ShutterbugMom

Our pack has always allowed a child to advance even if he was held back. If a new cub scout starts, we have him start with his grade, even if he had been held back previously. We had one instance where a parent wanted his son with the correct den based on age instead of grade, so we said that was fine, but now after a year, at pack meetings we see the boy gravitating toward his school friends instead of his cub scout den friends. It's not a problem, but I think now he would have been happier to start with the correct grade children.

 

As far as sports go, I have found with both my children that many parents hold their kids back so they excel at sports. I've even had other parents tell me that. When they are younger (Little League, etc.) most of the sports are age based. However, once they hit middle school, a 13 year old 6th grader is going to fare much better than an 11 year old at 6th grade sports tryouts. I personally do not think it is fair to hold them back based on future sports achievements, but, of course, we cannot control other parents. :-)

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will check with our CO first to see if they have any ideas. I am hoping to find something we can do during our regular den meeting time. If they have nothing, I will check with the school.

I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a den conservations project the boys could do this spring to complete their World Conservation Award. We are a wolf den with 7 boys. We usually have pretty good attendance, so I would hope everyone will show up. The spring is the hardest due to the popularity and irregular schedules of Little League (my son included!) Thanks for any suggestions....I am really not sure what falls under the topic of "conservation project." Our CO is a nearby church and they may have something we can do to, but since they are only 7 & 8 years old we aren't going to get a lot of hard labor and digging for planting trees and bushes or anything out of them. :-)

I appreciate everyone's ideas. I really wish we had done this activity as one of the very first activities in the fall, however, I didn't know scheduling would be such a problem. We are planning to go to a park, that has historical significance. I just hope the weather cooperates.

 

Our den will be Webelo's by the time the change happens, but I hope for future cub scouts that the Go See Its are easier to arrange. We have many of the things everyone mentioned, but it is impossible to visit them at night. The library and the fire station are by far the closest and most interesting, but we already visited them in Tigers.

 

Plus, this is probably another thread, but I am really worried about the behavior of the boys. As soon as they show up at Scouts, they immediately turn wild...even with constant reminding. It is so frustrating.

 

Again, thank you all for the help.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I guess a lot of the trouble I am running into is that many of the government locations close at 5pm and we don't meet until 6:30 (about half of cubs have parents who both work.) We probably need a Saturday activity, so I am looking for something in January since we have Scouting for Food and the Christmas Parade all within a few weeks here on Saturdays. We actually have a wonderful archaeological area here, and they have belt loop programs for scouts...but only for the Webelos. I have been discussing with them about having a program for the younger boys. Maybe something will pan out....the boys always have a good time there. There are wonderful historical sites with tours also, but I am concerned with their behavior. I think about half of them would be fine.....can pay attention for the tour and would learn a lot, but the I don't think the other half would pay attention or enjoy it.

Wolf Achievement 4f states: Visit an important place in your community, such as a historic or government location. Explain why it is important.

 

Most of the meeting plans I have seen suggest visiting a fire station, but I hate to do that again since we just did that as Tigers. Does anyone else have any good suggestions? We have many historical areas we could visit that show how life was in the 1700s and 1800s, but they have high admission prices and I really think the boys would be quite bored. There is a city park with many hiking trails that has been around for nearly 100 years and has some history attached to it, but the weather may not be super cooperative over the next few months. We would also need to go on a Saturday. I am hesitant to do that since in the next 6 weeks or so we already have 3 Saturdays with Scout events on them, but I am at a loss for what we could do in the evening. Thanks for any suggestions!

Okay, I am glad to see that I am on the same page as most everyone. I will just wait and see what their dedication is....if they do come back and work through all the home items, then we'd be glad to repeat the den items.

 

Hueymungus....you don't need to yell at me. We have a flag for our pack and den and we have a den flag. We do a flag ceremony at every meeting. We do not have a large outside flag pole where you can actually run the flag up and down the pole with a rope. I guess you could take the small indoor flag outside and call it an outdoor flag ceremony, but I would only do that if we had no other options. We had to go to another location to do that, and it would be a bit of work to repeat.

I guess I should have stated specifically that we *had* an indoor flag, however, I was just discussing the outdoor flag ceremony. I think most people interpret all caps as shouting. I'm not one that likes to be shouted at, so I will try to be more specific next time.

Okay, I am glad to see that I am on the same page as most everyone. I will just wait and see what their dedication is....if they do come back and work through all the home items, then we'd be glad to repeat the den items.

 

Hueymungus....you don't need to yell at me. We have a flag for our pack and den and we have a den flag. We do a flag ceremony at every meeting. We do not have a large outside flag pole where you can actually run the flag up and down the pole with a rope. I guess you could take the small indoor flag outside and call it an outdoor flag ceremony, but I would only do that if we had no other options. We had to go to another location to do that, and it would be a bit of work to repeat.

I have one more question. We have one new Wolf that attended the first den meeting and has not been back since. His brother has been attending one of the den meetings for one of the older groups. The CM told me that the younger boy would be back after he was done with the sport he is involved in (the mom told me it is 4 days per week, year round when I was talking to her at the first meeting so I was surprised he was joining at all.) Anyway, if he does come back, should we be working to catch him up?

 

Obviously, catching up Feats of Skill is not too hard, nor is most of Achievement 2. Your Flag. However, it was a bit of work to do the outside flag ceremony. We had to borrow a flag from an organization with a flag and flag pole (the place we meet at does not have one). We had to make sure we had good weather and plan the meeting around being outside the whole time. With the end of daylight savings time, it will be hard to fit this in, assuming he does show up again. We had to repeat a few things last year for boys that started late (including the hike) however, I am not sure what our obligations are for this scout. If he started coming regularly, I wouldn't mind so much, but I hate to rearrange our pre-planned schedule if he is only going to drop in every now and then.

 

I think arranging Scouts around sports is very difficult as both my cub scout and my boy scout play different sports year round. Since we are the den leaders, and had over half our den playing soccer this fall, we were able to find a night that worked for everyone. I am concerned what will happen when basketball starts. I guess we'll see.

Thank you for all the replies...it sounds like what I was thinking was in line with what everyone else thinks. It is frustrating to me that parents don't really make their kids do all the requirements for the belt loops, but then again, I should mainly worry about my own son, and ensure that he is completing everything to the best of his ability.

 

 

My husband in the Wolf Den Leader (he was also the Tiger leader) and I help with all the "behind the scenes" planning.

 

We have a new wolf scout that joined about 2.5 weeks ago. He was not a Tiger. His Dad has gone through his book and sent us a list of everything he has done. We are thrilled to have someone that is so excited about it, but we want to make sure we are doing this right (my husband goes to den leader training next week...hopefully, that will help.)

 

However, I have a question or two that I perhaps I can get cleared up before training.

 

He marked that he completed Elective 23e. Attend a Day Camp in your area. I was under the assumption that this was the week long day camp in the summer that is held by the district. He attended the one night / one day Cub / Akela Campout. I do not think that would count for Day Camp would it? I do think it would count for 23a. Participate with your pack on an overnight campout.

 

Next on Wolf Elective 20, he has to complete these while he is a wolf, right? For the boys that were Tigers last year, the summer time would count, but if they just joined, it would start when they joined. Is that correct? So playing basketball last winter would not count.

 

Next, he said he completed a large number of belt loops. First, he has to complete these while he is a wolf scout, right? He only joined a couple weeks ago, so I guess I am doubtful that he has done all these team sports in the last couple of weeks. Do I just accept it and move on? He also said that he and two other scouts went on a hike at the Cub Akela campout and completed their hiking belt loop. My husband was unable to attend this portion with our son due to another family commitment, so I don't know what they did. Do I just accept it? Or do we ask him if he actually went over all the safe hiking rules (requirement #1) and for that matter for the #1s for all the sports. For example, my son rides his bike frequently, but that doesn't mean he gets the belt loop. I feel like first I have to sit down with him and go over #1 and #2 (the rules and demonstrate the proper safety equipement.) For that matter, the dad said, "He rides his bike all the time." (Biking Belt Loop).

 

We don't want to alienate him, but if he is incorrect, we would like a nice way to explain it to him (and everyone else.)

 

Thanks for everyone's input.

I think there is a huge problem with Daddy made cars and it really upsets me and almost everyone I know. The *same* child won the den race all FIVE years in a row in my son's den. One year I even remember his dad showing off "Little Johnny's car" several weeks before the derby. I am so relieved it is over one on the one hand. On the other, I've got 5 more years when my younger son becomes a Tiger!

 

I love the idea of making it a fun family night on Friday night. I am on the committee and suggested a Friday night once upon a time, but nobody would hear of it. Saturday mornings are really a nightmare actually because most of the kids also play basketball.

 

Our den has an "outlaw" race for the dads, but for the last few years, not a single person has entered. We also have a sibling race, but only 2-3 siblings have done that for the last few years.

 

Sure, he could do that, but it just allows him to be at scouts for an extra 15 minutes (he has to leave early no matter what) if he wears his uniform. I guess it just depends on the situation too. He leaves early so he can be at baseball warmups. He pitches so he must warm up.

 

For my son, although he dearly loves scouts, if we made him choose, he would choose baseball, so we don't push the issue. ;-)

Our den leader has asked that everyone wear their uniform to each meeting unless he specifies otherwise (if they going to get dirty.) Usually most of the boys wear them. While pants are not part of the requirement, I do think it looks kind of silly when they wear the whole top half of the uniform with athletic shorts that hang below their knees. I guess because I am a mom! Ha!

 

I will say, my son is one of the few in his den that plays baseball, and it always conflicts with scouts in the spring. He has the occasion where he can attend scouts at 6:30 pm *and* attend his game at 8pm, however, he has to wear his baseball uniform to scouts to get it done. In that case, I don't feel bad about him not wearing his scout uniform, when the other choice is to totally miss scouts.

 

Several of you have mentioned giving the boys a candy / treat reward for wearing their uniform. While I am sure my son would love that, as a mom, I would really dislike that. He should not be rewarded for doing something he should be doing anyway. He doesn't get treats for doing his homework. And some may disagree, but food rewards are generally a bad way to go IMHO.

 

I should mention that all of the scouts in our den have uniforms and appear to be able to afford them. Also, our pack pays NO dues after the initial signup. They also earn 10% of all popcorn they sell which they can use to pay for their uniforms (or other scouting events / items.)

I was at the scout store on Friday, attempting to buy my son his Webelos uniform. I noticed that some of the Switchbacks are made from the Dupont Supplex. My son liked that material better than the cotton / polyester (although I thought those looked better), so I did purchase him a pair even though I nearly had a heart attack when I saw they were $50. Anyway, I was checking out www.scoutstuff.org when I got home and I noticed there are two pairs, the Centennial Switchbacks Uniform Pants ($50) and the Switchbacks Official Uniform Pants, Youth & Men ($20). By reading the description I can't tell much of a difference except in the price. Does anyone know a difference? To be honest, neither of of the pants (Supplex or Cotton / Polyester) fit him very well. He is rather tall and average weight, but the shorts come well below his knees when he zips them off. His size 8 jeans fit him well, but the size 8 cotton / polyester switchbacks are huge.

 

On the shirts, he preferred the cotton / polyester one over the Supplex one because the sleeves were much shorter. I also found a shirt online, Boy Scout Short-Sleeve Shirt, that looks identical but is about half the price. How can I tell exactly what I am getting? Is this one made of the cotton / polyester? It does not say.

 

I want him to have the proper uniform and I want it to fit well, but I would much rather pay $20 for pants than $50. Seriously, I don't even buy myself $50 pants, and I know he is going to grow out of them quickly.