dedkad

Volunteers give their time, and those who can't volunteer give money. Asking volunteers to give both time and money by incurring out-of-pocket expenses for the privilege of being a volunteer is a little hard to swallow. But rather than having the pack pay for their meals and babysitting, I would look at alternatives you could do to avoid that expense. Why do the meetings have to include dinner? Can't they be short meetings that occur after the dinner hour, like from 7:00 to 8:00? Why do the parents need babysitters? I can't imagine every parent volunteer is a single parent that needs a sitter.

Sounds like you've come up with something that works for your pack while others do it differently because it works better for their pack. Maybe this no direction from BSA is a good thing.

Really, KDD?

Great job, 92hatch! Whose job is it to get those dens organized and started? I think our pack needs to add some kind of new leader position to take care of this sort of thing because it has all fallen on me, and I am already overworked as CC and DL. What would a good job title and description be for that position?

Once you've done the paperwork for the pins, you may see why your pack chose to award based on the previous den instead of the new den. With your method, your concern about a Tiger earning the same pin twice is less likely to happen than a Webelos earning the same pin twice. You can wear all the summertime pins you're awarded on your uniform all at the same time, so if a color of a pin doesn't match your slide, it really means nothing because it won't match his slide the following year anyway. Just be happy you have active leaders who care enough to run a summertime program and follow-through

I pretty much have the year planned out before our first den meeting and know exactly which requirements we will be working on throughout the year. I also find out from the teachers what field trips they are going on to see if any of those would count toward a requirement. I then mix the boring stuff with the fun stuff at every meeting. It can take all year to complete some requirements since I break it out into such small chunks. It also is a record-keeping nightmare, but at least the boys aren't forced to sit down at an entire den meeting to learn about Citizenship.

The Den Meeting Resource Guide is sometimes helpful for giving me a fun way to teach a certain requirement. Otherwise, I don't follow it.

Just when I thought I had a handle on the recruitment, I keep getting more and more calls from parents with kids in different schools and different grades. Our dens meet right after school at the school, so these few stray boys from different schools are making it difficult. We are telling them that if they want to join our pack, they are going to have to recruit enough boys from their school to form their own den. All I really wanted was just one new Tiger den to make sure our pack stays alive, but we might end up with 2 new Tiger dens, and 2 new Bear dens. It's a little crazy, and not what w

Be careful, Brew. We had some growing pains when our pack tripled in size 2 years ago. Lots more new boys, but also too many new parents who weren't willing to fill in any leadership roles. We really struggled for a year. This last year was much better. The new parents felt more comfortable after observing what all was involved and stepped up to fill many volunteer roles. Took a huge burden off the old leaders who were filling multiple roles.

Interesting. Seems like the majority of folks seem to think just the opposite. I must admit to thinking that it seems like Scouts will be more fun as a Scouter. I sure did as a youth.... seemed like all we did in cubs was arts and crafts. KDD, I really hated Wolf too. It's just too much book work for boys that aren't ready to sit down at that age. They really need to have a better transition from Tiger.

But now you say: So a lanyard doodad is ok, but a button doodad is not ok? Now you are just contradicting yourself. The best way to see how a scout performs is to SEE how they perform and ask them some questions (which you are loathe to do). That process does not require another doodad on the uniform. But you've already been told that, so...it's sort of pointless to talk with you from here on out. Unless he has all like-minded boys in his troop, he will be driving kids away with this attitude, not making better scouts.

I think you are on the right track with building stuff. Getting them outdoors is also important. I have a night hike planned for my Webelos II this year. Bike rides, Frisbee golf, camping, field trips to cool places. Have them attend a few Boy Scout meetings and activities. Service projects for the community or for your charter organization are also important and build character.

Cub Scouts Assaulted on Canoe Trip; BSA Denies Coverage A recent canoe trip has left several young boys injured and the Boy Scouts of America denying any liability for the incident. According to Cub Scout Den Leader John Smith, his group of 9-year old boys were on a short canoe outing on Big Lake, accompanied by their parents. "Suddenly this guy comes up to us, calling himself Kudu, ranting and raving about the scout charter," said Mr. Smith. "I heard him say, 'You young hoodlums should be back with your den mothers making macaroni art, not out on the water where only red-bloo

I would. As Akela, you need to sign off on their attendance because parents can't sign off on Webelos requirements. It will also help strengthen your connection to the Boy Scout troop. Besides, Orienteering is a good skill to learn for adults as well as kids.

And don't forget that he has to earn his Bobcat badge too.

Brew, I wanted to start a whole thread on the subject of who follows the rules 24-7 and who sometimes crosses their fingers and takes their chances, but I figured somebody would really get their knickers in a twist about that.

Last year we had over 10 Tigers at our recruitment meeting and a den leader already lined up. This year only 2 Tigers showed up and no leader so far, so we are having the 2 Tiger parents reaching out to their sons' friends to try to build a Tiger den. Oddly, with very little recruitment in the upper grades, we ended up with 7 new Bears, so we are adding a new Bear den. Overall, though, we are probably going to just break even with our numbers because we had a den implode and are losing a bunch of boys.

Option 3 - Have less committee meetings. We have an active pack with over 50 boys. We have one pack planning meeting in August to plan out the entire calendar for the year (meeting dates, major events, who's responsible for which meeting, duties, etc.) Any changes or additions to the calendar throughout the year are all handled through emails. I think you can have a very successful pack and program without the monthly committee meetings. Your parents will thank you for it.

In our pack, the CMs are mostly a figurehead position. They will attend the pack planning meeting and give valuable input, but then it is up to the committee chair and committee people to make the events happen. We present the Cubmaster with a list of what is planned for each meeting, then the CM will come up with opening and closing remarks and act as MC at the meeting. They also are great sounding boards for den leaders who are struggling with parent or scout issues and need some support, advice, or just a pat on the back letting us know we are doing a good job. The CM doesn't necessarily ha

I don't know about your Scout store, but my store wouldn't sell us the pins without filling out the full Summertime application summarizing each event and how many scouts attended from each den for each event, how many parents and siblings attended, and then signed by CC and CM. BSA sure knows how to take the fun out of things. Most awards require no paperwork, so I don't know why this is so different. So what I'm saying is that you might not be able to just go to the store and buy a pin for your boy.

Techniques for controlling behavior problems is certainly something that is lacking in our Cub Scout training. You are busy trying to run a den meeting and the burden of managing the inappropriate behavior of one boy should not fall on you. If his behavior continues to be disruptive and Sakitima's suggestions don't help, I would insist that one of his parents attend the den meetings with their son.

You've made the best argument yet for basing it on the year just completed. As you mentioned, you have no idea how many boys will be in a den until you complete your fall recruitment. Because the Summertime application asks for a 50% threshold for the den award, it would seem that the just-completed year makes more sense because you know how many boys were in that den at the time you submit the application for award.

Huey, he'll technically be a Webelos when he finishes his Bear requirements at the end of 3rd grade, so he has his 3-4 summer and his 4-5 summer in Cub Scouts. KDD's question is still unanswered.

Could be more regional, KDD, and definitely financial. Families who don't need to worry about paying for childcare or preschool will often hold back their boys with September through December birthdays so they will be more mature when they start school. These boys are turning 10 years old when they start 4th grade, so 10-1/2 years by May of 4th grade is not unreasonable at all where I live.

I took a little liberty with the picture frame requirement. Instead of having the boys make the frames from scratch, I bought picture frames for $1 each at Michael's and had the boys use a wood-burning tool to burn designs of their choice into the wood. They really liked that. Got the wood-burning tool for about $8 at Michael's using their 40% off coupon. Do you have a Michael's near you? You can print out 40% off coupons from your computer any time you want. You don't need to wait for Sunday's paper. Just do a search for Michaels coupon on google. Don't choose the link to Michael's, look for