AnaMaria

No, attending camp is not optional for the Outdoor Activity Award, it's the first requirement listed for all ranks.

Requirements

All Ranks

Attend Cub Scout day camp or Cub Scout/Webelos Scout resident camp.

I'd say maybe a third of our pack goes to camp, and most of those are our district's twilight camp, so not many boys in our pack earn the Outdoor Activity award.

YOU can't make sure they get everything done. Cub Scouting, especially Tigers, is a family thing. I don't have the Tiger handbook at my computer to cite the reference, but it does say that if a Tiger misses a Den or Go See It Achievement, they can make it up on their own.

Are you using shared leadership? You shouldn't be doing all the planning/executing of den meetings anyway.

I don't know that I'd be going to exceptional lengths for things you've already covered unless you can make it interesting and meaningful for the boys that have already done it once. I'd send a reminder (email or newsletter of some sort) that you've already covered things 1, 2, 3 and if their son missed one of those meetings/outings, they need to complete it on their own. I use the ScoutTrax programs and could just print out a progress report and highlight what they've missed.

Here's the quote from the Tiger Cub Handbook -

"No matter what age or grade a boy joins Cub Scouting, he must earn his Bobcat badge before he can be awarded a Tiger Cub badge, Wolf badge, Bear badge, or Webelos badge."

He can still work on those badges before earning his Bobcat, but they can't be awarded until the Bobcat has been awarded.

Yes, they can have the immediate recognition items (including beads) before Bobcat. They can also have belt loops and pins, but not the Tiger rank badge or yellow elective tokens.

I would not go up a size with the Cub Scout pants. In my experience they run quite large. Even with the waist cinched up, the size 6 still seems a little large for my average-sized 6 year old.

We've also had problems with the material tearing out at the side seam. It's not the stitching failing, it's the fabric. The 8 year old is on his second pair and they've come apart in the last month. First pair was replaced at our local scout shop. Since it's happened again, I'm going to try and move up the ladder a little to see if this is something that needs to be investigated.

The yellow shirt's still around, but nobody around here wears it anymore. Me, I always wanted to be a Boy Scout anyway and wouldn't wear the yellow when I can wear tan. ; )

We're in greater Cincinnati and my son's troop goes to Woodruff every other year. I don't know the particulars, but considering the distance they must think very highly of it.

I LOVE University of Scouting. I've been able to learn things applicable to my role in scouting as well as my general interests. (Last year I went to a knot tying class to learn how to tie a monkey's fist. I couldn't seem to follow the directions in a book well enough on my own. That's not something I'm likely to teach to an 8 year old in cubs, but very satisfying.)

Ours also has a "midway" with vendor booths which had some great resources.

Ours also has a CD available with the handouts and the outdoor cooking class I went to had a CD full of public domain recipes.

I say go (and take a friend) - take a mix of what you think you need and what grabs your interest.

The key is repetition. Go over things every day until you feel he's met the requirement, then sign off. (I don't remember, for instance, whether it's to memorize, or just "say" the oath, promise, etc. And while I understand not adding to the requirements, I expected my sons to have it memorized, but not everyone interprets it that way. You're Akela, when you're satisfied, sign off.)

My own Tiger (joined June 1 this year) completed everything in a day because he memorizes very easily, had been exposed to these things for 3 or 4 years already, and was highly motivated.

Some more concrete things to do (depending on his reading level) are to make a poster and cover up more and more words as he progresses. For the shorter items, put each word on an index card and have him put them in order. Have him record himself saying the promise, law of the pack, etc. and then listen. Write on his two fingers the meaning (obeys, gives good will).

Good luck and enjoy scouting.

Since you currently hold no position in the pack, there would be no reason to wear a uniform.

I think our Pack is probably about the same, although I wasn't as involved last year as I am this year (Popcorn Kernel).

Our Show-N-Sells have gone better than I would have expected. There are no numbers in from individual scouts yet.

I doubt that the price increases have had any effect. A majority of our sales are the $8 tin and I think it's imperative that that item stays below $10. A dollar or two on the other items is not likely to be noticed by our supporters.

I do ours with Notepad and HTML. It may be a problem when it's time to pass on the job, but it works well for me.

I think what I'm going to do is have 3 sheets while the sale is going on - 1 for each boy if he does any door-to-door selling without the other coming along and a joint one to divide later.

I AM the Popcorn Kernel this year, so it's my headache however I do it!

This year I'll have 3 scouts in the house. The oldest is in Boy Scouts and not that interested in selling so he's really a non-issue. The other two are Tiger and Bear this year and pretty motivated. I realize they each need their own record sheet and their sales are separate. Anybody have any experience on how to split up the "good" buyers between them? (For instance, I know who on our street will buy things, and I don't think Grandma and Grandpa are going to buy from both.)

Our Pack routinely participates in the local high school's homecoming parade. Most participants throw candy to the observers, but we've been trying to come up with an alternative.

The candy is provided by the scouts/families, not the Pack, so we're also looking for something they could bring that would require a similar monetary outlay, or something very inexpensive for the Pack to provide.

I don't think the double-dipping is really an issue if the project covers both requirements. The Conservation projects we've done wouldn't really fall under LNT and vice versa.

No, you do not have to catch a fish, you just have to try. None of the boys I've gotten patches for have caught a fish.

And no, there is no charge.

Here's the link. The patch is from FLW Outdoors, but I can't find the info on their site. My den/family did this last fall and had no issues receiving the patches.

http://www.packsonline.com/Mo/6/Pack_Downloads/Announcement_Download/2006_04_24_12_11_05/Master%20Angler%20Patch.pdf

I think it depends on parent involvement. My son earned all but swimming while a Webelo (and didn't get that because he couldn't swim, not because there was not time). His den was only 5 or 6 boys, and none of the others earned that many, in my opinion because their parents were not interested in seeing that they did. We started many of the badges at den meetings and the necessary work to finish things was not done at home.

Our meeting schedule was only once a month (what our pack expects/encourages) so a more aggressive meeting schedule might allow you to keep all the boys on track. Remember to keep scouting fun for the boys, though. They may thrive on being pushed, but watch for signs that it's too much. Remember that the journey is the point, not the hardware.

Good luck!

We're at our council's twilight camp this week (Cub Scouts). They've been given a t-shirt to wear daily as well as a baseball cap color-coded for ranks. During flag ceremony, should the boys be saluting (as they would be in official uniform) or removing the caps?

If there were instructions/reminders given, I didn't hear it and there was no consistency at the closing ceremony. I came home and researched in the Cub Scout handbooks I have, as well as the Americal Legion flag etiquette pamphlet, and I'm still not positive. My inclination is that they are in uniform, but wanted some other feedback.

Thanks for you input.

We used the Chinese take-out boxes for Blue & Gold this year. Last year we used pineapple shaped drink glasses to go with the luau theme.

Our pack is sorely lacking in ceremony and appropriate hoopla for awards at monthly pack meetings, though. I'm not sure, however, that I'm in a position to change things without stepping on toes.

Yes, that answers it, but doesn't get me any closer. My husband has an IT business and does our hosting. I built the website in html and if I want a password-protected area I need to figure it out on my own. I have seen instructions for one option on-line, but haven't pursued it. At the moment we're getting along fine without it, but I think we could make the site more useful if we could include contact information for the leaders, for instance.

Thanks for your reply.

Kayak Girl -

How did you set up the secure area? The last time I looked into doing something similar for our site (www.pack766.net), it didn't seem very straightforward. We've worked around it in part by setting up photos on Wal-Mart and limiting the login/password distribution.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Mary

They can not get credit for BB shooting at an event like this. BB/Archery belt loops can only be earned at a Council or District camp. Unless there's something specific in the individual requirement, (eg - "with your den" or "at a pack meeting"), that's the only restriction on when/where a requirement can be completed.

My first response, I was really thinking about a scout, not a sibling/parent/etc. In that case, I would not allow someone in the "adult" or "other" division to race if they were not there, whatever the reason.