Disappointed in our pack

[starwolfmom]

I've got one son in Boy Scouts and one in Cub Scouts, and I serve on the troop committee. In mid-September, at our first pack meeting of the year, I gave the Webelos 1 and 2 leaders flyers listing three upcoming events that our troop was inviting their boys to attend. One event was the fall camporee (invited to lunch with the troop on Sat. 10/9), another an OA drumming demo on November 1, then our lock-in in February. Lots of advance notice, enthusiastic invitation on my part, phone number included on the flyer.

 

Last night, at our second pack night (hayride and campfire), I asked the Webelos 1 leader if her boys were coming to the fall camporee. "When is that?" Ummm... this weekend. "Does it cost anything?" (All of this was spelled out in the flyer.) AFter chatting, she was going to see if they could make it. She was more positive about the November event, because it's on their regular den meeting night and will be a fun activity for the boys. So, then I approached the Webelos 2 leader. Again, she was totally ignorant of what I was inviting her to. She finally admitted that she hadn't looked at the papers since I gave them to her--nearly a month ago.

 

Is it any wonder almost no boys from our pack ever cross over to Boy Scouts? (Last year, only 2 out of 14 Web 2's crossed over.) They have no idea what Boy Scouting is like, because they can never be bothered to come to anything we invite them to. I'm probably more depressed about this than I should be, but I'm saddened by their apathy.

 

Also, last night's "pack meeting" really wasn't. No opening ceremony of any kind, no skits or songs, just a bunch of kids running around and roasting marshmallows and racing about in the dark. My oldest son (the whole family went) remembered when he was a little tyke in the pack and they did the hayride and campfire, that each den--parents and boys--had to perform a song or skit, and the cubmaster and assistants voted on the best one--and that den got extra marshmallows. "that was so much fun," he sighed. And last night? that wasn't fun, it was just chaos.

 

Feeling disgruntled--Elizabeth

[Mike F]

Bless you - we feel your pain.

 

1st problem - getting Webelos invited to Troop events. You might try giving their leader enough copies of the invitation/flyer to just give one to each Webelos scout. Better yet, have a Boy Scout visit a Webelos den meeting to give them flyers along with a personal invitation - convince them they are going to have fun. The flyers rarely get the young one's attention, but they will remember when a scout who is only a few years older than them comes to talk about Boy Scout adventures.

 

2nd Problem - chaotic pack meeting with no structure. I hope the den meetings are better. If so, this might not be such a big deal.

If you just can't stand the pack meetings, I see two options.

1) Since you've seen it done better, offer to help them get started on the right track. Every pack is run by volunteers and I'm sure they'd love the help.

2) Start hunting for a better pack.

There's also the option of skipping pack meetings, but that's not a great option.

 

Good luck with both!

 

-mike

[SR540Beaver]

This sounds like a pack without much leadership or training. I'm a regular attendee of our District Roundtable. There is a wealth of information provided there and lots of program ideas during the breakout sessions. While we have a fairly good attendance, there are those Packs and Troops whose leaders never darken the door. The majority of training is free and if it doesn't meet your schedule, you can go to another district and get the same training. You are dealing with apathy. People who want to put in the least amount of effort possible and give the kids a place to play for an hour a week. May I make several suggestions. Talk to the district trainer and see if he will make a call on the Cubmaster. If enough people are involved, often the trainer will come to the Pack to provide training onsite. Find out if they have a unit commissioner who can encourage them to come to Roundtable meetings. Instead of inviting them to your functions, bring your boys to them to fire the boys up. Consider giving up your position as a Troop Committee member and become a Pack Committee member or Chairman and be an agent of change. Or better yet, be a member of both units. My experience is that enthusiasm is contagious. Often, it only takes one person fired up to get the others off of their tails and moving. Our old Cubmaster was going to serve on the Woodbadge staff last year. He ended up signing up four of us from the Pack to attend. He and I moved this year to a Troop and are fellow ASM's. But he left a legacy at the old Pack. They have had two more leaders go thru Woodbadge since we all went last year. He was the catalyst that inspired the rest of us to bleed Scouting when we are cut.

[johndaigler]

Welcome, Starwolfmom!!!!

 

Do you belong to my Pack?? Our stories our TOO identical.

 

I was so disappointed in my son's Tiger year that it was either, walk away or jump in. My family has a LOOOONG Scouting history - taking my son out of Cubs didn't seem right.

 

So, this year, I'm Wolf Den Leader in a Pack very similar to yours. We have a new CC who "gets it" and is actually trying to provide a strong program; and one or two (out of 10) DLs who want to get it, but other than that everyone sees following Program and worrying about little things like "required achievements" to be a bit of an inconvenience!

 

Of course, the worst are the Webelos because they're so ingrained in the old "choose fun rather than scouting" ways. So, of course, we, too, walk our boys across the bridge to . . . dropping out.

 

There are a great number of wise Scouters here at this web-capfire, so there's likely to be good advice for you (and me, and others). I'm curious to see new info that will help my Unit on our journey toward "Quality". We're stressing training, and improved communication and cooperation amongst the adults. This is the first year many of them have even seen the "Program Helps". (One of the things that scares me most is that we are quite likely to achieve "Quality" status this year. I hope people don't see that as an end place and "Good Enough"!) There's already some internal angst, and mini-revolts get squashed weekly, but turning our program around will take time. To be honest, I think I see success coming over a year or two, as we age-out leaders who never really lead anyway. Our Cubmaster leaves in Feb. and the CC will probably move to the Cubmaster role and I'll take the CC role. Things are improving, but not as quickly as the CC and I would like.

 

Perhaps there's a role for you with the Pack?? Is your role with the Troop "official", or were you just helping out passing out flyers? Can you trust your son's DL to be more involved than this year's crop of WDLs?

Can you take this to the CM, CC or COR?

 

I have as many questions as you, so I'm hoping to be supportive rather than helpful. Don't get discouraged. Some wheels can't be fixed, but those are few. Just coming here shows you have the interest and know-how to attack this problem. Listen to what others have to say and choose what you can make work. Perhaps, it's just a matter of getting your SM and CM together for 5 minutes. Even if it's more complicated, you're sure to find some help here.

 

Good Luck.

Keep posting, so we can share success stories back and forth.

 

jd

[cajuncody]

Wow! Deja Vu! THis is my pack too! I was so disappointed in my pack that I have volunteered to take over as CM next year. I am biding my time as Wolf Den leader and doing my best to keep my boys in it until I can make some real changes. I have already made some! Last meeting I was the only den leader to show up so I made sure to have enough of my project for everyone. The parents that are coming are getting to know me and know that I am always prepared. I hope this makes it easier for me to become CM. I am also making pack plans and informing the current outgoing CM of them at pack meetings that way the boys learn of my plans and get to participate. In fact, I just spoke with a manager at Ben and Jerry's about a Rock the Vote ice cream party for our election day meeting.

I was disappointed in my pack to the point of leaving but wanted my son to have a great time in scouts. I decided the best way to do that was to accept responsiblilty for it so here I am learning all I can and doing my best to make changes.

Kristi

 

Donate your old uniforms to help needy scouts.

Uniform Closet

c/o Kristi Cantor

PO BOX 1111

Kodak TN 37764

[EagleInKY]

It's difficult to rely on a single conduit to get communications from the troop to the pack. Usually, that conduit is the Webelos leader. Often, he or she doesn't understand scouting enough to understand what to do. Here are some recommendations, some will have to wait until next year.

 

1) When you recharter, get the Webelos 2 leader of your pack registered as a member of the troop committee. Call him (or her) the Webelos-to-scout transition chairperson. Invite him to committee meetings, troop meetings and outings. Tell him which ones are appropriate to invite his son to, or to invite to entire den to.

 

2) As soon as possible in September of October, invite the Webelos 2 to a troop meetings. This fulfills an AOL requirement. Invite the parents as well, and give them an overview of scouting and your program. Get their names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses so you have a way to contact them as well.

 

3) Invite them to 2 or 3 events, well in advance (as you have). But follow up with an invite to each individual boy (since you have their contact info now).

 

Our Webelos orientation is tonight. I'm so excited. The SPL and ASPL have put together a great meeting plan. We've expecting about 12 of the 18 to be present. We'll do it again in a month or so to try and get the rest of them.

[scoutingagain]

Welcome Starwolf,

 

About the only thing I can think of beyond some of the other suggestions would be to invite the Webelos scouts directly. Either have a Den Chief from your troop give the invitation directly to the boys, or ask the Webelos leader if someone from the troop could visit a Webelos meeting to talk about the Troop's activities and invite the boys to some of them.

 

Good Luck,

 

SA

 

 

[WoodenNickel]

Paper just doesn't work for us. Case in point, upcoming Pack's Webelos invitations to attend an "under stars" campout and "museum lockdown" with affiliated Troop. (Events are back-to-back over a Friday night-Saturday night later this month, and carry a $28 per person fee).

 

Handout netted just 1 RSVP ... personal phone calls to each Webelos' parents netted 9 additional Webelos reservations.

[starwolfmom]

Thanks for all the suggestions and empathy. When I did the flyers, I gave each Webelos leader enough flyers to give one to each of her boys--they obviously didn't share them with their kids. On the plus side, three Webelos 1's and their leader did attend the fall camporee and have lunch with our boys and I think they had fun.

 

I'll try the personal invitations for our next event (neither den has a den chief, but I'll send my son--our ASPL and a "graduate" of this pack).

 

As for the pack itself, they don't really do much "by the book," even under the cubmaster before this one. Program helps? Themes? Nope. Our "committee" is a joke. The committee chair is the Webelos 2 den leader, the treasurer is the Bear den leader, and the rest of the committee consists of the cubmaster, two assistant cubmasters, popcorn kernel (who is the cubmaster's FIL), and awards chairperson. I don't even KNOW who our COR is--and I've been part of this pack for 9 years.

 

My younger son is in the Bear den, and while I like his den leader very much, even she tries to get by with as little as possible. Weekly den meetings? Nope. She shoots for one den meeting, one activity, and the pack meeting each month. I'm almost scared to suggest that while this worked when our lads were Tigers, they need to meet more frequently now that they're older in order to accomplish all that they need to do to achieve rank.

 

The council is hosting a "cub Scout Healthy Hike" in a couple of weeks. I've read about it in the council newsletter, on the council web site, but have I heard about it from the pack? NO. I have a feeling we're not signed up for it. More's the pity--I think the kids would have a blast. Maybe just our den could do it--our den was the only one that participated in Cub Scout Day Camp the past two summers, too. It's just a shame that so many of our boys aren't getting the "full" Scout experience.

 

Elizabeth

[SR540Beaver]

Starwolf mentioned something that got my interest. In our old Pack, our Bear Den Leader elected to hold meetings every other week instead of weekly. I never asked him why. To his credit, he was a great leader, very gung ho for Scouting and had great attendance. He is now the Cubmaster and the Pack is going as strong as when we were there last year. How many Packs have Dens that meet every other week instead of weekly and why?

[fotoscout]

I agree that paper doesn't work, at least not as a single shot.

 

Did you ever here about the rule of 3&7? People need to hear things 3 times before they begin to listen; then, they need to hear it 7 more times before they'll take any actions on what they've heard.

 

That's todays world.

 

I email everything!! And I follow it up with reminders. Still, I often hear, "I didn't know about that outing". Some people are just not wired to listen.

 

[EagleInKY]

Beaver - Regarding your question about bi-weekly meetings. Personally, I like to get Cub Scouts accustomed to weekly meetings as soon as possible. We did twice a month meetings or gatherings as Tigers, and then moved to weekly meetings or activities with Wolves. We did not meet on weeks of the pack meeting or if we did an outside activity. (i.e. if we went on a hike on Saturday, we didn't have a den meeting on Monday).

 

For Wolves and Bears, I believe it's the call of the parents. Do what works best for you. I strongly encourage Webelos to meet weekly. This helps them prepare for regularity of troop meetings. I remember once seeing a group of Webelos that had never met weekly throughout their Cub Scout time. They were shocked to find out troops met weekly, and that they were expected to be there!

[SR540Beaver]

EagleinKY,

 

Not to mention that they meet 12 months a year instead of 9.

[SR540Beaver]

Which brings up another thought. I've met a few Troops that choose to shut down for the summer and their only activity is summer camp. Anybody else run across this?

[EagleInKY]

I've heard of it on a few occasions. It's usually a sign of a weak program. There's no reason to shut down during the summer. In fact, you can do a lot of fun things during the summer. Attendance will drop off due to vacations, but that's okay. I would never be a part of a troop that did that.