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Everything posted by Gwaihir
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great ideas man, love em. My Den doesn't have a flag yet, definitely going to use some of these ideas!
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every night. For my oldest, I just started The Hobbit with them. for my little one, we do Golden Books, and other age appropriate story time books.
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I still use Akela in my Den meetings, since it clearly references him as a sign off and it would be a shame if Cubs did away with it completely. As a side note, none of that stopped The Jungle Book from being a top grossing film of 2015, 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and have a very diverse cast of actors and actresses. We also, for what it's worth, we very much use "Kim's Game" as an essential observational teaching tool, which is from Kipling's Kim.
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I think that would have been best, retiring Webelos, making Lions the highest rank before AoL, and giving Bobcat to the 5 year olds. Or, doing away with Tigers and replacing it with Panthers/Leopards. The idea that Akela and Baloo are helping you on this journey, and then Shere Khan is included in the mix when he was the chief villain also really never sat well with me.
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Curious if anyone has any historical information on this... I've always wondered why the first rank was Bobcat instead of Leopard. You'd think with how heavily influenced the Cub Scouts were with Kipling's Jungle Book and Akela and Baloo playing prominent roles... the first rank would be from Bagheera. If anyone knows, thanks in advance!
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I don't, but I recently got back into patch collecting. Is there any unwritten rules about OA flap trading restricted to arrowmen? I'm mostly picking up CSPs for now, but I'd be into collecting OA flap patches too.
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New Cub Scout Requirements as of November 30th 2016!
Gwaihir replied to Eagle94-A1's topic in Cub Scouts
Unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to run things that way and play it by ear. The whole point being, as long as the kids are having fun, having more requirements that facilitate them exploring and learning isn't a punishment. If we looked at doing requirements as punishment, why are we even an organization? If I see things getting bogged down, I'll trim fat and keep things moving so the boys are engaged and having a good time. -
cool! thanks for the answer, much appreciated!
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New Cub Scout Requirements as of November 30th 2016!
Gwaihir replied to Eagle94-A1's topic in Cub Scouts
right, that's why I was saying that in a truly "flexible" program, the Den Leader can still have the boys do all the requirements. It says "at least", it doesn't say "do 1, 2 and one more of the other ones". The benefit now would be that should you run into big obstacles that would impede your den, you can effectively pair the adventure down it's most basic minimums to ensure the program is moving forward and you're not holding things up to the point where it will have down stream ill effects. Conversely, if the kids are moving along well, you can challenge them and open them up to more of the adventure's experiences by having them complete more of the requirements. If that's the way it's meant to be, I think this is a positive change. -
New Cub Scout Requirements as of November 30th 2016!
Gwaihir replied to Eagle94-A1's topic in Cub Scouts
How is this giving Den Leaders flexibility? Seems like it's giving the kids flexibility, and making a nightmare for the Den Leaders. Or is the DL choosing which "optional" requirement the Den should be doing? If it's the latter, than the way I'm reading it (at least for Tigers, I haven't read the other ranks/ages), is that a requirement now says "Complete Requirements 1 and 2 plus at least two others" meaning, as DL, I can, based on my assessment of the boys, our available time, where we are in the program vs year, etc, have them do all the requirements.... OR... Should we be running into time issues, family schedule problems, ect, I can, as DL, shorten down that Adventure to 1, 2 and 4 and call it a day. This seems to be how you'd give actual flexibility to the Den Leaders to run the program for their Den in the best possible way for their boys. Not just a "lets find the quickest way to get these kids done by January" update. -
that's a great idea, I'll definitely snag a couple bags of balloons and throw them in my backpack. I'm trying to envision the paperbag race... the balloon is inside the bag? what is the string doing? It certainly sounds fun if it's anything at all like what I'm picturing.
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Our pack uses it, but what I find at least for the tigers, is the excitement they get when I sign off in their handbook. It's a physical representation of their accomplishment they can see. I hope the BSA doesn't go fully away from paper books. So I'll sign off on their requirements in the book and then do double booking on the site. If it keeps the boys excited and engaged, its worth the extra book keeping, imo.
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any word on a resolution? thanks!
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Thanks dilrod, I ran with magic shrinking circle, the kids got just enough of a kick out of it that it was a success. Was thinking of sweep the floor or kangaroo tails for next meeting.
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Hi all, So Im the new Tiger Dean Leader and I'm looking for some ideas on different games you've run that were successful. These guys have max energy and half of them get bored pretty easily. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking to do something team oriented for next meeting since they're working on Team Tiger
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Looking in my son's Tiger handbook, back cover, the insignia position guide is still there. Maybe they stopped doing it in the BSA Handbook, which would be a real shame. Well, the best I can do is lead by example, and offer guidance to my den. Let them be the model the other dens aspire to.
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thanks!
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Is this an issue with Chrome or the site? trying to upload a avatar and it just spins and spins.
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I don't disagree at all. I would much rather see uniforms get reused by boys who can't afford them and I prefer stitching myself. My initial point was, between Badge Magic, thousands of youtube tutorials on how to stitch patches, and professional seamstresses... there is zero reason for the Den Chief position badge to be under the flag, the Pack numbers halfway down the sleeve, or Bobcat, Wolf and Bear rank all safety pinned along the edge of the pocket flap. Patch placement is pretty clear as to where and how they are placed. It's been that way for years and when we're supposed to be trying to teach our boys the Cub Scout motto "Do your best" and then don't do our best, we've gone beyond not setting a good example, we're setting a bad example. That any ole thing will do, and our best really isn't necessary.
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since this is about the uniform, we had a pack night this week and I was seeing boys (A LOT of them) with their rank (bobcat, wolf, bear, even some webelos) with the rank badges still safety pined to their pocket. How can we say the Cub scout motto is "Do your best" and then not seek to have them at least place the insignia in the proper place? They make Badge Magic now, you don't even have to stitch them on (tho thats my preferred method)... it was sad. I will be pushing my Den to place their insignia on in the proper place and stress the motto when I do. These are capable boys with very capable parents who are intelligent and able. This is not their "best" by a long shot.
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I got my son a full uniform as well, and I got myself a full uniform as their Den Leader. Wearing half a uniform, even it's its considered "official" just feels wrong to me.
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that's my point, in the training videos (which I just finished a week ago), it shows Cub Scout boys wearing jeans, while it's telling you jeans are not uniform and the uniform should be worn complete. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Is it me, or does anyone else find it odd that the training for cubs states that the uniform should be worn in its entirety or not worn at all. Then it shows cubs wearing jeans, khaki shorts, etc.
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Well, my return to scouting has been put on temporary hold. I'm a daddy of twins! A boy and a girl So I have a Cub and a Daisy in the making.
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"Parents today have, themselves, grown up in the be-entertained era and know what tricks to use to keep their kids from being bored. All the way from plopping them down in front of the TV to handing them a few bucks and send them off to the mall to hang out with their friends. They probably don't know any more about dealing with boredom than their kids do" You all make some very very valid points, and I agree with a lot of what you're all saying. Food for thought though... as a 32 year old man who falls into the "parents today" demo, while it's true from a lot of what I've seen from my peers, if parents my age don't know how to deal with boredom, its most likely because their parents didn't teach them, or allow them to learn how. When we were children, video games were just starting to become popular, cable television was just hitting its stride, computers were becoming more than just mainframes, sensationalized news was becoming more and more the norm while reports of child molesters and satan worshipers stealing kids off the street were the panic news hitting parents ears. Women were going into the work force more than ever as well and having a parent home raising the child practically vanished. It just became "easier" for the baby boom generation to leave their kids in front of the tube where it was safe, that mentality passed on even worse to the kids who are now parents today. I'm thankful I had a full time mom at home with the 5 of us and a dad who took all his remaining free time he had outside of work and home maintenance to teach us, to be involved in scouting with his 3 boys (all of whom I can proudly say, earned the rank of Eagle) as well as tons of family vacations to historical sites, camping trips, etc. I like to think I'm one of the people of my generation who knows how to put the blackberry down, turn off the computer and go outside and just sit. I remember those nights during a campout sitting around just staring into the fire embers completely content or laying on a hill watching clouds, and I want to instill those same values and ideals in my children because if left to their surrounding environment for instruction, it'll just be more of the same in an endless cycle (of course, that's what being a parent actually is). It's also why I made a decision to reconnect with Scouting. So that I could be involved in shaping America's youth and maybe bringing back a lot of these lost values and concepts as well as helping teach boys about the great adventure that is outside their doors and past their neighborhoods. Now I'm not knocking technology, my career is in computers and it puts a roof over my family's head and food on the table. I'm talking to you all via a computer! But like that great line in Shane... "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. " I feel that technology is no different, it's all about us, the human beings who teach our children. I own a Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, Playstation, etc and I fully admit, video games are fun and can be challenging and more and more they can be educational too with the medical simulations, historically themed games, etc. The key, which I'm pretty sure we're all aware of, is balance. I'd just as soon go outside and play catch or walk in the park as turn on the Playstation and shoot zombies. I think part of what we as adults need to do to help Scouting is to be aware of video games and the internet. The best way to defeat your enemy is to know your enemy. We need to help today's boys realize that while shooting aliens in Halo is fun, going down to the range and shooting bow and arrow or rifle is much more fun. While it's fun to sneaking around corners to get the drop on unsuspecting enemies like Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, it's more fun to learn how to stalk in the wild and play games that involve stalking with other boys. (Yeah, I know, shocking that stalking can be acceptable and fun in video games, but with Scouting it's some kind of taboo), so on and so forth. I think a lot of BP's concepts still will hold true today, and boys will be boys. We just need to unplug them from "the Matrix" and show them there's a real world out there while slowly re-adjusting our societal view on things like outdoors. Sorry for preaching, just wanted to share my .02 for what it's worth.