ScoutNut

whoops!(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

Women in general do NOT fit your regular, standard sizes. Even in women's sizes, what is a 12 in one brand could be a 10 or a 14 in another. Also, depending on your girls tastes, some might like them looser than others. If you want the uniforms to fit the girls, have them go to a retail store selling them & try on the men's sizes.

To verify your registration check with your council office. Even though your Pack has not been rechartered, if your registrations were entered into Scoutnet by your council you are still registered members of BSA. Filling out the transfer portion of the registration form for your new Pack would suffice. If they don't have your registrations in their computer, then you will have to pay your $10 National registrations again. You say your son has only been a member of BSA since this September. Has he earned his Wolf rank yet? If not you should have no problems. He will not be required to "give back" any awards or recognitions he has earned to date (including rank if earned). You should have been working with him in his Wolf book & signing off on things he has finished. This is his record of achievements. Give his new Den Leader his book so that they can update their records & he should be fine. If he has already received his Wolf rank you will have to do a bit more work. After you have verified weather or not your council has your registrations, you should verify if your Pack turned in an advancement form with his rank on it. Because most councils will not sell rank awards without an advancement sheet, they probably have. However, on the off chance they did not, you can explain the situation to your new Pack's Advancement person & have them simply turn in an advancement form with his Wolf rank listed on it. You really should not have any problems. Let your new CM know the situation with your old Pack & make sure your new Den Leader has all of your sons records & you will be fine. Have fun in your new Pack!

Viking Council (Minneapolis, MN) & Indianhead Council (St. Paul, MN) merged on 07/01/05 to become Northern Star Council.

Your best bet would probably be to call the BSA Supply Division, at 1-800-323-0736, between 8am and 7pm Eastern Time. If it is still in print & if they still carry it, you can order it from them.

Having a boy run unit is tweaking? BTW - When did Woodbadge become about doing the planning for the boys? Funny, I always thought it was about learning leadership skills.

No down time? I don't know about the boys in your Troop, but I know that ours would boycott any campout like that. Watercub, you should not be the "planner" for the Scouts summer camp experience/activities. That is not the SM or ASM's role. That is up to the boys. What they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it, & even if they want anything past merit badges planned at all, is up to the BOYS. As others said, our summer camp is pretty busy. The boys pick the merit badges they are interested in prior to camp. The camp also has things the boys can sign up for there. They do NOT have to sign up as a patrol. Individual boys can sign up for what interests them. Free time depends on when & where their merit badge classes are. Running from one end of camp to the other, up & down hills, gets old quick. Free time tends to be spent near where their next activity will be held. They can easily find others to start a game of frisbee, play cards, climb trees, have water fights (yep, those $1 bottles of water with the push tops are useful after all!) or wander & babble with. Sometimes, it's those impromptu activities with new people they meet, that they remember the most from camp!

Cub Scout Outdoor Award Religious Awards Check your local resources before you start looking at out-of-state ones. You might be surprised how many there are. Your local council might have a listing. Junior Ranger Program - GA State Parks Programs for Youth/Scouts - Museums, Zoos, Nature Centers, Planetariums, Conservatories, etc. Also, keep in mind that they still have 2 years to go as Cubs. If they feel they have "done it all" they might not stay in to discover what Boy Scouts will bring!

From the Boy Scout Application : "Your son can be a Scout if he is 11 years old (or has earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, or has completed the fifth grade and is at least 10 years old), but has not reached age 18." If a Webelos has his 10th birthday in May, then the ONLY time he is eligible to cross to a Boy Scout Troop would be after his birthday. If he has earned the AOL he can immediately cross over. If he has NOT earned his AOL, then he must wait until he has completed 5th grade.

No panic JillKB, but the point that John-in-KC is trying to make is that Webelos #2 will NOT BE ABLE to cross over to Boy Scouts in February, even if he earns his AOL. He can NOT join a Boy Scout Troop until he reaches 10 years old & you say that will not happen until MAY.

I never said kindergarteners were not capable little guys. Kindergarten teachers usually DON'T keep a room full of kids actively engaged for a full day. There are other activities & people involved &, best of all, boys know that if they act up they end up in with the Principle. Some boys don't even let that threat stop them. There is a WHOLE different interaction going on in Scouting. I'm sure a Den Leader could keep 8 boys "actively engaged" for 30-60 min. I'm sure a family could throw a party & keep 16 boys "actively engaged" for 1-2 hours. That is not the point. The Tiger program is pretty basic as it is. In order for Scouting to mean anything to K's, it would have to be brought down to an even more basic, non-reader level. I really can't see the point of that. Other than increasing the bottom line numbers that is. If it comes to it, I am sure we will adapt. However, IMO, I do NOT like the idea & heartily hope it does not come to it.

Don't know about your day or summer camps, but ours do not charge extra for archery or any of the shooting sports.

Definately separate the ceremonies. Earning the AOL & crossing over to a Boy Scout Troop are 2 entirely different things.

How about a nice compass. I would not give different (better) gifts to the boy who earned AOL. THAT would be tacky. The gift is to say goodbye to Cubs & on to Boy Scouts and they are ALL crossing over.

Scouting is not, & should not, be like school. Scouting does not have the boys sit in rows of desks with the Den Leader in front. Scouting does not give out detentions if the boys are noisy & not sitting still in their chairs. Many youth have been lost to Scouts because they felt their Den/Troop was to much like school.

BSA Scout Camps are not a good choice for the summer months. Most do not allow individual unit camping because they are running summer camps then. If you can't find anything at the government installations, you should check out Youth Group Camping at state parks & forests along your route. If you are going up thru Wisconsin, parks with group camping in the general area you would be stopping are : Devil's Lake Mirror Lake Wildcat Mtn. Buckhorn Perrot Merrick Some are better than others, but if it is just a one night stop over than pretty much anything will work.

Well Gern, since you stated you did not care which stamps you received, I would have gone with the Disney ones. Nothing says celebration better than the Mad Hatter! Bruce, why are you letting this one small-minded individual give you an ulcer?? Since you are a Troop, I will assume that the boys are the ones who planned the event (even though YOU named it). Have the parent talk to his son about the things the boys have planned. "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Thank you to Mr. Shakespeare. It is a TROOP party, calling it a Holiday Party works fine. Have FUN!

Check with your council to see if they have a list of Eagle Mentors. The Mentor can help your son with with his Eagle Project and anything else Eagle related. Also, he should use the Eagle Project Workbook below. As he fills in the questions on his Project, he might get a better feel for what he needs to do. http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/eagleproject/dload.html BTW - Nowhere in the BSA's "Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook" does it say ANYTHING about leaving any kind of "legacy".

My perfect "Scouter's Christmas" would be if all of the families in our Pack & Troop had a happy & healthy holiday.

He may still be on the young side, but he is correct. If he completes all of his requirements for the rank of Life in 6 months time, including his 6 months as an active Scout in a POR, he should be able to earn that rank. He can not have his BOR earlier than 6 months, but he also should certainly not be made to wait another 1 - 3 months, or longer, simply because "he is still on the young side, & he has time".

Either your Pack is a complete mess, you get frustrated easily or you just really do not want the job of Cubmaster. Or, maybe, a combination of all three. This is the second time in a month that you are asking for help with writing a resignation letter. You made it past one leader's meeting without resigning, but it looks like you might not make it past another. As you were told then, a letter is not necessary. However, what IS neccessary is to not just leave the Pack (no matter how bad they are) up a creek without a Cubmaster. At your upcoming leader's meeting, let the leaders & the Charter Org Rep know that you will be leaving. Ideally, you should stay until the end of the school year to give them a chance to find a replacement. If you can not manage that, you should, at the very least, give them 2 months.

FScouter is correct about the purpose of the training. Just as BALOO does not teach you how to camp, SSD/SA does not teach you how to be a lifeguard or how to sail a boat. You are trained in the BSA safety procedures, the resources & equipment needed & how to make sure you have a safe activity. I have taken both courses, in person & online. I found value in both. The video that is (or should be) presented at the in-person training is fairly well done & being in a group allows for discussion. I like the on-line version (which is different from the video) because I can easily refresh myself on the rules & regs before an outing. Paper things tend to get buried in my house!

Me too. Rather a pain. They must be having server problems.

I agree. You need to sit down, ASAP, with the boy & his parents & discuss the situation. He is not getting anything out of the program. If the parents AND the boy are OK with him just sitting there, not being disruptive, & simply taking up space until the rest of the boys cross over then YOU need to decide if you want to be his babysitter for the next 2.5 months. If he is disruptive at a meeting you should give the parents a call & have them pick him up immediately. No if, and's or buts. This is silly. The boy is not happy, you are not happy, the only ones happy are the boys parents. They are getting a free hour out of it, of course they are happy.

"Without even going into the interpretation of the G2SS, I'll admit that we just ignore it." I don't see that there is any room for interpretation or maneuvering here. In bold print, in the "Unauthorized and Restricted Activities" section of the G2SS : "Pointing any type of firearm (including paintball, dye, or LASERS) at any individual is unauthorized." It really doesn't matter why BSA has made Laser Tag "Unauthorized and Restricted", it has. Quite definitively so. If you enjoy Laser Tag so much, by all means indulge in the activity, just not as any type of BSA Unit. BTW - I can't help but wonder, if you "ignore" this BSA rule, what other BSA rules are you ignoring?