Andy\u2019s our Council\u2019s \u201cCommissioner extraordinaire.\u201d This is his new column, and he\u2019ll be answering your questions here in every issue.<\/p>\n
Dear Andy, I hear you\u2019ve got lots of experience. Better tell me a little about yourself before we start asking you questions! (A.J., Mountainside Parent)<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, let\u2019s see… I\u2019ve been a Cubmaster and a Scoutmaster and a Den Leader, and as a Scout I was a Patrol leader and SPL. And I\u2019ve also been a committee chair and a commissioner visiting lots of different units for a whole bunch of years. I\u2019ve also been to Philmont, and I\u2019ve been a Jamboree Scoutmaster. Is that enough ?<\/p>\n Dear Andy, Our parents like to drop their boys off before our Pack meetings and then pick them up when the meeting\u2019s over. Is this OK? (B.K., Newton Cubmaster)<\/strong><\/p>\n Sounds like you\u2019ve got a \u201cBSA means Baby Sitters Anonymous\u201d Pack! Do the parents know that this is when their sons get to perform, and lead songs and skits, and get awards like Wolf and Bear and Arrow Points and stuff? Or is this when you and your Den Leaders are the \u201cstars\u201d of the show, and the boys just sit around like an audience? Maybe you need to reverse things, so that the boys are the stars and you guys sit back and enjoy the show! Along with the parents!<\/p>\n Dear Andy, Our Troop\u2019s been going to Winnebago for a week every summer for years, and we really enjoy it. Now, we\u2019d like to add a second week to our summer camping, but we want to go somewhere else for that week. Any thoughts on where we can find out about other camps? (Z.A., Madison Scoutmaster)<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh, boy do I have ideas! First, check out Sabattis, our \u201chigh adventure camp\u201d in the Adirondacks. Next, check with the Northern NJ and Central NJ councils \u2013 they have some dandy camps, and they\u2019re near-by. But, if you\u2019re looking for something really different, remember that our professional staffers have spent time with other councils in other states! Call our Service Centers and talk to them. Start with your own District Executive. I\u2019ll bet they can tell you about camps that will take a little travel to get to, but just might provide exactly what you\u2019re looking for \u2013 in places like Rhode Island, Ohio, Illinois and beyond! If you really want some adventure, and you\u2019re willing to travel, there\u2019s a wonderful Scout camp on Catalina (\u201c26 miles across the sea\u201d) Island, California. Call the San Gabriel Valley Council at 626-351-8815. Happy camping!<\/p>\n Dear Andy, We can\u2019t have a Troop swim on camp-outs because although several of our adults are Safe Swim Defense-trained, they don\u2019t have BSA Life Guard. We have two Scouts who earned BSA Life Guard, but they\u2019re under 21 and can\u2019t be supervisors. Can we invite a SSD-trained BSA Life Guard adult from another unit to come with us, so we\u2019re covered? (I.R., Wantage Scoutmaster)<\/strong><\/p>\n Sure you can, and that\u2019s a great idea, but you don\u2019t have to! So long as your adult supervisor is SSD-trained, and you have Scouts with BSA Life Guard, you\u2019re covered, because the adult supervises (SSD Point 1) and the Scouts are the lifeguards (SSD Point 4). So there you have it! Happy camping \u2013 and swimming!<\/p>\n Dear Andy, We just lost our Cub-master \u2013 he moved away. He was a great guy, and it\u2019s tough to replace him. I\u2019ve spoken with our parents, but they seem afraid of all the work involved. Any suggestions? (N.W., Roxbury Pack Committee Chair)<\/strong><\/p>\n When I was a Cubmaster, it was the best \u201cjob\u201d I had in all of Scouting. As someone once said, \u201cCubmasters do none of the work and get all of the glory!\u201d That\u2019s pretty close to accurate. The Cubmaster\u2019s responsible for the content of the monthly Pack meetings, but it\u2019s the Den Leaders who do the work all month, the Cubs who get to perform, and the Cub-master who gets to be the Emcee or \u201cRingmaster\u201d for the night! If you present it this way, any parent with even a modest flair for \u201ccrowd management\u201d would have to be crazy not to want to be Cubmaster!<\/p>\n Dear Andy, I\u2019m a Commissioner and I really like doing this. But a couple of units don\u2019t like it when I drop in unannounced\u2013 they think I\u2019m spying. What can I do? (D.M., Union UC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe \u201cdropping in unannounced\u201d isn\u2019t such a cool idea \u2013 Would you do that to a friend? Nope, you\u2019d probably call first to see if it\u2019s OK, and then you\u2019d probably bring some-thing to show your friendship (maybe that tool you borrowed last summer, or some just-baked cookies), right? Well, your units like to be treated the same way, too, so do it! Call first. And maybe if it\u2019s not convenient, respect that! Then, when you do go, bring a gift \u2013 maybe a flyer about an upcoming Camporee, or news about a Roundtable or a training event! Or some just-baked cookies! That\u2019s what a true \u201cfriend-of-the-unit\u201d would do. I\u2019ll bet you can do it, too!<\/p>\n Happy Scouting,<\/p>\n Andy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andy\u2019s our Council\u2019s \u201cCommissioner extraordinaire.\u201d This is his new column, and he\u2019ll be answering your questions here in every issue. Dear Andy, I hear you\u2019ve got lots of experience. Better tell me a little about yourself before we start asking you questions! (A.J., Mountainside Parent) Well, let\u2019s see… I\u2019ve been a Cubmaster and a Scoutmaster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}