New Cubmaster

[Spoon]

Greeting all!

 

I have recently accepted the Cubmaster position for our pack because I saw no one really was going to pick up the duty. I had fallen into the role as a Den leader back in Tigers sharing the responsability with another parent, then too into the Wolves finally taking over totally for the Wolf pack. I transistion to the Bears as my son did and took the vacant Bear Leader spot. I have been struggling at that but getting by and the kids are learning and having fun.

 

The old CM's son moved 2 years ago to the Boy Scouts and he stayed back due to none of the parents wanting to do anything. So I was approached, asked and here I am.

 

Since my involvment with this pack there has been little organization I have seen. The Pack meets at the same time every week together which is chaos at times. Last year was the first time I had even heard of a board when volunteers were asked for and organized. I was one, but never heard anything more. This year we have no board, at least that I know of. We had a great recruitment drive and increased our numbers dramatically, but due to the disorganization I see the attendance beginning to drop.

 

The former CM has led the the pack until after the popcorn sales and the recruitment drive. I was initally thinking I was to be the Assistant CM and would gradually move into the position, but then after one meeting he gave me the key to the building and the next meeting he gave me the money bag and all of the den binders, announced he was going on vacation and wasn't going to be at the Cub Scout camping trip.

 

The camping trip is now over (last weekend) and I am left with lots of questions.

 

What do I or should I expect from the District Council?

Other than the on-line classes what should I need to take?

As the (stuggling) Bear Den leader too, what should I be focusing on?

If I get a board together what do they do?

 

I really would like this pack stay afloat and rival the much larger packs that exist in town, but do not know what to do. Our area is one of the faster growing on our scout map/town with one school growing drastically in the past few years and is continuing to grow as the area is developed.

 

Thanks for the help in advance!

Regards,

 

[Eagle92]

Spoon,

 

 

#1 Welcome to the forums.

 

#2 Was your camping trip at Camp Charles this past weekend?

 

Your situation is very similar to mine, except the CM leaves in 2 months. We had someone agree to become CM, but the ex wife is remarrying and moving out of town, so we may lose him as a leader. I'ld step up, but am unable to due to family issues, so I will be a DL for a while.

 

My advice, and this is what I would do, and have suggested to my current CM and ACM, is the following.

 

1)get a pack calander and budget set up ASAP. get your other DLs invovled and, if you know them, your committee invovled.

 

2) Meet with the Institutional Head, Charter Organization Rep. and Committee Chairmen. if you don't know who they are, contact the scout office and get the info. Technically COR and CC are involved in this process, but a lot of units I've been affilaited with have had hands off charter organizations.

 

3) Depending upon the results of meeting you may either have help in organizing a support committee, or you may have to organize it yourself. Hopefully the former and not the later.

 

In reference to your questions now

 

What do I or should I expect from the District Council?

 

Your unit commissioner and DE should be able to help you with information like who your registered leaders are ( which may surprise you) and how to go about restarting a pack. It's in your DE's best interest to keep a pack going than to have it fold and restart later. Some momentum is better than no momentum.

 

District/council should also offer additional training like Roundtables, Powwows, University of Scouting, etc. Take advantage of them.

 

And don't forget activities like Pinewood Derby, Cubmobile, day camp, etc.

 

Other than the on-line classes what should I need to take?

BALOO Training, needed for camping. Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat, dependig upon program and facilities, and the above trainings.

 

As the (stuggling) Bear Den leader too, what should I be focusing on? recruiting a Bear Den Leader. One of the tools that I am finding very helpful is the Den and Pack Program Book. It basically contains lesson plans for all your meetings. It's a great foudnation for organizing a meeting, and a rgeat tool for new leaders.

 

 

If I get a board together what do they do? Get a copy of the Cub Scout Leader Handbook. It has job descriptions for every position a pack could have, including the committee.

 

Good luck

 

(This message has been edited by eagle92)

[kari_cardi]

Do you have den leaders? I would make identifying den leaders your first priority. Also find someone to be committee chair. The CC runs the 'board' meeting, attended by the den leaders, asst. den leaders, and other committee members like treasurer. We hold our leadership meeting monthly and review the progress of the dens, work on training, and plan pack meetings and outings. Getting your leadership group up and running is the most important thing you can do both for the pack and for yourself, or you will burn out trying to do it all.

 

In addition to Youth Protection Training, Cubmaster training, and Bear Den Leader training, you might want to do the online training for the positions for which you are recruiting, like the committee chair. Then when you approach someone for the job and they ask, 'But what do I do?' you'll have an answer. There is good information in the Leaders Guide as well, both to learn and share.

 

Is your sponsoring organization very active with your pack? I suspect not, but it is another relationship to balance and foster as Cubmaster, at least until you have a functioning CC.

 

Good luck, I am sure you will get lots of advice here!

[AlamanceScouter]

Welcome Spoon....where are you located?

 

If I could get scouting.org to come up I would give you a good link for your Bear Den stuff. Basically, you have the entire year laid out for you with some pretty good meeting plans.

 

Also, just spend some time on this site....it folks here are great and very knowledgeable.

[AlamanceScouter]

Finally got scouting.org to come up....here is the link:

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/DenLeaderResources/DenandPackMeetingResourceGuide.aspx

[moosetracker]

You can take CM Specifics on line and should to get yourself quickly up and running.. But because everything is in such bad shape I would see if your district or a neighboring district is holding an in person course. The person-to-person contact will let you ask alot of questions. And it seems that right now the more you learn, the more questions you will have.

 

I am a little freightened to suggest this, because if you do not get adult help soon, you will burn out, but you also should attend your districts round tables. It is filled with other Cub masters who you can meet with and ask questions of. It will give you information, but add one more night a month to your overload. But you have nothing in your pack to tell you how an organized pack runs, so you need to pull that info from talking to others that are in an organized pack to get a sense of how the pack should operate.

 

Good Luck.

[RipVanScouter]

I would agreed with all of the information provided here, I would inform your District folks (DE & DRC) of exactly the position you are in and ask for help and specific names of resources. Get contact info for your local Boy Scout troops. They have a vested interest in helping you - you are training their future Boy Scouts. Ask for Den Chiefs - useful help for your DLs and may help to ease the chaos (just by setting a good example). For "other" help such as ceremonies as well as a pool of service oriented youth among the local Boy Scout troops - try to get in contact with your district's OA lodge (if you have one), your district leaders will have that info. Ask their chapter chief or chapter advisor for help.

[83Eagle]

Greetings--

 

I don't have any advice to add beyond that given above but I wanted to offer a word of encouragement from someone in a similar situation. While our former CM has continued to offer support and assistance we do have an inactive "board of directors" and CO so it can get a little overwhelming and frustrating when learning about the position and talking to other CMs and seeing the vast differences between Packs.

 

But my experience all along, from DL to now CM, is that enthusiasm and optimism are contagious, and people will live up (or down) to your expecations. Plan for the program to be great and it will be.

 

 

[bubbadump]

Greetings,

As A Unit Commissioner, faced with the basically the same issues, (being assigned a pack that has evaporated over time) my plan of action to hopefully restart it is to have a family meeting with the CR present and lay it on the line to the parents. You want your son in Scouting, we want your son in Scouting but we need the following to make it work, and have the vacant positions and duties set up with applications. The old volun-told route. Hope it works. Good luck in your endevours.

[SeattlePioneer]

Please notice that this thread is a year old.

 

 

Frankly I think it was a mistake to revive it only to change the subject to an entirely different set of facts.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

[bubbadump]

Sorry Seattle, guess no one really reads these post after awhile.

I'll be more careful in the future.