Lisabob

I don't think that WB (or any other course) is going to take a poor leader and make them over into a great, or even good, leader. Garbage in, garbage out. I do think WB is the most useful scout training I ever participated in and I do recommend it. Among other things, it helps motivate participants. Yes Gern, the evangelical Wood Badge sermon can get old. On the other hand, at least you have a parent who is gung ho about tackling matters that others haven't had the time or energy for. One thing I liked about Wood Badge was that it is the only place, save perhaps this board, where I got to spend real time talking about scouting with dedicated scouters. That alone helped me re-invigorate and re-shape my view of what scouting can be, in a very positive way. For newer leaders, this might be an eye opener. For more seasoned leaders, it might be a refreshing and uplifting change. Either way, every Wood Badger I've ever met comes away from the course with a renewed and deeper commitment to scouting as a movement, in addition to scouting at their unit or positional level. Another thing about Wood Badge that I liked was that it gave me connections to other scouters in the area. And honestly, most of them really were/are the "cream of the crop." Not because they attended WB, but because few lousy scouters would bother to attend Wood Badge so there's a big self-selection issue there. The third thing I like about Wood Badge is that, when you put all of the above together, you get a chance to think in a serious way about what is working and what isn't working so well in your unit, and how you - in the position you already have - can work to make your unit even better. Honestly, in most units I've ever seen, people are struggling so hard just to keep up with the day-to-day stuff that they rarely have time to think deeper/big-picture thoughts. That's powerful, when you have the time to do so in an environment full of other committed scouters. (And incidentally that's why I wish some folks from my son's unit would attend. I see a lot of our problems stemming from lack of clear vision. If all, or even most, of our adults had a common vision to buy into, it would go a long way toward improving the troop.) Now anybody who waves around their WB credentials as the be-all, end-all or who tries to use their beads as status or power symbols, is an idiot. And it doesn't matter what their gender is. But the same could be said about any number of other credentials too. Well that's my 5 cents (inflation, sorry).

Actually I think you'll find a lot of parents are relieved to drop it. THose store-bought sweets, in addition to being bad and bad-for-you, are really not that cheap! On rare occasion I've resorted to that when my son "forgot" until 10 minutes before some event that he'd signed me up to provide cookies. At the local grocery stores, a box of a dozen frosted sugar cookies costs about $3. Yikes! That adds up if you have a big group or you're doing it every month.

We were part of two packs. The first one served juice & cookies at the end of each pack meeting. It gave the kids a little time to run around while the parents chatted about whatever. Sometimes this was good (pack business got taken care of before most people left) and sometimes it wasn't (kids didn't have a great space in which to be rambunctious and sometimes sugar-fueled behavior was unwelcome). The second pack did not serve end-of-meeting refreshments. It wasn't an issue. Nobody ever said "well Johnny won't be returning unless you bribe him with sugary treats." So it is partly a matter of what is the norm in your pack, and whether you think changing that norm would be a problem. Personally, I reached a conclusion very similar to yours and I wasn't sorry to find that the second pack just didn't bother. Are you part of your pack's leadership? If so maybe you want to bring this up while you guys are planning for next year.

I had another one last night. Eager fellow, 1st Class and aiming for Eagle. Doesn't have many MBs yet and most or all of those were earned at summer camps. Nice kid. He came over with the list of Eagle-required MBs to see which ones I counsel. Picked out communications to start on with me this weekend. SO I said, ok great, now before you leave the troop meeting tonight, why don't you talk with the Librarian about getting hold of the MB booklet. Scout: Blank look. Can't I just find it online? Me: Well you could find the list of requirements online and thats' a good idea for starters, but you wouldn't be able to get the whole book that way. Scout: Oh. (wanders off. A few minutes later, comes back.) Who is the Librarian? Me: I'm not sure, how about you check with the SPL or ASPL? Scout: Oh. (wanders off. A few minutes later...) Well the Librarian doesn't have the library with him. Are you sure I can't get it online? Me: Nope, sorry. How about you ask the Librarian to bring the library to next week's meeting and you can pick up the book then. We can still talk about some of the requirements this weekend, but you will need the book to complete the badge. Scout: Oh... So we'll see! I hope he figures out that I meant it, and that the other Eagle-required MBCs he goes to hold similar expectations.

Dentistry is easy. Have the boy ask his dentist. Pottery - do you have any colleges/universities nearby? Many will have an art department and either they, or maybe somebody they know, could help you with that one.

Wow. Cool, scoutingagain. I spent just a little time in the White Mountains as a kid and have very fond memories. Not doing anything nearly as strenuous as real backpacking! I will forward to my son for his VP's consideration. One of my son's complaints after the last 2 hikes has been that the adults are all focused on using the hikes as a means to an end (preparing for a week-long trek in Northern MI national wildlife area this summer). But the boys also want to be able to enjoy the hikes too and not just get through them. Thus, there's a real difference of opinion about things like pacing, the amount of time it takes to prepare and eat meals, what time they should be done each day, how quickly they get moving in the morning, etc. The boys like running ahead, it is true, but they also like stopping to explore interesting things along the way. They aren't cooking gourmet food by any stretch, but they also don't like being told to hurry up, hurry up, with their lunch plans. Stuff like that. It seems they're at cross-purposes with adults who have a different agenda (teach boys discipline so that they can do a week-long hike in remote places this summer and make it to the end point on time). And it seems like both the adult and boy agendas haven't been fully communicated, let alone accepted, by the other side. So let me ask you a question, because I have no experience to draw from here. When you are preparing for a big expedition like a week-long trek, how do you do that? It is one thing to say "have practice hikes" and another to have a sense of what those practice hikes are like? Are your practice hikes tightly controlled or are they just hikes for the sake of getting miles under the belt? I hope that makes some sense because I'm not even really sure how to ask what I want to know. Feel free to spin off and by all means, if you think you can articulate what I'm trying to ask better than I just did, go for it. I think it might be useful for my son to read your responses too.

All of a sudden this has popped up as a problem in our troop at meetings. The oldest scouts (late high school age) seem to have lost all sense of good manners. It has gotten to a point where several adults, independently, have talked with the older guys about the issue. I admit I was one and I NEVER do that, but as I watched a younger scout struggle to teach skill a couple of weeks ago to an unruly group of older guys who were playing on their cell phones, the teacher in me came out. Well part of the problem is manners, plain and simple. But part of it is also that they tend to do this when they aren't being engaged. For example, the skill being presented in the above scenario was really not well done and carried little of value. Not that this excuses poor behavior, but you know the saying about idle hands? Afterwards, some of us adults were talking about it. The agreement was that we supported the SM being less patient and more pointed about manners and the scout law. And we talked about developing a better skill session, which includes helping the presenters learn how to do a good presentation. The former is easier than the latter so we'll see. This week we had a great skill session and no problems, but it was adult-run. And the SM did hold the boys to a higher standard of behavior in terms of the manners thing. As for adults, we have a few big phone talkers. I've noticed that many of them take their cues from the SM's example. Our previous SM was one of those who seemed to have his phone connected to his head but our current SM isn't. Seems like it makes some difference in how the other adults behave. Still, adult-to-adult, it is tough to say "you cannot have your phone and if I catch you, I'll take it from you." Oh yeah? You want to try that? Not a useful dynamic there. Better if the PLC makes a troop-wide decision, I think.

You won't find a written behavioral guideline for adults. I always thought that part of the point of being an adult is that you shouldn't NEED such a formal guideline anymore. Of course we see on this board often enough, that some adults are just over-grown 2 year olds, pitching tantrums when they don't get their way. The pack is within their rights to remove these folks if the issue cannot be resolved in other ways. If the boy is not a problem, another option would be collectively to shun these folks when they act up. What I mean: We had a case where a den leader couple (husband/wife) caused serious problems in the pack and could not behave themselves. They were removed from their leadership positions (much drama involved), but told that they were welcome to keep their boy in the pack (nice kid, not his fault). To our surprise they did so, but the mother in particular took every opportunity to bad-mouth whatever the pack was doing, often in front of the boys, at den and pack meetings. So finally, the rest of the leadership and the other parents in that den simply refused to play her game. Every time she'd start on some negative tirade, the other adults would look her in the eye, tell her "I'm sorry but this is not appropriate behavior" and get up and move somewhere else. Eventually she got the message. For a while, these two parents would drop off their boy for den/pack meetings and then go sit in the hallway where (as far as I could tell) they griped to each other. But they did stay with the pack for another 2 years after that, all the way through their son's cross-over to boy scouts, and they stopped being a source of trouble for everybody else. Doing something like that requires a little bit of coordination (though we never really talked about it - it just evolved after one person started doing it and others caught on) and some spine among your adults. And it probably works better in some circumstances than others. (For example, many of the people in that particular den had been friends with this couple, so there was an existing, positive relationship. I have to add it did end and/or alter some of those friendships though.) Remember though, as UC, it isn't your job to make anything happen - it is your job to offer friendly input where solicited. If the pack chooses not to confront this person because confrontation WILL bring more drama in the short term, then your job is to help them manage the issue as best they can.

I was wondering about this after reading in another thread that somebody's unit still had a MB pamphlet that was 20+ years old for one of the more common MBs. I know most of the boys I counsel are not in the habit of even picking up the book and opening it, let alone actually reading it. So typically I tell them at our first meeting that they do need to read the actual book. I remind them that we have a troop library (usually reasonably well stocked) or that they could convince their parents to drive to the scout shop (40 miles away) and buy a copy. At our second meeting I usually ask "have you had a chance to read the book?" Common responses are: 1) Well I read the requirements, why do I need to read the rest? 2) No but I printed out the worksheets from online 3) I'm here for you to tell me what the book says (only one boy actually said that, but I bet others think it) 4) I found these other online sites instead 5) I can't get hold of the troop librarian 6) I've never had a counselor expect me to read it before! Mind you, I counsel 2 citizenships, communications, and American cultures. These are not outdoor, hands-on badges in the same way that (say) hiking is. But even those outdoor ones have some good info in there that could make preparation for activities more effective! And then I wonder too, do other MBCs actually read the handbooks?

Why does anybody keep coming back? Shouldn't Merlyn be as welcome as anybody else on this board? Or do you want only people who agree all the time? How boring that would be! Sometimes I agree with Merlyn, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I agree with his point of view but not his tactics. I'd like to think that we could handle divergent views without dissolving into childishness but that's probably wishful thinking.

Yes I think you gave him good counsel. It is great that he is eager. Merit badges can be a lot of fun and there's certainly a lot of variety to choose from. You might want to talk with him about possibly working on a couple of those listed at summer camp, if he's going. Archery & Shotgun shooting come to mind there, maybe climbing and the water ones (depending on your camp's program - in most camps I've seen, those are age- or rank-limited badges due to their popularity). Some of the ones that are more scout-skill focused, you might want to talk with him about starting on, with the realization that it might take a while to complete. But giving him a blue card and having him start on (say) cooking and hiking might make sense if you know he's going to have opportunities to do some of the requirements at upcoming camp outs. Being "wicked smart" can be both an asset and a liability. He's probably very good at reading the book, fulfilling the requirements and checking off boxes, and the MB program may offer him a way to channel his need for individually-paced activity and achievement. On the other hand, he might also benefit a LOT from other aspects of the scouting program that are more about interpersonal relationships and learning physical skills too. Obviously I don't know this kid so it might not fit him, but a lot of the time kids who are truly academically gifted and excel in school, really need this other side of the scouting program to help them balance out their personal growth.

Most years I give a little. Last year I gave enough to get the special CSP. The two things that made that year different? 1) It was a good economic year and 2) The presenter did a good job of not boring us to death. She talked a little about what scouting had done for her sons and for boys in their troop. She talked about an on-going capital improvement project that was revitalizing one of our long under-utilized camps, and what that would mean for troops and for the district and council. It was a fairly soft sell, and (for me anyway) it worked. I appreciate a well-organized presentation and knowing what the money is going toward, in a realistic sense. Some presenters ramble on and seem to be pulling half-baked statistics out of thin air or meander off into an angry rant about "society these days" or "goll darn lib'rals want to kill scouting!" or other such nonsense. They have little credibility. That definitely turns me off. I'm generally not motivated by the "goodies" that the unit (or individual) gets from reaching certain donation levels. To me, this dilutes the power of the donations and requires MORE fundraising to cover those costs. I'd be happier to see the costs of fundraising reduced by removing most or all of these sorts of incentives. (This message has been edited by lisabob)

Short answer: Yes, but then they'd better be willing to drive their own kid back and forth. Somewhat longer answer: Perhaps the SPL should be quietly encouraged to find a different way of deciding who rides in what cars in advance, rather than having a mad dash for the vehicle with the best entertainment capacity. When we had a few really challenging individuals in our troop and we were going on longer trips, we adults made sure to rotate the boys around so that neither any boy nor any adult bore the brunt of these kids the whole time. But we did it quietly, not by playing elimination games in front of them! It can't be a fun thing for anyone to realize that the other boys are drawing straws to figure out who gets stuck in the undesirable spot. Even if the fellow is a stinker, that's not very kind behavior to pull right in front of him.

HA HA HA HA (sorry HICO, did you mention Unit Commish? We don't have one and our district's UC corp is notoriously weak.) I contacted the SM and asked for a meeting to talk about how to develop youth leadership more generally in the troop. I see the same problems in the troop that I do with this patrol. Adults get frustrated that we don't have excellent youth leaders. But we don't really teach and mentor our youth leaders well either. And then people get frustrated that they aren't leading well, and the adults step in and do it for them because the boys aren't living up to unspoken, uncommunicated, untaught, expectations. We have this problem with patrol leaders. We have this problem with senior youth leadership (SPL, ASPL, and PORS). We have this problem with youth-taught skill. We have this problem every year. Now we have this problem in the venture patrol. I see a trend and I don't think we can blame the boys for it. Calico, I don't know the answer to your question. Based on what my son has said, I think some of them find this to be as irritating as my son does, but I am not certain. Short of asking them (and remember, it is mostly their parents in attendance, which puts them in an awkward position!) I don't know how I could find that out. (This message has been edited by lisabob)

As I think I've mentioned before, I'm a liberal Democrat. I'm proud of that fact. Of course I think my party has the right answers more often than not! I was delighted to see Obama win the presidency and am extremely happy to have what I consider to be an articulate and thoughtful voice speaking for my country again. I was relieved to see Palin return to Alaska rather than setting up shop in the White House. Of course I realize that my views tend to be minority views in scouting circles. So be it, I can live with that. In fact I try to keep my political views out of my scouting most of the time, because I think we scouters have a lot of common ground to build upon. But when asked, I am perfectly willing to explain and defend my views to other scouters. Of course I expect from them the same courtesy I give them, when they air their political views. All that said, in my day job, I teach political science and most semesters, I teach American government. I have students from all walks of life and all political backgrounds. I tell them at least once a week that I do not CARE what their political views are, nor do I expect them to parrot my views. I care deeply that they have views of their own and that they have thought about why they believe whatever they do, and that it is based on some shred of evidence that they understand and can articulate. And you know, the vast majority - from the LaRouchies to the socialists to the "Fair tax" folks and the libertarians to the occasional Marijuana Party kids to most of the Dems and Reps - seem to accept that approach pretty well. In fact, the only folks I ever have a hard time with are the super-dogmatic Democrats and Republicans who are "right" because "they're right!" Or because "my parents said so!" Or because "the other side is stupid!" The glory of this country, to me, is that people can voice their opinions, whatever they are. But along with that, if you want others to take you seriously, you have to be able to explain your views. And you have to accept that most people, rather than being "true believers," are somewhere in the eclectic and messy middle. And you have to stop demonizing people who have an honest disagreement with you. We here in this forum are probably the exceptions to the norm. Most of us probably seek out the politics forum because we have deep-seated political beliefs in favor of (or at least, opposed to) one side or another. Might be good to remember that most Americans care more about moderation than we political junkie types do.

You know, the more I read this board, the more I reach the conclusion that my WB/21st C experience was a strange hybrid of actual 21st C syllabus and odds & ends from the "old" course. Barry, I never said WB doesn't teach adults how to work with youth. I'm not sure whether I believe that or not, will need to think about it. What I said was that there are a lot of adults out there who don't know how to work with scouts (WB or not). And by the way, I am the only WB-trained individual in my son's troop. None of the others can go/will go. Too bad. Actually I think it would be quite beneficial to the troop if they would. Beyond that, I'm not really sure how useful this is to Eamonn's question so I'll quit commenting on this thread (sorry Eamonn!).

Hey Narraticong, Thanks for the offer. It is nice to know there are troops out there who do get it. Too bad Warren is a long drive from here! Wouldn't mind visiting sometime though... Well here's where I'm at right now. I intend to have a chat with the adults who insist on all the hand holding. I'll point out that they are holding the boys back from personal growth, and that their safety precautions are out of alignment with reality, as evidenced by adult supervision requirements for much more strenuous activities like Philmont and even some of the troop's other campouts. Later this month we have a troop campout that is basically an all-day scavenger hunt (with a scout skill twist, lots of map & compass work built in). The patrols leave in the morning and come back in the evening. Yes, along the way they stop at various stations that are adult-staffed, but they don't have 4 adults following each patrol around all day long, either! The troop has been doing this campout for close to 10 years and hasn't lost a scout yet. I'll suggest that if we cannot trust our older scouts to hike a few miles by themselves then we have failed these boys somewhere along the way in terms of teaching skill and developing leaders. I'll offer the view that, while the boys may not have shown the leadership that some of these adults wanted to see, those same adults failed to communicate expectations to the boys in a reasonable manner ahead of time, and that these adults then usurped from the boys any chance of actually making decisions and exhibiting leadership. This has happened so often that it is no surprise when the boys no longer take initiative and instead wait for the adults to tell them what to do. When they do take initiative, they just get yelled at for doing things in a different order than certain adults wanted, anyway. Is there a mind-reading merit badge that they could work on, perhaps?? I'll indicate that if they want boys to stay with the program, they need to find a different way of offering input than shouting at them all weekend, which nobody could be expected to enjoy or put up with. I'll point out that the whole idea of a venture patrol is to give older, more advanced scouts more adventure and more independence, not less. I don't think any of the above will change their minds. As Beavah suggested, I am outvoted on the committee and the above is symptomatic of some larger troop problems with boy leadership and the patrol method in general. I fully expect the response to be that I don't understand the risks, that the boys aren't ready to lead, that they were a disappointment, that because I don't go with the group (by design! They don't need another adult tagging along!) I'm not aware of the real situation, that my son's view is not accurate, etc. As for my son, oh I imagine he'll stay with the troop. The troop has its ups and downs, but in general he likes it and he has friends there. Whether he stays with the Venture Patrol is an open question. He was pretty disgusted when he came home yesterday, and that's how most of his VP activities have turned out to date. When the VP got started, he thought it would be an opportunity to do cool stuff that the younger guys weren't ready for, with more autonomy. It hasn't exactly worked out that way. Yes, the VP does more hiking and backpacking, but not in an autonomous setting. A couple of the adults are really running the whole thing, albeit with good intentions. THe VP adviser has said in the past that he doesn't really care too much how it happens, his goal is simply to get the kids out backpacking and that's why he started the VP. Well that has happened, at least. Normally I'm a "stick with it" type of person but I can't really blame my son for not wanting to put up with this stuff much longer. So, if he decides to step back from the VP, I'll encourage him to have his own quiet and courteous conversation with the SM first, and then the Venture Patrol adviser, to explain why. The VP adviser will most likely label this as a cop out, because I don't think that he is likely to change HIS view, but that's that.

I agree with Eamonn that asking for your unit roster and/or charter is not opening the can of worms. By the way, your charter org. should also be listed on the unit roster, which you have absolutely every right to have. You cannot run a program when you don't even know who is officially enrolled in and officially running your program! A question: You said "we have a 10 year lease..." Who is "we" here? In the likely case that "we" is your CO, then would changing COs negate this agreement? As for changing COs, it can be done but if your unit had been set up correctly, it shouldn't need to happen at this stage. The way things are **supposed** to work, when a new unit is started up, the DE identifies a CO that wants to have a scouting unit. The CO then identifies people who it wants to have as unit leaders (that would be you). Ideally then, the CO and the founding unit leaders are well known to each other and work well together. In reality, sometimes DEs (who are often under tremendous pressure because they're evaluated on how many units they start up in a year) pluck pliant COs and starting unit leaders out of thin air and do nothing to foster any actual relationship. Sounds like that may have happened for you, resulting in your situation where you don't even really know who the CO is - and they most likely don't really know who you are, either. So in your case, you have a young unit and no relationship to your CO, a change to a different CO might make some sense. However, it isn't always easily accomplished and might be a thing to put on the back burner. The charter org. of record "owns" your unit, including any funds or equipment that belong to the unit. So a change in CO can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, if the original CO is not on board with it. These things need to be handled delicately. At a minimum, you should have a nice chat with the leader of your charter partner to find out whether they even want a scout unit. If they do, I'd encourage you to stick with them and develop a real relationship. If they're not so interested and the DE just twisted their arm, then you can start to talk about an orderly migration of your unit over to the VFW, with no hard feelings on the part of your current CO.

It is one thing to have a merit badge weekend (though I'm not that fond of them). It is entirely another to elevate that to the level of some type of "race" to see who can get the most in a weekend. I would put these folks on the spot. How exactly would such an event really strengthen what units can do in terms of the methods of scouting? Real advancement doesn't happen like this, as anybody (including the boys) who stops to think about it would acknowledge. Why cheapen the advancement program by pretending otherwise? There will be little to no adult association when kids are racing through things just to get it done. Certainly no opportunity to explore areas of interest and engage in some personal growth. If your district chooses to go ahead with such a scheme anyway, I hope you will not promote it to your scouts. Don't cheat them of an honest experience in actually earning (and heck, maybe even enjoying) their merit badges.

Thanks for suggestions. My son returned and said that most of the time they got shouted at by one (or more) of the adults in the group. He did not enjoy that and doesn't see much point in continuing with this venture patrol experiment if that's how people want to behave. Can't blame him. While in some cases he concedes that there are things that he might have done differently, we're talking about fairly minor stuff (not behavioral problems) that doesn't justify spending a weekend getting yelled at. And from what he said, a lot of it boils down to poor communications between adults who had decided the plan FOR the boys, without necessarily communicating said plan to the boys in advance, and the boys who were not carrying out the plan in the way the adults wanted them to. Not that they were necessarily doing things really wrong, just not living up to certain expectations the adults in the group had. Things like who would tent with whom, which adults would hike with the boys, what order things should be done in the mornings, etc.. What could have been good learning experiences, like "you need to pay better attention to how much water you're using so that there's plenty left to cook lunch with" turned into confrontations and put-downs about poor leadership. Well anyway that's my son's view. I'm sure there are other perspectives on the matter too. I will give it a couple more days and then approach the adults who were there to calmly discuss the matter. PS - It ended up being 4 boys and 10 adults. Ugh. Maybe next time they'll hold the boys' hands too, to make sure they don't trip or anything.(This message has been edited by lisabob)

Hi Cathy, I asked the same thing last fall, and got some very helpful responses. You might want to check this thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=191393

Tell them no. If it is a matter of not paying attention, usually the committee chair could have a quiet conversation with the scout's parent and that would fix things. It is not fair or reasonable for the parent or scout to expect the troop to absorb the cost just because they weren't being responsible. On the other hand, if it is a matter of economic hard times and some kids really cannot afford it? Then maybe your committee looks at its campership policy (if you have such a policy). Our troop has a fund that scouts could apply to in order to help cover costs. But they/their parents do need to apply - we don't just automatically use that fund to cover people who haven't paid their bills without asking. Again, maybe your committee chair could quietly approach the parent to see if assistance is needed. And if it is a lot of folks in need? Maybe you sit down and talk about setting up some cheaper camp outs.

Well of course you need both! I watch the struggles my son's troop goes through. We have a bunch of adults with above-average outdoor skills, who none the less, cannot seem to transmit to the boys either a high level of skill OR a clue as to the leadership stuff. It is not an uncommon thing to hear adults expressing disappointment in the troop's youth leadership, and/or in the skill level of the troop's senior scouts. You know why? Because many of the adults do not know how to work with youth, to coach and mentor. Because some do not understand that scouting is more than the sum of its parts. Because some don't know how to step back and let the boys do things and learn from their own experiences, rather than having some adult charge in and do it for them/tell them what to do. Because some treat youth leadership like puppets on strings, rather than as real, autonomous people capable of making decisions on their own if we'd only truly give them the tools, coach them a bit, and then get out of the way and let them do it. You're right, Wood Badge won't make you a better camper, or a better dutch oven cook, or better with knots. It could, conceivably, help you learn how to transmit those skills and others to the scouts. As for better skill training? Yes, we need that too, but no one course can be all things to all people.

"This month was crowded we ended up with 6 events." Egads. This is on top of weekly den meetings? That's 10 cub events in a month? That's a cub event every three days, on average. We would have had complaints if we'd scheduled this much stuff in one month too. I was one of those folks who was active in almost everything the pack did (in fact I planned a lot of it). I found that if we got much over the weekly den meeting + monthly pack meeting + one or maybe two extras, attendance dropped way down. This was true even when the additional events in question were really worthwhile. We eventually learned that we had to pick and choose what we would participate in. Maybe, in a very large pack, you'd have the number to sustain and justify so much activity. In our pack, with between 20-40 boys, we did not, and the handful of leaders who did attend most stuff would have been burned out all that much faster if we'd tried to keep such a pace. As mn_scout says, it isn't always about the monetary cost.

Do you have the cost of insurance in there somewhere? When I ran program at a summer camp years ago, this was the single biggest expense. While the camp I worked at was a horseback riding camp and that adds risk/cost, I would be surprised to find that insurance for scout camps is much lower.