Den Leaders follow the boys or stay in position

[Pack362Den1]

Hello all,

 

After reading Finding time to talk with Unit Leaders, I was curious as to how your Den Leaders work.

 

Do your leaders advance to each scout level with the boys and therefore are their den leader from Tiger through Webelos, or

Do your leaders find their niche in a specific rank and stay there for a few years?

 

Our Pack Den Leaders move with the boys. All of our Den Leaders have a scout that is their own in the Den as well.

 

I can see that having a Den Leader that is very knowledgeable in one specific rank would be helpful but I can see where burnout would come quickly.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Most of the packs I've seen had leaders move along with their sons. But I have encountered 2 pack where the leaders found a niche, and remained after their son went to Boy Scouts.

[Greaves]

In the Pack where I serve, every den leader has a son in that den. I will be the first in (at least) 5 years to break that tradition, as I will be Tiger Den Leader next year without a Tiger in tow.

 

My son had 3 den leaders in his Cub Scouting career. One dad did Tiger, another dad was Wolf/Bear, & I was Webelos.

 

[JoeBob]

The logistics involved in getting your son to and from his den meetings, if you were leading a different den, would dilute anyone's enthusiasm.

This would be especially relevant in Packs that are not organized around a local school.

[ScoutNut]

Most Packs that I know have den leaders that stay with the dens from year to year. These generally have their son as one of the Scouts in their den.

 

I have also seen (and been one) leaders who stay active at the Cub level when their son moves on to Boy Scouts. Often when these Scouters are den leaders, they are permanent at the Tiger den level.

[Scoutfish]

Our move up with their sons. Except of course, the CM and ACM and various committee members.

 

One of our Wolf leaders this year is going to jump back to Tiger DL next year since his youngets is going to ba a Tiger, but he has done a great job of grooming the ADL to be a DL for the future Bears.

[ouxouiga4ever]

All the Packs I have ever seen or been involved with have usually had their Den Leaders move up with their sons. One Pack I have seen has 2 parents that switch every year as DL and ADL that way they don't get burnt out as quickly. It is easier if you have a trained volunteer who all ready has the knowledge and training and has found that niche, but I also remind all the adults I talk to that it's not as scarey to take those reins of a DL as people think. There are loads of volunteers on the Unit, District, or Council level that are more than willing to help you with any problem or guide you in the right direction.

[kari_cardi]

We do whatever makes sense. Our dens all meet at the same time and place, so it is easy to mix and match leaders and dens. I like to do at least the first half of the Tiger year unless there is a parent already in the pack who wants to do it. It helps the new parents become oriented to scouting and feel comfortable with the den leader role before asking for volunteers if an experienced leader works with the den. We had a situation last year where a Webelos scout was reluctant to continue scouting with his mother as his den leader. So she switched with another leader, someone who had been a Webelos leader before, and everyone was happy.

 

Next year, we have several leaders staying with their current group of boys, one who is doing the Web II role again and one who is moving back to Tigers. I think we are adding two new ADLs too.

[jamist649]

Around here, the DLs follow their sons through the Pack and usually cross with them into Boy Scouts. I (CM) will SURE ENOUGH be following my son. I can't imagine being a leader at Cub rank for years. It's just too much darn work. It would be nice, however, to have someone in those positions who knew how to run the program.

[mdlscouting]

For us, the Den Leader moves up with their son.

[acco40]

Den leaders are volunteers. It is the choice of the vast majority to be the den leader for their son. As volunteers, their preference usually holds and that is what most packs do.

 

It makes more sense to stay put based solely on expertise of the leader. Think of it this way. Does the second grade teacher plan on teaching third grade the next year and fourth grade the year afterwards?

[Pack362Den1]

acco40,

It's funny you mentioning the teacher moving up with the kids. Our school actually did that last year. The 4th grade teachers moved up to 5th grade with the students. It was due to layoffs and cutbacks but it was a great thing for the students. There was no getting to know you period. The teachers knew where each student was so no need to do review work etc. There State test scores were higher than the two years before it. It might not be bacause of the same teachers but it probably helped.

 

It's interesting to see how everyone does it and obviously not just one way works. Our pack leaders move on with their scouts. Luckily our cubmaster has 2 scouts so he stayed and will leave in two years. Our committee is already looking at who will step up and who may need a little nudge to take on CM and Committee Chair. Seems that around here the Troops get the Eagle Scouts that want to continue their scouting career instead of the cubbies.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I worked with a pack where the dad was the Bear Den leader and the Mom was Committee Chair.

 

The next year Dad was Webelos Den Leader, but they had a younger boy who was a Tiger Cub, So Mom was the TCDL and CC as well.

 

In addition, her son sold the Tiger Cubs to every 1st grader in sight and she had fifteen plus Tiger Cubs!

 

Plus the pack had a great program and generally exploded in size.

 

So Mom was very busy that year.

[rschlaegel]

In our pack we have always had the leaders move up with their sons. But I messed that up because I don't have a son in the Pack, mine's in the troop. But we are switching the way we do things because we have realized that we can have a fantastic pack when all of our leaders stay with one den. So next year, I will stay as the Tiger leader (but I am going to volunteer up in the Webelos), our Wolf leader is going to stay with the Wolfs and her present AL is going to do Bears, and our Webelos will both change up for this year. But also next year we all be meeting at the same place, same day and same time.

[perdidochas]

Acco40,

 

Some schools have the teachers teach adjacent grade levels. For example, 1st and 2nd.

 

I can see the advantage of either way. I was a WDL for two separate groups of Webelos II. The good thing is that I did get better at some aspects of being a WDL. The bad part is that I didn't know the boys nearly as well in my second group. (I had been the Bear and Web. I leader of my first Web. II den, and had been the Tiger Cub Den Leader of my second Web. II den (several years later)).