Volunteer

Shortridge - I was meaning the DE not showing up. He didn't even make an appearance at our last district camp in the spring or last fall! Another DE from another district was there and he was fantastic! Wish he was our DE. Our activities chair for the district is new this year (hence my grief may be for naught) so I'm hoping for the best. Send your prayers! i must admit I find the field of dreams philosophy for scouting interesting....

Has anyone else had a DE that did more harm than good? Our DE says it's his job to help, help, help but the results are low camp attendance, low recruitment numbers, and continual no shows at district camps or other district events. We've went to council but they tell us just to continue to help the DE and work with him. He's been at this for 2-3 years but the results are getting worse. I'm a little resentful at helping someone else be successful at their job when all their efforts result in decreased scouting in my district. Anyone else with a similiar story?

When my pack organized a family camp out, we asked veterans and retired teachers to help. They had a wealth of knowledge and loved helping out with all of the kids!

this is great information. Does anyone have a way to track this through a troop or pack? Thank you, Volunteer

Has anyone done a spreadsheet for tracking the awards for the 100 yr Anniversary award? For each of the five awards you need to complete 3 of the 5 requirements and it is unique to the different levels of scouting. I'd like to keep up with this via computer but don't want to reinvent the wheel if I don't have to. I really appreciate the IT Techno folks out there if you would... Thanks! Volunteer

Whew! Am I glad to hear that I'm not the only one wanting to do a different fundraiser. The % of what you earn vs. other fundraisers plus the difficulty in selling popcorn that is approx. $15 a box and that alot of people can't eat popcorn or nuts due to health issue makes for a very good arguement. We had a great kickoff last year with games, prizes, and dressing up but as hard as the guys tried, the sales were low. Alot of parents are not wanting to do the popcorn because our area has the highest unemployment rate in our state and it is easier to sell a $1 candy bar than expensive popcorn that you can run to Wal-Mart and get for 1/5 of the price.

Baden P - I think you hit the nail on the head (or so to speak) on this issue. Hard to get scouts to come to districts events when you use a calendar like a dart board to pick the dates.

I agree that there is no real reason to have everyone crossover in Feb. In our pack, only the Webelos II crossover at the B&G and everyone is invited. Then in May we have a crossover ceremony for all the other scouts and honor them then. It is difficult to complete all the requirements by Feb when there are sports and holidays to compete with.

I had a similar situation arise earlier this year. Right from the beginning Mom was giving out 101 reasons as to why I may have to pick up her son in order for him to be in scouting. I informed her that I do not pick up scouts for den meetings due to the liability. A few weeks later she did the ol' "he can't come unless he gets a ride and he's so wanting to go" excuse in order to guilt me into doing it. So I made a project sheet for him and his mom to work on at home with the activities for each den meeting that month. Amazing how his mom has managed to bring him to the den meetings after that. Maybe this should be a new thread but more and more single moms are signing up their boys to be in scouts in order to have that male influence in their life. Right away they are disappointed when they see alot of female leadership and then even more diappointed when they realize it's not a drop and go club. I have had a couple of upset scouts at pack meetings when they did not receive any awards but some of their den did and it's because their parent(s)/ guardian(s) took the time to work with them at home on the scout book. I told every parent in my den to read the front of that book and that scouting is a FAMILY activity - not something for your son to do while you do what you want/need to do. But some don't care. They would rather play a game of "Tug of War Guilt" with their son and see if the den leader caves in first to not disappoint the scout or if in turn the scout has to beg his parent(s) to help him succeed and be disappointed in them when they willingly refuse to help their child. When is the line drawn between standing up for what is right and allowing a parent(s) to use their child as "bait for guilt" to have their way in shirking out of scouting responsibility to their son?

Is it still OK to fly a homemade pack flag in a parade? A kind parent in our pack just got finished making one us to display for our town's Christmas parade and it looks great! I don't want to break any BSA rules but I don't want one angry momma either!

To get my kids in the "holiday spirit" every year, they go through their toy boxes and closets and pick out all the stuff they do not play with or no longer want. They pack it up and we head to the nearest Salvation Army to donate all their unwanted games, toys, clothes, etc. We do this every year not only to make room for the new gifts but to also teach them that they too ought to give to those who need. It helps them to know that they do not have to hold on to material things and they look forward to the "cleaning of the closets" as a chance to make another kid happy during the holiday season.