83Eagle

Since people think scouts is "gay" already, according to posts in this forum, does that mean we should have an "it's ok to be hetero" and a scout campaign? Besides, when did sex factor so much into the youth levels of scouing? When I was a scout I didn't care about girls (or boys). Then again I left the program in my early teens so maybe I missed the phase at which boys sleeping together might have meant more than sleeping together.

WHAT Webelos training? The online position specific that is just like the other ones for all intents?

Gee, what are we going to do for the Wolf AND Tiger years? :roll: The original made the most sense...more of what's on the bottom, less of what's on the top. The second pyramid made no sense. The plate is visual, but what if I don't like fish?

I just gotta vent on this one. Our Den that will be 2nd year Webelos next year has been a challenge for some time. The Den, then Bears, lost its original leader midway through 2009. One of the parents stepped up to take over but by the end of the year, due to some conflicts with another parent in the den, threw up her hands and quit. Amazingly, that other parent volunteered to lead the Den starting last fall, although in retrospect that turned out to be a very bad choice. This Den had always been on the inactive side compared to other Dens, a situation which became exacerbated under

Seattle, I talked about our CC, who is also the COR, in another thread...we're dealing with a 40 year veteran who has basically earned tenure. So we just work around the situation. Not ideal but it could be worse and it's not worth upsetting the pack about, not to mention the community at large that wouldn't understand the coup attempt.

sashuster, start with small things... Have the first parents that arrive hand out newsletters. Have parents run games at pack meetings. Get people who aren't wearing a tan shirt in front of the group to help hand out stuff, etc. Before you close meetings, secure the help you need to clean, etc. or...just...stand...there...watching...the...seconds...tick...by.... I've done that... it works! Also, get the BOYS to volunteer their parents. At our last pack meeting we needed people to dish up ice cream sundaes. I said "Who wants sundaes?!" Everyone cheers. "Then boys, we need to get

HINT: Passing around sign-up sheets, and doing mass cattle calls for help rarely works. The folks who would be a best fit for a specific position need to be identified, and approached individually. I agree. BUT...the question is how do you identify those people? In a Pack of 11 like noname has, it might be easier, but even so you still do not know the talents of everyone. This was something I ran into...simply not knowing who to approach other than the few people who always seemed willing to help. So, where sheets could work, even here, is to distribute a talent survey. You can

As a geocacher, a double-bagged regular log book is fine for most purposes. Write-in-the-rain paper is cool but expensive. However, if it is on the list of stuff to bring then in my opinion it is required to have. It might be worth bringing the attention of the organizer but I would not simply change the requirements.

We participate in our community memorial day service. I am both proud of and distressed by the fact that out of 3 Packs that serve the community, ours is consistently the only one represented at the service, and we had 1/3 of our Pack there. Only 2 Boy Scouts. No Girl Scouts.

The ironic part is that one of the critcisms I have gotten is that I am a "command a control freak" who "expects too much of people." Long story short but that related to my asking a volunteer to actually do what said volunteer had agreed to do in a leadership role, rather than just be a warm body who liked getting dressed up in a tan shirt once a month. But, we are making progress. Many successes. Many more ideas bubbling up...even though people learned real quick that the response to great ideas is usually "Sounds great, go ahead and do it!" Uhhh...oh...I didn't mean *I* wanted to do it

When I came into our Pack a few years back as TDL, the Pack was a one-man show. I just assumed this was the way things were supposed to be until I started going to roundtables, talking to other packs, and taking training. Now, this was not a power play by the prior CM. Really, he had just been doing the job for so long that he got worn down trying to get volunteers so did everything himself. Obviously, that limits how much a Pack can do and makes it terribily difficult to find someone to take over. As CM my first priority was to "fix" that by stressing this was OUR program and not MY

ComChr, you will unfortunately find that a few people here compensate for a lack of natural endowment by being big giant ones in cyberspace. If you can learn to separate the wheat from the chaff there is some good info to be gleaned.

I made a generic version of the handbook we use. Having an 8 page document allows us to print front to back and have it come out even. Obviously this doesn't cover everything, and it was intended to be a FAQ guide based on feedback from parents about what they wished they would have known. Here is a link, let me know if it does not work. https://cid-16fca1d96e806158.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Documents/New%20Parent%20Handbook%20Generic.pdf

I thought the family promise came from some official source. However, as I looked into it again I think it was just something I came across that sounded like a good idea because it reenforced the "we expect you to be involved" message throughout the handbook. So, I'm sure someone will criticize me for putting in something "unofficial" but I really do not care. Family Promise We promise, to do our best to support our Cub Scout, And to guide him to live up to the Cub Scout Promise, and the Law of the Pack. We will work with our Scout to help him complete his achievements to the best

I looked at stuff that was out there and didn't like the BSA stuff...to generic and didn't tell the parents practical stuff that pertained to our Pack. (It obviously couldn't.) So that they weren't overwhelmed with a bunch of DIFFERENT documents, I created one essential document. It is 8 pages and is the "getting started" guide. I also created a NEW LEADER handbook after consulting with leaders about "what they wished they had known." I can't link to both of those docs directly here, but I could send you a copy if you'd like. The sections are: --   What is Cub Scou

I recommend creating two "patrols." I got grief when I've mentioned that here in the past but it works well for us. Asking for another DL gets the deer in the headlights response. However, asking for two people to help "coordinate" small group (i.e., "patrol") activities has worked very well for us. The advantage is we still meet at the same place and same time, so facilities are easier and boys get to see all their friends. Then, we can break into more managable groups for activities. If no one steps up, and you really don't want to do it, then draw that line in the sand and don't c

Thanks for the comments thus far. I really hope that timing is the issue because we have had much better luck with fall recruiting. I find it telling that half the kids who showed up were in 3rd grade currently, which runs counter to normal recruiting. I believe this is because our current 3rd grade den is pumped about scouting and sells the program. Regarding boy talks, it would have been nice, but we have no one at district to do them any more. I had considered trying it myself (see related thread of mine on same topic) but, well, it didn't happen.

Well, we decided to hold our first-ever spring recruiting event last night (Thursday). Typically we have done only fall recruiting, and our usual group is about 10 new recruits, most in the Tiger or Wolf dens. However, we have an active summer program with 2 events each month, so I figured we could attract boys looking for some summer fun. Our pack typically runs about 35-40. We were down to 29 after losing a large Webelos den at crossover. We have about 300 age-eligible boys in the school we recruit from. We sent flyers to each of the homes a week before and also used the school's

What is it with those leaders who let the kids get all kinds of stuff for not doing jack? I'm not talking about dishonest parents here...leaders should know better. But there is a real spectrum of practices. On one hand I have den leaders who are super-concerned about the letter of the law. On the other I have the aforementioned (and outgoing) Webelos leader who suddenly gives our advancement coordinator orders for 6 Webelos pins when I know they've held 2 den meetings. I make a passing remark to one of the Webelos about "did you have fun earning XYZ pin," and he goes..."Huh???"

Tell the ADLs to get their behavior under control or they are out (assuming the committee is on board with with). If you don't already have a procedure in place for belt loop purchase it could be tough. If it were me I'd say there was no budget for it, which would be true. We have the practice that we only pay for loops earned in pack or den activities, but you have a den activity. If you have the budget and the practice of paying for loops you may be stuck. Obviously there's no way they could earn that many and the sad part is they will mean nothing to the kids while costing $30 per

Nealb, why did the parents blame the leaders? Or perhaps, did the leaders show the parents that both of those specs are in the sheet that comes in the box? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Nealb, why did the parents blame the leaders? Or perhaps, did the leaders show the parents that both of those specs are in the sheet that comes in the box? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

The minute to win it games were a big hit. We had 7 stations set up and when families arrived we assigned them to group 1-7, trying to keep the numbers equal. We ran a few rounds per station then rotated. Not all the parents did all the games, as expected, but I was happy to see several parents try "magic carpet" (move on a towel across the floor without touching the floor). More popular ones included moving M&Ms from one cup to another using a straw, and "high roller" (stacking dice on a popsicle stick held between your teeth). Also did "don't blow the joker," "candelier," (build a p

I have permission; I know the principal. The DE did the talk last fall but we have since lost our DE. It's been really difficult to get anything of substance from the DD. I'm just going to do it, the kids know me anyway from other school events.(This message has been edited by 83eagle)

Having a spring roundup in a few weeks. The plan is for the new recruits to make stomp rockets while I go over the details and paperwork with the parents. I have not done a boy talk before but was thinking of doing one in the school the day before the event. The plan was to bring the stomp rocket launcher into the group and give a short rah-rah, or something...then "If you wanna find out how to launch rockets with this crazy thing come to the roundup tomorrow night." I guess I'm looking for the "rah rah" part...or any other ideas. The presentation would likely have to be done d