AKdenldr

The way I am reading the requirements it can be done in a pool. Correct? Incorrect?

This is what I would do, go ahead a wait for a while to see if boy will really be participating with the den calendar you have already arranged. Then if he does start, see if parents are interested in achievement, or just participating in the den activities. You could easily do a day time catch up event latter in the year for all the boys where you tidy up any missing requirements. So far family has indicated by their actions that he will not be participating.

After school den meetings, healthy snack on a rotation provided by parents. Sometimes to-go snacks in ziplocks before go-see its. Got to keep snack time to 15 minutes, especially those 9 and 10 year old boys can eat a meal after school. Pack meetings sometimes potluck prior, sometimes a sweet treat after the program on the way out the door. The elementary school schedules I'm familiar with have morning snack and lunch, with the snack phasing itself out by 4-5-6 grade. Pack leadership can correct anything the DE stated incorrectly at recruitment. What the DE says doesn't commit

I started denners in the bear year. I think achievement 25 has something about it. Denners can easily be started earlier. One den I know started them the tiger year (denner brought the snack and his parents where the program leaders for that meeting.) I agree with the link above that elections are hard on the younger guys. By Webelos time they can handle it better. We ran 4-6 week terms (length of term set by den calendar). Assistant denner was denner in the next term. One of the main items that helped me is I had the denner make the phone calls reminding the scouts of an event and wh

Remember that the den chief is a boy. He will need supervision and direction. Take a look at the details of the Den Chief award to think of ways a DC can contribute to your meetings and events. If your council has training great! There should be some age gap between your Webelos and the experienced boy scout that will be assisting. I think it is a rare 13-15 year old who will take a one year term, given their other commitments. 4-6 months is more reasonable, perhaps longer with breaks for sport schedules. I would want to meet with a boy and a parent prior so you know what you are gettin

I love these ideas about recycling scarfs and signing them, creating a special event or pack scarf. And new slides projects once in a while will really cut down on that lost slide problem. This is what I did, and hope it helps. Most parents after that first tiger hat purchase quit purchasing them. I could pick up bear, wolf, web hats and scarves and books at the thrift shops and keep them as a den leader. Then when we did a public event I would equip the boys that came without their own. (Collecting at the end of the meeting.) This gave us the clear appearance of scouts (even wi

Council's ssf April I think. This year a thanksgiving turkey drive

That seems to be an approach that some take. It probably explains some of those dens were lots of the web boys earn all the pins, especially in the shortened lds program. I didn't double count -- liked to do one webelos activity pin at a time as intended by the program. I did count things the kids did in school however. Camp also helped, but not everything done at camp was done well enough for us not to repeat. Run your program with integrity.

Our pack had a couple of dens that formed up just before the Christmas break and still had a successful year. With good planning tigers can be done in a pretty short period. Might be worth a try.

Back in my youth there was a troop that sold trees. Did it for years and years. They only were open 4-9 on weekdays, longer on weekends. Bet the boys will like slinging trees around a lot more than selling popcorn. Best of luck to you, sounds like the tree farm is giving you a no-risk opportunity. Keep us posted on how it goes.

Dutch Ovens. Smartest way to feed a crowd.

In the two districts around here a bunch of LDS lady scouters have taken over the Cub Leader Training and Baloo and OWL and are doing a bang up job. (It was a hot mess before.) I don't know everyone's church affiliation, but I suspect a number of the volunteers on the district and council committees are LDS. In the neighboring district a LDS troop puts on a huge MB university every year that is widely attended. From some of my LDS friends I have heard that members campaign with their bishop to get the scouting assignments. And that members who don't get the scouting assignment often s

In my experience ALL cubs find teenage boys fascinating! Lead a game, demonstrate cooking (with samples), do a 5 minute talk on why to be a boy scout (communications MB), den chief, help the cubs pick up trash ... Be tall with big muscles and a bit of acne... Do it often, not just once in a demonstration. Don't over think this.

Yes Baloo is required. Change the date for the campout so you can make it. Announce that the date was changed because "we need a czar of camping". Then recruit like crazy for someone(s) (in person conversations) to be our "Pack Campout Guru". Pack Campout Guru sets the pack camp date schedules, attends campouts, and must do the training. Since this is a limited role (how many campouts do you do anyways?) you should be able to find a parent who likes the campouts and can do that for the boys. Now, if the fall campout is a council or district thing where the date is set -- I think

Okay an update on the trip. 6 scouts went. 3 adults for the camping 2 deep. An adult was required on the ride with the 2 guides because of the contractor's requirements for the age of the scouts. Two of the adults did the easy chair thing while scouts were ziping. Good time was had by all, weather was great, scout who was the leader was pleased with the event, and no one got a GTSS ticket. Thanks for the feedback.

Our cub camp does the same thing (and I can understand why from a safety factor). I awarded the wolf scouts with their whittling chip. But they did not carry them to scout functions. After school den meeting (because of the location) was not permitted. Weekend scout functions (picking up trash?) needed to be in their pockets until, 'you need to use that tool'. Typically for those events the parents were around. At that age we had the scouts ask permission to use their knife. That cut down quite a bit on the interest in just hacking on something. I agree that a den meeting where sco

Okay Scout is planning an adventure where troop will go on a zip line run by a company. Groups of 8 travel through the towers, runs, and stations with 2 guides. Groups are about 30 minutes apart on the system. (All this takes place in cell phone coverage area.) Here is the question: Scout believes he needs 2 adults for EACH group of 6 scouts to cover 2 deep leadership. (Of course this is a lot of adults to recruit for the campout. Let alone ones who want to pay to ride the zip.) That isn't my understanding and I gently encouraged him to follow up with the CC to get the straigh

Around here Campfire is an after school extended day care program. I'm interested to know how Campfire is run as a co-ed scouting program.

This is what I did. Every boy listed 2 boys on a sticky note that he would like to tent with. And we have a discussion about treating everyone well. (one of our den norms). The discussion went like this, "you will get to tent with at least one of your guys on the sticky. No 'celebrating' when you hear who you get, 'be cool'. You may be also in the tent with someone who is not your best friend, that is okay too because getting along with other guys is one of the things scouts is about and I am so proud of how you all do that." Also there is a talk about "adults are in charge and if a ten

Fred, I like the ideas above about recruiting with the BOYS' PROGRAM, instead of adult issues. Make up a few business cards with your scout title, and phone number. If any adults want to corner you on membership policy, hand em a business card and say, "that's an adult topic and we are here for the boys now. Call me at home if you want to talk further." Very very few will call. They just want to entertain themselves with questions.

BLW2, when I was a DL I would often give awards (bubble gum) to boys who had on their shirt and book. Popcycles on "golden meeting days" when all the boys had shirts and books. I had my own tracking system (trax) and would keep attendance in that so I knew who was at what. Every once in a while I would announce an upcoming book check. Then at the next meeting I would take them all home, sign anything that needed signing. (on the side for the tiger-bear books, on the line for Webelos). I would update any advancement reports -- put sticky notes on any pages for parents to do. And updat

Interesting conversation. I don't think the transition from cub scouts to boy scouts looses so many boys because they are burned out. (Is it about 50% loss at end of Webelos and then another 50% in the first year?) I see that the boys are not choosing the Boy Scout program (possibly because they don't know what it is, possibly because they don't like the heavy outdoor component, possibly because their sport now requires so much from boy.) I do see cub leaders and parents burning out. (My experience was with a new pack, so maybe it is different with established packs. We had to figure

sock wars is a favorite

You do not need to do the same opening or closing each den meeting. A full flag ceremony is not necessary each den meeting and does take a lot of time. I agree with a gathering activity. And I always tried to end with a "new game if we have time". Closings can differ also. I never had luck sending anything home to be completed. I had good results doing all the craftsman type things as a longer field trip (once to the Carpenter Union training hall.) I also started with short meetings and moved longer, but since you have this mixed group, I would use 90 minutes. Also can you ask

When we hadn't had a son in the Boy Scout program that Scout Master conference was a mystery. In fact I think the CC called talking to a group of 20 Webs and parents a SM conference. (The shirt was tan....we didn't know, or perhaps we were in a rush or they were busy) Second time around (with different troop) we made sure the Webs had good conferences with the SM. I don't think the SMC is described at all in the Webelos handbook. An outdoor activity with a Boy scout troop can be a day hike from the cub camp to the boy scout camp and a tour. (We did this better the second time around