ScoutNut

"to be eligible for the creation of a religious awards program, a faith must be the chartering organization of at least 25 units nation wide." The BSA does NOT have the authority to stop any religious organization, however small or out of the mainstream, from creating, and administering their own religious awards program. They do NOT have the authority to tell families what religious awards their boys can or cannot earn. BSA DOES have the authority to approve the wearing of a religious award emblem on the official BSA uniform. It also has the authority to say what publications and products are sold in it's Scout Shops. But that's it. If a group of Native Americans or Druids wish to create their own religious awards program they are well within their rights to do so. If they have youth members who are Scouts, the Scouts are perfectly able to earn the religious award of their belief. They just can not wear the award on their scout uniform until the program has been approved by the BSA. Also the Bear & Webelos faith requirement both say "Earn the religious emblem of your faith." It does NOT say earn the "approved" emblem.

Bill Smith has kindly put together an archive of BB from 11/97-10/00 and then 01/04-01/05 on his site. http://wtsmith.com/rt/bb.html You should check out the rest of his site too! http://wtsmith.com/rt.html THANKS BILL!

Cb-mom even though your Pack doesn't have a uniform closet you should still talk to your Cubmaster. Your Pack might be able to help. Our Pack doesn't have a uniform closet, but we do have money from our Charter Org set aside for cases just like yours. The folks just have to let us know! Also, the Catholic school where we meet has a used uniform box where we can get navy pants. I would not worry about the hat, belt, socks, or slide. Hats don't get worn and/or get lost. The belt you can get later if he earns any Academic/Sport belt loops. The socks are really very nice & comfy, but let's face it regular socks are more practical at this age. Slides can be homemade from just about anything. My Boy Scout son likes wearing a small socket with a rubber band under it to keep it in place. If you have a glue gun & some pipe cleaners or wire you are good to go! Don't feel intimidated by a uniform inspection. It's purpose is not to show up or embarrass any scout. It's purpose is to help the boys get an idea of how the uniform should be correctly worn. I bet you will see any number of partial uniforms and even some no uniforms. Some kids are lucky they remember their heads when they go out the door much less all their uniform parts!

Awwwwwww Gosh!

BTW - Pick up a copy of Program Helps. It lays out the Tiger, Wolf & Bear den meetings week by week and the Pack meetings monthly. You can pick up ideas from all levels and also save them for ideas for following years!

Tigers are G-R-R-R-R-R-E-A-T !!!!! Could you guess that I too am a Tiger Leader? LOL! Like your former TDL, I don't have any boys in the Pack. My guy is a 10th grd Boy Scout & Den Chief for the Pack. Welcome!

"i thought it was supposed to be the den that have the monthly outtings" Not necessarily. The only Den that should do a monthly outing is the Tiger Den. Even then, sometmes shedules don't quite work out that way. For Wolf & Bear most of the rank achievements should be done at home with the family. I know that doesn't always happen, but the Den Leaders should let the families know which ones they will be working on in the Den (should NOT be all of them) and which ones the families have to work on at home. Den meetings should be for (along with other things) working on things for the monthly Pack meeting. The dens should be working on things outside of the den meeting place whenever possible. However, every month, is not always possible. For Pack activites outside of regular Pack meetings, we do one every few months & every month in Summer. Oct was the Corn Maze/Pumpkin Farm & our CS Haunted House. Dec was making ornaments and trimming the trees around our CO church. Feb is a pro hockey game. April will be a campout. Not every family can make every event, but the ones that do have fun.

NO It should not count. Are any of the boys in sports? Basketball is on right now, are any of them in a park district team? I have boys in soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. Right now I have 2 of them on the same basketball team and they have games on Sat mornings, which is when we usually meet. Instead of having them miss a meeting we went to see their game, cheered their team on, and after their Partner goes over the rules of the game with them, they will have all earned Ach #3-G! BTW - Why are your Tigers not allowed to race in the PWD? And then to make them sit and watch all the other boys have fun - sounds rather mean. Our PWD is this Friday and my Tigers are R-O-A-R-N' to go! One of the dads said his son used a coping saw for the first time without a hitch! (or should I say stitch? LOL!) (This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

Make the Den meetings FUN! If the boys are having fun they will want to go to meetings. The same goes for Pack meetings. You, as CM, should not be afraid to act like a 7 year old! Pack meetings should give the boys recognition in front of their peers and be silly and fun for the ENTIRE family! Purchase a copy of the Cub Scout Leader book & the 2004-2005 Program Helps. They should give you an idea of what you should be doing. After that get trained! BTW - Are the Dens that only meet 2X a month progressing? Are the boys getting close to earning their rank? If the dens are progressing & the boys are having fun I would not worry about it to much. If, on the other hand, the boys are not progressing and are getting bored you might need to sit down with your Den Leaders. How often the Den meets, & the activites done, are up to the Leaders, not the parents.

Actually whittling something is not one of the requirements for the Whittling Chip. However, it is a fun activity to do, and you might want to try that with the boys first, especially if they did not do "Shavings & Chips" as a Bear. To demonstrate skill they can use their pocketknife to cut rope for knot tying, celery for snacks, the tip of sticks for cooking, etc. As a matter of fact, a Webelos campout would be the perfect place for Omega's son to demonstrate his skill to his Leader.

Omega - Since your son is a Webelos he should demonstrate to his Den Leader, not one of his parents. At the Webelos level parents can no longer sign off on requirements as they did for the last 3 years. (This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

Actually the new Whittling Chip card states that the Cub: "has DEMONSTRATED knowledge of, and skill in, the use of a personal pocketknife." So a Cub doesn't "have to only read, know and understand the Whittling Chip guidelines on the card". He has to DEMONSTRATE both knowledge & skill. That means the boy must physically show his knowledge & skill. He should also be using a pocket knife, not a plastic dinner knife. They are 2 very different instruments and there is no way a boy can demonstrate he knows how to close a plastic knife. That is a very fine line which comes up a lot in the Boy Scout end of the program. Demonstrate vs read & tell.

Their server is completely dead. They are in the process of backing up everything. It could be quite some time until they get the $ an get a new server up & running.

With 1 SA for every 4 boys you don't really need any help from outside your own Troop. If he is really interested give him the name & number of your DE. He could put him in touch with Troops who are hurting for help or tell him about volunteer oportunities at the District level (there are other things he could do than just legal related). But - You know, there is an organization called GIRL Scouts of the USA that he could volunteer for with his daughter! GSUSA has male leaders too. Maybe he could share his love of Scouting with her instead of just wishing for a boy!

"Our CC and Treasurer share my concerns regarding the pack, but they're cutting and running. They've decided not to recharter with the pack next month." If that is the case then the CC should let the entire Pack know this. Your Pack can NOT recharter without a CC! No recharter - No Pack. Either someone steps up to be CC or the Pack families will need to find new Packs to go to.

Where is your Charter Org in all of this? It is not up to you to replace the Cubmaster or any other Pack volunteer. If you have problems with the CM (or anyone else) you should relay them to your CC and your COR. They are the ones who are responsible for the Pack leadership. It sounds like your Pack could use a good Secretary to (among other things) give people reminder calls. Your Asst CM should be helping your CM. That is his job. You say the Tigers have been inactive since Nov, didn't you have a Dec or Jan Pack meeting? How do you know they have been inactive? Perhaps they have been doing things that you did not know about. The holidays can get hectic and with no school sometimes it's hard to get together. My Tigers have not met a lot since the beginning of Dec, but we have got together for a few local "Go-See-It's". Everyone in the Pack is currently working hard on their PWD cars for Friday's race. You need to be concentrating on your Webelos den. They should be close to earning their Webelos rank badge. That should be your 1st priority. Also, if you decide to move to a different Pack, that is YOUR choice. However, you can NOT make that choice for your entire den. Some families may want to stay, some may want to go to the same Pack you move to, some may choose to go to an entirely different Pack & some may drop out of Scouting altogether. Their choice.

What is a Chuckwagon Derby?

Hey - Congrats to you Fred! There is a publication called Roundtable Helps that is much like Program Helps. It gives you ideas and activites for each month based on the monthly themes. You will need to grab a few assistants. Don't do it all yourself! Contact your District Commissioner & your District Training Chair, they will be happy to help. What have your Roundtables been like so far this year? Were they informative & fun? How has attendance been? What would you like to see change? What would you keep the same? When do you start? Your answers to these questions should get you going on the right track. Good Luck!

Whoops! You're right I was thinking in "Cub Scout" mode! The brown shouldn't be to hard to find, it is pretty much a common shade. The Junior green on the other hand has a bit of blue in it and is hard to match. As for the Girls 11-17, beige is beige, but I prefer the royal blue! GSUSA no longer endorses a uniform pattern. Probably taking away too much profit from the sale of uniforms. However, the Simplicity vest pattern #7357 is close and can be adapted. You can purchase it online here: http://www.sewingpatterns.com/ Just do a search for 7357.

A Jo-ann Fabric that does not sell red felt, fleece, or any other sturdy red fabric? Sounds like a store going out of business to me! You can get red fleece from their online store: http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=95061 For the pattern we just use an old vest.

Now, let's all sing "Let's do the time warp again!" ROFL! "Rocky Horror" & "Time Warp" are my son's current favorites! On Scout Sunday's (BS & GS every year) we have a special mass where the Scouts come in uniform & receive their religious emblems. Afterwards there is drinks & pastries in the parish hall. This year we also have a Lutheran Scout who will be receiving his medal at his church. Hopefully both masses will not be at the same time!

Here is a site that explains what a campfire blanket is and has some nice pictures: http://www.santeeswapper.com/campfire_blankets.htm They are basicly blankets used to display badges and assorted stuff and usually worn as a poncho. Explaination of the World Badge & World Flag with pictures: http://guidinguk.freeservers.com/logos.html As far as I can tell, Friendship Badges are badges from different country's Guiding programs. They are either given as gifts to scouts from other countries or are earned by learning about the country and/or its Scout/Guide program. Hope this helps!

Why not adjust it a bit. Instead of the names of the families, have the names of the boys. Do it by den and have each tree topped by a diamond shaped piece of cardboard that has their rank badge on one side and the 75th emblem on the other.

If you are using the 75th Anniversary for your theme, January's Roundtable helps show a Cub Scout Family Tree. You cut a styrofoam ball in half & paint it Blue or yellow. Take a smallish tree branch & stick it in the curved part of the ball. Hang from the branches slips of paper with important events in the life of the Cub Scout program. It also says you can string battery operated lights on the tree branches. One suggestion - Why don't you have the boys in each Den make centerpieces? You just tell them your theme and how many they need to make and let them go from there. The boys love it and it makes them feel more a part of the celebration.

How about something for your CO? Ask your CO Rep if there is anything they need done. Make valentines for a local assisted living facility. Make cards for the childrens ward at local hospital. At the end of April, when it warms up a bit, do a trash pick-up hike aound local parks.