Super Den !!

[Eamonn]

Over the years I have noticed that in the Pack I was Cubmaster of and in other packs in our District, every so often a "Super Den" comes along.

Back when OJ was a Wolf, I was CM we had a great group of Tigers.

I''m not sure why? But for some reason things just seemed to mesh. It was a big Den, with 12 Tigers. It did go down to 10.

But these Lads remained active all through Cub Scouting all of them crossed over into the Troop (A new Troop started by the CM who replaced me) and 7 of them remained in Scouting until they were over 16, 3 went on to become Eagle Scouts.

The parents got really involved serving as Leaders and Committee Members in both the Pack and later the Troop.

Of course I''d love to say this was due to my great leadership!! But that isn''t the case.

I seen much the same thing happen in a Pack which had fallen on hard times. One Den emerged as being something special and remained close doing lots of activities and the they crossed over and were together for a long time as Boy Scouts.

If only I knew what it was that made this work? I could maybe bottle it and fix the decline in membership!

Ea.

[awesome1_in_cc]

Eamonn,

 

Great post!! I too have seen these "super" dens during my time as CM and CC. IMHO, the only thing that made them as strong as they were was the fact that they did things together even outside of the regular scheduled meetings and their parents were HEAVILY involved with the Den and Pack.

 

I allows told my Leaders that we had to sell the program and perform just as much for the parents as we did for the scouts. I have never meet a Cub Scout who could drive himself to the meetings so we had to keep the parents happy also.

 

Just my 2 cents!!

 

[jens3sons]

Eamonn,

 

12 looks like nothing right now to my twin boys'' den!!! Every year (they are Bear scouts this year) we think "oh some will drop out" and every year, those (bless their little hearts) boys recruit a few more scouts! This year it looks like their den is up to 16 boys! We as leaders didn''t even try to recruit more boys for the 3rd grade, but the boys are having such a great time, they just keep telling more and more of their friends about scouting! To hopefully prevent some of the responses on this one, yes we realize we have enough boys for 2 very full dens, we have tried over and over to get a fourth leader and have been unsuccessful (we won''t form a den without 2 deep leadership)...too many of the parents in that den already have positions in the pack. We just sit back, laugh and enjoy every minute of this den!

 

Yours in Scouts

jens3sons

[rkfrance]

I know it goes against the grain but I have seen the Super Den concept work several times in different Packs. There is a higher level of energy which translates into more excitement and fun. I would rather add another leader to a den than to try to split a big den that''s progressing. You almost always lose the energy, and then slowly you lose the boys.

 

It''s also a better much better than the inverse - the Tiny Den. The den with just 3 or 4 boys. They get bored quickly. It almost seems like a job in a den like this. Then 4 goes to 3 then 2 then 0.

 

Been on both sides of the fence. Bigger is better (or is it Super is swell?).

[BuffaloSR793]

I'm happy to say that I'm a Webelos Leader of a Super Den of 16 Webelos. 11 have been together since Tigers. They recruited 5 new boys this year. I'm blessed to have a bunch of helpful parents.

 

The boys and parents are friends outside of Scouts too. In my opinion, the parental friendship and continuity is the key.

 

The other dens in the Pack don't share the same success. Their meetings are business like and the boys/ parents just don't have the same bond. The parents don't seem to be as intrested.

 

I suppose every once in a while a group of boys/ parents come together and really enjoy each other. That makes it real easy to have fun events and the boys really get excited to do the activities, be it camping or fundraising.

 

Its all in the Chemistry.

 

Jeff