Belt loop/pin policy recommendations

[Scoutfish 16]

 

 

No but you can follow the requirements EXACTLY as they are stated. The ones that say you make a poster and show it to your den , ones that say you stand up and present to den or pack. Ones that require you to show your den leader or explain "X" to your den leader, etc...

 

Our pack pays for any and all beltloops earnd while on pack or council time. Mom and dad pay for BL or Pins earned during family time or time away from a scouting sponsored/controlled activity.

 

We too had a boy who's mom turned in paperwork for ALL the beltloops..even though the boy never went to any scout camp ( council, district or pack) at all and only came to 6 den meetings and one pack meeting all year long.

[5yearscouter 52]

The belt loops/pins are $1.79 each + 10 cent card.

 

there are 56 belt loops, 56 pins

112 x $1.89 = $211.68

x 30 cub scouts if they all get as carried away as our bear den a year ago

= $6350.4

 

That is a bit more than our pack has in it's awards budget for a year.

 

how bout you?

 

Packs have to have some kind of policy, ceiling, limit on how many can be earned out of the pack budget before parents have to start paying.

 

now if a scout earns 2 a month, that's only 3.78

say for 10 months in a year = 37.80

x 5 years = $189

that is earning 100 of the belt loops, maybe you want to allow the occassional 3 a month for special occassions like finishing a webelos badge or something (like sportsman), to get you up to that 112 total cost of $211.68

 

but it would be spread out over 5 years,

not all done in a few months where it looks like someone checked off everything their son may have possibly sort of done at school or church or sports or maybe they could do it at scouts or home, but only if you fudge the requirments.

 

Basically since it's not rank advancement, the pack doesn't have to participate in those awards, if they parents are going to abuse the belt loop and pin program, then the program will cease to be a part of our cub scout pack awards unless specifically mentioned by name as a requirement for rank. that would be citizen and scientist in the webelos activity pins required to earn those pins. all the other belt loops mentioned in the rank books are options that could be done, but don't have to be.

[grmaerika 10]

I'm glad to read this about the belt loops as we are just starting to work on these with our Tigers. I am planning to use the required activities as part of our den or pack meetings, so the boys can have a start on completeing some of them. I'm planning to have them bring in and share with the den what they complete at home, like posters,write a song,play an instrument etc..It seems like it will help strengthen our den to share with each other.Plus,as leader, I want to know that they are doing the work to recieve the award. Otherwise, what's the point? Glad to read you all's input.

[afscout 10]

Some of the parents do believe "he who has the most toys win" and go all out to get every single belt loop/pin.

 

At our pack, the policy is that the pack will only pay for belt loops/pins earned at pack activities, which mostly comes out to those earned at CS Day Camp.

 

As a DL, I do a lot of activities which the boys earn belt loops, but I clearly let the parents know that the pack will not pay for the belt loops and it's the parent's responsibility to purchase the belt loops for their sons (I usually will work with the parents and buy all the belt loops and have them pay me back). I've never had a problem with the parents if we lay down the policy at the beginning.

[AnnLaurelB 10]

I'm a first-year CM after spending a year as my son's Tiger DL.

 

We're so small, that for these 2 years, it hasn't really cost that much--dues pretty much have covered the Beltloops, at $1.00 per week per boy.

 

But I was mining information from a CC in another Pack the other day, and she said that their Pack pays for ALL Beltloops (and they're a HUGE Pack with 110 boys, although 32 are aging out this month).

 

I asked how they did that. She said that they charge UP FRONT for *everything* they think Scouting will cost the kid for the year. They *include* about a Beltloop per month in that figure.

 

She also reminded me that all parts of a Cubbie's life CAN be counted as activities that earn Beltloops!

 

Now, you have some Dens which will order up to 8-10 Beltloops at a time for Den activities (I'm also my son's Wolf DL, and I BELIEVE IN BLING!) but my 6 little guys bring in $24 a month in dues. If we earn a Beltloop per month, that cost is less than $12.

 

Now, we earned our Pet Care Beltloops in ONE Den meeting in my backyard. They each brought a live pet, OR a poster about a pet they'd LIKE to have, and told us about the pet, it's origins, it's habits, and it's care. Beltloop EARNED, totally.

 

But I had one boy not show up to that because of baseball. He didn't want to bring a poster later, so he's simply not getting that Beltloop. He also didn't come to our fishing outing, so he's not getting THAT Beltloop, either. That's his choice.

 

My son happened to spend an entire day taking photos with my digital camera, uploading them, playing with the editing, asking me how the zoom worked, etc... and he printed out several pics of our last Den meeting to show to the guys. I awarded him a Photography Beltloop for his zeal.

 

Another boy played Upward Basketball, and told us about how he'd learned the rules and skills of the game; I gave him a Basketball Beltloop for that.

 

But those were off-set by the other boy's absences. Now, he may come back and earn something else, but I think it all comes out evenly in the end, if you're collecting dues. I thought that's what the dues were FOR, in large part.