Prepared

I just recently finished my last weekend of Wood Badge and my patrol's project was information regarding non-advancement awards. As a joke one of my patrol-mates said I should do a website for the project...so I did. Now that Wood Badge is over, I wanted to put the site here to see what people think of it and so others can know about the different awards that they may not even know exist. Any feedback is welcome.

Here is the website: wb2016eagleproject.webs.com

@@Stosh, thank you makes sense. I decided as a Cubmaster that we need DC to help us prepare the Scouts for Boy Scouts and just want to make sure I do everything I can to ensure it is a successful program for my pack.

So, I have a question about the Den Chief program. I know the council puts on normal Den Chief training that the Scouts have to attend to be considered trained and earn the Den Chief Award. However, I was told that normally when a Cub Scout pack takes on a Den Chief, they should put on training for the Scouts to ensure they have an understanding of the Cub Scout program and how the pack runs. Has anyone ever heard of this? I just want to make sure my pack does this all correctly so both the pack and the older Scouts are fully prepared for the program.

Recruiting their kids is not problem. We have that covered. We show them archery (own 50 bows/1000 arrows), tomahawks (own 25 plus homemade 4x4 wooden targets), slingshots (own 10, use dog kibble as shot), have own clay thrower for shotguns, do water and Estes-style rockets, build rat-trap racers, canoeing, climbing, go karts, etc. We can hook them in. Had a Scout make a recruiting video where he replicated an entire summer camp in Minecraft. We play that at open house and the kids go insane. Getting kids is never the problem...thankfully.

 

It is back-filling for the older parents that leave that remains the issue.

Ahh, I guess I misunderstood the point of it all. Leadership wise, I say find those Eagle Millennial scouts and get them into the leadership position worked for me. My Assistant Cub Master is slightly younger than me and was an Eagle. He has a lot to learn about being outgoing and being in front of kids in the manner I am, but he is slowly getting there. After that I really believe it is about finding the gems that are active even though they are not a leader, then tagging them for leadership positions. I am at the Cub Scout level (for now) so my experience is a little different than most of you, but I really feel like Millennial adults are only difficult to bring in as leaders if they have no experience at all in scouting, outdoors, or military.

@dilrod I was told that the Lions would not be participating with the pack at all (at least that is the guidance). Is this not the guidance given?

@, forget the vote. Either you're gonna support one more set of parents or you're not. Make up your mind and lead accordingly.

 

It might help if you touch base with a few pack parents who have five year olds.

That is the thing...I can make up my mind all day long, but if I do not have the support of the other leaders to do this crazy new thing than it would be more work for me. The guidance from council is that an experienced leader is the leader of the Lions and I don't know if I can do that without another leader saying they would do it. Apparently, they are highly recommended to NOT go to pack meetings because of how young they are...

You seem not to be part of your generation's mold,

I am in no way a millennial mold...I feel like I could have been if I had not been through the things I have been through though. However, I understand them (for the most part). It is not about recruiting millennial parents or in your council's case minorities, it is about recruiting their kids. Yes, the parents have the final say on what their child does, but at some point the parent will cave and allow their kid to the be a kid and enjoy scouting for what it is. When my son joined, he joined because I made him. However, he wouldn't leave it for anything now. He enjoys the time with friends and being outside and doing the things that he can do in scouting. Yesterday, we went to a troop meeting for his AOL and he asked questions and added things to what the boy scouts were talking about. To me that makes me proud. He has learned so much that he could have learned on his own with me, but with his friends seems to work 100% better than alone.This is the "secret" thing recruitment needs to use. The kids (although not completely) decide what they want. If the scouting was the old way of indoor craftivities, most kids would not want to do it.  The move to the outdoor thing is going to help get more kids involved, because most boys just want to be outside with their friends, which is exactly what scouting is...

The problem is not talking to Millennial parents. The problems are more complex than that. And while not entirely unique to Millennials, these problems tend to be more and more pervasive with this age group than any other I've encountered in my life time:

1. Self-Absorbed: More concerned about when tee-time or happy is than with sticking around and participating (or even showing up for) their kid's activities.

   I can see that...in fact I see it a lot in my pack. However, it is about the kids and I try and get my kids so excited about doing something that if the parent does not do it, they feel guilty about it. It is kind of mean, but it works. At first it seemed to not work, but over time I have noticed that we have more participation. We are about to have our spring campout with the pack at the end of the month and it looks like we might actually get the whole pack to camp (normally about half would camp). I feel like getting the parents who REALLY give a hoot about their kids enjoyment is all about getting them to think it is their idea to have their kids be happy

    

2. Not Problem Solvers: Give them something to do and at the first road block or barrier they throw up their hands and walk away.

   This one I do not see, me being a Millennial myself I really do not see things this way. If I come across an issue, it makes me stronger. It may take me some time to overcome said obstacle, but I will do it. Then again, I "was" a Marine for 9 years and have been in the IT world for almost 14 years...

    

3. Communication Issues: Despite being the generation that grew up with the most variety of communication channels, they seem challenged and managing ANY of them effectively.

   AGREED

    

4. Accountability: Rather than admit to any wrong-doing they seem to find a way to blame their lack of (insert topic) on missed emails, missed texts, phone dying, not using voice-mail (why set it up then rather than say "I don't use this so don't leave a message", etc.), not having enough time, or my personal favorite, "I'm very busy". Really? And me running your kid's Scout troop, soccer team and dance group is NOT busy? How'd you like that cruise you went on while we were babysitting your kid at summer camp? Please.

   AGREED

    

5. Expertise: Reading a blog about "how to" something and they think they're Bear Grylls.

   I sort of fall into this one, but not completely. I read things and then do them and try things out and ask you all and work through them all, but then I know my limits and understand the difference between being an expert and someone who is knowledgeable. Also, this made me really LOL

    

There are more but these are the ones that come to mind.

 

Whether it's Scouting volunteers or a member of my IT team, I am looking for problem-solving go-getters that will stop at nothing to make EVERYTHING they touch as good as it possibly can be. If I wanted someone to do a halfhearted job and then give up, I'd assign it to a 10 year-old. 

I think saying just talk to them was a little to vague. What I really mean is to talk to them about all the important things the kids can learn and how they will learn it. I use the new program slogan of Putting the Outing back in Scouting all the time. Kids need to be outside and parents know this. They do not mind their kids being inside, but would rather get them outside and doing something important. Scouting gets them this and more. It is really how you "pitch" it to the family. I am pretty sure I guilt tripped a couple parents to sign their kids up after talking with the parents while the kids went and played an activity.

Ummm...I am a Millennial and I joined on my own. Also, I already know how to reach the parents in my age group...however, I do not know how to reach the people who are older than me (40s) because they are older with kids that are my son's age and they just want to move past these ages with nothing added on (from what I can see). Very odd that they would make a training class on how to reach people like myself...just talk to them, it is easy...

Also, "How to recruit children of Millennial parents" is part of the syllabus...BAH HA HA HA HA...that is too funny...you want to know how to do that, show them the cool things they get to build and have the kids who do it help you tell them, works every time!!

Well it is official, my council has been approved to bring in Lion Scouts next year...I am still not sure how I feel about this. I understand why they are doing it and think it is a good idea...IF it is done right and IF the parents are as involved as they need to be to be successful. I am the CM for my pack and I was wondering what you all thought about my leaders and I voting on whether or not we want to actually bring in Lion scouts or if we want to pass on it, since it is so new.

I have looked an looked and looked, to no avail. Therefor, I will post here in hopes of finding a resolution...here goes.

I am the Cubmaster for my son's pack, my wife is a Committee member. When we came onboard, we were informed that our CO is not helpful in any way and that our council has been informed about this, with nothing being done about it (from our former Cubmaster). We had personality issues with out former Cubmaster, so we chalked it up to their issue, not the CHURCH. My wife and I had a sit down meeting with the CO rep and the pastor to establish a relationship with them. Everything seemed fine, expect for the fact that we still cannot meet there (they have NA meet at the church the day we have our meeting, so meeting there with the NA people is out of the question). We talked with them about extra fund raising ideas, helping them with community service items, and storing stuff there (so we didn't have to spend almost $300 for a storage facility). They were really helpful, they agreed to sign off on us doing extra fund raising, they set us up with the SM of the Troop who meets there to do community service, the even (started) to allow us to store stuff there. On top of all the helpfulness, they let us have our Pinewood Derby there and saved us almost $200 (to have it at our school, which is where we have our meetings). Then everything started doing down hill at break-neck speed...

Shortly after allowing us to store stuff there, the CO rep started complaining to the SM about us having to go there to get stuff out of the shed and didn't want us going there over and over (mind you this is a shed outside, not inside).

The CO rep made a big deal about us being at the church for Pinewood derby after we went, and I just found out that she is asking us to get their whole carpet cleaned, because we supposedly spilled coffee on the floor. The thing about that was the SM was there (a member of the church) and another leader of the church was there, saw the stain and said that it may not have been us, so to not worry about it. The worse part about that is that we had to hear it from our CC, who we do not have a good relationship with and has a terrible relationship with the CO rep. We have no idea why the CO rep didn't talk to us directly if there was a problem and why they decided to talk to another person to tell us about it.

The CO rep acts perfect in front of the pastor, she is polite and agrees to everything we ask for (that they are supposed to help us with) when he is around. However, when it is just her everything changes. We get talked down to and treated poorly and basically treated like 4th class citizens to her.

My wife just told me she wants to move our son to another pack in our area and I pushed back because I am the CM and she is the treasurer...she basically said that she does not want to put our son through all the issues of being in this pack and even said she would just talk to all the parents and get them all the leave the pack (which I really feel most of the parents would do).

I am at a point where I really do not know what to do. I feel like I do not know who in my council to talk to, to get help. The CO is pushing us away. The CC is making more issues. So now with all the back story, here are my questions.

Can a pack drop their CO and move to another one?

Can something be done about a CO that refuses to assist the pack with a place to meet and causes more issues than being helpful?

Should I listen to my wife and leave the pack with one more year left to go for my son in the pack?

I am sorry for the long post and all the questions, but I really just don't know what to do.

My advice for you would be to talk to your Chartered Organization representative with your CM and CC, if they do not already know (or you are not one of them). From there voice your concern about the leader and ensure they understand everything that is going on. It is the responsibility of the CC and Chartered Organization representative to select leaders, as well as remove them if necessary. It will be a long hard battle, but in the long run it will be better for everyone. I hope this helps.

My son did a major portion of this when he went to a Scout day at a museum here where we live. They built an underwater craft that moved around and picked things up and the kids lost their minds. I would check the places around your area to see if they have scout programs that would offer those things. It is all about fun for the kids to get them to do things that they think are boring.

@Stosh

This would be for the Webelo-ree, would I make groups of 8 to make a full patrol at the Webelo-ree?

On transitioning; I am the Cubmaster for my son's pack, and I am hope that my WDL knows how to transition the boys over. However, I cannot be sure. Is there anything I can do to ensure the boys are transitioned properly? My son is a Webelos and will be working on his AOL next year. I don't want him to be lost when he gets to Boy Scouts and really want him to continue. Anything I can do to help him and the other boys I want to do. Any suggestions?

I've only recently left the pack, having served since about half way through my son't tiger year.... so roughly 4 years in

 

Burnout is real... for parents and scouts.  I even saw non-scouter parents burn out with it... the constant bringing of the scout to mtgs and events.

 

I think a lot very likely has to do with the unit, standing traditions, the current flock of parents and how much they participate, how much fun the den/pack leaders are... lots of local variables.

 

In our case, we had a very small number of us wearing a lot of hats.  and even many of the positive attitude den leaders only had so much time and energy to give

 

Honestly, I think a great tradition for a unit would be to establish rotating leadership roles

such as

den leaders only serve 1 or maybe 2 years.

Lean on Tiger and Wolf parents for small odd jobs, bringing snacks etc.. at first, then working up to chairing trips or events.

Assistant Cubmaster could come from a wolf den parent.  They have been with the pack a while now so they know the drill.

in preparation to take Cubmaster on their son's 1st year WEBELOS year.  

then the retiring cubmaster is around to help if needed for the partial 2nd year WEBELOS year... or maybe that person steps into the Committee chair role for their son's crossover year

anyway, something like that

defined and limited terms, not necessarily set in stone but as practiced guidelines

everyone has a job, everyone does something, and there's a support network around to help the newer ones come up through....

 

We sort of had to do some of this because of people leaving because of past leadership. As I said before only one DL has been the leader for the whole time for the kids. It works for us, I have a large group of previous Boy Scouts/Eagle scout dads who jumped at the opportunity to lead their son's den. I will most likely become the Tiger Den leader when my youngest joins...in 5 years

 

and honestly, if anyone asked me..... I would probably suggest against signing up their son for the Tiger year.... certainly not Lion!

the only exception might be tiger, if the pack had a perpetual tiger den leader - such as a retired school teacher, that had plenty of time, was great with little kids, etc... then they would prob be able to really make for a fun program, rather than some new parent trying to figure it out as they go...

 

I do not see this as a viable option. If they start at wolf, then they are learning as they go. The best way for them to succeed throughout Cub Scouts is to practice. If they join as a Tiger, then by the time they become Webelos, they will be really ready to take the kids to the next level before Boy Scouts...

Not sure if you all have seen this, but even in an organization like Scouting, this still applies;

https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe?language=en

@Stosh That makes perfect sense...while I am not the WDL, I am involved with the den because my son is a Webelos scout and I see them making decisions all on their own.  It is sometimes crazy, but nothing too crazy. I like the idea you gave and will definitely use it. Would you recommend each patrol have a Boy Scout with them for assistance? I am not really sure on the patrol organization and all that, I have only been in Cub Scouts.

I came up with an idea for this that would last the weekend, I figure this is the best place as any to throw it out and get some input...

I will be attending Wood Badge soon and was looking at the program and what I would be doing. I noticed that we will become a patrol of sorts and function as one, which got me thinking.

What if on the first day I take all the scouts together and have them find X number of kids they do not know and stand in X number of groups. Then I make them each a patrol of sorts and the next days activities are all patrol based.

This would be two fold; 1) the scouts get to meet new kids and make new friends 2) allow them to work as a patrol, must like they would when they become Boy Scouts (since Webelos is all about preparing them for Boy Scouts).

What does everyone think about this? Am I crazy in thinking this would work? Or could this work and be a successful thing?

I hear this word burn out thrown around all the time. I hear other leaders from other packs say that they are just baby sitters too. I hear a lot of things and I am "new" to scouting. I really feel like it is those parents who decide sports are more important than scouting and try and juggle scouting/basketball/baseball/football/swim/lacrosse/(anything else)...of course you will get burned out. I understand sports are important and everyone has their own opinion on what is important to them, but I really feel like making a kindergarten level rank will help, not hurt, the burn out. As someone said above, we can grab the child's interest before they get entrenched in a sport and make them want to be there. I have kids who are starting to get upset with their parents when they cannot be at the scout experience, because it is fun to them.  I get the repetitiveness of the program, but then again our leadership rotates as kids move on. Maybe our pack is doing something different by rotating the leadership as the kids leave, but we do what must be done. We have one den leader who has been a den leader the whole time. our Webelos den leader is our former CC and the Wolf/Tiger are new, then again we have three wolves. All of our leadership will be rotating out here in about a year or two because their kids are leaving Cub Scouts, I will be one of them. I may be new to being a scouter, but I am not new to repetitive actions day after day (military). I had one year of the old program with an old school scouter who was set in their ways and didn't "speak kid".  It was a lot of sitting and talking, not what any child, let alone boys want to do. My son was bored, I was bored, we lost a lot of scouts and adult leaders because they were bored. Maybe this is the "burn out" people speak of. I think this new program, with new leadership blood will make Cub Scouts great again. It will just take a transition that some adult leaders are not willing to do...

Phone numbers.  Notebook.   DE's private line.  DCommisher's private line.   Park Ranger's private line.   Topo map of site.  Someone ELSE to keep track of finances.  Patch design.  Lots of "caution" tape.  Line up the Archery ROs early on.  Also BBs and (?)  Tomahawk throw. 

State police helicopter?  Nat Guard Humvees?   Construction crane from the builder who you know from your wife's cousin's church social?   State Park service Scales and Tales  presenter?    Those Civil War Re-enactors you saw last year?    That local antique car club that puts together the Model T from loose parts?  

Talk to the Cub Scout Day Camp Director and maybe coordinate things/site/equipment. Also the District Camporee....

Line up the OA to help.  

AND....  have fun.  Part of the job, yes?  

You make it sound so simple...

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/Publications/EmergencyPreparedness/award.aspx

 

scroll all the way to the bottom for the SKU's for all 4 pins.    

Yeah, I found that, first thing I found. The first pin, that does not say bronze/silver/gold, exists on scoutstuff (when you search for the SKU).  However, the other pins does not exist. I checked at my local scout shop and they have the three bronze/silver/gold pins, but not the regular pin...I am just wondering if they changed it without updating that page or if I am just crazy...or both...

I feel like I am blowing up this forum ever since I joined it...but I have so many questions

My question is this; does anyone know what pin scouts and scouters will receive when they earn their Emergency Preparedness? The application has a pin with SKU 540, but the scout store only has the bronze/silver/gold. However, if you search scoutstuff for the bronze/silver/gold, they do not exist, only the pin with SKU 540. I want the make sure the kids/leaders get the right thing, but some of this stuff is so cloudy EPA is getting suspicious...

Sounds like a plan to me...now I just need to convince my wife that the time I will be spending doing this is worth it

Unless one has a good handle on project management skills this could be a bit overwhelming. 

 

Pick a theme that sounds like fun... ask the boys, not other adults.  Adults think watching sports and drinking beer is fun.  That probably won't work out well for a Webelos-ree.

 

Then sign up with deadline all the activities necessary and staff with a coordinator and enough people.  If no coordinator or not enough people sign up, drop the activity,

 

Work with the activity coordinators to make sure they have the resources to do their jobs, do whatever it takes to keep them from becoming frustrated. 

 

Have fun with it yourself and share in the good and bad that will naturally result in such an effort.

 

Be sure to thank your people and make sure their spouses are recognized as well.

Well I have taken like 4 project management classes for my degrees and have organized large events for various reasons. Hopefully that helps me. All that seems like what I expect from a big event like this    

I have a question, and I know I will get plenty of help. I am thinking about volunteering to coordinate my district's Webelo-ree in the fall and wanted to see if anyone can provide insight as to what this would mean for me, regarding what I would have to do.  Our roundtable leader told me that the district has plenty of help to get it going, but I want to know what I need to do. I want this to happen because they do not have a coordinator, just want to make sure I am not getting in over my head. Thanks in advance for any help that may come