pjwalden

Heres what prompted the original post: Over a year prior to his departure, the old Cubmaster was preparing the Pack for his departure to Boy Scouts with his son; the Pack needed to find a new Cubmaster. At the time I was a Unit Commissioner, so I was aware of the situation and was monitoring it. No one was stepping up and morale started to drop rapidly; families were participating less and less. Some of the events I attended, I witnessed parents not assisting while the Cubmaster struggled to maintain control and barely complete an activity on his own. There was no Pack Committee in place to provide any type of support. I stepped in as Cubmaster since I knew my son would be starting within the next year as a Tiger; I basically didnt want to see the Pack fall apart any further.

*TIME WARP TO NOW* (A long difficult year and half in the past.) A little before my original post here, Id been working hard on the Pack Committee to get more dads involved. A week before our Pinewood Derby, only three dads had stepped up to volunteer to assist.. not a fun situation. Employing the more direct route (and not using the shotgun approach) when addressing dads for assistance helped tremendously.. sometimes its the simple things! I think I was just hoping dads would step-up and I wouldnt have to grovel. I was pleasantly surprised at the night-before track setup and on race day; I actually had too many dads step up. The dads the worked the PWD had such a good time that Im hoping to carry the momentum forward to future events. I watched their interactions and now know which dads: work well together, could be future leaders, and who possess valuable skill sets. I guess its a small start and the Pack just needed an activity to bring them all together!

Big thanks for all the suggestions!

What tactics do other Cubmasters use to get male guardians to volunteer? My Pack Committee/Den Leaders are all women... and nothing wrong with that, it's like having seven additional wives. (I say that with all due respect because they really are a great bunch!)

But I can't seem to get the buyoff from the dads. Without explaining all the drama in getting where we are today. I mean, we're in okay shape and things are getting done, but dang, what's up with the dads?

We just visited a college radio station and had a great time! There was nostalgia in the air as both dj's are former Scouts. The Cubs loved picking out songs for the dj's to play. The station worked for us because we had to go later in the evening, plus the youth of the dj's worked well when interacting with the Cubs instead of some old crotchity dj doing the farm report.