Gonna Be Den Leader for Our Boys Cub Scout Den - Any Suggestions?

M.D. Holloway · 08-25-2006, 06:12 PM

On paper, I really don't have time to do this but there appears to be a leadership vacuum in our Sons Wolf Cub Scout den so I stepped up. I'm glad I did. Any of you guys have experience in being a Wolf Cub Scout Den leader?

singpilot · 08-25-2006, 06:15 PM

Don't discuss ANYTHING remotely political.

You've seen how out of hand it gets in here. Normal people turn into wackos.

M.D. Holloway · 08-25-2006, 06:18 PM

Funny. I have actually talked a little about the middle east with him. Although he loves guns and shooting, knives, camo, tanks and planes - in his opinion he thinks that they should learn to share and get along like he has to do with his sister, neighbors, cousins and friends.

coloradoporsche · 08-25-2006, 06:25 PM

Don't ask, don't tell.

stomachmonkey · 08-25-2006, 06:26 PM

No touching.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

you should book your flight to Thailand now...

Hugh R · 01:45 PM

My son is having his Eagle Scout Court of Honor this Sunday. Your all invited. Takes lots and lots of pictures through the years. You'll be glad that you did. Insist that he keep at it, the big reason my son is getting his Eagle, is the cattle prod I kept stuck up his butt. If he really doesn't want to do scouting, fine, but make him understand that he isn't going to be substituting video games and that he has to have some focused activity in life. Keep it fun and stay involved, don't let him perceive it as a chore.

M.D. Holloway · 08-25-2006, 06:59 PM

Procon - thanks dude, as far as I'm concerned there is nothing as important as Our Kids.

As for a few of you others, come on now guys, this is my Boy we are talking about here. I play pretty fast and loose with all sorts of stuff but any reference to the bad stuff as it refers to the kids gets to close to that line that shouldn't get crossed.

So, I will tee it up as an attempt for jocularity and perhaps a few beers in ya. So be it. Nuff said on that. Back to the business at hand.

billwagnon · 08-25-2006, 08:05 PM

Please wait until the second meeting to tell the parents you go by the online name "LubeMaster".

mikester · 08-25-2006, 08:59 PM

Stay away from topics like politics and religion. When I left scouting (I was an assitant scout master and eagle scout) in my early twenties I was quite tired of having to make sure people "believed in god" as was required.

We had one kid up for his Council Eagle Board of Review and they asked him "Do you believe in god" and he said "No." So, they said he would not be an Eagle. Getting that far isn't easy, it caused quite a stir.

Moments like that drew my disgust; The organizations intolerance just really got me down. I don't know if my boy will be a scout but if he is you can be damn sure I will be one of his scout masters or the head of the Troop's council or something.

Watch out for the power mongers (like me I suppose) and remember that it is for the kids more than anything. See if you can get a hold of some of the older manuals as they are much much better while the newer ones have more "safety" (Read: Lawsuit proof) in mind.

dtw · 08-25-2006, 09:11 PM

Watch the refreshments. Our den mother gave us Twinkies and Pepsi at one meeting. I believe she's still in a padded room.

HardDrive · 08-25-2006, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by billwagnon
Please wait until the second meeting to tell the parents you go by the online name "LubeMaster".

LMFAO!!!!!!

HardDrive · 08-25-2006, 10:53 PM

I think it is great you are doing this. I guess the big thing would be, DO COOL STUFF. Just like your son, boys obviously love to do cool, adventurous stuff.

Less 'leather craft', more marksmanship.

Moses · 08-26-2006, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by billwagnon
Please wait until the second meeting to tell the parents you go by the online name "LubeMaster".

And don't tell them about all that nasty stuff you did with the Norwegian model. Save that for the Webelos.

charleskieffner · 08-26-2006, 09:00 AM

i myself went thru cub scouts webelos and boy scouts. made life scout, short about 10 merit badges from eagle(sigh), order of the arrow. had a wild man troop leader with a dodge power wagon and a .45! man did we hike our brains out . camped and camped and camped. rain snow sleet flash floods hail heat. didnt matter to us ..........we were having fun. to this day what i learned still is important. still camp hike in wind rain sleet snow etc.

had my 2 boys up to 1st yr of boy scouts and then they decided on baseball. oh well broke my heart they didnt continue, but they have learned how to camp via hunting fishing

best times of my pre adult life.........then high school got in the way!

scottmandue · 08-26-2006, 09:18 AM

I know you said you were only doing this "on paper" but as others said more camping, hiking, picnicking, doing stuff outdoors, IMHO kids need more of that kind of stuff in todays world of video game etc..

When I was a scout we went through three scoutmasters and two were completely different, one was hard core outdoors type... we went on one hiking-camping trip a month plus day hikes scattered about on weekend. The other was a milk toast type so we went to allot of meetings and we went on a few pre-organized scout camp-outs.

I have my old scout guide if you are interested.. however I was a bit of a scamp back then and did creative artwork all over it (shocking! I know) for example the three cherub like scouts on the cover are now smoking pipes and have goatee's.

rammstein · 08-26-2006, 11:12 AM

The only scouting memories I have are from the times we went out and started campfires and went hiking. I'd stick with that stuff. I don't think children have the attention spans for meetings, as evidenced by all of the trouble I got into during them. Fart noises during quiet times will never get old.

Hugh R · 08-26-2006, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by procon
Hugh,

Congrats to your son, only one of my pack stuck with it long enough receive the honor of Eagle.

Thanks Procon! Interesting tidbit from scouting, only 2 out of 100 boys who join scouting get Eagle, only 1 in 4 boys in the US even join scouts at all. That means (if my math is correct) only 1/2 of 1% of boys in the US ever become an Eagle Scout, pretty exclusive club huh?

jeffgrant · 08-26-2006, 01:28 PM

Push them to their limits... help them to accomplish things that they thought were impossible, and they will thank you for life.

Don't let them become (or stay) pussies or cry-babies.

As others have said, do lots of fun, cool stuff.

Lead by example.

And, most importantly, have fun!

scottmandue · 08-26-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeffgrant
Push them to their limits... help them to accomplish things that they thought were impossible, and they will thank you for life.

Don't let them become (or stay) pussies or cry-babies.

Dude, we are talking cub scouts... you make it sound like he should show up in knee booths and a ridding croup.

Beside just prying them away for their gameboy and ipod will be traumatic enough.