SpongeBob

I too, have been thinking about my beading ceremony. I wrote my ticket so that I should have it done by May, but I don't know where or when I will get beaded. I thought about my May pack meeting, but I don't think that anyone in the pack would even really care, except for the special guests that I invite, and it would make the Gilwell song very silent in some verses. I though about Roundtable, but it tends to thin out as the weather gets warmer. Our Disrict likes to do it at our annual dinner in April, but that's not possible for me, since the last item on my ticket is scheduled for the following week. Our Gilwell reunion was last Saturday. I would have loved to have it there. It felt so special to have my patrol together while we watched one of our bears get beaded. Most of all, the Gilwell song was awesome to hear again! Plus, we had a good laugh at the slide show pictures! So while I may complete my ticket in May, I may not get beaded until Sept. or Oct. I'm a bit disappointed, but I'm not really upset. I did it for the youth, not the beads. The beads will just have to wait.

I don't see why the online recharter wouldn't let you have an older boy. We have one boy's birth year mistakely listed as 1967. Yes, accoridng to it he turned 39 last Novemeber. He's a Webelos I, so it has probably been wrong since he was a Tiger. Last year we tried to fix the errors, but we still have boys listed as CS when they are Webelos and vice versa. The grades are even more mixed up. One of our boys is listed as being in the 6th grade. We're still trying to get our errors fixed. I am shocked about how hard it is to get things changed on our roster. From my experience above, I think that as long as you keep rechartering with this boy, he'll stay on the roster.

With my Tigers, I didn't "tell" them that they could do them more than once until two or three months until end of the school year. Then I told them that they could do them again if they wanted, since there were 100 spots to fill in the back of the book. No one even asked about doing them a 3rd time.

That reminds me of a uniform incident I had. Four of the boys in my den, including my son, all are on the same wrestling team. One day at practice, I was wearing my uniform becasue I had a meeting afterwards. As I stood there, I was talking about the meeting afterwards, and I made the comment, "That's why I'm wearing my uniform." One parent looked at me and said, "I didn't even notice you were wearing a uniform. We're too used to seeing you in it."

"We moved three years ago and he's not getting Boy's Life." Seems to me that if a boy moves his parents should tell the pack. Maybe it's just easier to wiat three years.....

I've had EXPERIENCED parent leaders say these things: "What's roundtable?" "I'm supposed to take training?" We just went through our Quality Unit Centennial Committment form. 33% of our direct contact leaders are trained.

Last year I was TDL. Our Cubmaster did nothing but spend money and then demand that he be reimbursed without seeking permission of the committee beforehand. Then he moved to working afternoons, and he couldn't comprehend that he could not go to pack or committee meetings because he would be working. We had to force him down to ACM. He has not shown up _ever_ since he became ACM. So we're rechartering without him. He also failed to take the training for 3 years, and becuase of that, he believed he ran the pack, not the committee. However, I was asked to be CM. I took it becuase we have no one else to to it. I am still activly looking for a reliable person to take it. I am also on the District Committee, and I lead the Wolf den (my son is in it), although I am only registered as the CM. My DE knows I do all three. And I work full-time. And I'm working my Woodbadge ticket. The biggest problem I have is that the CM job is supposed to be an emcee for the pack meeting. If the CC doesn't do their job - then everyone looks to the cubmaster. Which leads me to another point. Prior to the current CC taking over the former CM and CC were married to each other. So a lot of work went on behind the backs of the committee that no one realized. So my CC doesn't know all the stuff that need to be done, and I am the only one who goes to roundtable. The only advice I have is your son is your first priorty. You will have to register as the CM becuase the pack has to have one of those. You need the training for it too. If you want to do both jobs make sure that the committee understands their own jobs and what your job entails. You do not run or organize anything - you assist and emcee. I will be honest with you in that I do not want to be CM anymore. I don't want to be CC either. I liked being a DL. However if your committee and parents will step up and share the work to let you be an emcee then go for it. But your son is still your first priority. Woodbadge was one the the best experience that I ever had. Take it even if you remain a DL.

Session 2 ended yesterday...and I am sad it ended, but glad to be back home with flushing toilets. I had the time of my life. My renegade bear patrol performed the closing flag ceremony, and we did it with the seriousness and uttmost respect. Our Navy veteran bear helped us pull it all together. We surprised a lot of people. As for the rest of the course, we were named renegades for a reason, which I will not divulge here for people that haven't been to Wood Bagde. But it was an amazing experience learning how to be a leader and more importantly how NOT to be a leader. Off to complete my ticket now....

I just returned from Weekend 1 of Wood Badge. I never was a girl scout, and I never was a camper. I have been in cub scouts for 11 months now. I served last year as a Tiger Den Leader. My DE saw what I was doing and asked me to be the on the membership committee for the District. I am going to be cubmaster in my pack as soon as the paperwork goes through. I guess I'm on the fast track. But my point is that Woodbadge did review a bunch of corporate hoopla, but the difference was that for three days I had to put it into practice, and not just for a few activities strung together loosely. I feel that I can only expect from my boys what I can expect of myself. I can't ask them to do something that I won't do. Most of the WB staff is from my district, and most of them are active in rountable, particulary on the CS side. So we have a lot of silliness and seriousness, but I have laughed more than I ever though possible in one weekend. Someone once told me that "Training is like money; you can never have enough." From someone that knows nothing about backcountry camping, I am ready and willing to do what it takes to learn it in the next session. For me, my wood badge beads will be more of a symbol of the personal development that I have and will make. I miss my patrol already. The SPL has visited us for dinner and remarked that us Bears are setting an example for the other patrols and they are following what we do. There's nothing better than making the staff break out in a burst of laughter. (And they remark how unBEARable we are.) I think that the staff has put an enourmous effort into putting the patrols together. They have mixed up Venturers, CS, BS, and committee leaders, ex-service men/women, newbies, dinosaurs (their term, not mine), and men/women. I can say that I have learned something valuable from each and every member of my patrol and our patrol guide. While the WB'ers that I know from roundtable wouldn't divulge every detail, I can see their pride when they sing their part of the Gilwell song.

I went to roundtable the other night and this is what we were told. All ranks will have "new" books. Wolf-Bear-Webelos Only change it that it will be spiral-bound and cost TWICE as much. My scout shop has them already. There are NO changes in content. Tiger It will be available NEXT month for the Scout Shops to order. It will be spiral-bound and cost twice as much. They are reprinting it to include changes to the program. Since my roundtable staff haven't seen the book, they don't know how much has been changed. If anyone gets a copy of the 2006 printing of the the Tiger book, please let us know what has changed!

I talked with the DE. He did some asking around. If we really want to, we can give our $ to COR to help them out. But I don't see how ~$2k could help, but then we'd be broke. If they go into bankruptcy, we can keep our property (flags, PC derby track) and our bank account. Which is good. He also said we'd get to keep our unit number. But I'm not so sure, and it doesn't really matter that much to me. One thing that I have learned from going through a bankruptcy with a employer is that advice can be quite wrong. So I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched. If things do not go right, we will have to find a new COR. MarkS- If the people in the committee chair and cubmaster positions actually did those things, my job would be so much earlier. I put a lot of work into planning my den meetings, but the cubmaster makes things up as he goes. The committe chair can't even recharter on time. There's way too much not being currently done to contine in this tread.

I know. The current cubmaster wanted me to take over, but I don't know what he's planning on doing, since he's still debating it. I told him I'd do it. I don't know how the others would feel about me wanting them to follow the rules. I do not like it when they do not follow the guide to safe scouting. I make sure that I recognize the boys at each den meeting, and I hold some advancement over to pack meeting, if possible. I end up working twice as hard as I should but it's worth it to see the boys beaming with pride. Some of my Tiger's parents have asked me to stay with the boys next year. I asked my son how he would feel if I became cubmaster. At first, he didn't want me to leave, but I told him that I can still go to the den meetings with him, and I can plan a monthly outing as well. So he's ok with that. Some of the other parents have also asked me to be the cubmaster. The possibility of being cubmaster next year is why I want to find out what I should be doing in case our COR goes broke. If our COR goes broke, and I'm not the cubmaster, I will try to get into another pack. I know a pack in our area that is very active, and I like the cubmaster.

I have my Tigers doing skits. They have 1-2 line parts. I find my skits on-line, and I usually modify them a bit, or combine parts of two skits. I give them their lines on an index card to take home to practice. We also practice it in the den meeting. Then when they have to perform it, I have a backup set of cards. I don't force them to memorize their lines. I have a few struggling readers, and I don't think mom and dad are very interested in helping them. Next year, it will become more difficult with lines that have to be memorized. I will also involve them more in the planning process. I always have an "extra" part on hand for the Tiger that hasn't been to a den meeting since December. I do skits because stage fright is hard to overcome as an adult (been there). If I get the boys used to public speaking now, I can hopefully avoid it.

My pack doesn't have any policy regaring beltloops (or recordkeeping), but we do things as each den leader pleases, since we lack an advancement chair. I agree it is a bit silly to award a second belt loop, but I do think that the second time around should be more challenging. What I will do when we get to Webelos (den leaders move up with their son) is that I will give them the little card for it again, and they can purchase the loop themselves if they want a second. Lisabob- I have never seen the "rocker" patches. Are they an official BSA item? Do you have a link?

I know I should go to the Committee Chair, but to tell you the truth, she knows, and doesn't think it's a big concern. Like I said my pack is very casual, and I have to take on extra responsibility to ensure a good program for my Tigers. We have boys whose uniform shirt only has the American flag on it, and nothing else. One of them is the Cubmaster's son. It makes me cringe when I see him. We are finally, this month, having a "real" pack meeting. Other meeting centered around Holidays, Parades, B&G, and pinewood. So I'm trying to stay right on the line of doing things by the book, and not making the other leaders look so bad that I'd be asked to leave. I have already argued with "them" about filing tour permits, fundraising permits, and advancement reports. Our pack does not file these, except for me, for my Tigers. I have given them multiple copies of memos, and they don't care. There is a lot more that bothers me but it'd be WAY off topic. That's why I talk to the DE when I have problems. He shows me where to go when I need help since the leadership I depend on in my pack in non-existant.

Thanks for the info. I have contacted our DE. He is good at either getting things done or pointing me in the right direction. We don't meet at the American Legion. We meet at an elementary school. All of our packs belongings (pine car track and flags) are at the cubmaster's house. We don't have any "place" to keep our stuff. I don't know if the CO knows what exactly what we have, and I'm not so sure our Cubmaster does either. The three things that I'm worried about is the money, the flags and the track. I did not have a change to talk to someone over the weekend at training, but I do have a roundtable this week. Thanks for your help!

We are chartered by the American Legion, and the VFW has been facing similar financial problems. But that is a good point about our pack finances being used to pay off the COR debts. I went through an unsuccessful bankruptcy with my former employer. I'm going to some training this weekend, and I'll see what I can find out there. The people at the training would be able to help me some more before I go to the chairman. I'm not sure if she'll do anything about it though. Really long story, but I'll just leave it at out pack being very casual, well, except for me that is. We're finally having our first "real" pack meeting this month.

I found out at out last committee meeting, that our chartered organization got into to tax trouble, is broke, and may close. They have not told us this themselves, but our Wolf leader works for the city, and he found it out. I'm not really sure what is going to happen, but has anyone experienced this before? Would it be our repsonsibility as the pack to find a new one? I'd just like to know a head of time how similar situations have been handles in the past, as I do not want this to affect the boys, and I would like the change to be as seamless as possible from their perspective.

When I was trained, I was told that if it was in the book, then they can do it. It is in the book. Each of the 8 requirements are are there completely, and "How to protect you children from child abuse" section is there, encompassing multiple pages. In addition, Aleka has a space to sign off and the Den Leader signs off on it. Then the boy can color the paw print in. Why would I sign off for practice? I don't think that BSA would put these there just to take about an extra 15 pages or so. The introduction to the Bobcat section doesn't say that they have to wait until they are in the Wolf den. Some of the people I have talked to about this have not seen the 2005 book, and that is where the disaggreement is coming in. I'm wondering if scout shops are trying to sell off the old books before they stock the new books. I also think that the disaggreemnt is happening becuase the Tigers are transitioning from being a separate entity from the pack (in the early days) to it being a full rank. With all transitions, there is a lot of questions and confusion on what is happening. There are many pack websites that state that they can, and others that they can't. Those sites that allow Tigers to get Bobcat as a Tiger all state that Tiger has to be earned first. I have turned in the paperwork for my son's Bobcat to council. (We don't have an Advancment chair, and the DE told me that I can do it.) I'm hoping if I am misinterpreting the book that they'll correct me. The Fast Start training says this: "Tiger Cubs first earn the Tiger Cub badge, then later, the Bobcat badge." http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/faststart/every/06.html "Later" when is the question.

My son, currently a Tiger has used the 2005 Tiger book since last fall. The cover does have the boys in blue uniforms. I have been asking around about these things, and my DE is currently handling it. I reminded him that it is now Bobcat before Tiger, but he didn't know about the Tiger Cub motto discontinuation. (Especially since they have a bunch of event patches for the incoming Tigers that say "Search, Discover, Share".) I asked the guy in the Scout Shop at my council if BSA was going to reprint the books, and he said, "Probably not." What makes me wonder is if the Meeting Program form will change, since three of the parts of the meeting are Search, Discover, and Share. I also thought that the whole purpose of Go-See-It was to support the motto. I'm not sure how I feel about the Bobcat before Tiger. My son just finished Bobcat requirements on Sunday. We've been working on it since Sept. It's one thing to be able to say it, but the hard part is explaining it. Remember first grade boys are still emerging readers, and the boys may have to rely on their adult partner reading it to them over and over..... And if this change isn't enough, I still have to convince my pack that my son can earn Bobcat as a Tiger. After all, it is in the Tiger book.