5yearscouter

I have 3 roosters right now, so 2 need a new home. Does anyone want them? I'll drop them off at council so they can be "council roosers."

on this page scroll down and look at the power point to see if it's helpful to you. http://www.grandcanyonbsa.org/forms-resources/internet-unit-services/internet-charter-renewal/5788 you can click on the tutorial as well. To help people who have never done it before, try to get with the unit leaders more than once if you really want to have the internet available for them. 1. get everyone that doesn't have internet to come to you and log into internet advancement (get their passwords etc from council for them if necessary). From there they can see and print their roster for who is in their unit right that minute directly from scout net. print this and save it as a pdf so they can print more copies to scribble on as needed. Send them off with THAT list to verify everyone's positions, youth continuing or dropping --do not use the list that council printed for them 2 months before recharter happens and doesn't include anyone new from fall recruiting. of course you can run down to council and get everyone's roster printed for them, but usually this is done in bulk for the district and the print time will be weeks or months ago. for packs doing their fall recruiting and turning in applications, that can mean a lot of boys not showing on their roster who are actually registered. 2. Check all the training possible if you are dealing with a council that has a mandatory training initiative. You can do a training validation at myscouting on each leader and pull up the records of all training listed. I copy those and save them in a word document to refer to. If YPT is not complete or any other training online, set up training dates for online training. provide BSA id numbers (from the printed list you got from internet advancement) to all registered leaders and help them log into myscouting and enter their bsa id number and then update their ypt if necessary . alternatively have the most recent ypt video available and cards of completion--but that methods relies on someone at council entering those training records, so for some training records doing it online takes out the council errors. for in person training make 3 certificates one for recharter, one for applications to be turned in and one for the leader to keep. 3. Tell them that if someone isn't listed as a leader, they need an application and copy of YPT certificate. Make sure they know to get all appropriate signatures on the applications. our council has an email address that you can scan and send apps to. so I'd send council a copy of the app and put the newest position on that application. I would save a copy of the app with ypt to turn in with recharter with a note that says this application turned in to council on xyz date, but adult was not listed on our roster so here's another copy of the application. and keep a copy of the app for the unit (so if the app still goes missing I use that unit copy, have the adult sign a duplicate background check permission slip, add their SSN again, attach yPT again and turn it in again. Usually after complaining that this is the 3rd time of submittin the app the person appears on the roster. 4. then have them come back with all their lists of adults and youth and copies of ypt and applications. at this point you can log into internet advancement and see if anyone else has been added just to see where you stand. This last year adults and youth added after rechartering started did show up on the rechartering roster even if you'd already started the process. 5. log into online rechartering. carefully step thru each part, fixing addresses and email addresses. click carefully on who to drop and who not to drop. then make sure you have every adult in the proper position. if at this point you have adults to add, add their information and positions. remember to check who gets boy's life and who is duplicate in other units and check that you have enough adults in all required positions. when you are ready to submit, print at least 2 copies and save it as a pdf. attach the word document showing training dates and any new applications and ypt certificates and throw in the kitchen sink your first born and promise them flowers at the council office if they'll get your charter right. I've done recharter online about um, 7 years now. so I can usually figure out how to help when people get stuck. of course I did have one year where many adults staying in the same position the internet rechartering told me I needed to include a new application for them. I attached a nice note stating this must be a computer glitch, to please call me if they did need apps and nobody called me, and the adults did show on the roster in the proper place. and then I go down to the council office and find the nice ladies who processed all the recharter packets and gave them roses. They work their butts off and yes, they do make mistakes. I don't think they make mistakes on purpose (usually).

was61 We are in Phoenix and have meetings all summer long. Our meetings are held at a very un-air conditioned scout building (with no insulation, the a/c can run all the time and not make a dent). So the scouts meet outside all summer long. We go for a pool party one night. We go to summer camp, we do a hike up in sedona area (wet beaver creek, clear creek, west fork oak creek)--sometimes with a campout depending on camp locations due to fire danger or sometimes just a day hike sometimes we have an indoor rock climbing thing, or similar indoor venue. sometimes head to california to the beach, or a beach along the river. But weekly Regular meetings are just held outside, with lots of water to drink.

I find craft projects of all kinds to serve a very very useful purpose nowadays, that may not have been an issue in 1957. In the past if you were in kindergarten or 1st grade etc you were doing a bit of arts and craft stuff at school. You were cutting and gluing and drawing and making magnets and popsicle stick picture frames and all sorts of things. Now in 2012, it seems so much of the artsy crafty stuff of school is GONE. We have a school district here where kindergarteners and 1st graders must have an email address thru the school and check their email every day, they learn to type before they learn to write with a pencil, and cutting and construction paper and glue are discouraged in the classroom. they want those kids to be tech savy and to be reading and writing (typed on computer mostly) by the end of kinder, or beginning of 1st grade. And the only eye hand coordination they get is keyboard to computer or txt all thumbs, and the xbox controller. They don't have experience stringing beads, they struggle to cut out shapes, and they may know glue sticks but not paste or glue because those are too messy. They don't learn the silly little rhymes, or songs, they don't go on field trips, and they don't get much time on the playground to come up with new games on their own or learn classic old school playground games except if taught in PE. I find that arts and crafts at the young ages do need to be thought of to keep it simple, make it fun. making useful tools is always a good idea (like using tongue depressors and clothes pins to make toast tongs to remove toast from the toaster safer for little guys a quick and easy gathering activity). But there are worlds of crafts out there that on the surface are just that--crafts for the fun of it-- but with a little thought you turn it into a skills lesson, or give the kids eye hand coordination practice--so when they get to be wolves or bears they can tie the knots and wrap the wire around to make the radio, or run the wires to set up an electronics. string some beads as a cous for your den--works on patterns, as well as tying an overhand knot. make a toilet paper roll santa claus to sit on a shelf can be a decoration for a holiday or a lesson in making something and giving it to someone stuck in a hospital at the holidays and an act of community service. And actually my dh would choose projects that have a bit of just for the decorations sake, and I'd be figuring out how to make something useful. Having a mix of things in the cub scout year is more important. Sometimes it's just too much to ask of the little guys physically. for intance in your example bold cutters to trim wire for boys who have little to no upper body strength it turns into their parents/leaders using the bolt cutters and no hand/arm strength to cut reasonable size branches off of a tree with the garden loppers and cub scouts aren't supposed to use power drills so the scout spends the meeting watching someone else do the work for him and he gets to use the glue. I'd rather the scout cut thin wire and string beads and use small pliers to pinch over the wire so the beads stay in place and then bend it to make a christmas tree shape to hang in the window, instead of the scout watching an adult do work for "his" craft project to make something "useful." your mileage of course may vary.

I do have spanish speaking family in my pack. Most do not read spanish very well, but speak it fluently. So the written spanish would only be helpful if I use it to read the info to the parent so they know what goes on that line. But if they answer in spanish, I have to go find someone with more knowledge than I to actually make it understandable on both sides. If a parent writes out their child's information in spanish, that isn't going to help me keep their child safer if I don't know spanish. I know enough Spanish to be dangerous. And again, the info on the dr page should be in english, because in the US the standard for medical paperwork is english (with latin medical terms of course). If a doctor fills out the info in spanish the BSA camp nurse/doctor will be unable to sufficiently care for the scout.

MOST health care providers in the united states read and write english and they are the ones that should be filling out part C. Making part C take two pages in order to translate it to spanish seems unnecessary. I mean I guess if the spanish reading only parent now can read the question their doctor answered on the form--but if the doctor answers in written english, that isn't going to help them. and if the doctor answers the questions in spanish that isn't going to help the unit leder or the camp medical staff (etc) be able to understand what is going on with the particular scout's medical history. The standard in the us is that the medical charts are written in english (or in medicaleeze).

Why create one form that tries to do both languages? it makes the form difficult to read for either/both languages and makes it 4 pages instead of 3. why not a form that looks just like the existing form, with everything in spanish? as long as the fields stay the same, getting information would be the same. if a unit is primarily spanish speaking, they could use the spanish form.

1. Help them identify who needs to update their training asap. provide them a list of who, what they need to take and where to get that training. explain that without that training the person cannot be re-registered. give them this information 3 months out, a review 2 months out and a fix it or lose them list about a month out. send that information to the person identified as needing training directly, and provide the name of the contact person at council if training records are showing missing training to get it fixed (our council has an online survey you can complete to add missing training dates, but not sure how long it takes to get that fixed once entered). 2. Give them an accurate list of their roster. don't give them a list that was printed in July, when they are a cub scout pack that recruited heavily in August/september when recharter starts in October. they'll show a bunch of people on paper that aren't in there. process all the apps for fall registrations, and then print the unit paperwork. make sure all the units know how to sign on to internet advancement and print a copy of their roster right before they start their rechartering process. 3. explain in simple terms if you are a pack you have a cor, cc, 2 other committee members, cubmaster and a den leader for each rank kids you have and an assistant den leader for each rank. all tigers have a tiger partner listed. explain which positions can be duplicate(COR and CC--plus sort of scout unit parent coordinator). explain which positions are free. explain which positions are not necessary but encouraged (ACM, certain rank den leader and assistant if you don't have that level den) 4. explain to them the most important fields on each scout and adult to be sure are correct--addresses for boy's life magazine and council mailings, email addresses for leaders in the pack to do online tour plans, make sure the boy's date of birth and rank are correct. 5. how to pay--check or out of council account or what your options are 6. when they can expect this paperwork to be processed by council. we are supposed to turn ours in by nov 1st but it isnt' processed until february or march most years. what to do if you get new leaders in the meantime. also how to handle an eagle scout application if your unit leader or committee chair would change with recharter, but the new person starts doing their job jan 1st, and recharter isn't processed yet. Our council recommends any big changes of position you turn in an application immediately to the council and ask that it be processed, and include with the recharter packet a copy of the application with a note that it was already turned in at council. of course there should be info on how to do a survey of your unit to ensure everyone is rechartering and in what positions. we have a little homemade form we use for each scout family. it includes check boxes for training that must be completed by the adult and how much is owed. it's explained if you don't do this you are not re-registered for 2013. the only person who didn't do his in a timely manner is the COR, who still never filled outt he updated scout information (contact phone numbers and email addresses for his scout). he thinks he's above filling out paperwork in his position.

We had a scout with ODD. Well actually we didn't know he was ODD at first, his parents didn't say. Their med form listed ADD and his dr said he needed to have high supervision. He was a webelo but his parent did stick around quite a bit. We had quite a few issues with the young man not doing as told, not wanting to move to the next activity, saying no a lot, but he really didn't play much with the other scouts or bother them at least at first. We did ok for a while, but then mom changed his school again (and proceeded to tell us he'd gone to like 5 different schools in the last year and it was always the school's fault) and changed his meds. He started to act worse, but we figured at least part of it was the change of school, meds, and he was a bit excluded from the other kids who had been friends since wolf or bear. Going on campouts, his dad came on one, then we tried going on one with him when neither his dad nor mom could go. That was a disaster with a bit of violent outbursts, and threatening to cut up tents with his pocketknife and such. We had a meeting with the parents that he couldn't go on scouting activities without a parent, meetings, campouts or pack meetings due to his out of control behavior. Finally parents admitted his ODD diagnosis, but they really didn't know how to handle it, or how to tell us to help him. Over time as we got to know them we realized dad and mom were also very argumentative and oppositional and we wondered a little if perhaps the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. oops. We worked to keep the boy in scouting, but by the time we crossed to boy scouts he came to one boy scout meeting and didn't come back.

I believe the 14 number for average size of troop. I know a few biggies, over 100 scouts, I know a handful of 30-50 and the majority are about size 5 or 7 mostly the smaller LDS troops in most of Arizona. Mesa has some LDS troops that are bigger than that, but because they are small basically neighborhood troops based on their church membership, most are small.

Well I'm trying to make it thru the newest Youth Protection training video, which I've now restarted 3 times after it stops and won't continue for some strange reason. There wasn't anything I saw in the most recent video about porn viewing on a campout, but then after viewing for almost 90 minutes to finally get thru 30 minutes of it, I think I almost fell asleep thru the last bit. oops it does cover inappropriate pictures or videos taken of someone in a restroom or perhaps changing clothes, if you find out you are supposed to confiscate the device and secure it and take it to the scout executive. you confiscate it so the inappropriate picture can't be deleted or uploaded to the internet. That is all well and good, but I honestly don't want to confiscate some kid's iphone and take it to the scout executive. I don't have an iphone, because of the cost--certainly don't want to break someone's phone that I confiscated cause I thought they were taking inappropriate pictures. and not having a fancy phone myself I am not sure 1. how to view their pictures to see if it really was inappropriate, or 2. now I'm the one viewing child porn.... or take it to the scout executive so he can view child porn? And I certainly don't want to be the person who takes action in that kind of situation and doesn't involve the parents.

the page about it at bsa says "Dens that have at least half of their members at the three summer pack events can earn a den ribbon. Pack members who take part in all three events are eligible for the National Summertime Pack Award pin, to wear on the right pocket flap of their uniform."

If the idea of the summertime pack award to see the boys a little bit over the summer, then 2 outings in one month and no outings in another month is ok. But that isn't exactly what the summertime pack award is about IMHO. It is about seeing the boys consistently over the summer, one time a month to keep them in the habit of scouting. The national website says something like one event in each month, take attendance and those who attended each event over the 3 months get the award. Be careful in cub scouts with trying to give everyone every award by squinting and "do your best" about everything. if something says do this, it reaches a point where you need to do it, not come close. Consistently doing that with awards in cub scouts makes for a big culture shock in boy scouts when close enough isn't good enough--or shouldn't be good enough. so then boy scouts start to accept close enough for ranks, awards and merit badges. Don't water down the requirements just for the sake of getting another patch or ribbon or pin. now if your pack had an event on june 30th and another on august 1st (or really close) because timing didn't work out for each and every month. But if you went thru the trouble of having an event each and every month, you did it so scouts could come have fun, not so you could do it and not have anyone attend, eh? and the still give out the award? whatever you do, my opinion or some other opinion--for gosh sake, be consistent. and talk to 1 or 2 other leaders in your unit so you are all on the same page. you don't want a public fight about it.

So how is the best boy led way to get ideas INTO The PLC's brains to add new things to the calendar? Cause our troop is stuck in doing the same old, same old and the attendance is dropping, then the number of scouts is dropping and well everyone is bored. btdt too many times, nothing exciting here. At what point does an adult add ideas to their lists? at what point does an ASM, or committee member or just a parent add ideas cause the SM seems perfectly happy to just let things go along, as the boy led leads them into the dust? Personally I can come up with a lot of ideas, and ways to appeal those ideas to younger, middle and older scouts with a little tweaking--tweaking that the boys themselves can do easily. SM is so afraid of losing boy led that he seems afraid of stepping in and giving guidance. blind leading blind is where we are in many ways. some older boys have ideas, I've seen that, but they are outvoted by the younger boys. oh and patrol outings and meetings are not the answer either--since those are nil unless someone tells patrols they HAVE to have a meeting. so I know of 1 Patrol meeting by one patrol in the last 6 months. oops I turned this into a rant. but any advice on the best way to phrase to the SM that he needs to wake up, smell the roses? I'll probably suggest that he take the new SPL and ASPL's out for ice cream and put down his foot on a few things and feed some good ideas to them. and if he doesn't have any good ideas--this is where he can get them.

Real life Ethical Situation. Scout goes to camp. Get sick and spends more than a day puking, missing mb class where they do Environmental Science experiments. He asks mb counselor if he can make them up, but there just isn't time. He comes home and in the packet turned in to advancement chair for the troop is a completed advancement form for Environmental Science. He needs it, as it's the only thing holding him up from Star is one more Eagle required MB. What would you do, how would you handle it as a scout if it happened to you. How would you handle it if you were the scout who heard about it about your friend scout and he hadn't admitted the mistake yet. How would you handle it as a mb counselor if you find out about it from the scout, or from someone else in his unit? Would you have a different answer if he fessed up himself? and how would you handle it as a troop adult? how bout as parent? how differently would you react? I'm still waiting to see what happens. He hasn't signed up for his Star scoutmaster conference. He has completed the experiments separately, but hasn't contacted the MB counselor to talk about the situation either.

Basically the only time we've successfully changed den leaders without someone quitting is between the tiger and wolf year when leaders often switch around--that is if they did the tiger year right where every parent took a chance at leading and planning a bit. Even if we have a den leader who really wants to just be a parent, if they show up to a meeting in unifom, everyone just looks to them for leadership--and the other parents really pressure them to keep the job unless they were REALLY bad at it--heck often even if they are really BAD at it the other parents in the den talk them into staying. But over the years we've had most of our leaders want to stay the whole time, but we've also had 2 dens that just couldn't keep leaders or boys, not sure if it was the way the original leaders started those dens and leaders out, or if that was a bad year for parents or something.

Eolesen, Your explanation fits the situation pretty well. A lot of moms really do thrive all all the details, and the messages from dads are often cryptic. Luckily I've kind of gotten used to communicating primarily with males over the years (I'm surrounded by them) so I am pretty good at reading between the lines. It's best to remember that if there really was a problem with your child, you would have gotten a direct phone call. But otherwise it was a hey this is what is going on at camp right now kind of message. I'd take it as a heads up that there would be stories to tell (we survived montezuma's revenge) and extra laundry.

That when siblings go to summer camp with the troop, it often has repercussions with the COR and the CO but when the CC and SM aren't sure they agree and the ASM who brought the sibling starts to get defensive... and you watch a bunch of people in the committee meeting begin to get up and put their chairs away and leave. Well you start to wonder what is going to explode next....

Let's see.... Same camp as Eolsen, but I think a week later. showed up on Sunday, started eating in the dining hall Monday lunch. Started seeing illness approx 24 hours later. Nurse refused to acknowledge that it was anything to do with contagious stuff-- "it's just dehydration, drink this." then she says "well it only lasts 24 hours, wait til you stop puking and then start drinking again." and then she says "it's certainly not an epidemic, it's only a few people sick." Most likely it happened due to extreme overcrowding. Kitchen usually feeds 3-400 people maybe. week 1 they had 7-800 people to feed. Kitchen was overwhelmed, needed more of the big sheet pans to serve food in and keep it not too deep so the food would stay hot/cold. but they were extra careful for week 1, and pretty careful week 2 but people started to get sick and week 3 got worse week 4 was bad week 5 I heard they finally brought in a new kitchen manager, new kitchen staff, bought more big sheet pans, and I think more cold storage was brought in. I thik now that it's the last week, they are just about disease free..... I know the health dept was out several times, trying to work with them, so they could avoid shutting down the camp. I know a bleach brigade of all doorknobs, doors, sink faucet/handles, toilet facilities including port a potties could have certainly helped. That was not specifically done at the first sign of illness and should have been. If one scout got sick in a troop, it would usually get 1/3-1/2 of the boys usually a day or so apart. some people who got sick were not eating in the cafeteria, so they were picking it up elsewhere including a few people who caught it when it was brought home to them, and they were helping unpacking people and supplies from the trailer and washing up puked on clothes and tents and such. the mention of hand sanitizer makes think that if anyone was skipping washing up, and just using hand sanitizer that didn't help. it doesn't remove poop type germs, only good water and soap is effective at removing those things. hand sanitizer should only be used on hands that are not visibly soiled, and from the looks of most of the guys returning from camp, they all could have used some soap and water removal of what was on their hands before eating. That certainly is a place that the camp and the troops should have done better which could have slowed the transmission. I do have an issue that the camp nurse did not even check in each boy when they arrived at camp. an adult leader turned in med forms, counted forms against the head count of scouts and leaders and sent them on their way. I thought it was protocol for the nurse to at least see each individual scout. the idea is they are supposed to be looking for scouts coming into camp already sick. but if they don't even see the scouts at check in? In the past it was also easier to draw the nurse's attention to the scouts with major health issues (like our scout with a heart condition) so when the scout came back she might have at least hae known hey yeah I remember you have a scout with a heart condition. Troop needs more paper towels, spare towels, buckets to catch vomit, extra sleeping bags, extra tents, extra change of clothes, etc. and quarters and location of the closest coin opperated laundromat. bringing home week old vomited clothing and sleeping bags is really really horrible.... to keep bars of soap a bit cleaner, put them in a mesh bag like a small thing of scallions or sometimes tomatoes comes in at the grocery store. add a twistie to the top of the bag. thread a shoe lace thru the mesh and use it to hang it up. then the soap doesn't fall on the floor in the dirt. and the mesh helps you to scrub up easier.

I was addressing the thought "How difficult is it to make a 30 second phone call?" Sure you can use a phone tree to have 1 person call 2 and those 2 people call 2. I know from experience thought that often the message gets kind of watered down by the time it gets to the last person in the list--like a game of telephone. So you get a 2nd hand-phone tree message from some parent that you may or may not know--depends on how far down the phone tree you are says the scoutmaster called and wanted us to get you the message that some scouts are sick at camp, but they are drinking water and we are tryin to avoid dehydration. They have a 24 hour bug of puking and diarhea. As a worried scout parent, you probably aren't going to be too happy with that, you'll want to talk to your scout and hear for yourself that they are ok, and aren't going to be reassured by a 2nd hand phone tree message like that. I think if it's something that needs to contain information about your particular scout, it needs to come directly from the scoutmaster or asst or the camp nurse, etc. If it's something in general, then the email/blog/facebook thing would be ok. If every parent wants the specific message of how their scout is --well OR sick that's going to take up a lot of time. in the specific example, it would have been better to not send out a generic some scouts are sick message, without a follow up, they are all ok and no worries going out as well.

We had 38 people at camp, so that means the SM would have spent at least 38 minutes on the phone. With there only being a few places at camp that get cell service for most providers, the SM would have to go away from the boys to one of these locations to use his phone--sure there were enough adults to monitor the scouts, but that does mean the SM is going to miss out on an hour of time making phone calls for no real good reason. You assume that the SM can use the camp phone to make these calls, but since that phone is for emergencies only, the SM can't tie up the line making call after call. Short 1/2 minute call assumes he can get thru on the first phone number given, not having to call the 2nd phone number or 3rd to actually get someone. That's assuming no adult asks more questions or really now wants to talk to the scout with the upset stomach. Expecting the scoutmaster to call every parent for small issues is expecting too much. If someone goes to ER, parents are notified. If someone goes to nurse and needs to stay there or go home, parents are notified. if they require treatment of broken bones or stitches, sure. Of course the scoutmaster called the parent of the scout with heart problems, when he was at the nurse with a stomach bug because he was having heart palpitations from the dehydration. They stayed on the phone for hours with the nurse on that one.

oh the phone/txts were a problem not only for letting me know they were puking and I couldn't do anything about it.... but another scout, he's old enough to "know better" was txting his dad on the day they were to come home that he didn't have a ride and that dad would need to come get him. There were plenty of rides, there were actually 8 extra seatbelts and one driver (we carpooled) could have stayed home. and another scout who got sick was txting his mom and dad both asking them to come get him when he was sick. he puked once, layed around for a few hours and then was off and back to normal and doing merit badges. but as far as the parents knew, he was deathly ill puking his guts out. then there is the committee sending out message that parents needed to be ready to pick up the scouts by noon instead of 2 because they'd be leaving camp early. yeah they didn't leave camp til noon so I had to send out the message and field the phone calls explaining that the committee member with electronics had jumped the gun on sending out the word they were leaving camp early....

Momof2cubs, I had my scout at camp, and he did get sick. It really didn't make me feel any better to get the txt message that says I'm puking. Of course, that txt message came from his dad(he's ASM), who checked his phone once a day and told me that most of the troop was coming down with pukes. Being able to communicate by txt message at that point did not make me feel any better. Talking to him on the phone wouldn't have helped either since you can't see how green around the gills they are, or tell for yourself if they are dehydrated or give them the hug you know they want when they are sick. either I trusted they had it under control, or I needed to go get in the car and pick him up if he was too sick for them to handle. I will suggest to you that the email that went out from your troop that said some of the boys has a stomach bug, and they were being treated was to give you a heads up that there was an issue but they had it under control. You HAVE to trust at that point that they are on the ball, they know there is a problem and they are working on it.

Food We have a potluck dinner on Saturday night. Pack buys hotdogs or burgers or chicken depending on budget. We have a potluck breakfast sunday morning. Pack buys pancakes and syrup. each den is supposed to assign people in their den to bring eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. sometimes that works out well, sometimes it's just pancakes. other meals the families are on their own, but dens are encouraged to eat together. Camp fires we have been places where each tent could have a campfire. the problem is that then we end up with 20 fires and kids runnin around in the dark which isn't all that safe, and certainly not LNT. So we limit. 1 maybe 2 campfires, or 1 per den on Friday night. sometimes we retire flags on one main campfire fri night. Saturday night just the one big pack campfire, unless we decide to make a smaller one or charcoal pans for smores. cooking We usually have a few people in charge of cooking the hotdogs, burgers or chicken on saturday night. and a few in charge of breakfast. hopefully not the same people. We try to set up one big main cooking area for everyone, or one per den depending on how big the area is and how many actually show to the event. The idea being those who dont' have campstoves and camping cookware, can learn from and borrow stuff from those who do. siblings Welcome to come, must have their adult there to monitor. all activities are open to siblings, except sometimes we have a few just for siblings activities put on by some mom usually if there are a lot of preschoolers. BSA guidelines-- we put down the rules that belong to the pack +campsite rules + BSA rules all together on the paperwork and gone over when everyone checks in no smoking except by the parking lot away from the kdis , no alchol, no pets, no parking in campsites, the rules we have about campfires, no scout sleeping in the tent of an adult not related to them(exception when mom's fiance brings boy to scouting, and that's on a case by case basis with mom's explicit permission), no scout sleeping in a tent alone is recommended (alone in tent= they get scared and quit scouting is our experience), no scout in the bathroom with adults not related to them(we actually prefer no kids in the bathroom with adults, but with little siblings needing help in the bathroom it gets harder to police. if there is water, there are water rules. lights out times, noise in the am time(within reason anything goes for am cause kids get antsy and want to get UP with the sun or before). No electronics. yeah that one is a losing battle, but we try and tell people why--we want the kids out running around not sitting in the tent playing video games. um, we don't allow RV camping usually unless there is a handicap. all those kinds of things need to be brought up and decide what you want to regulate and what you don't mind. activities we start each day with flag ceremony. we end saturday with a campfire. we end sunday with a clean up-police line. we try to fill most of the time, with some down time, and some choice-- so the boys don't pick up a stick and start poking each other, but so they can play some games that aren't adult prodded. We try to put in a knot thing, a nature thing, a hiking thing, a game thing, sometimes a craft (leatherworking) and the veteran deer camp participant--no firearms. or any other areas that may needed to be addressed how far in advance you need head count for tour permit. how far in advance you need payment (we try to keep it in the $5 per person, $20 per family range). how you will handle last minute sign ups. how you want to do the permission slip. Will you allow Webelos without parent? Will you allow a cub to go to camp with his best friend from his den if his parents won't be able to attend and his best friend's family both mom and dad are going and the two boys will tent together? make sure you and CC and CM are on the same page for the rules, since they will be making them happen as much or more than you will. I would go to the council camp instead of risking messing up the CO's propertly.

We do day camp here in Phoenix in June. so it's HOT to say the least. The week we went it was 113 on Monday. We do not allow camelbacks for drinking water--if they want to wear it with ice in it to keep them cool, that's ok and works well. But there is no easy way to tell how much the boy is drinking, and that can mean the difference between fun at daycamp or a ride to the hospital. We require clear water bottles, and take a boatload of frozen commercial water bottles with us for the day in rolling ice chests. There is also way to refill a camelback at day camp unless you use the water hose, which nobody will then want to drink out of cause it "tastes funny" or take most of the water out of one of the big orange water jugs on ice. Once the camelback gets hot, that's a lot of hot water to drink, rather than frequent refills of a smaller water bottle from an orange water jug with a block of ice floating in it. We do a small gatorade once or twice a day. We also provide snacks--since cubbies are so used to frequent snacks at events in our culture today, this works in our favor. We give them some salty and sweet snacks as they move between stations, which encourages them to drink water and balances their electrolytes usually better than just straight gatorade and gives them energy to last from 1pm to 10pm for the daycamp days. If we followed the chart on heat that was posted, due to temps over 100 degrees we'd be unable to do any scouting for over 100 days a year.