I am about to be my son’s Cubmaster, leading a pack of 50 cub scouts in suburban Honolulu.
As an Eagle Scout in my youth, I knew this day would come. He will be a Bear, so I’m in for the next three years. I spent last year as the Pack Committee Chair, but my real desire was to be a Cubmaster, and now the current one’s son is going to Boy Scouts. I’ve taken the all the training I could, from online certifications to University of Scouting to getting my Wood Badge beads in a couple days (Is there a Bobwhite in the house?).
I feel I am ready and am incredibly excited. I would welcome any tips or tricks that have worked (and not worked).
First, I’m going to subscribe to this thread because I’m about to be in your shoes: I’m currently the pack Committee Chair and will take on the Cubmaster position come June. I’m hoping others will chime in.
The thing with our pack is, though, is we’re very small. I’ll be doing the Cubmaster role as well as the Committee Chair duties. We are currently having trouble with our leadership and, because we are small pack with equally small pool of volunteers to chose from… well, you know what they say about beggars and choosers. We’re hosting a roundup near the end of the school year which I’m hoping will bring in some more boys.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is… expect the unexpected (I know, I know). Our pack was big—very big. But the Cubmaster was subpar, the Committee Chair had no interest in the job so didn’t find the right people to do things like be popcorn colonel, and several of the leaders just flat-out sucked. This created an atmosphere of resentment and several of the leaders left, many of the parents quit bringing their boys so the leaders that stayed were becoming disillusioned… it was one big mess. By the time I came on board the pack was on life support. We’re still barely hanging on and I really don’t know if we’ll survive the next school year.
But remember you’re in it for the boys. Your pack promised them the Scouting experience and you need to do your damnedest to give that to them. The Cubmaster’s main job is to ensure the leaders have the tools they need to be effective. Maybe that’s doing the recharter paperwork, maybe that’s helping set up fundraisers, maybe that’s just helping them overcome some logistical snags like figuring out meals on a campout. The Cubmaster is really a jack-of-all-trades / CEO of the pack. Remember you’re also the main salesman / carnival barker for the pack, which means emceeing the pack meetings, giving the speeches to prospective parents at roundups, and basically being the pack cheerleader when public appearances (like at flag ceremonies, which our tiny town does a lot of) call for it.
Man alive, what am I getting myself into?
Anyway, I see you’ve already done much of the training, which is good. I’m actually a bit jealous as Wood Badge is a serious time commitment that I don’t have. I’m also an ASM for the Boy Scout troop, so I should get it done. But as Committee Chair you have more than a passing knowledge of the duties of the Cubmaster, so it sounds like you’re already several steps ahead of the game. When I came into the pack I had been a parent with almost no involvement. I had no idea what I was doing and was basically tasked with saving the pack from losing our charter. You have it much better.
Just be very cognizant of interpersonal strife among the leaders. I saw firsthand how that can kill a pack.