SeattlePioneer

My bias has been that you don't need to spend a lot of money to have a quality Scouting program. As Scoutmaster circa 1982-1987, the Scouts never proposed trips to Philmont or wherever, and I never suggested them myself. We had lots of camping trips to the nearby mountains and such, including such activitie as overnight snowshoe camp on Mt Rainier and a rowboat cruise to a desert island in the American San Juan Islands. A few years ago as a Troop volunteer, we did a powerboat trip to Blake Island, a Washington State park across Puget Sound from Seattle. We had two out boards available for that trip, 17 and 19 feet or so. I just don't see paying other people to entertain you as an especially good Scout activity. Those who want to spend more are welcome to do so --- I certainly have no objection to that. Just not my style, and not the market I have aimed for as a volunteer. As Cubmaster, I follow the same philosophy. I look for economical and local trips for dens and the pack. I'm looking at adding a fishing trip, bicycling trip and Estes Rocket launch to the program next year. I would like to plan to have the Webelos Scouts do our council summer camp next summer in place of the district day camp.

Hello Sasha, I understand that it's discouraging. Getting a new Tiger Cub den is something EVERY Cub pack needs to do EVERY year! If that effort fails, you have a huge gap i9n your program that is often the beginning of the failure of the pack. As district Membership Chair, I saw that kind of thing happen repeatedly, and I made it one of my goals to combat it. In March for example, we did a model recruiting night at our Roundtable. Pack leaders were invited to bring their Cub Scouts to do a stomp bottle rocket launch, and several did so. We used those pack leaders and boys to illustrate how to conduct an effective spring recruiting effort. A lot of packs do a poor job of spring recruiting, which produces poor results. We had several packs use these improved recruiting methods and they added 8-13 new boys --- a complete Tiger Cub Den in some cases. The I did the Tiger Cub Den Leader Training I described above. I did that last night and had four people from two packs turn out --- agood turnout as such things go. We will be following that up with using those skills at the Tiger Twilight Camp. In short, we are SEARCHING FOR methods that will help Cub packs be effective. Some times our bright ideas work, sometimes they don't. We keep working at it until we find successful methods. Perhaps you are in an area where the best methods wont produce good results. But it's a lot more likely that you need better methods and more determined efforts. Nothing is easier than to get discouraged and suppose there is nothing that can be done.

Hello Old Ox, > If a unit is going to have formal rules, I think you provide sage advice. About the only rules I would favor would be regarding finances, specifying a Treasurer who isn't the Cubmaster and requiring that the checking account statement be sent to the address of someone other than the Cubmaster or Treasurer. A Four or five page maximum parent guide is good --- more isn't likely to be read. I hand out a two pager to parents new to the pack and maybe some of those are read.

Hello Sasha,

> In this society people have no obligation to pay any more taxes than they are required to pay. Paying taxes isn't "dues." It's a legal duty that may be fair, or may be unfair. But taxes are money or property taken by force or the threat of force. If it weren't legalized, it WOULD be robbery! Keep in mind that the money taken can be used for bad and evil purposes. Most people can point to government spending they object to, and other spending they approve. I don't agree that taxes are a moral good. They are a fact of life and a necessity that people pay because they must. Taxes inescapably remind me of a guy being held at gunpoint while his wallet is taken. In the case of taxes that is legal to do and necessary to some extent, but I simply don't see it as a virtue either for those holding the gun or the person who has his wallet taken. Sorry.

> That sounds like an interesting idea even if it produces some uneven results.

The way a CO protects it's unit is to fire people who are causing problems or acting inappropriately. But if a unit wants to adopt bylaws, help yourself. I presume that such units have the extra volunteers and such to support such processes. Furthermore, Scout units generally aren't run by majoritarian processes. Leaders are appointed to make decisions.

Hello NJ CubScouter, I've read a number of accounts of Scouting experiences by homosexual adults. If their accounts are to be credited, they acted out in a variety of ways when they thought they had the chance to do so. After all, that's where sexual urges tend to lead, no matter how society may try to repress them. Once such behavior is legitimized, and then protected, I would expect it to increase sharply.

An appropriate ceremony is needed to mark the ritual firing of a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster or Committee Chair. Here the ceremony I recommend:

A Den can register more than one Den Leader should they wish to do so.

Hello hadulzo, Nothing prevents units from recommending uniform standards for their members.

Hello Renax, Even if you want to be a stickler, it's very common for positions in Cub Packs not to be updated until the next recharter. Technically, you are a registered Tiger Cub Den Leader from the day your registration is approved until your appointment expires, often when the charter for the current year expires.

Sounds like you have few problems in your troop and more volunteers than you know what to do with....

Personally I wouldn't let that three months stand between awarding an otherwise deserving Tiger Cub Den Leader The Knot. I'm a pragmatist. I encourage leaders to cultivate an appreciation of knots in the hope that it might shape their future activities towards being awarded more of them, which will benefit Scouting and Scouts. My DE and district treat the issue the same way. No one nitpicks knot applications. In particular, I want to award someone their FIRST knot pretty badly. Someone who has been Tiger Den Leader usually has jumped into something they don't understand very well in the hope of providing benefits to their own son and the children of other families. That helped get a whole new Scouting year off to a good start for a pack. I'm going to be looking for every reason to give them that award. Seattle Pioneer

> Wow! An actual Uniform Policeman! I didn't think you guys actually existed! I'm guessing this earned you a lot of grief?

Hello Eamonn, I guess I'm lucky being a Unit Commissioner. I do my thing, and I do it pretty well. I don't have to worry about what the next guy is doing or not doing. As District Membership chair, ideally I'd have a staff of volunteers working on various worthy projects. But I don't, and finding volunteers to work on membership is tough. I'm one of three district membership chairs in a council of fourteen districts. Anyway, I am pretty free to work on any projects that seem worthwhile to me. Some work, others don't. I do my best. The most puzzeling experience I've had is dealing with my council chair and Council Commissioner. From time to time I've obser ved issues and problems in units I've visited as Membership Chair, and reported those to the head volunteers in the council. I've never gotten a reply to e-mails I've sent. What's with that? Is that the recommended method for District Chairs and Commissioners? Now the DE answers my e-mails all the time. He gets a lot of help from me and we work closely together as a team to make membership functions work.

Some can, I suppose. I was at an elementary school yesterday looking for 5th and 6th graders interested in Boy Scouts. Those interested I asked to write their name and phone number on a 3x5 card so I could have a troop call them. Most seemed to be able to write their name, but remembering a phone number was a difficult proposition for quite a few. I pitched the boys by asking "who is interested in going hiking and camping?" Quite a few raised their hands. "How many are more interested in going hiking and camping than staying home and playing video games?" A LOT fewer hands up when that screening question was asked!

Hello UC Eagle, Personally, I don't do many gratuitous visits to the Cub Pack for which I'm UC. I tend towards attending Pack Committee Meetings, where I get a good idea of how planning is going and where problems are likely to be identified. Just as an example, last fall the CM hadn't identified a hike for a pack outing that was coming up. As it happened, I had a hike all planned out for my Pack, so they used that plan only hiking in the opposite direction. This pack has been running along very well for years now since I helped revive it from collapse in 2004. It's more a matter of looking for ways to improve things than doctoring up problems. Lucky me! There's a committee meeting next Monday I'll be attending. That's not to be critical of your system. It will be a big advantage when reports are made regularly on the new Unit Visitation Tracking System and leaders will have more of an idea of what's actually going on. But suppose you find units that ARE having critical problems? What do you do and can you do? When I've made such reports to the District Key3, I've never even got a reply to my concerns, perhaps because there was no SWAT team to send out for a rescue. What good is information if you can't DO something with it?

Personally, I think Wood Badge is overpromoted and overstaffed. There are lots of things in Scouting that need more attention and volunteers, but Wood Badge isn't one of them.

Hello MarkF, I'm working to revive a pack that was down to one (1) boy 2 1/2 years ago. The past year or so in particular I've been having success recruiting new and effective leaders. They don't grow on trees. You have to keep looking for them and providing a welcome for people, and keep getting people started doing small tasks. Two weeks ago I had a new parent whose boy just joined the new Tiger Cub Den as a Kindergartener offer to lead a game at our den meeting last night. As it happened, his son was sick and couldn't attend, but the dad was there ready with the game. He's interested in being the new Tiger Cub Den Leader. If you are a one man show for games and activities, that means you are the #1 person to DELEGATE leading games and activities to parents who haven't done that. Give those parents an idea for a game and see what they do. Those that make a good effort are those to cultivate for additional tasks.

Hello BadenP I've been told you have to have a qualified Lifeguard for swimming at a council Scout Camp. Perhaps some councils have more restrictive regulations. This might be an effective way to reduce the number of water related outing by BSA units which account for disproportionate number of casualties, and likely lawsuits. Perhaps this could be regarded as part of a council economy drive....

I want to add some new activities for our pack plan. I just assisted a pack with their recruiting night that makes and launches Estes chemical rockets. They are going to invite me to their meetings and rocket launch so I can learn how that is done. I also talked to a parent at our Bobcat Den Meeting last night who is interested in being our new Tiger Cub Den Leader, and also has ideas for a fishing trip next spring. We did a bicycle trip last year, but not this year. Adding it back for next year would be good. That would be three "new" activities for next year, plus recycling some old favorites. That seems like a good mix----

Hello ctBailey, In the case of my district, what is being revealed is that not much is being done by Commissioners, at least as reported on the tracking system ---not yet anyway. However, quite possibly that's deceptive. I've been doing quite a lot and for various reasons it wasn't reported. That could be true for others. However, when even the District Commissioner hasn't logged on, it makes you wonder! As District Membership Chair, I've done recruiting nights for units that were failing and desperately needed some help if they were to stay afloat. My method was to send rather anguished e-mails to the District Executive, District Chair and District Commissioner to inform them of these problems. I never actually got a reply from any of those. Unfortunately, there was no SWAT team to send out to help. There were occasions where I pitched in to lend some aid. But that raises the question --- suppose you have a tracking system. What do you DO with the information? If you aqren't using it to correct problems, what's the point? Perhaps time will tell.

Hello Fehler, From the BSA Website: > In my experience, pack trainers concern themselves with getting leaders trained, not recruiting them in the first place. Of course, there's no reason a pack trainer couldn't be tasked with recruiting new leaders and THEN getting them trained! Perhaps I should have a chat with my Scout Parent Coordinator about taking on that job too....

I've been Commissioner for a pack since 2004. At that time, I helped rebuild a pack whicjh had collapsed due to the departure of a "Cubmaster Who Does Everything." The CC who worked with me in rebuilding the pack wanted to relive his glory days building Monkey Bridges with his Boy Scout Troop, so a Monkey Bridge became a center piece of the Pack campout in June. Because of that tradition, I asked the current CM if the pack could build an obstacle course with a Monkey Bridge for the district day camp. I got an e-mail back from the CM saying they no longer had the skills to build the Monkey Bridge, but they would like to reinstate that as a feature of their upcoming June camp if they can get some help with that. So I e-mailed the original CC and asked if he'd be able to help with that once again. If he is willing to do it, the pack leaders will have a chance to relearn that skill and perhaps practice it setting up the obstacle course for the day camp as well. If that works out, who's to say that the services of Commissioners are dead? If the former CC isn't able to help with that, I'll have to check my schedule and see if I can help teach the skill of building a Monkey Bridge.