hotmamatigger

Does the BALOO trained person in charge of the campout have anything planned for "down time"? My husband and I are so far the only BALOO trained leaders in the Pack. This is the first campout where every minute wasn't scheduled and the rest of the Pack Leadership isn't very helpful on this or much of anything else. What is planned between that and dinner prep? This is it. Lunch... 2-3 hours... dinner. Dinner is probably burgers or hot dogs, dad grilled, so not much involvement from the Cubs. Is there a campfire program planned for the evening? Yeah, after dinner with the Park Ranger. What kind of facilities are in the Park? Not much really from what I remember camping there as a Girl Scout. Trails, trees, campsites. Are you asking for just the Tigers, or for everyone on the trip? Just the Tigers really, the other Den leaders will take care of their own activities (or not... but they won't take ideas or information from me ahead of time, I've learned that the hard way). Elizabeth

Our Pack is going camping in a few weeks and I need some ideas for what to do with my Cubs. We'll have a ranger-led hike on Saturday morning, then lunch, then 2-3 hours of down time. It's family camping so there are a lot of younger siblings who will need naps or at least quiet time at that point in the day, including my own children. I'm trying to think of things we can do at the campsite that would be entertaining and engaging for the boys and their parents. I'm thinking of grabbing a few board games and craft projects but would welcome other ideas. Thank you! Elizabeth

I've been trying to get more information on CS2010 since I heard about it and still the information is vague at best. "No more themes" and "Den based advancement" is all I'm seeing. As a Tiger Den Leader, I've been following Program Helps since the beginning. My boys all got their Bobacat and Immediate Recognition Emblem after the first month and they all got their Tiger badge in February. I don't see how people following the Program Helps can't do the same. Sure, I switched out some crafts or games here and there or blended Den Meetings when we had a holiday that might make 2 Den Meetings a month hard, but we did it. And it wasn't difficult. I listed the month, meeting dates, theme, and Go See It then had each Tiger/Adult Partner team sign up for one and they did everything for that month! Which brings me to my little vent about the problem. I didn't even know about Program Helps until I did Leader Specific Training, a full month after we were recruited and I registered as Den Leader. Three months later, I was at a Pack event talking to one of my Tiger parents and I pulled out Program Helps to reference something. The Wolf Den Leader was nearby and came over asking about the book. Next thing I know I'm *introducing* Program Helps to not just the Wolf Den Leader but the Bear Den Leader too! Turns out the Cubmaster never told them about it, they never heard about it in training, and they had been struggling to come up with Den activities for YEARS! So National can make all the changes to the program that they want, but if it doesn't get communicated to the Den Leaders, it's not going to matter. I keep running into this problem with other units (I'm also the Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner). The flow of information from one "generation" of leaders to the next is almost non-existent. Until that changes, it's not going to matter how they tweak the program, there will still be great Den Leaders who advance their boys and make the program fun and there will be not-so-great Den Leaders who just squeak by on their own.

Thank you for the replies so far. So indefinitely 5, 10 15,50 years are not unheard of for someone doing a "good job"?