Momleader

Our pack pays for the leaders to attend training.

Essentially the leaders are requested to attend, complete it and submit a photo of their training cert and we will reimburse them (had to do this after a swathe of them years ago blew it off and we couldn’t get refunds)

Now we need leaders to attend Balloo  and Univ of Scouting (new crop of leaders) and there is sooo much whining about it.  We even include their lunch for Univ of Scouting.  
 

who has a winning idea to get the grown ups to go?

Cooking MB - you could do a supermarket sweep themed relay game - doesn’t take the whole block of time but the theme would generate some laughs - and you have from now until summer to gather props (empty cans and boxes) laminate so they survive longer.  Have the scouts run it as a 3 legged race and at least there will be plenty of belly laughs had for all.

Wondering about something - 

we are in the middle of recharter and the only leader/parent who has stepped forward to be unit leader is not from USA.  Not a dual citizen either but they do have all the paperwork to work here though. 

if they hold a green card can they be a unit leader?   Isn’t that something that would have popped up in the background check in the past couple of years?  Parent has been a den leader and passed all the background stuff from BSA but - it’s come to light to the committee they den doesn’t say the pledge, oath & law at meetings (some parents have mentioned it unhappily) to the point where we are checking to see what else they are flaking out on (nothing safety related - just more scout skills stuff)

if anyone has a link to actual BSA verbiage it would be really helpful at the next committee meeting

My oldest worked on this with  marching euphonium - sounded great and didn’t mess up his embrochure (as 1st chair in his HS band that was his biggest concern) since he worked on the mb just as he prepped for all state band competition 

Don’t they usually wait until August?

In a bit of a dilemma.  I’ve been Pack Committee Chair for the last 9 years.  
I’ve been actively trying to turn over the position to any other parent who would step up.  Problem is the CubMaster has been actively giving me assignments of things to do for the pack - parents see this and don’t want to take that on too.  Fist it started out as picking up things at Costco for pack events since I have a membership and setting up meeting times with the CO so we have space.  It’s turned into ‘anything CM doesn’t have time to do and his wife doesn’t have time to help him with because she’s busy with their children and w part time’  

Now I’m stuck wondering if I just outright quit or should I continue to try and find anyone else to take this role on.    Seeing as my own have aged out of the troop I’m feeling like they are taking advantage of my willingness to help in the past  

Ours has a council fee  it’s equal to what the National fees are  paid at once but presented to families that it’s only $XX per month  kinda like the NPR campaigns of old (only this much a day)

I guess partner is the wrong word  - council will help facilitate but they don’t really supply staff for day camp unless it’s on their property - our council used to do community Cub Scout day camp and they supplied insurance and a few materials (shooting sports stuff) otherwise it was all run by volunteers with a staffer there at check in and a nurse for the day

It’s expensive for this year, but it was also expensive in 2013 & 2017 - even as a staff member it was expensive to volunteer for the experience that it was.  But look at the cost of the cool high adventure trips too - it’s in line with those.  
 

I’ve heard from several scouts at their Eagle Board of Review (when asked what would they like to see change in BSA for those that are coming behind them) that they and their parents feel the trips like those are too expensive and that hurts those that are challenged economically- the scouts look surprised when reminded there are ways to fundraise and earn money for these adventures.  

Looks nice but We will continue to operate a recycled uniform program as long as we can - it helps our parents so much.

We are interested in partnering with 2-3 local packs to offer a 2 evening Twilight Camp this summer.  What kind of activities would be good to offer all ranks?  Maybe portions of adventures / elective adventures?

If you have experience with this - what worked well?

we’d love our pack to attend council’s cub day camp but it’s to far for parents to drive daily from our part of the state.

We do 2 all pack  activities in July and August along with a week of resident camp for Webelos/AOL.  
 

usually it’s a minor league baseball game, parents v kids kickball game, rocketry day, hikes, and conservation projects  - it’s less about advancement and more about fellowship and keeping them connected to the pack structure and they’re encouraged to bring a non scouting friend to all events  

IF they were to eliminate Lion/Tigers - hopefully there would be some sort of phase out for those already in packs this year.  If they were to shorten the commitment for  them to a once a month emerging/outing I would hope they would adjust the fees accordingly,

The new adventure based model is very much like school curriculum  and kinda of boring for a lot of the kiddos

Based on some of the behavior I’ve observed at recent den meetings and the leaders struggling to get kids to focus for 5 minutes - I would say zero drop offs regardless of rank. 
 

And no more parent sitting in the back on their phone either. Get involved and keep yours in line - parents are going to have to step it up a bit to help the leaders because the kids refuse to listen. 

Let me also add the whole lack of space to meet makes it harder to get leaders and parents to commit since it feels like we never know where we will be meeting with any certainty.  

if our CO or council ever said you had to have a child in the pack - they would lose den leaders and half the committee.  Those of us in those positions have been trying to find our replacements for the last few years and always are told by the parents that they are just to busy with their work or number of children to commit to a recurring volunteer position.  they'll do a few hours at an event though but not the big lift of advancement or secretary or den leader.

This year is as horrible as last year.  Last year we kept things going the best we could.  there was no soccer, no youth football or basketball and a short baseball season.  We met outside as much as we could at parks and in small groups.  Our Pack is chartered by a church, who would rather we NOT meet there unless everyone is masked to prevent spread of delta variant and protect the elderly congregants. We have some parents who don't want the kids wearing masks because they have to all day at school still.  We've checked with other churches and gotten the same response.  We have 3 elementary schools, but we can't meet at any of them because no outsiders from the school community can be in the building so if your a child or parent from building A you cant be in buildings B or C and so forth this includes playground areas.  Even if we could meet there there is a night custodian fee of about $150 if we met there -  out of budget.  The town has 2 public parks with ball fields.  Park 1& 2  we aren't able to use because they have posted NO Group Use - parks department says the only groups allowed to use are ball teams right now and families using the playscapes , there is one other park that has a pavillion but its $150 to use it for the night and $250 security deposit.   In the meantime the churches and parks department have asked that we do service projects/ cleanups etc  which we normally do through the year.  I'm feeling less than charitable if they are all going to charge us this much money to use the parks that parents have already paid property taxes to use.  We are talking about 90 minutes of use for 2 pack meetings (meeting is an hour but we want time to setup and cleanup).    We have even checked the fair ground in town but there isn't a building, bathroom or lights in the off season.  The library is on the same page as the parks department and reduced their hours.

Its starting to feel like our community wants the pack to fail unless they need a community clean up or other physical labor from the parents and children.

Council is tied up with fall recruitment and the settlement so what staff is left doesn't have much time to help us.   anyone here have a suggestion?

That's fantastic!  Jealous too - we aren't allowed in the schools for back to school night only parents with children enrolled b/c covid .  Also not allowed to send home fliers  - still waiting on superindendent's approval to post it on the district website - they posted the sports sign ups weeks ago....

GrubKnot - totally commonsense answers.  We also don't punish/shame any cub scout that shows up at a den meeting or pack meeting in their pack activity t-shirt - maybe that's what is clean or at the bringing parent's place. (we have several families that have separate households)

We have a pack hat, emboidered too.  its sharp looking and when we're at an event with a bunch of cub scouts in uniform from all around the area we can pick ours out super fast.  The parents wanted it and adopted it as a cost savings measure - no one has ever called the uniform police on us. Not to mention parents buy them to wear as well and its a great spirit booster

We also make neckerchiefs with the dens as an activity and sometimes as a pack activity - the kids like doing it and it makes it FUN which was what the whole point of Cub Scouts is...Do Your Best and Make It Fun

I agree - they kinda completely screwed up with charging the $25 joining fee and increasing fees the same year. They are smoking something good and should share with the volunteers if they think they will keep or even more laughably grow membership by making it more Expensive for families to have their kids participate in scouting. 
 

Our pack busted our behinds this year to offer the program as normally as possible. - zoom meetings, outdoor in person meetings because our CO wouldn’t allow us to meet inside the church hall (still not allowed even though our state has opened up) we got zero help from the council on that one. My pack is down to a CM who also has 2 dens, the CC (me with 2 dens) and another leader with 2 dens.  Yet council wants us to do a FOS meeting. Seriously?!  They forget we saw in the annual report - council exec and 2 field directors got raises but they also let all the DEs go during COVID. So heck yea. Please take my money so we can keep hearing them talk about the woes of bankruptcy, pandemic giving being down and how the volunteers need to really work on membership to grow the units. 
 

Days like these are remarkable 🤬

Finally have a den leader willing to go to camp with the pack...except can’t find Baloo anywhere!  Class he was to take last spring was covid cancelled. Council says they most likely won’t be running one due to redistricting and staff changes this spring. The neighboring council has no training on their webpage either - oh yeah, have to have Baloo for camp at council facility this summer (all summers / just can’t find a class).

Very frustrating since CM doesn’t like using his vacation time for summer camp with lots of kids, my personal sons are adults and I’m just helping out (and baloo trained) but can’t go to camp with everyone’s else’s  kids this summer because I’m taking a class online for a college program .  

Our Tigers went to the cable company’s public access station one night - they loved it. Maybe a college nearby has one they can give a tour of. Also planetariums are really cool. 

Lions and Tigers need to have parent at the meeting with them - it’s how the program was designed. 
 

I think the one of y’all is onto something. They may bounce packs if it doesn’t suit them. 
We leaders are forwarding the email from parent to us up to the Field service person at council (we are in between district commissioners now) and our request that the parent attends meetings with their cub to help them acclimate and succeed. 
 
maybe council has a special needs pack that’s a better fit - tired of being called not inclusive when we have tried and just don’t have the resources/bodies to help them, and I can’t put that responsibility into a young teen den chief. 

Perhaps someone can explain how this happens.   Our state has 2 decent size councils and An small one with no camps.  
Of course the council our towns units are in have followed the letter of law with public health from state and shut everything down. No camps were opened - not even for day use. They even went as far as to ban unit camp outs early in summer. Now SPH (State Public Health) has eased up on camping but all state park campgrounds closed Until spring 2021, so our council isn’t allowing any camping at council camps. The other large council in state has their camps open and will rent to troops:packs with lots of safety rules (no buffet style meals, temp checks, single person/family tenting & sanitation).   
 

would our council’s insurance still be in effect if our troop went to the other council camp?  Literally they have a property across the lake from our council. But that’s another discussion....