Individualized Troop needs For Webelos

[Its Me]

I am a Webelos I, den leader. In the fall of this year I will begin having my den meet, greet and sleep with a few troops in the area. Our pack draws from two elementray schools that are about 6 miles apart in an east-west direction. I have one scout who goes to the East school and who is also at the eastern end of that school's boundary. All four of my other boys are from the west school and are more to the west side of that district.

 

The troops convientent for the east-side boy may be very different than troops convientent for the west-side boys. Do I have all boys go to meet and greets on both ends of town? Do I act as the manager for these boys and set up individual troop meetings for each?

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by Its Me)

[Lisabob]

Have you talked with the parents? If it were me I'd try to arrange as many events with as many troops as possible. It may be the case that the boys will go to some events with a troop they have no intention of joining (or that mom & dad have no intention of driving to every week, to be more accurate). But so what? At least they get a wider exposure. Additionally, it might be that some of the boys are unable to attend one troop's webelos-oriented events (schedule conflicts, illness, etc.). Purely for AoL requirements, it would be nice for them to have multiple opportunities.

 

So sure, I'd schedule as many things as possible and then leave it up to the parents and boys to make decisions about what they'll attend.

 

Lisa'bob

[gwd-scouter]

Absolutely try to arrange to visit all the troops. I think doing it together as a den is the best way, but if schedules conflict scouts and their families can visit on their own. Set up the dates and times with the troops and give the schedules to each scout. As Lisabob says, they can then decide what and when they can attend.

 

Keep in mind, Troops are not one size fits all. One troop's program plan may attract a couple of your scouts, while another troop's plans may be more appealing to the other boys. And, of course, their parents may ultimately make the decision for convenience if one troop is closer to home than another. Not that that's the way it should be, but it happens.

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

Let the boys experience as many troops as possible and let them and their parents be the judge. I have a troop that meets in a church that literally backs up to my housing addition. We could walk to it. However, my son and I travel about 22 miles one way to get to the troop we are in. There are numerous troops within 5 miles of our house, but none of them measured up to the troop on the other side of town.

[Eagledad]

Very impressive Beav. I agree with all the post, but as a Cub Master for a few years, I found that families tend to get lost with the differences of troops after about four different visits. I knew we were visiting too many troops when the Webelos were picking troops by the best games they did at their troop meetings.

 

I might suggest you pick the best four to six troops. I used to find out who had the most consistant programs then send our scouts to see an example of the biggest, smallest, most boy run, and least boy run. I also knew which troops didn't mind handicap scouts or troops that had a long tradition of stability. Then, I suggested parents visit other troops if they knew of one they were interested in but we didn't visit.

 

I think it is pretty important to get the parents involved, althought there is always at least one that just doesn't care. There was always several scouts who didn't make a decision until the last minute. Challenging for the CM wanting to bring a Troop leader for crossover, and also challenging for the SM who was called to recieve a new scout, but changed his mind at the last moment. I had a few times where I went to a crossover and came back with more new scouts than expected. I learn to take more books and neckerchefs than expected.

 

Good luck with your Webs.

 

Barry

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

Yeah....what my buddy Barry said!

 

Troops are like churches, families or fingerprints. Everyone is similar, but different. The Cub leadership need to be active in the district and district roundtables and get to know the troops and their leaders. They can convey information about individual troops to the prospective scouts and their parents to help find a custom fit. When my son and I stated our adventure, I thought I liked the idea of a smaller troop. That didn't work out too well for us and we discovered we liked a larger troop much better.

[MaScout]

Has anyone used a questionaire for the boys in regards to what a Webelos Scout should be looking for when selecting a troop to attend?

[EagleInKY]

I'll also echo the other comments. I would try to limit it to 2 or 3. I would base it on a couple of things. When I was Cubmaster, I did this unofficially. We looked at (1) what has been the retention success of our previous Webelos, and (2) which ones follow the "scout" program. We found that the big troop that everyone held up as the perfect program had a horrible retention record with the boys from our pack. At least 90% dropped out the first year. I also came to realize that it was a Merit Badge mill that was mainly in the business of cranking kids through to Eagle. Our guys were seen as "outsiders" and were never felt welcome once they came on board. But, boy, did their troop look impressive to the parents that visited.

 

So, I would find 2 or 3 troops that have a proven track record and focus on them. If there is a boy in the den that has an interest in a particular troop, I would add them to the list.