Re: dividing dens
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Thu, 6 Nov 1997 08:58:44 -0800
Holly Kazarinoff <mnk1@CORNELL.EDU> asked:
>Our Pack needs advise ASAP!! Our Wolf den has 13 boys in it, almost all
>are good friends, and no major behavior problems. As Den Leader Coach, I
>assumed that we needed to split them and began to recruit a new DL and ADL.
> But now the four leaders (the two original ones and the two new ones)
>aren't sure that they want to split- they see advantages in a big group of
>friends guided by all four active leaders, as well as advantages of two
>smaller groups where the boys get more personal attention, with two leaders
>for each group. I told them the BSA, based on years of experience,
>recommends 6-8 boys per den, but there are no hard and fast rules.
>Has anyone run a group of 13 Wolves? We need to find a big enough space-
>they plan to run activities in stations, round-robin style. I'll be helping
>them to make a decision and I told them I'd ask around to see if anyone
>else has experience one way or the other.
We had 11 Wolf Cubs, and it was a handful, particularly since den meetings
were held in homes. The next year we split, and with new recruits, had
two Bear dens of 7 each. The two dens met on different nights as well.
My way of running a den is to plan two indoor meetings and one outdoor
activity each month. We coordinated the planning for the two dens so
that we could cover the same requirements during the indoor meetings,
and then went outside together. It worked very well and continued until
they bridged in to Boy Scouts 3 years later. Because of the different
meeting nights, we had some shifting from one den to another because of
personal schedules (between years, not during the year), but the dens
remained balanced and active together and great friends for the entire
time.
YiS,
Alan R. Houser ** troop24@emf.net
** Scoutmaster, Troop 24, Berkeley, California **
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
Scoutmaster, Mt. Diablo Silverado Council Jamboree Troop #637
** http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/9637/ **
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
