Full uniform at every Den meeting?

[mjengels]

I'm not the leader or assistant but I plan every activity for the den. I have a question about having your complete uniform on at every den meeting.

 

One mother CC will always say something if the child is not in complete uniform at every meeting. For instants a few den meetings will be painting or whittling (What a mess).(IMO)I don't think the child should have any part of his uniform on and take a chance of ruining it. Plus some kids come right from another activity to our Den meeting and just make it in time. I do agree at the Pack meeting everyone to be dressed and proud.

 

Thanks

What is the rule??

[msnowman]

We encourage uniforming for all activities where it would be appropriate. If we are doing something messy the boys are reminded not to wear their uniform on X day because we will be doing Y activity that is super messy. As DL I wear my uniform to all meetings to set the example. My Den Chief also wears his uniform to all meetings. Most of the boys wear their uniforms. The Tigers are a bit more lax. The DL only wears the uniform for Pack meetings. The Den Chief over there wears his uniform to every meeting. However, for Pack meetings they all turn out in uniform as well.

 

We don't require uniforms on anybody but strongly encourage it. The only activity we don't allow a boy to take place in w/o his uniform (at least his shirt) is Color Guard. On the other hand, we go out of our way to help each boy be as uniformed as possible. We have used shirts, people connected to the Pack will buy hats/scarves if the family can't, I make slides all the time to fill that need. We have 100% of our boys with uniforms (waist up at least), we just don't have them in them 100% of the time.

 

YMMV

YiS

Michelle

[Lisabob]

We took the approach that boys should wear the appropriate clothing for the activities that we would be doing. I agree 100% that it is problematic to expect boys to stay neat while painting, etc., and those darn cub shirts are expensive. So for activities like those we made sure to alert parents that uniforms were NOT required, and we always had an extra set of play clothes on hand in case anybody forgot. Frankly, many parents would've had a fit if their boy came home with paint all over the uniform. A couple of people had a real bee in their bonnet about this and would send their child to den meetings dressed in two layers - uniform over play clothes - so that at least they would be in uniform at the beginning of the meetings for the cub scout promise, etc.. I guess that's one compromise you could offer, though personally I felt kind of bad for those kids since they generally looked like stay puff marshmallows in all those clothes.

 

Another option might be to adopt a "class B" pack T shirt or something else less formal (but uniform for the whole pack). That way you get the basic idea of uniforming but you don't risk ruining that $35 shirt. Not to mention that the kids will actually wear a Scout T shirt out in public without complaint and it can be great advertizing for your pack.

 

Lisa'bob

 

 

[mjengels]

Thank you both for your suggestions. You sound like you both are wonderful den leaders. Our leader and den leaders are not even trained and do not even own any part of a cub scout uniform. It is really sad.

 

I like making slides with the kids my son just made his den the elephant ones in the How to book. They all loved them. We used gray vinyl.

Michele where do you get your ideas for slides can you let me know. We will be making the Binoculars ones for Feathered Friends pack meeting.

[msnowman]

Ideas for slides abound...sometimes I have a hard time reining my ideas in. I'll walk past something small, pick it up and Nephew says "yea, I know...it could be a slide". Nearly anything we can hot glue to a 1/2 inch piece of PVC pipe can become a slide. Some of the best ones in Nephew's collection came from Pez...we take the heads off Pez dispensers, drill a hole in the back and WHAMMO! Santa Head Slide, Easter Bunny, Glow in the Dark Ghost, etc. He also has a plastic football helmet that was in a 50 cent gumball machine. If we can glue it or drill it, its fair game. I also taught myself how to tie the Turks Head Knot Woggle and always have green parachute cord on hand so I can whip up emergency slides in about 2 minutes. Oh, if you have Pinewood coming up, you could do what Nephew did a few years ago when he qualified for district - he took a MicroMachines car (one of the real small ones), and glued it to a small piece of wood he had painted black w/ a yellow edge strip, like a racetrack.

 

Good luck and if you need more ideas you can PM me.

 

YiS

Michelle

[Lisabob]

Have you considered going to training yourself and volunteering to help in a more official capacity? It sounds like you enjoy working with the boys and your current den leaders would almost certainly appreciate the help (heck, they might even go to training too if you propose it to them - you can point out how much easier their job would be, since training also includes ideas for running den meetings, etc.).

 

If you want to find out when the next training session is, check with your pack committee trainer (if you have one) or your committee chair, or your local council (many have web sites but you could just call them too).

 

Lisa'bob

[queenj]

I don't require my boys to wear full uniform at every den meeting but it is required at the pack meeting. They have a choice for the den meeting: either wear the full uniform (Class A) or any cub scout t-shirt and jeans (Class B). Our pack has a T-shirt contest every year and the winner gets his picture reproduced on a T-shirt that becomes the pack's class B uniform.

[Newbie Den Leader]

We talk about the importance of the uniform and encourage them to be worn at all Den and Pack meetings. At the same time, we don't have uniform inspections and we don't single out or embarass any boy who is not in uniform. We're just glad they are at the meeting and joining us for a good time of Scouting.

 

If a meeting is going to be "messy", then we ask that they not wear their uniforms.