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Dexman PE PMP

Dexman PE PMP

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I've seen a few mention that they are helping their kids through cubscouts and was curious to see what you all are actually doing.

I've been my son's den leader for about a year and a half now. I stepped into the role halfway through his Wolf year (2nd grade), have helped the boys achieve their Bear rank (3rd grade), and I am now in the planning process to take them through their Webelos activities (4th & 5th grades). I will be spending the next couple of months doing some electives and some pack activities (push cart derby & rain gutter regatta).

This summer we have a couple camp activities planned. The first is a 3-day daycamp in June where the boys work with other packs to complete some of their rank requirements, and the 2nd is an overnight camping trip in the foothills just to the west of Denver.

 
We are very fortunate in that we have some very active parents. We've had a couple den leaders step down in the time I've been involved and each time there seems to be 2 willing to step up in their place.

 
Webelos and tiger are the best years of cubs IMO.

I did 5 years as CM . And did two tours of duty as den leader.. Enjoyed every minute of it except for my second sons den.. Had a great group of parents for first den. Had an awful/lazy/selfish group for the second den. Which I hated cause I felt like my younger so didn't get the same experience...

Webelos you can start doing some camping on your own and generally start leading them down the path to scouts....

I was an ASM at my old troop and I am just an active parent at our new troop. We joined a new (first year) troop and we really like it. Nice and small .. And oh yeah .. Backpacking at MOAB in April!

 
well the troop cancelled MOAB trip in exchange for some type of cooking campout. :(

last year a new eagle requirement was they made Cooking Merit Badge required for Eagle, which I get, but the reason its hard for scouts to get their cooking merit badge is because most summer camps have dinning halls and dont let the scouts (or offer) to let the scouts cook for themselves (when I was a kid) you cooked 2 meals a day and had dinner at the dining hall, (when my dad was a scout it was probably all 3 meals) and it made it so easy to get this merit badge..

Whats ironic is throuhg my childhood (even being a dumb jock) and in my adult life, most of all my true friends I met through scouts. its an amazing organziation, even now in a new town, I find myself becoming friends with the dads in my kids scout group (even the ones with ponytails) and the main 2 friends I miss from back home our kids went through together from tigers to boy scouts...

not all packs and troops are good for your kid so if you end up in one you dont like there is always another one around the corner....

I plan to start a venturing group when my daughter hits 14...

 
Road Guy said:
well the troop cancelled MOAB trip in exchange for some type of cooking campout. :(

last year a new eagle requirement was they made Cooking Merit Badge required for Eagle, which I get, but the reason its hard for scouts to get their cooking merit badge is because most summer camps have dinning halls and dont let the scouts (or offer) to let the scouts cook for themselves (when I was a kid) you cooked 2 meals a day and had dinner at the dining hall, (when my dad was a scout it was probably all 3 meals) and it made it so easy to get this merit badge..
Click to expand...
How often does the troop go camping?

When I was in scouts our troop had a campout every month except December and most of them were backpacking trips were there were no amenities at all so we had plenty of opportunities to cook.

 
erghh the people that run boy scouts today (that were probably never in boy scouts) have kind of taken it to a new level..

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Cooking

You also have to cook a bunch of times for rank advacement now (I think for second and first class)which doesnt count towards the merit badge.. so it just makes it much more of a chore than "hey lets just learn how to cook" so you have kids having to wait to get their turn to cook and be grubmaster, but yes we camp once a month (and twice this month) and they stretch it out as far as possible, as in one kid cooks for two kids so they can pass it around..

I also thought joining a Boy Scout troop in Colorado would be intimidating, as in I would now be the “junior camper”, whereas back in Atlanta the kids in my Cub Scout troop asked me if I invented Boy Scouts (true story)..

I have quickly learned that the (Adult) folks in the scout troop here are just as inexperienced campers / backpackers as the majority of the peeps back home were, last campout we arrived in the dark, I set up my REI half dome tent and all the extras in about 10 minutes as I watched almost every other adult aside from the scout master fumble putting their wal mart tents up in the dark..yes I was a good scout and helped them out and just thought to myself… hmm maybe some things are always the same…

It was painful watching the adults start their campfire, I had to retire to my tent where I watched a movie I downloaded on my Ipad :)

 
and cooking in the winter here presents its own problems ;) check out this picture of kids cooking at the February Campout....mine is the one in the orange coat

GC_BSA.jpg

 
I'm starting to struggle with keeping the reins in on a dozen 3rd graders. We meet every two weeks, and for a while they would pay attention, participate, and have a good time. The last couple of months I've had to resort to "time outs" for boys not listening and distracting others. Last week, I had to send a boy home early because he hit another. I was happy to see that 3 of the boys weren't coming back in the fall because a smaller group is more managable, but shortly thereafter I've gotten 2 new recruits.

There is no way I would have the patience to be a 3rd grade teacher. 1.5 hours every other week is enough for me.

 
having been a den leader twice (full terms) I can tell yuo the bear year is the worst, boring material ,etc

Give it till webelos and you cant at least do fun stuff (change tires on cars, build shit, go camping as a den, etc ) but yeah I was always at my witts end the 3rd greade year.. and 12 is probably too much without some help, assistant den leader, parents, etc and thats what I had in both dens..

 
Most of the parents are there for the meetings, but I'm constantly having to stop whatever I'm doing to get the boys to pay attention.

Material isn't too bad, but it was nowhere near as fun as the Wolf stuff. Looking ahead at the Webelos book, it looks like it's more "hands on" for the boys and less of me just standing there talking through things.

 
I had a couple of the same parents in the second den I did, they all noticed that I was a lot "meaner/cut to the chase/ etc" with the second group than I was the first, the first den I was trying to be nice and expected the parents to police their children if they got out of hand.. the second time it was like "look I aint got time for your shit so either shut up and listen or get the hell out of the meeting" well not neceasarily in those words...

first group of kids were better behaved, second group were a lot of kids that I dont think had heard the words "no" very often..

I enoyed webelos years and just spent a lot of the den meetings outdoors when possible.

 
The rowdy ones have not heard NO very often. Luckily there are only a few of those. The problem is that those few feel like they can do anything they want because I'm distracted by a few others who don't believe in "wait your turn". So I will ask the group a question, and these over-zealous kids will stand up and walk right up to me with their hands in the air because they want me to call on them, and while I'm trying to get the sat down and told they don't have to talk with every question, the rowdy ones start messing around.

At the meeting last night I told the boys that if I have to stop the meeting because of a safety issue (I was going through the Frisbee beltloop), that scout would be sat down and they were done for the night. It actually went over fairly well. I may have to continue that trend...

 
do you have any contacts with Boy Scout troops in your area? there is a position they have called Den Chief, and they (the boys) need it for rank advacement, if you can get one of them to help even at some of the meetings I found it pretty helpful, the cubs like seeign a slightly older boy scout (in a crisp uniform with lots of patches) that helps out and guides them while your back is turned?

 
Yeah, we will be in contact with one this fall. This year we're still Bear scouts, and the troop we've talked with says they only really do the Den Chief with Webelos 2. I've told them I would like to have one starting in the fall once we start the Webelos 1 stuff, but we'll see how that works out...

 
So Mini-Dex was a rock star at Monday's pack meeting. They handed out the awards earned over the summer and he is already about 1/2 way done with his Webelos badge and has a couple requirements done towards his Arrow of Light badge.

Some of the things he earned this summer:

Outdoor Activity Award

Outdoorsman Pin

Scientist Pin

5 beltloops & 3 academic/athletic pins.

 
In 2003, my son came home from 1st grade and said the Cub Scout Den Leader came to school. He showed the kids what the Cub Scouts did and my son was immediately hooked.

Last year, my son earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

He has gone to two National Boy Scout Jamborees. (and was Senior Patrol Leader for one of the Jamborees)

My son is going into his senior year and still goes to every meeting that he can.

Needless to say, I am a big fan of Scouts and what it provides to the youth of today!!!!!!!!!!

 
congrats to your Eagle! (From an Eagle, its something he will always be proud of!)

Congrats to mini-dex as well! So is this his second Webelos year? as in he crosses over to boy scouts this year?

We joined a new troop this year, when I say new, I mean we joined in year 1 of the troops existence. been some organizational challenges, were bottom heavy, lots of younger scouts, few older scouts. But its working..

We came from a mega troop, where you had to email 2 weeks in advance to request board of reviews and SM conferences, here its much less structured... however a little structure is good IMO..

Ive got a 15 year old life scout that needs to find an eagle project and one that just got his tenderfoot last week..

 
He just crossed over to Webelos this summer, so he's just getting started. Won't get into Boy Scouts until the spring/summer of 2016.

 
I conduct interviews for my company from time to time. When I ask about background and intrest, if scouting comes up, + points. If eagle scout, right to top of the list.

 

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