Family Involvement and Attendance

In the world of Scouting, I am just a fetus. I jumped in feet first back in August and then had to pull myself out when put on bedrest. I have been back and leading Tigers since February, I know just about two months now. In that short time I have noticed we have really bad attendance in my den. There are only three Tigers right now. More often than not one of the other Tigers is not in attendance. They are first graders and this in not their fault, they need that adult to bring them and be actively involved.

Waylon is already looking forward to earning his Eagle. I hope the other two are. I am going to plant a seed for Eagle. In our area there is a lot of drug/alcohol abuse, homelessness and gang activity. Our boys deserve better than that, they deserve to learn to be taught how to be honest and hardworking men. The deserve to be taught to not be afraid to learn new things, and honestly Cub Scouting is that stepping stone, outside of the home. When you walk into a meeting, you are a Scout before anything else. Your class, ethnicity and all that fall by the wayside...all you see are young men in uniforms wanting to Do Their Best. As a Den Leader, I Do My Best to try and motivate their parents to be active, but not do things for them. I want them involved and to spend this time with their son. Cub Scouts is part of B.S.A....you know, Boy Scouts of America, not BabySitters of America.

In an effort to promote good attendance I implemented for my den Attendance Awards. After a year of such awards, they can earn a wearable award. They can wear something on their uniforms showing that they've done their absolute best to be at meeting, meaning that their adult did their best at getting them there. Trust me, I know their are days that you'd rather sit at home or go to a movie. This is roughly two hours out of a week (drive time and such), make it work.

My older Boy Scouts and my Brownie, they came in uniform and were happy to see their little brother get that Attendance Award. He's working on rank, and that's going to be awesome. Remember family involvement for B.S.A. mean FAMILY, the whole family. 

Happy Scouting

Momma