my3sonz

Im here Im here!!! Disappointed that my meeting had to be cancelled tonight but at least I dont have to worry about cleaning house )

Not sure about the pack but we charge $6/mo dues for our den. This covers patches, pins, crafts, and other activities. I took this from the previous leader charging $2 per mtg and I just changed it to monthly collection to keep it easy.

Thanks for the responses In regard to asking the dad to be the asst.leader, well he already is the asst pack leader. Our pack is very small and is struggling just to survive. However, we do have some GREAT kids and I know it will start to grow. My husband and I have never been in scouts and we do not do much camping (well except when he is out in the field with the Army) so this is a constant source of amusement for us trying to figure this all out! Again thank you for the welcome. It is great to find such a great community here.

Haven't you heard?? It is now COOL to be a geek

Hi all, Well I have posted before that my son is brand new to scouting and suddenly I was leading it! (hmm wonder how that happens! lol) Anyway, we had our first meeting last night and it was sooo great. My husband came to help me and he is in the army. The subject was the flag. He had them standing at attention, showing respect for the flag, folding it correctly. He also had them doing pushups, jumping jacks, running in place. They were totally eating it up!!! We also did the code of conduct candle thing and made a ceremony of it and they made up their own rules. We had 5 boys there (2 could not make it). One of the parents told me that his boy was going to quit scouting and his dad said, "let's give it one more try with this new leader" He told me after the meeting that he does not think his son will quit after all the fun he had tonight. I know not all nights will be like this one but this one sure was special. *beams*

Welcome Dorinh! I am also very new to all of this and really overwhelmed! I do believe that if you have the heart and the enthusiasm, the rest can be learned....or at least I sure hope so! lol

Excellent advice everyone! I love the idea of a parent taking a den meeting and doing the main activity. Also the part of being involved in the pack. I am pretty lucky in that way. The cubmaster and I get along great and her son is in my den. The asst. cubmaster is also really cool and his son is in my den too! We are also going to have the meetings at his house so it should be a great experience. I am printing out this thread to look back on. Thanks guys! Robin

Hey thanks alot for taking the time to write that out. I think I will use both ideas with our den

I would like to know about the candle thing

Hi all I am a new leader and will be holding my first meeting in a couple weeks. I wanted to do some sort of code of conduct at this meeting so that I can try to set the tone and so the scouts know what to expect. Are there any ideas out there for this or maybe a code of conduct that has been used before? We are Webelos 1, 7 boys Thank you! Robin

Thank you so much for your replies Semper, I know the middle chile syndrome well! David has it bad. I am hoping he will feel very special in spite of his position in our family. Cubs, Thank you for the advice! It is all so overwhelming to me. I am going to a conference this weekend that has many classes for webelos leaders and I have already taken the fast start. One of the things that is a concern is there are so many in this pack that have been part of boy scouts for a while and we have been in it for a week! So it will be alot of catching up and seeing where everyone is at. Eagle, Yes getting to know the boy scout system is a good idea. We have already camped with them last weekend and that was a great experience for the boys! Thanks guys! Robin

Hi Everyone, Well I enrolled my 9 year old in Webelos and went on their first camping trip. During this trip I found out that our Den leader was getting a little burned out and needed someone to take over. That is where I come in I am going to a leadership conference this weekend to learn how to do all this as I am a little overwhelmed. I am a mom with 3 sons, Steven 13 (not in scouts- trying to talk him into it but to no avail lol), David 9 (webelos), and Sammy 2 who I will get into it when he is of age. There seems to be very good support as far as the leaders of the pack go. I get along really well with the cubmaster and we seem to have the same sense of humor Anyway, I am hoping to get some good advice here and learn some stuff to make this a great experience for my son and his scout mates. Robin