What do you do for lost scout stuff?

[Tampa Turtle]

Well gee isn't it humiliating to charge money than making them do something silly to deter a behavior. I know some rich kids in our Troops that get $40 a week allowance--they would just pay it while my kids get $3 a month and are very forgetful. Seems a little discriminatory. Just saying.

[Scoutfish]

Being in a pack, I guess things are diffrent for me than most of you.

 

And I'll give anybody 3 guess as to what is the most common lost item...

 

Anybody? Anybody at all?

 

NECKER SLIDES!

 

Anybody want to tell me how it is my fault, and my responcibility to know who each individual necker belongs to?

 

So I have an attache case full of sliders, a couple neckers, a flashligh, a BSA carabbiner, 2 flashlights, and a compass.

 

I just wait till somebody asks if I happen to have seen a "X". and if the describe it correctly, I give it to them.

[Basementdweller]

$40 a week allowance, heck thats more than I get.

[artjrk]

Any item unclaimed or accounted for after each trip goes straight into the dumpster next to the shed. No scout goes home before all items are either claimed, accounted for or dumped. Since we meet in a school and our storage shed (which we share with the Pack)is not very big, storage space is at a premium.

 

As far as singing goes. Our district has put an end to that tradition. At camporees when lost items are claimed there is the occassional boy who sings anyway because they like the spotlight.

[qwazse]

Scoutfish, those medal slides and cubs just don't mix. Have your cubs make their own slides ASPAP! (Each den could have a contest.) The easiest one in my opinion is a simple Turk's head out of leather thong. Grips, lightweight, can be made distinctive with beads and such, and cheaply replaced.

 

Just sayin' there's nothin' in the book requiring the metal slide. And if someone tells you there is you have a right to take their uniform police card and cut it in two. Fun for every one.

[CCbytrickery]

We hold onto things for about a month. The CM will announce at the next pack meeting "at the campout last month, we picked up xx and xx and xx" and hold them up. If not picked up at the end of that meeting, a notice will go to the dens that they have 2 more weeks to claim their belongings. Then either it goes to the Scout Closet, or to the donation box at our church (sponser).

 

The CM got tired of having stuff in his garage constantly, so came up with this policy.

[Eagle92]

550 cord is also an option for Woggles with lots of color options, but my favorite material is clothesline.

[IceStationZebra]

We sing "I'm a little tea pot." But we apply it to everyone - scouts, scouters, district. If they are shy we let it die quickly, enough said. ISZ

[Eagle732]

When my Web son and I made an unannounced visit a local troop we witnessed their procedure for returning lost personal property. An item was held up by the SM as he asked "who belongs to this?. A scout would come to the front of the room and squat down and do a duck walk while quacking back and forth across the room. The rest of the troop would cheer and laugh. I also saw many items go unclaimed. I wonder if the embarrassment was not worth the price to replace the item. Later my son said he didn't want to quack if he lost something and would not consider joining that troop even though his best friend from his den did. I asked the SM if it was mandatory to do this to have a lost item returned. He said yes, it was part of their program. I am not judging them, they are free to do this if they choose (to a point) but in this case it hurt their recruiting efforts. Other Webs from my son's den visited on the special Webelos Visit Night, they did not see this procedure.

[Eagle92]

ISZ,

 

1) WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the virtual campfire.

 

 

2) FYI, doing something for lost gear,i.e. singing, duck walks, etc, is no longer allowed in the BSA. Don't know when it was disallowed as I remember that kind of stuff being done at day camp and summer camp way back in the day. But when I was at PDL-1, we did a standard camp skit of the time, and got out butts handed to us by the national folks for doing it. Was told that the type of skit we did, as well as practices such as you describe, are not what the BSA is about and shouldn't be done.

 

What I find funny is some of the practices the BSA doesn't want us to use, I've seen done in MS and HS athletic practices.

 

That said, in my old troop with the shy ones, we would have an older scout or myself jump in sing it with them in a very hammy way, and usually the entire troop would get involved to lessen the nervousness and embarrassment.

[Eagle732]

 

For our troop we just pile the stuff up in a corner and make an announcement to please check the lost and found box if you're missing something. After a few months we sort and store it. When new scouts join we let them pick items from stored items. They get lots of nice free stuff. Gloves, hats, knives (I usually keep those and use them for new Scouts to practice their sharpening skills), water bottles, and mess kits are favorite contributions.

[Eagle732]

Twocubdad's said " Our guys do a pretty cool thing -- the whole patrol accompanies the scout forward and sings with them. Or sometimes is it's a little guy, a number of older Scouts sing with them"

 

I have a whole lot of respect for a patrol that sticks together like that!

 

 

[Oak Tree]

We try to hand it all back at the end of the trip or the meeting, but if that doesn't work, we put it in the lost and found box. We usually set out all of those items at courts of honor when the parents can also take a look. After that we will take it to Goodwill or throw it out. I do like the idea of auctioning it off, though.

 

We tell our Scouts to label everything, and not just everything, but every piece of every thing. Still doesn't work, of course.

[Tampa Turtle]

Haze 'em til they cry.

[OldGreyEagle]

See, I don't see as singing for lost stuff as hazing. In a hazing ritual, most times its entry into a club. Fraternity hazing is all about becoming a brother and once you have sealed the bonds of Brotherhood, you're good. You dont have to do it again. In the Navy crossing the Equator puts you in the "Trusty Shellback" category and once you have gone through the ritual, again, you're good, you dont do it again.

 

But singing for lost stuff, that is supposed to teach you something. I guess teach you to keep track of your stuff or else someone will take it and make you do something in front of the group to get it back. Its not really Hazing in the classic sense of the word, because once you are hazed into a group, its over. if you belong to a "Sing to get stuff back" Troop you will sing to get anything back all the time.

 

Its just for the amusement of the others or to teach you to be accountable. How it gets seen depends on each persons personality. I know a few kids who will loose things on purpose just to get in the spotlight. I know others who will never go to another troop function because they might have to sing.

 

Learning accountability is something we should as a societal value, whether or not singing to regain lost items assists in this I am not certain. But if it works for you, I cant say you are wrong. But if you scare kids away, you may wish to reconsider your methods