ScoutNut

There is no National written requirement that unequivocally sets a specific age or rank requirement for DC. Ask the Course Director to show you the National requirement. Remind them that every boy deserves a trained leader and that includes a Den Chief and that you have a boy who actually WANTS to take the training and do the job and it would be a shame to leave the Cub den without a DC. That being said, if they will not budge on the training, purchase the boy a copy of the Den Chief Handbook($4.99) and tell him to read it. Purchase on for the den leader too so that he/she will know how to utilize their den's DC.

What is your Pack meeting theme going to be? Do you want the ceremony to reflect the theme? Will the ceremony be for the Wolves only, or do you want a ceremony that can be extended for all of the ranks? Is your Pack meeting in April your last Pack meeting or do you meet in May/June too? If April is your last Pack meeting of the year, will you be using a ceremony for graduation too? There are thousands of different ceremonies out there between cyberland and scouting literature. Your answers to the above will determine what kind of ceremony to look for. Usually I will cobble together and rewrite stuff from a number of different sources. Taking what I like and discarding or changing what I don't. Ask your Advancement Chair if he/she is planning anything.

This is a council family camp. The registration is per family, NOT per Pack/den, even though they keep the families in Pack groups and expect the Packs to organize their families. I would hand out the flier to all Pack families and have them return the completed form, along with all fees to a Pack contact person (you?). Then the contact person can take the forms and payments to the council offices. I would keep copies of the forms so you know if anyone is missing when you get to camp. It sounds like a fun time and it gives the families the option of coming for the day only and not camping (you should find out if there is a reduced fee for the no camping group).

Our Pack meetings run 1-1.5 hours. Generally we have gathering activity, opening flag ceremony, announcements, awards, audience participation, rest of awards, game, closing flag ceremony, refreshments, clean up. If we have a guest speaker we will forgo the game and auidence participation and the speaker will go on after the awards. Some months we will vary our meeting. October is a Halloween party with various game stations. December is a Christmas party with a potluck dinner, Santa, presents, and our Popcorn Pie Toss. January is Pinewood Derby. February is B&G dinner with crossover to BS. March is Showtime, when all dens do some kind of performance. April is our Cardboard Box Car Derby. We follow the National theme of the month if it sounds good to us, otherwise we pick our own or use another month's theme. Each month's meeting is hosted by a different den. The den is in charge of the flag ceremonies, gathering activity, and refreshments.

Hey! Another DPV'er!

In Cub Scouts the necker is not optional. Also, each level (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos) has it's own necker. That is why, at a Pack meeting, when 1st thru 5th graders are all together, they do not all look like one another. They are not supposed to. It seems to me that your biggest complaint is that when the necker is worn under the collar, the collar is not put neatly over the necker. This is a "learning how to dress yourself" issue, not a BSA issue. Also, both moms AND dads can reach over and straighten their son's collar before he walks out the door so this is not just mom's fault. I don't know about your sons, but with mine, and just about every boy in our Pack (ESPECIALLY Tigers!), they come into a meeting (den or Pack) at full tilt. They are so full of energy they could power a small city. If you want to see them in a neat, tidy uniform, with their neckers properly in place (it does not matter if they are over or under the collar), then you better take a picture of them in the first 2 seconds of the meeting! Remember, Cub Scouts (regardless of how some units are run) are NOT the military. Scouting is FUN with a purpose, and for those high energy little guys it is REAL hard to have FUN while staying neat and tidy. As the saying goes, don't sweat the small stuff. As long as the Pack/den is delivering a good program, the boys are having fun, and they are coming back for more, I really don't care if one collar tip is out and one is in! I will save that for the 1 or 2 uniform inspections we have each year.

The scenario you describe is more of a Venture Patrol than a Venturing Crew. They are created by SM's who want a way to keep their older boys involved in the Troop. Usually they end up complaining that the Crew is "stealing" boys from the Troop because the boys become more involved with the Crew, do their advancement thru the Crew, and no longer attend that many Troop functions. Most of the "Venture Patrol" Crews I have seen have had a short shelf life. Crews should be created for/by the YOUTH, with a specific focus in mind. Not by a SM hoping to keep his boys interested. However, I do apologise to purpledragon if my comments seemed out of line to her.

duplicate post!(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

Actually, the Cub Scout monthly themes are picked by BSA National. Packs are not required to follow the National Themes, but BSA National does provide programing for them (Cub Scout Program Helps, Roundtable Helps, Den Meeting in a Box, patches and other products). The Boy Scout program does not have the same type of monthly themes as Cub Scouts, but they do have a different skill focus each month that BSA provides some programing help for.

"In time I will help lead a Venturing crew with the BS troop." A Venturing Crew has nothing to do with a Boy Scout Troop. They are completly separate entities, with different charters, and different rules and different focuses. Starting a Venturing Crew is up to a Charter Organization(CO) - not a Scoutmaster. If there are youth connected with your CO currently who would like to be in Venturing, they can talk to the Charter Org Representative, or the head of the Charter Organization, to see if the CO is interested in Chartering a Crew or Ship now.

Never heard of a Red/Green. Boy Scout Troops in this area hold various Court of Honor (COH), but I have never heard of one holding a Red & Green. The Girl Scouts have a Scout Anniversary Week in March (3/9-15/2008), with GS Sunday 3/9, GS Birthday (96 yrs) 3/12, and GS Sabbath 3/15. However, GS Troops/Groups usually do not hold big dinners, or parties, to celebrate the anniversary. Other than celebrating GS Sunday/Sabbath, individual Troop/Groups might do some kind of small celebration or ceremony during a meeting. Service Units might also hold a larger anniversary event or ceremony, but that is up to the individual council and service unit. Many GSUSA Troops/Groups do celebrate Thinking Day on Feb 22. Thinking Day celebrates the birthdays of founder Robert Baden-Powell, and his wife Olave, World Chief Guide. It is also a celebration of, and learning about, the different Girl Scout and Girl Guide organizations worldwide. This celebration usually includes picking a country and learning about it's Scouting organization. Including it's Promise, Law, uniforms, etc, and things about the country itself.

"I just went to my sons first pack meeting and I was slightly disgusted, by how sloppy all the boys looked by trying to wear the neckerchief under the collar." According to the current BSA Insignia Guide - "The unit has a choice of wearing the neckerchief over the collar or under the collar." "I was a cub scout and I still have my uniform, which is blue with no collar." That is not the current BSA Cub Scout uniform. Your son could wear your old uniform shirt (it is still official, but the COMPLETE uniform should be worn), along with your old necker, pants, belt, etc, if he wants to. "I place this blame on the fathers. Because I looked around and the pack and almost all the dens were being ran by mothers." The female den leaders in your Pack did not write the BSA Insignia Guide. If you are not going to step up, take the training and become a leader in your son's Pack, then stop complaining about how the dens and Pack are run. "Be this trend of moms not dads who were scouts has had to play a part in this feminization of the uniform." I would bet that many of those moms WERE Scouts. BTW, the current uniform was created by a man.

OMG!! - How funny! These guys are from my District! I love it! This gives me a GREAT reason to go to Roundtable next month! ROFLMBO!! BTW - Spiney, if you did not know "Boss" had a sense of humor, you don't know him very well! He is a great guy and was course director of WB last year.

BSA has this to say about the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award - "Boys may earn the award in each of the program years as long as the requirements are completed each year." Leave No Trace has different requirements for each Cub Scout level. In order to earn the Outdoor Activity Award as a Bear, boys must earn LNT as a Bear.

In order to take your Pack camping the person in charge of the trip MUST have completed BALOO training. Many of your questions, including a sample agenda, packing list, ideas for games and activities, and approved Cub Scout camping facilites, will be answered at your training. One of the basics is to utilize the resources of your camp area. Maybe the Center Naturalist can do a hike, or some kind of other outdoor program with the Pack. Is there a lake nearby where you can hold a fishing derby? Is there a large enough open space where you can do air rockets, paper airplanes, or kites? Another big consideration is weather or not you are including siblings. If you are, you must make sure that they have activities that are geared for them also. With mostly Tigers, flag football might be a bit rough on them. Also, since Tiger Partners are required to attend, you should make sure to include them in all of the activities that their Tiger are doing.

Well Neil pretty much gave you the exact location, but if you can still not find it here is the direct link to the Word doc - http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/pdf/ADHDTips.doc

People have been wondering what BSA is doing to recognize/promote their 100 year anniversary in February, 2010. Here is a BSA web site for that event - http://www.scouting.org/100years/ Unfortunately the 100 year logo contest is over, but keep checking the site for more information coming out.

BSA has added the new rank requirements to their Boy Scout Advancements page. They also give some info on what to do to meet the requirements, not just a listing of teh requirements. http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/rankchanges.html

You currently have an uninvolved CO. The PTA at the school is run by parents from the other Pack, so the odds of getting the PTA to take the charter from the church are slim to none. The parents you do have in the Pack want nothing to do with helping the Pack in any capacity. Because of the lack of leadership, training, and the small number of boys, you have only 1 monthly group meeting with the boys all doing crafts and misc activities, and the BSA Cub Scout program is virtually nonexistent. This is babysitting, not Cub Scouting. Your own sons are registered members of the "large" Pack, and only attend the "small" Pack because you are there. Unless the Pack can get a CO that actually wants them, parents and boys that actually want to be there and work for the Pack, and the Pack starts providing the boys they have with a good Cub Scout program, nothing you try will work.

Why the flag is on the official BSA uniform is not the question. The question is, is it optional. I think that FScouter's quote of the Insignia Guide answers that question perfectly clearly - "a) No alteration of, or additions to, the official uniforms, as described in the official publications, or the rules and regulations covering the wearing of the uniform and the proper combinations thereof on official occasions, may be authorized by any Scouting official or local Council or any local executive board or committee, except the National Executive Board after consideration by the Program Group Committee." If the uniform originaly came from National Supply with the American flag on it - it stays on the uniform. According to BSA rules, we can not alter the shirt by taking it off, or changing it for the flag of another country. If the uniform originaly came from National Supply without the American flag on it - it stays off of the uniform. According to BSA rules, we can not alter the shirt by adding the flag (USA or any other) to the shirt. That is not "blindly going along" with something. That is following the rules of the organization you belong to.

Who ever the SM designates.

"That is the beauty of the CO program with BSA. The unit will have the "flavor" of the parent CO when it come to religion. You can not have that with GSUSA. it's not "PC"." "PC"?? Or perhaps a GSUSA unit will not have the "flavor" of it's CO because GSUSA does NOT utilize Charter Organizations! It has nothing to do with being "PC". BSA and GSUSA are two SEPARATE organizations that are set up VERY DIFFERENTLY. Every Troop/Group is a unique, individual unit, that pretty much does their own thing. However, many GS units are set up thru a school. If the school is a religious one, the girls, their families, and their leaders will be much more likely to bring that religion directly into the unit and the girls will be more likely to earn their Religious Awards. If the school is a public one, the leaders will be dealing with a number of very different faiths and so will be more likely to keep things on a more "generic" religious basis. The leaders will not really have a knowledge about how the different faiths in their unit promote their Religious Award programs. As a result, if that program is mentioned at all, it is to simply let the girls know it is available and that they should talk to their own religious organization about it.

Why not let each Tiger Team come up with their own centerpiece? It would be a great family project, each boy would be able to create his own vision instead of creating yours, and you would end up with extra centerpieces that could be used for the visitor, or serving tables. If that is not enough incentive, it would also fulfill Tiger Elective #2.

How about a 2-sided poster of these stamps depicting Scouting in Italy - http://www.scouteguide.it/centenario/iniziative/francobollo.htm Here are some Scouting posters - http://www.scouteguide.it/campagna/poster.htm If you hunt around the Italian Scouting site you might find some other pictures you could use.

Welcome Sarah! If you look in the column to the right, about 1/2 of the way down, you will see a link called FREE Web Hosting from SCOUTER! Click on that link and you will find info on how to get your Pack a web site on Scouter.com. If, for some reason, you can not find it, the link is - http://www.scouter.com/hosting/