AnnLaurelB

~snort~ In my book, a successful Comm Mtg would be one in which one person didn't spend inordinate amounts of time telling other people what hoops they were failing to jump through. That being said, I think in a way a Comm Mtg is a little like a Pack meeting for grown-ups. Pledge, prayer, perhaps a funny story from the last event. Even do a 3-minute ice-breaker. Money. What needs to be done, if anything? Who's going to do it? Calendar. What's coming up between now and next Comm Mtg? What needs doing, and who's gonna do it? You? You? Fabulous. New business. Oh! Add a ro

SMT said, "Cub Scouts prepare boys to be Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts prepare boys to be men and leaders." That's kind of what I'm feeling. I think Webs should ~prepare~ boys to LEARN to be Boy Scouts. But I don't think Webs should be whip-cracked through their Tenderfoot stuff, which is what this gal is trying to do. I was in the Scout Hut last week, and I saw her weekly list of BOY Scout stuff she drills them on, and I call No Fun. Again, my Bears will still be *8* when they start Web1. I would like to teach them to be WEBELOS, not Boy Scouts.

P.S. What is a ticket counselor, please?

You know, back when my son was a Tiger, and I got-roped-into-I-mean-promoted as CM halfway through the season, we did all-Den meetings for several months. We only had 2 or 3 of each Rank, so I would print off the Lesson Plan for each Den, throw some basic supplies into grocery bags for each group (I have a background in curriculum prep), and after an opening, I sent each Den to a different table, and told the parents, "Read those highlighted parts, dig through that bag, flip through their Books, and see if you can crank out Chapter 4." (or whatever) I got pretty good at combining a g

Y'all know that I've had nothing but difference of opinion when it comes to our new (but soon-to-be-former) CC. She's also the Webs leader, half of whom are Webs2's brought from her other Pack, and the other half are new Webs1's. My son is a Bear, and I have not yet girded my loins for being a Webs1 leader. I ~know~ that it's a whole different animal. But I do take exception (maybe, depending, since I'm not 100% familiar with the Webs program) to the attitude that the CC takes with these little boys. When my son becomes a Webs1 next season, he'll *barely* be 9 years old. This ga

I spun a thread off about this (I can't remember why, now, exactly). But in an ironic twist, SHE brought ME up on what she called "infractions", and she told me that I had 60 days to do blah, blah, blah...or ~face removal as CM~. I emailed my Commissioner, and my Scout Exec, who both called me the next day and said, "WHA...?!?" They reassured me that 1) she does NOT have the authority to censure/punish/fire people, and 2) Both of those gentlemen, and both of THEIR higher-ups agree that *I* need to stay in place here, not she. That said, I have been in contact with the Pack (and the

Y'all are cracking me up! Thanks for all the encouragement. I am by nature an ostrich; I DON'T LIKE CONFRONTATION! (in Rex voice) So I tend to grit my teeth and say nothing. When the other mom told me what she'd told the pastor and the COR, I knew (and was relieved) that I wasn't exaggerating (embellishing for entertainment? Sure. But exaggerating? Naw!) The pastor is out of town for the next week; the Committee meeting is Jan 5th. I hope that he and the COR can have a Come To Jesus of some sort before that day. Over the weekend, I got confirmation that two of my favorite famili

Thanks, Mom! lol ScoutNut, the mom who went to see the pastor called me last night, and told me what she'd told the pastor (and the COR, whom the pastor had gotten to join them). This mom is an awesome lady, and she explained everything to both men much better than I could have. And she expressed to them that my sense of urgency is because I feel responsible, but that she and her husband, both as an ADL and a parent, DID feel that the CC is behaving wildly outside the position. She helped them understand the feelings of herself as an ADL, the Cubs (she has a Wolf), and also what s

Christmas party last Monday night. The stickers that I'd brought for the gift exchange were swept into the trash, replaced with a ticket system. I was told that the choose-a-number was not the "preferred way". CC had asked for a copy of the agenda for the Pack meeting/party. I supplied one. I was told that the invocation "needs to be before that song." I was told that I should have had two craft choices, instead of just the one, and that I should not have planned a team-competition game -- it should have been a whole-group game. Mind you, this is all AT THE EVENT that I'm being told my s

I hear you. And it's a big reason why I have tried keeping my own counsel all this time. But I got a pretty screamy email the other day, as did the other DL. She asked me if I'd gotten it, we compared notes, etc... So I don't ~think~ it's just me. But anyway, we're going to meet with the pastor, then with the other 3 gals. It will work itself out.

On a lot of points, you're not wrong. Points taken. Of course, since I tend to ramble anyway, I didn't include everything that's gone on. The requests to show up to "closed" sessions to essentially complain about what rotten parents we have. The emails that were sent out to all the famililies by the treasurer ~changing~ my event instructions ... without checking with me, first. The constant interrupting from the back of the room ~during~ Pack meetings with business things. Example: Stopping the popcorn skit to remind me that a form needed to be faxed by Thursday. Things lik

Moose, I've never been real clear on the whole re-charter dates thing. Confuses me every time. I know that they're making "last call" for Pack dues right now, so evidently it's due imminently. Four months ago, I knew we needed ...something... but I think this experience has shown us what sort of tone we DON'T want our Pack to have. I absolutely agree that it would be the right answer for everyone if they got their boys bridged to whatever Troop, and then quietly resigned from the Pack.

Well, there's no question that the best JOB is Cubmaster!! ;0) But I've been DL for my son fo Tiger, Wolf, and now Bear rank. I had SO much fun when they were Tigers, but I liked Wolf more. Now Bear is a little more challenging because they're not quite as easily impressed. I think if I was going to lead a Den that my kid wasn't in, I'd pick Wolf. I haven't done Webs yet; I'm not sure I want to. I'm a little worried about my ability to get a handful of boys through all their STUFF. I'd rather someone take the Webs next year, and just let me be CM (*crossing fingers and scanning

"Does ANYone have ANY: Questions, Comments, Criticisms, Arguments, or Discussion?" They know this is my next-to-last-line. After that, I say something that had to do with the CM Minute. The 1st Pack meeting of the season, I did the poster of the ever-increasing water-depth, with Tiger Fish, Wolf Fish, etc... So after questionscommentscriticismsargumentsordiscussion I said, "Go... be... BEEEG... FEEEESH...!"

I see what you mean, yes. I guess this is where I feel blessed to have worked with kids and curriculum for all those years when my daughter was small. I spent 7 years prepping curriculum for church preschoolers, and some of the stuff THEY gave me was like, "Are you kidding me?!?" "Take a large potato and dress it as Joseph." (*blink. blink.*) I'm sorry. WHAT? No, no, no. We will not be dressing potatoes, thank you very much. So then I'd have to figure out something else as an object lesson. With the advent of the internet, there's NO reason that someone can't find resource

Yep, you're both right! The ONLY saving factor here might be that we HAVE gotten several NEW families during recruiting in Aug/Sep. Now that they've gotten used to the program and all, some of them are very nice, and ...functional... :0) In talking to my other Den leader, she feels confident that if we approached Familiy A, B, and C, that they would *likely* be willing to step up, if we explained the situation. I did talk to the pastor, and we're going to meet this week before the next Committee meeting and discuss what to do. He, the other Den leader and I agree that we'd hate

(*crrriccck, crrriccck, crrriccck*)(that's the can of worms, opening) Okay, I'll bite. What don't you like about it?

Hi, gang! Just popping in to say hello, and that y'all were right about the gal who came over to our Pack to "help out" as CC when our older children's pastor lady retired from the church. This new gal was ...asked... to leave her other Pack because she was so dictatorial. I talked to her at length; I *did* feel at the time that our Pack would be giving her a chance to redeem herself. So you'd think that she'd bend over backwards to NOT make the same mistake again, right? Wrong. Of course, wrong. I know, I know. I was ~warned~! But we were desperate, and we needed help. Read that: We

Well, for example, at the Comm meeting a few nights ago, during my update, I mentioned that I wanted to use the bulk of the Nov Pack meeting to make cardboard "cars" for the boys to wear in the Christmas parade. The Troop and the Pack have marched in the Christmas parade for YEARS. This year, the SM and I thought we'd do a Pinewood theme (I'm pretty sure I got the idea HERE), and I brought that up at the meeting. The CC kind of rolled her eyes and said (in the most bored tone you can imagine), "Well, we'll put out a sign-up sheet, and see if there's any ... interest in doing that."

Y'all are making me laugh; thanks! I'll catch you guys up later when I'm not so tired. Right now I'm just checking in and trying to hold out for a non-embarrassing bedtime. Ah'll bee bahck.

...is a dictatorial troll. I *was* warned. Thank you, that is all.

*sigh* Well, she's a lawt to handle, if I'm honest. She seems to have this videotape that runs in her head of how things should be, and it's frustrating to her when reality doesn't match the loop running through her mind. Mind you, I didn't have to plan the campfire PROGRAM; it was a Cub-O-Ree, so a District (very fun) guy came in and did the overall campfire. But at our little campfire, we did s'mores, and I told stories. It was quintessential camp out! :0) As for the CC, I *was* warned that she's ...off-putting... I feel like I can deal with it for this year, and next ye

We did this by default for the back half of my son's Tiger year, because we lost our CM (and it became me), and we only had 12 boys, and no one would be Den leaders. So I just held "Joint Den Meetings"; it actually worked pretty well. But now, with 40 boys, we meet in Dens individually; we only have 1 Den for each Rank right now. If a Bear can't meet on Monday, well... sorry. So that's still a drawback. I agree that because Cubs are grade/age-based programs, it's important for each group to meet separately, then come together at the Pack Party (as I call it) to share with the o

Oh, she's just *awful*, but that's none of my business. The thing is, he just dropped the bomb on us that he was DONE. I'm not sure he WANTS to continue, but he's fond of both me and my daughter (they're in choir together), so I'm going to try to talk to him about it. As I learned this weekend at Cub-O-Ree, my new CC (bless her heart) is a LAWT to handle. But I may be able to smooth the way with Mr.C...

Thanks for the responses, everyone; it's interesting to read everyone's viewpoints! We ended up not showing the movie; I *knew* that running around the campsite with flashlights and just being goofy would keep them occupied for a long time. Then we got a fire going, and EVERYONE wanted to make s'mores, of course. Then they ran around some more (we had, as I mentioned, electricity, so there were some overhead lights, or I wouldn't have allowed the full-tilt running amok). I couldn't have IMAGINED getting those kids to sit still for a movie. No. Way. And sure enough, my son said his fa