William Hooker is a KISMIF.org guest blogger from Concord, North Carolina. He is a Wolf Den Leader in the Central North Carolina Council and is a first-year Cub Scouter.
One of the challenges for any den leader is encouraging good behavior among the Cub Scouts.
There are a few tools and tips that can be used to help with this.
1) Keep it Fun.
Look at the activities you have planned from the eyes of a young boy. Are these things that are going to be interesting and exciting, or boring? Most of the kids have already had to sit still in class all day long before the den meeting, and expecting them to sit still again could be a lost cause. When boys lose interest, they will act up, and find their own activities to entertain themselves.
Keep your den meetings active, and keep activities relatively short and quick-paced. Boring items such as long announcements to the parents should be set conveyed outside the regular den meeting rather than making the boys sit through them.
2) Code of Conduct
Involve the Cub Scouts in creating a code of conduct. As suggested in the Wolf Fast Tracks materials, you can have a discussion with them and ask them what good behavior looks like.
“With a little prompting from the den leader, all the rules can be covered. Try to focus on what you want the behavior to be rather describing a negative action. For example: Only one person speaks at a time. Stay in the meeting room, unless you have permission from the den leader to go elsewhere. Use good, appropriate, and positive manners. Walk in the building unless we are doing an activity requiring otherwise. Leave our meeting room cleaner than we found it.” [From "Wolf Fast Tracks: Den Meeting #1"]
3) Reward good behavior
Many Den Leaders have had luck with either using a Good Conduct Candle or a Bead Jar to encourage the boys to behave. Whichever method is used, do something that allows them to earn a good behavior reward over the course of several den meetings.
If they behave poorly, visibly remove beads, or blow out the candle, etc., to ensure that they connect their bad behavior with loss (or deferment) of a reward.
Are there any tips that have worked well for you in encouraging your Cubs to behave well? If so, let us know in the comments!
[Image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandstrides/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]
