From: pershng@US.IBM.COM
Date: Thu Jan 20 2000 - 20:48:56 CST
> First let me say Hi to all, My name is Mike, from Somers Point New
Jersey, I
> am a first year Cub Scout Den Leader and have what one would call first
year
> blues...
Hi, Mike!
Two words: Don't Despair!
As if it isn't hard enough dealing with The Program and the boys, we all
have to deal with the "parents that could do everything better, except that
they don't have the free time in which to do it"...
Remember the old cliche:
Those who can, do;
Those who cannot, teach;
Those who cannot teach, become critics.
Keep in mind: YOU are the one who is investing the time and effort (and
money) to provide The Program; YOU are doing your best, and that is all
that can be expected of you. It is REALLY easy to criticize when you are
not the one who is on-the-line from week to week, providing the program and
trying to exert some semblance of discipline while Keeping It Simple and
Making It Fun (KISMIF).
A suggestion for the know-it-all parents: Give them a job. Someone blasts
you because the den meeting was too boring: suggest (in no uncertain terms)
that they plan and execute the next den meeting. They claim that they are
too busy: YOU are busy too, yet you manage to find the time to devote to
the program -- what's their problem? Your attitude may have to verge on
belligerence, but YOU are the one who is investing the time and effort.
Now, unfortunately, this *may* backfire. You may get a parent who steps up
to "volunteer" to help out, and they turn out to be more of a hindrance
than a help. So now, instead of 8 little management problems you now have
9. However, this is unlikely (I can't imagine that anyone else could be as
unlucky as me :-)
Getting back to the "do your best" notion: We all strongly suggest that you
get yourself TRAINED at the next opportunity. Also (I'm assuming here that
you are a Wolf leader), go to your Council shop and get a copy of (1)
Program Helps, (2) the Den Leader's How-To Book, and (3) the Den Leader's
Handbook (in that order -- I'll probably get flak for this). Program Helps
is a "master index" to the program, with week-by-week den meeting plans
(don't be too slavish about these) and pointers into the other resource
books; the How-To Book is chock full of nifty ideas for crafts/games/etc.;
and the Handbook explains (among other things) Official Policy. These will
help you think like a 2nd-grader, which is important: what is "interesting"
to a 2nd-grader is usually "stoopid" to an adult, and vice versa.
Hang in there, and keep working the program. It WILL pay off!
YIS,
John A. Pershing Jr. <pershng@us.ibm.com>
ACM Pack 36 / ASM Troop 36, Westchester-Putnam (NY) Council
