Scouts check-in

[miranda]

I've been slacking on scout check-ins. Let's vent about what's working and what's not this year!

[miranda]

Working: I released DH from scouts. He hates coming to den meetings, and in October he was openly yelling at kids. It finally sunk in to me that he doesn't belong there. Since releasing him, things have gone better. I'm able to stay calmer because I'm not keeping one eye on DH.

Not working: especially with DH gone, it looks nearly implausible that we will continue with scouting once DS gets his arrow of light. DS's interests are narrowing and camping/knives/archery/BB guns/etc are not part of his interests. DS has openly told us he does not want to continue. I keep hoping DH will get inspired to want to continue scouting with him as an older scout, when the boys aren't so wild and unmanageable, but my hopes are withering.

[waverly]

miranda, How old is your DS?

Our experience is going well mostly. We did Feed My Starving Children, and I think that has been helpful for DS to learn about helping others. He is also in another club at school which the focus is helping others. It has been good for him. We did miss the hike though, and I attempted to make it up.

I bought a sewing kit and thimble, but I just don't think I can deal with the patches. Can someone recommend their patch glue? I just can't do the sewing. I dread it.

We have the pinewood derby coming up, any hints?

And then I think we have the ceremony in February. What should I expect for that? All I know is that I should probably have the patches glued on by then. Oh and I still need to buy the belt for the belt loops. The scout store is like 30 minutes away, so I really just don't want to spend a Saturday morning going there.

[miranda]

Dec 18, 2017 15:29:35 GMT -5 waverly said:

miranda , How old is your DS?

Our experience is going well mostly. We did Feed My Starving Children, and I think that has been helpful for DS to learn about helping others. He is also in another club at school which the focus is helping others. It has been good for him. We did miss the hike though, and I attempted to make it up.

I bought a sewing kit and thimble, but I just don't think I can deal with the patches. Can someone recommend their patch glue? I just can't do the sewing. I dread it.

We have the pinewood derby coming up, any hints?

And then I think we have the ceremony in February. What should I expect for that? All I know is that I should probably have the patches glued on by then. Oh and I still need to buy the belt for the belt loops. The scout store is like 30 minutes away, so I really just don't want to spend a Saturday morning going there.

He is almost 10, a Webelo. He will cross over in March of 2019.

Our Pack does Feed my Starving Children too, great org.

I have used superglue in a pinch! It made it very stiff/scratchy on the underside, but I covered it with soft felt. Also he usually wears his shirt over a teeshirt anyway, so it didn't really matter. Our local seamstress charges like $10 to sew on a bunch of patches. The scout store sells a spendy patch glue kit but I've heard they come off in the wash. I wouldn't know; I rarely wash my kids shirt.

Pinewood is our specialty! We came in second last year. In our pack the kids are evenly split between making cars that are fast and making cars that are creative (we do prizes for each). It's difficult/impossible to do both. My favorite last year was a coffin with lid that opened with a princess leia doll inside! Another kid 3D printed his. Michaels and Hobby Lobby have a whole aisle dedicated to stuff to make your car. Last year we used a precut car (just a simple low-profile wedge). DH drilled holes in the back and we put the weights through the back of the car (best to put weights towards the back, the fact that they were inside the car meant less drag. One year we made the mistake of putting weights on the bottom of the car and they caught on the track and the car didn't make it past the finish line!). Lots of liquid graphite on the wheels. If you have an electric sander you can sand down the nails you use to put the wheels on (there's a name for the little rivets on the nails, anyway they cause drag). DS picked out a design for the top, printed it and cut it out. Then he modge podged the top like 20 coats to add weight. We were super lucky because at weigh-in we were right at the correct weight (I always take ours to our mailroom at work to weight it first to be sure). Carry washers and superglue to the weigh-in just incase. DS's car came in 2nd out of 80 cars last year!

[waverly]

miranda, Ok no way can I do all of that for the pinewood derby. No patience or knowledge. Thankfully DH is handy.

I heard that about the glue too because I was looking on Amazon. Maybe if I just hand wash or spot wash the shirt, it would be OK? I don't really want to pay $10 a patch because I have 3 patches now plus the den patches I need to get.

[auntie]

Badge Magic/Patch glue are the work of the devil.

I think it's a strategy to get parents to buy more overpriced uniforms when shirts need to be updated. I taught my Webelos to sew. The local dry cleaner will do patches for you, but make sure you specify exactly where they need to go. My Committee Chair has his District Award of Merit sewn on upside down- a distress signal perhaps?

[orval]

I use that Stitch Witchery to "glue" on the patches. Sometimes I will had sew around the edge to make sure they don't fall off but it is not necessary really. The stitch witch works pretty well and just irons on. I use it to hem pants too because I am lazy and cheap!

www.amazon.com/Dritz-222-20-Yard-Witchery-Regular/dp/B0001DSIHI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513683716&sr=8-2&keywords=stitch+witchery

[funchicken]

A lot of the GS badges are iron on, but I use Badge Magic for the fun patches on the back of the girls' vests. Until middle school they only wear their vests for a couple of years and very few patches transfer over, so I don't need an easily reversible option

Overall Girl Scouts is going well this year, but we took the troop horseback riding, and DD1 (who has a severe peanut allergy) had a serious reaction to something within about 20 minutes of us going into the stable/tack room. I have no idea what caused it, and now we have to do a new round of testing with the allergist. DD was sooooooo disappointed that she didn't get to ride. She's ridden horses and ponies before, so I don't think it was the actual horse, but who knows. Allergies suck.

[waverly]

I picked up some Badge Magic sorry auntie.

Where does the pathways to adventure badge go? Is this considered a temporary badge? If so then I don't have to put it on right? Or I wouldn't put it on with badge magic- I would sew temp badges right?

I did try to google and look in the handbook. Also I got a badge with three acorns and two oak leaves. It's tiny. What do I do with this one? Also a temp badge? Confused...

[waverly]

Dec 29, 2017 13:18:47 GMT -5 waverly said:

I picked up some Badge Magic sorry auntie.

Where does the pathways to adventure badge go? Is this considered a temporary badge? If so then I don't have to put it on right? Or I wouldn't put it on with badge magic- I would sew temp badges right?

I did try to google and look in the handbook. Also I got a badge with three acorns and two oak leaves. It's tiny. What do I do with this one? Also a temp badge? Confused...

I think it came in a Games Tigers Play zip lock bag. I have the belt loop, but not sure what the other badges are. Is it for the camp out?

[auntie]

waverly,

Does this help?

www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33066_Section2.pdf

[waverly]

Dec 30, 2017 11:19:56 GMT -5 auntie said:

waverly,

Does this help?

www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33066_Section2.pdf

It does help. Things are starting to click for me a bit more. I don't see those badges on there. One of the moms said they get an additional red vest for badges that are not on the shirt. So maybe that's where they are supposed to go. I won't worry about it now since I don't have the vest anyway.

[auntie]

waverly ,

I don't see many red vests around here; a few of the smaller Packs chartered out of RC parish churches still do them but almost nobody else does. I rarely even see them at the scout store. The general consensus in DS's den was vests are for Brownies. Excepting DS, the boys all had at least one little sister. Once the boys transition to boys scouts, some units use the back of their merit badge sashes for activity patches.

We always kept a minimalist approach through cubs. Once he started boy scouts, uniforming became more of a "thing" although our unit never got overly anal about uniform checks unless a kid was headed to his own Eagle BOR/COH. TBH, DS has at least 3 gallon size Ziploks filled with patches from his scouting days (my personal favorite is the Cradle of Liberty Council strip in the shape of a Philly Cheese Steak). He also has some historical ones from his late uncle and his other uncle's late FIL who were both Eagles.

The bitch with Badge Magic is that you can't swap patches out easily- I've seen the stuff sink into the fibers so that you can't sew through it (more about that later) or have the shirt tear when you attempt to remove a patch. It can also seep through the fabric and create scratchy areas that would drive even a kid w/o SPD crazy.

None of this really applies to cubs, although you might want to save the tan Webelos shirt to transition to a troop. Once they's boy scouts they will change the rank patch up to 7 times on the way to Eagle. In some units patrol patches change if they have special patrols for new scouts or for those who have made Eagle. They will likely change their position of responsibility every 6-12 months. They will upgrade their Order of the Arrow flap from ordeal member to brotherhood at some point. Most older scouts will swap out their temporary Jamboree patch yearly. If you scout attends national Jamboree, almost everything gets replaced- council strip, troop number, position of responsibility, OA flaps and the National Jamboree patch takes the place of temporary patch.

(Two Jambos back, the Jambo sets were delivered late so I brought my trusty Husqvarna to the Legion Hall ahead of departure and swapped out at least 100 Class As for scouts who hadn't picked up their patch sets. I had about half a dozen boys working with seam rippers ahead of me. Alas my machine is not strong enough to plow through Badge Magic, so I couldn't help there. We lined up a couple other moms to help out with the handsewing there. A few folks used Superglue instead- once DS got back, I had to pull all that stuff off and swap it back to his regular troop, OA, job and patrol)

If they stick around once they turn 18 as DS did his last year of high school, you have to convert the shirt to an adult Class A which is sort of sad. Most of the cool flare earned over 6-7 years comes off and is replaced with a little knot for Arrow of Light and Eagle if that was earned.

The only patch that generally is shared by cubs, scouts and adults is the religious knot- that one can transition from cub, to scout to adult.

[waverly]

miranda- help!

Our heat went out on the day of the pinewood derby workshop. My husband was so mad because the junior tech messed the heat all up that he didn't want to go to the workshop. It had been two weeks of heat on and off, so that is why he was so frustrated.

So I said I would take him, and my husband stops me and says he wants to do the car, so they'll just do it on their own.

But now he says in order to do it he needs a band saw that we don't own that us $130? Any suggestions? All I can think is try to borrow one from a Boy Scout. He says he needs it to cut the shape of the car out of the block of wood. And now he is admitting he doesn't know what he is doing.

I really wish he hadn't stopped me from going to the workshop, but he had to have it his way.


ETA- I found a video with a Dremel and hack saws so I ordered those for tomorrow. I still have no clue but the videos look doable.

[miranda]

Can you just use a precut wedge? This is the one we use every year, I believe it is BSA approved, you can get it at Michaels or JoAnns: www.hobbytown.com/wedge-basic-racer-w-wheels-axles-pinewood-derby-by-revell-rmxy8660/p609359?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw8aNxtfu2AIVEbnACh0xCQ1ZEAQYAyABEgLDGPD_BwE

Shoot, I've seen kids paint some pretty cool looking "buses" or vans out of the block without cutting it at all. In our club making a car that is "creative" is more popular than trying to make one "fast." Good luck! Ours is this weekend and we've been on vacation the past week. Fortunately last year we made two and kept the other; we're going to doctor it up and see how it does. Going to Michaels tonight to get some tungsten weights.

[auntie]

Unless you will be racing against dad-engineers, shape doesn't matter as much as getting precisely to the weight limit of 5 oz and making sure the wheels are perfectly true.

One year, the boy who took honors at District, left his block as is except for adding some stain and varnish. It's all weight & wheels.