Sparkie

Hi DLW73078, First off, i'm glad your looking at all your options. I used to be a Cubmaster for a pack your size for about 4 years. One item i used quite successfully was "the Wall of Shame".. ok, so i only used that term to myself. I took a large display type poster board that folded in half so i could prop it up on a table (like a book). I made a bunch of fleur de leis with each family name on it. One half of the board was titled something like "Helping the Pack Go!" families fleur de leis who were already helping the pack were placed with their function below their name on that half of the board. The other half of the board had fleur de leis with open jobs for people to do (no job is to small!). After my little speech one pack meeting i filled many positions, and more importantly (i think) got parents involved. Parents came forward to take the easiest job available before they were taken. The thing is, most jobs are easy broken down the right way (i.e Blue and Gold clean-up NOT Blue and Gold chmn.) Hang in there, and educate your volunteers gently... sounds like you have some untraining and re-training to do. Remember, you catch more flies with honey

Welcome to the world of Scouting.... LOTS of gray areas!

At summer camp, we inform the scouts our "official" uniform is a troop t-shirt, and we use the (BSA) salute. However, i'd like to note that if we were at a troop meeting and a scout forgot his scout shirt and wore his t-shirt instead, i would expect him to use "hand over heart" since the t-shirt is not the official uniform of the evening.

Congratualations to your son yarrow! (and to you for surviving the process )

Welcome to the campfire Kurt! It's always nice to see new people Sparkie (your neighbor in Mt. Prospect)

Well sort-of Welcome back Bob White !!! Sparkie(This message has been edited by Sparkie)

Our Council changed the name from Pow-Wow to Scoutfest a couple years ago. I was informed it was due to the fact that "Pow-Wow" referred only to cub scouts (?). So, they changed the name. In addition to the break out sessions, they have all the one-day training classes scouting offers, and there is a midway (of course) for purchasing all sorts of stuff. I also heard they started allowing about 1/2 hour down time around lunch so leaders could socalize. Sparkie

First of all i'd like to welcome you to the forums! glad to have you here. I too think your agenda looks good. Being cubmaster for 6 years i've had my fair share of B&G's. Our B&G is held on a Friday night. Our agenda does not includ a review or announcements. My review is more in the form of thanking all the individuals that ran programs; basically, anyone that volunteered. The only announcements made are for those activities happening prior to the next pack meeting. I guess i have a different take on the B&G. I see it as a social occassion to honor scouting, and a great forum for recognizing individuals who give of their time. We have entertainment, and i've had a skit or two if a den has requested to do one (how can you turn them down?). Of course you want everyone to have fun. But you want it to be something more than a regular pack meeting where games and skits are the norm. I try to impress upon the scouts that this is not a pack meeting (although it takes the place of one), they are to be on their best behavior because we are saying good-bye to our Webelos crossing over, and have guests from the Troop(s). Our awards ceremony and crossover are held prior to the entertainment. The first couple years I never seemed to get the colors retired properly due to families leaving early. So now they are retired prior to the entertainment. Our outgoing Webelos II always present the colors (for the last time), and our new sr. group of scouts, the Webelos I, retire the colors for the evening.

To answer question #1, i would have to ask what shirt they are wearing. The yellow womens shirt may be worn inside or out (notice it's sewn straight across the bottom). The mens tan shirts (with a mens shirt cut on the bottom), in my opinion should ALWAYS be tucked in. Now that's not to say that a women cannot wear the tan shirt, in fact, all the women in my pack wore the tan shirt. JMO Sparkie

Welcome mjengels, glad you found us! You'll be able to get all your questions answered here.... and sometimes get more information than you bargained for!

I would recommend he start out as a Merit Badge counselor... and work from there. Not a whole lot of time committment, but enough to stay connected.

I second that!! Alot of great ideas. Back when i was cubmaster, we would go out after Pack meetings to a local hot dog joint that had a game room for the kids, and they also served beer... for the adults. Since i never had time for dinner, we usually always went there after the meetings to eat... ok, and do a little drinking. A second shirt attire was always necessary. But i started calling it Pub Scouts (instead of Cub Scouts), needless to say i laughed when i saw the Beer MB! Sparkie

When i was Cubmaster we gave them the Super Achiever patch. The first time it happened, I asked the committee to approve giving the scout a brand new Boy Scout handbook (I presented it at our B&G). It wasn't going to break our bank, and i thought it was an appropriate gesture on behalf of the pack. The following year we had 2 scouts accomplish this feat!

Hi Encourager, Okpik is the Inuit (Eskimo) name for the Arctic or snowy owl. It's the BSA's cold-weather camping program started at Northern Tier National Adventure Base in Ely, Minn. Here's a link if interested... www.ntier.org/okpik.html. My significant other is on staff at our council.

Welcome! Alot of us started out the same way Don't expect to know everything at once... it's a process. If you're having fun, and they're having fun, your doing great! It's when all that stops you should worry. I'd like to recommend any training you can get (packs usually pay for it). I've done all training except for Okpik and Woodbadge. Enjoy the scouting trail with your son... you won't regret it!!!