Can you not give it 100%?

[malraux]

58 minutes ago, Terasec said:

Thanks for that

i was never a scout so have only preconceived ideas of what cub scouting should be like

scouting is not what i expected it to be at least not scouting via bsa way

am now at a crossroads as to how much to contribute

it is not in my nature to sit back and have others take up the slack

It ramps up from the end of bear through boy scouts pretty steadily. Webelos are expected to camp as a patrol away from parents and to do so more frequently. Then scouts BSA is much more independent and camping oriented. I suspect part of the problem is finding a program that meets the needs of all the different groups across the country.

[SSScout]

It sounds like your Pack and Den are active, involved,  "For the Cubs".   That is as it should be.

But the Cub Den should be the "Gang" the kid (be they boy or girl) wants to hang out with.   Camping is great, gets the kid ready for Boy Scouts, but there should be other stuff for the Cub too. 

Go to the zoo, go to the museum, the Police Station, the dad's work site,  that model Railroad, camp out on a ship (Baltimore Harbor has this),  visit a County Maintenance Garage,  the State Environmental Protection Agency Lab,  a newspaper printing plant,  the Bus Transit Garage,  anywhere that is DIFFERENT than school.   Organize a softball league among the area Cub Packs, go to a minor league game,  pro soccer game (call for "Scout Discounts"),  University Astronomy Observatory or planetarium. The Pleides meteor shower came by this past weekend, given a dark clear sky, look for those opportunities to lay on the ground and just WATCH.    

MiF, KiS…..

[ParkMan]

10 hours ago, SSScout said:

It sounds like your Pack and Den are active, involved,  "For the Cubs".   That is as it should be.

But the Cub Den should be the "Gang" the kid (be they boy or girl) wants to hang out with.   Camping is great, gets the kid ready for Boy Scouts, but there should be other stuff for the Cub too. 

Go to the zoo, go to the museum, the Police Station, the dad's work site,  that model Railroad, camp out on a ship (Baltimore Harbor has this),  visit a County Maintenance Garage,  the State Environmental Protection Agency Lab,  a newspaper printing plant,  the Bus Transit Garage,  anywhere that is DIFFERENT than school.   Organize a softball league among the area Cub Packs, go to a minor league game,  pro soccer game (call for "Scout Discounts"),  University Astronomy Observatory or planetarium. The Pleides meteor shower came by this past weekend, given a dark clear sky, look for those opportunities to lay on the ground and just WATCH.    

MiF, KiS…..

Yes - this.  Scouting is about adventure.  It's not a arts and crafts club.  Sure, some are needed to support the adventure, but they don't replace it.

My son's bear den leader was the grandfather of one of the boys.  He held the program to a really high standard.  Not in terms of expectation from the boys, but in terms of really digging into the adventure.  I always remember how he taught the boys about knife safety.  It took us 3 meetings each about 90 minutes.  He brought in every knife imaginable.  He showed the boys about knives meant for cleaning deer, knives meant for breaking bones in animals, knives meant for surgery.  We had a whole meeting just on how to sharpen a knife and all the different kinds of sharpening stones.  The other bear den in our pack spent one meeting and spent it all whittling soap.

We had a pack camping trip.  The den leader spent weeks going over how to camp cook.  My son, who hadn't cooked in his life LOVED it.  When we got to the camping trip, my son's den was cooking their own meals.  The other den - I think the boys might have flipped pancakes.

Crafts - why would we do that? There were only 25 den meetings and a lot to cover.

I relate tbe experience because he taught me that:

1) time is precious

2) there is wonder all around us.  We just have to embrace it.

My recommendation: instead of stepping back, embrace the wonder.  Spend 3 weeks teaching knife safety.   

 

[ianwilkins]

On 8/14/2018 at 11:50 PM, Terasec said:

Thanks for that

i was never a scout so have only preconceived ideas of what cub scouting should be like

scouting is not what i expected it to be at least not scouting via bsa way

am now at a crossroads as to how much to contribute

it is not in my nature to sit back and have others take up the slack

I think it's universally true (ok, you're in the USA, and I'm in the UK but still...) that a den/pack/troop/unit etc etc will lean towards what the leaders finds interesting and/or has the confidence to deliver. That despite the rules the strictures the awards the guidance...every den/pack/troop is different. Birds of a feather flock together. So while your den is all crafts and stem, and has attracted those that like that programme, while another might be more hiking and fishing, or trips out, or whatever. There is room in the programme for variety. And variety is the spice of life. Now, I know I love a good team building game, and another of our leaders is an amatuer engineer, so the number of times we make a parachute for an egg out of paper and string, or spaghetti and marshmallow towers, or paper and sticky tape etc etc is large, while another unit in the same town is off to the buddhist temple, while another is up the park playing a wide game while another is making their own sheath knives. I know a leader in central London that's ended up doing a lightweight cooking evening in a park next to the London Eye but hasn't handed out a badge in years, while others plan for all their cubs to have an armful of badges by the time they leave. They all attract the cubs/scouts that like that approach and those activities. Scouting is a broad church.

What I'm saying is, you sound like a step-up kind of guy. So maybe get in with the den leader on their planning sessions, make a few suggestions of things you could basically run, I don't know, push the open door of crafts and do some basic whittling but out in the woods or something, or ephemeral nature art might be a more open door, or there's a thing in the UK at the moment of painting rocks and leaving them for others to find, and having pushed that open door of craft but outside, then suggest more active things, or outside stem things like water or stomp rockets.

Or start a new den and run it your way

Ian