Den Leader Award

[TDavis]

I've volunteered for two roles in our pack: Den Leader and Committee Chair. I see I can only register in one position and would appreciate any guidance. I'm interested in achieving the Den Leader Award, but it seems a requirement is to be a REGISTERED Den Leader for at least a year. Is that a strict requirement? It seems that our pack really needs an officially registered Committee Chair. Thanks for the help.

 

t

[CubsRgr8]

Based on reading between the lines, I say go with the den leader position and let the COR recruit someone else for the committee chair. A pack can hobble along without a committee chair, but a den is lost without a den leader. Both positions require work and trying to do both will probably short-change one or the other (or both!).

[Eamonn]

Hi

It is really great that you have not only come on board as a forum member, but more so that you are coming on board as a active member of the BSA.

While it would seem that the pack is in need of adult help. You really need to make a choice. Do you want to be the Den Leader and work with the boys? Or be the Committee Chairman? You really can not do both. Not only is it against BSA policy - But it just won't work. As a committee chair there may be times when you are required to calm the waters when the Den Leaders are at each others throats. If you are one of those in conflict how would that be? The committee is to be ready to step in if the Cubmaster is unable to serve. Would that be fair to your Den? I happen to think that a strong committee working with and supporting the leaders is vital to the health of a pack. The Committee Chair. Make this happen.

Then of course there is the fact that as long as someone is wearing two hats. He or she is preventing someone else from taking the job. You need to talk with your Charter Rep. And your Unit Commissioner and see what can and must be done to select the adult help that the unit needs. Paper positions just don't work. In the end they tend to turn around and bite you in the rear end.

As for the Award - Yes it is a strict requirement.

Eamonn

[acco40]

Yes, I know from experience. I was a Webelos Den leader for my younger son and turned in an application to the SM & CC to be a SA for my older son's troop. I had been a registered Scouter for over five years but this was the first time I was "dual" registered. Because Webelos Den Leader was my primary position and because I had never been dual registered before, I wasn't aware that I was suppose to receive another registration card. I took new leader's essentials, Scoutmaster Specific, and even went on to Woodbadge. After two and a half years I decided to apply for the Scouter's Training Award. I went to roundtable, served my time, helped with FOS, did over 20 overnight outings, etc. To my surprise, the unit never turned in my application so technically I had no service! I wasn't involved in the annual rechartering so I wasn't aware of it. I'm not that big on adult awards so no big deal but if your not registered you are out of luck.

 

By the way, these awards are all "training" awards.

[Twocubdad]

This is a sore spot for me. Looking for information on this very thing was how I first found this web site and forums.

 

Just as I became Committee Chairman, I had leader who had been a DL with his older son and was starting over at TDL with his younger boy. Our Cubmaster was recruited away by the district to start a new troop and this guy agreed to become the Cubmaster. Because he had made the commitment to his son to be his den leader, he wanted to finish out the year with both jobs. Being Cubmaster, there was no way to "fudge" his registration, and he was registered as Cubmaster immediately.

 

At the end of the year, he submitted his application for the Tiger Leader Training Award (square knot). I signed it and included a note explaining that although his registration had changed, he had completed the full year as a Tiger leader. Not only was this guy the leader for his den, but because the other tiger den was rather weak, he included the other den in many of the Go See Its he planned and the essentially carried both dens. He was and is a very dedicated Scouter.

 

As you may have guessed, his knot application was turned down. The woman who handles Cub Scout training and approves Cub Scout Leader awards, would only say "he didn't earn it" with no further discussion. Everyone I spoke with (DE, district training chair, district chairman, commissioners) agreed that the knot should have been awarded. The training chairman (who in our district only does Boy Scout training) said that if the guy were a Boy Scout leader, he would have approved the award. But because she is the Grand Dame of the district, no one had the cajones to do anything about it.

 

Two years later, this still steams me. Largely because I was the only one willing to go to bat for the guy's award. If anyone deserved the recognition, it was him. He had completed all the requirments, done job -- and done it very well. The only reason his registration changed was because he stepped up to the plate to serve the unit at a higher level. From time to time, I believe the written rules require the application of a little common sense. The name of the award is the Tiger Leader Training Award, not the Tiger Leader Bureaucratic Compliance Award.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Here's the link to the old thread. Much of the information is pertinent to TDavis's question.

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=11588#id_11588

 

 

[TDavis]

Thanks all for the feedback. I think I'll register as DL for now, although looking back on the older post that 2cub provided it looks like that could cause a problem as Bob White as stated we must have a CC named. We are a new unit, having started our second year this fall and not sure how we got around the rule last year since our cubmaster fulfilled the CC roll.

 

t

[NeilLup]

Frankly, in new and weak units, it is not at all uncommon to have people "double up" on jobs. It is not according to the book and you are not registered but it certainly does happen.

 

Technically, you cannot earn the Den Leader award if you are CC. However, there is an award for Pack Committee people that you CAN earn which also gets you a square knot for recognition.

 

You should do what you wish, but a solid Pack needs a Committee Chairman. From the CC job, you certainly can support a den and even attend every den meeting as unofficial "assistant" Den Leader if you choose.

 

And I agree with Twocubdad about the Tiger Cub Den Leader Award. It should have been awarded. It is regrettable when sometimes people become so powerful in their "kingdoms" that they forget why we have the Training Awards -- to encourage training, performance, etc.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Registering for and doing more than one job is common in much of what I know about Scouting. I still have printouts of rosters that show such things. Sometimes it is an obsession to help beyond one's normal grasp. Some people have even been known to go beyond the proverbial three mile limit and not be heard from again. Sometimes a DE is simply trying to meet quota.

 

It might be that the Grand Dame was attempting to teach such a lesson or caution those who may be prone to swim out too far. It might be that she only has one job and is paying too close attention to the details that a two or three banger might miss. Nonetheless, she is doing her job the best that she can, we hope. The thing that is irritating is that she may consider listening to those people that she serves, if she believes she is serving. Even people that are always right might be wrong on occasion or might want to reconsider a right opinion in light of the new evidence or may want to shine a kind act towards those that may have transgressed but are willing to promise to not do it again and again.

 

One Council Executive told us that knots were of little importance and if they were not, then we were emphasizing the wrong things. I understood the point but I did not agree. Knots are important to those that serve. It is their pay, of sorts, for working and learning and leading and doing and enjoying. I love the knots that I have earned over the years but moreover, I hold my experiences with the Scouts and Scouters as the most important benefit that Scouting offers. I suppose that is a knot that is worn directly in the heart; I'll need to check the insignia guide. FB