Foul Mouth Leader

[OneHour]

Any suggestion on asking our Cubmaster to stop using foul language in front of the boys? I tried and he got angry and turned the table to me ... stating that I am trying to get back as a Cubmaster (which I have no intention at all!)... nothing really bad just your basic d_mn, sh_t, and combination thereof. My son was taken back after he heard it.

[Bob White]

You are to be commended for addressing the issue with the Cubmaster first. Since he does not seem concerned, the next step I would suggest is the head of the charter organization.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[eisely]

One of my bad habits is the occasional use of profanity, although rarely in front of youth, either scouts or just youth. You did the right thing to speak to the cubmaster directly. He is setting a terrible example. Somehow he has to get the message. Have you discussed this with any of the other parents?

[packsaddle]

Not courteous, maybe not friendly, definitely not clean, perhaps not reverent, and it hardly proclaims one's intelligence. When I am frustrated and tempted to use such language I keep it to myself. I would apologize to the troop or pack. Hopefully it is behavior not to be repeated, especially in the presence of the boys.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[red feather]

ditto

 

yis

[eagle54]

Some of the possibilities are - does the pack have a functioning pack committee with a committee chairman.

Who is representive of the chartered organization, who is the commissioner for the pack. Sometimes the training for cubmaster will let him know that he sets the example for the cub scouts.

 

 

[evmori]

This type of language sometime become so common for some people they don't realize they are using it. If you can't get him to stop, I would follow Bob White's suggestion - get the COR involved.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[ASM1]

All responses are correct. But Bob White hit it true. Go to the COR! Your right, it should never be tolerated!!!

 

ASM1

[EagleInKY]

I've had a little experience with this. I've told a leader to watch his mouth in front of the boys. If he wants to tell an off-color joke or use foul language in front of a couple of his pals that's okay, but not in front of the boys.

 

I had a boy use foul language and I told him that we didn't talk that way. He told me that they did in his house. I told him that was between him and his parents, but he wasn't in his house now. He hasn't done it again.

 

If talking to them doesn't work, I'll agree with everyone else, get the COR to have a word with him.

[Proud Eagle]

I have occasionally slipped and used (a homonym for something beavers build), (a word beginning with "c" for something deposited in a latrine), or hell in ways that were probably not optimal. I don't think I have ever done this while leading youth, per say. However, as a youth OA leader I have sometimes slipped and done so around other youth OA leaders who are also youth members of the BSA. I try not to use any objectionable language, but I do sometimes slip up from time to time. Though I still maintain hell is just a geographical (for lack of a better term) location when used in the proper context.

 

Oh, and I must say, what one poster has said here is very ironic considering something they have said in another thread.(This message has been edited by Proud Eagle)

[OneHour]

Our Pack has not practiced the correct org chart of a BSA Pack. We have a COR, but she is a figure head and she figures that she won't have to do much and expects such! Our CO exec practices laisez-faire policy no matter how you want to involve her. She has not shown up to any of our invitation to B&G or graduation. She signs the recharter and that's it. The Cubmaster is someone whom I recruited and had no choice (the line for CM replacement was not at all that long). He is a excellent chap and great scouter. He got all of the training and then some. He has the patience of a gnat when it comes to the boys. I noticed that he uses the "colorful metaphors" (as Spoc puts it) unconscientiously, but he uses it at a regular pace and in front of the boys. The pack's attendance has fallen 40% in number of boys, but that's another story for another time or is it another problem to solve at another time? The guy is a dear friend of mine (scouting that is) and he means well (I think). There comes a time in everyone's life that one would regret doing something and I am beginning to regret that I got him to step up.

 

As for a CC, that person, again, does not want to do anything. Don't get me wrong, we have great leaders (den leaders that is).

 

"Go to the Unit Comm." Haven't seen him/her in the six years that I am with the Pack (okay ... one time). District Executive? Great guy, but I'm saving him for the more pressing stuffs. He has his hands full with 100 troops, packs, venture crews, etc.

 

Bob, this is not the only issue that I addressed with him. I also took him aside and talked to him about yelling at a kid. Of course, that did not go over well. I guess that we can wait until he is through with this year and give up the seat (and we are grooming a great fellow who would be great as a CM). The only problem is that, his attitude and action may drive more boys and parents away.

 

1Hour(This message has been edited by OneHour)

[dsteele]

Just a thought from someone on the outside. Based on what you describe, there may be a win-win-win situation here. It seems you have some influence on the leadership suggestion, a COR, CEO, and CC who are mostly out of the picture.

 

The cussing Cubmaster sounds like has the skills to be a committee chairman (the training and so forth, but not patience with the boys.) Don't wait. You have, from the sounds of it, the next Cubmaster. If you can talk the current Cubmaster into being the Committee Chairman and the incoming Cubmaster into doing the job early, the pack may turn around.

 

Just a thought.

[acco40]

Here is an approach I might use dependent on the individuals involved.

 

Have an angelic faced Tiger Cub go up to the Cubmaster and ask in a very sweet voice, "Sh*t, Mr. Cubmaster. I forgot when the next G*d d*mn Pack meeting was going to be. I'm such an a*shole for not remembering. Can you fill me in when the d*mn thing is?

 

If the Cubmaster is shocked by that exchange you're in luck. If not, your doomed.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[OneHour]

uncleguinea, I think that he is the reason why some of our parents left the pack (taking their sons with them)! CC is not a good position for him. He tends to tell people what they do wrong in a "yelling" loud voice. Even in his emails he punctuates his impression with bold print and extremely large font (in red). He loves to lecture adults and kids. So ... no ... he is not a good CC. I would love to get the "new guy" on, but he is tentative. He is an Eagle scout and a Tiger father. He laughs with the kids and jokes with them. We don't want to scare him away!

 

acco40 ... I'll pass.

 

Thanks.

 

1Hour

 

[Twocubdad]

I have to admit that Acco's approach has a certain dark appeal, however I don't think it's the right way to go.

 

Forgetting for the moment all the leadership problems in your pack, and since you've tried the hombre-a-hombre tact, how about this: next time he use foul language in front of the boys, stop him -- in mid sentence -- and say "Oh gosh Mr. Bill! We don't use that word in Cub Scouts!" Repeat it every time he lets one slip. "Oops! Cub Scouts don't use that word either!" The bigger the crowd the better.

 

If quiet reason doesn't work, maybe public humiliation will.