reiguy

I am taking over CM of our Pack and have served the last two years as asst. CM. Our 'tradition' is such that we really don't incorporate the monthly themes into our program planning. Each Den pretty much figures out its own agenda for the monthly Den meetings over the course of the year and the focus is heavy on advancement oriented activities. It is worth noting our Dens only meet twice a month. Thus less time for added activities or prep for the monthly Pack meeting as one might have if Dens meet 3 or 4 times a month. We run ten Pack meetings a year, August to May. Five of these are pretty much pre-planned - Aug we hold a recruitng kickoff and Rocket Launch at the Park, November - Bobcat ceremony, January - Arrow of Light ceremony, Feb - Blue and Gold, May - Carnival at the Park. The other five are then 'open' and typically our previous Cubmasters have filled those Pack meeting by inviting someone in to speak on a special topic -e.g. F16 pilot, Archaeologist, etc. They are not related to the themes. By all accounts our Pack is considered very successful - we have between 40 and 60 boys, recruit well, retain well, quality unit, summertime award etc. My question to the forum is that this mode of operation at the Pack meetings seems to make them less interactive from the Den involvement perspective. They become announcements, special speaker, award giving, etc. I am well aware of the many ways to incorporate Pack Pizzaz and plan to do so, but my Den Leaders resist the use of themes because it is 'added work' from their perspective. What we do now works, but I feel the Pack is missing some things by not really taking advantage of the theme concept. If I can get a few theme months incorporated in the year I think this will be an improvement - e.g. in September having our Model Railroaders come in and present and follow the pack meeting script in the program helps. Anyways I would appreciate hearing how extensively other packs incorporate themes - we all have a lot to cover each scouting year and only so much time. Thanks much!

My son has just completed 1st grade and a wonderful year of Tiger Cubs. He is enthralled with Scouting and I am very active as well (serving as Tiger Den Leader and Asst. Cubmaster). His den is very strong and cohesive with 11 boys. Academically, he is quite advanced and the school is evaluating him for entry into 3rd grade (i.e. skipping 2nd grade). If we pursue this, I am inclined to keep him in his Wolf den as this will help mitigate some of the social issues surrounding skipping a grade. I just wanted to inquire of other Scouters whether they had encountered this issue in Cubs and what they learned from the situation. Thanks in advance...