SeattlePioneer

> Offhand, I would have no objection to BSA adult leaders or Scouts quietly abstaining from the Pledge for religious reasons. There have certainly been plenty of Jehova's Witnesses martyred over their religion. I mean with REAL blood flowing. I don't feel a need to try to make a point at their expense. Seattle Pioneer

Hello allan, What kind of an outdoor and camping program do you have? Are most of your Scouts signed up for summer camp? What camping and outdoor trips do you have planned for the summer?

> 'atta girl! Your Cubmaster has the right idea, and so do you! Pack leaders need to be constantly looking at parents and sizing up who is capable of doing what. Some aren't capable of doing much at all. For the rest, you need a strategy to draw them into the social heart of the pack leadership. Usually the recommendation is to start by asking new parents to do some small task very soon after the family joins the pack. That gets people started, and you learn whether people WILL help, even if with a small task. Those who do a capable job usually find the task fun and rewarding. That's your oportunity to ask them to do another, more complex task. And you proceed to reel them in! That's really what your CM started by doing, although he didn't give you the time to have a success and evaluate you willingness and ability to do a job like CC. The risk with the approach he used is that he might wind up asking the wrong person to be CC, and then you can be stuck. But you are obviously taking the position seriously. You are doing a fine job in recruiting several new leaders right off the bat. That's a large part of the job the CC needs to be able to do. Good luck with your position! It sounds like you are getting off to a great start!

Another way of dealing with your Bear Den might be to have one Den Leader who puts together a meeting and outing plans, and Assistant Den Leaders for each den who carry out the plan. Usually there are more people willing to carry out a defined plan than are ready to design the program.

Well, your pack certainly needs SOMEONE who will develope the skill of recruiting new adult leaders. You need several, a good Committee Chair and Cubmaster at the top of the list. It usually takes time to find good people for those positions and give them the time to learn the job. If you take the CM position, you can expect to do the CC job as well until you can find a GOOD person to do that job. If you take the CM job, your first task will be to find a new Den Leader to replace you. I've already suggested methods to do that. You also want to be looking among current parents for the BEST person to be Committee Chair, and ask that person to sign on to help manage the pack. A good method there might be to agree to become CM on the condition that a person you think will do the job agrees to be CC. The first skill needed is to be able to find good people to fill needed positions in the pack. The second skill needed is to be able to persuade people to take the position and do the work, or put them in a position where they will take the position and do the work so that the program can continue. You may well need to put people on the spot so that they will help even if they would prefer not to. Another possibility would be to think about whether there is a BETTER person than you to be Cubmaster. If there is, start thinking about how that person can be persuaded to take the job. Putting out a general appeal for people to step forward and volunteer is usually not recommended. Firstly, it's a weak method and usually doesn't produce results. And even if it does produce a volunteer, it may produce a volunteer who isn't a good person to fill the job, which can be worse than no volunteer.

Hello Eagle Dad, When I was a Scoutmaster thirty years ago, I generally found that boys who had been through Cub Scouts had benefitted fr5om it a good deal. Better able to work together, be focussed about learning and better behaved.

Usually being Cubmaster is easier than being a Den Leader. The recommended way to find new leaders is for pack leaders to sit down and identify the BEST person to fill the position. Then find a congenial time to meet with that person and ask them to do it. If you get turned down, repeat with the second best person. If you don't have anyone agree to help, I'd use the Ann Laurel method described in the previous post. If there are parents in the den who are making siginificant contributions, I'd take those along to the second den. Everyone else gets cut loose, unless they change their mind.

I agree with Eagle 92. My experience is that any shirt I've worn has been suitable to blow up as a life preserver. Once the fabric gets wet it does a creditable job of holding air. I was at a park department sailing class where adults were required to stay afloat while clothed for five or ten minutes. Most were struggling trying to stay afloat by paddling, while I was relaxed floating with my shirt inflated. It works and is highly effective in my experience!

Ann Laurel, I agree 100%. Among the common questions I get from moms who are considering joining Cub Scouts is an interest in having male role models for their sons. I THINK this is more than an effort to escape being tagged as a volunteer! At present out two Den Leaders and myself as Cubmaster are men, and I'm just adding an Assistant Den Leader who is also a guy. I would be glad to find lady Den Leaders interested in doing the job, but I have a particular interest in recruiting men. Our ladies are Committee Chair, Treasurer and Scout Parent Coordinator. The fact that there are several men who are direct contact leaders encourages more men to do that kind of role I think. Personally I was a Cub Scout dropout after only a few weeks in the program. The Den Mother did her best I'm sure, but it was an arts 'n craft program that had little interest for me. I encourage arts and crafts too ---- but as a supplement to more boy oriented activities. Boys are usually encouraged to decorate every project we make such as Pinewood Derby cars, rockets and such. Many boys value those opportunities and can be quite creative --- but its not the main focus of activities by and large, and boys and families decide for themselves whether they do the craft things and how much time and effort they put into it. (This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

As a district membership chair, I see a few packs and a few troops that are consistantly effective in recruiting new boys. Even the troops that are effective are usually effective in recuriting Cub Scouts, mostly supplementing that by efforts to recruit boys thataren't in Scouting. In my experience, the best time for Troops to recruit new Scouts is in the spring, recruiting 5th graders who are eligible to join Boy Scouts for the first time. Goin into schools with an attractive activity for a recruiting night and a quality summer program can be effective in attracting the interest of those boys and parents. But I find few troops interested in having me do that for them when I'm in those schools anyway doing spring Cub Scout recruiting. Most are content to focus on recruiting Webelos and supplementing that with whatever peer-to-peer recruiting the Scouts do themselves. That's too bad, in my opinion, because we leave a significant population of boys without an invitation to Boy Scouts. But I can't seem to flog troops into taking an interest in that.

Hello 83Eagle, As District Membership Chair, I've been promoting the stomp bottle rocket launch as the most powerful method I know of to attract new boys to a pack recruiting night. I'd say that except for one thing, you had excellent promotion for your event. The one thing that I do which is MOST effective is to visit the schools during lunch with an example of the model rocket and rocket launcher, including the soda pop bottle. I show that to the boys so they understand how it works, and ask them if they would like to come to our rocket launch and see whose rocket will go the highest and thye farthest. Of course pretty much all think there's will be the winner! Our district prints off stickers with the date, time and location of the recruiting night, and boys stick those on their shirts for the rest of the day. They tend to make their way home and into the hands of parents more than flyers. Talking about Cub Scouts, and even the rocket launch, has certain limitations. It is often hard for boys to imagine what you are talking about. Show them the rocket and launcher and they understand! As an additional bonus, I use readily available certificate programs to make a Cubh Scout Rocket Pilot License. When families come in they register with the pack and receive a Rocket Pilot License for their son. Each time a boys rocket travels more than a minimum distance, they get a sticker for their license. Since I have six rocket launchers going at once, boys often can launch their rocket 15-20 times --- even more. My preference is to do the stickering on the day of the event, or as close to that day as possible if I'm doing more than one school. Please don't give up on spring recruiting! It's a really valuable way to help get new Tiger Cub Dens started, especially when you have an excellent summer program!

I have no problem with it. I have a pair of no Scout shorts that I wear that are good imitations of the uniform shorts. "A Scout is Thrifty...."

My own experience is that pack activities OFTEN improve with repetition as pack leaders identify problem areas and find ways to improve the program. That happens to me all the time.

We are planning for our end of June overnight pack campout. One of my priorities is to give Cub Scouts some responsibility and experience cooking their own meals. Breakfast will be hotcakes and sausage which Cub Scouts will be cokking for their families. Dinner is a little more of an issue---- suggestions are welcome. Cub Scouts will include Kindergarteners just recruited for our new Tiger Cub Den. One option would be for boys to wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and bake them in coals, and make dinner with their choice of toppings and add ons. A second is to fold aluminum foil into a pouch, add hamburger, potatoes, vegetables and barbeque sauce and such to make a hamburger stew. I have a reasonable amount of experience with this, but probably not much among Scouts or den leaders. My experience is that getting such meals baked without burning takes some experience to do reliably. I'd encourage Den Leaders to practice this at home either on charcoal or baking in the oven, and I'd do at least one practice at a den meeting early in June at which dens would make one sample meal and bake it on a barbeque that they can sample at the end of the meeting. There will be a second meeting they could practice this art before the campout if desired. Comments and recommendations are solicited....

Pack leaders don't have an obligation to call the cops, and are not experts in decidinfg when someone may be violating the law. We are entitled to use good judgment about such things. If the parent was driving someone other than their own family, I'd be more likely to make the call myself.

Hello USMA, Being assoiciated with a pack ---or two is a likely source of longevity for a troop. I'd look about carefully for packs with which you can worm your way into their good graces. Many Cub packs are neglected by troops, and often need a partnership ---or two. Even if a pack has an association with a troop, you may be able to find ways to be helpful. In the spring time, it's a good time to go into elementary schools and recruit 5th graders directly into Boy Scouts. Few Troops around here do that, and you might be able to visit a half dozen schools and invite boys to a recruiting night. You need to have a quality program to attract boys ---- you should have a camping trip suitable for new boys to do, and invite those boys to go along. Have a really fun activity for those boys to do at your recruiting night ---and some food they will enjoy making and eating, I visit elementary schools during lunch time. Usually I'm recruiting Cub Scouts, but if I'm recruiting Boy Scouts I'll stick around and talk to the 5th and sixth graders who are attracted by the idea of hiking and camping ---- they are out there.

Are you including a Friends of Scouting solicitation? [This was the bright idea of a DE reported in an earlier thread which didn't garner universal support! But I like to keep bringing it up....]

That varies a lot depending on the activities you want to do. Can you give some examples?

> What's fun about that?

Personally I'm campaigning for the idea that Tiger Cubs is THE most critical program in Cub Scouts. I see too many packs begin to fail when a poor job is done of recruiting Tiger Cubs or the Tiger Cub den fails to form or have a good program. Around here, I'm offering Tiger Cub Den Leader training before our June Roundtable, and combining that as a program with our Tiger Twilight camp. The idea is that parents NEW to Scouting will get training on how to run a quality Tiger Cub program and then SEE and FEEL what a quality Tiger Cub program is like at the Tiger Twilight Camp. That's the package I'm selling to Pack leaders, asking them to sell to new Tiger Cub parents. And as Tiger Cub applications come into the council office, we will be mailing out solicitations for the training and Tiger Twilight Camp directly to Tiger Cub partners as well. Having the Tiger Cub Den Leader knot to sell as motivation plays a small role in this effort as well.

Hello eisely, > I'm not disputing your experience in learning code. It was what it was. When I learned the code to pass the 5 WPM Novice Amateur Radio test, it took me abourt two weeks to develope that proficiency. Even at that stage, it mostly wasn't about memorizing letters, just as learning to read isn't about sounding out the letters of a word. A minimal proficiency is about hearing the character and having that symbol appear in you mind to be copied. As you get better, it's more and more like reading, where words rather than characters appear in your mind. Those who are really good (I never was!) can hear the words of a conversation in their mind as they listen to code being reeled off at 40-60 WPM. Not much demand for code as a skill these days I don't suppose. I imagine that's true in the military these days too. Probably hit it's peak value in WWII when huge amounts of traffic were sent by morse code.

> Oh --- BEADED. I thought beheading was a little severe when I read that the first time.

What methods do you use and find effective to encourage Cub Scout Training among adults? I don't have a pack trainer, and don't expect to recruit one soon. We have other priorities in my struggling pack. I just sent out an e-mail announcement on BALOO, really my first effort. Unfortunately, it conflicts with den outing we are doing the same day ---- sigh. To be candid, I don't expect to have the time to talk to people much about training to as a method of selling and encouraging participation. Again, other priorities. The pack is willing to pay for training costs.

I had great success Monday with our rocket launch. Boys and parents worked together to make a model rocket from a sheet of paper, which the boys then launched from our six rocket launchers. Boys were all issued Cub Scout Rocket Pilot licenses, and each time their rocket exceeded a certain minimum distance they got a sticker on their rocket pilot license. After the parents had a chance to DO this Cub Scout activity with their boy, and observe some of the rocket launching, we took parents aside and gave them the opportunity to sign up for Cub Scouts. I collected nine new applications, which was excellent for this struggling pack. The best feature of this was that it grabbed the attention of boys when I talked to them during school lunches. I took the rocket and launcher with me, and asked boys if they'd like to make and launch rockets. Then I asked boys who thought their rocket would go the highest and the farthest! Just TALKING about Cub Scouts to a Kindergarten or First Grader has it's limitations ---- many don't have much of an idea of what Cub Scouts is. But they DO understand the rocket when it's shown to them! Much the same thing can be done with a paper airplane folding and flying contest, with boys making and decorating a paper airplane and competing to see whose airplane goes the farthest. A fun variation is to see who can land their paper airplane on an aircraft carrier (a table decorated as an aircraft carrier with a cardboard "island" superstructure.) I did this as a recruiting night separate from regular den or pack meetings. But it attracted current Cub Scouts too, and I put the parents to work helping me run the rocket building, rocket launch and recruiting program.

If Wood Badge fits in with your plans in the fall, take it then. I think you have ample good reasons for taking it then rather than later.