Picking a cub scout pack

[Anonymous]

DS is starting 1st grade and I would love to let him join cub scouts. I checked the site and it looks like there are a few packs close to us, but none at his school. Is there a good way to pick one? Any questions I should ask the leader that would help us choose?

[Anonymous]

1. What your (the parent) volunteer expectations are
2. how many kids are in the group
3. when do they normally meet
4. what are the activities they do to meet the badge requirements. I heard one mom say that her kid's den or pack played on the wii for the physical activity badge.

[Anonymous]

We had a choice between two which were close to us. Pack 1 had a small number of members and leaders who were looking to get out. Pack 2 had a larger number of members and a pro-active leader who was committed to the pack and welcoming new members.

No brainer. We chose pack 2.

[Anonymous]

I'd pick a church sponsored one. Start with United Methodist. That's what my boys did during that era of their lives.

[Anonymous]

Can anybody share info about strong packs in NW DC ? Interested for our rising 2nd grade son

[Anonymous]

Here is the list:

https://beascout.scouting.org/list/?zip=20016&program%5B%5D=pack

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I checked the site and it looks like there are a few packs close to us, but none at his school.

You can email each pack and ask what school most of their cub scouts go to. To the PP who asked about strong NW DC packs, NWDC is a large area and scouts isn't something you should be traveling for. One of the values is giving back to your community so ideally you can stay local. To get a feel for whether a pack is strong, you can ask a few questions about numbers, adult leadership, and how many events are planned per year.

[Anonymous]

They usually have an event in September for prospective members where you can meet some of the leaders and kids and ask questions. We ended up going to the pack that was at a different school from us. They are not all the same you should visit a couple.

[Anonymous]

The website that you found the local Packs should list the email addresses, email the ones you are interested in and find out when they are holding their join Scouting night. Normally it is late August, early September. Attend that event and see how the Pack runs. I would ask about what activities they do, how often the Pack camps, do they attend summer day camp or over night camps, and what they expect from parents. Find out what percentage of Adult Leaders are fully trained by BSA standards. If the answer is less then 90% look else where.

Find the ones that you are most comfortable with and attend a Den meeting for your child’s age group. See how the Den Leader runs a meeting and how the kids interact. See what the other parents do to support the Den Leader.

Know that you can change Packs if the fit isn’t great, it is actually pretty easy to do. The same holds for Troops if he bridges into a Troop. Finding a good fit is important and every Pack has it’s own feel.

[Anonymous]

I second the suggestion about asking where the other kids go to school. You don’t want to join one at a Catholic school and find out all the other boys are in school together and all the parents know each other from school events etc.