bfloyd

I served as the Wolf den leader last year, and have assumed the role of Tiger den leader this year. At our very first "Welcome to Cubscouts" meeting of the year - I handed each of my Tiger parents a folder that basically explained and outlined everything we would be doing for the course of the year. I also included a "den meeting host family" signup sheet that we passed around. I let the parents review the available dates of when I needed a "host family" to host a weekly den meeting at their home and have them sign up, months in advance. In conjunction with the "shared leadership" theme in Tigers, it really lets the boys and their parents feel like they are doing something huge when the den meeting gets to be at their house. The boys really like it. We meet once a week - every Tuesday night at 6:30 NO MATTER WHAT. The first Tuesday of the month the den meeting is always at my house for one hour. The second Tuesday of the month we meet at the "Host Family's home" at 6:30 p.m. for one hour. The third week of the month is always our "Go See It" @ 6:30 p.m. Our Pack meeting is always held in the school cafeteria on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. Every month we follow the same schedule and or routine. (This message has been edited by bfloyd)

Help me out here. I'm a long time reader of the forums, but rarely post. I am currently serving as the Tiger Den leader for our pack, and I have two sons in the pack - one Tiger and one Bear. I've gone through all of my on-line training and council-led "Leader Specific Training" for both Wolf Den Leader (last year) and Tiger Den Leader (this year). I am an avid follower of the "Program Helps" as far as the structure and program for my den meetings with my Tigers. My oldest son who is the Bear (8 years old) has a den leader who has not been thru any type of training, doesn't use any type of program structure, and generally thinks the program helps with all it's "sissy crafts" bores the boys and they need to learn "real" outdoor stuff. I've been to a couple of their den meetings, and it's usually organized chaos with nothing learned, their scout books never opened, the boys sent out to play, and the parents sitting around a dining room table talking. At our Pack meeting last weekend, the Bear leader announced to the pack that the Bears, and Wolves (he runs both dens) will be learning how to build and start fires at their next den meeting. Isn't their some type of "Age Appropriate" guidelines that the BSA follows? I've looked thru the "Guide for Safe Scouting" and didn't find anything specific. I found several charts on the national BSA website, but I'm not quite sure how to interpret them. I'm not sure I really like the idea of my 8 year old son learning how to start fires just yet. On a camping trip it might be OK under adult supervision, but at 8 years old, they're mischievious enough to try it at home in their bedroom closet. http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/Age-AppropriateGuidelines/chart.aspx http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/ageguides.pdf Any suggestions?

As a youth back in the '80's, my scout troop attended summer camp at Boxwell Boyscout Reservation near Lebanon, Tennessee. At that time, the reservation was divided up into 5 major camps, Camp Murray, Camp Stahlman, Camp Parnell, Camp Creig, and Camp Light. While in scouts, I attended 1 year at Stahlman, 3 @ Parnell, and 3 @ Camp Creig. Almost 30 years later, I'm back visiting Boxwell on a semi-regular basis with my oldest Cubscout son who will be a "Bear" this fall. Our pack attended a Spring Jamboree with our district back in April at Boxwell, and things sure have changed alot since I was a teenager. Camp Murray is now called "Gaylord Cub World" and is actually kind of neat. The whole camp has been revamped and geared around the interests of an 8 year old boy. Has more of a "Disney-ish" type feel to it as opposed to camp. Camp Stahlman is pretty much unchanged, with the exception of the restroom and shower houses which have all been rebuilt politically correct with individual stalls with locking doors for the showers and individual stalls and locking doors for the toilets. The troop campsites still use the same green canvas tents on wooden platforms with army cots that we used in the 80's. There is one particular old Cedar tree at Camp Stahlman that's still standing that will forever be imbedded in my mind. Almost 30 years ago, I remember my dad driving me out to Boxwell on a Sunday afternoon for my first summer camp in his 1978 Datsun 280Z. He pretty much dropped me off under that big old cedar tree and said.. "See you on Friday". I remember as an 11 year old boy trying to hide the tears on my face as he drove off. Back in April, I stood under that same tree and retold that story to my 8 yeard old son. Camp Parnell... has been abandoned. The dining hall is still there but used for storage. All of the campsites are gone and overgrown, the waterfront is gone, and after speaking with one of the reservation rangers - it seems the underground waterlines for Camp Parnell all froze and busted and are too costly for the council to replace. What a waste.. when I was 14 & 15 years old... Camp Parnell was the best there was. Camp Craig is still there, relatively unchanged - except for the politically correct restrooms. On the back of the dining hall - the veranda once had a beautiful view of Old Hickory Lake, but the trees now have 30 more years of growth on them - I guess that happens. I have 30 more years of growth om me too! Me and my 8 year old son will be attending our first "Cubscout Resident Camp" at Boxwell in July... we both can't wait to go.

This will be my first post to this group. I've been a "lurker" reading the various threads, and am now re-assured that my Cub Scout Pack isn't the only one in the world that experiences a little drama from both the parents, and the leadership. I am a new Cub Scout Den leader for the "Wolf den" for a new pack that was started in the fall of 2006. I was a cub scout, webelos, and a boy scout as a youth. I got as far as the "Life" rank before the "fumes" kicked in (Gasoline & Perfume) and ruined my scout progress. I was a senior patrol leader for my troop, and an active member of the Order of the Arrow. 25 years later... I'm back in scouting with my own boys and loving every minute of it. I presently hold two full time jobs, the day job that pays, and the night job that will someday. I have a degree in Architectural Engineering, and work as an engineering designer for a local civil engineering firm here in Tennessee. In 2003, my wife and I built a brand new drive-in movie theatre about 40 miles east of Nashville, in the community of Watertown. We run the drive-in on weekends during the spring and fall and 7 nights a week during the summer months. It's a labor of love until the mortgages get paid down, but at the same time very rewarding. (This message has been edited by bfloyd)