joey72

The leader is just not strong. His own child is much of the problem so I don't see that dynamic changing. And the logic that they used was maintaining friendships which is disastrous in this situation. As a school teacher we are careful to mix up kids with new friends to get the best behavior. Honestly I think the disgruntled parents all moved out of the den and those of us who chose to see it through got stuck in the other den. I think the way the split was made was not in the best interests of the kids, but the list was published and sent to all parties so it won't be changing unless someone else get involved.

Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas! It is helpful to get the ideas of outside people. I do plan to ask how exactly they picked the groups- I think they used "friendships" as a driving force and that is not to the advantage of the kids in the group as some of the friendships lead to poor choices. In school we often split up friends for the reason of maintaining their best behavior. At age 7- their friendships are and should be ever changing as they learn about social relationships.

Yeah- see I am a teacher. And an elementary school teacher at that so I understand the nature of the beast:) So I do know how to control a group and I do it quite well- however the leader does not and his assistant also does not. I have stepped in as much as I can without stepping on toes. I guess that is why I am most concerned. Do kids stay with their dens for multiple years? I don't mind an "off" year, but if this split is going to be a long term thing then I'm more concerned about getting it fixed now and not later. Thanks for your replies! It really helps me to understand the mindset of the scouting program.

My Joey recently joined scouts and enjoyed his first year. It as a bit of a busy and crazy year due to there being 18 boys in my son's den. This year another mom stepped up to split the den in half. The problem is that the split put all the behavior issue kids all in one den. I am very concerned about going into this year with his den being so small and over half the children in the group do not listen or behave. The leader is not one who is good with controlling the troops. (his son is one of the biggest issues). I don't think the groups were distributed fairly and don't want to go into yet another year with crazy scouting. Who do I need to speak to about this situation or do we just need to deal with it which I fear will lead to quitting scouts.

My Joey recently joined scouts and enjoyed his first year. It as a bit of a busy and crazy year due to there being 18 boys in my son's den. This year another mom stepped up to split the den in half. The problem is that the split put all the behavior issue kids all in one den. I am very concerned about going into this year with his den being so small and over half the children in the group do not listen or behave. The leader is not one who is good with controlling the troops. (his son is one of the biggest issues). I don't think the groups were distributed fairly and don't want to go into yet another year with crazy scouting. Who do I need to speak to about this situation or do we just need to deal with it which I fear will lead to quitting scouts.