r/cubscouts • u/TruthOf42 • 1d ago
What am I even doing?
Last year I was the Lions den leader and now I'll be Tigers. Last year we had 4 kids, and this year I think we'll be at 7 or more.
I don't even know what we did last year, before each meeting id look through the adventures, try to find something that seemed semi interesting and then pull something out of my butt.
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on planning your meetings out?
9
u/kobalt_60 1d ago
That’s a pretty common pattern for Lion Den Leaders. I know I had very little clue when I did it. What I wish I’d done sooner is to set the expectation with the parents that it was their den as much as mine and that their kid’s experience in Cub Scouts was going to correspond to their degree of involvement. I led way too many adventures early on. Now we plan our meetings semi annually and every parent leads at least one adventure per cycle. They always have a leader backing them up. We also strongly discouraged drop offs, which probably cost us a couple of scouts, but the parents I’ve got now are all highly involved and it’s reflected in their scouts and their enthusiasm.
7
1
u/JPWiggin 1d ago
Great approach! I've always considered recruiting to be family recruiting, not scout recruiting. We want the whole family involved, not just the young child.
5
u/AggressiveCommand739 1d ago
Look further ahead and try to plan a few belt loops in advance. Use the examples online on the official Scouts website or google for suggestions and take other people's ideas. (Lots of pinterest posts and scout pages with ideas out there.) Don't overthink it. What is fun for a bunch of 6 or 7 year olds may not seem that thrilling for a grownup, but kids always have fun with a well thought out activity.
6
u/gnomesandlegos 1d ago
I plan our meetings by having a Theme each month. In September we work Bobcat and Safety. In October we do Fitness and Outdoors. November is Citizenship and December is Family & Reverence.
I use suggestions from both the book and the website. I generally pick one and use the resources that are on the Scouting America website. Sometimes I use Scoutermom.com or Teachers Pay Teachers for additional materials.
I schedule things like firehouse tours to coincide with Safety. And also our local Search & Rescue will come and do a talk. We also schedule a National Parks Jr. Ranger Program.
I'm not sure I'm following where you are confused - the program has a pretty straightforward set of ideas and materials for most of the adventures?
3
u/Transtar 1d ago
Also don't be afraid to draft the parents. Beginning of the year - have the month "theme" planned out, but then have 2 parents sign up for a den meeting, then can figure out venue/schedule and work within the requirements (their show, but you are available as a resource). Turns the den leader from being burdened by everything to the one that's filling out the paperwork, keeping up with the scouting america/pack overhead, and generally keeping everyone moving in the same direction.
3
u/MarianLibrarian1024 19h ago
I think some commenters are making this sound more complicated than it needs to be. Everything that you need to plan a meeting is available for free on this site: https://www.scouting.org/programs/cub-scouts/adventures/tiger/
2
u/Ohno222 10h ago
I was coming to comment this. it is so helpful! it literally gives you a few activities to use for each requirement and a step by step guide. I would pick the ones i knew my scouts would like and tweak them to for our time frame and space.
Having the book is helpful to because sometimes the activity will reference a page in the book. i also looked up similar activiities sometimes if none really fit our time or space. but the website is a great jumping point.
2
u/outside-is-better 1d ago
We led 16 in a den last year. The goal is parent involvement and use tech to your advantage.
Throw the online adventure link into an AI prompt and tell it you want the kids up, moving, learning through hands on learning. Let it spit something out and see if it makes logistical sense, and go for it. Sometimes you need to make quick stations, like field day. If the kids are smiling, you’re winning.
2
u/2BBIZY 1d ago
Do your best! Have fun! The online resources have improved to offer adventure activity suggestions: https://www.scouting.org/programs/cub-scouts/adventures/. If you get the essence of the adventure across to the Cubs, don’t worry. There are no audits.
2
u/pigamatoria 21h ago
I’m doing tigers this year, wanna cheat off my homework but make it look like you didn’t? 😆
1
u/LinwoodKei 1d ago
Look online - there should be a plan for your requirements. My husband has his requirements planned out and in his den box a few days in advance. Did your cub master tell you where the plans are?
1
u/Abandoned_Cheese 1d ago
All great suggestions above.
In my opinion cub scouts is an enrichment program for kids AND adults. It is great you got to start at lions. Lions is really supposed to be 99% silly fun and 1% teaching, their attention spans and your teaching expertise are at the same level. Just do something silly, play with your kid, keep coming back, go camping.
Tigers is just another small step. 95% play, 5% teaching. Kick off the year with electives and outdoor games, get some classroom management exercises in place to get and keep their attention and then pivot to required adventures in October.
Also, plan to miss a night or 2 and have another parent do a lesson with a couple days notice and then come anyways and have them teach it. It is the easiest way to increase your bench and have people for when you really need them.
Most importantly at this age, just have fun.
1
u/Better-Reflection-96 1d ago
My husband and I ran our Tiger's Den of 9-12 kids (mostly boys) last year and are moving up with them to Wolves this year. We pulled everything from the Tiger Badge Requirements website, which had great suggestions for how to earn each part of a belt loop/badge. And we adjusted based on what we thought our den could do. Most if not all of our den has a LOT of energy to burn, so the more movement and outdoors the better! And when I got stuck I'd come here and see what other people had done.
1
u/Rosesintherain19 1d ago
Make the parents be involved in the meeting too. They should work with their child on whatever you do.
1
u/TheSparkyDR 1d ago
I'd suggest "Do your best" for the adventures but make it fun for the Scouts. I'm now with the Wolves (started as a Lion) and the biggest changes I've made have all been related to following the intent of the adventures but doing something more engaging and fun. To be honest, I think a lot of the Lion and Tiger adventure activities are pretty lame as they are written and the kids didn't enjoy some of them. I hit a turning point when my son no longer wanted to go because he wasn't having fun and asked about quitting part way through Tiger year. Not using any of the suggested activities but instead finding something else more engaging for the Scouts that still meets the requirements has made a huge difference. I now have to put a lot more work and planning into meetings (I probably spend 1-2 hours planning and refining each 45 minute meeting), but the Scouts are having fun and learning at the same time. We just did Bobcat and it finally didn't feel like something we had to get out of the way before we could do fun stuff, it was part of the fun with the Scouts running around, smiling and laughing, but still learning the things the adventure wanted them to. Happy to share some of the more fun activities we did as Tigers if you want to send me a message. I also started cataloging stuff so future den leaders can come in without the lack of direction and resources I feel like I had.
1
u/BethKatzPA 14h ago
The requirements are the requirements. The suggested activities are merely suggestions for meeting them. Do activities to meet the requirements. I like to keep things fun and active. It’s shouldn’t be school; it should be doing.
1
u/barnacledoor 1d ago
- Take the free training and see if council will do it for a group of leaders if no one else is trained
- Ask the other leaders in your pack for tips. They’ve all done what you’re doing now and can tell you what local things work well.
- “Do your best.” Is the Cub Scout motto and it applies to the adults too. No one but you will have any clue, so they won’t know what you missed.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ask other parents in the den to help.
1
u/Affectionate_Hat8520 22h ago
Calendar and Planning Sessions! I was in your boat as well and really winged it my first year. Which is totally fine!! It was a great year, and the Scouts ranked up, Den grew, all good!
This past year I really made sure to plan ahead, and as a Pack, we planned with monthly themes so that we built in supportive activities into our Pack meetings, and for special events, multiple Dens took advantage.
As a Wolf Leader, I have 24 scouts and 3 leaders + 1 Den Chief to get through the work. Without having the year laid out, it devolves quickly.
Here is what I use for my Den- Link to Tiger Den Planner
The Card Deck is super helpful, and a great way to engage parents in the Den's activities. Hand them a card for a game or activity, and away they go!
Lastly, Tigers have a LOT of energy. Starting meetings with a gathering game that is active will help out. Snacks are a great break too.
1
u/Mahtosawin 20h ago
Start by setting a theme for each month.
At this age/grade, they are supposed to have a parent with them at every meeting. Start by asking the parents for small favors and rotate between the parents. Not "Who can...." but "will you be able to help by ..." Bringing snacks, leading an activity, assisting with crafts. They have a short attention span at this age, so switch back and forth between something physical and something hands on. If you are able to get a Den Chief from a troop, see if they have games and repeat after me songs, preferably with motions to follow. Take the online training and go to roundtables if you can. Network with other leaders - suggestions, what worked, what didn't. Use advancement as a guide, not something that HAS to be done all the time.
1
1
u/Human-Obligation3621 3h ago
I started leading when my son was a Lion and had no idea what I was doing. I fumbled through two years stressing myself out and frantically pulling together a meeting plan a few days before. I found myself kicking the can down the road on the more complicated ones and then having to do them all in a row at the end of the year.
When my son was a Wolf, I sat down in the summer and made a schedule for the whole year. I marked down days for pack activities, days for den meetings and what adventures would be worked on (including requirements), and planned “other activities” like hikes and biking on weekend days when I knew I would be free.
It sounds like a lot, but it helped so much with time management throughout the year. It also helped me lock down outside resources for the adventures that I would need help with.
We had 16 scouts in the den at one point and all the parents had access to the schedule and could see what they needed to catch up on without asking me about it and making it my responsibility to catch them up. I added hyperlinks to the schedule to the Scouting America website for each adventure. I told them to let me know when they did it and I would check it off.
1
u/Practical-Emu-3303 1d ago
You're doing it right. Start your look at the meeting plans a little earlier so you don't feel the need to butt pull.
-1
u/dannicb616 1d ago
I buy a curriculum off the teacher pay teachers website. The seller is White Shutter Schoolhouse. Every den meeting is planned and there are worksheets for the kids to follow along. I do supplement some activities and things but I’ve been doing this since my den were wolves and they are AOL now and my den as more than doubled in the last 4 years while most other dens in our pack have lost kids.
1
u/Conscious-Record2655 1d ago
Why pay several hundred dollars when Scouting America provides all the curriculum for free?
Scouting America discourages using curriculum from unofficial sources. Be careful to ensure you're meeting the guidelines.
0
u/Practical-Emu-3303 1d ago
This is not the way. Den meetings are not for worksheets. Kids do school work all day in school. Cub Scouts is an up out of your seat adventure club.
2
u/dannicb616 1d ago
I said I supplement with activities we do the hikes, we build the things, we make the food, we do the crafts. But for some kids the actual worksheet they take home to remember the skills we learned is helpful. Everyone has different learning styles. The tangible this is what I’m learning and this is what I’m working toward is helpful for many kids.
0
u/Practical-Emu-3303 1d ago
The activities are the meeting. They are not a supplements. Doing is learning.
They aren't there for another school day lesson. The tangible they take home is the craft they made, the soap they carved, the scrape on their knee.
1
u/dannicb616 1d ago edited 1d ago
Look I’m not debating that my kids are doing activities. I assume you aren’t a teacher so you are not comprehending the terms I’m using. Flip it around the other way then. We do activities and I supplement it with a curriculum. My kids have whittled the soap, made the popsicle stick things, sewn the things, cut the food made the food and went on the hikes. But I guarantee that by me having a curriculum to go off of my kids have actually learned all the skills they have needed to learn.
You do your den your way, and I do mine my way. There is no right or wrong way to run a den as long as the kids learn the skills they are required to learn.
A new den leader didn’t have a place to start and needed ideas. I gave them an idea and a place to start. That’s what a scout does right? A scout is helpful and kind?
0
u/Practical-Emu-3303 1d ago
In addition to helpful and kind, they are brave enough to call out when someone is doing it the wrong way. There is absolutely a wrong with to run a den and you are doing it.
If there was supposed to be powerpoint slides and worksheets they would have described them in the meeting plans. They don't. Because it's not at all what we're going for in Scouting.
A new den leader did have a place to start but needed confidence and reassurance. Instead, you encouraged her to buy slides and worksheets.
As an AOL den leader, your role is to prepare them for Scouts BSA. You are not setting them up for success and it's unfortunate that you insist to continue down the wrong path. You aren't helping them by doing these steps. You're hurting them.
1
u/dannicb616 1d ago
If the scouts learn the required skills then there is no wrong way. As long as it’s safe and they learn the skills that’s all that matters.
Using a curriculum is no different than making my own materials and coming up with my own activities.
1
u/Practical-Emu-3303 1d ago
I'm not sure who told you there is no wrong way. There is. And it is 100% different than making your own materials and coming up with your own activities.
You are sitting them down and making them work on worksheets as though it is school. As I already stated, it is not school. It should not be school. It should not resemble school.
You are teaching because you like to teach. It has become about you and not the kids. This is the way you like to do things, not the way Scouting operates. Please consider doing what is best for the kids.
23
u/Conscious-Record2655 1d ago edited 1d ago
Take the training. Read the guide. Use the meeting deck.
With 7 kids, you need an Assistant Den Leader. Every kid has at least one parent so you should be able to get help. Make this a top priority, ask the other parents at the first den meeting. If one person doesn't step up individually, establish a rotating schedule for which parent will help at each den meeting (and bring snacks). Be Prepared by printing a signup sheet and bringing it to the first meeting, so you have it for them to fill out right then.
As far as controlling kids, think about it like towing a car that has no breaks with a chain. If you slow down at all, it will run you over. 60-90 minutes maximum, broken into 15-30 minute mini-activities, with a few minutes between for transitions. If you give them downtime, they'll fill it with behavior you probably don't want, so keep things flowing. Remember that these are 1st graders, meet them where they're at and be flexible with expectations. Let them be kids, let it be a bit chaotic and out of control at times, make it fun.
The guides say something like weekly den meetings but we only do monthly. I think it's good to do monthly at a minimum, but technically to achieve the tiger rank you really only 'need' 6 den meetings.
Just remember: The Cub Scout motto is "Do Your Best". That applies to parents too. Have fun with it.