Den Leaders not communicating

[KrisCC]

Please help. Our pack has almost tripled in size this year and I am trying so hard to give our den leaders, old and new, resources and help. No one responds to emails and not many seem organized and ready for den meetings. I am new to the position of Comittee Chair and not sure what else I can do to get them excited about what they signed up to do.
Grateful for any advise.
Kris

[WB Bear]

Are they coming to the monthy committee meetings?

[Nuts4Scouts]

Are they all trained?

[Nuts4Scouts]

How do you know that "not many seem organized and ready for den meetings"?

Have there been complaints from families? Have you attended any of their den meetings?

Where is your Cubmaster in all of this?

[WB Bear]

Are they going to Roundtables?

[KrisCC]

Alot of them are new, just started in August. Training is in the process some are going tomorrow to the basic leader training. They attended the roundtable that was in September but didnt get alot of feedback from many of them. We have had our first committee meeting and most everyone attended. At the last den meeting I walked around and tried to visit each meeting and some were quite uneventful. Plus I did have one parent complain that our new Tiger Den leader "Popped" his own son on the back of the head. As I mentioned most all of us are new we have about3 leaders that were active last year, but that is it so we are all kinda flying by the seat of our pants and trying to learn the ways of the pack.

[WB Bear]

First, “popping” a kid, whether it’s his own or not is not acceptable. Youth Protection training is available online on National website.

I am glad they are going to training and going to Roundtables. I hope you are attending also.

You mentioned the Den Meetings were uneventful, I don’t really know what you mean by that. Was there nothing going on, were the boys having fun, was the meeting planned? Do they have a Cub Scout Leader Book yet?

Here are a couple links from National’s site that answers some questions for new leaders.

For Den Leaders http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-239.pdf

For Pack Committee: http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-240.pdf

[Nuts4Scouts]

While you might have thought the meetings were uneventful, if the boys were doing things and having fun (even quietly) it was a good meeting.

Fast Start and Youth Protection training is online -

http://olc.scouting.org/

Suggest your leaders all get the Cub Scout Program Helps 2007-2008. This is a step by step guide for den and Pack meetings. You can find the current and the next month's Program Helps online -

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/34304/index.jsp

Here are ideas for the 1st month's den meetings, including ways to help new Scouts earn Bobcat -

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-232.pdf

Ideas for a Pack's first 3 months -

http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/resources/13-010/13-010-E.pdf

As for the complaining parent, while "popping" your own son might not be politically correct, or necessarily a very good idea, it is not against Youth Protection policies. BSA does not get involved in how parents discipline their own children, as long as it is not child abuse. BSA does state that it expects parents to discipline their own children.

Did this complaining parent say what the offending Tiger was up to? Was he being rude or running amok?

Did the Tiger Leader touch anyone else's children?

It is often the Leader's children that are the worst behaved in a den until they get used to the idea of their parent being there for all of the boys, not just them.

Maybe, instead of just complaining, this parent could suggest to the Tiger Leader that they switch off the discipline. Complainer could discipline Leader son and Leader could discipline Complainer son. Boys will often listen better to an adult they are not related to!

Do you have any nearby Troops? Perhaps one that is also chartered by your Charter Organization? Find out if they would be willing to supply the Pack with some Den Chiefs. A good Den Chief is a wonderful thing. They could help out those new leaders a lot!

For your communication problems, you need to stress at your next Committee/Leader meeting that leaders will need to check their email often and respond ASAP because that is your main avenue of communication. Let them know you would hate for their boys (or them) to miss out on something because they did not check their email.

Good Luck!

[liscouter]

Do you have a pack trainer?

[Den5Pack457]

Communicate with them in three formats, to ensure the message is coming accross: E-mail; handouts at meetings, and face-to-face (or phone calls).

Also, if you have access to a teleconferencing number, that would be a great help. Before the days of such technology, we would call down the list using everyones 3-way calling. :)

[Frogman]

I have also found ( within the dens) that Messenger services ( MSN, YIM, AIM, Google talk.) work well. Everyone seems to be online these days and pinging them seems to get them 'talking'.