Jump to content

NewCubDad

Members
  • Content Count

    34
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by NewCubDad

  1. I spent a bit of time between our pack meeting last night and now pondering this question. We ended up with a situation where a boy didn't bring his car to the weigh in at the Pack meeting. Why isn't important. What bothers me is the CM was firm in not allowing the boy to have his car measured some other day so he could be included in the races. Keep in mind that our weigh in date is 10 days before race date, so there isn't any time crunch that would preclude anyone from being able to measure another car before race day. Now I understand the need to follow the rules, but unwaverin
  2. Semper - I found a pack, but got the "Don't Leave Us" speech from a couple of the den parents. I decided to try to be a better scout and suck it up for a little while longer. Though after digging into the PWD rules & procedures (something I didn't do when I'd decided to step down) and browsing through the Scouter forums, I'm sure you can guess what I think of my decision to be a better scout - but hey, we've got a 6-lane track, so it's not all bad.
  3. Actually, the cars are weighed in and 'impounded' 10 days before the race. So the opportunity to cheat is the same as if the cars were weighed in the day of the race. My preference would be to have the workshops & unofficial weigh in earlier and a final weigh in the day of the race. But for some reason we've got folks who think it's easier to collect all the cars early, transport them to a holding area, store them, then transport them to the racing venue, then sort them out before the races - without damaging a single one in the process.
  4. EagleInKY - I agree, when I first saw 'single elimination' in the pack handout I was bothered, because it means 'one & done.' I got one of the old timers to explain what the format is & now us newbies are a bit happier. Semper - I see the pluses to having the cars handled by the officials after weigh in. But it'd sure be nice if the kids were more than observers during race day. The other point I didn't mention is our weigh in is at the monthly pack meeting, which is 10 days before the race. I think that's a bit too far in advance, but you take the hand you're dealt.
  5. I'm struggling with the 'elimination' descriptions myself. Our pack calls the race method 'Single Elimination,' but here are the race rules: "Each car will race once on each lane (6 lane track). So each kids car will go down the track a minimum of 6 times. When there is more than one den in a rank level, the top three racers from each den will go onto the Rank Championship. The top three racers from each rank will then go onto the pack championship." So rather than 'single elimination' it sounds a bit like a cross between a balanced racing method and an elimination method.
  6. Try this one http://www.trcbsa.org/anniversary/anniversary.htm
  7. I was going to let this thread die, but yesterday we received a Christmas card (don't call the PC police, we still have Christmas!) from a distant relative whom we haven't been in touch with in over a decade. Turns out they have a boy in 2nd grade & they just joined scouts this year. Here's what they had to say: "...He has joined the Cub Scouts, and he really likes it but they run it nothing like when my brothers were in it in (DELETED). Here, they only have meetings every other week and they only get their badges once a year, rather than as they earn them. It makes it hard to
  8. Yeah, I almost bit on Fscouter's sarcasm, too....
  9. Alright, it's a day later now. I've visited the other pack in my area and talked with the CM, CC and a couple of den leaders. I've seen a huge difference in the way this other pack is run. As I look back on the other postings, what I've determined is it comes back my 'responsibility' rant of last night. Some leaders/parents accept the responsibility and some leaders/parents do not. Top differences: Pride - Check the uniforms - 'Quality Unit' badges - I saw 2 different years displayed (on different leaders) and I was witness to a National Den Award ceremony. Volunteers -
  10. It seems to all come back to the quality & imagination of the pack leaders. Of course, as den leaders, it's up to us to either reign in our extravagant plans or share them with the committee and ask for financial help - either with ideas to make them happen with less money or with actual dollars.
  11. Yes, I'm beginning to understand that the CO is mostly a 'requirement' that has few enforced obligations. I imagine that most go through a 'testing the limits' phase as the boys do, and found that they can get away with doing very little and that's worked out fine for them. Assuming the pack has decent leadership, I don't see that a pack would be hurt too badly by an inactive CO. Do I expect a CO to spoon feed me a program? Not at all. I've got plenty of program help available to me. I generally expect that people and organizations live up to their responsibilities. When a C
  12. I have sympathy for fotoscout's POV, but I struggle with the ever increasing likelihood that I'll end up 'doing it all' in the pack because the entrenched leadership as well as the CO have not shown much interest in changing things. So instead of having a Pack structure that supports the dens, it'll be a den making things available for the rest of the pack. Burnout, here I come!! Plus, if the other pack leaders are happy with the way things are, aren't I just being a big pain to them by pushing for changes that they don't feel are necessary? I'd think that there could be some sort
  13. The Leader Book assumes a pack budget that is funded, in part, by the den dues. The den dues are transferred to the Pack & then the dens would request funds from the Pack Treasurer up to an amount that was agreed upon during the Pack Budgeting process. The Leader Book makes no specific mention of collecting dues for den level crafts or activities - it seems to assume that these items are included in the Pack budget. Hmm. I like the idea of budgeting for Pack activities, doing the fundraising and any amount above the fundraising target (or after a 'cushion' of a few hundred doll
  14. How's this - not only do we pay pack dues of $60/yr and sell popcorn, but the den dues are $2/wk. No money comes from the pack.
  15. Well, I was working under the assumption that the CO provides support, financial and otherwise to the Pack. So I was surprised that someone, either an enterprising young scout or a pack leader, had not contacted the CO to set up a popcorn sale stand or at least to post a flyer at the fire station to sell some popcorn. Why wouldn't a pack make such arrangements? I would think the CO would normally be happy to let the scouts solicit their employees or patrons and be proud to be associated with the boys. What am I missing?
  16. Well, I've contacted another pack (they actually have a membership/leadership committee person who called me back the same day!) and am going to visit their pack meeting this week and talk with the cubmaster. I also got in touch with the DE to see what feedback he might provide regarding my experience (if I'm expecting too much or if there are other packs in the area with better programs). I'm also encouraged because the cubmaster and his wife are from Georgia and have experience with scouting back east. Sometimes us people in the Northwest are a bit too laid back (said the WA native wh
  17. ScoutNut - I liked your idea about the beads I quickly added some strings to the Den flag the kids were finishing up Friday night at the den meeting. Instead of beads, we're adding bells. It'll get louder as bells are added for each achievement completed. Left the chart at home.... Krip - It may seem like schoolwork to show the kids (and their parent's) what the Wolf requirements are and demonstrate how some of them are very simple to complete, but gosh, I had parents come up to me after the meeting and say they didn't realize how simple some of them were, they planned to go through th
  18. Yeah, I came up with "Happy Days are Here Again," "Puttin' on the Ritz" was a new one, though. Still drawing a blank on kid's songs, though. If 'yo-yo' is a game, I guess that might count - seems it was quite the fad in 1929-1930. Nice newsletter, Laurie. SemperParatus - I got about 50 notification e-mails when your response posted. That's a first for me (all of 17 posts) any idea if this is a recurring phenomenon?
  19. I started searching for these things to add to my Den meetings and I'm having some trouble locating much via the internet. I've got a message in to my local library. Anyone have any suggestions about where to get this information?
  20. ScoutXing has some award ideas, too. I didn't see anything specifically related to floats, but here's their site: http://www.scoutxing.com/awards/awardsdefault.htm
  21. I've got a new den (3 months) and the families have gotten the boys their shirts and have gotten most of the patches sewn/glued onto them. I've noticed a few patches are in the wrong location. I've politely mentioned this to the boys and their parents, but they haven't adjusted the patches. Can you recommend a low-stress inspection method that would encourage the parents to adjust the boys' uniforms?
  22. Ah yes, the infamous Pack 215 virtual handbook tools. I've got them, too! Though there is a summary progress chart at the back of the handbooks. If the scout is 'coloring' the paw prints as he completes each activity, then you could just transfer that information to your spreadsheet instead of flipping through each page. pack330, if the handbook is considered a part of the uniform, how about a uniform inspection at the beginning of a meeting or two to stress that point? I wouldn't punish those not 'in uniform,' just praise those who have a complete uniform. I hadn't plan
  23. I'm struggling with the same issue as Pack330 with my wolf den. As a new den, we've got families that aren't fully 'trained' about what the book represents. At each meeting I try to talk to the parents and the boys and reinforce the need to do the activities in the book as a family (we even send home suggestions of things they can do together at home after each meeting.) So far we're having little success (only 3 'real' meetings so far) but I'm going to devote some extra time at the next meeting to address this. First, I went and bought the progress chart ($1.25 at the scout st
  24. Jeez - if being a cubmaster is typically doing what my pack's cubmaster is doing, it's far less work than DL. Though I'm adding on to my own outlined responsibilities because I basically did my own orientation and went to training on my own - where I discovered people who are interested in scouting and saw what scouting could offer, beyond den meetings, pack meetings and uniforms. The COR is MIA(mostly) and I have no idea what an IH is. As I was informed last night, the CO is a 'CO of convenience.' Apparently the pack was 'self chartered' (friends of pack ###) and got some gr
  25. There are some things that just work better as a pack. Plus, with only 5 (maybe 4 - one family's just barely involved) kids in the den, there's not a real economy of scale for some of the things. For example, I could line up someone to speak about changes in their profession over the last 75 yrs., but for 4-5 kids that seems a bit excessive. (though I could work out a fieldtrip where the guide could do this. Hmmmm) Maybe that's not the best suggestion, but there is a point where larger numbers make more sense. Anyway, the boring pack meetings aren't going to change because of me &
×
×
  • Create New...