5yearscouter

Well you could walk in a christmas parade, adopt some angel tree kids and then go wrap presents for someplace like the angel tree program. You could go sing christmas carols at a senior center or hospital--depends on how scared they are of rsv or the flu in your area. could include decorate a tree with them, make cookies and bring(check dietary requirements) or make a craft with them or bring premade crafts. You could adopt the wing of the hospital, esp children's ward etc. be sure to check what they will allow, but it could involve making and wrapping little crafts/decorations, or just make ornaments and a paper chain to put on a tree you get donated or buy. make every person in the hospital at the holidays a christmas card. you could take everyone to do clean up after the christmas parade if the street will stay closed long enough to be safe, then go somewhere like a park for a few reindeer games and cocoa. you could collect in your neighborhoods for the local food bank, then volunteer and go stock the shelves with the stuff you collect--check with them for age requirements. all sorts of things!

Be careful putting the hand warmers directly on your skin. My youngest got an actual burn on his foot from having one in his sock overnight. I always recommend putting them between two layers of clothing.

We found this list somewhere on the internet and it helps to get your brain thinking of what to bring, what to avoid, how to pack, etc. COLD WEATHER/SNOW CAMPING TIPS: Be prepared!! Know signs of hyperthermia and frostbite. Drink extra WATER to avoid dehydration. Bring extra snacks like Granola bars, trail mix, peanut butter crackers, etc. Keep a pot on the stove or thermos of hot water available for warm drinks, cocoa, instant oatmeal or Cup-a-Soup. If you get cold, eat or drink something hot. All meals should be hot meals Dutch ovens keep food hot longer. 1-pot meals lower cleanup time. Prep at home. Shelter cooking area with walls on dining canopies. Place tents to use that windbreak. Fill pots with water at night. Frozen water is easier to thaw it if it's already in the pot. Remember C O L D: C Clean - dirty clothes loose their loft and get you cold. O Overheat - never get sweaty, take off layers to stay warm but no too hot. L Layers - Dress in layers for easy temperature control. D Dry - wet clothes (and sleeping bags) loose their insulating ability. Be dry by sundown. No wet (sweaty) bodies or wet inner clothing. Use plastic bags over socks to keep feet and boots drier, change wet socks. Put on tomorrow's t- shirt, long underwear & wool socks for bed. Dont start the day with putting on cold clothes. Put tomorrow's clothes in your sleeping bag with you. Put hand warmers into your boots to dry them at night. Fill water bottles with warm water and sleep with one between your legs (at femoral artery) and one at your feet. Or use hand warmers in several places Eat a high-energy snack before bed to give your body fuel to keep warm. Keep mouth & nose outside your sleeping bag so your breath doesnt make the bag wet. Use a trash bag or zipped up coat over the end of sleeping bag for warmer feet. Leave the tent flaps/zippers vented a bit to cut down on interior frost. Drink all day, but stop drinking 1 hour before bed. Go to the bathroom right before bed because getting out of tents in the middle of the night chills your entire body. Sitting still to eat makes you cold; be sure you have on enough dry layers before meals. What to pack: Use the 3 W's of layering o Wicking inside layer should be polypropylene long underwear and sock liner. o Warm middle layer should be fleece, wool, or warm sweatshirt. o Wind/Water outer layer should be waterproof Gore-Tex or nylon jacket and pants/ or snow pants over your regular clothing Bring more clothes and food than you think you'll need. Put a foam pad under you; a space blanket under you will reflect your heat. Cots & air mattresses have you sleeping over air that is colder than ground temperature. Two sleeping bags, one inside the other will work to lower the rating of both bags. A blanket on the outside & inside sleeping bag traps warm air like layering clothes. Wear a hat to bed. Remember Cotton doesnt wick moisture well. Wearing several layers of clothes will keep you warmer than one big bulky coat.

I prefer the flexible clear hosing you can get at home depot. A roll lasts forever, sections store easier than stips of pvc, they are soft so when kids are playing and land on the neckerchief it doesn't hurt their neck. we have some sea shells from the dollar store we glued to the hose almost 8 years ago and I wish I could remember what kind of glue I used cause that has lasted forever.

After calling and emailing and nagging everybody I put in our popcorn order on time for extra stuff for the take order sales. The deadline was Nov 3, so I started nagging for them on October 24th, leader mtg 26th, pack meeting the 31st. Last Wednesday I get an email from 2 moms that they sold popcorn and wanted to know when to turn in the orders and money. I know I can get more popcorn but it takes driving across town, so I asked them for the info on what they sold RIGHT THEN! and I'd even go to their house to get the forms and the money. I still don't have their orders.

I know I always feel bad when we order the wrong amount and I have to take some back. I get there to return like 1 case of each kind of microwave and a case of the $20 caramel, and there are piles and piles and piles or returned popcorn. The guy at council was shaking his head when I commented, he said that one pack in particular drove him nuts because he tranposed their numbers on one kind of popcorn, so instead of ordering 54 cases, he ordered 45 for them. And they brought back like 35 cases. I forsee next year they'll try something different once again, as they keep trying differet things to get people to sell more popcorn but also not to return so much that council is "eating" leftover popcorn for the next year. This year we could order all we wanted and return all we wanted as long as we returned it by the 26th of October. But if most units kept their store sales popcorn to fill their take order flyer sales, they said more was returned than ever before. no duh!

I must be looking at too much christmas stuff, ad not enough political stuff, cause I got artificial trees and holiday party info in my ads.

ok, so to think of it from a totally different perspective, how much you can get away with not having, and how light can you go with what you already have? A lot of that will vary based on what the boys want to do, where they are going, time of year, and how much do they really cook, and are these tiny guys who can barely carry their sleeping bag much less other gear, or do you have some strapping 6 footers who can carry a bunch of weight without any trouble? We are in AZ. LOTS of places we go, we just have to carry water. so the boys get used to the idea that they need to be able to carry a gallon a day each. yeah it weighs more than carrying a water filter, but it costs a lot less to bring water than to filter water. Boys buddy up for water carrying, with the 17 year old 190 lbs big guys carrying more than their fair share, and the 50 lb soaking wet new webelos crossovers barely carrying a couple liters without dying. It somehow always works out but we do avoid the desert in July. Camelbacks seem to be standard, every parent seems to think their son needs one, so the boys can easily get used to carry that much extra water, which is a start. So you get everyone to carry some water and buy 1 filter to try out--then once the boys see the advantage, especially regarding weight, they may decide to put water filtration higher on their list of things to buy. Last time I checked the price of a filter at the scout shop was comparable to elsewhere and there is no taxes at our scout shop which helps. Put out a call to other troops, rental places, neighbors friends, a notice on craigslist--you want backpaks to use for the weekend, or at least try them out at a troop meeting. Invite someone from REI type store, backpacking merit badge counselor, anyone with experience to help with teaching packing of bags ad adjusting backpacks to fit people. Fitting of your backpack to body is key. --hopefully you'll get a mix of people show up with stuff they've borrowed or rented and let everyone try on every model that shows up. Spend several meetings going over any gear you have and any you've found, borrowed, can rent We've done backpacking trips with brand new scouts that have NO gear. Sure the troop has some backpacking backpacks to loan out, but over all they are yucky. So first trip is hike out a mile from the vehicles and drop gear and then hike around with day packs and it's not really backpacking but it is an essential start. Everyone gets to see what they are really willing to carry. What they thought was important to have they quickly find out that it might not be worth the weight. The 2nd trip you usually have parents have bought some gear and the troop has budgeted to buy a little more from what boys and adults have decided is useful and you may be able to go out 3-5 miles and be more backpacking. Use whatever backpacks you have for that one mile trip. buddy up older scouts with real backpacks with younger scouts who will be making do with daypacks. the ones with real backpacks obviously end up carrying the bulk of the stuff. Plan the meals to be no-cook at first, and then buy a stove or two and encourage everyone to buy their own lightweight 1 pot and spork. Or use existing pots like mentioned with other gear stuffed inside so it doesn't take up much room. As gear is purchased encourage boys to share--buddy up those with pots with those without pots-- with my sons one takes the stove and fuel the other takes the pots and the food, depending on weight bearing. Experiment with how much backpacking dehydrated foods and other types of foods the boys really are goin to want to cook on backpacking trips. You'll find some patrols or indiv scouts just want to pack non-cooked food if you are mostly doing a short good weather backpacking trip. Some HATE dehydrated food, so they'll always favor "real food" even if the weight is more. but when you have to carry water, the difference between open and eat and rehydrate and heat may make the difference between how many stoves and cook stuff you need to buy. Also think outside the box for gear. Ive seen thin gatorade 1 liters instead of nalgenes, cool whip or rubbermaid bowls instead of backpacking bowls, kfc sporks instead of purchased ones. My boys have a miniature non-stick frying pan that they bought at the grocery store for like $4 it is tiny, but makes great eggs--and they hate dehydrated eggs so they have experimented with putting eggs in a water bottle, and freezing them partly so they can have cold/fresh eggs for breakfast. oh and they take almost every time a ziplock bag of cereal with powdered milk and add water for a bag of cereal for breakfast. So food can also be a lot less expensive using just what you have in the kitchen. spend some patrol meetings practicing and weighing foods, and then have a troop backpacking trip with cooking contest--who can make the best food that weighs the least, uses the least amount of resources/cost. backpacking sleeping bags can be a pretty penny if you want to get super light weight. summertime backpacking mine often take a small sleeping bag liner or a small blanket. I don't know ANY boy in our troop that has a backpacking tent, they sleep under the stars, or take tarps--or even more lightweight is thick black or grey plastic that comes on a roll at home depot, cut to the size you want and fold/roll it up, add a bit of rope and experiment with making shelters. dont' make this into a big huge deal. buy a few high quality items for the troop to provide, encourage parents to buy a few items for their scouts (birthday and christmas list items!), and until your boys get out there and try it, you won't know exactly what will work best for your situation based on temps, location, age and size and interests of boys in your troop.

Yeah right now with 15 scouts plus siblings and 15 adults at least, usually closer to 20-30 adults, trying to get everyone around a campfire to cook a hotdog is an exercise in frustration. not everyone can get to the best coals, and holding your hot dog over the flames ends up with a sooty dog that barely gets hot. of course you can make a bunch of charcoal in a charcoal chimney, make a shallow ditch in the dirt long enough everyone can stand shoulder to shoulder or so close to each other with 1 row on each side, line the ditch with the hot charcoal, and let everyone roast their dog that way and the hotdogs might actually get hot. but your ditch might get very long that way too. we tend to do not much cooking for the dinner, we do it pot luck to save on how much a few voluteers have to do. That worked best when we were larger, 40 scouts plus 2-3 other people in each family does get large fast. The pack usually pays for and makes the dogs or burgers on a grill in bulk, or if we are close to town buying 100 pieces of chicken from the local grocery store for 39.99. can't hardly beat that for bulk food for dinner. Then each family brings a side dish or dessert. we encourage dutch oven cooking by making a few sides or main dishes in the dutch ovens to show people how to do it. pack buys paper products cause nobody ever brings washable plates. For one breakfast we do the pancakes in bulk. with each den supposed to bring enough sausage, bacon, milk, juice, eggs, donuts, muffins, poptarts, or whatever else to feed their people so the pancakes are just bonus. but we put it all out and eat it all together, and end up with a nice breakfast feast. I like to do that sunday morning which slows people down enough that they stay thru scout's own service, flags and to help clean up everything. The kids are also very very starved on Sunday after playing all day long on Saturday.

Yeah there is a lot of overlap, but you do need to be careful and make sure they all don't do the exact same thing, or next year the Tigers will balk with "I already did that" or more likely you'll hear their parents talking about it.

Yeah it really needs to allow units to choose a person or two to have this access, rather than just the key 3 people who don't actually DO anything with the paperwork, advancement, membership or training records.

"No, men and women are not "the same". However, generalizing that all women are the same, and all men are the same, is just as wrong, and narrow minded. Perhaps you need to get out more, and broaden your "experience". YUP! Sure "everyone" wants their son to join scouts to get a male role model. But that doesn't work when most everyone who joins comes from a single mom houshold, now does it? or when dad is working 2 jobs and isn't around enough to come to meetings. Over the years, hmm...almost 8 of them now, I've seen a lot of moms as Tiger leaders, and some moms as Wolf leaders, a few moms as Bear leaders, and some kick-butt Webelos moms as Webelos leaders, not afraid to take the boys camping. Heck I build a darned better campfire than my husband does, and I put up the tent faster, and I can drive a hammer and saw better than he can. I grew up with a wood fire for warmth, I follow directions when putting up tents and I grew up building houses. And I've taught tons of moms over the years how to use a coping saw to cut out a pinewood derby car, so they could help their son. loaned them tools and they go home and make their own derby car. Learning a new skill and pushing the limits is not just something boys do in scouting. I've seen adults grow and thrive, trying new challenges and growing. But honestly, with the number of SCHOOLS that don't allow kindergarteners and 1st graders to glue, cut and make crafts anymore, or it's relegated to a little bit of free time-- there is MUCH to be learned by having cub scouts in the younger years glue cut and color. They used to get that in school in spades, nowadays not so much. Boys develop the eye hand coordination necessary to tie the knots and make the leather working things and build birdhouses by starting out small. It's a progression. If all they've ever done is use their thumbs to play a video game and text, stringing up beads on a cous necklace is darned difficult and tying it off when done is nigh on impossible. spend a little time in the classrooms and talk to the parents, young people today aren't getting those basic skills elsewhere. It fits naturally into cub scouting to do "crafts" often without a big huge purpose behind it. sometmes you make something even as a guy that is just pretty.

My cubbies vote every year that they want a competitive race, that they want to know who was faster than who. so yes, the adults set up a certain roster of racers to make sure everyone races everyone else. and they get to race everyone else at least twice, so there is plenty of racing. We don't give out big trophies, or even little trophies. We traditionally give a chocolate car for 1st place in each den with a 1st place patch for that scout, and then we have a car judging contest, so that each scout ends up getting something--there is often quite the competition between the boys and the adults for the coolest car, or most unusual car in each den or overall in the pack. We have a leader who spends a bit of time smoothing out a bunch of tires and axels, so most everyone has the same tires, which then makes it about weight and a little bit about aerodynamics. Each kid works on their car in the den meetigs, but also can work at home. We usually see each car being cut out in the den meetings or the derby building day, which prevents dads from cutting out a car which makes it dad's car. we usually see the kids do some of the painting, and we often see the dads workin together in the den to get all the tires on straight. we do a pack weigh in the weds before the race, and we race on Friday night, and then it's scout's honor that the car checked in on Weds is the same car brought to race Friday night--although we do a quick weigh in to be sure weight wasn't added. The scouts check their car in, an adult leader adds graphite to each car in a similar manner after asking the scout and parent if that's ok. If the parent says they've already done it, that's ok. The cars are lined up across the stage by den and pictures are taken and voting score cards come out. Votes for the car that looks like it is the fastest is also a popular one. The webelos sell pizza, we set up tables around the race track. All the scouts sit down and watch all the other scouts race. There is much cheering and screaming and photo finishes(we actually had a mom take photo finish pictures at the finish line last year and put it up on the screen for all to see.). If the kids got tired of race watching, they could go color race cars, do a cubanapolis 500 race(cardboard box racers), eat and we has match box car shuffleboard for candy. it's a big party. Everyone leaves with stuff, everyone leaves happy. And 1st thru 4th in each den plus an alternate can go to the district race where they have trophies and such. But we also have open racing of everyone against anyone--challenging the cubmaster's car anyone? Each race has a dud in it made by the cubmaster, den leader, or cubbie(the pack teddy bear that wears a scout uniform and has earned all the awards). so nobody comes in last. and we have an adult race and a sibling race. It's one of my boy's fondest memories. especially when the littlest tiger can say "I cut out my own car!" so it's not the case that it can't have any competitiion, or it goes to the extreme competition where nobody has fun. WE make it fun and competitive a bit.

Since the cubs can still use hand saws and sandpaper there should be no reason for derby cars to become even more dad made vehicles. It's all about expectations. We expect every boy to make their own car, but of course we know dads often take over. So we have a bit bigger bragging rights to dad built cars racing against other dads so they put their energy there instead of in the boy's work. doesn't work for all of them of course, but it helps. We all know the secreat is in well smoothed blanced tires with no burrs on the nails and lots of graphite. One year the car that won was shaped like a half pipe with a super glued lego man skateboarding on it. THAT is the kind of cars we push in our pack, that's our pack culture so it works out well. We also repeat over and over again, don't do any of the work that the boy can do himself. eventually MOST parents get it.

My oldest went to the 2010 Jamboree. He LOVED the pre-jamboree tour of the east coast, he raved about it, he wants to go back to Boston and have the whole family go see all the historical stuff with him. However, he says Jamboree was just huge crowds and not all that great. It was something he's glad he went to, and he's really glad he didn't have to pay full price(someone backed out at the last minute and he got to go for the cost of what the other guy still owed, no refunds at the last minute). And he refuses to let his younger brother go to the 2013 Jamboree due to his concerns for his safety. H e saw how much of the support, first aid, running of events, managing the huge amount of resources, safety, police protection/checking of vehicles that was done by the Army at Fort AP Hill. He doesn't think that BSA volunteers can pull it off at the Summit with that kind of safety level. He thinks someone is going to get hurt and I certainly hope he's wrong. He proposes that he and his brother will go together to the Summit maybe next time--we'll see....

In our pack we encourage every boy to cut out their own Pinewood Derby using hand tools. Hand tools like a saw are still safe for scouts. So boys use a vice or clamp to hold the car and a coping saw and start cutting with the parent helping them to guide the coping saw to create the shape they want. Then sand the heck out of it first with a wood file, fill the cracks with wood putty and sand some more with finer and finer sandpaper the prime, paint decorate tires in place graphite and race even tigers can use a hand saw to cut out a derby car with parental guidance to stay along the lines that they've drawn on the wood outlining the shape they want. see if this link works for helpful hints to use a basic set of hand tools to make a derby car that shouldn't conflict with the tool use rules. it's a word document, and it's at my pack website. http://pack394.webs.com/Documents/Pinewood%20Derby%20hints.doc

A worry with 7 year olds (or other young kids up to and including young boy scouts) tenting alone, is the buddy system in not in effect--they have to go out of their tent, wander around in the dark to find another tent, wake someone up in order to go to the bathroom. But a bigger worry is the young ones get scared camping, esp in the middle of the night when all the lights go out and the coyotes howl or the elk bugle, etc. And if they get too scared they are apt to decide they hate camping. If pack campouts are to give the boys a safe intro to how fun camping is, tenting alone may have that fun become terrifying for a little one. We've lost boys over that when their parents put them in a tent alone and they got scared and then decided they wanted to never do that again. young ones are impressionable and we want good impressions. As for Webelos tenting with other Webelos, I really believe that is important for the boys to help them grow, with the adult tent close by. But I've known a handful of young webelos who were just not quite ready for that yet. One in particular I know just got over that fear at boy scout camp this summer, as a first year scout. I don't think he slept in the tent with his brother either, but I know it was the first campout he wasn't in the tent with his mom. It takes a while for some of the boys, and we need to be understanding of that too.

A worry with 7 year olds (or other young kids up to and including young boy scouts) tenting alone, is the buddy system in not in effect--they have to go out of their tent, wander around in the dark to find another tent, wake someone up in order to go to the bathroom. But a bigger worry is the young ones get scared camping, esp in the middle of the night when all the lights go out and the coyotes howl or the elk bugle, etc. And if they get too scared they are apt to decide they hate camping. If pack campouts are to give the boys a safe intro to how fun camping is, tenting alone may have that fun become terrifying for a little one. We've lost boys over that when their parents put them in a tent alone and they got scared and then decided they wanted to never do that again. young ones are impressionable and we want good impressions. As for Webelos tenting with other Webelos, I really believe that is important for the boys to help them grow, with the adult tent close by. But I've known a handful of young webelos who were just not quite ready for that yet. One in particular I know just got over that fear at boy scout camp this summer, as a first year scout. I don't think he slept in the tent with his brother either, but I know it was the first campout he wasn't in the tent with his mom. It takes a while for some of the boys, and we need to be understanding of that too.

Yeah I think if this is a newly formed patrol, it's a bit much to jump to "you aren't showing scout spirit ad you can't advance." I see the mention that the scout "wanted to change the Patrol Name, something the PL had already said wasn't going to happen and to drop it." Now that looks like it went on from there with at least 2 scouts still wanting to change the name of the patrol, maybe the PL or APL and their leadership skills is the issue? Just cause your leader says "drop it we aren't goin to change the patrol name" doesn't mean the subject is dropped, eh? 12-13 year olds can be like a dog with a bone, they want to know why, and if we can't change it now, when can we change it, can we just sort of change it so we aren't just the panthers we are the black panthers? And that is a valid discussion that needs to take place with the whole patrol, not just the PL making the decision. So before jumping to this kid didn't listen to his PL or APL, maybe it's time to question the PL and APL about their leadership plan, how was the choosing of the patrol name done? was it done fairly and equitably or by PL dictate? How can they help the whole patrol buy into the patrol leadership team, and get everyone on the same team? so were the scouts put into the patrols by adults, by the spl, or did each scout get to choose their patrol? While it is a great test of a PL and APL to have to get everyone working together, if there are scouts placed in their patrol who don't want to be in that patrol, it puts the PL and the APL at a disadvantage. what can you do to fix that issue and help the PL and SPL be better leaders? Then go work on how the other scouts can be a better follower. how to address politely their issues with the patrol leader, and some hints on how to follow the patrol leader and apl directions and what to do when they are frustrated with a situation. also a question, did the boys elect their pl and apl, were they chosen by the spl, or do you think the pl and apl were the boys who announced, "I'm pl, I'm apl," and when anyone else said anything they said "I called it first."

Our troop chaplain pretty much spearheads this job in our troop.

What we could do a few short years ago, is certainly different than what we can do in schools today. But to compare what worked in the 80's and 90's to today is ridiculous. Sooooo much has changed in the acceptance of outside visitors into the schools and classrooms. Many schools do not allow ANY volunteers inside the school unless they've passed a school background check and have been fingerprinted.

I know why a lot of the school stopped sending home flyers. Most of the people who drop off flyers drop off a pile of flyers, say 700 of em. Then the school staff has to sort them into piles counting out each one. if they have enough school volunteers to do the work, fine, but when they don't have any volunteers or time, it uses up a lot of staff time. And then there is the issue of who do you allow to send home flyers? every tom dick and harry? every sports league? every youth group? There really are quite a few different groups that want to send home flyers nowadays, fills the teacher's boxes up. anyway, at our schools if I show up with the flyers already sorted with enough for each classroom teacher, for all the grades 1st thru 5th, the school secretary sighs with relief and I ask do you want me to put them into the teacher' boxes for you too? and they say YES! and then I ask if there is anything else I can do for them. sometimes I sort out all the sports flyers into stacks for each classroom and spend an hour of time. It's worth it to keep a good relationship with the secretary of the schools--but I recruit from 13 different schools so putting in an hour helpin each one can use up a couple days of my time. eh?

GREAT! Did you hand each parent a leader application? if not, your first meeting hand out a bunch of those and explain that cub scouts is a family program and the parents are who makes the pack GO.

Yeah it's really tough when school districts won't let you send home flyers. And usually if they won't let you send home flyers, they won't let you go talk to the boys within the schools like Seattle suggests. Actually I don't believe any of the school districts in our area will allow adults to go into the school and talk to the boys. Occassionally we can set up a table in the meet and greet night before school starts, but that's hard cause we recruit from 12 different schools that have meet and greet on the same night the first thursday in August. I don't have enough leaders or parents to cover all the schools. We were averaging 3 scouts per school, but this year it's about 1 per school, not sure of why the drop exactly but can guess at a few reasons. Recruiting patches to anyone who brings a friend. flyers in the neighborhoods wherever you can put one up. make sure your pin on the beascout.org website is accurate. It's really hard if you can't use the schools, it complicates recruiting significantly.

I'm not sure nag is the appropriate word....