We fell apart- can you help us?

[ccrumpton 10]

I don't know how to not make this long, please bare with me..

My older son, now 13 started as a Tiger and crossed over from our local Pack to the Troop 2 years ago. I was his Webelos leader for both years, we had a great team of dedicated, seasoned leaders, and because of that I didn't get really involved in the administrative stuff..Now, 2yrs later, my 6yr old joined the Pack in August, right away, I knew something was terribly wrong. At first I thought it was me, so we missed meetings off/on. My confusion increased when leaders kept changing.In Dec. we went on a Pack campout- listening to the CC "F...ing" this and that, all the leaders smoking- not "out of sight", screaming constantly at the boys, not enforcing the buddy system, and so on.I was ready to quit,but I felt some loyalty to the Pack. On 1/15, our 1st Den meet after the holidays, the parents were in a room with the boys literally bouncing off the walls, while the leaders were in another room having a heated argument. After 40mins, we were told "meeting over" , the CC and Asst CM quit. I said "look I'll take over the Tigers(my son's group). The following week, I had a good meeting (the CM didn't show, so the other leaders had to scramble to put something together), but at the committee meet I knew what was next- this past week the CM quit. Another Tiger mom stepped up as CM and I as ASST CM and we have a small GOOD group of parents(about 6)willing to be actively involved. Problem is the Pack's belongings have been tossed from one house to another-we got them back, but it doesn't look like there's been any record keeping for at least a year. When I took over the Tigers on 1/22, I was given a binder full of blank records and yet was told that the CM had done all the achievements for the boys to get their Tiger badges(except mine because we missed meetings). My problem is this- none of the parents have been in scouting long enough to know how things go, including the CM, so their all looking to me to guide them. And I know what the pace of the calendar should be, but I never did the organizing of the activities, I didn't interact with District, I didn't do the Administrative duties of the Pack. I was just a good Den leader and turned in the dues and attendance records and awards to the CC and someone else took care of it.Now, we're rolling forward with so much happening- Pinewood derby, B&G, a big campout in March. So any suggestions would be welcome and I had a question specifically about the boys' records- aren't they supposed to get to the District somehow?Thank you, CCrumpton

[FireKat 10]

District -no. Council - YES.  Contact your council (or go thru your dist advancement chair) and find out if any of the boys' achivements have been recorded.  You  can use internet advancement once you set it up to keep a check on things. If their achivements have not been recorded it will bite them when they move on.

[Ekmiranda 10]

Dont give up hope dedicated leaders as you and your team are hard to find.

I think the first thing you need to do is contact your Charter Organization Rep. and talk open a dialog. Next contact your Unit Commissioner. Both of these people are put in place to help the unit. Also Council should have records of the advancements. If not all you can do is try to get what the old CM has and hope for the best.

Start a Training program and get everyone trained. YP first and then NLE, LS Than the rest can come as time goes on. Go on line and see what is offered I believe YP and NLE are offered on line. Try and get the parents Youth protection trained. Dont forget to draw on them. They can be of great resource when needed and if they are trained half the battle is over.

Go to the Scout shop and pick up the leaders hand book. It is also on line as a fast reference. The Boys records should go to Council and they should have them on file. Both the registration forms and the scout shop should have any advancement forms on file.

The Leaders hand book has everything you need to structure the leaders organization and pack and any info that you might need. I hope some of this helps. Dont get overwhelmed at times it will seem that you are taking a drink of water out of a fire hydrant but it wont last things will smooth out. Depend on your leaders and remember the most important thing is to delegate and not feel that you need to do everything. You will burn out.

 

[ScoutNut 147]

In Cub Scouts the rank awards are turned in on the advancement form ( http://www.scouting.org/forms/34403.pdf ) in order to be able to purchase the awards. The leaders in each den should be keeping track of what their boys are doing, AND signing off in their books (parents should also be signing off in books). Aside from AOL, many councils do not keep real good records of Cub advancement awards. In Cub Scouts it is not necessary for a boy to earn the rank award of his current level in order to move to the next level. The only award that is "necessary" is AOL (and Webelos because you have to have earned Webelos to earn AOL), and that is only necessary if a boy crosses to a Troop before the end of fifth grade or 11 years old.

 

The Tiger program has changed a LOT in 7 years. You need to go to the BSA National web site, MYSCOUTING -

 

http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=ms

 

And do Fast Start & Youth Protection training. They also have Committee Challenge online which should help you get an idea of what goes on.

 

All Pack leadership should be fully trained as soon as possible. Contact your District Training Chair and see if they can bring the training to your Pack leaders.

 

For your Tigers, talk to your Tiger Partners, look in their Tiger Handbooks. Was the ex-CM acting as Tiger den leader? Between the parents and who ever was den leader, they should have signed off in the Handbooks for things that were accomplished. You know what you did in the few meetings you attended. You know what you worked on at home with your son. Ask the Tiger Teams what outings and den activities they did that you missed.

 

Has your son and the rest of the Tigers earned their Bobcat yet? If not, that must be earned BEFORE the Tiger rank can be awarded.

 

If your Tiger Teams would read their Tiger Handbook they would get a real good idea of the program and should be ready and willing to set up and run meetings using the Shared Leadership method of Tigers.

 

As for the rest of the Pack, your new CM should make sure that every den has leadership and that they are running good programs for their boys. The CM needs to talk to your CO about providing a COR & CC and helping with the Pack's restructuring. Your Unit Commissioner will help too.

 

You state that you have a big Pack campout coming up. Hopefully with all of the nonsense going on someone took BALOO training. It is your BALOO trained person who should be running all Pack campouts.

[ccrumpton 10]

I've already met with the Tiger parents getting up to speed on what they know their sons have completed and yes, at least the boys did earn their Bobcat and I did the online training before I stepped in as the Tiger Den leader and we have the handbooks, but I agree that the training of everyone is what we need right now- I know the CC and CM have not been trained and we are still scrambling to find more Den leaders.

The only Baloo trained person was the ex CM, but the Charter Organization Rep is an old CM and he is Baloo trained and plans to go camping with us.

I will check with Council to see what's been turned in.thanks

[Beavah 205]

Yah, well, at least yeh didn't have to live through the adult "blow out" yourself, eh?

 

You've got the right notion, ccrumpton. Pull in the resources yeh can, use the "good" adults, get folks to training. Don't expect the rest of this year to be perfect, eh? Take it in stride, get everybody to laugh about it and just have fun. If yeh let it be stressful and not fun you'll lose good people. The kids at that age don't notice so much what we do as the attitude with which we do it. It's going to be nutty, and a bit disorganized, with everybody learning (adults especially!). Make that be "OK" for all your folks. Be friends first.

 

In terms of resources, I bet some of da old Cub folks from back in your previous stretch are still in town, eh? I think they're your best resource. Ask 'em to come back for a few committee meetings and to do "hands on, on-the-job" training for your current folks to help 'em get up to speed. That's going to be more flexible and prompt than district training, and probably more helpful. Not that yeh shouldn't do district training as well! But don't forget those other great resources you know. Don't ask 'em to run events (or at least not more than 1 as a "trainer") or you'll scare 'em away. Just ask 'em for help teaching the new folks.

 

Good luck with it!

 

Beavah

 

[Pack212Scouter 10]

Nothing like jumping into water well over your head is it! Thank you for volunteering to help your Pack.

 

Others have covered advancements pretty well. Some other things though. Any events that you have away from your regular meeting sight must have a trip permit turned in. This includes PWD and B&G if they are held in another location. Also, in view of what's happed, although they may very well be there, I wouldn't plan on the ex-CM to be at your campout. Talk to you District Exec and get at least two current leaders trained BALOO. It is a BSA requirement that one be at your campout. You need at least two because if one gets sick or can't be there, you need a backup...or campout is over.

 

On the records side. Have yourself or an advancement chair go den to den and review each Cub's book, updating at least their advancement requirements. These should be signed off in their books.

[Lisabob 13]

Lots of good advice here. Just a head's up, pack212, the rules for trip/tour permits vary from council to council. Some require them for all off-site events, even if it is just down the street from your regular meeting place. Some require them only if it is a certain distance away or if the event isn't at a council-run facility/campground. My council requires local permits only when a unit goes out of council for an activity.

 

So posters should check these rules with their local council first.

[ScoutNut 147]

"Have yourself or an advancement chair go den to den and review each Cub's book, updating at least their advancement requirements."

 

Nope - I don't think so.

 

There is no way that I would be chasing down every scout in the Pack to check their books. That chore is up to the DEN LEADER. The DL then puts together a den advancement/award report and gives it to the Advancement Chair so that the Advancement Chair can purchase the awards and put them together for the Pack meeting.

 

I might chase down a Den Leader, but not every boy in the Pack!

[Pack212Scouter 10]

LisaBob...good point. I didn't think of that.

 

ScoutNut. I hear you, and with a Pack of 150 I understand...but the bottom line is. The Den leaders should have that for you yes. But this pack aparently fell apart. In a Den that has issues a) I'm going to work on fixing them. b) I'm going to make dang sure that those boys get credit for the work they do. I would not be at the end of the year going "I'm sorry son...your den leader sucked and I didn't feel like putting in the effort myself either to make sure you got credit for your Bear rank."

[ccrumpton 10]

Well, don't this get better- the "new" CM says she can't be committed so guess who's the new CM?...

As for the boys achievements, there are only 9 boys in the pack, so I should be able to figure it out, and besides, there are NO other Den Leaders! I spoke to the UC and the TSM tonight to be sure to get lines of communication open. It just feels a little overwhelming knowing I get to start everything from scratch-yes, I know that there are great guidelines, but I still have to do the physical overhaul. Tomorrow's Den meet and I am the only "leader" to be present. So, it's going to be difficult trying to get all these issues ironed out while running the Den meetings too.

[ScoutNut 147]

Good Grief! 8 boys (not counting yours) and just you running the whole thing! You have 16 parents. Out of those 16 pick a few who seem to have a good brain in their noggin and who seem to care about ALL of the boys. Go up to each one individualy and convince them to step up for the kids.

[kbandit 10]

Get some help from your Unit Commissioner. Contact your District and they can get you in touch with your UC.

[John-in-KC 311]

CCrumpton,

 

Lots of good resources and advice here. I'll add my two cents.

 

1) Get ahold of your Chartered Partner. Assuming the former leaders you described are as noxious as you described, you do not want them returning to your Pack... perhaps ever. COR can correspond with them and declare them "not welcome." COR can also correspond with Council and say "I don't want these folk around my units again... ever."

 

Above IS A JUDGMENT CALL ON YOUR PART, along with the new CC and CM! Think about it, long and hard. From your initial post, I infer the old leaders are unsafe at any speed.

 

2) Hopefully, your District Roundtable puts on a great program. It gives you, your Den Leaders, and your Committee a month's lead time on the Cubbing Program. If it's at all decent, I encourage your active attendance. Working with other Cub leaders will ramp your skills up faster than any online blogboard!

 

3) From your BSA membership cards, you have BSA member numbers. Enroll in my scouting at the BSA National Website:

https://scoutnet.scouting.org/MyScouting/ (your browser will add a lot of gobbledygook, but that's enough to point you! FAST START training for all elements of the Cub program is available, as is BSA standard youth protection training and Safe Swim Defense/Safety Afloat.

 

4) Call your UC. Ask him, urgently, for a run at New Leader Essentials (which is NOT online at the moment ) and position specific training for your Den Leaders and you/the CM (NLE is Position specific training for a Pack Committee)

 

5) Get with the area Troops. Ask for EXPERIENCED, maturing Scouts as Den Chiefs. They can be a huge aid.

 

5) Finally, Keep It Simple, Make It Fun ... KISMIF. These are 7-10 1/2 year olds. Games, activities, songs, projects ... young boys actually are relatively low maintenance!

 

Have fun with the journey, and keep your sense of humor!!!

[msnowman 10]

ccrumpton - take a deep breath and hold it until you want to explode and then let it out in one long exhale. Feel any better now?

 

Its not so long ago that I was in a very similar position - 8 boys in Pack, myself and 2 other adults trying to tread water to keep things going, apathetic (at best) parents. It will get better.

 

I second (and third and fourth) all the suggestions about getting training for you and anybody else you can get there. Does your District have a trainer that they would be willing to send to you? Perhaps you could bring all the parents together and have a training locally, instead of trying to get them to go somewhere else.

 

With 8 boys, besides your own, one would think that would equal 16 available parents - but the reality is probably more like 10-12 available adults. Remember - Tigers still have to come and attend with their own personal adult - so get those Tiger parents on the hook. You may have to specifically tell each one what you want them to do, but push meeting planning back at them....give them one thing to plan (Will you please xyz for our meeting next week?).

 

Do you have any sources for Leader mentors? Beavah made a sound suggestion that perhaps some former leaders might still be around and willing to help with a specific need. Sometimes new people are just terrified because they don't know what it is that they don't know. A mentor would be able to relieve some of those worries and might be a good way to get a tentative Wolf or Bear parent willing to do some planning for their child's den.

 

Get yourself training, keep plugging away and take a deep breath when you think you are going to drown. Our Pack has grown from those 8 boys and 3 adults to 18 boys and 15 registered adults w/ 10 of those being very, very active and trained. It will get better, though you may gray a bit in the process.

 

Yours in Scouting

Michelle