Baloo training

[jrodriguez2]

We just started a new pack and I found out that balooo training has been cancled again. There has not been a baloo training in my council for 2 years. I went on to other local council web sites and I have missed there training for baloo. So if I am correct I can not take my scouts camping this summer. What can I do to ratify the situation? My scouts want to go camping this summer really bad. I am in Bay Area Council in Texas. HELP

[ScoutNut]

You can not take a Wolf den camping as a DEN in any case, with or without BALOO.

 

Call your council and get info on the Cub Summer Camps, Day Camps & Twilight Camps being put on by the council & the different Districts. If it is too late to sign up - contact the other local councils about their camps.

 

Sign up for BALOO in fall at one of your nearby councils. Then you will be able to put together & run a camping trip for the entire PACK!

 

 

[funscout]

Check with nearby Packs to see if one of their BALOO trained leaders would be willing to camp with your Pack. I don't know if it's okay for 2 Packs to camp together, but if that's the case, then maybe you could find a "brother" Pack with BALOO trained leaders who would like to join you.

 

My Pack just had our end of the year Pack Meeting and Camp-out. I am currently the only one who has taken BALOO training, and I will be done with Cub Scouts when my younger son crosses over to Boy Scouts next Spring. I keep reminding the other leaders that there won't be any more camp-outs if they don't get trained. It's not that they don't want to do it, they have simply had conflicts every time it has been offered.

 

BALOO is usually offered both Fall and Spring, but this year our Council switched the Spring date to the same weekend that we were having our Pinewood Derby. If they had kept the original date, some of our leaders could have gone.

[Lisabob]

Try contacting area troops too. They might have a Baloo-trained individual who recently crossed over to the troop.

 

Also around here, our district camping chair has offered in the past to go camping with any pack that finds themselves suddenly short on the BALOO requirement (provided that it was unforeseen). I don't know if anyone took her up on the offer but you might contact your district leaders and inquire. In particular I'd want to talk with the training chair and ask him or her to try and lend a hand since that's the person who probably canceled your BALOO class and put you here to start with!

 

Good luck!

 

Oh, PS, I really, really, support the idea of taking the kids to a district or council summer camp (day or resident), if the option exists. These are usually great programs and they'll do a lot of the organizational work for you.

 

Lisa'bob

[fgoodwin]

You might contact SHAC and find out which district in SHAC is closest to you, then ask for their training chairman, who should be able to tell you when their next few BALOOs are scheduled.

[mbeyke]

Scoutnut you are correct about not taking any cub scout den camping without parents. But a Pack can have a Pack Family Campout as long as there is a Baloo or LOE trained leader present and each scout must have a parent or gardian present. Webelos can have a Den Family campout under the same conditions.

[Oak Tree]

mbeyke,

 

Welcome to the forum! You are correct that having a parent or guardian present for each Scout is the preferred option, but it is not strictly required. The quote from the G2SS is "In most cases, each youth member will be under the supervision of a parent or guardian. In all cases, each youth participant is responsible to a specific adult."

 

Oak Tree

 

[ScoutNut]

I don't want to turn this into another rule discussion. Especially about this rule, which I feel that BSA has spelled out rather clearly.

 

I don't care if they bring parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins & grandparents with them - Tiger, Wolf & Bear dens may NOT do DEN camping. Period. The only way that a Tour Permit would be approved by a council for Tiger, Wolf, or Bear DEN camping is if the leader who filled it out made it LOOK like it was for PACK camping.

 

WEBELOS is the ONLY Cub Scout den that can go out, on their own, & camp as a DEN, & not with the rest of the Pack. Also, a BALOO trained person is NOT required to take a Webelos den camping. BSA highly recommends (SHOULD - in all caps) that the Webelos leaders taking their Scouts den camping be trained in Outdoor Leader Skills for Webelos Leaders, but, at this time, it is not REQUIRED.

 

BALOO training is required for adults who are organizing & leading any & all PACK overnighters. These are overnight events organized by the PACK for ALL members of the PACK.

 

BALOO training is NOT required to attend Council/District organized events such as Day Camp, Twilight Camp, Resident Camp or Parent/Pal (Family) Camps.

 

BTW - What exactly is LOE?? And why would you think it could substitute for BALOO training?

 

 

(This message has been edited by ScoutNut)

[Oak Tree]

ScoutNut,

 

I agree with your interpretation of the rules.

 

My question is, what makes you think that jrodriguez2 wants to take his wolf den camping? From his post, I would take it to mean that he wants to do a pack campout. Now, you may be right - I'm just wondering how you got there.

 

And I also agree that BALOO does not have some other LOE option. The Guide is pretty clear on that, too.

 

I'm actually a little unclear on the disagreement between you and mbeyke. I don't know why he thinks he's correcting you, since I don't see any actual disagreement between your primary positions. And so consequently, I don't understand why you're insisting that tiger, wolf, and bear dens can't do camping - that's what he (she?) said, too. Maybe I'm just not seeing all the posts... That would be a weird bug.

 

Oak Tree

[clydesdale115]

Apparently for a long time in our Pack, we had only one DL who had BALOO training. He didn't actually do planning for any of the Pack camp-outs, but he was always there, usually did the cooking for the Pack meals.

 

When we joined this Pack, I attended BALOO along with several other leaders. We now have 5 BALOO-trained adults in the Pack, so we're covered.

 

We just crossed our den over to Webelos and already have some Web camp-outs planned. My husband and I have not attended WLOT yet (it is offered in October 2006, first time it has come around in 2 years), but we'll get it. I am BALOO, he is Wood Badge, we should be alright until then :-)

 

I understand about having your hands tied, since the Council is not offering the class you need. You might have some luck contacting area Councils to see what they have lined up. I would also attend the next Roundtable in your district and plead for a BALOO leader to join your Pack on a camp-out. Your boys could also still attend Day Camp or Res Camp without having a BALOO leader. Around here, Fall is the time of year most big training happens (Univ. of Scouting, BALOO, etc.)

clyde

[ScoutNut]

My Physic Energies were flowing!

 

Actually I have no idea what kind of camping jrodriguez2 is planning. However, with the number of folks posting lately about rewriting the BSA program, doing their own thing & then claiming they had no idea it was against the rules or they knew & wanted to do it their way anyway, I just thought I would post an FYI.

 

As for mbeyke, I have no disagreement with him/her. It is EXTREMELY difficult at times in these (& other) forums to understand, clearly, what another poster is trying to get across - or to make sure what you are trying to communicate comes across clearly & correctly. There are also those newbie lurkers who might have even less of a clue than the rest of us.

 

Mbeyke stated - "you are correct about not taking any cub scout den camping without parents"

 

Perhaps because of the aforementioned rewriting of BSA policy, I felt a need to clarify the den camping part.

 

Hey, you can always ignore me. My kids do it all the time!! They also heave giant sighs, roll their eyes, & tell me I need to "get a life" beyond Scouting! HA!

 

[ScoutNut]

5 BALOO trained folks is GREAT!! We just got another one to bring us up to 3 (with 2 in the same family-mine!). COOL!

 

What I have came to discover about councils & training is it is NOT, in most cases, the councils fault that the training is not there.

 

I tried for 2 years (4 times) to take BALOO. All four times the training had to be cancled because the ONLY folks signed up were my hubby & me! Sad. In September, the Webelso Outdoor Training was cancled because of lack of interest. The ONLY reason BALOO is now happening is because council has cracked down on approving Tour Permits! Thankfully, instead of doing there own thing, without a Tour Permit, folks are now taking training.

 

I realize it might seem like overkill to those who have camped regularly for years. But, there are a LOT of folks out there who are NOT very camping experienced. If you go into it with an open mind, you just might learn SOMETHING, and then you can bring the joy of camping back to the rest of your Pack!

 

OK - BALOO ad is now finished!

 

BTW - HAPPY CAMPING THIS SUMMER CUB SCOUTS & SCOUTERS!!!

[BrentAllen]

We have the opposite situation at our council (AAC). The course is offered twice a year, and is sold out with plenty of Scouters wanting to attend.

We have 6 BALOO trained leaders in our Pack, but I keep pushing for all of our Den leaders to take the course. Some will argue they aleardy know how to camp, and they don't think they will get anything out of the class. I point out the course is not only designed to teach you how to camp, but also teaches how to take your unit camping safely, which is a big difference. We were taught how to keep an eye out for the new campers (brand new equipment, right out of the box) and to keep an eye on them. Some folks just don't want to admit they haven't been camping before.

Several years back, there were two fatalities at Bert Adams Scout Camp - a Tiger and his dad. It got cold that night, so the dad took the hibatchi grill they had used for cooking inside the tent, for warmth. They never woke up again. What is obviously dangerous to an experienced camper might appear harmless to a new one.

[John-in-KC]

Mr or Ms Rodriguez,

 

Welcome to the campfire. Pull up a log. Take a load off those feet for a while

 

LisaBob and funscout both give you solid pragmatic ideas that hopefully will get you by for a little while.

 

In the meantime...

 

Your Pack is a the result of a Scouting license (charter) agreement. A local civic organization, such as the Kiwanis, the local Catholic Church, or maybe even a school PTA, is the Chartered Partner who actually owns the BSA license.

 

This is one of the times for your Cubmaster or Committee Chairman to engage with that Chartered Partner. BY CONTRACT (License/charter), the Local Council PROMISES to provide training.

 

The Chartered Partner has two persons who can get your Council's attention: The Institutional Head (in BSAspeak the Executive Officer) and the Chartered Organization Representative. Your COR is a voting member of the Council, and by his office can attend District Committee meetings. He can ask the District Training operating committee to find resources for you; he can also ask your Unit Commissioner for the same.

 

Let us know how getting the training resources you need pans out.