First Tiger Den Meeting

[WVCubDad]

Well, tonight was our first Tiger Den meeting. I've got a great bunch of boys and parents - 6 Tiger Teams so far. Everybody is interested in the program, the parents are supportive (and so far receptive to the shared leadership plan). It should be a good Pack meeting on the 26th, with several advancements to present. I've got two Tigers that are already close to getting the Bobcat Badge as well as the Tiger Paw IRB!

 

Yes, one of them is my son and we've worked hard to get there. The rest of the boys are already excited about moving up the trail and have promised to work hard on the Tiger IRB requirements before our next meeting.

 

Next week is a recruiting night at the local schools so we'll be at my son's school looking for new Tigers, Wolves and Bears. The Cubmaster was very helpful and gave me a box of stuff for recruiting as well as a nice display.

 

We've got a Council Family Camp in 2 weeks and 2 weeks after that a Pack Overnighter not to mention a Pack Float in mid October for our local Apple Harvest Festival. We're going to be busy! Did I mention NLT/LS/BALOO is the same weekend! I guess I'll have to hear second hand how the parade goes.

 

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the paperwork/recordkeeping, but I think I've got that under control so that the next meeting flows smoothly.

 

So far, so good. I love this Cub Scouting stuff! Thanks for letting me share.

 

John

[Lisabob]

Congratulations John! I'm so glad to hear you are having fun with it and keep it up.

 

Lisa'bob

[gwd-scouter]

WVCubDad. Tiger Cubs was one of my favorite times in Scouts. Keep in mind that just because you're the Den Leader you don't have to do it all. You stated you have a great group of Tiger Teams - get the help of those parents during your meetings.

 

Think about using a calendar and asking the parents to volunteer to split up the den meetings and each week one of those parents helps. Ask a parent to help you with the paperwork. Ask another to help get permission slips for outings such as your pack overnighter and parade. Share the load!

 

Good luck and welcome to Scouting. Have a great time.

[kenk]

Yup ... get those parents involved.

 

I was the den leader for all five years of Cub Scouts and somehow got wrangled into also being Cubmaster for the middle three years, and with both myself and my wife working busy jobs I simply could not plan all of the den meetings myself without failing miserably - even with the help of a great assistant den leader.

 

I asked the parents to help and they stepped up wonderfully. We ran our den much like it is described in Tiger Cubs. Each year I created a schedule of topics for each month throughout the year and then a specific parent (including myself) volunteered to take on that month's den meetings and activities. I'd meet ahead of time with the parent and make sure things were planned and do whatever I could do to help. It worked very well and kept the parents actively engaged in the den. Of the six Webelos who got arrow of light, four moved on to Boy Scouts in the same troop (I'm an Asst. Scoutmaster).

 

Good Luck and have some fun!!!

[ScoutNut]

Shared Leadership can be G-R-R-E-A-T!

 

For paperwork, there are some spreadsheets out there that might help. I found one and modified for me. I try to keep it updated on my PC, but usually find it is easier to simply use the hard copy and write on it. One of my spreadsheets is a calendar showing what we did for each meeting and who was there. That makes it easier to sign off on den things in their books & figure out who gets what award at Pack meetings.

 

I collect & take home all handbooks the meeting before Pack meeting so I can sign & update all records for accurate awards.

 

Consider making a Den Flag and/or Den Totem where the boys can see where they are on their Tiger Trail. I have an orange flag with a black paw for each boy that he can attach beads to. Kind of similar to their pocket Totem.

 

KISMIF !!

 

BTW - I currently have 10 Tigers (1 set of triplets!) our first meeting is this Sat!

 

 

[WVCubDad]

Thanks for all the encouragement and good tips. I sent an e-mail to all my Tiger Partners today thanking them for coming last night and gave them some links to online helps for the Tigers, along with reminders about upcoming events and a list of the monthly themes. Hopefully some will spot the month(s) they'd like to help.

 

The binder that the CM gave me had a basic attendance roster among other things, but I've found that using the two Tiger Record forms in the back of the Leaders Guide printed back to back works pretty well. I thought about using one of the spreadsheets, but I'm not planning on bringing my laptop to the meetings. We'll see how it goes.

 

I mentioned the Den Doodles last night and I like the idea of using a flag. I'll let you know what the boys decide (it's never too soon to start the boy-lead troop method!)

 

John