[mikester]

One of the most important things you have to remember is that Cub Scout packs are parent led organizations (Boy Scouts is boy led). If you don't like the folks running the Packs that are around where you live you can absolutely start your own. If your son is in a Pack and you're not contributing to the leadership of that pack then he will get less out of it and is less likely to stay with it. Scouting is not a babysitting service it is an educational program to teach our boys the (American) values we hold dear. As an aside - your boys are not the only ones who will benefit from Scouting - I can't tell you how much as a leader that I benefit from it.

To volunteer you do not have to be a uniformed leader - you can volunteer to simply teach something at a den meeting.

Some of those things we do seem mundane at the time - like the food guide stuff or 'keeping yourself safe' - maybe they seem lame but to a six year old they can make a difference. My son took those lessons and quite possibly saved his brother's life after a head injury resulting in a concussion. I'm not quite sure how else to put it - his brother probably wouldn't have died but if we had not reacted based on his alerting us to what had happened after witnessing it we wouldn't have known why his brother was having the problems he was. His Doctor was adamant that what my 7 year old did was in fact a life saving event.

I am in the process of completing the paperwork to submit him for a 'Medal of Honor' for it. I just hope it gets approved by the national council.

It is an extremely rewarding program for parents and the boys (and you can usually include the siblings in most events too with the proper planning).

As a leader I try to encourage as much parent participation as possible. One of the main things I do is to encourage the MOMs to be leaders as well. I tell folks that if we want are kids to treat people equally then we have to show them what that means and act as equals ourselves. I have Den planning meetings twice a year just to see which parents want to teach what topics. Parents who don't volunteer usually have kids who don't enjoy it and don't stay. I don't force anyone to do anything and I tell people if you can't make every event - don't sweat it - we'll probably do the same thing next year. I know for a fact I won't be making every event and am not going to sweat that. Pretty soon the boy won't stand for that though...