Jeffrey H

1) I am a Webelos I Den Leader and Asst. Cubmaster 2) Our Den meets 3 times per month. These meetings can be either the traditional Den meeting or can be an outing or campout. 3) Our Pack meets once a month. 4) We do swim parties, trips to the Zoo or Museums, Day Camp, Webelos Summer Camp, etc. We usually have one Pack event each month of the summer and the Dens are encouraged to meet at least once a month as well with their own outings. Being in Texas, we usually avoid Pack Campouts in the Summer because of the HEAT.

I say keep the isignia, but make them 1/3 to 1/2 size smaller than they are now. I sometimes feel like a billboard. It's not necessary for someone to know what unit I serve from 100 yards away. The current shirts? They are just fine. Maybe reduce the collar size, but that's about it.

I serve as an ACM and a Webelos Den Leader. I spend most of my time working the Den Leader role. In my ACM role, my 2 most important jobs are to help the CM with anything he needs to delegate to me and be ready fill in in for him at any given moment. Much of the other ACM responsibilities listed by National are fine ideas but are really dependent on the needs of your Pack. They serve as good check list to make sure your Pack is providing a quality program. Some of them seem to overlap with other position duties, but I suppose that's intentional to make sure there are no gaps in program delivery. Good luck and have fun!

If the parent and son are a member of the CO, then I would make room for him. However, in this situation, the damage is probably already done... When I hear of Scouters behaving this way, I wonder if the Scout Oath and Law mean anything to them. Obviously, it does not. It''s just somehthing set to rote memory.

Women have much to offer Scouting. If it were not for women stepping up to the plate, their sons would probably drop out of Scouting. Many can do the job as well or better than men when they are committed to the program. It is interesting to note that I see far fewer women on Cub Scout campouts as I do men. I''m not drawing any conclusions here, but it does makes me wonder where the Cub women leaders are when their overall numbers in key leadership positions are far greater in Cub Scouts than Boy Scouts. Do the boys suffer in Packs when female Cub leaders will not take them on Campouts?

"Is a unit able to require you to sell a certain amount of popcorn to participate or to go on a trip? I understand the dues, although $100 seems a bit excessive. Advice???" Yea, I guess they could enforce their stupid policy and make you feel humiliated in the process. You might search for another unit. This one has a few loose screws... In our unit, we reward the boys by crediting their scout accounts based on the amount of popcorn they have sold. There is no pressure to sell, but we build in incentive to encourage healthy sales so we can fund our annual budget. If not for our fundraiser, our annual dues would be much higher.

Our Pack has about 50 active boys and I have yet to see any of them wear the Patch Vests. No one seems to want one. I am surprised because we give out several patches a year for participation and regonitions. I will say this. They don''t look good sitting on top of the cub scout uniform shirt.

Our professional jobs are good enough excuses to miss "Training". However, the botton line for this Cubmaster is her attitude about training. If she truly does not have time to take training, she can encourage the Den Leaders to take it. She can go later. If your Cubmaster has an indifferent attitude about her volunteer responsibilities, then the leaders in cooperation with the CC and/or COR will need to find a replacement. We have a really great Cubmaster that is active and energetic with our Pack, but he really and truly did not have time to go to Training. He really did have conflicts with his job (Firefighter schedules are not 9 to 5). However, he always encouraged others to go to Training and he would catch up as soon as possible. That said, he always makes time to go to University of Scouting and monthly Roundtables.

I agree with ScoutNut. Wear the loops for the unit that you are working with. Even if the multiple loops were allowed, that would look very silly and geeky. Further, the insignia/uniform guide advises us to keep our uniforms neat in appearance and free from too much display. It''s not important that people know that you work with both the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts - they will figure that out eventually. It''s only important that you know and are doing your best for both programs. Best wishes to you in Scouting.

"...Most of the things I''''ve thought of involve us (membership folks) coming in and running the pack in more, or less, active ways and while honestly, I like cub scouts a lot, I''''m not so sure this is the right thing to do...." Lisabob, It''s not the right thing to do if you want to continue your District Committee work. However, it''s the right thing to do if you feel "called" to step in and offer your services to this Pack as a experienced leader for the long-term (one year or more). You will need to focus on this Pack and step away from the distractions of the District Committee. I''ve been an adult Cub Leader for only 2 years, but I''ve seen enough problems occur when Cubmasters divide their time between the District and their Pack. The Pack is the one that suffers first and then it catches up with the District in terms of "dying" units.

We set our Pack dues at a level that will provide funds to pay for awards and other things for the average Scout. The Pack dues are $25 per year at the time of annual registration. Our fundraisers provide bonus funds for the Pack to pay for "extras", but we don't depend on fundraisers to pay for awards.

"....If a Scout were to get kicked, stepped on or thrown, this individual would be libel, and if it were MY child, the CM would be too...." Yes, that's why many of us carry some form of personal liability insurance. The last part of your answer could indicate why some adults avoid Cub Leader positions. The risks of being sued by parents that have no health/medical insurance could be too great, even when they are follow guide to safe scouting. We took our Cubs horse back riding at a Scout resident camp and it was a very safe environment. Each parent/leader had to accompany each Scout with their horse. It can be done and it we had a great time. My two cents....

Forced/mandatory voluteering is not necessary to retain membership. If they refuse to serve, they are on their way out anyway and will not be on next year's member roll at re-charter time. When people will not give of their time, they automatically relinquish the privilege of serving to others who will. When registered leaders start to become "absent", then that's the time to ask others to take their place. We have "unregistered" parents in our Pack that are more giving of their time than some of our registered leaders. My point is this: The "no-doers" will fall out and fall away and the interested will fall into place.

I can understand perfectly the CM or ACM not showing up due to family or professional responsibilities. However, I do not understand broken promises. Common courtesy and respect for others dictates that we call those when we are unable to show up for an outing when we promised we would be there. As mentioned earlier, be ready to step up to leadership. If not, then you might not need to say anything.

"Knowing now how lame a Brownie troop can be I would hate to tell a tomboy she couldn't be a Cub...." My sentiments as well. Girl Scouting in our community is not very good and considered boring in comparison to the Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts. My daughter would like to be a "Scout", but she wants to be in a program like my son's Pack where they have outings and campouts. She's not a "tomboy", she just likes the outdoors. The Girl Scouts in my community do not do a good job of projecting themselves as fun outdoor program. The girl in the Cub Scout uniform? At a minimum, I would say to the Pack leaders that only members are allowed to wear the uniform. That's all I would say and leave it at that. Let the DE or Council do the rest. It's nothing to get upset about. So many girls want to be a part of scout program that is un-like the Girl Scouts that I can sympathize.

As a Cub Leader, I usually wear the full uniform for all Pack meetings, Den Meetings, and Leader Roundtable. I usually wear the neckerchief, but sometimes leave it off for Roundtable. I don't wear patches that I did not earn and I don't wear my OA Lodge patch because I am not an active "dues paying" member.

There are plenty of good stories of Scouting in Boy's Life. Yes, there are many ads for video games and such, but then again I'm 45 years old and Boy's Life is not targeted to me. I think that's why they send me "Scouting". No problems here. My son enjoys it and I get an good read out of it as well.

My rant... I usually wear the neckerchief for traditional reasons, but I've never been comfortable wearing it under the collar The scout uniform looks best when we wear the neckerchief over the collar. It's the traditional look of scouting and it softens the military look of the shirt. We're Scouts, not the Army. (nothing against the army, but we're not the army). Turn the shirt collar under and put it on. It goes on easier and will lay better on your shirt.

We use Packmaster (Cub version of Troopmaster). It's easy to use and comprehensive for all of your recordkeeping needs. Records are updated on a centralized server (FTP site) that is available for all Den Leaders to update Packmaster from their home. I have never used the others. I have heard about them, but do not see any advantage to switch.

You can't have too many leaders, even in a Den. There is plenty of fun work to do. If there is not enough work to do in the Den, there will be plenty to do in the Pack. I concur with LisaBob. Watch out for leader opportunities at the Pack level. Best Wishes and have fun.

Corey, Before you attempt to save the Pack, make sure the Pack has re-chartered. Sometimes troubled Packs do not re-charter on time. --Jeff

We use the monthly themes for ideas, but we do not structure our Pack program around the monthly themes. Sometimes our Dens may use the monthly themes for their enjoyment and learning, but we do not use them formally at the Pack level. That said, we do encourage new Den Leaders to lean on the Program Helps for ideas to keep things running. Keep a copy of the program helps handy, but don't be dependent on them. Remember, the Cub and Webelos Handbooks also provide a wealth of ideas.

I'm for doing as much outdoor "adventure" as the Cubs & Webelos can handle in accordance with G2SS. Often, the problem is not the willingness of the Scouts, but the leaders. The Cubs & Webelos will not have any problems going on adventure hikes, but if you have leaders & parents that are physically out-of-shape they will shrink back from planning physically "active" outdoor events. High-adventure is not needed. Just get them outdoors and have some fun and be safe.

Agree with Oak Tree. Our COR is an uniformed Scouter and does attend our major events, however he would not be able to find a replacement for any of our leader positions simply because he does not know the parents well enough to make an informed decision. The reality of recommending new leadership usually falls into the hands of a Scoutmaster or Cubmaster by default. The COR's typically just "rubber stamp" the recommendation unless they know something negative about the adult that would cause them to pause. As a courtesy, do inform your COR of the "vacancies" and solicit his/her advice.

"The BSA as a religious organization certainly has its own cult-like qualities, for instance the first sentence of Personal Fitness Merit Badge which is designed to normalize religious medical neglect, a cruel form of child abuse that causes long and painful deaths while, at the same time, a church "practitioner" relentlessly urges the dying child to acknowledge that he himself has caused the disease through his stubborn refusal to repent his sins to the satisfaction of Jesus Christ." Kudu, What??? Whatever you are talking about is not the BSA I'm familiar with or even remotely familiar with. I would appreciate it if you would not take extreme "fringe" examples and characterize those as representative of the BSA and all of it's councils. --Jeff