momofcandj

The Web 2 only have 3 scouts but they have finished the Webelos badge and Arrow of Light, so they are just doing activity badges that the boys want while waiting for the cross over. My Webelos just started so they need to do all the basic first year stuff. Im not really sure why they didn't want to combine as we would have swapped to their meeting time, but whatever. The bears have about 8 scouts. There were only 2 last year so we really had a great recruiting this year for that age, however we had those 2 in our den as we had a split bear/ wolf den. Those 2 scouts made it really difficult and my scouts really don't want to be paired up with them for anything. They never wanted to do anything active or anything that seemed like learning, well if you throw those 2 things out the window, there isn't much left in scouting...lol. I did ask about a den chief but none of the boy scouts are trained to do that. I had one that I thought was interested enough to do the training but he never followed through. The wolf leader might be interested though. Right now I have a Wolf and a Webelos 1 myself, so my Webelos 1 usually helps out with the games. I do try to go around sport schedules. But the problem is that sometimes a family decides on the spur of the moment going out to dinner is more important, or the other kid has something come up and they go to that, or just a bunch of things like that. I've offered to switch nights, but everyone claims the current night and time are great for them. The scouts do get the stuff accomplished. I was just thinking if it was more fun with different games they would be more helpful reminding parents and saying, hey its my scout night, forget about doing X, I really want to go to scouts.

I have a den of 4 Webelos I. I spoke to the Webelos II leader and he does not want to combine dens. So that option is out. It seems I rarely have all 4 boys at a meeting due to sports and other things. I need some new or different ideas for fun, active games. The boys have about had it with the various relay/ running type games. They do like them but want some more variety. We have a nice inside and outside area to play in. Just most things I see are for larger groups. Anything for 2 to 4 boys is good. A lot of times I have just 2 boys and thats really hard to come up with new and exciting things.

The Webelos Handbook my son has is the 2006 printing. The pack buys and gives them the next handbook at the end of the school year in June. I think its the most recent but not 100% sure. On page 63 it says Earn 5 more activity badges in addition to the 3 you have already earned for the Webelos Badge. The it lists Fitness (already earned for the Webelos Badge) Citizen (already earned for the Webelos Badge) Readyman Outdoorman at least one from the Mental Skills group at least one from the Technology group one more of your choice Thats 7 spaces, so if they choose to earn Outdoorsman or Readyman as part of their Webelos Badge, do you just have them do their choice of the remaining undone for the 8th Activity Badge required for AOL? I didn't see any reason to not let them count it so Im glad they can use it. Just trying to figure out where the 8th would come into play then with only 7 spaces in AOL. Hubby is military and we may be moving so I want to be sure I have this down correctly to explain to the person that will be taking over for us. Thanks everyone!

I'm a little confused and I can not locate the answer in my leader's book. For Webelos Rank the scouts need Fitness, Citizen and one other Activity Badge from one of the 3 remaining groups. So far so good. But it does not expressly say that it can not be Outdoorsman or Readyman. Yet in the AOL part it says to do Outdoorsman and Readyman plus 3 more for a total of 5 towards AOL, plus the 3 for Webelos which is 8. So can they not use Outdoorsman or Readyman for their Webelos Rank? I have one father saying since the boys will earn Outdoorsman his scout should be able to use it towards Webelos Rank. Thanks

3 of the 5 do. We have a unique school situtation here. One recently switched to a different school. The 3 that do are in one classroom. We don't have a PE class or teacher, but the teachers are responsible for giving them PE. The one class does pull ups on occassion not a regular basis, runs, plays soccer and other sports, run the track, they really get a workout for 4th graders. The other kid, his teachers idea of PE is more like a recess with access to some sports equipment. They are on the same campus but one is traditional school and one is charter school. The one that just switched schools I will have to ask the dad about that. My understanding was they should do the exercise for 30 days, not necessarily every day though. Im not sure how long that would take them through school. We could probably use the schools pull up bar, as it is outside. But its the opposite end of town from the normal meeting place. I suppose this would be one of the ones the boys would have to really get the parents to help with getting to the pull up bar location or coming up with their own family plan.

OK there are a bunch of exercises listed for part 5. From my son's book it reads "Do as many as you can of the following and record your results. Show improvement in all of the activities after 30 days." Then it lists a through e with different things like sit ups, push ups, pull ups, etc. Does this mean they must do all 5 exercises or can they skip one? We don't have access to a pull up bar. And that is the one that the parents are complaining about. But the boys really want to do this Activity Badge. Thanks

We always have our Pack Meeting as a potluck meal and rotate which dens bring entree, side, dessert. Since some of our dens are smaller we put them together for this purpose on the list. Each den gets a month to do the flags and grace. The gathering activity is done by the Cubmaster. After the opening, we eat and then the Cubmaster gives information and the boys get to do an activity. Anything from a rain gutter race with little boats built during opening, to building a rain gutter sundae, to kick ball. We really dont do a true closing, boys just drift away during or after the game/ activity at the end. Clean up is minimal as we have our own building and clean as we go.

Our CM asked for a volunteer, we only had 3 Tigers signed up, this was just before school started. One is military and simply not in town enough, although his father seems like he will make an excellent stand in for the meetings we need him. That left our current W2 leader that is leaving in Jan and myself, the Bear Den Leader. I told the CM that for Tigers the den leader was more a point of contact, awards & dues tracker and someone to keep everyone knowing what was going on & to organize. This I could handle. Since then we are up to 7 scouts, one father that has stepped to assist, the one that is rarely home will assist as he can. Our Round Up isnt even until tomorrow night. If we get someone else that wants to be the leader I have no problem with stepping down and simply helping out with whatever they need. Hopefully someone will step up if not in Tigers, then in Wolves, I think I will have my hands full when my now Bears are W1s. If not its not a big thing. I ended up taking over the Wolves last year and the parents seemed to think I did a pretty decent job. Now none of my Bear parents can lead for various reasons that make total sense, but they do step up when asked to do what they can. I dont understand how your Tiger parents are too busy from 6 to 7 on Tues if that is for your den meetings, they will have to attend with their Tiger anyway. My Tiger meetings are going to be 530 til 630, that seems to work for everyone so far. They are Weds night as a lot of people have only Weds free, weird...lol. Now my Bears are 530 til 630 on Fri, this works as we dont have to worry about homework getting done. The reason it seems a bit early is most of the parents will feed the kids after the meeting instead of before regardless of the start/ end times.