ScoutNut

Booth Sales (actually a GS term!) are Show & Sell booths set up outside a business where boys in uniform and adults sell popcorn to the public.

Last year we had a popcorn goal of $350 in sales per BOY. The goal can be reached thru either Take Order, Booth Sales, or both. We have one family who has 3 boys in Cubs. Their boys make the majority of their goal at booth sales. Their family then just basically buys popcorn for themselves to make up any difference.

The info just came out at the Top Hands conference about a week ago. Not every council received the packet there, some are ge

One thing for these 2 warring Dads to keep in mind is that Boy Scouting is very different from Cub Scouting. In Boy Scouts the boy will be doing most things on his own. The dad, mom, or stepdad will not necessarialy be attending all meetings, campouts, etc. Even if one of the parents does go with on a camping trip, they will NOT be there as this boy's parent. They will be there as an Assistant Scoutmaster for the WHOLE Troop. What happens if the troop this boy picks has plenty of adult help and does not need any volunteers? Will he not be allowed to join? These folks need to understand that Scouting is for the boys, all of the boys. It is not a dad & son play date. If one or both or all 3 of these adults volunteer their time with a Boy Scout Troop, they will be expected to work with the whole Troop, not just the one boy. They might not even end up working with their son on an ongoing basis. If they are going to use this as a battleground with the boy in the middle, their son will loose big time. Which ever Boy Scout Troop they choose will also end up in the middle of this war with the rest of the boys in the Troop suffering too. If they can't settle this happily then please, keep the Scouting program out of it entirely. Just my 2 cents.

I have always let them know up front at signup that the Tiger and their adult partner will be "joined at the hip" for ALL scouting activites during their Tiger year. I have never had the problem of "drop & run" at any of my Tiger meetings during my 6 year tenure as Tiger Leader. Once in a very great while one of my Tiger parents will bring along one of the other boys if a scheduling problem crops up unexpectedly for the partner and the boy does not want to miss the meeting.

The school holds a Fun Fair each year. Tickets are sold and used for various games like bean bag toss, ring toss, zoo cage, bowling, etc. Every one gets something, but if you "win" the game you get a better prize. The kids love bringing home bags of little junk prizes.

Keep in mind that there ARE some that do like the S2B approach. Keep in mind that on this subject National would rather hear from the girls than from the adults. This program was put into place because their research said that this is what GIRLS wanted. Have as many Girl Scouts ages 11-17/18 email National on their thoughts about S2B as possible. They should be clear and concise and offer examples. If they have alternate programing suggestions they should present them also. I don't know if in the end it will do any good, but if the girls don't at least try, then they have no reason to complain. My girls were not interested in S2B at all and they let National know why. They were so insulted by the idea of National endorsing girls "pretending" they were not Girl Scouts that they decided to get out as soon as they finished up their Gold Awards. This month, as the girls were deciding what to do with the last of their Troop money, they talked about the GS program and S2B. They were unsure where the program whould be down the road, and if they would ever want to work with it, but they agreed that they were, and always would be Girl Scouts in their hearts. They then decided how to spend the last of their money. All 4 girls filled out adult registration forms for lifetime memberships! I may not agree with S2B and I may not know where Girl Scouting will be in the coming years, but I do know that it has produced some GREAT girls!! Keep that in mind and look at (& listen to) your girls the next time you feel frustrated with the GS program. Trust me, it will give you the boost you need to keep on going!

Pack330 - As Cubmaster of a Pack with volunteer problems you should not be too eager to take on yet another committee position. Have your Committee Chair direct your untrained leaders to the online Fast Start (new presentation, very nice) and Youth Protection (must be accessed thru your council website as it is area specific for local laws). Do not take on the added position of Pack Trainer. You are already reaching burn-out!

"I just had to cancel my position in our town's annual parade because I couldn't get anyone to walk the parade with the boys." Why on earth would you do that! Where were these boys parents?? Cub Scouting is a family program, not a drop off babysitting service. I just sent in the forms for parade spots for both my Cub Pack and my Girl Scout Service Unit (like BSA district). I can not be in 2 places at once. The CS Den & GS Troop Leaders will all get their spot numbers. After that it will be up to them to let their scouts know and to coordinate who will show up to march. Each Cub who shows up should have a parent or another adult with them that they will be marching with. I stress with the leaders - if there are no adults there will be no scouts marching, try again next year! "I am 9 months pregnant and can't walk and was unable to attend Cub Scout overnight camp this year. I got one person (CC) to attend with the boys and had to find other packs to share the site with us for leadership." Once again, where were the parents? Were any of the leaders boys there? If so then the leader should have been too. Again, no drop offs! If there is no one to run or provide leadership for an event then cancel it. Let everyone know up front that this is the way it is. When the boys start complaining about canceled events maybe their parents will wake up. You can't do it all - and you should not be trying to.

Have different ka-babs for veggies and meat. That way you can keep the faster cooking items separate. Have you tried pie irons? The kids love those and y

To get back on track with Grumpy's question - Yes, having the next training coming up in 03/05 does seem kind of late to me. It would be after this Scouting year's Scout Sunday and thus be of no help to boys who want to receive their Emblem's this year. Unfortunately, for areas that only do training once a year, you might be stuck. I would double check with your Archdiocese Catholic Committee on Scouting. It could be that the training in March is the only one in your area, but there might be others in other areas of the Archdiocese sooner. You should also ask if you can take the training in a different Archdiocese. If you are close enough, or don't mind traveling, that might be an option. Also, if you can get together a large enough group of people who wanted to take the training, you might be able to encourage your Archdiocese to add another date. Here in Chicago, they have not yet set our training dates for the 2004-2005 year. They should be out sometime in September. Also, as I said above, our Pastor does meet with the boys once they have completed their work, but our counselors and facilitators here do not have to have a degree in religion or theology. They simply need the will to be of service. Good luck !

Remember that for most of the Webelos this will be the first time they are responsible for making their own food. Most of their other camping experiences, if your Pack does Pack camping, has been with their families along and adults doing most of the work. Your best bet is to keep it simple, especially if you have any algeries or dietiary needs in your group. How will you be doing the cooking? Over an open fire, on a camp stove, on a homemade stove (box, buddy burner, etc) or in dutch ovens? Ask the boys for ideas. It is their campout. You also don't want to be spending your entire evening cooking dinner. You could do a simple meal with a special dessert like bannana boats or a dutch oven cobbler.

While the number of 100+ sounds like a large amount, it really isn't. That number includes youth receiving 2-5 different emblems and adult receiving 1-3 emblems (depending on if BSA, GSUSA, and Camp Fire are all included). Also, consider that this is for youth from across the entire Archdiocese. In the case of the Archdiocese of Chicago that means 1,411 sq miles, 375 Parishes, and 2,442,000 people. If the Protestant churches in the area had a similar ceremony (don't know if they do or not) I am sure that the numbers would be similar.

The "classes" that I know of that are run by the Catholic Committee on Scouting (for BSA not GSUSA) are simply training classes for the Religious Emblem facilitators and coordinators. We do have Religious Emblem meetings at the Troop level, but it is usually just the boys who are working towards a specific medal and the facilitator for that medal. They always meet outside of regular Troop meeting times. As Firstpusk stated, these emblems are not just "gimme's" that the boys get for showing up at a meeting. There is a lot of work involved and much of it is done individualy and then shared at the meetings. The finished work must be approved by our Pastor and then a Religious Emblem BOR. For the Cub Scout level emblems, the boys work on their own with their families. When they have finished, they must have a conference with our Pastor who then signs off in their workbook. The Girl Scouts work on different emblems than the Boy Scouts do. Their facilitators also must be trained by the Archdiocese, but their training is thru the Catholic Youth Organization. They also can not work on their emblems during regular Troop meeting time. There is a lot of work involved in all of the Religious Emblems. No "gimmee's" here either and yes, all of these emblems, both boys and girls, are indeed earned. The Archdiocese of Chicago holds 2 yearly Scout ceremonies at Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago. One in February for the Boy Scouts, Venturer and adult BSA Scouters who are receiving medals. One in March for the older Girl Scouts, Camp Fire and adults. Yes, there are usually 100+ youth and adults receiving recognition at each of these events. The ceremonies are very moving and the Cathedral is beautiful. It is a wonderful way for the Archdiocese to recognize all of the hard work done by these individuals from across the Chicago area. These scouts are recognized again, along with Cub Scouts and younger Girl Scouts who receive their medals, at ceremonies in their own parishes on either Boy Scout Sunday (Feb) or Girl Scout Sunday (Mar). My daughter, 18, has earned all 5 of the Catholic Emblems available for GS youth. Two of these she received at Holy Name Cathedral. My son, 15, has earned 3 of the 4 emblems available to him. One of these he received at the Cathedral. He is planning to start work on his last emblem this year.

The awards for Protestant faiths work differently than those for Catholics. Your best bet is to have any interested boys contact their own church to find out who can mentor them. In some cases it can be a parent. For more information check out this site: http://www.praypub.org/

Hi there! I'm in the 'burbs too! DesPlaines Valley council here! Where are you at?

My council has their current list on their website. Try your council's website or ask at your council. Here is the council finder at the BSA national website: http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=xx&c=lc

My council has their current list on their website. Try your council's website or ask at your council. Here is the council finder at the

You can attend any training put on by any of your councils districts. You should also be able to attend training at different councils, but for that I would check with your council for verification.

OGE - You asked how to deal with ADD, that is a rather loaded question. It might be easier to answer if you described the particular child involved. You can not generalize ADD or ADHD (which is VERY different from ADD) from one child to the next. Just like every person is different in his own way, every child is affected by ADD or ADHD differently. Some are severly affected and require heavy duty meds and parental support. Some are just mildly affected and manage to, mostly, compensate with behaviour modification. Then you have everyone in between. Your best bet is to talk to the parents to get an idea of what/how their child responds best to. One thing to keep in mind is that boys with ADD/ADHD have usually had to put up with more teasing thruout their lives than the average boy. They are seen as "different". What you may see as "boys being boys", troop tradition, etc, could be affecting these boy strongly. My son is what I would call slightly "twitchy", but not hyperactive. He is however ADD. He could forget, or lose, his head or other body part if they were not attached. His Troop has the unfortunate tradition of singing for lost/forgotten items. He was forced to do this a few times, each time becoming extremely embarrassed and then teased by the other boys, and in some cases by the SM. The thought being that the singing and "friendly" teasing would "teach" him to remember his stuff. Guess what, it didn't work. He couldn't be "taught" to remember things by being humiliated or punished. Trust me, his teachers had tried for many years. Detentions did nothing to "teach" him to remember to write down homework, do homework, bring completed homework to school, or not to lose homework. My son finally determined that if he was told to sing for something again he would simply tell the SM he could keep whatever it was. Well, he actually was a tad more graphic about what the SM could do, but I convinced him that he was being unscoutlike! The end result was he just never told the SM or any of the ASM's when he was missing anything. He would either get info/copies from a friend or retrieve his item when the adults were otherwise occupied. What he did "learn" was not to overly trust his Scout Leaders.

We had our popcorn kickoff last night and my council is switching from Trail's End to Campmasters. Trail's End must have done something to really tick some people off. The main reason stated for the switch was customer service! They seem to have a lot of the same varieties with a few new ones. The Roasted Corn microwave was tasty, but I am not a fan of the Toffee flavored. Also, prices have gone up. The cheapest item is now $10, up from $7 last year. Do any of your councils use Campmasters? What do you (and your customers) think of the popcorn and the program? Thanks for any input!

If you go to the Coleman website you can sign up for the Scouting discount. That might help bring down the cost.

My hubby and I were already involved in Girl Scouts, so when it came time for my son to join Cubs it was a natural. The CM asked & we said yep. We asked another mom in the den to help and off we went. BTW - When it came time for our other leader's 2nd son to enter Cubs she took that den along with another of our mom's who also had a son the same age!

My hubby and I were already involved in Girl Scouts, so when it came time for my son to join Cubs it was a natural. The CM asked & we said yep. We asked another mom in the den to help

Yes, the cost of the popcorn is high, but so is the cost of a box of GS cookies. What people can't seem to understand is that for these council sponsored fundraisers you are not really selling the product, you are selling Scouting. These are more than just fundraisers for the unit, although they do that also. People look for these products each year because they know that when they purchase even the cheapest item they are supporting the entire Scouting program in their area. Sure, units could sell whatever and make their profit, but by council selling the same products each year, which have BSA's (or GSUSA's) name attached to it, you get name recognition among consumers and they will look for these products. When the scouts sell these products, they never say thanks for supporting my Pack/Troop/GS Troop/etc. We always have them say - "Thank you for supporting Scouting in your community". Some people WILL spend $50 for a tin of gourmet variety popcorn. We sell around the holidays and people will often buy a tin as a gift. They don't buy it because they are getting a great deal at a cheap price. They buy it because it kills 2 birds with one stone so to speak. It gives them a holiday gift and supports Scouting at the same time.