ScoutNut

At this week's Troop meeting give a bit of a SM minute on proper, and improper, behavior. If the meeting is past, or you are having no meeting before this weekend's trip, then do the SM minute onsite after camp has been set up.

For AAD and PPXII, the Scouts MUST use a counselor trained by the diocese. Training is usually available once a year, and is good for three years. These awards are worked on as a group. There are one or two area wide Catholic Religious Emblem BORs to approve the workbooks. The medals for the older youth (6th grade and up), and adult awards, are awarded by the diocese (not the local parish) at a special, group, area ceremony. Remember, these are awards from the religious institution, NOT BSA awards. Out Troop is chartered by our local Catholic parish. We have one of our Troop's volunteers take the training to serve as our own counselor. This makes it easier for the boys to contact them as the counselor is at every Troop meeting with info on emblem meetings. All Religious emblem participants are recognized at our parish Cub/Boy Scout Sunday service in February. The Cubs receive their medals at that time, the others are introduced and recognized, but receive their medals at the diocese's ceremony. BSA religious emblem knots/devices, are awarded at the Troop Court of Honor (COH) following Scout Sunday.

Typically, we draft a preliminary annual calendar at our June Pack Leaders Meeting, and finalize it at our August meeting when all of the various calendars (including council's) are out. Our school holds a registration day in early August, and the Pack has an info table at that. We collect contact info from interested families and hand out invites to our Pack Picnic/Rocket Shoot the Saturday before school starts, in mid/late August. New families get to know the Pack families, and leaders, in a fun, informal, setting. We hold a registration evening the first, or second, Friday after school starts. The start date for regular den meetings is generally up to the individual den leader. Most start the week after Labor Day. Because of the timing of the Council Popcorn sale, sales info is handed out at September den meetings, along with initial booth sale sign-ups (Popcorn Kernel visits each meeting). September Pack Meeting is at the end of the month, and is a welcome (back) to Scouting event. Scouts receive recognition for anything done over the Summer, and since starting back up in September (including any Bobcats). Tigers receive their Totem(and a few beads). New Scouts receive their necker/slide/patch vest, and are welcomed to the Pack. Popcorn info is presented along with additional booth sale sign-ups. That's generally it for August/September. We will sometimes have a September Pack-wide activity, depending on what is available in the area, and how much lead time we have. Most of the fine tuning will be done at the August, and September, Pack Leaders Meetings. Right now we are concentrating more on finalizing Summer event plans. Just a note, while most Pack meetings are somewhat chaotic simply because of the number of families and siblings attending, there is certainly no reason to "expect" the first meetings of the school year, or any others, to be poorly planned, and organized.

I understand that folks who wanted the zip offs shortened most often had a seam put in above the zippers. Unfortunately, this sometimes put the zipper at an uncomfortable spot for kneeling.

>>"I don't have time to spearhead it, so mostly I'm stuck just making suggestions. Hopefully we can also find a great champion for it."

>>"Why is there an Alumni Association, the NESA, Council Eagle Scout Associations?"

Probably easier to ask what positions I have NOT held! Unit Level - Tiger Adult Partner Wolf/Bear/Webelos Den Leader Committee Member (various including Advancement, BALOO, Popcorn Kernel, Religious Emblem Coordinator, and many more misc) Pack Trainer Tiger Den Leader (permanent) District level - Cub Scout Fun Day Staff Cub Scout Day Camp Staff Cub Scout Day Camp Program Director Cub Scout Summer Camp Staff Cub Scout Training Staff BALOO Course Director District Popcorn Chair (not just for Packs) UC (not for unit I was registered with)

>>"my district has found quite a number of people who were dropped as registered district leaders because their Youth Protection training expired after two years. They weren't notified by e-mail to renew it, they were just DROPPED."

Mandatory training is a separate issue from registration. Even for Youth Protection training, National has backed off requiring a completion certificate to be attached to a new application in order for it to be processed. I am not really "surprised" that a Troop's volunteer records are poorly maintained. There are lazy, inefficient, people all over. However, it is a bit surprising when none of a unit's top leaders (COR/CC/SM) can be bothered to read/check their charter, not just one year, but multiple years in a row. How did they know how much to pay in registration fees? Did they just estimate? Did they simply pay whatever they were told by council? Were youth registrations similarly (mis)handled? I am not surprised, but always saddened, when the boy's programs are affected by unit leaders who don't care enough to do the jobs they have volunteered to do, and by adults who can not play nice.

>>"mail them a (registered??) letter with amount/due. If you get no response, CC it to the council for further directions/collections."

Although Disappointed's posts are disjointed, and confusing, what I get out of them is that - A Young Man (former youth in the Troop), with legal issues, filled out a BSA Adult application for a leadership position in the Troop. He listed his legal problems on the application, and handed it in to the Troop. Young Man, and a misc Troop Mom, were both added to the Troop charter at re-charter as adult leaders. Troop Mom was a re-charter, Young Man was a brand new leader on the charter. Some time period later (days/weeks/months ?) the Institutional Head of the CO contacts Young Man, and Disappointed, and tells them that Disappointed is fired from the Troop leadership, and Young Man's application for adult leader in the Troop has been denied/rejected. The IH of the CO also told Young Man's OA Advisor, the CC, and various folks at the council offices that his application was denied/rejected. It also turns out that Troop Mom, who was re-chartered (for her 3rd year with the Troop), has never been registered with BSA at any time, in any capacity. This entire firing/rejecting thing was apparently, somehow or another, caused by one mom who was pissed off at Disappointed because of some advancement issue between her son and Disappointed. Some questions that crop up because of the muddled aspect of Disappointed's posts - How is Disappointed related to the Young Man? What does Young Man's OA Advisor have to do with anything? Why did the CC include him when he informed Young Man the IH's decision? What is Troop Mom's relationship to Young Man? What happened to Troop Mom when it was discovered she has never been registered with BSA? Did Troop Mom ever fill out an application to be an adult leader in the Troop? Why did no one ever notice, in two years, that Troop Mom's name was not on the Troop's charter? Did Troop Mom ever turn in an adult application to your local council's Advancement Committee to be a Merit Badge Counselor? Does the Troop Scoutmaster never check the council's list of Merit Badge Counselors to make sure the Counselors he is using/recommending are in fact registered Merit Badge Counselors? Were adult applications (for anyone) for Troop leaders ever actually turned into your local council by the CC, or COR? Or did all of these applications get only as far as the IH of the CO, who then either rejected the applications, or simply forgot about them and never turned them into council? Bottom line is that while this entire mess is as clear as mud, it seems there is plenty of blame to go around. The folks who got their adult applications rejected need to contact their council to see EXACTLY what is going on with their BSA registration.

>>"Any suggestion on whether you would draw her into this, and if so, how? "

It is a Tiger DEN, not Pack. A Pack is a group of Cub Scout dens (Tiger/Wolf/Bear/Webelos). The numbers in a Tiger den can vary widely from year to year. One year I had 3 Tigers, the next I had 12, the year after 7. It depends on a lot of factors. With Tigers, one of the biggest factors is that an adult is REQUIRED to attend everything with the Tiger. Packs that have small Tiger dens will often get more registrations for the 2nd grade Wolf year, when adults are not required to attend with their sons.

Thanks Pack, but I prefer to rest a spell by the 'ole watering hole, sipping some something tasty, and catching my dinner!

The "sweetie/honey" names are not really terms of endearment, they are more of a cultural thing. Some cultures, areas, families, tend to use those terms instead of the more formal "ma'am", or "sir". Personally I find them extremely irritating, especially when used by a person I do not know, or one significantly younger than me. The last time someone I did not know called me "honey" I replied with "well thanks sweetie pie, but honey is not my name". Gave them a bit of a pause.

DS - the issues you describe in your opening post are not gender specific. They are program specific, and illustrate a Boy Scout Troop that did not fully/completely/clearly explain the differences between Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting to a new parent, and a new Scout. I did wonder about the program, and leaders, in your son's Troop when, in a post of yours on another discussion, you told how you regularly shared your son's tent, and how, on one particular trip, you shared not only your tent, but your sleeping bag with your son and another Scout who was down to only his wet unders. That sort of thing has nothing to do with "female-male wired" behaviors, and everything to do with untrained adults.

I would tell them to read their son's Webelos Handbook. Most of the information they need can be found there. I find the parent sections at the beginning of the handbooks are rather good. I would also give them an "area of interest" parent survey to find Activity Badge Counselors. Anything else is just den specific stuff. Things like when/where/how often you will meet. What you expect from the Webelos and their parents. What activities you are planning. What gear they might need, and how much to spend on it. Webelos den dues. Etc.

Just wondering - if the Scout did not "secure the ingredients" (and I note it states secure - not purchase), than who did? I am assuming, since the other parts were completed there was actual food there that he cooked. How did it get there?

jblake47 - my comments were not directed to you which is why you did not find the quote I copied in your posts. My comments were directed toward dwalto02 who talks about the "art" of becoming a "real man" and a "real woman". IMO that is just scary. And dwalto02, when I asked people around me who I respect what they think, I learned they think you are scary too.

>>"But if I were to plop myself as a man down at 10pm around a campfire of young girl scouts talking about what they want... I would ruin the dynamic and the moment. This is how they learn to be young ladies, from each other, from their female leaders."

>>"How can I understand the fine art of becoming a young lady if I've never done it? How can I teach that? Likewise, how can a women be the best choice for teaching young men the fine art of becoming a man?"

Not a new Scoutmaster, you need to find a new Troop for your Webelos that has a better Scouting program. You are NOT locked into joining only that one Troop.

Welcome to the forums, and welcome back to Scouting. First of all, your soon to be 7 yo will be joining a Tiger den in a Cub Scout Pack, not a Boy Scout Troop. I would visit a number of Packs in your area looking at how stable their organization is, what they do with their Cubs, if the Cubs seem to be having fun, if they are active over the summer months, and how well the adults interact. Ask to have a copy of the current year's calendar. Is there a particular Pack that the boys in your son's school would most likely join? You son might enjoy being with the boys from his class. I would start there. To find out about the Tiger Cub Scout program, I suggest visiting your local Boy Scout Council Shop, and purchasing a Tiger Handbook. The parent pages in the front do a very good job of explaining the program. Since you are considering taking on a leadership role in the Pack, while at the Scout Shop, I would also pick up a copy of the "Cub Scout Leader Book". If you are offered the position of Tiger den leader in which ever Pack you, and your son, decide to join, I would not be in a big hurry to pick an assistant den leader. If you run the Tiger program the way it is intended, and utilize Shared Leadership, every Tiger Team pair (Tiger Cub Scout and his Adult Partner) is your assistant. Better to work with the parents in the den over the Tiger year, get to know them, and then, at the end of the school year pick someone who you know you can work with, and who works well with the boys. For more information on Cub Scouts visit the BSA National website - This is the parent area and has good info for a new Cub parent - http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/CubScouts/Parents.aspx This area pulls together a lot of relevant info - http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/CubScouts/Leaders.aspx Just one caution - Your son is just starting his journey, please try to remember it is HIS journey, not yours. Do not focus so hard on you getting to a Boy Scout Troop and having a better experience than you did as a youth. Focus instead on making sure your son has a great Cub Scout experience right now.

We have a couple of the Alps Taurus 4-man as our family tents. Gotta say we love them. They have been thru some nasty weather and held up fine.

As a Troop parent it is not your job to discipline these Scouts. Bring the matter to the Scoutmaster's attention and let the Troop leadership handle it. I would also keep an eye out for any reoccurring behavior of this sort from anyone on future campouts.