needs some advice- dealing with another leader

[christineka]

I had been holding webelos in the same place, same time as the wolves, so that we have two adults in the room. This week the webelos are going to complete our last project (wood) for craftsman. We need tools, so we need to go to someone's house. I asked around. The wolf leader heard about it and told me she had tools and we could do something together- wolves and webelos. I told her what I had planned. She didn't like it. She wants to make a beautiful Christmas decoration and spent time last week, searching pintrest to find something. I don't want to do that, so I spent the week finding somewhere else to hold webelos. We are going to make catapults. The boys will absolutely love them. They will be fun to play with. I even mentioned it to my husband and he told me all about the time his den made catapults as webelos. (He went on and on- and 30 years have passed since he was a webelos.) I know this is a project the boys will enjoy! I've got webelos all set. I will have 2 other adults present (we're holding the meeting at their house). The wolf leader is now unhappy because I don't want to have scouts with her. She was real excited about making her Christmas decoration. I see no reason why she can't hold wolves herself (with a parent volunteer) and they make a beautiful Christmas decoration, while we make catapults.

 

Any good ideas on how to smooth things over with the wolf leader? Please don't tell me I should just make the Christmas decoration with them. We already made boring Halloween decorations for artist.

 

PS- The bears and wolves will not combine because bear leader refuses to do anything with the wolf leader. They are involved in a neighbor feud.

[King Ding Dong]

Umm...I think this is another case of confusing 2 deep leadership with no one on one contact. You do not need to have two deep leadership at a den meeting. Unless LDS has rules above and beyond BSA rearding this. It is a good idea to have more than one adult present for the wolves, and your Webelos activity sounds like it is off site and could be considered an outing so you should go with two deep there.

[christineka]

Umm...I think this is another case of confusing 2 deep leadership with no one on one contact. You do not need to have two deep leadership at a den meeting. Unless LDS has rules above and beyond BSA rearding this. It is a good idea to have more than one adult present for the wolves, and your Webelos activity sounds like it is off site and could be considered an outing so you should go with two deep there.

LDS rules state 2-deep for everything.

[AKdenldr]

 

Anyways to smooth the water I would suggest offering another event with the other den. Could be anything, bet those wolves would like to hang out with the Webs. Bowling, a joint den meeting where it was all games (mix up the teams) that you plan, a short hike to pick up trash (wolf + web buddy pairs).

 

Don't do the boring craft, however. Webelos clue in real fast to boring.

[moosetracker]

 

Yeah, normally meeting with another group is good, but due to different age and rank requirements you need to do your separate things.. This just sounds like different interests for different age groups. For wolves the catapults might be too big a project for them due to age, and the parents are still in high protection mode rather then letting them try their wings. So catapults might sound too dangerous.. Meanwhile the Webelos are done with the artsy craftsy stuff and wants something more challenging and more rugged activities.. Also wolves is still where parents choose the activity, Webelos is where in order to get prepared for Boy Scouts the boys start having more and more of a say in their activities..

 

As AKdenldr says, seeing if you can organize a different activity to show this decision is nothing personal against her or her den.. But, also a heart to heart discussion of the fact that due to the age and the rank of your boys, you are both right now looking at things from different perspectives. The Webs den is run more by the boys interest not yours, and this is what they wanted, your role as den leader is to support them in their wishes.. Think of it not only as making peace, but an opportunity of educating a den leader who two years from now needs to run a Webelos den..

 

Just curious as to what type of catapult.. Large one that need real lashings and poles for perhaps launching something like water balloons, or I saw one that is popsicles and a small launch pad for launching marshmallows.. I was looking at the popsicle one, but was wondering if you are going whole hog..

[qwazse]

MT, I have yet to meet a boy who would beg his mom to look up ornaments online when there was a chance to join with some older scouts in making catapults (of any size). But, yeah, I agree that everyone should keep this about the boys and try to find another weekend where you all can make decorations (and cookies).

[moosetracker]

Well that's what I mean. The boys want catapults, and at the rank of Webelos if they want catapults the DL role is to support their wishes.. At the rank of wolf, the parents just plan organize and do for the scouts (with maybe the scout getting to do some of the work, maybe).. Which means due to age and rank the two DL's currently are looking at their roles as DL from two different perspectives.

 

No given the choice the boys would go for the catapults.. But when your in 2nd grade at 6 or 7 years old, whatever mom & dad say they are going to do, you do.. And really you will have fun in most cases.. Unless truly gifted a 6/7 yo is not of an age to look around and think up something on their own to do and tell mom & dad "Sorry this ornament idea stinks, lets do ABC instead."

[King Ding Dong]

Well that's what I mean. The boys want catapults, and at the rank of Webelos if they want catapults the DL role is to support their wishes.. At the rank of wolf, the parents just plan organize and do for the scouts (with maybe the scout getting to do some of the work, maybe).. Which means due to age and rank the two DL's currently are looking at their roles as DL from two different perspectives.

 

No given the choice the boys would go for the catapults.. But when your in 2nd grade at 6 or 7 years old, whatever mom & dad say they are going to do, you do.. And really you will have fun in most cases.. Unless truly gifted a 6/7 yo is not of an age to look around and think up something on their own to do and tell mom & dad "Sorry this ornament idea stinks, lets do ABC instead."

Lol. Times are changing Moose. My youngest is a bear now but even last year he had no problem telling me this (book, game, craft, whatever) stinks and "I want to play Minecraft". That game is like crack.

 

The Popsicle stick aplastic spoon marshmallow catapult is fun for wolves as well they just need help putting it together. From now on I am using cotton balls, they end up eating all the marshmallows even if they were stepped on.

[moosetracker]

 

So what is Minecraft. I got two totally different versions of Minefield, but no Minecraft.. Tried looking it up, it shows a video game, which if your just talking you and your son not at a scout event, may be what it is.. Otherwise I doubt it's that unless you are going for your videogame beltloop.

 

Do the cotton balls fling well?.. I was debating doing popcorn rather then marshmallows, but still will be messy when stepped on, and probably still would be picked off the shoe and eaten.

[qwazse]

Well that's what I mean. The boys want catapults, and at the rank of Webelos if they want catapults the DL role is to support their wishes.. At the rank of wolf, the parents just plan organize and do for the scouts (with maybe the scout getting to do some of the work, maybe).. Which means due to age and rank the two DL's currently are looking at their roles as DL from two different perspectives.

 

No given the choice the boys would go for the catapults.. But when your in 2nd grade at 6 or 7 years old, whatever mom & dad say they are going to do, you do.. And really you will have fun in most cases.. Unless truly gifted a 6/7 yo is not of an age to look around and think up something on their own to do and tell mom & dad "Sorry this ornament idea stinks, lets do ABC instead."

KDD, sad story: A scout missed our last campout because he volunteered to make a Minecraft pyramid for social studies class, and got behind in completing his assignment. Sadder yet, the boys got into chopping so much wood, that he could have spent the weekend stacking it into pyramids!

[King Ding Dong]

So what is Minecraft. I got two totally different versions of Minefield, but no Minecraft.. Tried looking it up, it shows a video game, which if your just talking you and your son not at a scout event, may be what it is.. Otherwise I doubt it's that unless you are going for your videogame beltloop.

 

Do the cotton balls fling well?.. I was debating doing popcorn rather then marshmallows, but still will be messy when stepped on, and probably still would be picked off the shoe and eaten.

I am talking about Minecraft the video game. Mostly played on a PC but on phones as well. It is actually a rather benign game but very addicting for a lot of boys. FYI: Terraria is a similar game that seems to be gaining traction with this age group.

 

The cotton balls do not work nearly as well as marshmallows especially outside. Ping pong balls shoot great but are not as cheap as I think they

should be. On the plus side chasing them down does burn some energy. Popcorn might be a good one for outside especially if you don't have to clean it up. Just don't use Trails End.

 

The last time we used marshmallows for some game it was a real pain with the boys fighting over them, stuffing them in pockets and everything you can imagine wolves would do with them.

[dedkad]

So what is Minecraft. I got two totally different versions of Minefield, but no Minecraft.. Tried looking it up, it shows a video game, which if your just talking you and your son not at a scout event, may be what it is.. Otherwise I doubt it's that unless you are going for your videogame beltloop.

 

Do the cotton balls fling well?.. I was debating doing popcorn rather then marshmallows, but still will be messy when stepped on, and probably still would be picked off the shoe and eaten.

We used cheeseball puffs when my Webs built their catapults this year. They were each given 10 cheeseballs to try to launch in their buddy's mouth. Still gets messy, but you can't eat them if they get stepped on because they disintegrate. Also won't make a gummy mess on the ground or shoe if you can't find them to pick them up. Too light to use outside with any wind, though.

[christineka]

I saw the catapult at roundtable. You take a block of wood (I have a bunch left over from finishing the basement.) Then you screw a small block on top of it. (We'll have to cut that small bit.) Then glue a clothespin on top, gluing a craft stic to that, with a plastic bottle top on the end. I'm still debating about what to launch. Maybe I'll bring a few different things for launching and the boys can test to find out which materials fling best. We could even make a science experiment out of it.

 

As for minecraft, I have some issues with it. I teach the 4-5 year old class at church. I have had some major issues with one particular boy. (I suspect a number of special needs, such as add, odd, and asperger's, but mom doesn't believe in labels.) I babysat this boy one day. He showed up with the ipad. He played it nonstop for 5 hours! Finally, he had to go to preschool and his teacher, having great authority made him leave it behind. I turned it off. After preschool. the boy displayed his odd behaviors. Fortunately, my kids started music practice, which calmed him down considerably. At church, if he colors the picture I bring, he turns it into zombies. I realize zombies are the big thing these days, but they are not appropriate in a church class of 4 and 5 year olds. Anyway, fortunately, I have not heard anything about zombies at scouts. I've only heard about mario kart.

 

(Interestingly enough, the mother of this little boy is the wolf leader.)

[King Ding Dong]

I saw the catapult at roundtable. You take a block of wood (I have a bunch left over from finishing the basement.) Then you screw a small block on top of it. (We'll have to cut that small bit.) Then glue a clothespin on top, gluing a craft stic to that, with a plastic bottle top on the end. I'm still debating about what to launch. Maybe I'll bring a few different things for launching and the boys can test to find out which materials fling best. We could even make a science experiment out of it.

 

As for minecraft, I have some issues with it. I teach the 4-5 year old class at church. I have had some major issues with one particular boy. (I suspect a number of special needs, such as add, odd, and asperger's, but mom doesn't believe in labels.) I babysat this boy one day. He showed up with the ipad. He played it nonstop for 5 hours! Finally, he had to go to preschool and his teacher, having great authority made him leave it behind. I turned it off. After preschool. the boy displayed his odd behaviors. Fortunately, my kids started music practice, which calmed him down considerably. At church, if he colors the picture I bring, he turns it into zombies. I realize zombies are the big thing these days, but they are not appropriate in a church class of 4 and 5 year olds. Anyway, fortunately, I have not heard anything about zombies at scouts. I've only heard about mario kart.

 

(Interestingly enough, the mother of this little boy is the wolf leader.)

Never heard my boys mention zombies in relation to Minecraft. Will ask them about it tonight. If I am busy and can't redirect my boys attention they will default to Minecraft or watching YouTube videos do Minecraft mods all day. I think they spend as much time watching the videos as playing the game.

 

Your catapult sounds like a good project. Look into the Popsicle stick one as well. It involves taping the sticks together to make a pyramid like structure and and a plastic spoon and rubber band for tension. Fast to make. They could compare the effectiveness of the two types.

[Stosh]

All these catapult contraptions always sound interesting, but will any of them stick Jello to the ceiling? or is that a college level catapult project?

 

Stosh