Cub Scout Single Night Camping Only

[RichardB]

@sierracharliescouter No one will harm you without your consent; you will only be harmed when you think you are harmed.    Epictetus...

 

[sierracharliescouter]

51 minutes ago, RichardB said:

@sierracharliescouter No one will harm you without your consent; you will only be harmed when you think you are harmed.    Epictetus...

 

That somehow seems like an inappropriate quote given Scouting's past problems...

[DannyG]

I have been with the same Cub Pack for 6 years. It was always a 2-night camping trip, Friday and Saturday (with options of spending one night or the other; or coming only for the day program). 2-night prohibition seems arbitrary.

[KublaiKen]

I was thinking about this a little more, and I think if I could send @RichardB one (long) message from this it would be:

This forum, while hardly a complete cross-section of Scouting, seems to have a pretty good selection from different councils and different programs. It skews to more experienced Scouters, I'd say. The group is not homogeneous in thought by any stretch. Though some of the members are clearly wrong on many things (😁), not one poster here has ever come across to me as anything other than well-reasoned and well-meaning.

If the members of this group didn't understand BSA's rules, BSA has a big problem.

Whether Circle 10's confusion about BSA's rules is representative of other councils or not, it represents a huge problem for BSA.

In my view, the best response to this confusion is not subterfuge and semantics, but that is the current impression BSA is projecting. It is a terrible look to me at least, a huge supporter and third generation member of the organization. I can't imagine it looks good to BSA's critics and detractors.

We teach our Scouts to acknowledge their mistakes and correct them. I'd like to be able to point to Texas when I tell them that.

[InquisitiveScouter]

6 minutes ago, KublaiKen said:

If the members of this group didn't understand BSA's rules, BSA has a big problem.

This.

[qwazse]

Let’s be very clear. Reasons don’t have to be empirically based (although it helps when they are). Wether the policy was the result of speculation from experts in child development or risk-averse lawyers, it would be very nice to relay to parents when a policy was spelled out and by whom.

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

I wasn't sure if my scout was ready to enjoy camping yet when we planned to go to our first pack overnighter - for only one of the two nights in case it went poorly. While I had to bribe them with a surprise present to go, once they did it was a done deal and they forgot about the present. They absolutely did not want to go home, and getting to go camping for a whole weekend with the other scouts to play with is THE major draw of scouting for them. Staying two nights is also much more relaxing for me.

I am completely failing to see what the problem is, and don't have a guess either. Other parents in our pack feel similarly. This rule is almost certainly going to be effectively broken unless a good rationale can be given.

[InquisitiveScouter]

1 minute ago, AwakeEnergyScouter said:

This rule is almost certainly going to be effectively broken unless a good rationale can be given.

This, too @RichardB

[cmd]

23 hours ago, RichardB said:

@sierracharliescouter No one will harm you without your consent; you will only be harmed when you think you are harmed.    Epictetus...

 

This sounds a whole lot like permission from @RichardB to ignore the entire g2ss, because harm only comes from your beliefs and not your actions. 

[sierracharliescouter]

1 hour ago, cmd said:

This sounds a whole lot like permission from @RichardB to ignore the entire g2ss, because harm only comes from your beliefs and not your actions. 

Well, I'm still not clear if I need permission to deviate from GTSS, because I still don't know if it is a "guide" or absolute, never to be broken, rules. Given that I have to break some of GTSS just to have scouts actually complete their advancement requirements, I'm stuck in Scout-rules purgatory.

[Mrjeff]

I always like to rely on personal experiences and real world observations.  I've been in Scouting for a long time and I have three adult sons and two adult daughters who participated in Scouting along with two grandsons.   Out of this group I have 3 generations of Eagles that include two sons and one grandsons.   My oldest son started going to Scout camp when he was Cub Scout age, about 8 years old.  He joined the Boy Scouts at age 11 and by the time he was 15 he had all of the camping that he needed, earned Star and quit.   The other two were bound by the old Cub Scout rules of no camping except one night during their WEBELOS year and that had to be with a Scout troop.  I made sure that they focused on CS activities and this time I  stuck to those rules.  Those guys stuck with it, earned Eagle and had a good time doing it.  They each stayed until they were 18 and one of them moved into a leadership position and is a three bead Woodbadger.   The difference between my Star Scout and the two Eagle Scouts was the Scouting burnout that was experienced by my Star son and the lack of burnout by my two Eagles.  If our Cubs get to do the Boy Scout stuff too soon they very may get burned out.  I would like to see something like the old rules reinstated so our Scouts can grow, carry on and experience the real adventure of Scouting.  By the way, girls weren't allowed to be Boy Scouts but both daughters joined an Explorer Post and both became Post Presidents and worked many seasons at summer camp. One is even a Woodbadger.   My whole point is that the little guyes should do little guy stuff and when they to become a Boy Scout they get to do Boy Scout stuff.  This is wholly based on my personal experience and not on some good ideas or unproven theories. 

 

 

[Mrjeff]

I'm mainly involved with the OA and Eagle BORs so please excuse my ignorance as I have been away from the Cub world for a long time.  Could someone please tell me what an AOL unit is?

[5thGenTexan]

1 hour ago, Mrjeff said:

I'm mainly involved with the OA and Eagle BORs so please excuse my ignorance as I have been away from the Cub world for a long time.  Could someone please tell me what an AOL unit is?

Arrow of Light. Highest rank/award in Cub Scouts.  5th Grade kids.  The majority of the requirements are designed to prepare a Scout to crossover to a Troop.  AOL is one of the 3 youth awards that can be worn on an adult uniform as a knot.  AOL - Eagle Scout - Religious Emblem

[Mrjeff]

Thanks, I'm failures with the Arrow of Light.  So is an AOL unit made up of kids who have earned it, or are in their 2nd Year of WEBELOS and are working on it?

[MikeS72]

2 hours ago, Mrjeff said:

Thanks, I'm failures with the Arrow of Light.  So is an AOL unit made up of kids who have earned it, or are in their 2nd Year of WEBELOS and are working on it?

What is commonly referred to as an AOL Den is made up of 5th graders who are working toward earning the AOL.  Many are in their 2nd year of WEBELOS, some are in their first year of Scouting.  A lot of the AOL Dens work toward bridging into troops in the February/March time frame.