He Struck Again

[5thGenTexan]

My leader who has no respect for the uniform and vapes around Scouts did a new one today.  This year he gets to be Den Leader of the new Lion Dem instead of Asst Den Leader with me.  First Lion meeting he canceled a couple of hours before meeting time because he had things to do around the house.  He came last weekend to our Bobcat event.  Today he was a no show but apparently arranged for a new Lion Parent who has done YPT, but no other training to run the den meeting.  Things worked out because I put the Lions with the Tiger DL and den for today.  But this guy is just unbelievable.

 

 

[scoutldr]

Smoking in the presence of Scouts is unacceptable.  Fine a new Leader.

[qwazse]

4 minutes ago, scoutldr said:

Smoking in the presence of Scouts is unacceptable.  Fine a new Leader.

The habit would be at least tolerable if the DL put some effort into the kids. Neglect is the worse sin here.

I'd get in touch with the parent who stepped up. Ask him/her to take more training.

[ParkMan]

Fully agree with @qwazse & @scoutldr.

One of the biggest things that drives kids away from Scouting is bad Scouting.  Time to find someone else to serve as leader here.  

Edited October 7, 2019 by ParkMan
expanded the thought

[John-in-KC]

If your child(ren) is(are) in this pack, time to find a new one. 

[5thGenTexan]

On 10/7/2019 at 8:12 AM, ParkMan said:

Fully agree with @qwazse & @scoutldr.

One of the biggest things that drives kids away from Scouting is bad Scouting.  Time to find someone else to serve as leader here.  

I have two parents in that den who have applications and YPT completed.  I just have get them signed and turned in.  He is replaceable and I think I have the leverage to do that.

[5thGenTexan]

2 hours ago, John-in-KC said:

If your child(ren) is(are) in this pack, time to find a new one. 

We live in a town of less than 10,000 people.  The Pack is 70 years old.  I am not going to leave and let people like that destroy it.  As I said above, I l have two parents in that Den with apps and YPT that just need a signature and turned into for processing.

[qwazse]

1 hour ago, 5thGenTexan said:

We live in a town of less than 10,000 people.  The Pack is 70 years old.  I am not going to leave and let people like that destroy it.  As I said above, I l have two parents in that Den with apps and YPT that just need a signature and turned into for processing.

I agree. Often there is "nowhere to run" in a small community. No matter where you go, there you are.

Now, when it comes to bad habits, I am a little more relaxed than others. Thanks to the occupations of my dad and uncles, I was in every bar in the county by age 11.  Plenty of quality second hand smoke for all. Add to that, gramps would send me down to the general store to by his favorite cigars. Neither I nor my brothers became smokers. My SM was very self-disciplined. That included never smoking. But I don't think it influenced the boys as much as everyone thinks it would. I eventually met scouts whose SMs were chain smokers. Those boys never necessarily became smokers. Be they cousins or friends, it seemed to me that if parents were smokers, the kids would be. Vaping is a somewhat different animal. But we have much more open space with clean air than we did in the 70s. So, it's unlikely to be the 2nd hand monster that tobacco can be. So, that trait would not be a deal breaker in a DL who would otherwise make good on the promise of scouting.

But, here it sounds like the parents in this den are beginning to realize that by not stepping up, they let someone who won't deliver shortchange their kids. Encourage those parents. Be kind to the DL and gently encourage him to let the folks who can make it to meetings lead them. If he's sincere -- in spite of this rough start -- he can probably help with set-up or clean-up as he's available.