LauraMO

What a timely post: I just finished reading my copy this morning! A very enjoyable book!!! I wish my husband was interested in reading it because he and author Peter Applebome are two peas in a pod. My husband enjoys Cub Scout camping and barely (and I'm stretching here!) tolerates the rest. I can only hope that he will avail himself of the memory-making father/son opportunities once our son graduates into Boy Scouts. FYI: I found my copy at Half Price books for $12 and in excellent shape.(This message has been edited by LauraMO)

My cubs just finished a wonderful week of day camp. In addition to earning their Archery belt loop, they satisfied the archery skill requirements for Bear Elec. 22a. However, they still need to "make an arrow holder." I'll be a den leader at another day camp in a week & I'd loved to see my boys finish this final requirement for the elective. I haven't been able to find any crafty arrow holders on the Internet. Anyone have any cheap & easy ideas?

I've had some luck finding old Cub Scout resource material at used book stores, like Half Price Books. You might find something on e-Bay, too.

Thanks for addressing the technicality of two-deep leadership. Upon my further review of the Youth Protection Guidelines, you are right: I only need two-deep on outings & field trips. To answer your question, yes, my son is a member of my den. Now I know better. Thanks! OK, back to my original question about denner/ass't denner: thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions about assigned duties to these temporary leadership positions. I will take them under consideration and in the mean time I still welcome any more that are lingering out there.

This year I introduced the Denner system to my Wolf Den. The denner arrived 15-30 mins. early, helped with the busy activity & any little bit of set up that was needed for the meeting activities. I'm happy to report that this worked most of the time, but there were times when the denner 1) never showed; 2) came late; 3) or was sent back home with the parent because I didn't have two-deep leadership upon the Denner's arrival & the parent couldn't stay. Next year I want to use both the Denner & Assistant Denner system. I'm looking for ideas on how your den has delegated leadership duties to these 2 positions.

I'm the chief cook, bottle washer, stain-remover, financial officer, sibling mediator, gardener, diaper changer, mender, mom taxi, school volunteer, and in my spare time a Scouter. According to my husband, that makes me the boss . . . or in Big Fat Greek Wedding terms, the "neck." In my past life I was a certified legal assistant & professional legal secretary. 10 Years working with attorneys is good training for parenthood & Cub Scouts.

Thanks, Bob, for clearing this up.

In leadership training, it was explained to me that one of the purposes of timely filing a Local Tour Permit for our field trips is that if a driver has a wreck in their auto & if their son is wearing the Class A uniform, then BSA would cover the cost of damages / injuries. If this is the case, then are there any BSA Legal Eagles out there who can explain why the permit requires Public Liability Insurance info for each auto that is traveling on the field trip? If BSA is covering the accident, then why do they want to know my drivers' insurance policy limits?

If your Tigers have finished their Achievements by B&G, then by all means, let them receive their Badge. I was in your shoes last year & when I attended my first B&G with my Tiger Den, I discovered that 1st Graders have a really hard time sitting still during all of the B&G presentations. Having them receive their Badges in a banquet setting makes their achievements (and the banquet) seem more important to them. For the next few months work on the Bobcat requirements. Although it isn't a rank it is still a requirement that all Cub Scouts earn this badge before working on their rank achievements. The Bobcat requirements are easy & are an excellent primer of the Cub Scout program for your Tigers. On a posterboard I wrote the Law of the Pack & the Cub Scout Promise in large letters. I brought it to every Den Meeting after B&G and as part of our opening exercises, we would practice reciting one of them. Eventually everyone got them memorized. If all goes well, then at the last Pack Meeting of the school year your Cubs will receive their Bobcat Badge. I don't have the web links handy, but there are some Bobcat worksheets available on the Internet to print out. Just do some random searches on your browser. Some worksheets are fill-in-the blank, others are word searches. These make good den meeting busy activities for early arrivals or for the restless eager beavers who finish their den craft too soon.

"As with Wolf, no arrow points can be earned until the rank badge is earned." Per the Wolf handbook (pg 9), "Completing electives for Arrow Points generally should wait until after he has earned his Wolf badge, and he cannot receive Arrow Points until he has been awarded his Wolf badge. He might, however, find some electives that he could be completing before he earns the Wolf badge." In short, a Cub may earn the electives while simultaneously working towards his Wolf badge; he just can't receive the Arrow Points until he's been awarded the badge. "There is no limit to the number of Arrow Points a boy may earn." CS Leader Handbook, pg 20-6. There are a couple of freeware spreadsheets available for tracking Achievements & Arrow Points. I prefer the one from Pack 38 because I can give a Cub multiple credit for Arrow Points earned (e.g., learning to count to 10 in various foreign languages). The freeware from Pack 615 is great for tracking belt loops & pins, but as far as tracking electives, it will only let you put an "X" for an elective earned instead of a tally & so you don't get an accurate total of Arrow Points that a Cub has actually earned.

It would be great to have such a website! Let us know when you get it up & running (ha! ha!). In addition to the previously-mentioned resources I would add this Forum. It has become a wealth of ideas for my den activities! We covered the Choices achievements a couple of weeks ago. I typed up on separate sheets 4 out of 9 of the scenarios from the Handbook, divided the boys into 4 pairs, teamed them with a parent & distributed the scenarios. (This was an opportunity to break up some of the rowdy best buddies!) Each team discussed their assigned scenario & wrote down their response(s). After about 10 mins., everyone regrouped & each team read aloud their assigned problem & resolution. We were able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time & it was good to get several parents involved.

Having a routine, being mega-organized & keeping the boys ultra busy has seemed to help my Den. I start with a busy activity at the kitchen table that my denner & ADL oversee. About 5-10 mins. after the hour, everyone gathers in the living room to begin the meeting. The boys are extremely rowdy at this point. I get their attention by starting with the "Boom, Chicka, Boom" chant that's found in the Cub Scout How-To Book. It took a few den meetings, but the boys have the chant down & they know that things are about to get started. We dive right into the Pledge & then either a rowdy activity outside or an active song with the intent of burning a little edge off their wiggles. (Boy I miss Day Light Savings time when I could send them to the backyard!) I have an agenda written out that covers announcements, coloring the advancement chart & probably a gross song. For the primary meeting activity, the boys get split into 2 groups with one staying with me & the other going into the kitchen with the ADL. Parents get to be the helpers. We finish the activity & return to the living room for closing & then everyone enjoys a snack. My agendas are usually typed up on the computer because they are always a "work-in-progress." I'm constantly adding/ tweaking throughout the week items that need to be addressed at each meeting. By the time the meeting starts, the agenda has about 15 items on it, which seems ludicrous, but a lot of those items are just announcements. I make sure I have all handouts & supplies ready to distribute, too. These things get piled up throughout the week in prep for the meeting so I don't have to scurry around the house at the last minute with the phone ringing every 5 mins. I've learned quick that I have to keep the boys busy, busy, busy. If I have a minute's worth of lull in the meeting or if I have to leave the room to grab an item, piece of paper, etc., then I lose their attention & it's back to the "Boom, Chicka, Boom!"

NO!!!!!!!!!!! I'm constantly figeting with it because the buckle won't hold. I don't know which looks worse: a leader walking around with an unlatched buckle or a leader constantly figeting to get the buckle tightened. I washed it trying to get the webbing material "softened" up a bit, but that only shrunk the width so now the brass endcap catches on my belt loops. I'm about ready to toss it in the trash & wear a ladies' leather belt from Wal-Mart.

Thanks! One question: what would qualify as a Leave No Trace-related service project?

Our Wolf Den put together a small Halloween Party (& earned a nifty Arrow Point in the process). The party was a blast! The boys did the mummy wrap relay where a couple of boys get wrapped in TP; then the goblin relay (hold an orange between chin & chest & pass it along). We then had the boys blindfolded & took them in small groups to my garage for our version of Frankenstein's Laboratory. These were our ingredients: Children's teeth (dried corn) Ears (dried apples) Eyeballs (peeled grapes) Frog Eggs (cooked tapioca) Eels (Old El Paso whole chili peppers) Brains (cooked oatmeal) Bones (chicken bones) Intestines (ramen noodles) Puss (warm Cool Whip) While they were still blind folded, we had them put their dirty hands into buckets of warm blood (water). For background noise, we played a cassette tape of spooky haunted house sounds. We relied on www.familyfun.com for treats ideas. We had Finger Food (trimmed carrots w/almond slice nails sitting in a bowl of ranch dip), Monster Toes (tortilla wrapped smokies), Monster Cupcakes (coated marshmallows decorated as Frankenstein sitting atop cupcakes filled with pudding); putrid punch with wormy ice cubes. And the best part of all, they had to clean up to finish earning the Arrow Point!

Yikes!! I don't like this news at all! Where were the author's heads of they updated the leaders' manual & A-OK'd Tigers & Wolfs to use knives? Ironically, I recently presented to my Wolf Den that they had to be Bear Cubs to earn the Whittlin' Chip card & thus were not allowed to use knives at our family camp out or at our Pack Pumpkin Decorating event. There isn't any mention of knife safety (or use) in the current Wolf Handbook. Maybe an update is in the works.

Please add me to your story distribution list.

Each month my Wolf Den participates in 2 den meetings, 1 field trip & 1 Pack Meeting. I typically do not schedule den meetings the week of a Pack Meeting or the week of a field trip. I leave Thanksgiving & Christmas Holidays alone as well Spring Break. In June & July, I try to plan at least 1 or 2 outings. By Aug. we do an end-of-summer watergun fight in my backyard & then right before school starts, we get back into the swing of regular den meetings. I poll my parents at the beginning of the school year to see which night works best. Whatever night gets the most votes becomes our den meeting night & we stick with it. This year we had about a third of the parents needing a different night & thus we were able to set up another den.

I tried a local nursery this morning who referred me to the local pet store, who referred me to a couple of nurseries across town that "might" have what I need. I'm at a point where I don't want to spend an hour or two driving all over for just charcoal dust.

Tomorrow night my Cubs will be making the Rain Forest in a Bottle project featured in this month's Program Helps (8 OCT 2002). Among the ingredients is charcoal (finely ground). I'm having a hard time finding this in stores. I finally tried Petco, where a small box of "carbon" costs a fortune (remember, I have 14 boys & it's anyone's guess who many will show). Does anyone know if just crushing plain ol' charcoal briquettes will work for a terrarium, or should I just skip this ingredient?

Hang in there. For one of my Aug. den meetings (back when I "only" had 8 boys registered -- now I'm up to 13!), I, too, had 3 boys show. In many respects it was nice because the meeting wasn't too loud & the boys had a good time working on the meeting project, but I understand your frustration after all the prep you did for the meeting. Your next meeting may very well be different -- like all 8 show up & someone decides to bring along a friend or younger sibling to make things more exciting. One thing I do immediately after every scouting event is to send an e-mail to all my parents letting them know what the boys earned. In those instances when boys straggle in & miss out on portions of the meeting, I will individually list the achievements, arrow points, belt loop/pin credits that were earned in my message & then post the names of the boys who earned such. I'll usually get a response like, "Hey, my son's name isn't down for earning Achievement #__." My reply is, "We finished that activity before your son arrived." My meetings start at 7 p.m. & end at 8 p.m. It's hard to get everything accomplished in an hour. My parents are catching on to the fact that when their sons attend (and on time), they will earn more credits. I am seeing an increase in attendance since I started sending my post-event e-mails. Increased attendance helps everyone because 1) the boys do more stuff & earn more credits, 2) den activities are spread out among more boys; and 3) the boys gain more peer fellowship.

Our Pack Cub Master assumed the position last January. I was immediately impressed on how he 1) started the meeting on time, 2) made it fun instead of constantly shouting "Signs Up!" to get the boys' attention, and 3) ending the meeting promptly at 8. My Pack Meeting "Excedrin Headaches" are a thing of the past! Lately we've had games at the beginning of the Pack Meeting. The boys who show up early get to practice which cuts out some of the horseplaying. The games begin at 7 and end about 10 mins. later. So far this extra fun has been a big hit & I hope the games entice more families to show up early / on time. For my den meetings, I try to have a busy activity where the boys will earn credit towards a belt loop, pin, badge or patch. I stop the busy activity at 7:10 & begin the den meeting. My families have figured out by now that if they show up on time, the boys will earn more credits & have more fun. I routinely feel the pressure of my parents wanting to leave at 8 & I try to have everything wrapped up by that time. It's hard & despite using the Den Meeting Planning form to jot down my entire agenda, I will invariably forget to do a few things for whatever reason.

What's the craft recipe for the tin can lantern? 'Sounds like something my boys might like.

Here's a pre-den meeting busy activity that fits the Jungle theme: make animal collages & earn Wildlife Conserv. Pin Req. # 6. My Wolf Cubs did this last week & managed to stay busy enough to not get into trouble as I was gathering the rest of my materials for the den meeting / answering a swarm of questions from parents. My assistant & I tore up catalogs, coupons, newspapers & magazines for every imaginable depiction of animals, tossed them into a cardboard box, handed the boys some card stock & glue sticks & told them to pick one species to make their collage. Last month I had them do an America collage so that they could earn Citizenship Pin Req. #3. They seemed to have a good time with these activities, but we're probably all "collaged" out for now. Your den meetings sound like mine: loaded with lots of things to do while simultaneously earning achievements/points, etc. I agree with your opinion of the Program Helps. It "helps," but sometimes I feel the suggested activities just won't cut it for my rowdy boys.

By all means, let him earn some extra fun awards while he's chipping away at his Bear badge. It'll be a while before he earns his badge, so it is especially fun for a Cub to go home after a Pack Meeting with a new award in hand. I agree with sctmom, don't feel pressured to do everything all at once. One thing you & your son may want to keep in mind, is that there are opportunities to fulfill multiple requirements with a single activity. By example, Bear Arrow Point 9b & Art Pin Req. #1 require the Cub to visit an art museum & discuss some of the exhibits. Bear Arrow Point #19d & Swimming Belt Loop Req. #1 require the Cub to discuss the buddy system & basic swim rules. Congratulations to you & your son on joining the Scouting Family!