New Den Formation

[SuperDad]

How do you populate your den rosters following roundup?

We are blessed with a situation of establishing mulitple tiger dens and some new wolf dens following our recent roundup, whereas in the past one den for each grade has been enough.

Do you make arbitrary assignements? Draw names? Hang lists on the wall and let them fight over it?

I feel like it will work best if pals can be together, but I don't have much faith that this theory alone will lead to balanced den rosters.

We also signed enough kids for new Bear and Webelos1 dens, but those will stand alone and seems reasonable to say that everyone who just joined will be in the new den. Plus there is one new den only for each of those levels, so there really is no question there.

In the past, as cubmaster, I have always started out as the tiger coach as well until den leadership could be established or stabalized. Obviously this situation will force our hand on that point, which is probably a good thing in the long-run.

[Nuts4Scouts]

Can you split by schools, classrooms, or even sections of town?

If none of these work, pick 2 Tiger leaders and have them hash out the distribution between themselves.

BTW - I only said to pick 1 leader per Tiger den because with Tiger Partners having an Asst Leader is not a necessity. The Leaders will then have all year to decide which of the other parents they want as their Asst Leaders.

[SuperDad]

I wish it were as easy as a division by school. And, actually, we do have 7-8 tigers signed up from the county school, so I could make a den from those. Which still leaves about 22 from the city school. There are almost as many new wolf cubs in total, but only 2-3 are from the county school. And in a town of 12-13,000 people, everyone is your neighbor anyway. This is a new situation for us, as we usually just replace the graduated Webelos with one new tiger den. This year I'm looking at 3 tiger dens, 3 new wolf dens, 1 new bear den and 1 new w1. I also have enough new 5th grade guys to populate a new w2 den, but we've decided just to add them in with the existing den since the entire committee feels like that den leader with his two asst leaders can handle the extra guys, especially since they're getting a little older. We may do it like a small troop and have two groups with in the one den since they're about to make that transition anyway.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll study a little harder. Maybe I missed some commonality that will help it all make sense.

[Nuts4Scouts]

How the heck did you get all of those new boys to register?

It sounds like your Pack tripled in size!

[SuperDad]

If I could answer THAT question ...

I would already be in the middle of composing the new scout Shop best-seller, "Triple Your pack Size in 7 Easy Steps."

Some things were different this year, but none that would account completely for the fact that many more boys came to sign up. Yes, we have some in-danger units in the area which didn't attend, but even with that, way more boys than usual came to roundup.

Maybe word leaked out that Scouting is a good thing.

[KevGuy]

Wow, I wish I knew the secret myself lol. I am a new Tiger Den leader and have my son and another in my new Den. We are having an open house next week at the police station who have granted us use of the community room. Hopefully we can generate some interest. It seems that sports take a priority for many these days even in first grade. Not sure why since scouting gives kids so many intangible skills they can actually use in life.

[WB Bear]

That is so true. Sports and Scouts can exist together but with sports. Parents and the boys know the program they are going to receive, they are going to play football, soccer etc. They will be receiving instant gratification of their endeavors. Some will have aspirations of college scholarships and then a high paid sports celebrity. Please don’t get me wrong participating is sports is great.

Having your open house in the police station is a great idea and should attract the boys and their parents. Emanate your school and community with the information about your open house. When you get them there you need information on what the Pack will be doing and also some plans for the Den, at least several months worth. There are a lot of resources available for you. There are other leaders in your Pack, Training, Roundtables, and an abundance of literature and videos. Scout Parents also has some awesome information and material you can use.

Best of Luck with the beginning of a great adventure.

[SuperDad]

Greeting again:

I spoke with many experienced scouters, and the overwhelming consensus was to populate the new dens by allowing the scouts to buddy-up.

I was scared silly! Large in my thoughts: What if all the "potential leaders" were to end up with their scouts in the same den together??!?

But what sealed the deal was a reply from a cubmaster who was about to inform a den leader that a scout was transferring to another pack in order to be in scouting with his buddies from baseball.

During the orientation, I gave lots of "testimony" about being a scouter— things I considered positives in my life that were a direct result of my decision to become a scouter.

At the end of our parent orientation, I announced:
1. Here are the lists for the new dens.
2. Get your scout on a list with his buddies.
3. If that list of buddies has an adult willing to take the first meeting, then you have a den meeting next week. If there is no adult willing to take the first meeting, then take the phone list and work it out. When you do, you can meet.
4. I have materials available tonight (program helps) for the first month of meetings.

When we left that night, I had den lists for 3 tiger dens, 2 wolf dens, the new bear den, and new Web1 den, and all but one had someone willing to at least take a few meetings. That one resolved fairly quickly during the next week, and now we have some excited new scouters.

So far, it's been great fun. We've had to make some adjustments, and I expect more to come. But fun.

I don't want this to come off like "this is the way to do it", but it worked for us. I hope it helps you some time. Thank you all for your input.

[WB Bear]

That’s great. I appreciate you sharing with us how you addressed your situation. It is good to hear of success stories. That could be something that could be used by others.

[Apache Bob]

Good work SuperDad. I know alot of Packs that would love to have the problem you had. I sounds like you have a great program running for the boys and are working on a sound foundation with the parents.

[Den5Pack457]

Great job on recruiting! I hope you got all of the kinks worked out of your rosters. I hope all works well throughout the year, and retention at cross-over is as successful as your efforts this fall.