jc2008

Another thing I would do is talk with each of your parents and tell them they need to inform you when they will not be making meetings, ahead of time. I make sure my parents know this because I do not want to have to spend time preparing 9 activities if only 4 boys are going to actually show up. This wastes your time and your money and you just explain it to them like that. You are having to spend a lot more time planning than you might need to, since you need to have a plan in place with what to do with 2 kids vs what to do with 4 kids if they all show up. There should be no need for you to make multiple plans for one meeting if the parents are considerate enough to let you know ahead of time they will not be making it. I also find that parents tend to come more often since I require they tell me if they are not coming. Its embarrassing for them to actually have to contact me and tell me they cannot make it multiple weeks in a row. It also gives you an easy option to open a dialogue with them to see why they keep cancelling. It might be that the night you have meetings on is a busy night for their family and it gives you the opportunity to see if you can make any changes to help them in being able to make it.

Ok, here was an issue this year, which I didn't hear about until a month or so after the event. Our pinewood official rules say that the car must be made out of the official BSA kit (block/wheels etc). Now I heard that the winning car at our race was custom made out of maple and some people were grumbling, the grumbling didn't get back to us organizers until a month after race Now, question, I assume this car would have been deemed "illegal" since it wasn't made from the pinewood block. But what do you tell your check in crew to look for when they are checking in cars to make sure it is the official pinewood block? Could they really tell if the thing was painted that it was a maple block and not pinewood? And how much difference did this make, if any, in the results of the race? Thanks for any pinewood derby expert advice.

Thanks, the tracks Derby Magic offers are made out of pvc? They are noticeably cheaper than the alumunium as well. Will have to have the pack I am helping look into that option. It seems to be a cheaper, but still sturdy and lasting option.

There of course is the Lone Scout option for kids who cannot make meetings. They just do everything under the guidance of their parent or approved counselor

5. Tell DE hope he can run the event all by himself?

I still remember something I heard at a fundraiser meeting about getting the boy scouts out in their uniforms in public to sell popcorn/fundraise whatever. Girls Perception: 15 yr old boy in uniform ->dorky/uncool 15yr old boy in uniform standing next to and helping a cub scout -> marriage material

KDD. I actually have a spreadsheet I print out with the electives on it. At a meeting in January before they got their Wolf badges, I printed out the spreadsheet and a copy of the elective descriptions and gave them to the parents and had them sit down and check off everything their kids had done this year while we did an activity with the kids. so i gave them this sheet: https://dyp.im/mI2kUJ4mC4 and then a copy of the electives, like: http://usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/wolfarrow.asp

If you guys were meeting regularly and your child didn't get any Gold/Silver arrow points, i think that is a den leader problem for not tracking it. Of course they need to have earned their Wolf and Bear badge before they can receive arrow points, but arrow points electives start accruing June 1st when your kid becomes a wolf or a bear. Requirements for wolf gold arrow are things like: Attend overnight camp with pack, read a book with your parents, make something (pinewood derby car hello!) etc. Even without trying every kid should have done 10 of those things during the year unless you have your children locked in a closet. If your kid makes 10 things over the course of the 12 months he is a wolf/bear, heck that is a Gold Arrow point or silver if he already has the gold.

Our den does have 3 Den Meetings a month and one Pack Meeting (unless its a holiday, campouts etc also take the place of a den meeting). So basically we are doing cub scout things 4 times a month minimum. Not everyone can make every meeting due to other things. But if you had one den meeting a month and the "other things" like den leader being sick or other families are out of town etcetc, that kid is down to not having a Den Meeting for 2 months! Not everyone can make every meeting. I send out a quick email with what we did in our den meeting and ask the parents work at home with their kids of they missed the meeting. If we, as leaders, cannot make the meeting, we find someone who can hold a meeting. Life can go on without the Den Leader there. Heck the meeting could be simple as go to the park and play kickball or go on a hike or give the parent who is having the meeting something to do with the kids. But basically our kids see each other every week, be it at a Pack Meeting, Den Meeting, Council Campout etc. The only times we don't see each other is Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. To people who say that more than 1 den meeting a month is too much ,please talk to someone who has their kids in Karate, Baseball , Soccer, Football etc. Do those activities meet once a month? I think you will get an entirely different answer.

On June 1st your rank advances from one rank to the next. So a Kindergarden boy who is no rank, would be a Tiger. Its not a loop hole, its just true You are your rank for an entire 12 months (June-June) as long as you are registered with the BSA. Tigers are not just Tigers from August-June. The requirement to be a Tiger is "Completed Kindergarden" not "In First Grade". Some School systems have an inbetween grade that is for kids who completed kindergarden but are not quite ready for 1st grade. One of the reasons a lot of Packs dont recruit graduating Kindergardeners is because most packs typically break for the summer so the child would have day camp and maybe 1-2 activities during the summer and you run the risk of them becoming disinterested. And normally Tiger dens don't form really well until fall recruitment when you have enough kids and adult leaders to take them on.

We have our rank badge earned ceremony and advancement ceremony. They are two different things to us. On June 1st every boy moves from one rank to another, and it doesn't matter if they did all the requirements for Tiger Wolf etc badge. they need to have earned their badge by then in order to receive it, else they just dont get it. The badge requirements must be done while the boy is that rank. You cannot do Wolf requirements and have them count towards the Wolf Badge when you are a Tiger or Bear. On June 1st our council considers all the kids graduated to the next rank, so a kid who didnt show up to any Den Meetings at all would still be in the next rank at June 1st. I mean if someone signs up for cub scouts as a wolf in the spring then doesn't attend meetings and returns in the fall, he isn't still a wolf, he is a bear.

Like I said, I am trying to help a Pack budget plan and fundraise plan they want to have a goal for their fundraiser and it can be done if they are gung ho enough I was just trying to get an idea and of course any recommendations. Like the timers, the price is different on some of them by a few hundred dollars. I have no doubt that they could build a wooden one, but in the area of the country I live in, 200% humidity, I am not sure how good an investment they will think that is for the future.

Cub Scouts is a family activity. So the younger brother should be welcome to attend Den Meetings and participate in what is appropriate for him to participate. When he gets left out of tasks that are too hard for his age group, he won't feel like he is being left out as part of the Den, but rather left out because he is too young yet and he will be able to do all this next year.

Tiger cubs are primarily 1st graders. When kids are that young you want to keep them in groups of the same maturity level. And grade level is a big factor in maturity level. Officially: The Tiger Cub Scout program is for boys who have completed Kindergarten (or are age 7). You really do not want to make exceptions to that rule as you want the kid to be with his peers and maturity level. In our den we have kids ranging in age from 7-9 and it was a Wolf den this year. We had kids who were on the young side, kids who were on the old side and kids inbetween. But all the kids are basically of the same maturity level/mind set because they were all second graders (and one 1st grader who was held back) When you make any decision in scouting, always start off with the thought, "What is best for the kid?" and keeping the kid with his peers so he is able to participate at the same level as the other kids is really what is best for the kid.

In another couple of years she can join a Venture Crew? Sorry I know that doesn't help you right now.

I have to agree with the craftsmanship of the pants. I have to buy my husband new pants 1-2 times a year and its not cheap! He will only wear the official BSA pants though. You would think, by looking at the pants, that he was trudging through trenches in a war and not just a Wolf (now bear) Den leader. He wears the uniform a lot though, he thinks that if he is asking the kids to dress to the nines in their uniform that he must set the example.

Didn't mean to open this can of worms, but I can totally see where you guys are coming from. We are lucky that we have a great relationship with our council and district. Me and my husband even sit on the district committee and are starting to bring up these topics, like having a budget for district run events etc to give our local scouts district activities along with making these activities visible to the public to increase awareness of scouting in our area. Does anyone live in a district where they are supportive or trying to support district activities beyond day camp? I know our daycamp takes in fees from each camper and half goes to the day camp budget the other half to council so its obvious they like doing daycamps as they make money off it lol.

Hi, I am trying to help a new Pack plan their budget and be able to have fundraising goals accordingly. One thing they would like to buy this year is their own pinewood derby track. Our pack has a nice extremely long aluminum track with a timer at the end and software that does the perfect N scoring etc. This track was purchased a few years ago and those that did the purchasing are no longer in the pack so I have no idea what it actually costed (don't ask about our packs financial records lol). They would like a 3 lane aluminum track that has the software that will automatically do their races. I am at a huge loss of where to get started pricing this sort of setup for them. I look at various track timers and the price difference is huge in some of them, like $200-$600. The various software packages seem to all be around $60 or so? can anyone who has recently looked into this give me some advice as to which track sellers are reputable and make a good solid track. Tracks that are easily stored is also a bonus. I know our track just goes home to someones house in large pieces, no way to neatly pack it into a managable box. I would really like to give them some firm numbers and options to help with their fundraising goals in the fall. Thanks for any help.

I am just curious as to how Districts fund district events, be it a derby or cuboree or day camp etc? At the pack level you have fundraising through popcorn and such. But at the district level you don't really have fundraising and no pack wants to pay for a district event on its own. With attendance being unknown its hard to set a per head price on something like a derby where you have a fixed cost on trophies etc. Just curious as to how some Districts deal with it.

We have a large pack as well and 30% attendance is about the normal for campouts. But 30% attendance is like around 20 families which means around 60-80 people with parents/siblings included. I don't think its a bad turnout considering when you have to compete with parents schedules, other sibling schedules, sports and kids getting sick etc, and of course people who just don't like to camp out. I think the biggest key is communication which gets harder and harder the larger pack you have. Get to know what parents read emails, need to be texted or called to be reminded of events. I usually sent out at LEAST 2-3 reminders for each event through the method I know the parents will see. The "Parent Meeting" idea posted by SeattlePioneer is an *EXTREMELY* good idea and could generate more involvement from parents who don't know more involvement is needed/required. Make sure you have concrete things that the parents can volunteer to help out with. One example that we involve parents in is the campfire planning meeting. When we do a campout, usually on Saturday night we do a campfire with skits/songs/etc. Put someone in charge of it and get a few parents to volunteer to help out, attend a campfire planning meeting and help come up with songs/skits/activities to do at the campfire. The biggest thing is that when someone steps up and says they want to help, have something asap that they can take charge of and own. Just make whatever the event is the best event you can for the kids that showed up. You cant get disheartened about attendance because of all those factors I listed above.

We have around 12 packs in our town (population around 30k) and the membership in the larger packs are around 50-60, with one that topped out at around 90 last year. There are 4 large packs out of the 12. The others are more like 12-30 kids each.

All Ranks (will do some steps at least): Hiking Belt Loop Collecting Belt Loop Conservation Belt Loop Science Belt Loop Tigers and Bears seem to have some Tiger/Bear badges to complete and all ranks should have electives to complete, just look through the lists here: [url=http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/intro.asp]http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/intro.asp[/url=http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/intro.asp]

One technique that would work well for a parent meeting that I have seen used for other things is bring a whiteboard with all the activities you would like to do this year, f,ex write: Pack Campout Pack Hike Pack Pinewood Derby Pack Blue and Gold Pack Raingutter Regatta Pack Can Drive Have this whiteboard up in front of the parents and start with the first activity on the list and say, ok Who would like to organize the . If no one steps up put a big X through the event and say "guess we won't be doing that this year" If these parents have any sort of regard for their kids scouting experience they will catch on after a few big black X's through events that things don't happen unless someone steps up to organize them. And if everything gets X-ed out, no one can really complain since they sat there and let it happen.

There is a difference between stuff they have earned and goes on the uniform and stuff that does not belong on the uniform officially or in moderation. If someone has earned enough awards to look like a 10 star general, I say go for it! I mean they have put in all those hours and it really denotes that person as someone who has been around and active in scouting for a long long time. People wearing stuff they didn't earn or things that shouldn't be on the uniform officially, that is a different matter. I would think your Roundtable would be pleased with having such experienced and long standing scouters attend it. And if your son had earned a bunch of awards to wear on his uniform, would you tell him "No that would look tacky, dont wear them all!". These adults are something for the kids to look up to and aspire to be And I bet you these adults could go through every single award and tell a story about ir or explain it to the kids that may ask them.

Am I reading the original posters rant wrong? This one guy is stuck with leading the entire pack and doing all the paperwork for it. Her and her husband have 0 time to step up to even be the Cubmaster and run Pack Meetings. The guy is keeping Committee chair, so all her husband has to do is be the showman for the Pack Meeting and keep the kids pumped up? I assume her husband attends the pack meetings so no big difference in leading them than just sitting there. Complaining on how this one guy doesn't plan campouts or make events great for the pack? He is one guy! Suggestions on what work he should be doing is TOTALLY different from saying "Hi, we will handle the plans for the blue and gold and make it awesome", that works a lot better than saying "You know you could do this and this and that and make it good, yes you do the work and I will just sit here and tell you what you should be doing!" I donno, I would suggest to take a BIG step back and look at how the Pack must look from this guy and his wife's vision. They are having to fill every position and be responsible for everything. You need to actually step up and DO things, not just expect this poor couple to do everything on their own, or do things that you suggest. I would highly recommend having a parent meeting and getting more parents to step up in your Pack. If you do not get ANY parents willing to step up and help out next year with the Pack, well then I would consider the Pack dead. Have ideas of things that the parents can step up and help out with. Be proactive by volunteering yourself to plan an event or two. Packs are only great packs if the parents put the time and effort into them. Its very hard for one couple to do it all alone.