amg4814

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I am the Den Leader for my Tiger Den. My boys participated in their first Pinewood Derby and had a blast, except that one was cheated out of a Den award.

Warning: The explanation of what transpired is lengthy and I would appreciate some advice.

In October, the Membership Coordinator  who is  also the mother of a Webelos II emailed me that her youngest son was interested in joining our Tiger Den. I invited her to come to our meetings, but she never showed. I saw her at Pack meetings and other events but she never said a word to me. I figured she joined another pack or something.

On Friday evening, I suddenly got an email from her asking if her son could join now. She said her youngest son was so inspired by his brother's Blue and Gold Dinner last weekend that he wanted to join now. I emailed her back with the date, time and location of our next meeting and told her we could sort out the membership details.

The next day Saturday was our Pinewood Derby. I was in charge of checking in the cars with another Den Leader. A little boy wearing a Tiger hat walked up to register his car. I was confused at first because I didn't recognize him. Then it dawned on me, he was her son. As Membership Coordinator, she had registered her son in my Tiger Den and now his  car as well. When she walked away, I explained to the other leader that he was not part of our Den yet and I had never met him. She said she could see the reason for concern, but this was not the time to say anything.

Before the start of the Derby, all of the Leaders and Assistant Leaders voted on the best designed car for each Den. One of the boys in my Den had an extremely creative car and everyone in our Den thought he would win most creative for our Den for sure. At the end of the Derby when it came time to announce the winners, the "new member" of our Den name was called as the winner of the Den award. Everyone in my Den was stunned, the boy who had the most creative car burst into tears. The "new member's" car was not anywhere near as creative as the other boy.

I found out later that the "new members" dad, uncle and family friend were all voting members for the Pack awards, I assuming that's how he won. The Tiger Den parents were of course upset. They felt it was unfair, that he was joining just for the Derby. I am at loss as to what to do. I mentioned something to our Pack Treasurer and he kind brushed it off and said we don't want to discourage boys from joining. I told him I agreed but he has not officially joined our Pack or our Den and that I've never met him or his mother.

Should I pursue this matter further? Let it go? What do I do if she comes to the Den meeting on Wednesday?

Thank you for the advice. I think I will let it be and if they bring it up then we'll take it from there.

Whoops! Posted twice! Sorry!

A boy joined my den who was originally in 1st grade (6.5 years old) but the parent decided to put him back in Kinder right before he joined. He suffers from social anxiety and has an IEP (special education placement). His IEP is for his anxiety only! Academically and behaviorally he is exactly the same as the other boys. He's just shy, but loves Cub Scouts and I believe Scouts would be a benefit to him. His dad filled out his application and put K for his grade level. I honestly had no idea about the 7 years or 1st grade requirement when he joined. My boy is the same age as him so I didn't think it would be a big deal so I let him join my den. So far no one has said anything, I'm not exactly advertising that he's in K. I would hate to hurt this boy's self-esteem by asking him to leave and pointing out he's been held back. His mom knows of my error of letting him join, so to speak. She is not upset and said he could wait a year but I feel he's better off with his peers. What happens when Scouts are held back? Surely they don't expect them to repeat everything and leave his den? Should I say something/ask council or let it be?

A boy joined my den who was originally in 1st grade (6.5 years old) but the parent decided to put him back in Kinder right before he joined. He suffers from social anxiety and has an IEP (special education placement). His IEP is for his anxiety only! Academically and behaviorally he is exactly the same as the other boys. He's just shy, but loves Cub Scouts and I believe Scouts would be a benefit to him, help him with his shyness. His dad filled out his application and put K for his grade level. I honestly had no idea about the 7 years or 1st grade requirement when he joined. My boy is the same ahe as him so I didn't think it would be a big deal so I let him join my den. I figured because he was the same age as my son it didn't matter. So far no one has said anthything, I'm not exactly advertising that he's in K. I would hate to hurt this boy's self-esteem by asking bin to leave and pointing out he's been held back. His mom knows of my error of letting him join, so to speak. She is not upset and said he could wait a year but I feel he's better off with his peers. What happens when Scouts are held back? Surely they don't expect them to repeat everything and leave his den? Should I say something/ask council or let it be?

So I was able to talk to several people who are familiar with Scouts and our area council and they have all said the same thing, Get out now! By pure coincidence the Executive Director text messaged me to see how things are going and to ask if I have been able to turn in my dens applications, forms and money. I explained to her that the CC is handling all that but that I turned it all in at least 3 weeks ago. I've overheard the CC make a comment that they had trouble rechartering last year and to cancel some activities because of their difficulties. I guess now I need to look into a new pack, figure out how I'm going to break the news to the other parents and see how to get my application, health forms and my money back or moved to a different pack.

So then why would CC tell me that? I'm so confused now! I think the Leadership is confused too. I guess it comes down to do I want to wait it out and see if the Pack Organization improves or move before my son gets really into it. If I ultimately decide to move I'm not exactly sure how to tell them we are leaving. I feel bad because I'm the Den Leader and the Co-Den Leader is not very involved.

Yes, Stosh that's what worries me. Sone thing seems off. I've never met the "former CM" but the Pack has to have him sign everything. It seems weird to me. The only explanation I've been given is that the current CM has not completed the required training to "officially become the CM".

One meeting is ok, but the meeting should run about 90 minutes if it is one meeting a month. The Den Leader is responsible for letting the CM know when the boys have completed all the requirements. The CM then signs off on everything. My son's den meetings are 45 minutes twice a month. In my opinion, 90 minutes is too long for 6 and 7 year old boys.

I forgot to say, I don't know what the "former Cub Master's" position is now. I know that the current CM and CC refer to him as the "former Cub Master". I do know he moved on to follow two of his son's who are in a Boy Scout Pack now. One of his son's is still in the Cub Scout pack. He was the founder of this pack three years ago whwn he decided to split off from an existing pack and form his own Pack. From what I've been told things ran smoothly under him.

Hi David,

I was told by the Committee Chair that the current Cub Master was unable to sign off on any of the adult applications because they had to go through the former Cub Master because the new Cub Master had not completed the required training. Previous to that I tried to give my application to the CC several times and he said just hold onto it, we have to find time for the former CM to sign it. So maybe the CC is confused?

I need advice, I don't know if I'm being petty or if should move to a different pack. We decided to sign up my son with pack that's associated with his school. After the first recruitment meeting I seriously considered choosing another pack to join because it seemed as if they were disorganized. This is the third year they have been a Pack. The Cub Master is new to the position as well as the Committee Chair member. They are a fairly small pack and does not appear to be very active. I spoke to some other nearby packs when I was deciding if we should join elsewhere they were more than willing to take us. I ultimately decided to stay with my son's school because most of the mothers in the Tiger Den felt it would be better if I just stayed with the school. I should also mention that I am The Tiger Den Leader and my husband has his Eagle, so he's familiar with scouting. He wasn't too impressed either but we just decided to give them a try.

First issue: I jumped right in and for trained as a den leader for my den. I found out later after attempting to turn in Scout and Adult applications that the new Cub Master has not been trained yet therefore, he was unable to sign any of our new applications. We had to wait 2 months for the former Cub Master to sign everything.

Second issue: The Cub Master has missed several pack meetings and a was extremely late to our first Leadership meeting of the year. I do understand that this is a volunteer position, so I know he probably won't be able to attend everything but so far he's missed over half of our meetings.

Third Issue: I signed up to be help the person over activities. Every idea I have had has been shot down. "Oh no, we can't do that!" I shared some ideas with the Cub Master regarding ceremonits which I heard about at my training and he said "He didn't have the time do any of that." The Cub Master who came up with the ideas must not have a job or a family, which is untrue. I've spoken with other Pack Leaders in my area and they very active. And the suggestions I made to my Pack which were shot down when other Packs have gotten approved by Council. I don't understand how they assume they would be told no?

Fourth Issue: The Pack vigorously promoted a council organized Halloween Camp Out. We signed up to go. Come to find out, we were one of two families who signed up. The Pack scheduled a fundraiser on the same day as the camp out and everyone attended that instead. We went to the Halloween event and the other parent who attended commented that he didn't know what to bring to the Halloween Camp Out because he has never camped outside before! The father and his son has been with this pack for 4 years!!! Isn't camping part of Scouting?!

Final Issue: Awful Communication! The Committee chair seems to always be confused about what's going on. He's really nice guy but seems overwhelmed because he has had to take on Cub Master duties in addition to Committee chair duties. They gave everyone a calendar at the first meeting and several Pack Outings have been cancelled without notice. Leaving myself and the other parents in my den confused.

I am thinking of moving to a well established pack that better organized and has more activities and outings. Am I being petty or is it time to move on?