KISMIF?

[Eagledad 2778]

Hi All

 

This is not a knock against my good friend John-In-KC, but his post kind of brings modern day scouting to a sobering perspective. In a request by someone for the training needed to be a good CM, John listed a few things off:

 

CM Specific

Tiger Specific

Wolf/Bear Specific

Webelos Specific

BALOO

Safe Swim Defense

Round Table

Pow-wow

Den Chief training

 

All in one hour a week, and John didnt even include Fast Start and Youth Protection which are be taken on line.

 

I was worn out just reading his list, but then John added the perfect Cub Scout finish. KISMIF (KEEP it simple, Make it FUN).

 

It brought a smile to my face.

 

I love this Cub scouting stuff.

 

Barry

 

[fgoodwin 23]

I guess I disagree with my good friend John re: the need for a CM to take all the DL courses.

 

The CM's job is to plan and run the monthly pack meeting -- and the training tells him or her how to do that. The DL's job is to plan and run the weekly den meetings. And the training teaches them how to do that. Why does a CM need to know how to run a weekly den meeting? Is it "nice to know"?

 

Sure, but when one has limited time to do all this stuff, the "nice to know" will be deferred to some unknown future in favor of the "need to know" like CM-specific.

[SR540Beaver 116]

Whaaaaaaaat??? We are only supposed to give one hour a week? I thought we wer only supposed to have one hour a week left!!!

[SctDad 10]

I once heard that the An Hour A Week slogan was for the parents, and for the leaders it could be figured as "An hour a week, per Cub Scout" That, I think is a little more accurate.

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

OK, gentlemen, I challenge you...

 

How does the Cubmaster, as the leader of matters program in a Pack, understand truly the array of needs of his/her direct contact program leaders if he's not at least been through their training?

 

My belief comes from the old adage of walking a mile in the other mans' shoes...

 

I will, however, glady grant I'm identifying the "in a perfect world" situation. When was the last time any of us saw that perfect world.

 

BTW, Barry: 1 Hour a Week? I thought it was 168 minus another hour a week

 

YIS, ICS, KISMIF! , John

[GaHillBilly 10]

"for the leaders it could be figured as "An hour a week, per Cub Scout" That, I think is a little more accurate."

 

Gee, and I was just talking to a guy last night who'd run a Pack with 100+ cubbies. I wonder how that worked?

 

Cubdemonium, no doubt ;-)

 

 

GaHillBilly

 

[fgoodwin 23]

John, I think my "need to know" vs. "nice to know" is consistent with your "perfect world" analogy.

[Bob White 20]

I would disagree that the Cubmaster needs to know the details of what a Den Leader does in order to do the job of a Cubmaster. They have different jobs so they need different information.

 

A Cubmaster needs to know how to lead a good Pack meeting, not how to do good Den meetings. The Den leader needs to know how to do a good Den meeting and know that they will also be involved in pack meetings. Just as a pack committee chair needs to understand the details of managing a committee not the details of leading a Den meeting.

 

There are of course some overlaps of information but all they need to know is that overlap.

 

Here is what every cubmaster should have within the first 90 days of taking the office.

Cub Scout FastStart

New Leader Essentials

Cubmaster Leader Specific Training

Youth Protection

 

That's about 6 hours of training for years of future service.

 

All the other courses that John listed are for other folks in other jobs.

 

[Trevorum 24]

One of the few things that ol' packsaddle and I agree on: Cubmaster is hands-down the best job in Scouting. I'd do it again if anybody asked.

[Eagledad 2778]

>> One of the few things that ol' packsaddle and I agree on: Cubmaster is hands-down the best job in Scouting. I'd do it again if anybody asked.

[Lisabob 13]

OK Trev, you said it. I'm asking! All you need to do is move to MI because I have a pack in desperate need of a good CM and they aren't having much luck finding one. Let me know when you can start.

 

 

[Gonzo1 10]

I think I'm lost with the alphabet soup.

KISMIF? LMFAO? FWIW, LMNOP, PDQ, ASAP.

Arghh

[Trevorum 24]

OK, Lisa, it's a deal! The only thing is, we'd have to do the pack meetings via teleconference ...

[John-in-KC 311]

Hey, Trev, didn't you know there's a National Commissioner's Program Experiment in long distance meetings going on ?

 

It's in the secret documents that only one of us here has access to (and it ain't me).

 

Helps you fill Lisa's needs from Deep in the Heart of Texas...

 

 

[gwd-scouter 11]

Guess I fit into John-in-KC's training schedule. I was a CM with that entire list of training except Tiger Leader and Den Chief training. That was because I started out as a Tiger Leader (so long ago there wasn't training for it) and continued up through the years with my Den taking the training each year along the way up to CM. Five years as CM for a large 100+ pack was the most fun I've had in Scouting other than running Cub/Webelos Resident Camp. Went to PowWow many times because it was fun. I don't think it's necessary for a CM to take the DL trainings, but because I had been in those jobs it did help me in dealing with our DLs and helping them when they had problems or questions.

 

I've been away from Cub Scouting for a while now, but there are times when I'd like to go back.