Hawkwin

Not comparable. People who donate don't earn 3-6% return on their donations and then get their initial investment back as the people that invested in war bonds did. I would imagine if we asked people to actually donate money to finance a war, receiving a ribbon would likely be the least of the recognition we give such individuals. I fail to see why we would look down on anyone that choses to support BSA in any fashion. And why assume the person that donates is wealthy? I can only infer by the inclusion of that adjective you 1) think only the wealthy would ever donate $1000 and 2) that there is something inherently wrong with a person that would sacrifice to BSA in the same manner they might sacrifice to their church. When I was in college, I was a very active member of my business fraternity. I was so committed to the ideals of the organization that I committed to donating $100 a year for the next 10 years as part of a fundraising campaign. $100 as a college student is significant. I was attending college on my own dime with no parental support and a GI Bill that paid for half of what it does today. For my commitment, my name was printed in the back of our magazine every year for the next 10 years. I felt a lot of pride in the fact that as a college student, my name was listed with a bunch of professionals. Based on your comments, I infer that you would have me feel shame for seeing my name in print. Next time I see someone wearing this knot, I am going to thank them for their donation. They help make BSA a success as much as I do for volunteering my time and money.

I took it (not sure if I took the proper version though - there were two and I took the more recent one) on Wednesday and it was much more detailed than I anticipated. I would recommend it for all new leaders regardless of this new requirement.

40s How would you use bigoted then? What word would you use instead? I've always felt and have been taught that stereotyped assumptions (like assuming your supporting parent must be your mother) are bigoted. YMMV.

Still very disappointing that the parents had to take it to a point of a lawsuit to get clarity. Seems like the more mature thing would have been to have this conversation, privately, with National since it all appears to be a lot of miscommunication. We all know that the "withdrawal" story is going to get a lot less headlines and eyeballs as the "BSA sued" story. A bell that cant be unrung.

Heh, maybe. I complained for three years that one of their questions asked: "Does GSUSA give you more time to spend with your mother?" That is quite a bigoted question to ask these days - especially given the fact that her mother (my wife) is not registered and I am the only one that takes her to all of the events and that I used to be a paid registered adult ta boot. At least BSA uses more neutral terminology like "parent" and "caregiver." Still waiting on the survey for this year to see if that language has changed.

I don't recall any questions of that nature from the survey last year. I don't think we have received the survey for this year for some reason.

I am a brand new Den Leader but between my various online trainings and my Webelos Leader Guide, I feel like I have a lot of resources to develop enough ideas for a year-round program. I can only assume that there is also a guide for Pack Meetings that is similar. My guide has a walkthrough for every den meeting so I don't have to create something original. http://pack350.homestead.com/Webelos_Leader_Guide.pdf (Not my pack but they have the Guide up as a pdf!)

Meh, I wish my mom HAD NOT given me the choice. I probably would have stayed in longer instead of quitting as a Wolf. I don't give my kids much of choice, yet. They are not wise or mature enough to either know what is good for them or to even make an informed decision for which I might disagree but accept. If they end up resenting the fact that scouts is a requirement, then we are probably not making scouts FUN (which goes to the points you make later). I did give my daughter the choice of whether or not she wanted to be a cub scout but now that she is a member, it is now a commitment until at least 1st Class.

Sure, but that reads like something that is best practice not something mandated. When you straight up prohibit something, is should be and is usually based on something more than that - sort of like earning a MB is better from an adult different than your parent (best practice) yet earning such from your parent is not prohibited. Besides, once the SM signs off on the card, the scout is free to seek out any MBC, regardless of one that may have been recommended by the SM. As outstanding as my Troops SM is, I doubt he could name more than a dozen MBCs, and then likely only those that are Eagle required. He simply has way too much on his plate to get into the minutia of which is the best MBC for Leatherworking or Chess. Not in the least. You give share more private information to the guy working for the TSA when you board a flight than you give to a scout looking to earn a MB. I certainly would in general trust a scout with my address, phone and email more than I would the vast majority of other entities and individuals that require such information of me.

Wouldn't complain if they picked something other than an ear of corn for Webelos. The blue "W" looks nothing like such plastered over the Scout badge. I think I went at least three years in cub scouts thinking it was some throwback to farming before I read the history on the symbol and learned otherwise.

Address and phone are not really considered private information. You may not remember but we used to get a paper phone book mailed to all residents with address and phone numbers listed. Additionally, there is this thing called the internet where you can look up anyone's address and often their phone for free. Besides, if we can't trust a scout to treat such information with respect, then who can we trust?

I can sympathize with your situation. I can also understand why you and he want to be active in this aspect of your scout's life. But, let's keep in mind that scouting is not for us. It isn't for the adults or the parents or our close loved-ones. It is for the kids and there may be, and will be circumstances where we do things for the kids that may either disadvantage the adults or otherwise not be in the adults best interests. If you and your boyfriend feel this strongly about him being an attending adult in activities then I encourage you to do two things. 1. Have him register as an adult volunteer. 2. Have him request an expungement and/or a pardon. This could a strong life lesson for your scout as well as other scouts in the unit. Demonstrate that he is taking the steps to correct his prior transgressions and that he is willing to do the hard work necessary to be an active member of the unit. Lastly, this isn't about what the other adults do in their personal time or what they might be guilty of. This is and should be about your boyfriend "doing his best" to be the best role model he can be to your scout and if that means his involvement is limited due to past behavior (even past behavior that might otherwise be legal today in some states), then what better way to illustrate that actions have consequences and that sometimes life is not fair. How the two of you respond to this situation can either be an exceptional opportunity for growth or an exceptional opportunity to create resentment.

Yes. There is some overlap for the ranks but it would require some extra work on the part of the den leader to make it work well.

I think under the current rules you can combine them into a single den - at least that is the rule for early adopter dens. Not sure if that is still in place in the fall.

Heh, I assume your reading comprehension is good as mine. You may infer what you like from the quoted section. When I mentioned in another forum that our scouts have access to a list to look up who is a MBC for each MB, I was told that scouts should not have access to such a list and was quoted the above section. Just passing along the knowledge.

Our MBC list is available on Scoutlander and any scout that has access to Scoutlander can see the list. A scout must still seek out a blue card from a leader but they can reach out to anyone on the list, including MBCs from other troops.

Per the rules, that can be hard to do without first going to the SM or other leader to get their name. To quote 7.0.2.1 Getting Started: Kind of hard to seek out the counselor first when scouts are supposed to be prohibited from knowing who is on that list. I just learned that this week and thankfully, our troop does not follow that rule.

Heh, 1st world problems perhaps. That being stated, and not quite the same thing but the school of my youth was K-9 (all one contiguous building) and there are of course some really big Freshmen boys and girls by the age of 14.

That's on our list for a future trip! Good to know it was worth it.

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In what way? Seriously, I've not read these guidelines so if you think I am doing something wrong, I'd like to know what it is. I've only met with the CC once less than a week ago. What policies and procedures they followed to get to this point didn't come up. Again, I am a DL of all of a week. I've not asked those questions as they don't particularly concern me - I was more focused on how many we would have in our den and how successful they had been in recruiting other Webelos. I do know that the council is aware of the Pack (someone from the council was copied on the announcement of my selection as the DL) and that same person was invited to be at our next leaders meeting, IIRC. Beyond that, I have no more answers for you. This is a new Pack for us in a new district (same council) so what prep work they did prior to all of this, I simply don't know. For all I know, there might be a Den of 3 Tigers being formed as I type this. *shrug*

No, as I am a newly minted Den Leader (about a week old), my focus has been on my training, not on the number of girls in the rest of the Pack. Not really my issue per what I have seen in my training so far (2 of 3 learning plans completed so perhaps there is something about recruitment in the 3rd plan but nothing suggests such from the modules). We might end up that way. We certainly haven't closed our doors to new applicants.

This is one of the aspects I like the most as a parent. BSA helps me reinforce this more than I could do alone as a parent. The first time my son camped (I think as a Web2 at the time), I had him take the packing list and hand the items to me as I packed his backpack for him. The second time I read the list and had him pack. The third time I had him read the list and pack himself while I watched. The fourth time I simply reminded him that he needed to pack. Now I don't even do that. Occasionally, I will remind him of the weather forecast but I leave it up to him as to whether or not to pack rain gear or warmer clothing. He has learned that lesson the hard way a few times and it isn't a lesson he would likely have learned from me. Your signature quote says it best. "Experience is the hardest teacher. It gives the test first, then the lesson." It is also often the best teacher. The lack of recent experience for the other members of that canoe trip certainly illustrates that fact.

Good questions. The pack we are in has other girls that are on standby waiting until the Fall to join (the one that decided not to join the den will join the pack in the Fall) but all of those will be Web1 and lower. My "den" should be AOL by then and on our way to crossover. Considering our Den of 1, in the Fall when the normal application process starts, we may simply change packs to one that is closer to home and continue as a Den of 1 with some joint activities with any other Web1 dens. If I had known that that the pack was going to be this unsuccessful in their recruitment, I am not sure I would have committed myself and my daughter but that is water under the bridge now. In for a penny... As far as troops, I have heard rumors but no confirmation that my son's CO will be sponsoring a girls troop but we will have to wait and see. I could see myself having some sort of active role in that entity but not likely much higher than my current level of authority. I simply lack the time to be able to give it the attention I would like to give it - especially starting from scratch. This weekend, Webelos Walkabout and maybe some work on Cast Iron Chef.

Lot's it seems. There is a Facebook group with over 1000 either interested or involved in such. No idea how many girls that translates too. My Pack has not been very successful in their recruitment. I am currently a Den Leader of 1 (we had one more that backed out for some reason) and I don't know how many others there are in the Pack. I am going to spend some time trying to recruit more Webelos to get us up to 3 or 4 for the Den.