trainerlady

The "lovely" gems are official and will the only thing on the shelves of all national scout stores for the rest of the 2010 year. We are not supposed to sell the regular ones until 1/1/11 once they hit our stores. I'm not a fan of them either. It punishes the boys that worked hard and a achieved a cub rank before the B&G. All my Webelos I and most of our Bears have earned their ranks they received them in the late fall. They'll have a different patch than all the rest of the kids that lolly gagged along and earned them later. Depeding on how fast they move along next year they might not get a 2010 one then either. Not to mention the collection of cub badges will be mismatched. As it is there isn't a place for a Webelos scout to put his Webelos badge on his blue shirt if he was a Tiger too. I don't think it's as big a deal with the BS set as they only wear 1 badge at a time. I do suppose it'd be neat to wear a 2010 AoL patch of 2010 Eagle patch, you'd never forget when you got the highest rank in your program. From a store standpoint it's a pain in the butt. We now have to bag up and count and store all the regular badges for a year. Our store had just received and put out it's spring stock of cub awards (100's of each level) in preparation for the B&G season. Now I have to hope I get enough to meet the iminant demand. And listen to customers complain about the lunacy of the decision. I just wish we in the stores would get told about new products in a timely manner. Most of the time we find out from a site such as this or when we are forced to order an item because it's "new".

"Protecting God's Children" is a required class similar to YPT that our CO a Catholic church and the local CYO make every volunteer take. The entire Archdiocese requires it. If you don't take the class you can't be a scout leader (BSA or GSUSA), youth league coach, lunch room parent, field tip chaperone, etc, etc, etc. Doesn't matter if you're a parish member or not. If you're near the kids you need the class. I know the company that offers it does the class all over the country. It might be named something else in other parts of te country. I think the class is in response to all the priest abuse cases in the Catholic church. It rolled about the same time as the first settlements started appearing on the news.

In my pack it has always been only my den that camps. The trip is open to everyone and everyone is highly encourages to come. But the other dens are too "prissy" to camp. Camping to most of the famlies is a Motel 6. The trips are billed as pack family camps and tour permitted that way. The whole pack was invited to go but chose not to go. So we go and have fun. Occassionally we have a family from another den go but not often. We have BALOO, weather hazards and CPR/first aid trained people and all parents have YPT along with PRotecting Gods Children from the Catholic chuch. Every boy needs his own adult, some trips we have more adults than kids. Our pack committee feels that those that want to go should get to go. To them as long as it has been offered to the entire pack and they chose not to go then there's nothing they can d about it. You can't force people to camp, but you shouldn't stop them from a great opportunity either. All my den members are taking about going on to BS. In the past years the non-camping dens have had a non-exisitent transition to BS. One kid out of 14 over 3 years. Maybe camping is a key to moving up. Ask the rest of the pack, take whoever wants to go with you and have a great time. If no one else wants to you guys go and have fun. Make sue to take lots of pictures and video to share with the rest of the pack. Maybe once they see how much fun it is they'll go nect time.

G2SS says TCs can't ride at scout events or camps. But if the scout rides with 4H or privately, or maybe even owns his own horse he can ride. There are no restrictions on where the kids earn beltloops or pins. The guideines don't say you have to do it at a scout event/meeting/outing. If kids had to earn eveything within the scouting environment then my scout shop would ose a heap of money each month.

Just got in the new CS Sports and Academic books into my scout shop. Under the horseback riding loop/pin it says ride a horse for 20/30 minutes. Much to my disgust it doesn't define what a horseback ride is. Is it: A) Sitting on a horse and having an adult lead line the scout around a ring/corral? The scout has no control over the horse what so ever. OR B) The scout is actively in control of the horse/pony, with an adult possibly walking beside him for safety if needed. As my son used to say he is "driving his own horse." The reason I'm asking is I believe a horseback ride is where you are in control of your animal. Our local camp told a bunch of cubs that they'd earned both the loop and pin while at Christmas camp. The only problem is that due to camp rules the kids could only lead line ride. The kids were too short for a real horseback ride. Would you give the kids both, one or none? I know that loops/pins realy don't mean much but where do we draw the line?

I hold an inspection about once a year. Usualy after several warnings that one will occur. I have a big problem with kids that have a full uniform showing up in jeans and a pack t-shirt or in jeans and a scout shirt. We meet at a church school where all the kids have to wear blue pants. These are the kids that show up a couple of hours after school in jeans and t-shirts. My boys that go to pubic school and don't have a uniform code are the ones that show up fully dressed ( hats to socks). The church school boys don't even have BSA pants. I give out a uniform inspection patch ($1.25 each) from the scout shop at the pack meeting after the inspection and make a big fuss over the boys that passed. Last time I even called up a TC little brother and fussed over him too (his den had finished early the night of the inspection). My worst offender for not wearing a uniform is the CM's kid. The CM sees nothing wrong with jeans and a pack t-shirt, his kid is in a "class B". Our den rules as set by the boys list wearing a full uniform (hat to socks). I do the same sort of thing with an "on time" patch for the kids that show up on time. As tardiness starts to become a problem, I give a warning or 2 then drop the patch on the ones that show up and are ready to go at the meeting start time. I don't ding a kid if he's stuck on the freeway behind a wreck either. I do like the idea of a special treat as a reward too.

We laid it on the table for our families at a perent meeting. It costs this much to re-charter, Boy's Life is this much, a PWD kit is $x, a badge/belt loop/pin are this. You get the picture. Add in a B&G fee for each boy (covers the cost of their meal and goodie bag),den expenses, leader training costs and re-charters (we leaders give of our time and money, so paying my BSA expenses is fine with me) and so on. We figured it costs about $125 a year to support a Cub in our pack. We then pointed out to our parents that there are very few kid activities cost so little and are so great for the kid. Hockey is huge in this area as is soccer. It costs $400 -$4000 do those things here year round. Cubs is the deal of the century. After the eye openning, and the frankly put message that if you don't pay your fees and fund raise were out of business. We haven't had a family not pay up (we too help those down on their luck as needed)yet. We also added that they got to tell their kids why the pack went under if the funds weren't paid. This type of discussion has done the same sort of thing when it comes to getting adults to volunteer for pack jobs. You don't help out, the pack will dissolve when these families cross-over. And you can tell your kids that since you won't help they can't scout anymore. Works everytime.

When I started out as a DL 4 years ago I left the advancement to the parents as I was taught in Leader training classes. It was TC year. By Christmas the only boy that had advanced to Bobcat was mine. Even the ADLs kids hadn't made it. The only activities signed off were the ones we'd done for "do with den" or "go see it", and only because I was Akela for those activities. You should've seen the looks we got when my son go this Bobcat. Please note that for the 3 months leading up to the "night", I had been telling the parents to go through their sons' books and sign things off. I even sent out email newsletters with exactly what we did (but they were there and active as TC partners)and what page to sign. Still no signatures. It took the threat of no awards at B&G to get the parents to sign the $%^& books. From that point on I have done my own version of fastracks/2010 whatever you want to call it. It works the kids advance, we have fun and learn. The parents have to stay, pack rules. And they are put to work - logging sign offs; assisting with a craft; assiting with reading/writing/spelling; potty breaks; etc. I AM NOT THEIR BABYSITTER, and they know it. I know my way works and I've had success. But because it's not the BSA way and the training way I've been made to feel like a rule breaker at leader trainings and events. I'm a "rogue", an example of what not to do. But I've had 100% retention and 100% advancement with my original group of TCs. We are now Webelos I all with 13-15 pins. All are planning for next year when we join a troop. 3 boys are "planning" for their Eagle trail. Of the previous 4 groups of Webelos to crossover only 1 boy in the 15 that went is still scouting. Only 3 even continued with a troop, but for less than a month each. No leaders before me did any advancement in the den. No one before me held the boys accountable for their work. Advancement in the den works, but it must be thought out and dynamic. I see a great future for Cubs if this new program can get up an running. I see disaster if training staffs, leadership don't buy in to it. Taining staff buy in will be a BIG problem in my area. We're stuck in the "Leave it to Beaver" zone.

Thanks so much. None of this was posted when I started looking. Have you been to any of the camps? How are they? They look great. Cub Scouts could learn a lot from GS about running camps. Thanks again.

I live in Michigan and will be taking my son to a BS camp outside Cincinati in the summer of 2010. I'm looking for a good GS camp to take my daughter to in the same area if possible so she can go to camp too. It'll be easier to have her camp there than up here. I have a great camp for her here but logistics won't work out. I have no clue as to council names, or reputtions of camps in that area. Please help with council or camps names and reviews if possible. Happy New Year All!

Jet I just completed my first full inventory as a full time employee (have done 2 as a part-timer). We DO count, recount and triple count every single pin, book and MB. It DOES matter if we are off by one Lifesaving badge to the negative and by 1 Swimming to the positive even though the value is equal. If it was only so easy as to make over overall value analysis balance and be done with it. Our counting process was done in 3 1/2 days (almost 4400 different items in my store, most f which don't have scan codes), the computer nightmare lasted 9 days. Seems the dimwits at NDC thought it'd be good to switch software vendors a month before inventory. Then oncce we got that program running the day before back sotrage areas were to be counted they sent out SKU correction sheets. 6 pages of change this number to this number and delete all references to the original number in your system. That was the first day and a half of the computer terror. On top of the hassles for each store the entire system of stores is linked by the internet. Every store must be certified by their territory manager before any store can reopen. So even though my store is done in 3 days, we have to wait for the TM to certify we are correct. It can take him a few days to drive around his territory. If Hawaii is slow, Maine can't open (don't know why, at this point could careless). As for renting a service, a high ranking NDC official was quoted as saying "if they can't count it, they don't deserve to sell it" last year. Trust me even if the employees had to pay for the service we would, we tried. We weren't even allowed to rent scanners and do it ourselves, tried to do that too. AS 92 stated not getting with the program like it of not is a termination offense. Yes the system is stoneaged, but it's what we have. I can't afford another $5 on my son's uniform to upgrade the system, and I'm sure that'd be the line given you were ask NDC why they are operating in the stoneage. 1996 THe old uniforms were no longer cheap as you had eluded to. They had gone back up to between 50%-75% of their original price. The bargin basement prices went away on 11/1/09. We were told that they were being donated, don't know to where. The memo that recalled them came in late in the day 2 days before your visit to the Scout store. so it's possible that the staff didn't get the message until the day before your visit. They had to be returned with a UPS pickup stamp of no later than 12/23/09. Only certain items were recalled ( a bummer for those of us that had to count them again). The shorts weren't part of the recall. I apologize for your wallet lightening and poor service/attitude at the store you went to. You just caught the staff doing something most of us hate, at a time of year we'd all rather be with family and friends. Not prepping to come in at 8:00 the morning after Christmas. Several pepople had to change or lose vacations due to the schedule announced in late October (it wasn't what we expected or were used to). So again I'm sorry for your poor store experience. Happy New Year All!

Eagle - thanks fr the good wishes. Wegot 8 of 26 back sections done today. Not looking forward to the rest of it. As stated G2SS only applies to Scout events/activities. If parents have their kids in riding lessons or activities that aren't age appropriate for TCs per G2SS then they can sign off on the requirements. That said no horseback riding go see its for all you TC leaders. Wait until the day after crossover to Wolf and then go That one day will make a world of difference in the kids safety. Nothing bugs me more about the G2SS and other subjective guidelines in scouting than thinking age or size equals increased safety. A rural TC may be safer than an urban BS on a horse because he's been around them his entire life. But beacuase he's 6 or short he can't ride at a scout event. Yes it's bit of sour grapes here. My short son has been denied horseback riding at our local scout camp with his friends, but he shows at the 4-H fair. The mentality at camp is the bigger you are the safer you are. Bigger is better. With that mentality no cubs will ever earn the horseback riding BL and pin at our council camp.

Yes they are out at most stores. But all National stores will be closed from the end of business 12/23/09 to 1/2/10, annual inventory process. Most stores have had higher concerns than to shelve them. Even though inventory is scheduled for a week, it's more of a month long intense process. Happy Holidays All. Remember your national scout shop employees, as we start the process on 12/26/09 at 8:00 AM

Depending on where you are in Ohio you have a couple of great looking options. Simon Kenton Council in Columbus has a great program for Webelos. A friend of mine took her son there last year and was extremely impressed (she's hard to impress). Dan Beard also has a very good looking program. I have different friend that has been to it and said the facilties are awesome. I'm in the same boat as you with my son. He'll more than likely be a 20 pinner by the end of his first year of Webelos. He's bored with our council's camp programs. Being on the camping committee and CSDC staff it's very hard for me to make the choice we looking at making. We are looking at going out of council and traveling some 300 hundred miles to go to one of the above camps. Perhaps visiting a camp he's never been to will spark his interests. Or just go to your regular camp and hang out, fish, swim, boat, play. Camp doesn't have to be about achievements. But I must admit at the cost of camp not getting something in the form of advancement is a tough pill to swallow. This is his last year to be a kid, BS camp is about getting merit badges or doing a high adventure trips. Have fun and enjoy each other's company, it'll probably be your last time together in a scout camp. One last thought, ditch cub camps this year and try a YMCA, church based, or sports camp as a change of pace. They can be day camps or sleep away camps. My kids love both of them. If you pick the right ones you'd be amazed how much advancement can happen there. Several camps in this area send home report cards with what the kids did while in camp. Check the handbook, check the report card, ask a couple of questions and you have an achievement or two signed off and it had nothing to do with Scouts.

In our district we do a 2 year rotation of scientist and engineer on year 1 and artist and showman on year 2. All the pins are optional so it's not a big deal if only half a den goes to camp. If you do required badges then the den leaders will have to catch up the boys that didn't go to camp for whatever reason. It's a real pain to have to repeat info for the ones that missed it. Even though it's a good review the boys don't see it that way. There is also the risk that a new boy will join in either grades 4 or 5, it happened to me this year with my Webelos I den. I feel bad for the new kid, he's 7 badges behind the rest of the den ( we did CSDC and had 4 informal meetings over the summer). Luckly everything we did was optional, so he's not really all that far behind. Our program has doubled the number of Webelos in CSDC in just 2 years. The litte guys can't wait to get to the big kid camp now. And now the big kids aren't causing trouble because they're bored doing Wolf stuff. Our Webelos program is now wait listing kids. Good luck.

I have a Webelos I den this year. I brought up the idea of a campout in tents as an Outdoorsman requirement and got these responses from the parents. "Spend all night in a tent? What about the animals" "I don't camp, I might get dirty." "Will we have electricity for my blow dryer and electric blanket." "Timmy can't do that he's scared of the dark." From the kids. "Awesome!" "Can I sleep in a tent by myself?" "Yeah, I don't have to shower for 3 days." "I don't wanna. I just won't get that badge." I guess 75% of the boys geeked is a good start. Too bad the parents are interferring with the kids desires. NEXT!!

We went to the PTC 2 years ago. We had planned to take Amtrak from Dearborn, MI to Raton, NM. Well that was the year the Mississippi flooded out the midwest and washed away the Amtrak lines. We ended up driving out in just over 36 hours and spent an extra 2 days coming home via Summit County Colorado. We had a great but stressful trip with all the driving. We only drove while at the PTC on our Wednesday off. We went to Taos and went horseback riding (hubby and I were too big and the kids were too small to ride at Philmont). Went sightseeing and had a great day. People that came Amatrak arrived 23 hours later than scheduled and were stressed worse than us. Some also missed their event starts. I've had several friends go Amtrak and have a great time. We are planning to go back this summer and may take the train. My firends have always built an extra travel day into their outbound internaries. They spend a day in Raton before catchting the bus to camp. This makes sure that they won't miss their event if Amtrak screws up. Things I'm thinking about in my travel planning: 1 - time factor - flying is quicker. 2 - expense 3 - convenience 4 - ease of travel and baggage movement 5 - for me - my travel companions - kids, possibly hubby or another family adult. 6 - how much and where do we want to go on our day off 7 - Amtrak's track record, your airline's track record of on time arrivals and departures I don't know if you're familiar with O'Hare and the Amtrak stations in Chicago or not. They are over an hour apart by commuter train and often times more than that by taxi or shuttle. I have done a lot of travelling through both and it wouldn't be my ideal transition location. Do you have time to do Amtrak from Boston to Raton? It's longer but it could be easier. Just some thoughts. Have a great trip. You'll love the PTC. BTW which class are you going to if I may ask?

To me a training culture needs two parts. Part one is the access to all the trainings one would want or need to take. Most areas around me do a good job of this part. It's well taught, accessible and offered several times a year throughout the region (it's nice to be in one of the largest urban councils in the country - no more than 75 miles to any district/council training under the sun). Part two is the dissemenation of the materials received at training to others in the unit, distrcit or council. This is where I see the breakdown. Many people don't want to hear that what they've done for years is going to change or should change to meet the times. Cub Scouts 2010 is a prime example in my area right now. The trainers are screaming that it'll take the families out of cubs and cubs will collapse. They've all been in cubs and cub training for 30+ years, some have grandsons that left the program 10 years ago. They are out of touch with the way today's parents parent and what it is like to have 2 working parents. Instead of learning about the program and finding out why it's coming online they are fighting it. Until everyone involved can accept change, and follow through on the changes, all the training in the world won't do a darn thing.

I can't reach for anything over shoulder height and not come untucked. This is a pain as I work in a scout store and regularly have to shelve items above my shoulders. My next uniform maybe 1 size larger or a man's shirt to see if it's longer. I'm tired of my not slender bely hanging while at work.

Thanks for the info link. I've been trying to get the dates and courses for about a month now. Unfortunately the class I want is only offered during my district's cub day camp of which I'm an assistant director. So now I have some decisions to make, day camp or Philmont Webelos to First Class course. I suppose I can do a different course. Anybody got info on Webelos to First Class or Helping packs, districts and councils suceed using the cub scout outdoor program? Info may help make my decision easier. Thanks A Confused Trainerlady

National Supply is under going a system conversion for their computer system over the past week and the week to come. As a result several items are temporarily unavailable. As part of the conversion an inventory had to be taken, while the inventory was going on in a particular department (knives, tents, books, etc)no items were allowed to be sold. So check back in a week or two and see if your favorite items are again on the sales block. National stores are converting this coming week and will do inventory the week between Christmas and New Year's. Sorry no day after Christmas sales in National stores. Happy Holloween All.

Our council runs one of the largest indoor camping programs in the country. We have 28 cabins ranging from 12-60 beds. Each cabin has at least 3 rooms. 2 are sleeping areas and 1 common area/kitchen. Some have plumbing most don't. Our council suggests separating youth from adults (each gets it's own sleeping room) and male from female using tarps and ropes. At most we have 2 sisters in camp (cub age), they get their own curtained off area. Men and women are seperated the same way. NO ONE changes in the cabin, restrooms (if available) or laterines are used for this. NO YOUTH are allowed in the cabin without at least 2 adults. NO YOUTH is allowed on the adult side without parental escort. YOuth have one bedtime/lights out, adults another. We never have enough females to warrant giving the females their own room when pack camping. Our cub summer camps are run the same way (yes we stay in cabins at cub summer camp). Youth on one side, adults on the other. Tarps divide the adult genders. Separating the ages and genders doesn't require a wall and door. It requires a barrier, a tarp and rope serve as a barrier. G2SS says nothing about walls and door, just seperation of groups. We have never had any problems and seldom get a complaint with our system. Most of the complaints are about not being able to sleep with junior over an over protective mommy during their first time at summer camp. Our camp is BSA approved yearly and we've never had an auditor complain about the system or deny accreditation for any reason. If we enforced a female cabin and a male cabin as another writed suggested we'd never have weekend campers. We may as well bulldoze the camp and sell 1700 acres of wilderness to developers because we'd never use it.

My pack never charged den dues until I started it last year. My den is still the only one that charges them. I used the money to buy good wood for tool boxes last year and this year as Webelos I we are using the money to do some craftsman projects. I don't believe in creating useless junk from recycled tin cans and yarn, milk jug bird feeders, etc. My boys made beautiful pine tool boxes that will last their lifetime. I kept the dues and turned them into the pack treasurer for a pack check to pay for items. I kept dues envelopes with each boys name, payment status and attendence, and uniform status on them. You can get them at your local scout store. A new envelope for each month. If a boy missed a payment he was expected to catch up at his next visit. The plan was discussed at the beginning of the year with all the parents. No objections. This year the parents decided that they'd just pay the project fees when needed instead of weekly dues. No other den charges for projects, but no one else makes things like we do. Real leather costs real money, so does good wood. No leader should ever be expected to "just pay for it themselves". Whether the parents or the pack reimburse the leader the leader should and needs to be reimbursed. A scout pays his own way. Preferrably the kid does a chore and earns an allowance to pay for his activities. Teach him about the real world now. You go to work, get paid, pay your bills. It's hard enough to get leaders, tough to get good leaders. If you expect your leaders to foot the bill for 4-10 extra kids beyond his/her own you'll never keep them. In this economy it's not fair or right expect someone to pay your kids way. At 50 cents a week/$2 a month tops, depending on how often your kids meet, all the leader could buy is a fun patch for an activity or a belt loop or pin each month. It toasts my buns to hear parents complain about a yearly total of $100-$400 (includes registration, books, uniforms and camps, etc)to have a boy in cubs. But they'll shell out hundreds for video game systems, fancy clothes, and thousands for youth sports travel teams. They'll drop a few hundred dollars on junior's birthday party but fuss about $10 for a good quality, long lasting wallet kit. Video games don't teach citizenship and self reliance. Ask the DL for some specific uses of the money and if they are acceptable allow the practice to continue. If he/she hedges and has no clear cut plan, put a stop to it. BUT DON"T EXPECT THE LEADERS TO FOOT ALL THE BILLS for den and pack activities and projects. Also, in a rapidly expanding pack such as yours what was once the status quo may be undoable now. With the popuation boom comes an increased financial out lay. Your pack maybe able to absorb it for a year or 2 but it may become impossible in the future. My pack doubled, nearly tripled in the course of 2 years. Three years later we're running a very fine line in the financial department. The rush of low consuming (few awards costs)Tigers and Wolves has turned into a bumper crop of high consuming Webelos (lots of awards, very active). We now can't afford to do as we have in the past. Your DL may just be a forward thinker.

Emb021 I'm an instuctor for an internationally recognized organization and have been for 20 years. Over the years I've learned how to teach a program scheduled to last 6 hours in just over 4 hours. My students get all the time to practice their skills that they want, can ask all the questions they want and feel comfortable with their knowledge when they leave my classroom. How do I do it? I stick to the program, don't embellish with my own stories, and make sure I have enough equipment for each student - they don't have to share. By doing this I cut the required practice time by up to 2/3s. This allows more Q&A time, and time for what the scedule doesn't include (potty breaks). In the end I have happier students that are capable in the skills I've taught. Most "canned" programs (ones that have a script to follow and some sort of AV materials that go with the scipt) have a course timeline that allows for any and every problem to occur during the class. You know the kind, CPR, first aid classes, driver's training, etc. If your experienced and prepared, you can often head off a problem before it occurs. "Canned" programs also tend to be extremely repetitve, a great way to actually lose your students. So your "expert" may be just that, someone that has delivered the program so many times that he can shorten the timeframe and not lose anything in the process.

Has anyone considered that this young man may not want to join the same troop as the rest of the den? In my area it's quite common for some kids to go to one troop and some to go to another. In our Pack's current Webelos 2 den there will be at least 2 troops that get boys. In my Webelos 1 den there may be as many as 3-4 troops getting some of my 12 boys. I'll probably have a kid or 2 that don't go any further too. Why the split ups? Some boys/parents don't get along with each other. Some families can't meet on a particular night, others won't go to a church outside their faith for meetings. Others seek a unit closer to home. Some units and kids just don't fit each other. My boys will fall into all of these statements. If the kid doesn't qualify for AoL and wants to go and can go let him. But to me if he does it without an AoL then it eally isn't a crossover, it's a transfer. Therefore IMHO no ceremony, no party, just a pleasant goodbye and good luck from his den mates.