How to handle only a few boys? Lots of advice needed!

[christineka]

Hi! I am a bear leader, but we tend to have wolves meet with us as well. (The wolf leader is a bit spacey as well.) I am a LDS leader. The boys move up to the next step at their birthday, so we don't go by the school year calendar. Boys are assigned to our pack by where they live. (They do have the option of joining a "regular" pack if so desired.) Currently, I have 2 bears and 2 wolves. The bears turn 10 on June 30th and July 18th. The younger one has not earned his rank. The wolves turn 9 mid July and mid November. The older boy recently joined (he's not LDS) and has not earned his rank. The younger also belongs to a regular pack and only has "do with an adult relative" stuff left to complete. We tried to plan meetings to help the younger bear earn his rank- only he hasn't shown up for a few weeks. Then, we thought we'd plan meetings around what the oldest wolf needs to complete, but his family has issues and he's not a regular attendee. For the last two meetings we had 2 cub scouts show up. (I made my own son, who's a webelos attend last week to add one more boy. I can and will do that as long as Webelos do not meet at the same time.) I try to make these meetings fun, but it's very difficult with only a few boys. We did games one week. The boys had fun, but it was tricky finding games that could be played with no minimum number of kids- or didn't involve touching, so the leaders could play as well. Then we did physical fitness stuff, but one boy is very self conscious of his weight and I don't want to embarrass anyone. On top of that, I worry that with summer, we are going to have problems getting kids to show up. Last year we had more kids and had only 2 kids on average show up. (Those two would be my son and my former partner's son- both of whom are now webelos.) I feel like it's quite a waste of my time to go through all this planning (and I think there's more planning involved when I have to plan for as little as 1 kid showing up) to have no one show up. I know the one boy is important. I wish I could procure more boys and ensure they showed up so that we could do more activities. 1st, how do you balance between doing achievements that only some kids need and others don't? 2nd. How do you recommend I approach summer scouting with only a few?

[Stosh]

First of all keep it in mind that in Cub Scouts, the ranks do not build one on another. A boy who doesn't earn a badge, simply doesn't get it but goes on to the next. It's no different than if an older boy jumps in after a couple of years, he does not need to go back and earn Wolf and Bear if he's Webelos age. This is different in Boy Scouts where the program is not generally age related.

 

As far as having only one or two boys? No a problem. Simply make sure the parent is there for your two deep and maybe go for a hike. Go on a field trip some place the boy is interested in. Build something like a bird house. Learn a skill of some kind like the compass. Etc. There's a ton of things boys are interested in but never get a chance to do. As a last resort, you could always ask the boy what he might want to do and if it is within the parameters of scouting, go for it. The advancement books expect a minimum level of proficiency to pass, but that doesn't mean one can't go beyond that level if the boy is showing interest in a particular activity. It's one thing to learn to tie knots, but no boy of any age doesn't find it great to make rope to tie the knots with. Two sticks and some twine and you're on your way to a great opportunity for the boy.

 

Stosh

[qwazse]

First, thanks for your service to these boys. Second, you are in an impossible situation. I would stop worrying about achievements, and start focusing on skills. Literally, sit down with the boys and ask them what they want to do next month. Start a collection? Make toys? Play catch? Write a play/ puppet show? Arm wrestling? If these happen to help a boy achieve, fine. If not, the boys will love you for helping them accomplish something they'd always wanted to try. Leave achievement up to the parents. If they don't want to contribute to the life of the pack, or even to their boys growth, then fine. Don't give a boy what he doesn't deserve. Just let him know that he can still earn the next rank and it's time for him to start now that he's moved up.

[jc2008]

Another thing I would do is talk with each of your parents and tell them they need to inform you when they will not be making meetings, ahead of time. I make sure my parents know this because I do not want to have to spend time preparing 9 activities if only 4 boys are going to actually show up. This wastes your time and your money and you just explain it to them like that.

 

You are having to spend a lot more time planning than you might need to, since you need to have a plan in place with what to do with 2 kids vs what to do with 4 kids if they all show up. There should be no need for you to make multiple plans for one meeting if the parents are considerate enough to let you know ahead of time they will not be making it.

 

I also find that parents tend to come more often since I require they tell me if they are not coming. Its embarrassing for them to actually have to contact me and tell me they cannot make it multiple weeks in a row. It also gives you an easy option to open a dialogue with them to see why they keep cancelling. It might be that the night you have meetings on is a busy night for their family and it gives you the opportunity to see if you can make any changes to help them in being able to make it.

[King Ding Dong]

Not meant to be a knock against LDS Packs, but I thought your leaders were assigned by a church official. You should not have wolfs and bears in the same den meeting, they are working on different stuff. You need another den leader. Keep in mind that very few of the requirements need to be done with the den. I know the Wolf book states most of them are to be done with the family or by the cub himself.

[jc2008]

Not meant to be a knock against LDS Packs, but I thought your leaders were assigned by a church official. You should not have wolfs and bears in the same den meeting, they are working on different stuff. You need another den leader. Keep in mind that very few of the requirements need to be done with the den. I know the Wolf book states most of them are to be done with the family or by the cub himself.

We have a few packs in our area that have multi rank dens. It can be done if you don't have enough kids to sustain separate rank dens.

The den I know the leader of has 2 tigers, 1 wolf and 3 bears.

 

There is a whole program guide written to deal with that type of den situation

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/multicultural/pdf/523-006_web.pdf

[christineka]

for th advice! I like the idea of just working on stuff (not necessarily achievements) and having fun, but then our cub committee dictator- oh, I mean committee member (who is mom to the boy, who does two scout troops) yells at us, etc, etc. Of course, we work on stuff that her son has already passed off and he doesn't want to participate... Today we had two wolves only and just worked on the Flag achievement, but the boy, who needs to participate in an outdoor flag ceremony didn't wear his shirt and neither did the other boy.... One of my bears' moms is not seeming to communicate with me. I only have her phone number, but she never picks up- for me. Today, I had my co-leader facebook message her. She stated her son would be there, but he wasn't. He stays with grandma during the day, though. Not sure what happened to my other bear. I know his mom is pregnant with her 7th and it hasn't been an easy pregnancy. (Yep, this is Utah.) Our cub dictator committee member has been helping with webelos and thank goodness for that. I'd rather she wasn't in our meetings.

[King Ding Dong]

Uniforms are just a method in scouting. There is NO REQUIREMENT to wear a uniform. EVER. The scout just needs to cover his heart and not salute. This is all rather interesting give LDS has a reputation of being very lax with requirements. Again not meant to be a knock.

[King Ding Dong]

Not meant to be a knock against LDS Packs, but I thought your leaders were assigned by a church official. You should not have wolfs and bears in the same den meeting, they are working on different stuff. You need another den leader. Keep in mind that very few of the requirements need to be done with the den. I know the Wolf book states most of them are to be done with the family or by the cub himself.

Thanks we lost our web II leader and no one will step up.

[christineka]

Uniforms are just a method in scouting. There is NO REQUIREMENT to wear a uniform. EVER. The scout just needs to cover his heart and not salute. This is all rather interesting give LDS has a reputation of being very lax with requirements. Again not meant to be a knock.

 

 

Seriously? You don't have to wear a uniform to participate in a flag ceremony? Do you have a link from official bsa? I only learned of this requirement from my coleaders, who must have heard it from some other leader, and it's just passed down. I do agree that the LDS are rather lax with the requirements.

[Basementdweller]

There is no requirement to wear the uniform....

 

No where in the BSA literature will it say it is not required......I challenge you to show me a document that says it is

[Basementdweller]

Here is the link to the cub uniforming page

 

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/home/cubscouts/parents/awards/parents.aspx

[King Ding Dong]

We are being a little coy with you. The reason is no boy will be denied the benefits of scouting because he does not have or cannot afford a uniform. Review the methods of scouting. Notice they are not required, such as advancement is not required.

[christineka]

We are being a little coy with you. The reason is no boy will be denied the benefits of scouting because he does not have or cannot afford a uniform. Review the methods of scouting. Notice they are not required' date=' such as advancement is not required.[/quote']

 

Oh, I believe you know your stuff. I just need some sort of proof to challenge the accepted norm in my pack.

 

[christineka]

Here is the link to the cub uniforming page

 

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/con...s/parents.aspx

 

I have a hard time with these requirements, being in LDS scouting. The boys are automatically entered into cub scouts. The parent can choose to opt-out, but most of us feel we are obligated to go along with cub scouts. Unlike with a regular group, we did not spend any time thinking about this decision or plan to have to spend money. Our boys do not wear the complete uniform. They all have shirts. Most have all the required patches. Most have neckerchiefs. That's it. They wear blue jeans nd sweat pants with their uniform shirt. No boy owns scout pants or a hat. Our parents have trouble coughing up the money to buy a book. (My boy's books were purchased at the thrift store and his shirt and neckerchiefs were picked up from the church's stash of recycled uniform pieces. As a leader, I have a tan shirt that someone was giving away for free. ) The church is not allowed to purchase uniforms for anyone. Should we go all or nothing as the website states?