Look in chapter 21 of the Cub Scout Leader Book and you’ll find a description of the Webelos program including an outline of the Webelos den leader’s responsibilities. It’s really brief:Â The Webelos den leader plans and carries out a year-round program of activities for the Webelos den.
Look just above this job description and you’ll find what is most likely the most important job of a Webelos leader:
One of the purposes of the Webelos den is to prepare boys for Boy Scouting and to graduate Webelos Scouts into a Boy Scout troop. (Emphasis added)
Of the ten purposes of Cub Scouting, the tenth – Preparation for Boy Scouts – is the most lasting, for it is in Boy Scouts where boys not only experience adventure but learn skills that will serve them their entire lives – leadership, cooperation, communication, responsibility – and the values of citizenship, character and fitness.
But the #1 reason that Webelos Scouts fail to cross over and become involved in Boy Scouts is often the Webelos den leader. Continue reading “Webelos den leaders: What’s your most important job?”
One of the hallmarks of Scouting that sets it apart from other youth activities is its emphasis on youth leadership. Boys form their own patrols and hold elections, govern themselves within the framework of Scouting, decide and plan their own activities, and are generally supposed to be running the show, with adults in the background.
The Scouting movement is unique among non-faith-based youth groups in that it recognizes and expects a belief and duty to a higher power of its members. It’s part of rank achievements in Cub Scouts, one of the points of the Boy Scout Law, and the first obligation in the Scout Oath and Venturing Oath.