jbelanger86

My husband and I just signed up for wood badge in April. We have been told we will be in different patrols. A district member last night told me that we would probably be at each others throats (jokingly) by the end of it. He explained that there are "competitions" of sorts. Im a very competitive person, so I was wondering, what do I need to be prepared for? What should I learn before I go, to give me a leg up on my husband? He was a Boy Scout, so I feel I am at a disadvantage, but at the same time, I have been an outdoor person for a long time. 

Just looking for hints  

Hello all! 

Our Blue and Gold is Monday and I have been putting off finding a Cubmaster's minute. Ill be honest, I just forgot. Now I have to find a good one fast. My husband was the cubmaster last year and he did a great one where you have water that changes color and you pour it on dry ice. Ive got a lot to live up to! So if you have some ideas of good ones that have worked for you in the past, can you pass them along?

Thanks so much!

So my husband and I are having a discussion about sleepovers and I need some opinions. 

I am the Cubmaster and the Wolf Den leader, I have 5 boys in my den. My son is 7 and really his only friends are the friends in that den. He never even talks about other kids at school other than those children. So when it comes to sleepovers, how do you make the distinction between a scout function and just a birthday sleepover for instance?

If my son asked to have boys to sleepover, it would most likely be the three that are in his class at school, but all three are scouts. 

How can I let my kid have friends over without it becoming an issue about 2 deep leadership and YP?

I just dont want my kid not to have sleepovers because I am his den leader. Thoughts?

So im pretty new to scouting, I only joined in Jan. My husband and I took over a failing pack. Since then we have taken the pack from 11 boys to almost 50 and we have "managed" to get by on pack meetings. The first few were horrible though, lol. I just didnt have the time to plan them because the pack was falling apart and I was trying to help the dens get in order, and finally get everyone trained ect. I have a non existent committee for the most part. I am technically the Committee chair but everyone knows me as the asst cubmaster so when i switched roles we just left it that way. Im also the wolf/bear den leader, merging them because we only have 2 bears and no other leaders. So im constanlty trying to make sure that i get 17 boys all their requirements, lol. I do love it though. 

Anyway, on the topic. Because im just now trying to put on a great pack meeting, im really kinda lost. Then you add the new beltloops into the mix too. 

Here is what I have: I have a den of 6 webelos 2 who the den leader just piled on a sheet of 30+ pins that they earned and she just never turned in, how the heck am i to hand them out? Thats a lot of pins for each kid. 

Then, all the webelos 1, bears, and wolves have earned their first beltloop for the new program, what is everyone doing to hand those out? Normally when a badge was earned I had the parent come up and pin it on the boy's shirt, but im lost about what to do with these. What are you doing?

Then, how to make it fun!! I asked each den to come up with a skit or a song to do but knowing my leaders, I might have one den ( other than mine) that does something decent, so how do i make it fun even with the dens not participating? 

Also, I was thinking of doing some halloween themed finger foods/snacks, is this something you do? 

Should i decorate in any way?

Any other help you can provide would be great. Ive looked all over the internet for ideas and the pack meeting guide, but it just doesnt seem all that fun for the boys and the parents, and I really want them to enjoy the pack meetings. 

 

 

Those of us who have worked with a lot of volunteers very much appreciate the time and effort you are giving to the program. However, doing your best also means living the Scout Oath and Law. You do a disservice to yourself lashing out at those on the forum who have many many years experience working with both adults and scouts. If you don't like the answers to your question, you only need to respond with a thank you for your time. 

 

 

I never meant to sound like I was being rude, I really just wanted to understand how its so easy. I find myself in such confict with this situation. I came here for advice, i would never be rude to someone trying to help, i hope that clears it up a bit.

He is the COR for both the troop and pack. This whole pack/troop has been messed up for years and we can only fix the pack right now. I have heard from many people that our troop is nothing but an eagle factory and I have witnessed it myself. The boys do not even cook for themselves when they go camping. They have no patrol and no den cheifs. I just cant worry about what is going on in the troop when I have enough on my plate with the pack and all its drama. I hate drama

I guess I should have cleared it up, I am registered as the committee chair. I only have the name asst cubmaster because that was my position before becoming CC and all the parents knew me as that. 

We did have the meeting last night and it was very unproductive. I think that the DE, UC, and the other guy that was there (not sure of his actual title) I think they are all wrong. Their solution to this problem was simple in their eyes. 

So we had two boys sign up, two NEW webelos 2. When they first signed up, this den leader immediately spoke with the scoutmaster in the troop because she wanted us to ship them down there without letting them have a choice. Now, because we told her that she couldn't make that choice for them, she has decided that she wants ONE of them. She doesn't care about the other boy (who has chosen to be in the new webelos 2 den and work the new book for AOL)

The one boy she has chosen is her "ammunition" so to say. She says this boy just wants to be with his friends. 

Basically the solution that was brought to the table last night was to take the new webelos that she actually wants, and allow him to join her den and tag along to all the activities that they are doing to earn AOL. He will not earn any advancement. Basically to me it sounds like my district is undermining the BSA's new program rules. Stating that all new boys must work the new program, or go to the troop. 

Im all for following the rules and this just doesnt seem right. It doesnt set well with me. This pack, district, council is better than this, or it should be. They shouldnt be "letting it slide" Scouts is about working a program, all advancements aside. The program is designed to teach them all the things they need to know for BS and help them grow as young men, with this "solution" they think they have, I dont think they care. Im dissapointed. 

I hear you all when you say to "let it go" but I just dont feel right doing that. Its not fair to the boys that they arent getting the program they deserve, then let alone let another boy distract them from AOL because he just wants to hang out. 

Maybe im all wrong but i have talked to the council, and national, and im trying to get some answers on whtat the new program says to do in a situation like this. 

Oh and did i mention that DL is refusing to get Baloo to take her boys on a webelos campout?

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Im not sure how its so easy for some of you to just "let it go" - I really have a problem with people not "doing their best" for these boys. That, for me, is really hard to ignore

Also writing from experience having been Assistant Den Leader, Assistant Cubmaster, Cubmaster, & Defacto Committee Chair.... and having worked with Scouters that refuse to play with the "program"

 

I'm tending to agree.... don't put so much thought in it.

It's a tough situation for sure, especially with the complicated web of relationships within the key 3

 

Backing up....

are the boys in danger? (NO, from the sounds of it)

are the boys having fun? (and maybe doing some learning or growing along the way once in a while)? (they're in 2nd year WEBELOS and haven't dropped so I'm guessing the answer is YES)

 

Then my simple advice is to remind yourself that this is Cub Scouts.  When you boil it down, my two earlier questions are what matters most I think.... (don't get me wrong, I believe in following the program, I wear a necker with my uniform and don't wear Jeans with the shirt... etc... I just don't see how it matters all that much in the big picture)

 

The new 2nd year WEBELOS are the most troubling issue to me.

a den of two doesn't serve them well at all.  There's just not enough energy and diversity to make it worthwhile... IMHO

so considering that we're only talking a few months, I'd suggest you focus your energy where it can make a difference.

Exactly! I dont want the new boys to be excluded from a good program. They have a right to work the program and have adults there to help them with that journey. I just want all the boys to get as much out of scouts as they can

thank you for your replies.

DE is going to be there at the meeting we are having tonight.

I know its hard to disconnect feelings, but isnt that what we are supposed to be doing? The reason why we do it, to help these boys grow up to be great young men?

As far as she goes, we never intended on bringing this up actually, my husband and i discussed it and we were just gonna let her get her boys to the troop. The main problem is that per BSA rules on transitions webelos to the new program, she cannot take the new boys into her den. That is pretty much the issue that we are having.

Sometimes the adults make this not fun, but then when i see how much fun my wolves and the other boys are having, when i see their smiles, thats when i rememebr why i like it so much. I hate politics

I find myself in a really bad place. I am the assistant cubmaster and the committee chair of a cub scout pack. My husband is the cubmaster. We took over this pack in Jan because they asked us to step up and save this pack, which we have. In Jan we had 11 scouts and now after recruitment we have almost 50. Here is the problem.

We were approched by our district commissioner about this issue and now it needs to be addressed. This has to do with our Webelos 2 den leader, who was a part of this pack when things were not going well and the bsa rules were not being followed. We knew she didnt want to change the way she did things and we did try to influence her to start following the program correctly and she just caused problems. We were just going to let her take her boys to boy scouts in Feb (parents were ok with this) and then we would have her out of the pack, therefore all the leaders that would be left are all for making this pack a productive one.

Then we recruited two new webelos 2 when we had our fall roundup. This den leader caught wind of it and immediatley asked me for their phone numbers so she could add them to her den, the problem there is that her den is still working the old program. I had a conversation with her husband about it (he is the charter rep) and i told him that we would be creating a second den for the new webelos for them to work the new program and earn arrow of light. This made him really mad. He doesnt seem to understand the new program because he was mad at the fact that his son and the webelos twos had been working for 2 yrs on their arrow of light and now these new boys could just come in and earn it.

So then we were approched by our district commissioner about "complaints" that had been made. So now we are in a big mess over the weebelos program changes and a den leader who is not comming to terms with the new requirements. Later that night, she posted a photo on Facebook where she had taken her webelos 2s to a radio station and in the photo, was one of the new boys.....

She just seems to be going her own way and not talking about this with us and not wanting to come to an agreement on what should be done. Im at my witts end.

Tonight we have a meeting with the district executive and two of the district commissioners. I just wanted some thoughts from the outside.

*When I took over this pack, i made it very clear that all rules were going to be followed and i would run the pack the way it should be.

**we have given this den leader and the boys options. We offered the new boys the chance to stay in the new den and work the new program or go straight to boy scouts, and we also offered options to the current den working the old program, we said they would join the new den and work through the new program or they could continue to work their old program with the current den leader, but I informed the current den leader that the boy's advancement would not be signed off on without solid proof that they had completed all the requirememnts correctly. (this was said because we have also had issues with her not giving the boys a quality program. Just last week, she informed my husband that they were doing their "outdoor" activity requirement. She had them playing on a dirt pile while she gossiped with some of the moms of the boys scouts.)