JeffD

we have 2 real dens now (had 3 but the third leader isnt involved much at all). my wife is a soccer coach and soccer/football both started the same week as scouts - and we have had excellent participation with the tigers with things like a coastal cleanup - fishing derby - camping trip. this weekend is the scout olympics in the area and i expect similar turnout. i have a couple of people who have said they would step up and help more if asked - and i let them know they will surely be called upon. i am also very fortunate in that the other leader and i get along very well and are similar in planning methods and we meet to plan out our den meetings a month in advance.. plus we're both pretty gung ho and i think that excitement comes through to the kids

with some of the complaining i sometimes hear about scouting - i figured this would be nice to share. we started the school year with 20 tigers (19 paid - 1 guest). all 19 tigers just earned their bobcat. and we rarely (if ever) have more than 1 or 2 kids miss a meeting. we have 2 trained 'leaders' (myself and a friend) and a nice group of parents who enjoy helping out and working with us. though the group is pretty large - we manage them very well. we have had 3-4 guests and are working to get them to join up. i hope this doesnt jinx us - but we are having a great time and everyone is enjoying it. its nice to have parents come up and thank you for the "excellent job youre doing" and tell you how much fun everyone is having.

thanks all for the clarification - i guess its like electives where they can be signed off more than once. though i dont see the purpose. i would want to try NEW AND DIFFERENT things rather than repeat the same thing over and over... though its a bit off topic, i dont see why some parents seem content to say their kid did elective 14 a total of 25 times, or they did the 'play a game' elective 10 times. as a scout, i always tried to experience new things and complete many of the different reqs. i dont recall ever being able to repeat items - but this was a good 20-25 years ago i wish there were an easy way to say you need to do X number of electives before being able to repeat. this would get the cubs searching to discovering new things and sharing the experience with the den and/or pack (hey search discover share - i think i am on to something here)

they could buy them at the scout store - or find them online - http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/a-s.html the belt loops can be earned all throughout cub scouts - so getting them now may not be the best thing at tiger (when IMHO some should be learned at a little older age when it is probably more appropriate) . the loops can only be earned once - so running through them the first year can mean boredom later in scouts when others are learning. for some of the sports belt loops - if they are in a league, they should earn them by the first game. (usually the 3 reqs. are discuss the rules of the game - practice for 30 minutes - participate in a game)

i had a talk with the father at the meeting and i am quite surprised. it seemed he didnt really even look at the requirements for the belt loops and signed off on the ones that he had done in school. so - have art class at school - sign off on art belt loop. take baseball last year - sign off on that belt loop, etc...

i am the actual den leader for this boy (i have 7 in my den) i also wonder about how well a 1st grader could complete some of the reqs.. for example astronomy. my son can do the first couple of requirements fairly well - he also goes out to observe with my telescopes and can pick out planets (or be pretty darn close) with the naked eye. but i dont think he could describe the differences between a red giant or a white dwarf. (part of the 3rd requirement) also - thanks for the heads up on elective beads. i just re-read that part. just a couple of hours until the meeting - looks like we will be getting together with everyone to go over this beforehand.

the nice thing about having others in the planning process is that you can have other ideas for things to do. it also helps if something comes up at the last minute and you cannot make it - theres someone who already knows what needs to be done.

we have actually split into 3 dens - though for the past couple meetings we have participated together. right now - just getting the hang of things and trying to find the happy medium between the parents signing off to get a bunch of awards right off the bat and the right amount of participation.

After growing up in scouts - I was excited when I was able to introduce my son to scouting. Though some things have changed (tiger cubs?) - I remember a lot. After asking questions I was persuaded to become the tiger den leader. Since we have 20 tigers I recruited a couple of others to help with the load and share in the fun. I am also lucky in that we have a good group of energetic and enthusiastic adults. We almost have all of the bobcat requirements for all of the kids and so far. From what I have read here I am trying to make sure I get all of the needed info. I have already completed the fast start, tiger den leader and new leader training. So I am officially trained. Looking forward to roundtable and other ideas for keeping it somple and fun. Feel free to point me in the right way Most of all I am excited to share everything with my son that I was able to experience in scouts.

John - i may be incorrect, but with tigers, theyre just beginning scouting and all of these boys joined up last month. i dont think you can count items done in the past when they werent even scouts (though i would love it as our family is pretty active). now over this next summer - i agree this would be no problems. for me - the electives arent so much of the issue as the belt loops are. here they all are - Art, Astronomy, Baseball, Bicycling, Bowling, Computers, Fishing, Golf, Gymnastics, Mathematics, Music, Physical Fitness, Science, Soccer, and Swimming. I am going to talk to our cubmaster tomorrow - but i really appreciate any opinions from everyone else...

one month might be okay - but we have had 2 meetings - and he missed the first one.

thanks - i read through that thread. I guess i was wondering about a boy getting bobcat - tiger totem - 4 elective beads - 15 belt loops at the first pack meeting. i would rather know that the kids achieved something when they ear it instead of becoming (bad pun) paper tigers our schools are the same as the other thread where the boys need to read a story every night. if the kids did no other electives, they would get around 2 beads per month just because of elective #14 - reading fun.

I am a new tiger den leader and have a pretty darn group of families(20 in all) - and we are coming up on the 3rd den meeting (tomorrow) for our tigers. I had set up a message forum for our dens to report advancement so electives/belt loops/etc can be reported and i can take care of some paperwork ahead of time. One of our Akelas just sent me a note that in this time 15 belt loops have been completed as well as 38 elective items (elective 14 was done 22 times). His boy missed the first den meeting and showed up to the second. one of the belt loops (physical fitness) requires the increased performance in each of 5 different skills over a month. I am all for advancement - but does this seem off to anyone else? It seems to me at this rate we will have a bored kid come January because he has 'done it all'.

FINALLY!!!! yes i am here