King Ding Dong

Six months national dues is 12.50, so the difference we are talking about is $6.50. If that is a problem with these parents I would think long and hard about if this is a group I want to do scouting with.

Nice form. Looks to me more focused on rank/awards. In my current Council the Registrar wants a youth or adult app for any kind of change. DL to CM, need an app. Committe Member to Committe Chair, need an app. Webelos to Troop, need an app.

This all sounds like a mess. Let me clear one point up. Generally a child will be six years old when he starts 1st grade, but that is not always the case. In NE when my oldest started Kindergartedn the cut off date was Oct 15th, not sometime in July as seems to be the standard in most of the U.S. So he was still 5 the first few weeks when he started Tiger in 1st grade. Good luck with your pack, sounds confusing.

When registration fees were just $12 the Pack covered it, now at $25 we are more careful. If you keep fronting all the costs without letting the parents know what is happening you are going to have a hard time collecting. You need to have conversations with them on their expectations. I think this comes back to setting a budget and everyone knowing what the costs for this will be. Focus on trying to enjoy the free things in life. Hikes and getting outside are not expensive. Football games, hayrides, cub mobile races and such start adding up. Scouting does not have to be expensive but it takes more planning. Do you have a plan for Pinewood Derby? Try contacting some of the other Packs in the area and see if you can use their track before or after they run theirs. Offer to help out. My old district held a special race day for packs that did not have tracks.

All Scouting is Local. Call the Registrar at the Council office and ask them how it should be handled and what forms they want. Been in two Councils and there are differences.

W Never tried that and won't have to my youngest is now a Webelos.. . I considered it once but figured ink would come off the plastic, beads come loose and tear up the cloth. Maybe a good expirement for a cub STEM activity in kinetic energy. "Is more energy expended in a washing machine than a 7 Bears running around like banshees?"

It would be a extremely unscoutlike behavior for the other troop not to provide an advancement report. I would imagine council does not track some things like camping nights and time in POR. I am not aware of a specific transfer form, I thought it was just the regular youth application with the transfer bubble filled in. That's the way it worked for me in Cubs. Call your DE, non of this should be a problem.

Nature calls is the worst part of cold weather camping. Been seeing all those catheter commercials on TV recently. Has me thinking.

The beads are a pain but I found if you feed the "thong" back through the bead a second time it really helps to secure them if the knot at the end comes loose. Even worst than threading the beads is getting the the plastic holder off the pocket button when washing. I hate that thing. What we do for the boys.

They should start charging $20 for a box of cookies and see how that works out for them.

A scout is never required to earn or re earn the religious emblem.

Leaving the whole "BS camping is not family camping" issue aside. This person is still a parent and is allowed to observe. I suspect this parent can even attend summer camp in the role of a parent but not a leader. National is not going to tell this parent he cannot monitor his child's scouting activities. If this is really battle you want to fight you will need to have your CO on board.

Camp fork biscuits for breakfast. The boys love cooking over the fire. Burn off crusty marshmallows on fork from last night. Wally World bicuit cans, stretch and wrap dough around camp fork, roast over fire, roll on stick of butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar on paper plate.

Backpacks really need to be sized to the body. The pack that fits a 15 year old probably will not fit the smaller new scouts. I have not looked since last year but most of the "scout" recommended backpacks are still to big for my supper skinny 65lb 12 year old.

The remote clicker you unlock your car with. I had to look up why they are called FOBs. Appears it has to do with attachments to the chain for a pocket watch or the pocket itself. Term also used in networking to refer to a security device.

Interesting. Courts have also held that a non-genetic father is still liable for child support and by implication the genetic father is not. So will the genetic mother have no legal standing but still be liable financially? Or will it end up as whoever has the money is the one liable?

There is no voting in a Unit Committee. The members do their jobs and the CO has authority on unit policies.

I made a similar comment in the STEM tread just now before seeming this one. Interesting comments, because I see a problem in out troop that everything is focused on the big activity rather than in the camping part. Stosh has a good point and I am not suggesting a "fail to plan, plan to fail" approach where the boys have little to do. Sentinel's comment is more where I was trying to go. When Everyone is going climbing or hiking or biking or whatever it sure sets up the opportunity for Troop Method.

T

Just for the local hospital. The scouts will obviously need to brush up in their FA skills. On a more serious note, I think this debate is missing an important element in where the STEM deficiencies are. It is more in the underprivileged segments of society, not the well to do suburbs that the majority of scouting serves. STEM is just not "cool" and being more intellectual is not valued. Having a STEM camp in the refuge of scouting provides a great opportunity for those scouts to explore other opportunities and interests away from their normal peer groups.

Drain some brake fluid from the SM's truck, borrow some shock from the camp pool, start a campfire. STEM in the outdoors.

Just tack an up charge on the scout fee. That's what your council camp is doing. What's the difference? Need someone to do your dirty work for you? Send me the numbers and I will crank out some invoices for you.

Your Pack doesn't really exist in legal sense, you are part of your Chartered Organization. You need to check with your local council about how to handle the tax ID number and so forth, different rules for different states and councils. BSA rules prohibit soliciting donations at the unit level. There is a lot to learn here. Hopefully you have a good District Executive and he can get you a Unit Commishoner. If you have District Roundtables go to them and network. Ask lots of questions here, just realize we are not always right.