Virtual Campfire

[Oldscout448]

2 hours ago, Pselb said:

 

My English teacher friend would have fun with this one.  He'd be wondering if the kids are too old for the program or the leaders......  From some of the other comments over the years, it's hard to tell.   

Some days I wonder myself.  I swear the hills weren't as steep 20 years ago.  Ahh, make that 40 years ago.  

btw no need to go back to lurking.

A difference of viewpoint is no reason to leave.  Sure we all have opinions, some strongly held, and some here express them somewhat forcefully.   

I think you unknowingly hit a red button issue for many here.  I admit being frustrated beyond words by parents who had much more free time, money,and were 20 years younger than I was and still utterly refused to do the slightest thing to help.  

I had one scout (a good kid) in my troop for three years and I never saw either one of his parents. They didn't even show up at courts of honor to clap for their son.  Too busy with their golf game /bridge club /cocktail parties.  I honestly wanted to smack them. After a while he stopped coming to courts of honor. Embarrassed I guess. Its hard to give your mother her pin when she won't ever come.  Then he  slowly stopped coming at all.

I know, I know that's not you. I'm not saying it is.

  But all of the old timers here have stories like that and a lot of emotions got dredged up from the past by your posts.

Hope this makes it a bit easier to understand.

" throws another log on the fire just to make the sparks fly up "

Edited February 12, 2018 by Oldscout448

[CalicoPenn]

4 hours ago, Pselb said:

I've lurked for a few years as my boy came up through a couple of years in Cub Scouts.  Now that he's getting older and has stayed interested in Cubs, next year Webelos, I thought it okay to get a bit more involved on the forum.  I'm not a eat, drink and sleep Scouting volunteer so does that warrant the red arrow judgements for my comments about it?  Just wondering because when I was lurking it didn't make any difference.  If my offering a parents perspective in is a problem, I can surely go back to lurking.  What seems to be the tradition on this?  Just curious.  I can stay off  if this is a problem.  My boy's fine with the way things are so I can go back to the way it was for me.

Wait - you mean this site has a place where people can click on green or red arrows to express their approval or disapproval of a post?  Get outta here.....

Seriously, don't go back to lurking - you're adding a valuable perspective.   My attitude towards those arrow things is those are for cowards.  If someone doesn't agree with something I've said, then A Scout is Brave - respond in the thread and lets have a discussion about it.  Otherwise, I just can't be bothered by it.

[CalicoPenn]

1 hour ago, SSScout said:

Virtual Campfire . . . What would B - P say about this?  No dancing flames to gaze into....  No warm radiance to utilize ...  What to do with the "Campfire Ash Tradition"?  

I suspect that B-P would be fleeing in terror at the witchcraft of instantaneous electronic communications.

[Pselb]

I probably won''t go back to lurking.  Some of the people here have given me some worthwhile ideas to kick around.  I don't ignore my kid one iota, but sometimes one is made to feel like as "just a parent" that somehow I'm letting my kid down.  But he comes back home each week and seems to be having a good time with it. 

I do see the toll it takes on the scout leadership and am concerned that by becoming involved, it will detract from my other responsibilities.  No I don't hang out at bars, don't play golf, and pretty much am a stay-at-home dad that spends as much time as I can with the kids.  It's important that they take on some independence and I don't ever want to feel like I'm tagging along or worse yet interfering with him and the social contacts he's making.  When I do see the other boys, they seem like nice kids, so I'm not worried about the crowd he hangs out with when it comes to his Cub Scout activities.

This virtual campfire is a comforting place to hang out and ask dumb questions. 

Am I supposed to throw on a log now? or as the newbie I'm supposed to go find some more logs in the woods?

[Oldscout448]

47 minutes ago, Pselb said:

I probably won''t go back to lurking.  Some of the people here have given me some worthwhile ideas to kick around.  I don't ignore my kid one iota, but sometimes one is made to feel like as "just a parent" that somehow I'm letting my kid down.  But he comes back home each week and seems to be having a good time with it. 

I do see the toll it takes on the scout leadership and am concerned that by becoming involved, it will detract from my other responsibilities.  No I don't hang out at bars, don't play golf, and pretty much am a stay-at-home dad that spends as much time as I can with the kids.  It's important that they take on some independence and I don't ever want to feel like I'm tagging along or worse yet interfering with him and the social contacts he's making.  When I do see the other boys, they seem like nice kids, so I'm not worried about the crowd he hangs out with when it comes to his Cub Scout activities.

This virtual campfire is a comforting place to hang out and ask dumb questions. 

Am I supposed to throw on a log now? or as the newbie I'm supposed to go find some more logs in the woods?

Hmm, If we follow tradition you are supposed to go find a snipe in the woods not logs.  But as you seem a decent fellow I suggest you just roast another marshmallow 

[MattR]

He should go over to Bryan and get us a smoke shifter

[Pselb]

45 minutes ago, Oldscout448 said:

Hmm, If we follow tradition you are supposed to go find a snipe in the woods not logs.  But as you seem a decent fellow I suggest you just roast another marshmallow 

Well, I'm not a scout, but I do know that snipe are indigenous to swampy areas not woods.  I think you would be sending me on a wild goose chase, but we all know wild geese hang out at rivers and lakes unless they are migrating and then will rest at night in open fields, again, not woods.  However, if you would like, I could possibly look around the fire here and maybe find an old coot or two for you.

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Pselb

[Pselb]

44 minutes ago, MattR said:

He should go over to Bryan and get us a smoke shifter

I've been around enough fires to know that "Smoke follows ugliness".  That shouldn't be that hard to find either.

[ianwilkins]

13 hours ago, Pselb said:

I'm not a eat, drink and sleep Scouting volunteer so does that warrant the red arrow judgements for my comments about it?  Just wondering because when I was lurking it didn't make any difference.  If my offering a parents perspective in is a problem, I can surely go back to lurking.  What seems to be the tradition on this?  Just curious.  I can stay off  if this is a problem.

Mate, they put up with me and a couple of others that aren't even in the same *country*, I say crack on.

[Tampa Turtle]

10 hours ago, Pselb said:

I've been around enough fires to know that "Smoke follows ugliness".  That shouldn't be that hard to find either.

So that is my problem. That and I refuse to say "White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit" to keep the smoke away.

[Tampa Turtle]

15 hours ago, SSScout said:

Virtual Campfire . . . What would B - P say about this?  No dancing flames to gaze into....  No warm radiance to utilize ...  What to do with the "Campfire Ash Tradition"?  

We reuse electrons from the first virtual campfire in 1991 when we still called it the World Wide Web.

[Tampa Turtle]

THIS is why Girl Scouts is MORE awesome than Cub Scouts! Why can't BSA get their act together so we can try an activity like this? ENRAGED!

http://blog.girlscouts.org/2018/01/girls-start-your-engines-day-at-ford.html

[CalicoPenn]

1 hour ago, Tampa Turtle said:

THIS is why Girl Scouts is MORE awesome than Cub Scouts! Why can't BSA get their act together so we can try an activity like this? ENRAGED!

http://blog.girlscouts.org/2018/01/girls-start-your-engines-day-at-ford.html

You're kidding, right?  Please tell me you're kidding.

[WisconsinMomma]

1 hour ago, Tampa Turtle said:

So that is my problem. That and I refuse to say "White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit" to keep the smoke away.

In my son's troop, it's I hate bunnies.  I don't know how that started.

Other news -- my boys started their Swimming merit badge workshop and made it through the first swim.  I'm getting a wetsuit and prescription goggles for my oldest.  He has very little body fat and was freezing in the water.  He is working on learning lashings for First class.  I showed him where he is at with his merit badges and talked up the Hornaday awards with him, as he is a nature lover and has a lot of those merit badges done.  My oldest and middle agreed to take an Archaeology merit badge class at the Burpee Museum in Rockford, IL, and my middle wants to do Astronomy,  oldest wants to do Robotics, too.  Oldest did a nice job on his first work as Scribe. 

[Tampa Turtle]

20 minutes ago, CalicoPenn said:

You're kidding, right?  Please tell me you're kidding.

Riddle me this CSE Surbaugh: "What's fast, wood, and powered by gravity?" Answer: A Girl Scout Girls Fast Track Race!

This is the kind of STEM (or is it STEAM or STEEM or STEAMER) activity that BSA should have started like in the 1950's or something. Why can't our boys (or girls now) carve blocks of wood and race them? Why can't OUR kids learn science while having fun?

The gloves are off...start selling Boy Scout Cookies...just make sure they are marketed correctly (Boy Scout Cookies "Macho Mocha Mints with extra Transfats! Nothing-but-Gluten Do-see-don'ts, Bacon wrapped lardettos!"