Has anyone done Lions in their Pack yet?

We were asked to participate last year and this year, but opted to not do it, mainly because of not having a leader. At roundup we did have a few kindergarten boys come to roundup, but had to turn them away.

My son will be in Kindergarten in 2 years, but I'm considering starting Lions (with me as the Den Leader) next year if there is interest. I have no problem with Kindergarten being "too young," especially considering how much my daughter did during (and before Kindergarten) and how much my son has already done. Girl Scouts starts at Kindergarten, so I so no reason for Cub Scouts not to. IF, however, the program is there.

I'm not to thrilled that the program is just the LfL Kindergarten program. I know it's the pilot phase, but SOME actual Cub Scout program would be helpful. I'm going to talk to my DE and see what our current Lion packs are doing, and what other resources there are.

What had your experiences been, either in your own pack, or what you've heard from packs that have Lions?

Thanks, Ken

Adding more, younger kids does make it more challenging to have pack activities that are 'age appropriate' for the whole group.  Sometimes I envy the girl scout model–K-1, 2-3, or 4-6 are much more manageable ranges than K-5. Nearly all the other activities mentioned (sports, dance, etc) are also split up in 1- or 2-grade chunks vs. throwing the whole elementary school together.

On campouts and pack activities, we either end up splitting the kids up by age for some of the activities; or we pair up the Webelos with a Tiger or Wolf (which works short-term, not always so great long-term); or we just end up having some kids on one end or the other either be (a) bored or (b) frustrated when we "shoot for the middle".  Some of the kids are really great with working together–but some of them have trouble taking to it.

Hello All,

Just wanted to throw in my (very delayed) two cents from my Cubmaster perspective.   I was coaxed into having Lions two years ago, against my instincts.  The plan was to have a Pack Lions Co-ordinator… and they would run their own meetings, and basically be removed from most Pack activities.   I really got a sense this was just to regain shrinking member totals.  

We signed up 4 boys without hesitation and there was no co-ordinator, as promised to me (I didn't place much money on it, anyway).   I ran the first hokey Lions meeting.   (The work books is little more than a coloring book. I had better results pulling electives out of the Tiger book for their activites).   Well, this group of Lions was actually better behaved than my Tigers.   So instead of running a separate Lions program on top of my other 8 roles…  I just invited them to the Pack Meetings/Activites, and threw the coloring book out the window.   I figured they would actually get more bang for their buck that way. 

The problem is coming up with Pack meeting activies that are not too complicated for the Lions… but still appeal to Web2's.

Last year, I didn't solicit Lions.  But this year, there was pressure from the DE to hit membership totals, and we had a 2nd round up and got 4 Lions in a very de-ja-vu scenario.   I'm taking the same approach.   I'm treating them like regular scouts (surely not the intention).  The only limits I have is no fundraising, advising against outdoor community service, and I am not scoring them in the Pack PWD Results.   (They will be racing under the "open class" illusion…  and I'll give them appropriate awards). 

My final opinion… does it work?   I think it can.   I'm not a fan of the current structure and approach.   I think rolling them in… and talking to them like the bigger boys worked in my situation (as opposed to cordoning them off with coloring books.)     As with many things, it really depends on the boys… and it's the luck of the draw at that point.    Are you going to get the attentive, mellow kids?  Or the ones that will turn your hair gray?

JR