Managing Den Chiefs

Now that the Eagle Court and Summer Camp are behind me, I'm starting to think
about next year. And Den Chiefs are a question mark for this fall.

Last year was the first time we had more than one or two Den Chiefs, and some
patterns seem to have become clearer. Mainly, I have noticed that our Den
Chiefs seem to be less active in the troop than they were before. When we
had only 1 or 2 it was not so noticeable, but last year with 6, it seemed to
be a real consistent pattern. Part of it may be that they receive less
attention for what they do during troop activities, part may be just the extra
time that another meeting takes during the week. But previous Den Chiefs have
not seemed to re-integrate well after serving with a Den for a year or more.
Has anyone else noticed anything like this? If so, what does one do about it?

Here are some ideas that I am toying with for this coming year. Let me know
if you have tried these and how they worked out.

1) Have an Assistant Scoutmaster who works with the Den Chiefs, and who will
hold periodic group meetings with them for them to share experiences. (We had
Den Chiefs in 3 different packs last year, and may add 1 or 2 more this year,
so they don't all see each other when they are with their packs.)

2) Have each Den Chief bring his den to a troop meeting during the year,
even non-Webelos dens.

Do you have any other suggestions about how to keep the Den Chiefs integrated
in the troop?

Thanks.

Alan R. Houser ** Scoutmaster, Berkeley Troop 24 ** troop24@emf.net
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **

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