign, helping a fellow Scout with the den activity, helping to clean up, etc. You can also have boys who do not follow the den rules (made by the boys themselves), or who act up, remove a bead from the jar. When the beads in the jar reach one of the lines you do something special with ALL of the boys (take them for an ice cream cone, bring in popcicles, go on a fun outing, have a meeting just for games, etc. Don't make the lines on the jar to far apart so that it takes to long to reach it, but not to close together that you are doing something every other week.

Basically, the answer is - because GSUSA (no such thing as GSA) is simply NOT BSA. They are set up differently from BSA in just about every way. They are their OWN organization, and you need to learn to live with that. Summer Camp - Also a completely different concept from BSA. In BSA there is a very limited variety of programs available. Most of the focus is on earning merit badges. In GSUSA, camps are usually theme oriented. Girls can choose from a number of different things that interest THEM. You can have horse camps, drama camps, craft camps, archeology camps, canoeing camps, etc. There is nothing stopping more than one girl from a Troop, or even the entire Troop, from all signing up for the same camp. They can even request to be together. However, if you have dealt with the girls for any amount of time now, you know how hard it is to get just a few, much less ALL, to agree on anything. Also, while 1 or 2 girls might really love to go to canoe camp, you could just as easily have another 1 or 2 who would hate that, but get excited over making jewelry or throwing pots. GSUSA summer camps give the individual girl a chance to try something that interests her. Troop Structure - Patrols IS a form of Troop government in GSUSA. There are others. It is not mandatory to use any particular form. It IS recommended that the GIRLS are the ones who decide what form they use in their Troop.

I am sure the Park has emergency extraction plans. It is up to the Pack outing leader to find out all of the particulars on emergency procedures in ANY area they are camping in. That information should then be shared with all of the adults on the trip, especially the First Aid person. For this particular trip I would be more concerned with the fact that the families would have to backpack in. There are no carts, or vehicles of any kind allowed. Have your families backpacked before? Do they have the equipment? Are they able to walk for at least 15 min, thru sand, carrying armloads of stuff (if they have no backpack)? At our council's weekend Cub Summer Camps, all families need to bring is a tent, sleeping bag, and clothes. No cooking equipment, food, coolers, shelters, shovels, buckets, charcoal, washing stuff, etc, etc. Some bring camp chairs. They wait in line for carts. If they carry their stuff in, the younger boys will stop at least 6 times along the way, complaining how heavy their sleeping bag is. Parents will end up making multiple trips back to the parking lot to bring in everything. And, this is when the parking lot is only a couple hundred yards from their campsite, and it takes only, at the most, if you walk real slow, 5 minutes. Personally, I think that for inexperienced Cubbie families, a fun and easy car camping trip, with plenty of on-site activities like a nature center and trails, is the way to go.

Families with more than one Scout will usually take both Scouts along for Take Order / Show & Deliver hikes thru the neighborhood, using only 1, master sheet. When they are done selling all product is split on 2 different sheets (one for each boy), with an incentive prize listed for each boy. PLEASE - Do NOT hand in to your Popcorn Kernal just the ONE master sheet. EVERYTHING has to be listed and reported to council BY SCOUT. Leaving the job of splitting up your stuff between your kids to the Kernal is unfair to the Kernal and adds more paperwork on their shoulders. Then if there is an error, the Kernal gets the grief.

Docrwm asks - "Would an outing on an island that requires a commercial ferry have a) any safety issues as one would be isolated" Medical emergancies would be the big issue. I am sure that the Park has precedures to cover. The leaders of the trip should know in ADVANCE what exactly those procedures are. "wouldn't activities related to water like swimming and boating be off limits even though tempting?" The leaders for the trip should take Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat training. Boating activites would not be allowed on a Pack overnighter. However, swimming, and snorkeling, activities are fine as long as the leaders are trained for the activity, and all BSA rules and safety precautions are followed.

It sounds interesting, but I would have a few reservations. What are the procedures the Park has in place if there is a medical emergancy during the night? You can't just drive to the nearest hospital. Are the boys, and their families, ready to backpack in all of their camping gear over a 15 min hike thru hot sand? Remember you have 1st graders, and possible younger sibs, and families who are not experienced campers.

What he said was - "REPRESENTATIVES of the Council may seek donations" Not every representative of the council is a paid professional Scouter. Many FOS presenters and members of the various council committees, like finance, are unpaid volunteers.

There is a big difference between a 501©(3) corporation like your local BSA Council soliciting funds and products and your local BSA unit which has no exempt tax status on it's own.

Your council registrar is incorrect. According to the Cub Scout Leader Book a boy can stay in Cub Scouts until he is 11.5 years old - OR - he finishes 5th grade - Whichever is LATER. In your case the 4th grade Webelos does not need any special accommodations made for him. He can stay a Cub Scout until he finishes 5th grade.

How long is the trip when you have to go thru the pass? Are there any suitable camping spots on your side of the pass? You realize that you don't HAVE to travel with the rest of the Pack, don't you? As a matter of fact traveling in a caravan is against BSA policy. Leave as early as possible Friday night, or at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Setting up in the dark on Friday or getting up before dawn on Saturday is better than missing school. You would still have the entire day Saturday if you get in while they are still waking up. You would also have time on Sunday for play and camaraderie. You just leave early enough Sunday afternoon to get you home at a reasonable time Sunday evening.

The issue is not ADULT participation. The issue is FAMILY participation. If you publicize Pack (or even den) trips as parents not necessary as long as you have a specific number of leaders/parents along, then you are going to get most parents signing up JUST their child. You are going to get stuck with not enough adult coverage. Publicize the events as Pack FAMILY events. Have an expectation that the Scout will be their with at least ONE parent, if not his whole FAMILY. Make it the exception, rather than the rule, that a boy signs up without any parent. Also, make it known that if a parent can not attend with their child THEY will be responsible to make arrangements for another Pack family who is attending to be responsible for their son (including any transportation needs). If you instill this family mindset into your Pack you will not have to worry about ratios.

OK, maybe it's just me, but I need a bit of clarification here. Does your Pack schedule camping trips in the middle of the week? Or are they weekends with the expectation that Friday is taken off of school? Are these camps a week long, or just 1 or 2 nights? Does your Pack have activities during the day, during the school week? Your Pack does these mid-week events on the average of 6X per year? As others have asked - Is your Pack mainly home schooled?

Soaking canvas in bleach will deteriorate the fabric, not something you want to happen to a tent. This will give you a pretty good idea of what to do - http://en.allexperts.com/q/Hiking-Backpacking-Camping-331/mildew-canvas.htm

Sorry, but if someone is telling you that the reason their family quit Scouting is because they were embarrassed that they could not afford to attend Pack outings that IS silly. It is also most likely just an excuse they are using to justify the fact they really did not want to be in Scouting and would have found another excuse even if the Pack had 100% free outings. I do not know of ANY Pack that gets 100% attendance for every single one of their Pack outings. I know we don't. I also don't know of any Pack that will call every member who did not attend an outing and ask for an explanation of why they did not attend. There are MANY reasons a family can have for not attending, lack of funds is only ONE. One of the things we do at our Pack Committee meetings is to evaluate our program for the last month. If we ran an event that had poor attendance we look at the event to try and see why. We look at all of the contributing factors (including cost) to see if there is something we can do better, differently, or even if we want to do it again at all. Your Pack should be doing the same. For families who can not afford an event, they simply do not go to that event. They attend the events that they can afford. If a Pack ONLY has expensive events, and a family is embarrassed about asking for financial assistance to attend these events, I can understand that. However, you look for a different Pack that runs a more affordable program, you don't quit altogether.

We do both den and Pack outings. We try to do things that are not to pricey, and to help our families out the Pack will pay for the cost of the Scout. That way the family only has to pay for adults and siblings. The concept that some people might be embarrassed because they can't afford an event and drop out of Scouts is silly. If they drop out it is NOT because they could not afford to go on a Pack outing! As you stated, every family makes their own decisions about what events they are able to attend. Non-attendance can be for various reasons. Money can certainly be one of them, but so can sports, family activities, homework, etc. Some of our Pack outings are - Bike Hike Fishing Derby Kite Fly Reenactment (Revolutionary War, Fur Traders, etc) Circus Hockey Game Minor League Baseball Game Picnic Rocket Shoot Campout Corn Maze Hayride Toy/Model Show District Cub Days Zoo State Park Day Hike Maple Sugaring Festival Nature Centers Various Museums Reptile Fest Council JOTA Event

Talk to your DE. Doing Boy Talks is one of the things they do. They will have various freebies to give the boys also.

I have never used them. Check with the Better Business Bureau.

These were not kindergarteners, they were 3rd graders. I am glad the boys had a great Scouting experience. I am glad they did so much service for their hometown. I just wish they had followed the BSA program while they did it. And the SE endorsed this program? I wonder if their CM is still having boys who join earn any and all past rank awards they missed?

The biggest complaint about the "old" switchbacks (both here and on all other Scouting boards I read) was that they did not work well for differing leg lengths. There was no way to adjust the length other than to take the pants to a professional have the zipper taken out, the pants re-hemmed, and a shorter zipper (or none at all) reinstalled. There was a LOT of negative chatter on this issue. Apparently, National Supply listened. Personally, I hate having to hem pants I have just paid a good pile of $$ for. OK, I hate hemming pants, period! But, if I am paying $40 for a pair of pants, I don't want to have to mess with them, or spend another $20 to have someone else mess with them.

Yep, "Commissioners may be currently registered in only one commissioner position." Just like - "No one may register in more than one position in the same unit, except the chartered organization representative (who can multiple only as the committee chairman (CC) or a committee member (MC)) and the ScoutParent unit coordinator (who may multiple as chartered organization representative (CR), assistant den leader (DA), assistant Webelos den leader (WA), assistant Scoutmaster (SA), assistant Varsity Scout Coach (VA), mate (MT), and leader of the 11-year-old Scouts)." The key here is REGISTER. As I said earlier, the volunteer you have such ire toward is most likely only REGISTERED in ONE Commissioner position. However, like many folks in Packs, Troops, and Crews, he is doing 2 jobs. Again, as I said earlier, the most likely reason is that there are NOT ENOUGH Unit Commissioners to go around. Vcrew66, how many jobs do YOU do that you are not REGISTERED for? Shall we advocate that you be tossed out on your bum because you do to much? It seems to me that there must be a personal issue here that you are not sharing with us. Could this have anything to do with the young man you had ousted from your crew & wanted ousted from his Troop, but the Troop leadership would not go along with it?

"Where can I find documentation from National to support/deny it?" It is OK for a person to be dual registered in the same unit as both the COR and the CC. - http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/28-501F.pdf UC of the same unit in which he is already both COR & CC. This is not recommended, but, since the COR & CC are not considered the unit leader, it is possible. - http://www.scouting.org/commissioners.aspx'>http://www.scouting.org/commissioners.aspx'>http://www.scouting.org/commissioners.aspx A District Commissioner also being the registered COR & CC of a unit. This is not recommended, but, since the COR & CC are not considered the unit leader, it is possible. - http://www.scouting.org/commissioners.aspx A District Commissioner who is also a UC is not recommended, but it is possible in some instances. BSA states that "Commissioners may be currently registered in only one commissioner position". BSA also states that it is one of the responsibilities of the Assistant District Commissioner to "service units with no assigned unit commissioner." If the Dist Commissioner is registered ONLY as a DC, and NOT as BOTH a DC and UC, then the DC is simply the units "acting" UC and is not in violation of BSA policy. While it is the responsibility of the ADC, not the DC, to be acting UC for units with no assigned UC, if the District has no ADC, or way to many units with no assigned UC, then the DC would have to take on some UC positions too. - http://www.scouting.org/commissioners.aspx http://www.scouting.org/Commissioners/Manuals/33621.aspx http://www.scouting.org/Commissioners/Manuals/34128.aspx District Camping Chair is a member of the District Committee and has nothing to do with either Unit Service or Commissioner Service. BSA has nothing to say (that I have ever seen) about District Camping Chairs holding, or not holding, other positions in the Council, District, or unit. Wearing to many hats, is not recommended by the BSA, can definitely be detrimental to the many positions the volunteer is trying to fill, and also to their health. However, in your examples, it is NOT necessarily against BSA policy, and according to BSA job descriptions this man does NOT hold "all the reigns". He can, as COR and UC, appoint and remove ONLY his units adult volunteers and youth from ONLY his units charter. He has nothing to do with membership in any other part of the District or Council. As DC, he also has the ability to both recruit and remove members of the District Commissioner staff (this includes Asst Dist Commissioners, Unit Commissioners and Roundtable Commissioners). Unless there are other problems you have not shared, and with the SE and DE both behind this man, there is really nothing you can do.(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

"How do we encourage the Boy Scout to be a Den Chief?" Having the SM buy into it is the first step. Many SM's out there don't see a need for a DC, and will not recognize the position. Approach boys who have brothers and/or parents still active with a Pack.

What I asked was NOT where does it say a period of 6 months. What I asked was where did YOU get the requirement that it must be totally completed "within/during a six month period"? The requirement states - "serve actively for a period of six months". It does NOT state the 6 months have to be consecutive. From the requirement, it would be perfectly legal for the boy to serve 3 months in one POR, wait 1 year, and then serve another 3 months in another POR. He has then served actively for a period of 6 months.

Have the boys do a template for their story stick in pencil on a sheet of paper. It is easier to make corrections there, before you start on the stick. The sticks can also be decorated with cording, beads, and feathers from your local craft store.