sierracharliescouter

  There's nothing written anywhere that says all Cub Packs have to have all ages represented. 

 

I would think it more beneficial to send all the boys over to another pack where they are more likely to get a quality program from someone who wants to be a DL.

 

 

While the first statement is true, I find with a large pack (50+) that when we have one rank with low numbers (as we do currently), this creates a weakness in the continuity of the Pack. 

Conversely, we've also received several cubs from other packs where there was very low enrollment in a rank, and they opted to the send the boys to us as we are one of the strongest Packs in the area. I never feel comfortable doing this, as I know the other Pack is badly weakened when this happens, but it is the best option to get *that boy* a good scouting experience.

This also ends up as a battle for our DE in charge of membership, as he wants to be getting new units created, while at the same time we have units that aren't that far away geographically struggling to survive. 

The only thing that is on you is to identify which parent(s) of the Tigers will be the Den Leader(s). If you have 29 boys, that is at least 4 dens worth (if all the same rank). 

Bring the Tiger Den Leader's Guide to the meeting. Have another leader take the boys and do something fun with them away from the parents, and then sit the parents down and explain to them that Scouts is a volunteer organization, and just like a team needs a coach, a Den needs a leader. Now, for Tigers it is a bit different. A Tiger needs to have an Akela at each meeting. There are no "drop offs" for Tigers. Make sure the parents understand that. 

Show them the Den Leader Guide. It is a good "cookbook" on how to run a Den. Point them to online Den Leader training resources (or even better, live training if possible). Ask them if anyone has an older boy in scouting. With 29, surely there are a few. Don't give them an out, tell them "I need X Den Leaders to step forward", and don't give them too much time to think about it. You or another experienced Scouter should be there to support each Den Leader - that is the job of the ACM. Don't set the precedent of doing their "job" for them.

After being an experienced Scouter in a number of other roles for three years, I just finished one year as a DL. It takes some time to "learn the program" (training), but once you do, being a DL really should only take 1-2 hours per week outside of Den/Pack meeting time.

Many councils have insurance in addition to National's that they charge extra for. On another forum I read someone say that their council charges an additional $25/year for their insurance.

That sounds like the amount they charge an individual unit. Our council charges $1 per registered youth toward their insurance.

This is completely irresponsible of National to pull this out so late on units that have already done budgeting and began collecting dues that carry us through next year. As CC, I may have to recommend to our committee that we no longer include a Boys Life subscription in our Pack fees, which was only $50 for renewing scouts.

We increased attendance our Cub Day Camp from 87 last year to 121 this year!

For those of you who think Lions program isn't a good idea, we increased our Day Camp attendance by Tigers from 5 last year (which has been typical for the last several years) to 17 this year - almost entirely due to very active Lions programs in a few Packs in our district.

One of the Boy Scout troops in our area held a 4-hour First Responder training session for several packs. Probably around 50 Webelos/AOLs got trained, including 10 Webelos and 5 AOLs from our pack. No requirement that the training be done by a professional. I tested my Webelos after the training, and they did a good job! You would still need to arrange to have the boys talk with a first responder, but that is generally easy to arrange for scouts.

On a personal note, as I have said before, I cannot imagine that putting 4 and 5-year-olds in a Cub Scout pack could possibly turn out to be a good idea

It is an excellent idea, if implemented properly. In our state they wouldn't be 4 years old for more than a few weeks in August with an early-start school district. Our Pack has strong a Tiger and Lion program, and from what I've heard, Lions is going pretty strong in our Council. The key with Lions is to follow what BSA has told the "pilot" Packs - don't push the younger kids to attend every Pack event. In fact, we specifically discourage them from coming to some events. Don't weaken the program for the older boys to accommodate the younger ones, but at the same time welcome them when it is age-appropriate. Some of our Lions have older brothers in the Pack, and they would end up coming to many of the meetings anyway, just not able to participate. Now, as a Day Camp Director, I'm glad that there isn't a push to have Lions as a rank in Day Camp. Welcome them in our sibling camp, but kids right out of preschool are not age-appropriate for our normal Day Camp activities.

Our pack uses Square, but only on a limited basis for registrations and for some popcorn sales. For the registrations, we charge a little extra to cover the CC fee. For popcorn we only use it for store-front sales where we would otherwise lose the entire sale if we didn't take the CC. 

I'm hoping our council adds the Lion program. We have one of the largest packs in our district, close to 50 boys, and often have a few siblings "waiting in the wings". These siblings are our "in" to recruit in their friends for the younger rank. We have two Tiger dens this year, both with 6 boys. Most of these kids would have joined as Lions if it was an option. Of the 12 Tigers, 4 have brothers that are Bears.

A key to success is that both Tiger Dens are lead by new parents, but we split up the "experienced" parents between the two Tiger dens, so both of the new DLs have direct support from experienced Scouters during the den meetings. The new Den Meeting guides are getting great reviews from the DLs. As new Scouters they appreciate the option to "cookbook" a meeting. 

Pack (50 cubs) - ends year with $1000 to $1500 in checking 

 

Similar size Pack, and this is exactly what we try to do. It isn't our money, it is the current parents'/cubs' money.  Saving it up for the future isn't fair to the families who contributed. If we have a signficant surplus (like we did last year), we figure out a productive and fair way to spend it on the current families.

I don't know how you do hiking, camping, etc. without science! Science is all around us, and so are opportunities to follow scout law.

- How do you make rope? (find a strong-fiber plant) (Thrifty!)

- Weather (Brave! Hike in the rain!)

- Human physiology (hydration, nutrition) (Clean!)

- Record of observations (Trustworthy!)

- Campfire fun (fire safety & Cheerful! Friendly!)

- Leave no trace (pollution; Obedient! Kind!)

- Helping others on the trail (Loyal! Helpful! Courteous!)

I honestly do not understand why BSA and so many posting here feel it is important for Scouting to permit homosexual adult leaders (or youth members for that matter). Assuming at best that LGBT persons represent 5 percent of the population, does this change in BSA policy represent a flood of new LGBT members to the program? Is the influx of new LGBT members really going to outweigh the flight of faithful families from various faith traditions who will no longer wish to be associated with BSA? Further, I think it's safe to assume that LGBT as a community is likely more secular than religious, as society at large has become more secular, and most world religions struggle with how to reconcile doctrine on homosexuality with being welcoming to LGBT churchgoers. Since Scouting supposedly has a foundation in a duty to God, I would expect the numbers of LGBT persons seeking membership to be diminutive at best. I remain very confused about what BSA expects to gain.  

You are missing the large number of heterosexual progressives who, on principle, don't want their kids in a discriminatory organization. This includes some friends of mine, who I hope will now allow their kids to join our Pack with this policy change. 

In our Council each District runs a CS Day Camp for 5 days, for $120/week (if you register early, siblings <11 yrs old at $5/day). "Camperships" are available that cut the cost in half (and we have very few takers for the discounted rate).  Resident camp is run over a long weekend on a Council-wide basis. The Resident camp is a long drive for many to get to, the Day Camps are set up close (<30 minutes) from the Districts. We start with Tigers, and even have siblings as young as 3 years old in Day Camp. I personally don't think Wolves or even many incoming Bears are ready for a Resident Camp experience.

I recently signed on as CD for our District's Camp starting next year, and had this year as a transition/training year. We just finished camp, and averaged about 115 campers, 20 siblings, 45 adult and 45 youth volunteers per day. It was a struggle to get the volunteers on board this year, with many signing up very late, but it worked. Yes, it is a huge amount of work for the volunteers, especially the "key staff", but for most of the kids and many of the adult volunteers I get the sense it is the best week of their summer. I have two Cubs and I know that they love it. Archery, BBs, scout skills, science, crafts, sports, and dens full of kids shouting their "den yells" as loud as they can throughout the day. There is no other comparable camp experience in our area. It does take the dedication of a bunch of people who really believe in the program to pull it off.