jens3sons 10 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hi All, I was just wondering if any of you had the same concern I did. I am not an overly-protective parent...I have 3 boys and I let them be boys. My oldest son collects pocket knives, and I didn't think it would be an "issue" to let him earn one. He worked so hard to get the one with the eagle and American Flag on it. As soon as we handed out the popcorn prizes, boys started to open up their knives, and sure enough one boy got cut during the meeting. As soon as I realized what was going on, we made an announcement that they shouldn't open them up until they were home and their parents were supervising them. No sooner had we gotten home, and my son looked at his with me around, and then went to put it away. He put it away, but then about 20 min later we heard the blood-curdling scream and sure enough he needed 3 stiches in his finger! I would like to know why Trail's End is offering this as a prize, esp. to the cub scouts when they can't even earn the requirement for pocket knife safety until the later 1/2 of cub scouting??? I would also like to know if any other parents/packs had this same issue, so that I know if it is even worth bringing it up with Trail's End or not? Yours in scouts! jens3sons Link to post Share on other sites
EagleInKY 14 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 One of the observations made recently on this board was that the Whitlin' Chip is not a Bear requirement. A Cub Scout can earn it at any point in time. It's just included as one of the optional requirements for Bear. That's why everyone seems to think it should go there. As for the meeting, when your talking Cubs and knives, you should make an announcement at the beginning about knives going in their pockets or into the hands of their parents. What happens afterwards is the parent's concern (as you are well aware). Welcome to the forum! Link to post Share on other sites
Cardinal 10 Posted January 11, 2005 Share Posted January 11, 2005 We too got a pocket knive. But I immediately realized that the blade lock was too hard for our wolf to press without placing his fingers across where the blade was going. Poor marketing. What's wrong with a more normal pocket knife? Link to post Share on other sites
OldGreyEagle 5 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 First welcome to the forums Now, Trails End catches quite a bit of heck here and other places and some of it is very deserved. Something to consider is that all BSA units can sell popcorn, Cub Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venture Crews, Sea Scout Ships, Varsity Teams and any other I may have forgotten. They have to come up with "premiums" that will have something for all of these groups. That which is ok for a Boy Scout or older (above 14) may not be the best choice for a Cub. Given the already high price for product, I dont think different premium programs for the different branches is a good idea. Link to post Share on other sites
Rixkidz 10 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 I can understand the frustrations, but our boys earned their whittling chip the summer the became wolf. We taught them the knive safety and gave them bars of Ivory soap to cut up.. Are you saying this was too soon? Link to post Share on other sites
EagleInKY 14 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Rix - No. There is no set timeframe for it. Most tend to do it during the Bear year because of the requirement. But there is no reason to do that. It's just common. Link to post Share on other sites
fotoscout 15 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 I think that this pocket knife thing with the Popcorn awards is one of the most stupid things Ive seen come out national!! Link to post Share on other sites
CubsRgr8 10 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Just a minute! If a cub scout's parents are so unengaged in what he's doing as to not know that he ordered a knife, or if they are not sharp enough (pun intended!) to know if he can handle a knife, don't be blaming Trails End - hold up a mirror! Link to post Share on other sites
jens3sons 10 Posted January 12, 2005 Author Share Posted January 12, 2005 Me Again...Just to let all of you know, I did email Trail's End and they passed my email to the prize people, who in turn emailed me back to say that from now on they are going to require that no boy orders the pocket knife w/o the Whittl'n Chip. -EagleInKY...thank you for letting me know they can earn that requirement before they are a Bear Cub. I know a lot of things, but obviously not it all. -CubsRgr8...I never NOT took any of the responsibility for my end of it. My son has had pocket knives for over a year now, and I would never let him bring them to any scouting function knowing he did not earn the Whittl'n Chip. He has never before needing the stiches, taken out or used the pocket knife w/o either my or his dad's knowledge. He had it out earlier and put it away. With any kids you can't have an eye on them 24/7, and as was the case here, I was in the bathroom and his father downstairs when he pulled it out again w/o us knowing about it. Not all accidents can be blamed on the parents, and some accidents are valuable learning experiences to the kids, such as was the case with this! Link to post Share on other sites
Its Me 10 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 I pushed hard to get my Bears to complete their whittling chip and last month I got five out of eight active scouts to complete the requirement. The night they got their chips the popcorn awards were given out. The Cubmaster's son wins a knife. The CM takes it out of the box and hands it to his son. The CM's wife who is also the CC tells the CM "a cubscout can't have a knife at a scout function without a whittling chip". Jr does not have his chip. The CM waves off his wife pushes the knife in the scouts pocket and mouthed to his boy "don't worry about it". Looking back, the Pack should have held one big whittling chip night. Knives and boys go hand in hand. The more scouts hear and the more frequency the boys hear about safe knife use, the better off all our boys will be. Link to post Share on other sites
SemperParatus 1 Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 ItsMe, Maybe kill two birds with one stone (oops...sorry PETA), schedule a Red Cross Blood drive the same night as your pack whittlin' chip event.(This message has been edited by SemperParatus) Link to post Share on other sites
CubsRgr8 10 Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 jens3sons - I meant my comments to be specific as to whether or not parents know what it is their sons are ordering, not about the inevitability of boys and accidents. I also think your correspondence with Trail's End had a very good outcome - whittling chips required to order pocket knives. It's Me - I like your idea about a Pack Activity Night to earn the whittling chip. We used the same approach for a PWD clinic recently with good results. Link to post Share on other sites
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