r/cubscouts

Looking ahead to next school year...my Lions need the blue cub shirts. The online Scout Shop says XS exists but doesn't offer it as an option for purchase. They'd both absolutely be swimming in a size S (otherwise I could hand that down to one of them). I really don't want to tailor clothes for a 6 year old and they're not tiny for their age so I'm shocked an XS shirt isn't readily available. This may be the reason so few of our tigers ever wear them... does an XS exist?

So, the pack we have been in since Lions is failing . . we are finishing Bears now. We are down to 4 families left. Only pack left in our town, pre-covid there were a few. I have always been a little frustrated with how unorganized the group has been, but these families have been running this group this way for a long time and I was the new guy, I was not going to be the squeaky wheel. I was a DL and did what I could to help wherever I could. So we are heading into the Webelos and AOL years and looking at troops. There are two troops in our town, the other troop, not associated with our pack, is much closer to our house and in-line with our priorities. I am stuck because I don't want my child to miss out on the Webelos/AOL experience but we both are a little frustrated because the pack has gotten smaller and more disorganized every year and we just dont have fun anymore. I'm at a loss, dont want to spend another year herding cats, dont want to drive 30 minutes to the next town for a pack that is just temporary to fulfill some requirements before Scouts, and dont want to quit.

I am going to be a new Cub Scout den leader and do not want the switchback pants offered on Scoutshop.org. What suggestions do you have for alternate mens pants?

Looking forward to all of your suggestions.

Well, my first summer as Cubmaster and with a supportive Committee Chair, we're going to offer 3 summer events for the scouts.

I'm expecting very low engagement - we only have about 30 scouts since cross-over, and I expect maybe 10 scout families, tops, based on our typical engagement for special events.

I'm planning:

1. a hike at a state park and a picnic (there's bathrooms and a picnic area)

Duration: a couple hours

2. fishing at an accessible location (there's porta potties)

Duration: a couple hours

3. a field day / BBQ / picnic. (there will be bathrooms and running water available.)

Duration: undecided- maybe an afternoon.

Any lessons learned in your own experience?

I'm in need of some advice or reassurance.

For background: tough_interscout_issue OR TL;DR: Scout A and Scout B can't get along at school, and Scout A doesn't want to come to meetings as a result. according to Mom A. I've offered to help mediate, but the offer was declined, so I'm keeping to myself.

Now we continue on with new information...

Recently, unrelated to any of this, I've been filled in on some of the school drama from Dad D who's Scout D and another Scout E got sent to the principal's office for quarreling with Scout B when Scout B destroyed their "snowman" (some kind of craft) on the playground at school. Dad D is a friend of mine and our Committee Chair, and he was just sharing this information as a dad disappointed in his kid's reactions. I haven't mentioned to him anything about the predicament between Scout A and Scout B.

Now we have Scout C who also doesn't get along with Scout B at school, and now Scout C has been missing meetings as a result, according to Mom C.

Thinking back, I think I can recall some times when Scout B might have been rude to some of these other scouts in my Den meeting, but without the context of these strained relationships, I didn't really think much of it. I recall having to remind him to be nice after one of those instances.

This is Scout B's first year in my Den, and I've gone from having minor issues, to issues that are impacting my Den's ability to function. I've not discussed any of this with Mom B- it hasn't been my place, since I've been asked to not intervene. My instinct is to continue turning a blind eye to it until I'm tapped to do something. However, now there's more than 33% of my den being impacted in some way or another and I feel compelled to do something to ensure a safe space for the scouts.

At the very least, I'm considering breaking up my Den up into two groups- swapping meetings every other week. I'll separate Scout B from Scouts A, C, and possibly Scouts D and E as well. With 11 scouts, I have more than enough scouts to do that. It does mean we'd cover half as much material in the school year, however, but armed with the information that I have, I feel like that's the best I can do.

What do you think I should do?

Looking for ideas of how you all handle meetings after advancement but before the school year starts up. We usually get a few new scouts around the new school year so I hesitate to start doing the adventures (especially required adventures) for the next ranks. Also with summer approaching, attendance is usually on the lower side due to vacations and such. Any good ideas to help this burnt out dad/cubmaster/den leader. Thanks in advance.

I tried to salvage three donated shirts for my Cubs. First I used goo gone available at stores. It did nothing. Then I broke down and purchased Badge Magic's remover. It did a little better, but still left major amounts of residue.

They're in the wash now, but I suspect I have wasted $30 in product and hours of my time.

Please don't use Badge Magic. The shirts Scouting America makes last forever. This stuff ruins it.

My son just finished Tigers. He has his Tiger badge, but he didn't get a Bobcat badge. Isn't the Bobcat supposed to be the top of the diamond?

I took Baloo about a month ago. Where do I find whether my completion was entered into the system? I checked my record as my.scouting, and I don’t see anything there. I realize that might be the answer to my question, but before I badger the trainer (another volunteer) asking here seemed like a good idea. Thanks!

Hey! I am cubs lead for a quite small scouting group in the Netherlands. The reason it's so small is because we're in an endless cycle of

> We need more cubs

> for that we need more lead

> we need to be known to fetch lead

> if were known we fetch more cubs

I have no clue how to get lead, especially my age (ages 17 to 25)... any ideas on where to look? Churches maybe..?

For those of you that have been involved with scouting for a while how many uniforms do you have and wear regularly? I’ve been involved my whole life and have collected 6 different uniforms for events and things I’ve done. My youth youth, venture, camp staff, centennial jambo, pack, troop, and now woodbadge. I routinely wear different uniforms to meetings to display to our scouts that scouting has more to offer than just one thing.

I attempting to find a comprehensive list of leader awards (current and retired) and am having a difficult time. I can find some in one location but then find another that notes leaders who completed Eagle, Arrow of Light or Religious in their youth can get an associated knot. I see there’s an emergency preparedness award (as an example) but then find another source that says it’s retired. Then another, more recent source, that shows how to earn it.

Is there a comprehensive and current list of all leader achievements? Both current and retired?

My son's pack just wrapped up our year and the Cubmaster asked if I wanted to be the assistant cubmaster.

I said yes.

Please share any advise on what you wish you knew going into this role. Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.

For further context, we joined a pack last year and this was the first time I had ever done anything related to scouts, so this is all still relatively new to me.

I've been CubMaster for a little over three years now, got the position because there wasn't anyone else in the pack. Not anyone else willing to take the position, no one else was in the pack. I had one other adult volunteer; they didnt have a child in scouting anymore then.

FF to now. Had 3 cubs, counting my child, before the summer break. The AOL is now in our associated troop and the other scout had custody changes. The pack is still alive on paper with me as CM and my daughter in it. The other adult volunteer left. Council recruiting events dont bring anyone in, and the scouting website doesn't generate any responses either. When I did talk to the recruiting lead at council I said "I'm not going to deny kids who want to be in the program, but I'm also not going to 'Weekend At Bernie's' the pack and would most probably the off chance someone does ask that I'd redirect them to a different pack in the area."

Thr troop asked if they could share my contact info during the Memorial Day parade if anyone asks. Im going to give it one more round through the end of the school year and some of summer.

How do you definitively know it's time to close up shop, and how do you have those conversations with the sponsoring org?

I'm an Eagle Scout who became a lions Den leader this year and will probably become assistant next year and then cubmaster.

We have k-3, but had no 4th grade den. AOL crossed over.

We do a decent amount of activities, but are kinda disorganized, aren't recruiting enough, and don't have a lot of involvement from parents.

My personal project is getting the word out there. I got our Facebook page back up and we're posting now. I got business/recruitment cards and pass them out to parents I think might be interested.

We just got onto "Band" and I think planning events and such will get better with that, but I still feel there is something missing in terms of how we do meetings.

There is/was a pack meeting roughly every week with the older kids, and I'd join them as well. We'd then break off after opening ceremony to individual dens and we'd just do our own thing. After looking at how some packs do meetings, it seems they coordinate what all the dens are working on each month and separate den vs pack meetings. Also I don't think we ever do a parent meeting, and the leader meeting was only once before I joined at the start of the year.

I think almost everyone is very open to change, they just need someone passionate, which is me, to drive things forward. Can anyone give me some good advice/goals on how we can get things in order and humming along.

I have 3 kids under 7, so I can only take on so much, but I really want to create a pack that kids will have fond memories of for years to come, like I did.

I’m a couple years into volunteering with cub scouts. Does anyone have a great campout plan / template they can share?
Surely someone has this, and I don’t have to create it from scratch.

I’m looking for timeline / when to communicate details to the attendees plus here are the meals we serve, these are the ingredients we need to make it, and this the equipment needed for said meal. And here is who is making it, who is distributing it and who is cleaning up after.

Getting frustrated with lack of structure and our team forgetting certain ingredients/ equipment. I know everyone is trying their best, and we’re all volunteers. Hoping someone has a template to share that can help us put a plan together - so we’re not trying to roast 40 hot dogs with 4 short weenie roasting sticks, again.

I’m not worried about a schedule- but if you have one you want to share, I’d be glad to have it!

Thanks in advance!

We have been debating changing packs for a while. I am committee chair and honestly, despite my best efforts, I feel like it is a one man show and things won't change. I have tried everything but many leaders ignore my communications or flat out refuse to help. What are some tell tale signs things won't improve and its time to change packs? I don't want to be labeled a quitter or leave them hanging but its not getting better.

Our webelos reached out to city hall and met with the mayor and city manager for about 30 minutes. Everyone at city hall was gracious and welcoming, they even had “swag” like mints and pens.

One of the parents wants everyone to chip in to buy about $50 worth of Godiva chocolates for the mayor’s office. I am the cubmaster and think a signed thank you card is more appropriate, I’m pretty strongly opposed to getting a thank you gift for our elected representatives.

What do you think?

My son has been in Cub scouts since he was a lion, he was a Wolf this year. My daughter will be starting Kindergarten next year. I originally wanted to put her in Girl Scouts but the only troops near us are middle and high schoolers.

My daughter is very shy and timid. I’m not sure she would do well in cub scouts. Our pack is mainly boys so I’m worried she may feel left out.

Has anyone had a shy girl do well in cub scouts? The National registration fee is free for Military this coming year so I wouldn’t be out too much money if she decides she doesn’t like it but still struggling if she should even try.

I am looking into gifting a journal to our den leaders before next year and was wanting some ideas from others on what you'd find useful in a 'leader journal'.

I like to do various crafts and have gotten fairly decent with bookbinding so Ive been working on formatting some pages to print for these journals, while leaving plenty of blanks for each leader to have for notes. So far I have a section of blank month calendars (month and days but no years), which I may duplicate to extend the usage, the Scoat Oath, the Scoat Law, and the Outdoor Code. Thinking of maybe a roster/contact page (ie scout, guardians' name, contact #), and a set of pages for tracking adventures completed and which Scouts were present (I know sometimes it helps to write it down the day of before getting to Scoutbook).

If there's any other types of pages or quick info you think would be useful to have collected and quick on hand, please share. I want these to be something functional yet meaningful as well. Thank you!