deerfieldmom

just curious, Our council now has online advancement. You can no longer go into the council store fill out the 3 part paper form and buy the ranks or pick them up at any retail outlets that carry bs & gs items. No one checked, no one asked. You could pick up any amount in anticipation and simply add the extras to your patch/awards stash for next year. The online advancement is done right onto our district's website. Only one person in the pack has the password. When you enter the info that little Johnny has completed his rank, you are actually advancing him on the council's software. You are certifying that he has done it. One reason I heard for this change is to stop parents from being able to go into the store and pick up the ranks themselves and say their child completed the work. (The capacity is there for all awards cubs can get but right now they are just requiring ranks to be done that way). They are just finishing up the first year so I can't tell you when the official date is that the program rolls over everyone on record to the new rank. Has anyone elses council gone paperless?

Ours is what ever weekend the Pack Graduation/Campout is. In recent years its been Fathers Day weekend. Reservations are made in early spring and the event info is posted enough in advance for everyone to know what the deadline this year will be to get whatever the kids are working towards done and recorded in the software so I can purchase it to hand out that weekend.

Do you mean the kind on a pole that two people carry when you are marching in a parade? That announces the name and town of your group? If so, ours is home made. I believe its a light weight wooden curtain rod maybe 3 inches in diameter. There are decorative finials on either end (the round kind)permanently attached. The banner itself is felt and the letters with our pack number and town were also cut from felt and attached with fabric glue. The banner hangs off the pole with one simple straight seam to form a pocket like a curtain. It's decorated with patches from all the events we've attended over the years as well as extras that were purchased as awards. This past year it was windy on parade day so we sewed another simple pocket across the bottom and inserted dowels. This way when the boys walk, the banner will hang down straighter and not blow in the wind.

john in kc makes a good point. they explained the exact senario at baloo training. you plan a pack event and then only a handful of the younger scouts sign up or just a few from you den. can you still go? do you cancel? we were told that so long as it was planned, posted and announced as a pack event and your pack baloo trained adult is there, you follow the standard rules including a tour permit... you can go.

knowing how those little minds work and what memories are kept in filing cabinets deep in their brains, those boys will remember that trip to summer camp for many years. whenever i get together with my old scouting friends, we still recall the 5 day trip over washington's birthday weekend when the stomach virus hit at about 10pm on sunday night. about 60 out of the 75 attendees were stricken. horrible at the time and yes,parents blamed the food though 1/2 the school was empty the next week as the virus hit hard. the next years trip was poorly attended as some moms felt being cooped up in a lodge in winter with wet from snow kids made us sick. BUT... darn if that trip hasn't gone down in history as the one we "survived". (that was 1978 - wow 30yrs ago!)

our pack uses scout manage and i like it very much. you are able to go in under den achievements and mark off all the kids in the den for what ever they did that night in one swoop or individually. it offers several reports such as ones by achievement(who has or who has not completed) or even my favorite, a to be purchased list. it also allows for doing group emails to all the members of the pack.

laure: totally agree. they can miss a major scout meeting or event for sports but its never the other way around. hmmm... i'll miss sleeping on a battleship because i can't miss "a" basketball practice. go figure. our blue and gold is in march and despite 3/4 of the pack earning rank by that date, it is so poorly attended. we are going to re- think what and how we the b&g this year. our tradition for the past few years is a catering hall with a sit down dinner. what kid cares about a 5 course dinner? and what parent wants to pay $25. a head? exactly, i'm scratching my head too! BUT>>> the end of the year picnic, where the stragglers get their ranks and everyone recieves neckerchiefs for the next levels... super well attended and aways a sucess. truly the one event where kids miss their sport of the week to attend.

sounds like one fantastic weekend that i sure know that i and my scouts would have loved to gone too. the way i judge if my sons and the scouts had a good time? are they coming home filty and exhausted? then they had a good time !!! sounds like those boys did !

pack15nissan: bravo for explaining it perfectly "i will help push them....but not pull them along". even my picture perfect scouts need a little pushing, nudging. pep talking and neogiating but i too definately will not pull. heck, i think we can all agree there's nights when we adults come home from work and sit down on the couch too long and we could use the push out the door to go to a den meeting !

is there any charge for the patches or postage and handling? i have quite a few avid little fishermen in my den who would love to add this to their red vests.

i have one scout who speaks russian at home and goes to language school for reading and writing as well as proper grammar each week. the mother had heard about the interpreter strip and asked me to get her info. council said, ideally, i should get a letter from the teacher on school letterhead stating that yes, the child is capable and did complete the requirements in front of them. i passed the info with a brief note along to the parent who in turn spoke to the language teacher. a few weeks later, an envelope came to my home from the teacher. this was unexpected... the teacher was proud to be asked to help the boy with his strip but regretfully, based on what the requirements were and the teacher's standards, he felt the boy was not yet ready to earn it. he said he would hold onto the paperwork til next year and re-test him. wow! i was impressed with his honestly and the seriousness that he took with his given task. the mother understood completely and the boy was sad but said he try again next year after more schooling.