Faith

We meet the first and third Monday of every month, along with a pack meet the last Monday of the month. It works perfectly for us and if we have a special trip to make, we usually schedule it on a non-Monday date.

As a Bear den leader with 15 regulars, I understand where you're coming from (I also know we should be two dens but it just wasn't happening this year.)

Normally, 12-14 attend as of lately, which is wonderful. I always send a text to the parents that didn't attend after the meet letting them know what we did and to message me if they have any questions. Some will reply back, some won't. Most complete it at home by the next meeting. If they don't - as everyone else has said here, so be it. I know we'll have a couple that will not rank up in February. Their parents bring them to most meets but they don't make up what they missed or they disregard the few things they need to do at home. I'm not going to break my neck to make sure they do it.

This may sound wrong but I'm trying to help 15 scouts rank up (one being my son.) If a fellow parent can't help their one scout do the same (or encourage them to do the work that they do not need assistance with) - well, they just won't rank up until its done (or at all if they're not done by June 1st.)

I did also want to add that I do not do Facebook messages or emails anymore. Calls and texts, yes. But the other two seemed more problematic than anything. We have a pack group on Facebook but nothing for our den specifically. I was running myself ragged emailing this person, calling that person, etc. So they all agreed to texts or to find out what was missed by calling me or seeing me at the next meet.

I also agree on money up front before doing a craft. We are building birdhouses in a few weeks, for example. 12 of 15 have paid their part for materials. 3 have not. I talked to all 3 parents privately and told them if they were having financial issues, please let me know and we'd work something out. None have since replied to me. So come that day, 12 of 15 will be building birdhouses. I never wanted to do something like that but this is the first year I haven't paid over $30 out of pocket for materials. And I'm enjoying that!

Welcome to you both

Always good to have an oddball around Welcome!

Welcome from another Carolinian (SC here.) Glad to have you here and thanks for your help earlier

Thank you so much, y'all have a great rest of the week!

Also, thank you for that website link. It finally loaded on my end. Apparently devices have been around longer than I realized, I'm not sure why more sites don't have that info up (maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong areas.) Part of me wishes I'd have been around when they had all the different knots for each area (I get the uniform looks much neater now but I always liked that how they told a story so-to-speak when I'd see others wearing them.)

I do know I'm getting the knot and the Cub Scouting device (I've since spoken to our advancement person since posting.) So unless I can wear the Tiger one as well, that will be all the ones I get (I assume) for my five years. Which is fine. I just wanted to make sure I was wearing the correct items.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

The TCDL Award' date=' CSDL Award, and WDL Award are THREE (emphasis) separate awards that use the same knot. So you should technically wear a TC device and a CS device [/quote']

 

Now my first thought was also this. One knot as the base, then two pins on that one knot (as I did know the one knot was for all three now.)

 

- BUT -

 

Rather' date=' the miniature devicesâ€â€Cub Scouting, No. 926; Boy Scouting, No. 927; Varsity Scouting, No. 928; Venturing, No. 940; Sea Scouting, No. 931; commissioner, No. 871; district committee member, No. 872â€â€are worn on the knot to designate the phase(s) of the program in which the key or award was earned" ike the Scouter's Training Award and Scouter's Key.[/quote']

 

This lead me to believe I didn't wear the Tiger one at all, just one Cub Scouting device to represent my tenure as a leader in whole (all 5 years that I plan to lead - for now, the two I've completed.)

 

I saw on the link j.edi posted that the Tiger one wasn't for leaders (at least that's how I read that page - which I read at least four times to try and grasp what they meant.) Apparently lack of sleep this week is kicking in good today.

 

It states: The others, along with the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Venturing devices are worn on Training Awards and Scouter's Keys. The others not including the Tiger one.

 

BUT if you look up the Tiger device by its numeric code, it is called the Tiger Cub® Leader Device

 

So, to follow protocol:

 

Do I wear the one knot and the *one* Cub Scouting device?

- or -

Do I wear the one know and both the Tiger and Cub Scouting device?

Are these called Tracks? out of curiosity where did the term "Device" come from

I have no idea. Up until today, I didn't know they existed! lol. Just when I think I know a good bit too

Thank you, j.edi! Don't know how I missed those as I have both of those sites bookmarked. Last question. Under the new (I assume they are new?) setup, if you get a knot first, then a device, how does one earn the Tiger cub device if your first year was as a Tiger leader? Is that if you do more than one year as one? Thanks again!

Ok, I may have answered myself. Seeing "The others, along with the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Venturing devices are worn on Training Awards and Scouter's Keys." - I assume that means you only earn the Tiger one as a scout, not as a leader. So you'd get the Cub Scout one for each year (but you can only wear one at a time.)

Gotcha Do you by chance know what the device is? I didn't mind having the two blue/gold knots to represent Tiger and Wolf but now they are saying its one knot and one device (I can't find the device anywhere online nor the info stating that.) I'm in charge of training our pack on everything new coming out in the next year (I have a nifty little manual made up) but am sorely lacking in the awards department (what changed, what hasn't, etc.) Thanks, Jason!

Hi all,

I had a question I hope someone can help me with. This is my third year as a den leader. Some other leaders in our pack recently told us about the knots we could earn (I knew of them but never attempted to get one) and encouraged us to apply for them. I'd previously read that in 2012, the individual rank knots were retired (one for Tiger, one for Wolf/Bear and one for Webelos.) I also read that if I applied for my two knots (one of Tiger year and one for Wolf year) I'd get two of the blue and gold knots. So after filling out my two applications, that's what I was left to assume I'd be receiving.

Today, I got a call telling me that was no longer the case. I'd earn the blue and gold knot for Tiger year, then a device for the Wolf year. My question is, is there any info online that is updated on this? I can't find any info on it nor a photo of what the device is, exactly. I'm purely curious, as all the sites I've visited say you get one knot per rank.

I hope that makes sense, its not a big deal but I'd still like to know

Thanks!

How awesome, thank you for sharing and great job to him on his popcorn sales!!

Welcome back to the forums!

Welcome! Glad to have you here Jump right in and take everything with a grain of salt (or don't and whine, it won't break too much I promise )

You used correct punctuation and let us know where one sentence ended and another began. That's more than some people on the internet do with no excuse All jokes aside, please let us know how it goes. Hoping for the best for y'all!

I agree with a lot of the suggestions here. I would not send him away (I've had problematic scouts and problematic parents - when its the parents, I try my very best to keep the scout with us parents-willing and scout-wanting.) With that being said, I would sit down with the mom and talk it out, plain and simple. I try not to be an overly confrontational person but if I see a parent doing wrong repeatedly (which I have encountered, thankfully, only a few times) I want to get to the bottom of it. A few have eventually dropped out afterwards but some actually backed off and let their scout do their thing. Some told me just to go with it but who does that help? I also agree with the above two sentiments - they are lucky to have you

I have no use for people like that around me and they can find another program that is willing to cater to their every whim. Ever send a group text? What a pain in the a$$ when the replies start flying. Some of the phones are improving the messaging client but they are few.

As much as I love email, others do not share that sentiment.

Each year, I gather phone numbers and email addresses from parents. I started out emailing - then realized half of them didn't check their emails (some to the point where it bounced back because the email was no longer active.)

Then I did only texting. A few parents kept having their numbers changed or phones cut off temporarily so that wasn't working.

I mentioned Facebook to a few and they jumped all over that and was the most effective way to reach them. Sadly, I had to cut that out as this year when our den grew double in size, I had some wanting a call, some a text, some an email and the rest Facebook. I send home a flyer with important dates on it and send texts (for my own sanity.) We also have a yearly event dates/meets list on our Facebook group that they can reference if for some reason they can get to Facebook but not receive texts. For the most part this has worked well for us.

Some people look at email as outdated, which is sad (much like how some viewed snail mail when emailing came along) but that's how it goes.

The beads are a pain but I found if you feed the "thong" back through the bead a second time it really helps to secure them if the knot at the end comes loose. Even worst than threading the beads is getting the the plastic holder off the pocket button when washing. I hate that thing. What we do for the boys.

We do this as well (pretty sure I read that tip here!)

We have a good bit of scouts that wear them to each meet and I can only think of twice that a few beads escaped. Each year I have plenty of leftovers that I pass to the next den leader for spares. I also hand them out at den meets as I try to uphold the 'immediate' part to the best of my ability

Thanks again I didn't think it was required but wanted to make sure (I knew it was an option for us this year as Bears but not mandatory.) Once I read through the sites I too saw it wasn't part of the BSA but accepted by them as jblake47 stated. You learn something new every day

That is awesome and especially so that he is willing to be flexible in what he will present!

We recently had someone come out from our local raptors and animal sanctuary to speak at our September pack meet. She brought one of her birds with her and discussed many of the ones she had at the sanctuary, how they got there, along with some endangered species around here. She also covered on why it was illegal to have certain real feathers in your possession (which a fellow den leader then tied into the feathers OA members use which was fascinating to all of us that had no idea.)

Since it was the pack meet leading into October, she explained all her responsibilities and how the scouts could be responsible as far as local wildlife goes. We were able to tie the endangered species part of her presentation in with the wildlife conservation belt loop. The individual dens can work on the rest of the requirements during a meet of theirs if they choose (if not, that's fine, the boys still loved meeting Captain Andy!) That beltloop's requirements are:

• Explain what natural resources are and why it's important to protect and conserve them.
  
• Make a poster that shows and explains the food chain. Describe to your den what happens if the food chain becomes broken or damaged.
  
• Learn about an endangered species. Make a report to your den that includes a picture, how the species came to be endangered, and what is being done to save it.
  

If you have time, you can also check out the Cub Scout World Conservation Award: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/cub_scout_world_conservation-206.asp

It may be tricky to work in enough to cover each rank but if he can suggest, during his presentation, a type of conservation project you can all work on (while tying it into whatever subjects he presents), that would be a step towards earning that award. And like the beltloop above, the dens could work individually on the rest if they chose to do so.

Hope it goes well for y'all and the scouts enjoy it!

I am a Bear leader and have used this every year since they scouts were Tigers. Next year it will be going away (not that its used for Webelos as it is) but if I were in your position, I'd go ahead and award it to those who earned the beads last year and start the rest out with it this year as Bears. I know a lot of packs don't do it but our boys love earning their beads

Thank y'all so very much! I had the scouting.org page bookmarked but by the time I got to it my eyes were swimming. I had not found the scoutinsignia.com one, thanks again everybody I will send all this info to her now and make note myself!

Hi all,

I have scoured the internet (and these forums) trying to find a thread referring to this specifically but so far have found nothing that answers me directly. I am asking for a friend whose scout is a second year Webelos and is on his way to earning his religious emblem. Once he has earned it, is it required for him to re-earn it as a Boy Scout or can it be carried over?

Also asking this for future reference for myself and my den's scouts, if a scout earns their emblem as a Tiger/Wolf/Bear, does it have to be re-earned again at any time in cub scouts?

Thanks so much!