cajuncody

Lyndalk, I understand what you are trying to do but maybe you should think of it another way. If you give a parent who is "very busy" a list of "acceptable at home" achievements you are basically telling them that it is ok to try to do some of them. However if you tell that same parent that the handbooks are to be worked on at home and you may touch on some of the achievements at a den meeting then the parents are more likely to open the book and help with the advancement with out waiting on you to do them in a meeting. You may even find parents who are willing to help plan a meeting on a certain item. My experience is that if you give them an abreviated list that is all they will look at, not the whole book, and many will miss out on some great activities. They may also see it as I did in your other post that those are the only ones they are allowed to work on. Still sounds confining to me. Kristi

I would disagree with one sentence above: "We usually go through their books, Wolf to Webelo and let parents know what they can work on at home if they so chose. " That is not the way it should be. Wolf and Bear are meant for the boys to do with their familes, Webelos are meant to be done with their group. I am a CM and DL and I would be highly upset if some one told me what I was allowed to work on at home with my Bear level son (who completed his bear badge over the summer with out his den). Belt loops and pins are optional, if a parent wants to work on them at home that is up to them, the pack can choose to buy them or not but a scout can earn them at home as long as required projects are displayed at pack or den meetings. "A scout is trustworthy." Any thing else is adding to requirements. Kristi

The Aunt was listed as the guardian when the boy transfered into our pack last fall. She was the one who signed out the Candy. The pack has very limited funding so the loss is going to hurt and I am not sure if we can afford recovery efforts. She went out with a bang and said some very ugly things. Back to square one again, looking for a den leader and trying to be careful not to get burned again. How do other packs handle things like this? Do you allow families to sign out candy or do you just do the group sales? Kristi

I do not know the amount that would constitute a felony here. We do not have an attorney in our group. The reason we were asking for the boys parents phone number was to see if they needed some more time to pay or a payment arrangement. She became enraged and quit. She won't accept our phone calls and we had to have a third party pick up what pack supplies she had at her home as we are not "allowed" to be on her property. All of that seems like a strange reaction to someone asking for a phone number. Kristi

I am one of those parents with a son who has a "boatload" of loops and pins (and arrow points). However, I am a stay at home mom and a CM who fills in for a DL quite often. We do alot of belt loops and pins at home so that I can get a feel for teaching them when the time comes. Also a lot of the requirements are met at school, camps, church, and other places. My son may not remember at any given time earning a specific loop or pin but heck, sometimes he can't remember that he just ate lunch and demands a second lunch. He has more than enough loops to go all the way around him and then some (he is very slender) but there are a few more left for him to earn. I know that we are probably the exception not the rule but just keep in mind that children don't always remember things. My son used something he leaned from a belt loop he earned last year at school and was suprised he remembered but also proud enough to point out to the teacher that he had a belt loop for that. Also he earned his Bear rank over the course of the summer (two day camps and traveling the country with his father while at work) along with several arrow points. He is an honor student and an over acheiver and I am not going to hold him back. Kristi

Ran into a problem. We had a Candy sale and we now have a family who claims that a Scouts 12 yr old sister took the money from the candy they sold ($250) to school and spent it. The scout registered with a committee members name and number on his registration as she is his Aunt and brought him to meetings. My husband called her to get the home number for the scout to discuss repayment of the money and she got angry and called back and said she "quits scouting". The money should have been turned in about a month and a half ago. What do we do about the money? Kristi

The dinner was served by the staff at the meeting hall. All of The cars were supposidly removed before the clean up staff arrived. I would love the have everyone with a missing car send a letter but National won't give me a list of people with cars missing, or a list of people who sent cars. They also won't give me the address list for all of the councils or the phone numbers. Any info I am getting is coming from the internet. I simply have no way of contacting anyone else with a missing car as I don't know who they are. Thus is my quandry. Kristi

Thanks for the idea. I hadn't thought of that. Unfortunatly most of the scouts with missing cars probably don't know that their cars are missing yet. Maybe if alot of us here send an email to scouting mag it will make up for the boys who don't have a chance to send in an email. Kristi

Carol, We did earn the belt loop in one meeting. It was simple and fun. We left our normal meeting place and the boys made a simple map on the way to the park, that way they could spot local landmarks. At the park we used a sheet of paper off of a newspaper roll to make one large map of the community with all the boys helping. My husband is excellent with direction (born with it) so he was a big help. We formed a circle of adults and the boys told us which adult was due north of a certain spot (we also did N,S,E,W and everything in between. We made use of the parks hiking path up to a very old cemetary where we did a seperate hunt such as find the headstone due north of the oldest headstone. All activities were age appropriate and met requirements. It was a lot of fun for the boys and we also had a picinic. It was a perfect day and it got the boys outside and they earned a beltloop and compass (given out at the end of the meeting), what more could you ask for. Plus it gave us a summer meeting to count on Summer Time Pack Award. Kristi

"If you can tell a wise man by the color of his skin, then mister your a better man than I" and "It's amazing, in the blink of the eye to finally see the light, It's amazing, when the moment arrives that you know your gonna be alright" Aerosmith "There are good ships and wood ships and ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships and my they always be" "may those who love us love us, and for those who don't love us may God turn their hearts, and if he can't turn their hearts may he turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limping" Irish proverbs Kristi

Pardon me, I seem to have lost myself on this one. I have gone to look for me but if I should return before I get back could you please aske me to wait? Kristi

CNY: That is a good question. I will wait with you for the answer as I need to know too. Kristi

I have no practical knowledge to offer you on this but I just wanted to say that it sounds like a fantastic thing for the scouts in your area. Good Luck. Kristi

I would just like to see everyone fill in their location. That way I know if I am close enough to another scouter to lend a hand with out posting and waiting for a response. Kristi

I apologize up front for the tone of this post. I am angry, livid, furious . . . Words can not describe the way I feel right now. I promise you all that this will be my last post on Pinewood derby cars. I called National today about the missing cars. Remeber that letter they promised me they were sending to all of the councils? Well it seems that someone at national thinks that it would be inappropriate or offensive for the SE's to get a letter like that about something missing from the luncheon (maybe they would imply they stole something) so they are simply not going to contact any councils at all. I have been lied to and given the run around for over a month now and it all comes down to the fact that these 34+ cars are missing and no one really gives a flying flip about them at all. PC keeps them from asking. I have received many PM's from folks with the utmost confidence that National would put a significant effort in to locating these cars and that we scouters being the upstanding folks that we are they would be found. Guess what, not going to happen. It would be different if they tried to locate them and failed, at least an effort would have been put forth. They aren't even going to try. And the big slap in the face about it is that they are going to send a letter to the ones whose cars are missing along with two car kits and tell them that if they want to make a car for the museum that they can and national will foot the bill for shipping. These boys already made a car for the museum once and now they have the audacity to say "DO over", I don't think so! How uncouth can someone be! This stinks doesn't even begin to describe this situation. Maybe Juris was right about the BSA Inc. Kristi

Funny, we have a lot of "Big Names" up here in East Tennessee. Some support us openly, some don't. It just won't be the same with her gone, We will miss her. Was kinda funny to see my hometown newspaper on this site. Kristi I am going to be an _________(?)!! SR-725

The reason we played the hunt with me giving directions is that most Cubs aren't that good at judging "X amount" of yards. I knew where the stash was and could adjust how far the group went in the directions given. Also we rotated who was in charge of the compass so that each boy got to find a direction. If they were too far away they took "Giant Steps", if too close "Baby Steps" just like mother may I. I could alter the path so that it took longer so that each boy could lead more than one time. If they were having difficulties we could go further so that they had more time to work on their skills. Hope this helps. Kristi I am going to be an _________(?)!! SR-725

Thanks for the info. (Calming down now) Silly form isn't due in till Sept and I am already fretting. Husband can't understand why I am so looking forward to a "Training session". He says I act like I am planning for a vacation. I guess it is true that "non scouters" just don't get it Funny, I am worried about the medical form and how to reach my doctor, haven't worried about the "Ticket" at all. Kristi I am going to be an _________(?)!! SR-725

Do they call to verify the info? I am unsure which phone number to put down on my form as my doctor has two offices and my records are only kept at one of them. I am worried they will call one office and not be able to find out what they need to know. If I give them number A (where my records would be) he won't be in on certain days, If I give them number B they wont have my records. I worry that 2 numbers may confuse them, should I make a note on the side explaining the multiple numbers so they only call the right office on the right days? Too excited about going and don't want anything to mess it up. Kristi I am going to be an _________(?)!! SR-725

We did a hunt game with the compass last fall. I had a compass and so did a group of scouts. I would tell the 6 steps N or 3 baby steps S. When it was finished they were told to look for treasure. They found a stash of compasses that they each got to keep one. Kristi

No promises but you can check with the following. He also has the adult uniforms as I got one for a friend of mine through him. Kristi Ora Sheffler at o_sheffler@yahoo.com Size: from small to XXL Condition: Good - Price: $various (Negotiable) Comments: I sell used blue shirts with the USA flag, world crest, your pack and your den numbers for 10.00 plus postage (usually 2.00-3.00) I may have your council strip as well. I also have many rank, and other awards available. I can do sewing as well, for 1.00 per shirt. I'm not an expert, but I have assembled over 200 Scout uniform shirts for folks. For additional information, please see http://www.geocities.com/o_sheffler/experien.html Keep on Scoutin' ora

In the situation I discribed the banana/bandana skit was done by a group of adults with one being the "instructor" and the others being the demonstrators. No magician and no "learning challenged" participants. Just your humorous "misunderstanding of a word". My group did the CPR "Wanna Switch" skit. Makes me glad we didn't offend any cardiac patients. Kristi

Don't forget - Location, Location, Location! We have a program through our local utilities that help to identify proper trees to be planted near power and phone lines. You don't want to plant trees that may cause a problem later on or cause a disruption of service. If you are near overhead lines go for a tree that will stay smaller (In East Tn the Dogwood is a favorite). Great project, good luck! Kristi

Abstinence one word sums it up. You can abstain from many things to be "socially healthy". For example: Alcohol, drugs, sex, crime, and the list could go on and on. Instead of "Just Do It" it would be "Just Don't". Kristi

I have a question. Why does woodbadge fall under the Class 3 medical form. If you read the section for class 3 in the g2ss it says "Class 3: Includes any event involving strenuous activity such as packpacking, high altitude, extreme weather conditions, cold water, e xposure, fatigue, athletic competition, adventure challenge, or remote conditions where readily available medical care cannot be assured. Examples: high-adventure activities, jamborees, Wood Badge, and extended back packing trips." Which of the above stated conditions apply to Wood Badge which would cause it to be listed? Kristi I am going to be a (__________?)! SR-725