I am working on planning for my den's My Community adventure, particularly Requirement 3 which reads

"Choose a federal law and create a timeline of the history of the law.  Include the involvement of the 3 branches of government."

We are a combined Den with the Bears and I was thinking about doing this with the Federal Flag Code as it will also tie into what they are doing in the Paws for Action adventure.

I'm also not super well educated on the different branches of the government and the history of the Federal Flag Code.

Has anyone done something similar, or have any information that would be helpful with this?

Thanks

An outside parent called me, told me a child who just joined my pack sexually abused her daughter when he was 5 years old, 2 years ago. They were playing together and he pulled her pants down and asked to cuddle her privates. Mom said she got the principle involved which should mean they called CPS. What do I do with this information? In my mind I say that his demand came from experience that came from inside his house meaning he was abused at home then went to her and used the same technique and language he learned at home. I’m assuming CPS already involved, this was 2 years ago. Now I know too much and I’m going to be worried around the parents and the child around our other scouts, but this was years ago and I don’t know their side of the story. Do I just use a triple buddy system when I send him to the bathrooms? Do I keep extra eyes on the parents not knowing what CPS found? Do I decline when they ask if the older half brother can camp with us? Has anyone else has experience with this?

I'm part of a Pack that's currently boys only, but we want to become a family pack. The thing is we have to go through our host church, they are conservative.

We are looking for sources for the benefits to moving to a family pack so we have actually information instead of feelings. We are pulling our council in to get numbers from them but the more the better

Also anyone that has been through this kind of transition I would appreciate the help

As Committee Chair i'm responsible for telling scout parents that their children's renewal is up or past due? I got a report the other day and I have about 10 scouts that their renewal was due 9/30/24. Two scouts say pending.

I'm starting to look into my second year of doing the recharting and I thought it is supposed to get easier.

ETA: so I don't keep getting comments its about the scout. This is not a healthy environment for anyone right now but a child doesn't see that. Oh and our scout acct funds are basically being held hostage. I'm not airing all our packs dirty laundry but it is a must to move packs.

So we are wanting to switch packs as parents but our scout is adamant that's not happening. Scout is wanting to stay with their friends from school. Any tips on helping the transition? We are visiting other packs starting Mon to see what one would be a better fit. Scout is wigging out about these upcoming visits.

The morning weather ended up being great! Pack 131 distributed nearly 600 food bags for neighbors to put food in for us to collect next weekend.

Have a great day! Will in Ann Arbor

The official poster pack has been out of stock on line forever, and my local store doesn't gave any either. Beat ideas for a replacement? Planning to use them to help the cubs recite it at each meeting. If someone has printable files I have a print store I can go to.

Yesterday, u/sonotorian shared a link to the Scout Shop for the Scouting America patch for the new uniforms. Unfortunately, the link started going to a 404 error page before it was widely seen. But now it's back! Currently, these are showing as in-stock for $1.99 each.

Navy uniform version:
https://www.scoutshop.org/strip-navy-scouting-america-cs-663906.html

Tan uniform version:
https://www.scoutshop.org/strip-tan-scouting-america-sbsa-663907.html

Alas, there are none for Venturing green or Sea Scouts black uniforms.

I’m an AOL Den Leader who completed BALOO training a month ago. I came away inspired to lead a campfire program. It’s always been our Cubmaster leading the fire and I want to put my own stamp on it. We have a campout previously scheduled with the Troop in four weeks that won’t have a campfire (indoor dinner), and families don’t want to camp in the New England cold again so soon before that. So I scheduled a camping event for this weekend without the camping: outdoor activities at the local Scouts camp in the afternoon, an easy meal, and then a campfire with skits, songs, stories, etc before folks head home in the evening. Everyone seemed excited.

EXCEPT we’ve had drought conditions and recent wildfires, so—sensibly but disappointingly—open fires are not allowed this weekend. The camp announced this half an hour ago.

How can I salvage the situation? We will obviously still do the planned skill building and dinner, but how can we replace a campfire? It’s going to be in the low 40’s and dark, so I’m not sure that there’s a way to do skits etc. without everyone being miserable. I think we’ll just have to pack up after dinner and head home. I’m bummed because I really wanted to do a campfire and may need to wait for months. More importantly, I’m worried the non-campfire things I’ve planned will be underwhelming on their own.

Any ideas? TIA

We have some leaders that need to change positions to reflect their current status. Our COR has tried to change their positions several times since August, but the system simply won't save. Our Council is at a loss. They think it's due to the new renewal process. They have a band aid fix for it by way of paper applications, but it doesn't change the fact that this error still occurs.

Big question is: Has anyone else encountered this issue? I know normally people just carry on and do the things they are supposed to do, but this is affecting two of our dens. I'm just curious as to if the issue is isolated to our pack/council, or if it's a larger issue.

Okay.

I've been picked to MC the fire at our campout this weekend.

I've got my songs picked, need some good run on and maybe a couple simple skits I can teach to a group of cubs in a half hour or so.

What's the best you got?

“Team Tiger”… I started off with the overhand/square knot gathering activity another member here suggested. You’d be blown away to know Tigers (k)not only love to try knot-tying, all of them were able to be successful.

I touched on “friendly” as part of my series on the scout law- the kids were super thoughtful about the differences between being friends versus being friendly. I could see this is something they have never considered before.

We played Go Fish! and by the end most of these kids were basically card sharks. We drew connections to working as a team, and how teams have rules, and rules are a good thing that can help us achieve our goals.

Then we discussed all the teams the kids are a part of, and my gosh, some of the responses the kids gave were almost word-for-word what my own notes said. I’m looking forward to our service projects for the pack and Scouting for Food, because these kids seem to get it.

We finished the meeting playing Pictionary, and the kids had a great time rooting for their teams and participating. They took turns like champs, and I’m super proud of them.

Anyway, tonight really filled my tank. The hours I spent planning and contemplating really paid off. The parents engaged, and everyone seemed to have a great time watching their kid have new experiences.

I was most proud when my own wife turned to me and said something like, “I can’t believe how great you did differentiating ‘friends’ and ‘being friendly’. You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but you should be friendly.” It was a bit of a revelation to me as I was preparing, even after growing up in scouts.

Ah, anyway, I’m just going to take the win and prepare for the next one, but I just wanted to put some success out there.

I am so excited! One of my scouts, whose parents that got divorced last year, is finally returning!! And he’s got all the grandparents rallying to get him to and from meetings. Added Bonus: Grandad is a past scout dad and he is excited!

I just spent an hour typing up all the info for him explaining how cub scouts program just changed with minimal info just what he needs right now: how webelos and AOLs are split now; how bobcat is now a requirement each year; list of core adventures (including what we completed already so they can do those after bobcat and get as much as possible done before Nov. 4th Awards deadline from our advancement chair); list of electives we have completed just so they know; info on webelos woods coming up; info on how our communication has changed…

And now my assistant den leader’s wife is going to double check everything 🙌

My question is, how do I have the Grandad sign up for a free parent/guardian account so he can have access to scoutbook?

Grandad and Dad will be the one doing the catch up. Dad has access to scoutbook but he works and is doing school too so he’s not available. Dad is a previous leader and Baloo trained and will be the one camping with us. So he will just need to update YPT to camp with us that is not an issue.

Our chartered org is going through some leadership challenges. They’ve lost their ministry and are operating with only a church president and administrative staff. The church has let their EIN expire and they have no intention of renewing it. Recently, they’ve been overbooking the church on our traditional night with another boys/girls group. I’m a little afraid that the church may be operating without liability insurance at the moment and that could put our own pack at risk.

The pack itself is healthy. We have good cash flow, our recruitment numbers are up and our retention has been improving.

I guess my questions are about how much does the health of the charter org impact the pack and if I should be looking for another charter org? If so, what kinds of pitfalls should I be looking out for there?

The Race Time (AOL) Elective specifically specifies Pinewood Derby (TM) and Raingutter Regatta (TM).

Under the "Do Your Best" would you accept the retired and unspecified Rocket Derby? If no, would your opinion change if for reasons out of the Cub's control they are unable to participate in the pack's annual Pinewood Derby yet they are able to fulfill all the requirements for Race Time /except/ the fact it's a rocket and not a car or a boat?

Editing to add instead of commenting the same thing to everyone:

Thank you all so much for your feedback! I’m excited to hopefully get involved and try to communicate with the parents that are already volunteering in leadership. I’m definitely interested in helping out.

I also want to clarify that though there’s chaos and I’m overwhelmed, I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing for anyone but me, haha. I want my child and other kids to have a safe space to be wild and to be themselves. I definitely have to remember some of my support tools to help me when I’m overwhelmed.

I just also have very fond memories from my own childhood of doing things like coloring placemats and making pumpkin craft centerpieces and then going to visit the nursing home near Thanksgiving and getting to serve the residents a desert and use our crafts as table decor and sing them a song. It was fun to do with my friends, I think it taught me leadership skills by being able to talk to the residents/strangers, and to learn that even at a young age, I could help others and bring positivity to my community. So maybe my own scout community just needs some support and ideas like these and I will try to get involved.

————————————

My kid is 5 and I just signed them up for Scouts 6 weeks ago. I did Girl Scouts like all my childhood and my husband did Boy Scouts in his teens. We were excited for our child to learn some skills, socialize and have fun, and engage in community service.

I signed up online before attending our first meeting. The local… pack? I don’t know what to call anything as I honestly have no idea what’s going on. So the local scout group had just hosted a “sign up for scouts event” at a local mini golf place that we missed, but we signed up online the next day and then attended the next meeting.

I never got an email to tell me when or where this meeting would be and I was able to ask a friend where and when the meetings were. This friend hasn’t been going to meetings because her child has been having health problems.

So there appeared to be quite a few new parents/kids and lots returning at this first meeting. I put my email and phone and name on a sign in sheet. They gave us all a packet that had info on how to sign up on the website. Someone mentioned that I need to now pay the den fees and not just the scout fees from the website before I can get a book and shirt… but no one in a leadership like role has mentioned this to me/ no one is wearing any scout themed shirts or appears to be working on getting any patches/ on anything from the book. At each of the 6 meetings, there seems to just be chaos, like they do a scout pledge or something (I guess I could google it it help my kid learn it?) and then they do arts and crafts and play outside on the lawn when they eventually lose interest in the arts and crafts. And the arts and crafts have all been Halloween themed… but they’re also all really poor quality crafts. Like cheaper than the dollar store quality items. Like I’d figure someone bought a 10 pack of “make a bookmark out of these foam stickers” for $1.50 off of Temu. And then suddenly everyone is going home.

I’m super awkward/ I’m autistic, so I struggle with social situations and I’m really struggling personally at the meetings because the multiple age groups are all in this small cabin that has not been swept or cleaned in years and smells like mold, and is so loud because of all the excited children in a small space, and everything is disorganized/ I don’t know what’s going on…so it’s a big sensory overload and I end up trying to leave ASAP. I’ve tried to ask some different people or send my husband to talk to people to ask what’s going on, but then we are also trying to give everyone grace since maybe they were just trying to let new people come and get sign up papers and not do any like work towards badges and then have people quit or not pay dues first or something…

I don’t know. One of my friends said that it’s mostly “do it at home with your family” and I’m wondering if that’s what Scouts is then? Maybe Girl Scouts or the older Scouts levels is just different? Maybe I’m just used to my own Girl Scout experience where all our leaders were type A teachers and such who always had a bunch of activities and had agendas and we earned lots of badges and did community service every month.

I've got a question for the hive mind. There are some youth in my unit today need to renew. Our Pack is covering their registration costs because they participated in fundraising. How can I as a leader renew them?

I am a new den leader, and my child is new to Cub Scouts. When we signed up, we did so because we really like the organization running this particular pack. They needed a leader for my child's den, so I signed up to share the responsibility with another parent. The pack needed it for the future, so I made it a point to attend and complete BALOO training. Whenever there is a need for a volunteer, and I have time, I am there. My issue is that everything feels chaotic, all the time. I signed on as a leader, but truly only find out plans or procedures after I've asked about them-- even though the other den leaders seem to know what's going on. I feel like I'm in high school right now, trying to join a clique that doesn't seem to want me around. I ask about how things are done and get few or no responses, and when I ask again, get "we're all busy, too." I know they're all parents and are busy, but they don't seem to realize or care that they're leaving me out, and planning/organizing as if my den doesn't exist. I'm a parent, too, and I don't really want to use up my time guessing at how pack meetings are supposed to run. My den's activities are organized by myself and the other den leader. Scoutbook is up-to-date. That part is handled, because we communicate with each other and make plans. When it comes to the larger group, though, it truly feels like they could care less. We have a pack meeting in two days, and no solid plan. My full expectation is, however, that when I arrive, they will have organized something "amongst themselves," even though I've been trying to help.

Not fully sure what my goal is, posting here. I'm just feeling really discouraged and like I don't matter. I'm stressing myself out and literally losing sleep from anxiety lately, and this is exacerbating it. I'm thinking of quitting.

I'm creating a list of summer camps to share with parents at our November pack meeting to gather interest before summer is filled with other camps. I'm in Baltimore Area Council, and have gone to Broad Creek's Cub Adventure camp the past 2 years. It's been fabulous, but after 2 years, plus the fall/spring campouts, our regular campers are getting bored.

Right now I'm tracking Cub overnight camps at:

• Broad Creek SR, northern Maryland
• Henson SR, Eastern Shore, Maryland
• Goshen SR(Webelos/ AOLs only), NW Virginia
• Camp John H. Ware, 3rd, SE Pennsylvania
• Summit Bechtel, WV

What others in the mid-Atlantic do you know of? Others nearby (PA, NJ, DE?) you'd highly recommend? I don't see my families driving more than half a day to get to camp, but for some places like Summit Bechtel, they could be convinced.

Happy to share the list once it's all complete!

Here I am again, I'm so sorry if you're sick of me.

I had a lot of great feedback regarding the policy I made (FOR A COLLEGE ASSIGNMENT) regarding a "Parent Participation Policy". I ended up going to the subreddit for my college to see if someone else had an insight about a type of policy I could attempt to create. I had the intention of staying away from scouting with my policy. Instead, someone brought up a recognition policy they did for their workplace.

It got me thinking, a lot of the feedback said that getting more parent involvement was a good idea, just not the right approach. Maybe a policy for the pack regarding how to recognize our volunteers might improve volunteer retention and new volunteer involvement. According to a 2013 Volunteer Recognition Study, 80% of volunteers want to be recognized by hearing how their contributions impact others, but less than 60% of organizations do this. While I found that the BSA has awards for leadership in the pack, there wasn't really much just for recognition of our parent volunteers.

So, I wanted to give the new policy a shot. Part of the project is to get feedback. Since you all did so awesome at giving feedback for the last policy, I wanted to see how the community felt about the new policy.

2.  Describe the problem to be solved by the proposed policy.

Problem: Adult volunteers, whether they are Adult Leaders or parent volunteers, who feel underappreciated and unrecognized for their contributions are less likely to volunteer again. Also, future volunteers may not step up if they are aware that their efforts will go unnoticed. With fewer volunteers, the Cub Scout Pack will have fewer events and fundraisers. Overall, this can lead to the Pack itself ending up with not enough volunteers to function and have to dissolve. By creating a recognition policy, the Pack will see retention rates for volunteers increase, as well as new volunteer involvement. This will ultimately strengthen the Pack as a whole.

3.  Describe your proposed policy and how it will be implemented.

Proposed Policy: Establish a Volunteer Recognition Policy that outlines specific criteria and methods for recognizing adult volunteers who engage in leadership roles, event planning, and event participation. This policy will include recognition categories, certificates of appreciation, and community highlights.

Recognition Categories will include categories such as “Outstanding Service”, “Hours of Dedication”, and “Leader of the Year”. Outstanding Service can be defined by the volunteer who has contributed greatly to the Pack's most popular event, being without their volunteer work, would not have happened. Hours of Dedication would be given to the volunteer in the Pack who has the most service hours dedicated to events or fundraisers. The Leader of the Year category will be given annually and decided by the pack as a whole, not the committee. This award will be decided by having adults and scouts cast their votes in a ballot box. The Leader with the most votes will be given this award.

Certificates Tokens of Appreciation will be included in our Pack’s monthly award ceremonies to recognize the dedication of adults who volunteered their time during the month to help improve the pack, assist in an event, or spend time fundraising.

Community Highlights will be used to share monthly stories from one of our most outstanding volunteers of the month. This will be posted to our Pack’s social media page to highlight the importance of their dedication and the impact they had on the Pack, including the scouts.

I am eager for your feedback and constructive criticism.

One of the cubs has to hand in his gigantic key collection before the meeting so he doesn't poke other kids' eyes out or loses it or whatever he can do with it.

Me and another leader were messing around with one of the fidget toys and accidentally broke it. What to do.

On the one hand, I feel bad, also because we make him hand it in and we teach them to be careful of other people's belongings. A new one is like two dollars.

On the other hand, I already apologized, and I don't want it to seem like I'm giving him gifts for multiple reasons.

WWYD?

This weekend, we had a great camp out at the beach. We have some neurodiverse children in our pack (ADHD, autism, etc.) and most parents are very accommodating. We also welcome parents helping out with parenting all the kids if and when we see a child making poor choices.

We have one family who parents their children differently than most others in the pack (which is fine!). They have 3 kids in the pack, one of which is in my den. (I’m the DL).

However, this weekend, one of the fathers accused a 7-year old of “theft” because this child with ADHD tends to pick up random objects all the time to play with and lays them down somewhere else. (It was a hammer that was missing.) Absolutely no malicious intent was behind this child’s actions at all.

This father proceeded to yell at his child the way he speaks to his own children. He accused him of theft and yelled, “I have no problem dressing you down in front of the whole group!”

I objected and tried to explain that this child is neurodiverse and has no ill intentions. This father proceeded to yell at me about how disabilities do not matter and he has friends in law enforcement and “theft” is “theft” and he’s willing to quit the pack over it.

I had to walk away because I was getting very upset. I have two special needs kids and the issue of accommodating ADHD and autism is very near and dear to my heart.

Other parents heard the yelling but assumed he was yelling at his own child. When they found out he was yelling at someone else’s kid, they told me they would have stepped in, too.

How would you handle this situation? I just dropped it and got through the weekend, but I feel very awkward around these parents now.

This is REALLY long.

So, some of you may have seen the parent participation policy I wrote for a college assignment. After a lot of feedback and advice, I think I've realized that I tried to jump back into my normal life after a long camping weekend with the scouts. And it was extremely stressful for me to the point that I have been on and off crying and contemplating quitting as the DL. I want to vent, but I would also really like some advice from other DL or CM (since a lot of the advice on my "policy" was extremely helpful).

To start, not to toot my own horn, but I'm known in my pack as "the best den leader"(my husband said that adding this was possibly important). I'm well-liked by parents, most committee members, my den, AND the kids in other dens. I often volunteer for fundraising events that involve selling crafts (i crochet a lot in my spare time so that the pack can sell these items and make money. They were not making more than $100 at craft fairs before I started this). I also noticed that a lot of their events, such as Scoutsgiving and our Christmas party, were not very well-liked by parents and scouts. So I created activities and games for these events, and we started getting more attendance. I was even excited that I proposed game stations during the Pinewood Derby that got accepted after we had a few issues last year while kids were waiting (we have 50 kids in our pack). I don't do any of the things I do to be well-liked, or to take attention away from any other leaders. I just volunteered, scared and unaware of what I was getting into, and found out that I enjoy being involved. I feel like for an hour a week, I get to be fun and goofy with these scouts.

This Story Begins on October 1st, our Committee Meeting. I realized that I had the largest den this year and thought that I would rather do stations with my den, rather than try to learn a bunch of different topics to bring to camp to try to get through with them. I also realized, that listening to me talk for hours may not be the best approach. I thought back to my times in the BSA and how when I went to camp, we had stations. So, I started planning. During my planning, I realized that I could easily make the stations a pack-level thing for this campout. Possibly assist other leaders with getting requirements done, and let the kids have fun (not listening to the same person all weekend). I figured we had a whole month before the campout to plan this out. So, I created a PowerPoint presentation to keep me on track (ADHD) and, during the meeting, requested 5 minutes to give my presentation. Afterwards, that's when everything started.

For more background, our CM is also the Wolf DL, and unfortunately, his job is having him move for work in January. So, our ACM will be stepping into his shoes soon. The CM's wife is the Tiger DL, she has strong opinions and won't be moving until June. They have had a habit of pushing the whole pack into things that benefit their son or what he wants. The pack often does whatever the CM and TDL want to do to avoid debates or discussions. After my presentation, all the other DL and the Committee Chair loved the idea! Then, CM unmuted his mic and said, "I wish you had brought this up sooner. We don't have the time to plan this out" Then, TDL spoke and said that it just wouldn't work because their son does not like schedules and would prefer not to move around like that so much. I realized I had done all that research for requirements and how I would handle the planning for nothing. As soon as they said no (in their way), no one else spoke up. The meeting ended shortly after that.

By the next scout meeting, our CM went on a work trip and left our ACM in charge. I planned the whole campout's stations for my den in the week. My scout's parents were aware and ready to discuss it. During ending announcements, our ACM was talking about the camping trip (costs, required items, etc) and a parent raised their hand for a question and said, "I attended the committee meeting and saw the presentation for stations, are we doing stations for this campout?" I was shocked. I went to answer and let them know just my den would be. But the ACM looked over at me, then back to the parent, and said, "Yes, we will be having stations at this year's campout. We are still working out the schedule." (mind you, the campout was two weeks away now) I was shocked. She looked at me and asked if I would be able to get the schedule done in time, I told her I had a schedule but needed to just add in the pack requirements and it would be done. A few parents started asking a lot of questions, and we just had to tell them we would have a schedule by the weekend (three days away). After the meeting, I reminded her that the CM said no. She told me, that "in the CM's absence, the ACM makes these decisions, so I made my decision." TDL was MAD.

I got the committee the schedule by lunch the next day. It took me four hours to make the schedule, and the stations (with instructions, learning material, and activities for each one). So of course, I asked for feedback regarding the schedule. TDL had lots to add, saying it just didn't seem like it was going to work. Others gave better feedback about times required for activities and even that Webelos and AOLs wanted to do a few extra activities. I adjusted the schedule so they would have one-on-one time with their den leaders to do the extra things they needed to do, also added a first aid station (manned by our pack's firefighter) to learn a few of their first aid requirements (and things we felt they should know as scouts). When we went over the stations, she had things to say too - but overall, the schedule and stations got approved as a committee.

Now, my bad for assuming we were adults who could get along and not act like high schoolers in front of our scouts. And of course, this was our first attempt at stations and things were not going to go perfectly by any means. There were bound to be a few holes in the plan (such as stations releasing kids early, being ahead of schedule, behind schedule, and parents starting activities that were supposed to be for a different time; but we bounced back!)The weekend started, and I could just tell TDL was upset. She was short with me a lot and kind of had a bad attitude. I thought everything started great. We did have my ADL cancel due to a family emergency the first night, we lost two station leaders. But I had planned for that sort of emergency, and the ACM and I were able to fill those stations. It wasn't until roughly lunchtime that the CC came up to me and pulled me aside. He said, "I just wanted to give you a heads up, be ready to defend yourself and your stations at our next committee meeting." I was confused, everyone was happy. The scouts were having fun, and they were all on track to earn THREE belt loops this weekend. He told me that the TDL has been talking badly about the stations and me to everyone. This hurt, quite a lot. But I brushed it off the best I could so I could focus on making my station fun and educational for the next den. I saw the ACM, and I let her know what the CC said to me and asked her if we should say something, she said no. So we moved on.

After lunch, TDL's den came to my station. She ended up arguing with me in front of the scouts. I dropped it quickly and she ended up running my station. I let her to keep the peace. I did however try to remind her that the Tigers may not be able to do most of the skits at my station, she ignored my advice. After they left, the CC came to me again and said he tried to talk her down, but TDL would not stop talking badly about me to other parents, in front of scouts. I must have started to disassociate because I barely remember most of the details, but I do remember feelings of dread, wanting to just break down, and wanting to go home. (I had already planned to only stay one night due to a prior back injury, sleeping in the tent the first night messed up my back pretty badly and I needed to get home and do my therapy treatment for it). But again, I rolled it off. We still had the pack hike to get through! So I did my best to keep going. The TDL was also in charge of the kitchen during this campout(she makes sure she is at every campout), so I let her know we would be starting dinner as soon as we returned from the hike. I asked TDL to lead the hike with our Tigers (since they might be a little slower than everyone else) and she had been to this specific campsite before and knew where the trail was. She rolled her eyes and said she had no idea where the trail was. I asked if I showed her on the map if she could lead, and she said "Probably." So, I showed her the map and she said she still didn't know. So, I got a parent volunteer to walk with my den to make sure they completed their requirements for the hike. I was kind of annoyed because TDL led the hike anyway and found the trail just fine. But I don't like assuming people do things out of spite or anger, so I let it go.

When we returned, I felt like I could finally take a minute to relax (I had been active all day, even during my scheduled station free time, as camp director, I went around to all the stations to make sure everyone was okay and took pictures). But within ten minutes, multiple little scouts were coming to me with tears telling me they were hungry and asking when dinner was. I told them that dinner was supposed to be started already. The assistant kitchen manager started laughing. I asked her what was funny. She told me that TDL told her not to start dinner until I specifically announced it, using air quotes, "because OP is in charge". I couldn't believe it. I snapped a little and decided to return her petty behavior and tell the kids that I was only in charge of activities, TDL was in charge of dinner. After three kids went running crying to her, she finally started dinner. I'm now assuming, in retaliation, she went from dinner straight into smores (we were supposed to have storytelling before smores, and skits after). I let it go. I went down to watch the fire while the other leaders went and got dinner. I had time to reflect in the flames and got depressed. I didn't want to be there at all. I just wanted to go home, but I also refused to abandon the scouts early. The ACM noticed my change and asked what was wrong. I almost cried and told her I couldn't get everything out of my head that TDL had been saying and had done, and that I just wanted to go home. My son snapped me out of it (sweetest lil guy).

I was able to get through stories and skits. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not remember all of their lines for skits and ended up just fighting on "the stage" in front of the entire camp. Once it was over, I said goodbye to everyone and left. Once I got home, I got my kids to bed and broke down. For the first time in two years, I thought about stepping down as DL. I don't want to play these games. I don't want this to be my scouting experience. My husband helped me calm down, do some therapy for my spine, and go to bed.

Today, the CC called me to talk. We discussed the campout. A few things I could put on the survey for parents and scouts to see how we could improve, but also our thoughts to discuss at the next committee meeting. Then, the issue was brought up. I broke down and said that I still wanted to quit. CC's wife heard me and got on the phone too. She told me that I shouldn't quit over TDL and that would hurt a lot of scouts feelings. But then she mentioned, that if I did, I wouldn't be the only one who quit because of TDL. I heard CC kind of shush her, but she kept going, telling me that she had spoken to several scout parents who pulled their scouts from the pack because of TDL's behavior.

This gave me a lot to think about. Of course, I then thought I would distract myself with college work, but ended up just venting frustrations from the weekend in the work. I broke down crying again, and think that I honestly cannot stop thinking about stepping down. I work full-time (currently on maternity leave), have a new baby plus two other kids, am a full-time college student, and doing my best to help my pack. But I can't let this destroy my peace.

If you made it this far, should I quit? Or how else can I handle this? There is only one other pack in the area, we were planning to go visit them to see if maybe it would be better to just completely separate. But I also really like my pack and don't want to abandon them for another. Just maybe no longer be a DL or on the committee to avoid this conflict TDL has with me.

Again, sorry this was so long and thank you...

Edit to add: After I have slept some, read some responses, I realized that I forgot to add that at the end of the last committee meeting, we asked that the current CM step back into the ACM role and that the ACM step up to CM to prepare better for his departure. This weekend the (current) ACM had mentioned that the weekend was crazy (just kind of laughing off a little stress) and TDL scoffed and said, "Don't worry, CM will be back soon." A few other people from the committee started talking about it, wondering if CM has no intention of stepping back until after he is gone.

This past weekend was our councils yearly Halloween Cub Campout. During the campout, our medical officer noticed a parent she knew at the campout with his kid.

The problem is, she knows this dad just pled guilty to a low level felony that involved striking a child under 14 (not his kid). We are assuming he isn’t a registered Volunteer due to the conviction, but we weren’t sure what rules were in place for non-registered parents with felonies, if there any rules at all.

EDIT: for clarity, count case results are public here. So when she asked me about, I looked it up and confirmed he pled guilty to the felony charge. It’s not hearsay or a rumor.

Hi, my oldest son is a Wolf and I have a question about if and how to handle something that came up this last week. I consider myself new to scouts, all of my childhood experience was with Girl Scouts. This past week was our area pack meeting, which was marked on the weekly newsletter as just "Health and Wellness." I didn't realize that they would also be doing fall awards, as it wasn't indicated on the newsletter. This ended up crushing my son, as he was the only one in his den to not be awarded a single badge/award. Here's the thing though: early in September he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had emergency surgery to place a shunt, and then he started chemo a month ago. His den knows this; it was very sweet in that they made cards for him, and they offered to help in anyway they could. We have missed a few meetings, and he couldn't do the fall campout because it fell on a chemo day. But my frustration comes with being surprised by the awards ceremony, and that none of the leaders checked in to let us know that A) what was coming, or B) let us know where he was in terms of progress on any of his badges, so we could either skip that part of try to get things done to complete some badges. As it stands, the app has been super wonky for everyone lately, but the leaders had been marking stuff off, letting us know what they needed when they were close on things. I talked to one leader about getting into the app again later on Thursday, and once I finally got in and connected to his scout account, I was able to get multiple things marked off (do you think we haven't had discussions with the kid with the brain tumor about proper handwashing?!?) The den isn't that big or that small, maybe 8-9 kids? I realize that I am clearly emotional about everything going on, so I wanted to check in and see if my expectations are unrealistic. I'm tempted to say something to the leaders about this, but I'm also trying to temper my reaction to seeing him hurt. The last couple of months have been very hard for him, but he does still enjoy scouts for the most part. I also know that the leaders are volunteers dealing with their own lives, and that no one is going to pay more attention to my kids more than my husband and I.

Brace yourself, this is long.

To start, this policy is was being written for a college-level assignment/presentation. I have to create a new policy and implementation plan, as well as give a PowerPoint presentation (as if I were addressing my committee) on this new proposed policy.

After a good amount of feedback, I've decided this won't be a good policy - not only for my pack but my college paper. Thank you for all of your constructive criticism, even more interesting - still no statistics.

 For this assignment, I was looking for statistics to back up my policy.

My kiddo is a new tiger and we reside in NJ. We are selling popcorn and no one mentioned if the kids who sell the most get an incentive. 😊

I have seen some threads on this and discussions about this in the past but is there any good reason why Cubs don't go badges on a sash instead of metal loops on a belt.

They can't show off all their awards year over year. The belts are too hard to get them to wear them regularly and have them fit for a long period of time.

But for sashes it's not like they'll keep them any better from getting lost. Just feel like they could show all their achievements over time better. Maybe only wear them at pack meetings?

I'm gonna make my own and see what my pack thinks.