CubScoutJo

I was doing some research on another MB issue and I happenned upon this quote from the FAQ at scouting.org http://www.scouting.org/en/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors/FAQ.aspx >>>>Question: Can merit badge counselors coach their own sons or close relatives (for instance, a nephew)? Answer: Yes, but only if the young man is part of a group of Scouts who are all working on the same merit badge. Approved counselors may coach any Boy Scout who contacts them through the proper procedures.

- Merge Dog Care into Pets. The BSA is showing a clear and blatant anti-feline bias. AND a clear ANTI-RODENT bias

Just an aside, if you haven't seen a movie that may have been mentioned and you'd like to know how appropriate it may be for the age scout you are counseling, I like to use: http://www.kids-in-mind.com/ Bear in mind, it practically spoils some movie plots, but I've found it helpful when I'm picking out movies to bring to youth group overnighters, or when choosing movies just for my family to watch from the rental place.

So,am I reading this right: A troop can have more than one ASPL and both boys can use it as a POR? This would be great for the troop I serve because the current ASPL is often busy and unable to come to all the meetings. If there were two, they could work it out between them to make sure the dates are covered. Jo

Bugler is listed as a POR for Star and Life, but it isn't listed for Eagle. Is it an error of omission or is bugler the only POR allowed for lower ranks that is not allowed for Eagle? Jo Also, what about a POR that the scout has done "in name only" for the entire time he has had the job. If the Scoutmaster signs off on his book, then I'm assuming the committee must approve.(This message has been edited by CubScoutJo)

For those of you whose troops hold regular elections for Senior Patrol Leader and Patrol leaders, what have you found is the best time frame for holding them? We'd like to start having elections every six months, (with the option for the "incumbent" leaders to serve up to two "terms") but want to get folks opinions on if it is a good idea to change leadership right at the beginning of the school year, or at some other time. Jo

Good idea. I guess it's not just the competition aspect, but the fact that they tend to only interact with each other within the patrol, and don't seek out the others. Since we have slightly age based patrols, this means that the older boys don't interact with the younger and vice versa. Jo

Comments about cliques have led me to spin-off this thread We have started to employ the patrol method a bit more in the troop that I serve. It has been a "troop method" troop for many years, so we've started slowly by dividing into patrols for games, whereas before it was just a "pick-em" process for games. We've also started having patrols ride together for trips, as much as feasible and of course, tent together. There seems to be an undesireable consequence. The patrols are starting to become more "cliquish". And not really in a good way. More like they are starting to call the other patrols names and do not want to associate with each other in normal activities. We really do not want them to become adversaries, we'd like all to work together for the good of the troop. But it seems like more and more, the same boys stick together and never interact with the others. My thoughts are perhaps less competitions, but they do enjoy them. Has anyone else experienced this? Jo

For Tenderfoot, the scout is required to practice the skills for 30 days. We are coming up with a problem with the pullups. Only a few boys have any way to practice this daily. A couple have a swingset in the backyard, but other than that, there is no access to a pull up bar. Half of them don't even have PE this semester. We do have a pull up bar at our meeting place. We are considering just having the boys who are working on this practice the pull ups every week when they are at the meeting rather than every day. Would this be kosher? Or could anyone recommend another exercise they could do that would strengthen the same muscles used in the pull ups that we could have them do instead? The problem is that we have many boys for whom this Tenderfoot fitness requirement is the only stumbling block all the way to First Class.

For the Eagle Leadership project, it states: >>>Limitations Routine labor (a job or service normally rendered) should not be considered.

What about ordering the books? Does it take a similar looonnng time to get the books with the info for the trails? Jo

I'd like to add "We are Marshall" to the list. It was just on the other day and I thought it was very good. From Wikipedia: We Are Marshall is a 2006 motion picture directed about the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed most of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, the rebuilding of the program, and the healing that the community undergoes. From the website: "Life hit the West Virginia town of Huntington and its Marshall University even harder. When it did, Jack Lengyel came by to help pull them onto their feet by taking the job no one wanted: rebuilding the Marshall football program only months after a plane crash wiped out Marshall's beloved Thundering Herd. Matthew McConaughey portrays Lengyel, the energetic, compassionate coach of inexperienced players whose chances of victory are slim and none. They'll go with the slim. And as they do, their true-life story of heart, healing and football will thrill and inspire you. It's game day. Time to play till the whistle blows!"

LOL. You should see my head nodding in agreement as I go through each different answer! They all make sense. I am considering telling the scouts that the first one who gets his written plan to me will be the one that gets to do requirement 8 for this CoH. I'm gonna run that by the Scoutmaster. Don't want to cause a ruckus. The second part of that requirement mentioning being approved by the PLC isn't really done right now in our troop. Though I'd love to see the PLC more involved, we only recently even HAVE a PLC. We're still struggling with that. Jo(This message has been edited by cubscoutjo)

I am a Merit Badge counselor for the Communications Merit Badge. "Requirement 8 says: Plan a troop court of honor or campfire program. Have the patrol leaders' council approve it, then write the script and prepare the program. Serve as master of ceremonies." I currently have two boys working on this badge with me. They are currently planning the next COH (with Scoutmaster's approval) and they will both have a part being up front at the COH (Master of Ceremonies) I was going to sign the requirement 8 off for both of them. Do you think that this is meeting the requirement if they share the responsibility? The reason I ask now is that now there are two other boys who are taking the badge at a MB college. Now they, too, need to serve as Master of Ceremonies at a COH or campfire. I do not want to have four boys doing one court of honor for completing this requirement. I am going to encourage them to wait and do it at a campfire, or the next coh. Is that within my "rights" as a merit badge counselor? What is your opinion on both of the questions? Jo

Wing, So are you saying that many of those things are available to the boys during the day at the same time as Merit Badge classes are going on? My boys have been to three different summer camps, and at all of them, if there was a merit badge "class" going on, you couldn't use the pool, the shooting range, boats etc. etc. Jo (This message has been edited by cubscoutjo)

I second a vote for decision design. My son is the webmaster for his troop, and the decision design websites are easy to set up and update. It is also convenient for others (those who are approved to do so get the password) to add articles, photos and make changes to the website. Here are some examples of decision design websites: http://okpack218.org/Home.aspx http://www.troop119.com/Home.aspx http://troop277.org/Home.aspx http://www.troop121ship.org/Home.aspx http://www.brentwoodtroop93.org/Home.aspx You can see that they have the same basic template, but users have modified and customized them to suit their needs. The main thing is that the sites are not super-complicated, so another person can take it over when the original person "retires". Having an out-of-date troop website is worse than not having one at all. Decision Design also has a yahoo user group, so if you have questions you can get support from other users and also the decision design staff themselves. They are great! Jo Edited to add: You'll still need a domain name. But you can get them fairly cheap. I think we pay $10.00 per year for ours. (This message has been edited by CubScoutJo)

More and more parents and scouts are starting to visit our website when we started putting the forms and things for trips on the website rather than having someone print them all out themselves. This helps "spread the costs" of printing and ink to each scout, also helps conserve resources because only the folks that decide to go on a particular trip print out the forms (rather than the scoutmaster having a stack of them at a meeting). Another plus is if they lose their form, they can easily reprint. Once they start going there for the forms, they stick around for the other info. Jo(This message has been edited by CubScoutJo)

mms://video1.hmc.psu.edu/cmn/seanbramevideo.wmv I don't know this boy personally, but my scouts and I met him briefly at Webelos Camp the summer of 2005. He had only had his operation a few months prior and was already swimming. We had the pleasure of working on the whittling chip with him. It was an inpiration to see him able to cut soap using only one hand. And his positive attitude all through camp week was amazing. Anyhow, since that time, I've been following his story on carepages. http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=Brame&extrefid=tlcinvite'>http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=Brame&extrefid=tlcinvite Last October, Sean testified before the Pennsylvania Health and Human Services Committee in support of HB 2718, a bill requiring insurance companies to cover prosthetic devices and components. The bill goes to committee this month. http://www.amputee-coalition.org/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=310&z=3 Anyhow, here is Sean's speech. I'd say he's well on the way to earning the "Citizen in the Nation" merit badge (if he hasn't already)! ------------------------------ Sean's speech.... Good afternoon. My name is Sean Brame and I am a tri numeral amputee. Yes hidden underneath these fancy leg covers are two very expensive Titanium metal legs with even more expensive titanium feet. Underneath my shirt is a computer driven myo-electric arm and trust me you do not even want to begin to guess at how much that thing costs.. My mom tells me I am the Six Million Dollar Man. Just like Steve Austin, I was able to be rebuilt after an injury that cost me my limbs. 2 years ago, I was a normal 9 year old kid who was at a soccer practice. I fell when someone tripped me. I was told to shake it off and walk around. Later that evening, my foot began to really hurt. Mom and Dad took me to the doctors. My foot was X-rayed and we were told it was a bad sprain and to go home and rest it for a day or two. Early the next morning, I developed compartment syndrome and SEPSIS. I was rushed to Harrisburg Hospital just down the street. The doctor in the ER could not help me so he called Life Lion from Hershey Medical Center. On April 17, 2005, I was admitted to the PICU of the Penn State Childrens Hospital. I was a patient for over three months. I almost died. In fact, people say it is a miracle I lived through the first week let alone to be able to stand here with you today. My recovery did not come without a price. In order to save my life, both of my legs had to be amputated below the knee. Doctors also amputated my right hand and 4 fingers from my left hand. Fortunately, I have an orthopedic surgeon who stressed to my mothers insurance company the importance for me to have top of the line prosthetics. I am an athlete. I am a Boy Scout. I am an active Boy who wants to do Boy things. I am very lucky to have the right prosthetics to help me achieve my goals, but you know what, there are people in this state and in other states who are not as lucky as me. Their insurance company tells them the type of and number of prosthetics they can get. My prosthetic legs have allowed me to do many things such as: hike with my Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop; climb to the top of Diamond Hard volcano in Hawaii; play soccer with my teammates from the Harrisburg City Islanders and serve as water boy for the Red Land Patriots foot ball team by the way, I challenged the team that for every win they had on the football field, I would run 100 yards for them. well those turkeys won 13 games and I became an All American rusher with 1300 yards on my stat sheet. In fact, I am going to the Big 33 practices this summer to show them how I can run. But you know what has me really scared. losing my mobility when I get older when I am no longer covered under my moms insurance. If the law is not changed, it is possible that I may not be able get my legs replaced when I break them. by the way, I broke my first pair of feet in 7 months (the company guarantees them for 18-24 months). The silicone protectors are supposed to last about 4- 6 months well mine seem to be lasting about 7 -8 weeks. See I told you I am an active kid. Today, I am going to meet with members of the State House of Representatives and ask them to look hard at House Bill #317 Prosthetic Parity. This law will help amputees like me achieve their goals of mobility. ---------------------- Do a search on Sean Brame and you will find many articles about this young man and all he has achieved so far. (or visit his carepage http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=Brame&extrefid=tlcinvite) (This message has been edited by CubScoutJo)

>>I don't understand why any scout would ever earn Cycling or Hiking for the requirement.

That's a great meating idea. I can't think of any that you could actually do right now, so I'm looking forward to others ideas. But along the lines of the flag one, you could have them find the answers to a lot of first aid "myth" (like using butter to treat a burn, etc.) And just for fun, you could throw in the myth of "if you make that face, it'll stick that way" LOL Jo

My name is still CubScoutJo, but both my boys are now in Boy Scouts. I always thought it was kind of sad that Boy Scout meetings don't involve more "fun". At least maybe have a patrol do a skit or two. Yeah, yeah, I know some of you will say, "that's cub scout stuff", but the boy scouts do skits at summer camp and they really get into it and also enjoy watching the others perform. Courts of Honor are similarly boring in my sons' troop. No ceremony, just hand out the badge. Yawn. These are the days I miss cub scouts! Jo (This message has been edited by CubScoutJo)

We have a only a few new scouts planning on crossing over from 3 different packs. We will have their crossover ceremony as a Troop event with all 3 packs invited to attend. I've noticed that sometimes boys in the troop don't pay much attention to Webelos who are visiting. I hate to say but the boys in our troop can be rather clique-ish at times, preferring only to associate with those who are their friends in the troop. I want the new boys who have chosen our troop to feel welcome the night of their crossover and also to feel comfortable with each other (since they aren't from the same Webelos dens). If the ceremony is held at a campfire, what would be some suggestions for immediately afterwards that would help integrate the boys into the troop? How can we encourage the old scouts to welcome the new scouts, especially that first night? I've been to crossovers where the boys camp out that night with their new troop, but to me that can be quite overwhelming for the boys who have not helped plan the campout and who have maybe only camped out with the troop once (or in some cases not at all). Looking forward to hearing what's worked for other troops. YiS, jo

And the schoolmate who was able to recall and report the vehicle that took the victim is a real hero. Two boys were rescued by that one act! Jo

Are they planning all as a troop or was each patrol planning their own meals? If it is a small troop, then troop planning may work, however, the more people involved in planning the harder it is to get everyone to agree, so patrol-based meals would cut down on some of the arguments. Even so, we've seen the same thing even with 5 guys doing the planning. What worked the last time we did this was that the patrol decided on two guys who were going to work on the first class requirement for meal planning and serving as patrol cook and buying the food. They took suggestions, but they were ultimately the final vote for what was planned. Jo

Wow, great night for you and your troop. Hope someday to be making a similar post. Jo