What I Wish I Knew When I Was a Wolf Den Leader

About 10 years ago, I was a Cub Scout Wolf Den leader. I showed up every week, worked on helping the boys complete all of the activities in their books, went to Pack meeting, but that is where it ended.

I was encouraged to go to Round Table, Wood Badge, and more for training, but I must admit….I rolled my eyes and avoided all of those things like the plague!

I truly had very little understanding or appreciation of the purpose, methods and goals of scouting. I did the bare minimum and was not thrilled to be part of it. When my son earned his Wolf badge and moved up to Bears, I was ready to be done.

Looking back I wonder how much better of an experience it could have been for my boy and the other boys his age if I had gone to the training and learned the purpose behind what I thought was the madness. My attitude alone would have improved tremendously! What if I had gone to Round Table? What a huge difference even that would have made!

Since then, I have gone to Wood Badge training and Round Tables and University of Scouting. I have learned so many great things and have caught the Vision of what Scouting can do for the youth of the world. The boys are so excited to be cub scouts and it is such a great place to teach them and work with them to truly learn those values, skills, fun and adventure that scouting can teach.

Understanding the purpose makes me more willing to put in the effort it takes to make whatever I am doing better. I think a lot of people are like this!

I wish every Cub Scout leader and anyone who works with Scouts or youth would go to Wood Badge and learn they reason why behind all of the things that we do and catch the Vision of scouting and leadership.

So if you have any reason to work with the youth and children of the world, come to Wood Badge!

It will make all the difference!

Wood Badge: Catch the Vision

Today is a good day to share this collection of interviews of participants and staff members on the last day of their August 2010 Wood Badge experience. The thoughts and feelings expressed are close to my heart. I hope it helps provide you a glimpse of just how impactful and powerful this leadership training really is!

Why Parents Need Wood Badge Training

My last post entitled “Why LDS Young Women Presidents Need Wood Badge Training” was read by my co-worker and I received some great feedback from her that inspired this post.  She got a little fired up and was talking about the post with her friends and family. When she realized that I had written it, she knew she needed to talk to me about this.
 

You might be asking what fired up my co-worker?  She is a mother who loves the outdoors and has always felt that girls should get to do all the cool things that the boys do. She wants to understand the scouting program so that she can help her sons and future grandchildren in life, but also have these tools as a leader in her home. She is fired up because Wood Badge isn’t just for leaders, but parents need to be invited too!
 

This really got me thinking and I knew that I had to write another post for our Wood Badge Blog. Parents really do need Wood Badge training!
 

As a mother of 6 children ranging in age from 24-10, I basically have someone in all the scouting age groups. Understanding cub scouting has helped me a lot with my youngest son. I wish that I had known what I learned at Wood Badge for my older boys. With one who earned his Eagle early, understanding the continuing program would have helped a lot. My younger daughters are direct beneficiaries of the things that I learned at Wood Badge. They are in my Young Women’s program and help plan and carry out great adventures and activities.
 

There is a class at Wood Badge about understanding the different Generations and what is important to them. This changed my life in dealing with my adult daughter. My perspective completely altered and it has helped our relationship as adults improve tremendously. I am so grateful for that increased understanding alone.  
 

As a wife, this has blessed my marriage in many ways. One is that my husband joins us on all of our adventures with the youth.  It is wonderful to have his help and back up out in the wilderness. This has also helped me to be more adventurous myself. It has inspired me to jump in and try new things.
 

All parents can be blessed by this training in more ways than I can write here.  It is leadership training that has far reaching effects way beyond scouting.
 

So…parents? Come to Wood Badge! It will bless your family. 

 

 Here we are on a backpacking trip with some of our kiddos

So You Want to Go to Wood Badge: Part 3 - Wait, There's Homework Before It Even Starts?!?

Don't worry! It's going to be okay!

Personal Pre-Course Assignment

Before you arrive on Day One of your Wood Badge experience, you should receive a letter or at least a link to this list of twenty questions.

If you're like me, you might think, "Self, I have a lot to do. I'll glance at these questions later." And then you might forget to give them any thought at all, until you're actually en-route to the course. And then your day will really begin and the next thing you know, you'll fall into your sleeping bag at 10 pm and think, "I really need to look at those questions!"

If you're like Sheryl (you'll meet her later, she is AWESOME!), you might think you can't go at all, because the Pre-Course Assignment looks TOUGH.

If you're smart, you might keep reading, because here's the deal:

This list of questions is meant as a tool for you to consider the experiences, circumstances, and values that have brought you to where you are as a leader today. There are no right or wrong answers. This exercise helps you pinpoint your current location in life, making it possible for you to imagine exactly what future success looks like for you. The answers will likely change as time goes by, and that's okay, because who you are now is not the same as who you will be in five or ten or fifteen years.

Wood Badge is advanced leadership training. The skills & concepts covered are widely recognized in world-class corporate circles as key to success in any organization.This is no clown show--even though we will have a lot of fun together--it's real, deep, personal development. So don't shy away from the opportunity to truly assess your strengths, weaknesses, and goals. And please don't let the thought of so much soul-searching stand in the way of your desire to go. It will all work out, trust me!

Bottom line: do the best you can, and we'll work together to become the best we can be! (No matter how you answer those twenty questions.) 

Why LDS Young Women’s Presidents Need Wood Badge Training

In 2012 I was a Unit Commissioner in my LDS Stake Primary Presidency. I had been encouraged to go to Wood Badge by several leaders and finally I felt an overwhelming need to be at Wood Badge. I signed up for an August course at Krupp Hollow and bought a scout shirt. Off I went! 

The first three days I was excited to learn all the things that were presented. I bonded with my group, and I had a complete blast! Everything I had done as an adult had been geared towards building a great program for kids. This felt like I was learning so much about how to do it better, and it was all geared towards helping me. This was so fun and inspiring. We learned, had activities, ate fantastic food and made great friends. 

I went home from Week One and was asked to meet with my Bishop the following day. I was asked to serve as the Young Women’s president in our ward. I was excited by this opportunity and felt like the things that I had been learning at Wood Badge would translate really well to the girls. 

The 2^nd weekend of Wood Badge had an entirely new focus for me. As we learned about Venture crews and the things that the older Scouts do, I knew that I could use all of these resources for my girls. I made goals to give them Venturing Leadership training, take them on a High adventure, and really use the methods I learned to have the girls help create a program that they would be excited about. 

It is now 2016 and I am still the Young Women’s president in my ward. I took my girls, with the help of the Scouts in our ward, through the Tenderfoot to First Class requirements which correlate with the Girl’s camp requirements. Then we went out and practiced what we learned.  We have regular campouts and an annual Leadership retreat and High Adventure. The girls are confident cooking on and in a campfire, with backpacking stoves and with their ability to handle living outside of creature comforts. These activities really helped create a unified group as well. When the girls and leaders do difficult things together, they build a great bond. We have learned a lot together as a group.

I am grateful for all of the ideas and resources that opened up to me at Wood Badge. If I hadn’t gone, I would have just done the same old thing that I had seen other Young Women's presidents do. I have girls who are excited about our program because they truly have input and it is a youth led program.
 

I gained a whole new horizon and way of thinking at Wood Badge. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard from someone that they wished I could have been their Young Women’s leader, or that their daughter could have been a part of our program. This is not because I am figuring out new things, this is because I attended Wood Badge and learned to use resources that are already available. Scouting people are truly helpful and amazingly willing to share their experiences, ideas, tools, and time. 

So Young Women’s presidents…Come to Wood Badge, bring your counselors! You will always be grateful that you did. 

So You Want to Go to Wood Badge: Part 2 - What to Wear

For some, it's no sweat. For others, it's a big deal, but it should never be a deal-breaker! Regardless of whether you fall in the former or latter category, here's the skinny on what to wear to Wood Badge:

Boy Scout Leader Uniform

Preferred attire at Wood Badge is the complete Class A Scout Uniform...however, if all you have access to is a Scout Shirt, you will still fit right in! 

A complete uniform includes the official shirt for your current scouting position, official long pants, BSA socks, and an official BSA belt. You can view the BSA Uniform Inspection Sheet here.

When you arrive at Wood Badge, you will be provided with a special neckerchief, slide and a Wood Badge baseball cap.

Something else to think about: for our November Course, weather can (and usually does) vary widely, so it's a good idea to bring warm base layers, a jacket, a heavy coat and warm gloves! And if you have one, a mountain man capote makes frosty mornings much more comfortable. 

So You Want to Go To Wood Badge: Part 1 - First Things First

Congratulations! Making the decision to accept the invitation to go to Wood Badge is the first step in the experience of a lifetime. There are a few things you need to do to make sure you are up-to-speed and ready to go when you step "on the hill" for the very first time.

First Things First

They might seem like no-brainers, but it's pretty important to make sure you have three things under your belt prior to attending Wood Badge:

1. Register with the BSA - especially if you are just beginning your Scouting experience, or if you've been in semi-retirement for a while, it's important to make sure you are currently a registered adult leader with the Boy Scouts of America.
   
   If you're a new leader, grab an application at the local Scout Service Center, fill it out, and give it to your Chartered Organization Representative. It's not a bad idea to check in with them to make sure it's been signed and submitted to the local Council for approval. (Speaking from experience here...for some inexplicable reason, I had to submit that app three times before I was officially registered!)
   
   If it's been awhile since you've been actively involved in Scouting, you can call your local Scout Service Center to check your registration status. If they've got you on the books, you're good to go! If not...it's time to re-apply.


2. Youth Protection Training - BSA requires ALL adult leaders to do Youth Protection Training every two years. The training is pretty simple: go to www.my.scouting.org, set up a profile (or log in to the one you set up two years ago), click on the "Home" link which will bring up a dropdown list, click on "My Dashboard". If it doesn't take you directly to "My Youth Protection Training", click on "YPT" from the sub-menu at the top of the page. Click on "Take Course" and off you go! The training consists of video segments with periodic quizzes and takes approximately 35 minutes to complete. Print two copies of your certificate of completion: one for you and one for the Scout Office.
   
   Now, here's the kicker: your Council needs to connect your Member ID to your training profile so they can verify that you are current on your training. It sounds complicated, but it can be accomplished in one of two ways:
   
   Take a copy of your certificate of completion in to the Scout Office & they'll update your training status manually. -or- If you know your Member ID (you can call the office for it), go into your profile on my.scouting.org (click on the little person icon in the upper right corner of the website), click on "My Account" and enter your Member ID in "Account Details". Done!


3. Leader-Specific Training - Training...it kind of sounds like a big, bad, and maybe even boring word. But the reality is, there's a lot to know if you're going to do things right...and the training available through the BSA makes it so you don't have to re-invent the wheel and figure everything out from the ground up. The programs, for the most part, are laid out very clearly, but knowing how they work requires investing some time up-front to learn the ropes.
   
   So, which Leader-Specific Training do you need? Go back to my.scouting.org, click on 'My Dashboard", select "Training Center" from the top sub-menu, click on the program you're registered in (i.e. Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Venturing and Varsity, Other) , and take the "Fast Start Orientation Training" and any "Leader-Specific Training" listed there. Check with your Scout Office for other trainings that may be required but are not offered online.

Phew. That seems like an extensive list, but it's really not too bad. In fact, most of it can be accomplished in the same amount of time it took me to write this post. Most importantly, you'll have a firm grasp on your responsibilities as you prepare for your Wood Badge experience!