Fed up

[Scoutfish]

I also want to be sure I understand something too: The son is in the troop that asked dad - who happens to be the WDL - to go along on a trip that his son ( who is in the troop)is going on?

 

Nothing at all wrong with that.

 

It's no different that you taking your son to a movie, and me - being a neighbor - getting mad that you didn't ask my son and myself too since they play together.

 

I am a CM who also happens to be a MB counselor for a troop. If that troop invited me to go...wherever .. with them, I have no obligation to invite or expect an invite for all my cubs.

 

My position of CM to the pack is not connected or related to my position in the troop or my position of District Cub camp promotions . Same with this dad. His position in the troop does not cross over nor does it carry any obligations to the pack.

 

Besides, he may not have the authority to extend the invite to anybody.

 

Like mentioned before...the parameters are controlled by those who did the inviting, not anybody else.

 

 

[ryetye]

I have 1 son in the boy scout troop and 1 in webelos There is also another dad that is in the same boat. Both of us are on the committe and are copied on all bs to cs emails. The email states to ask your scouts. It is not a raft trip it is a intertube float trip planned for the webelos in our area by our troop.

[ScoutNut]

So, to clarify -

 

Your Webelos den leader is also the CC of your Pack, and the CC of Troop A. The CM of your Pack, is also the COR for Troop A.

 

You, and another Webelos dad both have older sons in Troop B, and are both Committee Members of Troop B.

 

Troop B is the Troop inviting the Webelos from various Packs to go on an inner tube float trip down a river.

 

I take it that neither Troop's (A or B) Charter Organization also charters a Pack? Or, at the least, that your Pack does not have the same Charter Organization as either Troop A, or Troop B?

 

 

First of all, have you ever done an inner tube float on a river with Webelos before, and gotten a Tour Plan approved for it?

 

Personally, I find that a tube float for Webelos from multiple Packs is an iffy proposition at best. While the Boy Scouts in your Troop are guided by one set of safety policies, Webelos are still Cub Scouts and are guided by Cub Scout safety policies.

 

The Age-Appropriate Guidelines state that Webelos are OK to do tubing. However, the Guide to Safe Scouting states -

 

"Cub Scout activities afloat are limited to council or district events that do not include moving water or float trips (expeditions). Safety Afloat standards apply to the use of canoes, kayaks, rowboats, rafts, floating tubes, sailboats, motorboats (including waterskiing), and other small craft, but do not apply to transportation on large commercial vessels such as ferries and cruise ships."

 

"For Cub Scouts, the leadership ratio is one trained adult, staff member, or guide per five participants."

 

If you intend to take Webelos, all Safety Afloat rules must be used. All Webelos, and their attending parents, must give the Troop trip leader a current health form, and be classified as a "swimmer" by a BSA swim test. Your usual Webelos would not have taken a BSA swimming classification test. How does your Troop plan on verifying the swimming ability of any Webelos that wants to attend?

 

It sounds like your Troop is planning on taking few, if any, Webelos parents along. Again, personally, I would have a hard time sending my 9-10 year old Webelos son alone, on a river tubing trip, with a Troop I do not know well, if at all.

 

Webelos are not Boy Scouts and can not do all of the things that Boy Scouts do. I would limit invitations to Webelos dens to regular weekend campouts that have skills/activities, and the safety policies for them, at the Cub Scout level.

 

Back to your dilemma about contact info for your Pack's Webelos. Call your Cubmaster. If he will not give you a den roster, call your Pack's Charter Organization Rep (COR). There is no reason for the list not to be available to the den parents.