Your Children, Cub Scouting, and You

As a parent, you want your children to grow up to be people of worth, a self-reliant, dependable, and caring individual. Scouting has these same goals in mind. Since 1910 we’ve been weaving lifetime values into fun and educational activities designed to assist parents in strengthening character, developing good citizenship, and enhancing physical fitness and building self-esteem and ethical values in youth. 

Imagine a program that can help your children learn, grow and mature while they are having fun. There are activities in which you and your boy or girl can participate together with the rest of the family and get to know each other even better. This is exactly what Scouting is. Every activity gives you and your child the chance to discover and share together. 

What does your child learn in Scouting? Well, it is a lot more than crafts, games and outdoor skills. All of the Cub Scout programs in which you and your child will participate are carefully designed to teach your child something he or she will use throughout their life. Here are just a few of the things your children will gain through Cub Scouting:

• A feeling of belonging to a positive and fun group of children and caring adults. 

• New social skills that will help them get along with others. 

• Develop new mental skills from reading and writing, to planning and organizing. 

• A greater understanding of other people and the world around them. 

• A system of “values” that will help them grow and make good decisions. 

• A concern and caring for people, and even opportunities to help others. 

• Self-confidence and stronger self-esteem. 

• A deeper relationship with their family and their family’s spiritual foundation 

With all the negative influences in today’s society, Scouting provides your children with a positive peer group and a program that is fun and adventurous and helps them to “be prepared” to shape their own future. 

Cub Scouting is fun! But it is fun with a purpose. Woven through all the fun is an inspired program that really works. Tried and proven methods are used that transfer traditional values, build character, and develop leadership skills--all in the context of fun and family togetherness. 

Getting Started

Go to www.cubscoutpack846.org, click on the “Join Now” tab and complete the online application. Our member management system is set up to track families. Each family has a primary contact that will register the other family members in our on-line application. You have the choice to pay on-line through our secure website or give the registration fee to your Den Leader. All checks should be payable to “Cub Scout Pack 6.”

Carefully review this booklet so you know what Cub Scouting is all about and your son or daughter can get the most out of it. 

Purchase a Cub Scout Book now and begin doing the activities in it with your children. 

Find out what kind of activities your Cub Scout Pack is doing in the next few months, and put them on your calendar so you can participate. Once registered you will be emailed updates on activities or you can always find out what’s going on via the Event Calendar on the website http://cubscoutpack846.org. 

Scouting is more fun with friends! Every boy and girl can be a Cub Scout at any time and can register at any point during the year. Talk with other parents and children and have them join your child’s Cub Scout Den now to make Cub Scouting even more fun. Your child will be recognized as a “recruiter” and will be recognized by the Pack if he recruits a friend to join. 

Consider being a Cub Scout leader for your child’s Cub Scout den. Your son or daughter’s experience in Cub Scouting depends on your involvement. Details are on the following pages. 

Purchase a Cub Scout Uniform for your child to wear their awards on. Be sure to get a size large enough to last several years as your child grows. Visit the Northern New Jersey Scout Shop (25 Ramapo Valley Road, Oakland, NJ 07436) or shop online at www.scoutstuff.org for all of your uniform needs and more. 

How Cub Scouting Works

Scouting is Family Oriented 

• Activities are intended for the whole family. 

• You work with your children on their various award requirements. 

• Many skills they will learn are family oriented. 

Your child is a member of a Cub Scout Den 

• The Den meets a few times each month. 

• The den is led by a Den Leader (parent volunteer). 

• The den leader is usually assisted by an Assistant Den Leader (parent volunteer). 

• Den meetings have scout skills, adventures, games, crafts, songs, ceremonies, and lots of fun.

Your child is a member of a Cub Scout Pack 

• The “Pack” consists of all the Dens and other leaders. The pack meets once a month for regular Friday night meetings in addition to other weekend activities, field trips and camping experiences. All Cub Scout families are invited and encouraged to attend. 

• The Cubmaster and Asst. Cubmasters lead the monthly pack meeting. 

• The pack meeting is the climax of the month’s den meetings and activities. 

• Pack meetings have games, skits, stunts, songs, ceremonies and presentations of awards that the boys have earned that month.

The pack is run by a Pack Committee (group of parent volunteers). 
The pack committee is made up of a Chartered Organization Representative, Committee Chair, Treasure, Cubmaster, Den Leaders, Event Chairs and many other positions. Most of these leaders are parents of boys and girls in the pack. All leaders and interested parents are encouraged to attend. 

• The committee meets once a month. 

• The committee plans pack meetings around the monthly theme or core value. 

• The committee plans events, organizes volunteers and has fun! 

• The committee selects leaders, performs record keeping, manages pack finances, orders awards, maintains pack equipment, helps train leaders, and recognizes leaders.

The pack is owned by a Chartering Organization 

• The Chartered organization for Pack 846 is Saint Aloysius Church in Caldwell. 

• The chartered organization approves leaders, provides a meeting place, and operates the pack within the guidelines and policies of the chartered organization and the Boy Scouts of America. 

• The chartered organization selects a Chartered Organization Representative who serves as a liaison between the pack and the organization. The Chartered Organization appoints and approves of the adult leadership group that leads the pack.