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Lion being Reborn?


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Hoo boy...

 

Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Lion, Webelos...

 

Now Tiger, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelos, Webelos...

 

Soon to be...

?? Lion, Tiger, Bobcat, Wolf , Bear, Webelos, Webelos...??

 

see http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Lion_Cub_Scouts

 

and http://www.cnyscouts.org/forms/2009_Lion_Handbook.pdf

 

and http://www.angelfire.com/trek/pocketchangelimited/scouts.html

 

"Coming to a concil near you...."

 

Will it be a Lion Cub, or a Lion Roar? I think it depends on who is first in the National Office Monday morning...

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My council (Northern Star) has conducted a Kindergarten Lion pilot program for the last three yeart. 74% of the Scouts who joined in the first year are still in Scouts. Over the past two years 80% of the Lion Cubs transitioned to Tiger Cubs.

 

Starting in the fall, our council is urging every pack to have a Lion Cub program. Some details about uniforming and insignia are still being determined.

 

"Northern Star Council has seen the results of this program and this Fall, the Lion Cub pilot will become a more integral part of the Scouting program. As part of a pack, Lion Cubs will be able to participate in pack meetings, fundraising efforts, camping programs, Pinewood Derby, and any other activity that the pack is participates in."

 

http://www.northernstarbsa.org/News.aspx?articleID=969

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I really think it should be:

(starting with preschool)

chipmunk, Coatimundi, Bobcat, Marten, Wolf, Bear, Lion, Siberian Sabertooth, Webelos,,..... Scout

 

Then the Cub mom could understand why the Cub wears his uni shirt out of his pants, to display all the badges!

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I understand why.........

 

We get them in Scouting before Little league or flag football starts competing for their time and interest....

 

Do I like it....Not with out other changes......

 

I would love to see crossover numbers to the troop.

 

Edited for reading the links.....It is a learning for life program in the first link

 

Then the second link......

 

the angelfire link sounds like a rogue unit.... The article says the first sanctioned to receive the lion award.....but interestingly enough their award is for webelos aged boys and not kindergarteners.

 

Take a look at the unit picture at the link and read the story.....How does a bear den also earn another rank.....The leaders in the picture are very clearly untrained.

 

 

My favorite quote from the article....

 

"over the next 5 months, the activity hungry boys would all go on to earn, or re-earn the Bobcat Patch, the Wolf Patch with Gold arrow, and silver Arrow, Bear Patch with Gold arrow, and an average of 11 silver arrows each. "

 

Really in 5 months......I DON"T THINK SO(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

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I grew up in Campfire first, then later Girl Scouts, and I always found it odd that you had to wait until first grade to be a cub. I've been a around the cub block with a couple of dens, and the Tigers are a dream, it's the parent's behavior that can get a bit trying! I personally find Wolves to be the most challenging year behavior-wise. Even then, it's not that bad and just boys testing the boundaries. It's what kids do and it just takes a little bit of a firmer hand to keep them on task.

 

Why does starting them early mean they'll get bored and quit before they get to Boy Scouts? I don't understand that logic at all. My personal observations have been the more active a pack the boys come from, the more likely they are to enter and stick with an active troop later on. A boring cub program, then the entrance into a boring troop, causes boys to drop out.

 

Of course, I also think the BSA coddles and wraps boys in bubble wrap a bit, at least at the cub level. I think it's funny in a sad way when our boys are going to a 3-day day camp and their younger sisters are going to 2 week residence camps without their parents. I know our pack has lost boys because we show them these great videos at roundup where the boys are camping, shooting BB guns and doing all this great outdoor stuff. Then they only get to do half those things once a year at a council event. The rest of the outdoor stuff they have mom or dad hovering over them in near panic mode, because god forbid we give the boys some freedom to try and fail (or succeed) a little bit.

 

Maybe if we get the boys and the parents in kindergarten before they are stretched in every direction, we'll get 'em hooked on scouting and we'll end up with a better program for the boys, which leads to boys sticking around much longer. I've found that when the parents are excited, the boys are too, at least when they are cub age.

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