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1 den meeting a month?

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2:06 am
September 22, 2010

moonshake

PTC Bear

posts 41

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Post edited 6:07 am – September 22, 2010 by moonshake
Post edited 6:09 am – September 22, 2010 by moonshake
Post edited 6:10 am – September 22, 2010 by moonshake

Hello All,

John here, CM for a small Pack in Minnesota.

I'm wondering what you think of this situation? Being limited to 1 den meeting a month for most of our dens.

Of course, this would be in addition to the monthly Pack Meeting + one other pack activity per month (i.e. Halloween parade, fire station open house, etc).

The reason I am having trouble with any more than that is that I am incredibly busy (2 jobs working 6 overnight shifts) and I have 2 daughters in Girl Scouts and other activities. I feel a definate imbalance there… the more time i put into scouts and my son, the less I give to the girls.

Also, my other leaders are basically in the same boat. I approached my Bear DL (my #2 guy) about taking over for CM next year and he came back with this:

"John – As intriguing as the job sounds, I don't think I will have time. As it is, I am already volunteering on the Citizens Financial Advisory Committee for the School board, for the High School Swim team, for the (town) Junior Achievement coordinator(As well as teach two classes), and as you know, the Bear den."

He's busier than I am! And he has more kids than I do. Oi!

I know that the Fast Tracks/Den Planning targets 15-16 den meetings a month to get everything accomplished. And we'll be doing 1/2 the meetings that with only 1 den meeting a month. I try to offset some of this by allowing extra time for rank badges (end of school year vs Blue & Gold time). I know meeting in the summer would make this a no brainer, but that doesn't happen. I put out events in the summer, but few take advantage of them.

I know it's a battle with other activites… especially sports as the boys get older and the higher ranks thin out. It's part of my recruiting pitch to tell folks that "Scouting is Flexible" when they bring up points like this. But I've already encountered a tough choice as I had to tell my son he could not join basketball this year, because it interfered with Scout nights. So are we really "flexible"?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

12:56 am
October 1, 2010

ScouterAdam

Portland, OR

PTC Webelos

posts 86

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In our Pack, the Wolves & Bears do one Den Meeting a month. The Tigers this year are just starting so, maybe two meetings a month. The Webelos I have always been two a month. It's the Den Leader who just kept it going.

Main thing for us is as den leaders we like you have other jobs and volunteer work that limits it. I wish it was more of 2 meetings. But, we have parents do homework with the boys to earn their rank.

As long as they get through what they need to, do that. use the 2010 guide as a guide.

Cubmaster Pack 221 Portland, OR WE1-492-09 Beaver Patrol, Staff WE1-492011, Blog:http://scouteradam.wordpress.com/

3:23 pm
October 5, 2010

Scouter Doug

Kenilworth, NJ

PTC Webelos

posts 91

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With all the "busy" factors you can expect that very little will be done outside the meetings (at least that's been my experience). How many meetings do you have currently? My former pack did 2 meetings a month when I came on. I pushed for more but got the "too busy" response from everyone else. We stuck with 2 meetings a month and usually one other (weekend) outing. Both meetings were more like den meetings and there wasn't a real pack meeting except things like blue/gold, pinewood, etc. Meetings were opened as a Pack and then we broke off to Dens.

Doug Metz – Scoutmaster – Troop 83 – Kenilworth, NJ http://scoutersjourney.wordpress.com – twitter: dwmetz

3:23 pm
October 5, 2010

Scouter Doug

Kenilworth, NJ

PTC Webelos

posts 91

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Post edited 7:25 pm – October 5, 2010 by Scouter Doug

Doug Metz – Scoutmaster – Troop 83 – Kenilworth, NJ http://scoutersjourney.wordpress.com – twitter: dwmetz

1:10 pm
October 28, 2010

MISS Liberty

California

Admin

posts 231

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History has shown that having less than 2 meetings a month reduces retention by almost half. Yikes! Something to consider. However, I think if you're doing an outing every month (not all packs do), then technically you can consider that three meetings a month.

Personally, I like the "one thing every week" rule of thumb if you can pull it off. 2 den meetings, 1 pack meeting, 1 den/pack outing. However, if you can't pull it off, you can't pull it off.

I have seen Tigers run successfully with 1 meeting a month, but they did NOT receive rank in February with the rest of the pack, they received rank in May.

I've seen Webelos run successfully with 1 meeting a month, but it was a Saturday afternoon meeting and ran for 3 hours (which included a snack and some "run around and be crazy" time.)

Honestly, less than that and you'll be expecting parents to do everything at home with their kids. Chances are, if they don't have an hour a week to invest in a den meeting, why would they have an hour a week to invest in scouting at home? If they don't have the time, they don't have the time.

Scouting is flexible in some ways, but Scouting, as with ANY activity, is all about choices. You can't take every road. Typically, you don't earn EVERY belt loop – you pick and choose the ones you want to try. You don't typically do EVERY elective – you pick and choose. In that same vein, kids can't be in every single after school activity. We all have to make choices about how we spend our time and sometimes that means not doing one thing you want to do because another is higher priority.

In the end, if Scouting is important people will choose to show up as often as they reasonably can. If it's not important, it doesn't matter how few meetings you have, there will always be an excuse not to show up.

"[S]He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which." ~ Douglas Adams

11:17 pm
November 7, 2010

Veretax

Hinton, WV

PTC Bear

posts 68

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I'll be honest, as a Webelos leader, I'm finding it difficult enough to cover things in 2 meetings a month sometimes. But I understand the time constraints being a problem.

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