Den Chiefs and the Troop

[oldsm 10]

In the previous thread, a poster was asking about the value of a Den Chief in Cub Scouts. I have a related question: How do you find a [good] Scout who can make the commitment to be a Den Chief?

 

I know that DC is a POR, but there are lots of others.

DC, it seems, requires another weekly meeting beyond troop/patrol functions, along with prep time and time to plan with the WDL. With the huge variety of activities that older scouts get involved in, where do you find a BS with the time, the skills, and the interest.

 

From a troop perspective, how do you make this work? And how do you get the boy scouts (the potential DCs) to see the value of being a DC?

[Eagle92 110]

I'll take a stab at your question.

 

In my expereince it was usually either A) someone who wanted to work with the Cubs or B) someone who had a little brother adn wanted to help out. Usually it was B.

 

To get them to see the value, usually we asked them if they had a DC of their own, and if yes, what did they think of him. THAT always did the trick IMHO. FWIW, scouts love to haev the heroworship.

[JerseyScout 10]

Its a crapshoot. We've had some awesome Den Chiefs and some terrible ones.

 

For a while the role of Den Chief in my troop was being used for the Eagle leadership requirements for a leadership role (perfectly acceptable) in place of ever doing anything with the troop (not acceptable). Unfortunately, I wasn't in much of a position to do anything about it at the time, as the Scoutmaster was happy to sign off on everything.