Thank You Cards November 20, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Cub Scouts, Meeting Helps, Outings, Scout Leaders, Scouts, Thank You Cards, Tour Permit, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Happy Friday to you! Hopefully whenever you have an outing with your unit you file a tour permit. You know it’s required by Scouting for any meeting outside of your normal den / troop meeting place. But if you have an outing where someone helps you in any way, I would suggest something else that could be considered required: A Scout thank you card.
Whenever my den has an outing where someone helped us in any way, I have all the boys 
that attended sign the card. I also try to get a picture of the boys with the person or persons that helped us with the outing. Then I write a note of thanks, and mail it along with the picture of the boys and the individual. And not just for outings. If someone comes to our den meeting and gives a presentation, they will get a picture and thank you card. You can pick up these cards at your local Scout Shop, or at the on-line http://www.scoutstuff.org/. Or consider having your boys make them. If a person is willing to help out scouts in any way, I’m sure they would love to get this in the mail.
(Always use caution when sending out pictures of your den. Case in point: We went to City Hall in our town about a year and a half ago. We met the mayor and led the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the city council meeting. Fast forward to about a month ago. The picture of my den with the mayor showed up in the newspapers and campaign flyer mailings for his re-election! We never were asked if it was OK to have the picture of our sons used for this. He won re-election, so maybe we helped.)
It’s a good way for scouts to give goodwill, as the Law of the Pack states. And it’s a good way for a scout to be courteous, as the Boy Scout Law tells us.
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Giving the Gift of the Religious Emblem Award November 18, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Religious Emblem Program, Religious Emblems, Reverent, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Have you heard about the religious emblem program? My son is about to finish the second program offering of our faith, and I thought it would be good to discuss. The religious emblem program is a program that teaches your Scout about your religious faith, at his level. The program exists outside of Scouting – it is run through the particular denomination or religious organization that the Scout is a member of. Almost all religious faiths have a program. Scouting recognizes the programs and has an award to show completion of the program. Here’s a link that gives some more information on the youth religious emblem award:
http://www.usscouts.org/awards/religyouth.asp
Your religious organization will award your son some type of award, such as a medal. Upon 
earning this, your son can now wear the purple religious knot offered by BSA. The great thing about this knot is that once you earn it as a youth, you can wear it for life. If your son earns it as a Cub Scout, he can wear this knot on his Boy Scout uniform. And if he becomes a Scout leader one day, he can wear this knot on his leader uniform.
The purple knot cannot be earned as an adult. There is a knot for adult religious awards
, for those that go through the adult religious program, offered by many faith organizations. Here’s a link that gives more details on the adult religious awards:
http://www.usscouts.org/awards/religadult.asp
So should you look into this for your son? I would say – YES! I consider this award as one of the best gifts you can give your son. First, anytime we spend time learning about the God that made us and our particular faith equips us for life. Second, as an adult, he can wear his purple knot on his uniform showing his devotion to his faith and knowing that his parents helped him earn it.
So what can you do? First, check with your church or religious organization and see if they offer the program. If they don’t, see if there is someone in your unit that you can talk to about this (maybe your unit trainer, or a religious emblems committee member). Or maybe you can be that person! If you cannot find any resources, check out the links offered through PRAY publishing, to find your faith. Maybe you can take this to your religious organization, and start the process for your son and other scouts. Then you can give him the gift of the religious knot.
http://www.praypub.org/awards_main.htm
“A Scout is reverent”
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff
Mike Rowe’s Thoughts on Achieving Eagle Scout November 15, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Dirty Jobs, Discovery Channel, Eagle Scout, Mike Rowe, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Happy Sunday to you! The Scouting world is abuzz over Mike Rowe’s recent blog entry on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” and an Eagle Scout, doesn’t mince any words. I think every parent and Boy Scout should read this. Here is the link
http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2009/03/mike-offers-a-potential-eagle-scout-his-eagle-perspective/
I like his comment the best about settling for predictability and mediocrity. Why do 
we so often settle for this? How can we teach our boys to drive their life’s path, instead of sit in the passenger seat? I feel that this is one of the strongest benefits of Scouting. By learning skills through the outdoors and merit badge programs, our boys have the chance of finding what they like and what they want to do. I know of one local Scouter who found his career calling in science from working on merit badges as a Boy Scout. Plus, Scouting teaches you how to set goals and attain them. And Scouting teaches you how to lead and follow, not just to follow. Scouting doesn’t teach you how to wander aimlessly. Scouting doesn’t teach you how to aim low. Scouting doesn’t teach you how to “hang out”. Scouting teaches you how to achieve.
May our boys take Mike’s words to heart!
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Fire-free Smores November 14, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Campfires, Campouts, Cub Scouts, Meeting Helps, Outdoors, Scout Leaders, Scouts, Smores, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Happy Friday to you! As you know, it’s just not a Cub Scout campout without smores. There’s something about the combination of chocolate, roasted marshmallow, and graham crackers that can’t be beat. But what if you don’t have a campfire? What are you to do?
Here in southern California, we get dry spells in the fall (called Santa Ana’s), and we have campfire restrictions. There’s nothing like sitting around the fire ring staring at a lantern in it! Sometimes, when it’s real dry and windy, we can’t even use hot coals (so no dutch ovens). But that doesn’t mean we can’t have smores!
It’s easy to make a smore with no fire or heat. You still use your chocolate, and you still use 
your graham crackers. But instead of a marshmallow, you get a jar of marshmallow cream and substitute a spoonful of marshmallow cream for the roasted marshmallow. It tastes the same, and it still gets your child’s clothes and sleeping bag sticky. It’s not warm like a marshmallow right out of the fire, but a cold smore is better than no smore.
You can even use this outside of camping. Going to the beach for the day? Hosting a day-camp? Need a snack for a pack meeting? Now you can have smores and not have to worry about fire or marshmallow forks.
Enjoy!
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Webelos to Scout Transition – Part 3 November 12, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Campout Meal Planning, Campouts, Cub Scouts, Denner, Outdoors, Patrol Emblems, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos, Webelos to Scout Transition
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Hello fellow Scouters,
This is part 3 in my take on Webelos to Scout transition, this time dealing with the patrol method of scouting. In Boy Scouts, the patrol method is used to teach the boys to work as a team, sharing responsibilities to help achieve success for the patrol. Webelos are not a patrol, they are still a den. But in looking to prepare my den for Boy Scouts, I have incorporated the following ideas from the patrol method.
Identity – at the end of our Bear year, the boys, not me, selected the 
patrol name and patch they would use as Webelos. A leader in our unit a few years back that chose the name himself, and he missed a great opportunity to let the boys have a say in how the den is run. My den chose the fox patch. As with Boy Scouts, they get to be creative with their name in our pack, so they chose to call themselves the “Cool Foxes”. I even found a stuffed fox on-line that looks like the patrol patch fox! He’s our mascot. Here’s a link to the different patrol patches: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/patrol-patch.asp
Flag – for our flag, I made a flag that looks like the patrol patch they chose. Knowing someone that sews is such a great thing! In hindsight, this might have been a good project to have the boys do, maybe over the summer after we became Webelos.
Patrol Yell – I had the boys come up with a patrol yell, which they wrote at our first campout as Webelos. It’s not fancy but it’s something they created.
Leadership – if you are not using the denner / assistant denner by the time you are Webelos, you need to. It’s an outstanding way to start teaching leadership. Our denner is in charge of opening and closing ceremonies. Now that we are second year Webelos, I tell the boys that I shouldn’t be involved in the opening or closing ceremonies (I am there to help, though). The denner gets other tasks as well throughout his term.
Campout Planning – at the start of our second year as Webelos this past September, we had 4 campout opportunities in the fall: Two in October and two in November. Since I want to only have one a month, I could have chosen one each month and put it on the calendar. But this is a great opportunity to let the boys start choosing what they want to do, as the will be doing in Boy Scouts. So we sat down and voted on which campouts we would go to as a den. They chose one troop/den campout and last weekend’s council-wide Webelos Woods campout.
Cooking/Meal Planning – after becoming Webelos, whenever we have a campout (either den or pack campouts), we use the patrol method for handling meals. The den meeting before the campout the boys choose the menu and set up the duty roster, so all get an opportunity to cook and clean up (and learn the painful lesson that cooks eat last). For meals I pull the boys away from their parents and we cook, eat, and clean up as a group. They will be doing this as Boy Scouts, so hopefully this will get them ready for this aspect of camping.
Tent Sharing – with my older son’s den a few years back, I never had the boys leave their parent’s tent. When we had our first troop/Webelos campout, and the troop ask the boys to form patrols and share tents with another Webelos scout away from their parents, one of the boys in that den freaked out. He had never been away from his parents. It was a lesson to me, with my current den, to try to get the boys out of their parent’s tent, in preparation for Boy Scouts (with the parents permission). We started with our first year as Webelos. We had the Webelos share a tent with each other at a campout, with the parents tenting nearby. One boy couldn’t make it through the night and went to his dad’s tent, which was OK. We keep doing it so they can get over the fear of not being with their parent. I don’t want their first campout in Boy Scouts to have to deal with this.
[A couple of reminders are in order here. You cannot take your den camping until they become Webelos. Before that, you can only go to pack and council campouts. And Webelos camping is still parent-son camping, so a parent needs to attend. And a Webelos can never sleep in a tent of another parent – only his own parent or legal guardian].
These are some of the ways I’ve tried to introduce the patrol method of Boy Scouting to my Webelos den. The hope is that all this will ease their transition into Boy Scouting. If you have any ideas to bring the patrol method into a Webelos den, please post them in the comments. We’d love to hear what you’ve done to get your Webelos ready for Boy Scouts.
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Campout Follow Up November 10, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Campouts, Cub Scouts, Outdoors, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Happy Monday to you all! As I wrote on Friday, we had our Webelos Woods campout this weekend. The Boy Scouts did an excellent job of providing an experience that mixed Scouting skills and plain old fun for our Webelos. I will write in a day or two about how I used this campout to help my Webelos prepare for Boy Scouts, but in the meantime, here’s a rundown of this past weekend:
Friday – We wanted to get there early, because it gets crowded. So me and my son arrived around 4:30 and set up our camp in the area assigned to our pack. We set up our tent, then set up the kitchen area that would be for all my Webelos. Since we were done early, we were able to help others bring up their gear from the drop off point to our area. We also helped some moms set up their tents. It was a good lesson in service for my son. Me and my son split a Subway 1-foot long sandwich for dinner, so we didn’t have to cook. My son had his half first, then smashed my half in the cooler. The bread was thinner than a slice of pita, but it tasted good and I was hungry. As I ate, I noticed that one of the dads in my den was grilling a steak. It was wrapped in bacon. I will be re-thinking my Friday evening meal planning going forward.
Saturday – The day was divided into four activity rotations, all put on by local Boy Scout troops. There were rope bridges, orienteering lessons, fire building challenges, Webelos Scientist activity badge lessons, obstacle courses, CPR training, and a lot more. The boys had a blast, and it was such a good introduction to Boy Scouting. The Boy Scouts that were there did such a good job of running these activities, and they showed a lot of maturity when dealing with the Webelos. They set a great example to the Webelos and their parents. Whenever I got the chance, I talked to my parents individually about Boy Scouting. I am looking to try to get them to commit to Boy Scouts, and I had some good discussions with them. I am hoping that any that were on the fence about joining Boy Scouts will do it. After the camp-wide campfire, I collected ash for the den ash collection. For the second night in a row I took heat from my Webelos for forgetting to bring hot cocoa.
Sunday – At 3am, I woke up to rain (not sprinkles, and not showers). Here in southern California, you usually don’t have to worry about rain in campouts, since it doesn’t rain here much any more. The last time I had rain on a campout was the last time I went to Webelos Woods, with my older son in 2004. (So maybe it’s me?). So I got out of the tent, and moved the dutch ovens under the table, and closed the stove. There wasn’t anything else I could do until sunrise, so I went back into the tent and tried mostly unsuccessfuly to sleep. Around 6am I got up, and dried up the river running through my tent. (Thankfully my son and I slept on cots, so we were 3 feet off the ground – I’m not much of a minimalist). The rain had died down to off-and-on showers at this point, so we were able to have breakfast and pack up camp. It didn’t start raining heavily again until I started out on the mile walk to where my car was parked (we have to park outside the camp area). We packed up and I came home with every piece of gear I own wet and muddy. It will take me a couple of weeks to dry and clean everything. While cleaning the dutch ovens, I’m thinking that I’m pretty much done with tent camping.
Today – As I write this, I am already looking forward to our next campout – our pack’s annual “Cold Camp”, on Superbowl weekend. (In most parts of the country, you’d call this “cool camp”). I am running through ideas for meals. For this campout, steak wrapped in bacon will be on the menu.
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Webelos to Scout Transition – Part 2 November 7, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos, Webelos to Scout Transition
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Hello fellow Scouters,
Happy Friday to you all! Me and my son are headed out early today to our council’s Webelos Woods campout. (For those of you in colder climates, we here in Southern California get to camp all year. This weekend will be a “cool camp”, with night-time lows in the low 40’s). The Boy Scouts in our council put on this campout for the Webelos, specifically to show the best that Boy Scouting has to offer. I’ve been before with my older son and the scouts do a great job.
I will be writing more thoughts on this after we get back, but I wanted to note one more step in the Webelos to Scout transition process, that I will be working on this weekend. As a Webelos leader, I am an active recruiter for Boy Scouts. My job is to show the boys how great Boy Scouting is. Our pack generally feeds two Boy Scout troops, and my job is not to favor one or the other – I consider myself a recruiter for both troops. I will be talking to my Webelos about all the great things Scouting has to offer, no matter what troop the boys choose. We will discuss how important it is to choose a troop not based on what troop I go to, or their buddies go to. Although it’s good to choose a troop based on where your Scouting friends go to, it’s even better to choose one that fits you and your family’s philosophy of Scouting.
So along with having a (hopefully) great time camping this weekend, I will be recruiting for Boy Scouts. And hopefully the boys will want to join Boy Scouts and continue their Scouting experience.
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
The Scouting On-line Community November 5, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos
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Hello fellow Scouters,
The National Boy Scout of America recently rolled out a new Scouting on-line community. This is a social network site that brings leaders together. It’s still in beta form, and there will no doubt be a lot of modifications and improvements to it in the coming months. But even as it stands now I think it’s a great site and worth signing up. The thing I’ve found most useful are the Groups. You can join a group already formed and post ideas, questions, etc. in the forums. Or if there’s a particular area of Scouting you enjoy and you don’t see a group, you can form one. Personally, I think this will be the most powerful part of the on-line community – bringing those together with the same functions/interests/expertise.
To be part of the community, you first need to update your MyScouting profile to allow access to the on-line community. Log on to MyScouting at National’s site http://www.scouting.org/, then choose the Profile tab and scroll all the way to the bottom and check the Community box. You can then log on to the site at http://community.scouting.org/.
For those Scouting trainers out there, make sure you check out the Trainers group at Groups\Volunteers\Trainers. It’s open to everyone, even if you aren’t a trainer. There are already some great discussions going on.
In Scouting,
-Scouter Jeff <><
Webelos to Scout Transition October 30, 2008
Posted by jeffcummings in Uncategorized.Tags: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scout Leaders, Training, Webelos, Webelos to Scout Transition
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Hello fellow Scouters,
A lot has been said about Webelos to Boy Scout transition. As a Webelos den leader, it’s vital that work hard to make sure you boys go into Boy Scouts. Since much has been written about this topic, I won’t go into too much detail. But here are a few thoughts for Webelos den leader to consider.
First, as a den leader, you should consider changing the way you hold den meetings to look more like a troop meeting. What I did in both the Webelos dens I’ve led is the first year of the program was more like Cub Scouts – it was all about advancements and pack meeting preparation. But I made a shift in year two of the program. For that year (or partial year in most cases), I backed off of Webelos activity badge advancements and looked more to work on Scout skills, as our local troops do. I also took the boys to as many troop meetings as I could our second year. I wanted the first troop meeting they attended as official Boy Scouts to be old news, not something new and possibly intimidating.
Second, as a Webelos den leader, make sure you get to troop meetings yourself. Go early in your Webelos program and go often. If you want to pattern your meetings after troop meetings, you have to know what target you are aiming for. And once probably won’t be enough. Usually your pack has a troop or two it feeds into, and your Cubmaster should have the contacts for that troop. But don’t be afraid to go to your local Roundtable and ask some of the Boy Scout leaders there if you can come to their meetings. Be bold! Don’t forget that you have what they need – Webelos that will be transitioning soon.
Finally, one thing I’ve asked all of my parents is to commit to Boy Scouts for one year. There are so many good things about Boy Scouts, it’s a shame to not join. It’s too easy for the boys and parents to stop Scouting when they graduate from the Cub Scout program, and they will end up missing so much. So I ask my parents to join Boy Scouts and give it a year before making the decision to stay or not. By then hopefully they will see the promise of Scouting and how it molds and shapes a young man’s life.
If you have tips or advice on this topic, please leave it in the comments.
In Scouting,
-Jeff <><
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