CommishJulian

     My son and I entered Scouting when he was a Tiger Cub.  Unfortunately, our local Pack was political, clickish, with a nasty pecking order.  My son was hit, punched, kicked, and pinched, while I received nasty chastisements for complaining about it.  I pulled my kid out after 11 months when he got assaulted one too many times.  That evening I started looking for a better Pack.  By the next evening, we found an excellent Pack a few towns over, and had an incredible 5 years there. 

     After 8 years of looking at the mechanics of the local Scouting culture, function, malfunction and dysfunction, I see that this place is doomed.  Instead of using best practices, the local adult-children gerrymander the system for their interests.  Every Scouting metric here is one big red flag after another.  Last year our District shrank 20%.  The Council in on Provisional Charter, has shocking financial issues, and their employees run around like members of a cartel shaking down the locals.  Key leadership positions lay vacant, and events are getting postponed for lack of adults willing to take on the stress.

     For me, since I've benefited from great mentoring and role models, I enjoy passing on what I've learned to new parents.  Watching them make their own Cub Scout magic is the best feeling I can imagine.   Nothing like watching a bunch of happy kids and parents have fun with a purpose.

     My hope is that there will be enough of us pluggers (Type B, non-political, worker bee type parents) around after the collapse so we can build a better Cub culture.