SeattlePioneer

<< This is not a fundraiser, it is a small entrepreneurial business that in fact be taken as income of which when donated to a troop for general funding of summer camp should just about offset any income on his taxes. >> I'd bet the boy should be filling out a schedule C form for his business, and probably a regular income tax form. He might owe payroll taxes on much of the money he and other boys earned. Sounds to me like it's too big to ignore the tax implications.

1/4" plywood, 16x 24 inches. A piece cut off the length of the shield is nailed on two pieces of 2x4 to form a handle. The handle is nailed on the shield from the front, then the front is covered with aluminum foil glued to the face of the shield. Den names and numbers decorate the front of the shield, and boys accumulate stickers as they complete various activities and competitions. The boys get a plywood blank, the plywood for the handle and the 2x4 standoffs. They hammer the shield together then cover it with aluminum foil and decorate it as they please. This worked fine when I did it as a Tiger Cub den activity. Shields will be used in our jousting competition and available for use in skits. I'm imagining that these will be fun for boys to make and that they will grow attached to them as they display their "honors" on the shield as they win them. Personally, I'm not big on most of BSA's Cub Scout bling. It's too expensive and burdensome to attach to uniforms. We do a lot with stickers. July 21-24 is the Day Camp.

So---- are there good Twitterers to follow on Scouting? I'm particularly interested in Cub Scouts and recruiting.

My theory is that pack committee meetings and Roundtables should last no more than an hour.

<< "Okay! Okay, I'll call the former pastor to see if he's still interested in doing the mowing, but I can't guarantee he will be interested anymore." >> Heh, heh! Great line!

As a pack Treasurer, I'm keenly aware of how easily money can be siphoned away by a dishonest Treasurer. My #1 way to protect the pack is to insure that the Pack Committee Chair sees the checking account statement each month, which includes images of all checks that have been cashed. I also provide a monthly statement of expenses and revenues at the Pack Committee meeting. I review the expenses submitted by pack leaders and pay them. Frankly, I've never had occasion to reject a expense claim, but at our last Pack Committee Meeting our Cubmaster (who ran the popcorn sale too) stated that he's driven 150 miles one weekend to do the popcorn sale business. I sent him a check for $90 for car expenses @ $.60 mile. Frankly, it's tough to get volunteers to claim the expenses they are due in many cases. I ENCOURAGE volunteers to submit their expenses. Reimbursing them is the least we can do for their generous commitment of time. I submit my expenses to the Pack Committee Chair who can write a check for any amount of expenses that he considers necessary and reasonable. The biggest gap in accountability is in making deposits --- especially cash. I aim to write up every payment I receive in our receipt book, whether its cash, check, Scout Account of (Square)credit card payment. If it gets written down, I can reconcile the payment later and account for it properly. But people want to hand me money and payments during den meetings and such when I can't write receipts. I have to refuse payments, which I don't like doing either.

I've never had the time or inclination to write a pack handbook. My method starts with forming a "Bobcat Den": of new boys and parents recruited during fall and spring recruiting drives. We have a fun activity like a Raingutter Regatta as a recruiting night, along with pack members. The following week we have a first den meeting of the Bobcat Den of newly recruited boys and parents. We have an activity like making a hot dog roasting stick using bolt cutters, loppers and a drill, which illustrates to parents why their participation is needed and rewarding, since their boys NEED them to do the project. AQs part of the first den meeting, we start going over Bobcat requirements and parents and Scouts received a "Bobcat Handbook" that describes the Bobcat requirements and encourages parents to complete requirements with their boys. The following weekend, we have a fun hike and hot dog roast. It's not a challenging death march, it's a fun walk during which boys discover how to use a map and lead themselves along the route of the hike. We go over additional Bobcat requirements during the hike and hot dog roast. By the time these activities who have been paying attention should have a basic working knowledge of how Cub Scouts work. Unfortunately, few parents seem much inclined to read stuff (not that they can't, they usually just don't). So I prefer showing people how Cub Scouts works by putting boys and parents into good Cub Scout activities so they can SEE and FEEL how Cub Scouts is supposed to work. That's the best method I've figured out.... so far.

I was an AS in a Troop that had a Scout who had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. After observing his behavior for a while, I concluded "Wow, he's just like me!" I decided that I was an undiagnosed Asperger's guy --- which helped explain a good part of my life. One of my observations is that the behaviors associated with Asperger's are sort of impulses that people can resist if they wish to do so. Part of may life has been learning to modify the way those impulses are acted out, and to get in the habit of displaying more common kinds of behavior. As I read about Asperger's treatment, that seems to be a common part of such therapies. So I have worked out some of those behaviors. Others still are an important part of my personality, because they work for me as far as I'm concerned.

<< yeah, problem one is that we really don't have a committee. Acouple folks are registered, but they have left the building. The CC is basically past the place I am with his son long out of the pack and he's ready to go. I've already marched that road a few times, trying to identify candidate number 1, and so on.... for ASM, and some others.... Got me nowhere except out of some time and energy.>> Well, it's not necessarily easy. I've been developing a pack that was down to one boy nine years ago. We continue to struggle but have about fifteen or so boys that are active any any time. We have never had a Pack Committee Meeting that has been a failure. The one we had last night had about 7-8 adults present and participating in planning our pack overnight and summer activities, including two newly recruited families. Our registered leaders are active leaders, not place holders. I usually wind up being the one to ask people to serve as leaders. As Chartered Organization Rep that's not NECESSARILY my place, but I do it because others are reluctant to do so. When some declines to serve in a position I suggest, I listen to their objections and often suggest another position more in line with what they seem comfortable with ---usually they'll accept position number 2, and often people accept position #1. I try to observe NEW PARENTS carefully, and to ask them to do things early, before they get in the habit of doing nothing. Also, when you recruit a leader who is new to the program, they are a lot more likely to stick with the program long term, which reduces turnover and means you have a leader for several years. I don't claim to be especially skilled at doing this, and I don't especially like doing it either. But it is the most effective way to recruit new leaders that I know of. Open ended requests for people to volunteer are a formula for failure, in my experience. Of course, that's my pack. Packs vary a LOT. But the real key is inviting NEWLY RECRUITED FAMILIES to help with an activity, and see what they do. If they do a good job, I'll go back to them again and start devekloping nthem as Cub Scout leaders. As an example, I had an excellent Den Leader who agreed to be Cubmaster. But they did a poor job as Cubmaster. When I asked him about that, he was just limited out in terms of the time he could spend on Cub Scouts. That was perfectly understandable and fine with me ---- I went on to choice #2 for Cubmaster, who has done an excellent job for 2+ years now. Choice #1 has just bridged his Webelos boys into Scouting, and has done an excellent job as Den Leader and Webelos Den Leader. That illustrates that you need to keep communicating with new leaders, to help them understand the job and to see if they are willing and capable of doing the job. If they aren't find someone who is and find something else for that person to do.

I was at the dollar store yesterday. They had water projecting devices available for--- you guessed it--- a dollar that looked like bicycle pumps. Presumably BSA would approve of that, since they don't look like "guns."

I wait till about three weeks into the school year and head out to all the schools. This is the only time we do that.>> Please describe your fall recruiting plan in more detail.

<<As for male only organizations and feminization, I have no desire to go back to the bad old days where things like the Tailhook scandal would not be a scandal (one thing a lot of people don't understand about Tailhook is the changes in society that caused the scandal was not a change in the attitudes and behaviors of the Naval officers, but that their usual behavior toward women had become no longer acceptable).>> I was never impressed with the Tailhook incident. Frankly the women officer/"warriers" her were completely unable to defend themselves from the attentions of their brother officer were an embarrassment ---to the women. Now we have the equivalent being reported about on college campuses --- women visiting fraternities alone, getting drunk and being unable to defend their persons because they have engaged in several varieties of risky behavior. Usually it's men doing stupid stuff and getting beat up or killed because of their stupidity. Now we have women who think they should be able to do reckless and stupid stuff and that someone else has the responsibility to protect them from the consequences of their stupid behavior. It really doesn't matter whether you are a man or woman. If you put yourself in a risky situation, you may get hurt. The prudent person avoids putting themselves in risky situations unless they are prepared to deal with the risks involved.

<<Now that the Male/Female pattering of society is almost completely broken down, one begins to wonder with multiple female parenting (double Den Mothers) and effeminate males that the imprinting will only progress more along the lines it has for the past 50 years, removing maleness even further.>> Ummm. I only lasted a few weeks in Cub Scouts circa 1958. At that time, there were Den MOTHERS --- no dads allowed. The Den Mother was no doubt a nice person, but activities consisted of artsy craft work, not of interest to me. By contrast, I've revived a pack the past eight years and ALL the Den leaders have been men --- most doing male oriented kinds of activities. My impression is that men are being excluded within their own families, and are interested in finding opportunities to be a real father to their boys.

For years our climactic Cub Scout Day Camp activity has had the local fire department drop packaged eggs off the top of their tallest ladder truck to see which eggs survive. When that's done they unlimber a fire hose and shoot water into the air on any boys who care to get within range of the falling water. I wonder what the BSA safety guys would say about that?

The previous guides had a set for each den level for about $10. Now you get to buy a $10 set for EACH den level.

I'm not a fan of the Space Derby. Too complicated --- too difficult to make it work well, and more expensive than I would like. Favorites are--- 1 Stomp bottle rocket launch 2. Simplified Raingutter Regatta with boats cut out of scrap wood. 3. Cub Racer Racing ----our are set up to be pushed rather than run down hill. 4. Paper airplane making/racing Collect stickers to put on your racer each time you win!

Yep, I've seen it done at den and troop meetings. A vacuum cleaner works OK. Probably a good activity for a Webelos den or Scout Patrol to experiment with a develop. Not really all that difficult to make it work after a fashion.

Well, the Pinewood Derby is a great pack competition. So is the Raingutter Regatta. But I'm always on the lookout for similar kinds of competitions that combine making something with a competition boys engage in. These are great activities in themselves, and are especially useful in using as part of a recruiting event. So --- what other such activities have you seen or would you suggest? I'm trying to imagine something wire guided like the airplane event but gravity powered. Something boys would make then attach to a wire and then boys would compete to get the wire guided object to fall into a bucket or pass a finish line or something. Extra points for something relatively simple and inexpensive!

At presen the council has made up flyers and stickers for this public event. The stickers have the date, time and place of the boat race, which will be on the Monday following the weekend event. Boy who make a boat will be given a sticker to wear and parents will be given a flyer and both invited to come to the races. I may wind up putting contact/joining information on a sticker on the bottom of the boat, so that it will be available should boys or parents have a desire to join the pack at a later date.

So what about "Historically black colleges" that want to STAY dominated by AfricaN aMERICANS Affirmative Action plans that guarantee minorities proportional representation in employment, government contracting and college admissions whether the people being advantaged are equal or not? Maternity leaves and family leave that gives women a right to take time off from work not needed for medical reasons? My liberal friends do not oppose race, sex and other discrimination --- not if they control the agenda of who receives the benefit.

<<Yep. My Troop is searching for a new SM. There's a lot of fear of those jobs. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself">> That's where the importance of personnel planning becomes critical. You need to be recruiting Assistant Scoutmasters who will become familiar with the program and willing and able to step up at a suitable time. Trying to recruit a Scoutmaster altogether new to the program would understandably be a daunting challenge, I would suppose.

I think this is terrific for units that are really on the ball! But most are not, and leaning on council camps is what's available. My hat is off to those who can do it! However, this probably cramps the style of unit leaders used to complaining about Camp Directors and Camp program after the fact!

Thanks for a lot of excellent posts on how things ought to be! I especially liked the idea of reviewing paperwork and medical forms and such before camp begins. <<Last year, the new CD decided to do away with the parents orientation the day before, and instead do all the paperwork the first day. we spent almost 2 hours that first morning doing campwide games as he got everything organized.>> Unfortunately, this describes the method our camp has used, minus the organized games to keep boys busy. (It's those games that I was imagining adding as gathering activities). We had a good planning meeting yesterday, and among the things now being planned is a meeting at camp the Saturday before camp begins to deal with paperwork and other organizational issues. So we are taking steps toward the good practices being recommended in this thread. However, we still don't have a Camp Director. We have one experienced day camp leader who was at our meeting who agreed to function an Assistant Camp Director and will be reviewing day camp applications and paperwork. Unfortunately, almost no one has registered so far. Another Den Leader from my pack and I are sharing the Program Director job. We have put together an excellent list of activities, and are working capably to have them ready as needed when camp begins. But we have explicitly said we are NOT going to be drawn into other parts of camp leadership, We need to keep district leaders focused on getting needed leadership recruited, rather than leaning on us to do more. So far, that's working. District leaders are working hard to find the leaders needed to make the camp work.

When we get done discussing the vagaries of how payments go astray, perhaps we can then discuss how BSA youth and adult applications go astray....

<<Giant unsupervised water gun skirmish?>> Heh, heh! That's the spirit, but probably not quite the activity for 8 AM on the first day of camp!