Help !!

[Pack38Scouter]

We have in the past and what happened is that we couldn't afford to run a proper ceremony for each boy. When we recognized them like that we ended up 1.5 hour Pack meeting and that was not agreeable to the parents.

 

Now, I ask that the Den Leaders pace themselves to match the February time frame. Now and then we do have a scout with an energized parent and blew through the requirements ahead of his den. We do recognize the boy at the Pack meeting, but no formality other than a simple cheer from the audience. We simple consider B&G a formal gathering and we (the parents) elected to conduct all rank advancements at B&G under a formal environment that will be memorable to the boys. I'm all ears as to how to conduct a ceremonial rank advancement for a Pack the size of 100+ every month and keep the Pack meeting 1 hour and interesting ... I haven't in my five years in Cub Scouting, but then again I'm just a newbie in this Cub Scout world and yes I have been trained in all aspects of Cub Scouting from Den Leader to Den Coaching to Webelos Leadership, to CM, to even CC postion. My take still is that as long as the boys keep coming back for more .... I and the Pack are doing something right!

 

Another reason to pace themselves from August to February so that they have plenty of time to do other fun things at the Den meetings and not just work on requirements. Den meetings are more than just study time! There should be games, crafts, songs, and silliness in addition to work on requirements. When the boys come to the Den meetings, he has been in school and doing his homework for a good 8 - 10 hours ... he doesn't want to be educated any more.

 

Thanks.

 

[sctmom]

Pack38,

Thanks for your response. I guess my problem is that I have never seen a "ceremony" for awarding badges. Our pack always calls up the boy and his parent at the pack meeting and says "Junior has earned his wolf badge. Give him a round of applause". Yes, I know there are ceremonies and props, etc. Unfortunately "that's the way our pack has always done it, everyone seems happy with it, no need to drag out the pack meeting".

 

You are right about not spending time in den meeting time "educating". One reason I became a den leader was after a few meetings of watching an unprepared den leader sit behind a table, expecting the boys to sit in a row of chairs and listen to him and read their books. The teachers have a hard time making my son do that! So, I took my son and his friend (both with learning and behavior problems) and some new scouts into a new den for Webelos. We very seldom had the book open. One night after struggling through some science stuff, I asked the den "who can tell me what we did tonight?" After a moment of thought, one boy went "ooohhh, I know. We had FUN." I almost jumped across the table and hugged him.

 

Also, I try to explain to the parents that just going through the book and checking things off just because Junior has done it some time in the past, only cheats him and you of fun. One Bear activity is "bake cookies with an adult". I had a few parents go "yep, we've done that". When my son was a Bear, we did it AGAIN. You just can't make cookies TOO many times.

 

I've told this year's parents that we are at meetings to have fun. I will try to do the achievements that say "do with your den", but the main point is to have planned fun. I also want to beef up our pack recognitions, at least for my den as an example.

 

[Pack38Scouter]

Last comment from me on this thread ... I would highly recommend ceremonies. Before I stepped into the Cubmaster thingy, our Pack has never done ceremony to recognize the boys. I'm not the reason why. We used to just recognize the boy in front of parents and followed by an ovation. Sometimes a Webelos (for example) earned his Webelos badge was dwarfed by a Bear who earned a long list of belt loops and pins. When I fell into the Cubmaster position, I told the Committee and the Leaders that we have to change the way that we recognize boys for the rank advancement. I equated rank advancement with Court-of-Honor (as SctMom indicated) but with a flair. It is far more important than belt loops, instant recognition, pins, etc. It is the ultimate achievement that the boy has attained at his rank level and should be treated differently than a mere recognition. Also, by keeping it together, the boys will feel as team. It also gives the "slow" and unmotivated boys or parents a chance to catch up ... simply by seeing almost all the boys in their den up on stage in a grand ceremony gives them (esp. the parents) an inspiration.

 

Now I did neglect to mention that a smaller ceremony for rank advancement is conducted in May, at graduation (yep ... you guessed it ... another grand ceremony), to recognize the ones who have reached the finish line!

 

Try some of the ceremonies out there on the Web. You'll be surprised on how the boys will react and how the parents react. Recognize them for the rank advancement at any time, but at which ever time ... make it special ... make it important!

 

Webelos 2 AOL & Crossover is the ultimate rank advancement. This is their Eagle-Court-of-Honor equivalent. Last year's AOL was the first one that I conducted. "It was very memorable" as one Mom told me afterward. As I have said, if the Pack can get all of the scouts feel good about themselves and motivate the parents to help them see it through, then we have done it correctly!

 

"Behind every Eagle Scout there is a good parent nagging, dragging, and bragging about his/her son!"

 

"Behind every dropout scout [or student] there is no one who cares!"

[jbroganjr]

Here's my two cents worth

Skits and songs are as equally as important as ceremonies. Kids should do most of the skits.

resources for those www.cnjcpowwow.org www.macscouter.com

Be prepared to be silent, helpful courage for those shy kids.

Pack meetings are essentially organized chaos. When you have the confindence of bringing the pack to silence, then you can venture forth and get them really really loud (cheers, den cheers, songs) Always bring the meeting up then gradually down so they don'tleave so quietly.

never rely on outside entertainment for pack meetings, more than 2 maybe 3 times a year is too much.

Den displays - get them

Promote district events, great help in getting your own pack volunteers when they see so many other adults at these events

Never miss a chance to say thank you.