rwilcox

I felt like I should chime in on this discussion, having been a cubmaster for almost 5 years. Yes, the den leaders report to the cubmaster. See the org chart: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/About/ThePack.aspx I do agree that the CM should not micro-manage the Den leaders, but rather be a guiding hand. Pick good people and let them do their thing, guide them if they are off course, but allow creativity. I have den leaders not using the den leader planning guide despite making sure it is known to them. It has even come to the point of almost losing a leader, when I pointed them back to the guide and they had the aha! moment. You can only lead them to the water... Also, in the committee chair responsibilities, you will see very little about dens other than suggesting when new dens should be formed. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/About/ThePack/pcomm.aspx "Guide and Support Den Leaders" in the cubmaster responsibilities is another supporting area that cubmasters should be active with the den leaders. Finally, in the Cub Scout Leaders Handbook, it states "The cubmaster is the guiding hand behind every other pack leader". I know I took this seriously when I became cubmaster. Some things I do with my den leaders: - Recruit new den leaders from parents - Guide new den leaders with the aid of the pack trainer. Offer my help to them to plan and run den meetings, especially the first meeting. - Prepare den leaders for upcoming years. I recommend den leaders get BALOO trained and Web Den leaders to get OWL trained. The latter is required to go webelos camping and we have a bi-monthly camping program as part of our web to scout transition. - Visit all the den meetings. The cubmaster is not always well known within the dens outside the pack meetings. Going to den viists allows you more personal time with the boys and the parents. I find most often that parents have a number of questions for me during the den meetings and it's great to get to know the parents better. Finally, what I like to call best practices. Each den runs differently. After visiting all my dens, I get to take the best of the best and suggest this to the den leaders as a best practice for their den meetings. in this way, all dens become stronger from the experiences of the den leaders. Ok, one more. I recently had a parent complain about their den leader not having information at the den meetings. Because I had been to that den leaders meetings, I was able to tell the parent that I knew that the leader had information readily available. Perhaps "monitor" is too strong a word. When I started den visits, some of the parents and leaders thought that I was trying to see what they were doing, but I assured them that this was not the case. Something that is grossly out of line would need to be addressed, but for the most part it's a way to get to know your parents and boys better. Looking at the responsibilities again, it is the cubmaster's responsibility to see that each boy receives a quality year-round program and attending den meetings will give you a better idea of the quality of that experience.