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Amd I getting Burnt Out or Am I Frustrated with District Schedule


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I've been involved with Cub Scouts going on 6 years now. I was a TCDL and DL for oldest son , TCDL and Wolf DL for middle son, and back with Tigers with the youngest. So this is my 3rd time starting all over again. So I am wondering if my current lack of interest in Cub Scouts is burn out or frustration with the Cub Scout district schedule.

 

Here's a little background on district Cub Scout schedule situation. Round Ups in my neck of the woods are not like anything I’ve experienced in other councils, nor how it is presented in training. Because of the school busing situation, all packs recruit from multiple schools, with two, sometimes three, packs recruiting at the same school. Except for the 3 packs way out in the county that only recruit at 1 school, a pack may spend 5 to 8 weeks doing Round Ups. So new Cubs comes in waves, getting a new Tiger Leader may take time, and you really cannot begin standard program meetings as a result. And for me the first "program" meeting was more for the parents: introducing them to camping and getting htem prepared for a council family camp out in two weeks.

 

For over 12 years, and probably a heck of a lot longer than that, the district Cub Mobile was the first Sunday in November. Everyone knew A) that specific Sunday in Novemeber was Cubmobile and B) every pack's Round Ups were completed new Cubs had a chance to practice riding in the Cubmobile before race day. Cubmobile was usually the first major Cub Scout event for most new Cubs.

 

Six years ago, the council decided to start having a fall camping event for Cub Scouts and their families. “Scouting is outing†and everyone enjoyed it. It then became the first major event of the year for most Cubs. However the Cubmobile chair doesn’t believe that Cubs should camp, her pack didn’t promote the family camp out, and no one from her pack goes. For them, Cubmobile is the first major event.

 

Four years ago the dates of the Cubmobile changed. The reason given was that the sponsoring organization asked if they could hold it on a different day or weekend due to a new countywide event they now participate in. The event chair moved the date up to before the Cub Scout Family Camp Out. And she did not tell anyone about the date change until 6 weeks prior to the event. Several packs already had plans for that day. Long story short, it was the smallest Cubmobile event ever, lasting about an hour. As you can imagine, lots of complaints about the late notice on the changes.

 

Three years ago, the event chair got the event date out in time. However she moved the date up. That was the year that the Cub Scout Family Camp Out was moved up as well. So we had many new Cubs and parents who still didn’t know their unit numbers, and leaders still didn’t know all of their Cubs. It was more successful than the previous year, but very chaotic.

 

Last year, Cubmobile got moved up again before the family camp out, this time while Round Ups were still going on. So we had Cubs recruited the week of Cubmobile, and had not even been to a meeting yet, let alone practice driving a Cubmobile. One of the long standing rules is that Cubs are supposed to practice prior to race day. Exception was made due to Round Ups and time set aside for them to practice while registration was going on. It was a disaster. Not only did we have the chaos of folks not knowing what units they were in, but also folks who have never even practiced controlling a Cubmobile before which resulted in "fender benders." At one point only one pack's Cubmobile was still operable. All the others were being repaired, except one which was demolished.

 

As you can imagine, a lot of leaders were not happy and wanted events pushed back into November to give folks more time to prepare.

 

This year, when it was announced that the date was going to be the first weekend in October, I expressed concerns about Round Ups still going on and many new Cubs would not be able to participate. I also mentioned the chaos of previous years and the number of “fender benders†that occurred last year as a result of having the Cubmobile too early. Finally I stated that the #1 comment at the CS Roundtable after last year's Cubmobile was that the event needs to be in November for a variety of reasons.

 

Good news is that the date got changed to one that will allow folks time to practice driving their Cubmobiles. Bad news is that the date selected conflicts with a district Boy Scout event; so now the event has lost some manpower in the form of Boy Scouts and Scouters being at camporee instead of helping out with Cubmobile. And yes, I am one of the leaders committed to working at camporee, and will not be able to watch my youngest do his first Cubmobile, nor help his fellow Tigers out. And that commitment was made even before the original date of Cubmobile was announced. Also because Webelos are invited to camporee, some have decided to skip out on it in favor of Cubmobile, and others are coming late to camporee, missing out on some fun there.

 

When the new date was announced at Round table, it was stated that there was a conflict and to see if the date could be changed to Novemeber like the leaders asked when the original date was announced. It took a month to find out from the event chair that, no, the date cannot be changed.

 

Is it me being too long in a Cub Scout leader situation, or is it me being frustrated with the situation.

 

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I have found that if the Council puts out a nice activity and my boys want to go, they go. If not they go somewhere else that is nice.

 

My boys this year did not go to the spring camporee, but did their own campout that month.

My boys did not attend the Council's summer camp, but went to another in the area.

My boys did attend Fall Camporee in a different district, because our district did not have one so that the boys would be available to work the Cub Scout Spookeree program.

 

Once the Council figures out what good programming is all about, my boys will take their activities into consideration. Until then, there are a ton of other options out there to pick from.

 

One does all this for the boys. If the boys aren't having fun, then it's time to make your own or go looking for other options elsewhere.

 

Stosh

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A little of both.

At the district/counsel level, it sounds like you have "scope creep." The addition of the cub camping event, while fun at the time, ate into time and personnel dedicated to round-up and cubmobile. Lacking more people, something's gotta give.

 

At your level, you now have boys spread across two units. Maybe you are growing more into troop activities. Or maybe you would like to try to operate more on a district level and help them set priorities. Well, if either's true then you need to delegate your cub responsibilities. Maybe you are really good with helping your pack run, then stick with that. Show up for your older son's activities when the troop needs a driver or a 2nd adult.

 

Regardless, you have to let some stuff go. Accept that fact that in most of these circles folks are going to make decisions that are beyond your control. Scout cheerfully!

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My first thought is that your pack is depending too much on District activities to build your pack program. District activities should be a supplement to your own well-rounded active pack program. If boys from your pack are able to participate in the District events, then great. If not, they should still have plenty of fun things to do with your pack throughout the year. Have your boys build Cubmobiles in the spring when they have more time to build and practice, then let them race the cars in the fall at the District event. New fall recruits don't have to participate in the District event, but they will certainly look forward to building their cars in the spring. Take the focus off of things you have no control over and work on the things you do have control over, and you will be happier.

 

That being said, I know after 5 years of being a DL, I was burnt out and ready for a change. Luckily, I only had one child going through Cub Scouts, so I didn't have to repeat the program with a younger sibling.

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Stosh,

 

I’m with you on letting the Scouts decide what to do. That’s why I am not too upset with the Webelos having to make a choice. Heck I had to make a choice to honor my commitment to oldest son and camporee, or break that commitment and watch youngest do his first Cubmobile and assist with that event. Thankfully the wife is supporting me on this, and she will be taking the younger two to Cubmobile.

 

Quaz,

Part of the district’s problem is the CS activities chair. The council family camp out and district camporee were planned and put on the council’s calendar last year, so they have been “set in stone†so to speak. And when the family camp out was first planned, it was deliberately set up to avoid conflicts with existing Cub Scout events in the districts. Usually events in this area happen the same weekend year after year, except in March/April time frame due to Easter. So in the fall we know when districts are using the camp, when districts are having CS events, etc.

 

Problems arose when the activities chair moved things up. Sometimes things cannot be helped but have a conflict. But the activities chair doesn’t care about what is already scheduled. She has scheduled activities whenever she wanted regardless of what is already scheduled: Pinewood Derby on University of Scouting, Webeloree same weekend as OA Conclave (and she wondered why she could never get the OA to help staff the event).

 

You are 100% correct on shedding responsibilities. As much as I want to work with oldest son and Boy Scouts, I need to spend the time with the youngest. Being a troop MC is fine with me.

 

The district responsibilities are the sticking point. At the moment there are only 2 CS folks on the district committee, the CS Activities chair and I. And she doesn’t attend meetings, so I am the one representing the Cub leaders. The CS RT commissioner job I would like to give up if I could find the right replacment. Thankfully that job has gotten easier since I’ve given up day camp. But doing both was a P.I.T.A.

 

Dedked,

 

You are 100% correct, we do rely on the district and council for special activities. My district is a small one, essentially just one county, and the 2 largest packs have approx 60 Cubs in each. The rest vary from 5 to 25. From way before I got in the district as a DE in 1998, the packs pooled their resources since the council really didn't do much for Cubs. For whatever reason, the person that has taken over the CS activities doesn't really coordinate anything with the packs anymore.

 

UPDATE: My pack had Cubmobile practice last night and several leaders were complaining about the date. Since we told them in September that the second date was going to be a conflict and we really needed the event to be in November, several of our leaders already have other, family obligations this weekend. So we are trying to find someone to take charge of the event and transport the cars.

 

When I picked up my oldest son form Boy Scouts, several of that pack's leaders were also complaining about the date and conflicts. Comment was made that maybe my pack and the other pack organize our own Cubmobile. And while the location proposed does not have as steep an incline, it is longer.

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