AwakeEnergyScouter

Bit late here, but WOSM provides training and activities on the SDGs in a way that's linked to the Messengers of Peace program. If you follow the bread crumbs from Scouts BSA's website on MoP to WOSM's website on MoP, it links to Scouts for the SDGs. The activities provided there are really nice. I just facilitated a cub scout pack meeting around defining a MoP project with inspiration from the SDGs. (We figured that lions and tigers would struggle with even the simplest exercise from WOSM.) I heard a lot of good conversation around how we scouts can build a better world. I highly recommend what WOSM has to offer on the SDGs.

Hello! I'm a Swedish immigrant to the US. I was a scout when I was a kid and really enjoyed it, and my family did a lot of what we in Swedish call "fresh air living", hiking/fishing/camping/biking/paddling/skiing/skating kinds of things. We went tent backpacking in Lapland for vacations. (But then again, part of my family is from the Arctic Circle so knowing that nature and landscape intimately is also knowing my roots.) My troop met on the edge of a forested hill, so we spent a lot of our time outdoors. I made some of my best childhood friends through scouting! Anyway, because scouting meant a lot to me, I sold my child on scouting adventure and we signed up with Scouts BSA in cub scouts after a lot of waffling on my part to understand this two aligned but gender-segregated NSOs situation. I'm still not sure I understand what's going on there, but we happened to have a well-run family pack very close to our house so that and the normalcy sealed the deal for Scouts BSA. After observing as a parent for a year, I have decided to help make sure this pack continues to be well run by becoming a leader myself to help ease the burden on those already serving. Our local council has wonderful facilities and regularly arranges suitably adventurous activities, so that's also very nice. My only complaint is that they failed to take the opportunity to teach the kids that you don't whine and quit just because it's cold when they cancelled the last adventure day due to cold when it was still well above freezing. There's no bad weather, only bad gear, as we say in Sweden. In Texas they think they're freezing to death if they're not sweating. (Ok, ok, I'm exaggerating, but there's a kernel of truth in there!) The Texans are teaching me about hot weather camping, though. I have now added a scorpion-finding UV flashlight to my gear along with a battery-run camping fan. International scouting adventure is always exciting!

Good morning, scouters! My cub scout recently finished their Metta Award, and as per the guidance I am planning an uplifted religious celebration for awarding the pin itself. Because our lineage also gives out pins for authorizations or empowerments, it makes sense to follow that custom for the Metta pin also. We do a lhasang, have the teacher purify the pin, and then student and teacher bow, the teachers gives the pin, and then they bow again. That's all fine and good, but then what? I think my cub scout is going to want a more lively party afterwards than we adults do, particularly since we usually start with a dharma talk and then have a formal feast practice! I'm thinking dharma wheel cupcakes and maybe three jewels sugar cookies, but there needs to be some kind of activity. What have others done to celebrate cub scouts earning Metta Awards?