The Blancmange

I've dealt with this a couple of times. I have them work with the W1's to complete the basic Webelos badge requirements. Our pack is small and the 2 grades work together outside of these basic requirements, so that makes it a little easier. Since 6 months pass between early September and our B&G, usually in March, I explain to them that they technically could earn AOL if they want to do the extra work it would take, but I do not push this. So far, no one has taken me up on it. I have not yet had one who was not yet 11 by crossover time, but I suspect such a scout would just stay with the W1's until his birthday.

Perhaps I am over-analyzing this, but I think my family has reached some sort of turning point as far as our involvement in scouting. In years past, we would keep our family appointments on a free calendar that was handed out at church, courtesy of a local funeral home (and of course, bearing their advertisement). To this would be added the mix of school events, family occasions, and scouting events. This year is different - we are now using a nice booklet style calendar produced by our Council that is pre-populated with all council and district scouting events, and to which I added our troop and pack events. Is it bad that it turned out to be less work to add the other, non-scouting events to this calendar than vice-versa?

I was approaced by our Unit Commissioner, who informed me that this would be okay IF the Jac-Shirt did not also have the BSA insignia on the front shirt pocket. Did you ask to see his Uniform Police Badge? Of all the things a UC can and should be doing for a unit, I don't think this is one of them.

I agree with Scoutnut. I was surprised to see the substance of a private message that I sent to the OP reproduced on the forum, and even more surprised to see the exact text, including personal contact information of the Scouter who was kind enough to respond privately to him as well. While this forum may not have any explicit rules dealing with this kind of information, this posting of private communications without permission from the sender is a breach of common internet forum courtesy. I request that that a moderator edit those posts to remove the information.

Again, not likely, but plausible. You've been watching too much Mythbusters.

Where do you keep the lower leg if you take it off? I think what E92 is talking about is putting a vertical zipper, about 8" long, along the outseam of the pant legs which allows you to open up the bottom a little so they slip over your boots. At least that was the context in which I intended my reply.

Our district is resurrecting the Klondike Derby after a decade or so hiatus, and I am helping to plan it. We have our slate of events, but I am looking for ideas for an interesting and fun for opening and closing, beyond a simple flag ceremony. Possibly something to tie it in to the historical aspects of the event. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I'll try to get this back on track and expand on what John in KC said with regard to the Webelos resident camp. Absolutely the camp policy controls the question of adult to youth ratio. I have not seen a Webelos-only level resident camp that required parents or guardians specifically. As an example, our council requires 1:5 for Webelos resident camp. I believe that is consistent with NCS standards, and someone who is more familiar with those standards can probable confirm or deny that.

That's a good idea when you'll be active and don't need the warmth of insulated snow pants. I'm going to try that. I suppose it would't be too hard for someone skilled with a sewing machine to add zippers. If you needed to take them to a tailor, it would probably be cheaper to just buy a different pair with them.

There is a very successful troop in my district chartered by the UAW local. They have approx. 100 scouts.

I think it is a good idea in concept. Many times we have been on a campout, or otherwise away from the troop library and had questions about this requirement or that. The one question it raises, as far as actually tracking progress, is making sure that the MBC's records correspond to the boy's. As as an aside, regarding the idea that B-P may have rejected modern technology, I don't agree with that. It's the movement away from his methods that he would be upset about. Traditional scouting methods are not incompatible with modern gear. When B-P camped, he used the gear that was available at the time. He didn't require that his scouts use Civil War era technology.

Our troop does not place any such limit. I think the bigger concern, if you find yourself in a position to be asking this question, is whether the MBC's are registered to counsel too many badges. No single individual can have the mastery of virtually the entire list of common MB's. When someone is registered for too many badges (what that number is is a subject for another thread), they can only be doing a superficial job and defeating the purpose of the system.

Are you in the same pack as the new member who started this thread?: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=297563 If so, the two of you should sit down and talk. Regardless, I think if two den leaders want to plan a joint activity, that is bewtween the two of them. The job of planning pack activities falls to the Cubmaster and pack committee. Any pack where something like this becomes an issue simply needs better commmunication.

Just look at any rubber-coated playground, indoors or out. A little different than the olden days, eh? I wouldn't necessarily classify that as overprotective. More like applying lessons learned and modern technology to make them safer. Kids used to get paralyzed in playground accidents. When is the last time you heard of that happening? Doesn't mean the equipment is any less fun for kids, either.

I hear that there is a youth organization that won't allow kids to do things as innocuous as laser tag and is on the verge of banning its kids from going camping or hiking outside the immediate view of an adult.

Unless it is overnight camping that you are talking about, the CC is full of it. As is so often the best advise, ask him to show you where this "BSA guideline" comes from. Why is the CC meddling in your den program anyway?

Plaques and the like are nice, but not very imaginative. With 30 of you, a West Fellowship in his name would only cost about $33 each.(This message has been edited by the blancmange)

We are fortunate in our school district that the art program has not been decimated (yet). I have always had our Webelos bring in their projects for inclusion in their portfolio for the Artist activity badge.

Pursuant to the ACP&P, the Board who declines to advance a scout at the time, the scout is supposed to "be informed and told what he has not done satisfactorily." Further, "The members of the BOR should specify what must be done to rework the canidate's weaknesses and schedule another board of review for him. A follow-up letter must be sent to a scout who is turned down for rank advancement, confirming the agreements reached on the actions necessary for advancement." Did this discussion take place at the BOR? If not, perhaps the board should provide this information to the scout and go from there.

Do you know who your chartered organization rep. (COR) is? I would have the 3 of you sit down and discuss the concerns. Explain what the Pack provides and the benefit to the youth. Some of your comments indicate that the CO doesn't understand the nature of the relationship. Asking for a security deposit is nonsensical. The pack is an arm of their organization, and any money that the pack were to provide is technically the CO's. Show them that whatever problems they had are in the past and that this is a worthwhile program for them to support. Let them know that BSA has insurance, if something is broken, you can put in a claim to BSA. This is inaccurate. The CO is is the chartered partner and party to the contract with the local council. BSA liability insurance is for claims by 3rd parties. Convince them that you have the trained leadership in place to supervise activities. There is always some risk that something might get broken, as with any program, but those risks are outweighed by the benefits of scouting.

Down here in Georgia, "cold" often means anything below 40F. That can happen during summer camp times in northern Iowa.

Da more amusing ones are things like the Hague Conventions which govern things like the international sale of goods or enforcement of child support. So maybe da State of Oklahoma is hopin' to better its economy by setting itself up as the refuge of choice for deadbeat dads from around the world. While I agree that the initiative that started this thread is a solution looking for a problem, I think even one who thought it useful would point out that such provisions of international law are enforced in the US only after US participation is ratified by the Senate as a treaty, giving it the force of US law.

I can already hear several of them running to our COR letting him know how mean and unfair I am Let them. When the COR approaches you about the situation, you can offer the same explanation. If he does not view your approach as reasonable, explain that if the CO wants to subsidize the Pack, you can continue to allow people to selectively not pay. Tell him the CO then needs to write a check for $ XXX in order to balance the Pack bank account. He should also offer an explanation of this policy to the families who choose to pay and participate in fundraisers.

Show him how to figure out which eye is his dominant eye: http://vision.about.com/od/contactlenses/ht/Eye_Dominance.htm It will help him with things like BB or rifle shooting, if it turns out that he is like me: right handed, but left eye dominant.

The Bear book also has an illustration of another improvised rope maker using a bench vise and a hand drill brace. Do a search for "rope making machine" and you can find various plans for more involved devices that are probably more complicated than a Bear could manage on his own. The nice thing about the simple one in the book is the boys can do it themselves. (With supervision, of course, for singeing (sp?) the excess fibers from the rope).