New Webelo Den Leader

[webelonewbie 10]

Awesome! Thank you so much for the advice! GREATLY appreciated!

[webelonewbie 10]

Last question for now....(I think).....Is there a minimum Boy Scout rank required for a Den Chief? It's been alluded to the minimum rank required is a Life Scout? I hope it is not true, I have a First Class interested :/

[ScoutNut 147]

There is no BSA required minimum rank, however, a Troop might set one.

 

Talk to the interested First Class Scout's Scoutmaster.

[wickjr 12]

As a "double dipper"....I am a Webelos den leader and a commitee member with the troop...I have seen scouting now from both the cub scout and boy scout side of things. One piece of advice I would give is to get to know the Scoutmasters in the troops that your boys are likely to bridge into. Some troops do things a little differently than others, and knowing what the boys can expect as they become boy scouts may help you with how you run your program. When my oldest son bridged from the pack to the troop, it was a major change. I'm sure it always is, but his Webelos leader hadn't prepared him or me for what to expect since he really didn't know himself. Then the new boys jump right in to the middle of a scout year already in progress. Be sure to introduce the patrol method at least to make the boys aware of how it works. Remember, they aren't cub scouts anymore...but not quite boy scouts either.

[webelonewbie 10]

Thank you for all the help everyone! I am planning to attend WW, but it might just my son and myself. That is fine as I think it will be helpful for me to see how things are run in Webelos. Are Webelos allowed to start fires themselves? I thought I had read no, but wanted to be sure.

[Momleader 65]

Welcome to Webelos-ville! I have 3 bits of advice

1. Contact the troop your boys will cross over into, ask or a den chief. Use this boy to help get the boys excited to cross over....if you can get 2 that's even better.

2. Don't fear asking parents with expertise in a field for help! Boaters can be great help with knots, a parent who majored in art or s an artist is a great resource. EMT/Firemen, engineers, scientists - a parent survey sheet is a great way to get some help for meetings

3. Go to your local RoundTable, get to know other seasoned Webelos Leaders & brain Pick

 

Have fun!

[BSA24 10]

For the sake of all, read and follow the Den Meeting Resource Guide. Also read and use the ceremony guide and the program helps and how to books. A good den leader is buried in that stuff, and has some measure of faith that the books are more in tune with the boys than the den leader is.

[KISMIF_Works 10]

Hi webelonewbie,

 

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your new leadership position! I was den leader for my older son from Wolf through Webelos, and have been den leader for my younger son from Tiger to present (Bear), and really enjoyed the Webelos years the best.

 

To answer your most recent question, Webelos scouts are allowed to start (safe, controlled) fires. Doing so is a requirement for the Outdoorsman activity badge.

 

Many great suggestions in this thread already, but I'll add a couple more:

 

- The Trax spreadsheets are great for tracking advancements and for generating simple summary print-outs to share with the parents.

 

- Probably the best part of this program is that you can "dig in" a bit more to each activity badge. Don't try to cram an entire activity badge into a single meeting. In fact, some of the badge requirements (especially Fitness and Citizen) are pretty dry so it can work out nicely to sprinkle in some of those requirements along with some "fun" requirements from another badge (like Athlete or Sportsman).

 

[webelonewbie 10]

I have the Webelos Den Meeting Plans, but I think I'm going to tweak it. There is a lot of "dry" stuff in a row and I want to get the boys outdoors here right now b/c winter is not far away for us here in Maine.

 

I do have a den chief! YAY!

 

I have given out the talent surveys, but it appears it will be 3 boys only in my den (including my son). So I am pretty confident it will go well. The other boys' parents are very involved.

 

Thanks for everything!