SeattlePioneer

Our district has a recognition dinner each year, and this was held last night. It attracted ninety people, about three times the number last year. This is an opportunity to applaud those earning district leadership awards, Silver Beavers, knots and "Extra Mile Awards" recongizing unit leaders who have made special contributions. Thios was the best attendance we've had in years. I think the improvement is due to the new district leadership which has been reinvigorating the district and making a solid effort to increase engagement by unit leaders. Nice to see!

I've tried recruiting at public events a number of times. I'm talking about things like setting up a table at a school or community event and attracting the attention of those walking by to Cub Scouts. I've never recruited a person by that means. People are just walking by, not seriously interested in a new activity like Cub Scouts. Our Cubmaster is planning to try again. We are discussing a combination event that would allow boys to make a model boat, which only takes a few minutes. The boy and family would tehen be invited to a follow on recruiting event a couple days late

Thanks for posting the additional ways of including Tigers! I suppose a lot of it is what you have experience with. I like our two evening and one afternoon program. The boys have a good time and it's easier on parents to attend, I think.

I just went down and bought new den handbooks to give to den leaders. Also new Den Leader Guides that presumably suggest prgram ideas. One for each den level rather than the one package for all den levels that was available until recently. Got a set of posters featuring the Scout Oath and Law which are replacing the Cub Scout Promise and Law of the Pack. $111 for that. Scouting is getting to be an expensive luxury. A Cub Scout neckerchief and slide was about $18 --- $20 including sales tax around here. I guess Cub Scout families have more money than they know wha

<< congrats can you help me find a tiger den leader ?>> Start by doing an effective job of spring recruiting. Give those newly recruited boys a concerted opportunity to earn the Bobcat award in the weeks before school is out, along with a couple of quality den meetings and a hike and hot dog roast. By then you should have enough experience with the families to identify likely vol;unteers for Den Leader and other positions that need to be filled. And you usually have to call and ask people to help with specific things. Ask for volunteers and few will offer,

Excellent comments, Barry! An inexperienced DE and an inexperienced DC are bound to have problems. Unfortunately, you may need to work with and support those people while they acquire experience in how to do their job. As far as the nominating committee approach, you can Google "District nominating committee to find out how that procedure works.

I've been fortunate in finding several new district volunteers in recent weeks. A Den Leader who was unhappy with some elements of the Cub Scout Day Camp last year agreed to help organize the day camp program this year. He agreed to be the Program Director! The downside of that is that I felt constrained to assist him with that task, since I don't think he knew what he was agreeing to do. Do I qualify as an additional volunteer? My original idea was to find someone else to organize the Tiger Twilight Camp held in conjunction witht the Cub Scout Day Camp. The Cubmaster for

<<We wanted to do Pack neckerchiefs like the Troop in town does but were told NO WAY when the council found out>> I think that's a splendid idea! Just what did the council do? Personally, I cut out neckerchiefs from colorful bedsheets or other yard goods I get at thrift shops. I iron and fold these neckerchiefs and package them in a baggie. I also cut neckerchief slides out of tree limbs and then drill a hole through them. When boys join the pack, they get to choose the neckerchief and slide that appeals to them and we have a ceremony introduci

As Cubmaster, I liked the following schedule for a typical month: Den Meeting Den Meeting Pack Meeting Parent (Committee) Meeting The current Cubmaster likes the following schedule: Den Meeting Parent Meeting Den Meeting Pack Meeting Personally, I think the first provides desireable continuity. The second is probably easier on Den Leaders.

<< What we have is a failing program ---something I've been warning about for 16 months or so. New district leadership is beginning to deal with that, but effective leadership takes time to identify and gain experience. Hopefully your district leadership realizes that the district is more than the Boy Scout troops. That's my problem. My current aim is to define and limit what I do and to inform district leadership of what they can expect from us. THEY will have to deal with other leadership and planning issues. I don't want to be drawn into being responsible for other failing l

<<When I went to NCS, my camp was a dysfunctional one, despite having a CD for 20 years.>> This suggests that the basic problem was poor choice of a Camp Director. Yesterday my district had another scheduled Day Camp Staff Planning Meeting. The only people who attended were myself and a Den Leader in my pack, who are jointly doing the Program Director job. We spent 2+ hours refining the program elements we expect to use, and planning how to fill the holes we currently have in the program. We dropped some things that we thought we could do better with anot

<<My mother used to go back to the stores and complain about the poor quality of jeans they were selling because they shrunk so much in just one or two washes. >> Heh, heh! Did she get her money back?

I cut up the debit card we got a couple of years ago when we changed banks. On theb rare occasions when someone need to be fronted cash, I write them a check for an appropriate amount and set up a Quicken account to track expenses against that when I get receipts. As Treasurer, I want people to turn in receipts for reimbursement promptly. A debit card would do the reverse. I might never get receipts. It's not a matter of fearing that people will "steal" from the pack. It's about maintaining effective controls and records so we know what's going on. And it's not been

<<Yeah, some of these scenarios will result in a warm, camp school-certified body just hanging out at camp. But that's okay. Their job is to know policy and standards in case problems arise during camp and, frankly, to check the box that says we have someone here with the training and certification we're supposed to have. You have other volunteers who have been developing the program for months already.>> I suggest that the proper qualification for leading a day camp is Cub Scout BALOO. BSA has a bad habit of having unrealistically high standards for activities ---and th

Have VERY HIGH standards ----then ignore them. That's the BSA pattern I see all too often. BSA is drowning in very complex administrative standards that are too tough for a volunteer run organization. Yet it keeps getting worse and worse, year by year.

<< but I think the 1st year would work much better if a pack were to have a perpetual leader for that entry level den. I always picture a retired school teacher that loves kids and just want to be involved, even if her own kid or grandkid isn't involved. This grandmotherly lady would be able to help them to hit the ground running with a fun program She already knows the drill. Knows the players. Grounds them into the program. she would be able to eliminate the stress on the parents of the push to recruit one of them as leader right away. Let them ease into it.... and help to sele

<< Have any packs experimented with splitting pack meetings by rank ? I ask because some pack meetings do fine as big events. But our pack might grow where we would have 25+ Lions and Tigers and then another 25+ Wolves, Bears and Webelos. >> I'd try it if I had the numbers to support it, which I don't. I'd do Tigers-Wolves and Bears &Webelos, and dump lyons. I haven't done Lyons, nor would I try it for the reasons you describe. Of course, use your own judgment and experience, not mine. Seattle Pioneer

Heh, heh! You are wise in the ways of Scouting, SSScout!

<<It's beyond me how a council allows a camp to proceed without properly trained staff. What other positions do they allow unqualified folks to fill? Range safety officer? Health officer? Program Director is more than den leader for a really big den. It's about knowing the national standard for CSDC and operating a safe camp. One of the primary standards is having the camp director and program director NCS certified. >> Well, it's all very well rto REQUIRE volunteers to do stuff, but what do you do if they don't do it? As it happens, my district had Program Directo

<<Boy Scouts ... love ... paperwork!>> BSA and a lot of councils are CHOKING volunteers with an unnecessarily complex adminstrative apparatus. Sometimes I make a point of ignoring or undermining such bad practices by studied non compliance.

<<I have read that insignia intended for youth are not worn by adult members of the Boy Scouts of America, and I can agree with it for the most part with one exception...I would like to see those who earn the Eagle rank be allowed to wear the rank patch until they reach age 21.>> 19, 21. Whatever. Eagle Badge, Life, First Class. Let boys and young men take a measure of pride in their accomplishments. At 21 perhaps I'd have a special ceremony to retire the Eagle Badge and replace it with the Eagle Knot, Arrow of Light knot and any other knots a young man ha

Bad district leadership CAN be changed! There is a BSA procedure to do that. Google "District nominating committee" and study the information provided by BSA. Just as Packs and Troops have to decide on their leadership each year, so do districts. The District Committee Chair is required to appoint a nominatin committee of Scouters each year, and the council appoints one or more people to the committee. The Nominating Committee then decides who will be eligible to be nominated when the Nominating Committee calls a District Annual Meeting and conducts a yes-or-no elect

<< Personally, i think it better to treat every campout as a backcountry trip, even knowing that most are really tailgate camping... ..... but why not use small tents, personal stoves, mess kits, etc....?>> I agree. This style of camping is something that boys can continue as they become adults. Create a unique, "heavy" style of camping and they may never go camping again after they leave Scouting.

My council has done the same thing the past couple of years. I suspect that a major motivation is to get units to pay membership fees to register boys, although that's just speculation on my part. You can order badges from Scout shops across the country if you wish ---most don;t have such a requirement. Personally, I take grim pleasure at bypassing or ignoring BSA/Council paperwork which burdens volunteers for no very good reason. Personally, I think BSA and the council should eliminate all their advancement record keeping and leave issueing awards to units where it belo

I'm thinking about an attack Cub Dens could launch at day camp.... I have some 1.5x3 foot images of animals painted on plywood. Perhaps they could be mounted so that attacking Cub Scouts could knock them over. Orange traffic cones would have to be attacked and subdued by attacking Cub Scouts. For a finale, all the boys in a den would have to subdue a 4x8 foot plywood dragon. Soaking it with buckets of water perhaps? Or whatever. Perhaps a second defending den would set up the obstacles before they got their chance to do the attack... Still thinking about this one.