100 Days of Scouting: Day 62, Keeping Scouting Fun

Day 62, Sunday, April 10.

A friend of mine that reads my blog asked me the other day why I always close my blog with the words "remember to keep your Scouting fun!".

I told her the reason I always end with that little quote goes back to the Cub Scout training classes I teach. You see, I'm on the Del-Mi District training team, and between myself and a couple of other trainers we do about 95% of all the Cub Scout training in the district. One of the things that I try to always stress in my training is that if you aren't making the Scouting fun, the boys are going to quit doing it. They sit in school all day and listen to their teacher talk. The last thing they want to do when they come to a den meeting is to sit and listen to the den leader talk some more. They need a fun, energetic program that will keep them interested and entertained. If you as a den leader are not keeping it fun, forget it. They won't want anything to do with your program. However, if you keep it fast paced and interesting they will keep coming back for more. The best advise I can give to a new den leader is to keep changing it up during the den meeting. Do a little of this, a little of that, and keep it moving. They may still enjoy doing some of the "boring" sit down stuff, but just remember to do a little of that and then change it to a game or something fast paced for a little while. Keeping it interesting isn't always the easiest thing to do, but when done right it makes for a fun, fast paced den meeting that any boy will enjoy.

For my 100 Days of Scouting today:

I helped my son work on a couple of songs and skits that he is participating in tomorrow night at the Troop meeting. We're hosting a Cub Scout Pack and doing a campfire program for them.

I organized some of my Scouting stuff that had gotten spread out in several different places. Now everything is filed where it should be.

So, like I said in my blog, remember to keep your Scouting fun! Now you know how important it is!