tayl0124

Being relitavely new to this scouting things I don't remember the contact info. But we are in minnesots, northernstar council northwest division I believe. Hope that helps!!! It is being called the lion cubs here.

Scoutnut, I think that if my son would have started in a lion cub program I would not have had the expectations that I had last year. I also think that if I or the other leader would have had one more year experience with the den that we could have done a better job. This will be our packs first year attempting the lion program. But I do believe this is going to be the last year of the Pilot program. We will see how it goes, and how the tiger den next year does. I know that they are not being forced into scouting at any age, but most other extra curricular activities that will capture their time are available in kindergarten or earlier. So why not scouting too? Do you see parents not wanting to sign their children up for sports because they don't want to be their with their children?? Maybe these are not the right parents to be involved with scouting. That being said, I do think that the tiger den could be run without an adult akela if the boys have some level of scouting while in kindergarten. Lets face it, our children do just fine in kindergarten, and first grade without a parent being present. "There are 5 years of Cubbing already and that's at least one too many, Cubs should be a prep for Boy Scouting, seems it's turned into a program to serve itself instead." I don't totally disagree with this, however I see the lion program as kind of like a pre-school for cub scouts. But I would like to see the boys only have 1 year of webelos. therfore having 1 year of introduction to scouts followed with 4 good years.

("My older son was in Tigers when it functioned poorly with the parents supposed to be leading a once a month meeting with t-shirt transfers for uniforms. The parents were not prepared in any way for what they were supposed to do, the pack was well led, but lacked an additional leader to coach the Tiger parents, the kids were disappointed by getting only t-shirt transfers instead of any sort of actual uniform..... What we ended up with was more a group of boys that would never consider scouting again. Out of 12 kids, maybe 3 went on to become Wolves the next year.") I felt this way about our tiger den. We had a den leader and an assistant(ME) and we really didn't have a clue as to what we were doing and I think it showed. Having a lion den would have helped us acclimate ourselves to the den leader position. I also found that most of the time it was difficult to get the kids to actually wear their uniform shirts, the scouts were more excited by being with their friends. I would like to see the Tiger level go parent free as I think discipline or lack thereof by the parents caused more problems than the kids age. ("Add smaller kids and remove participation in the pinewood derby and I see this going nowhere fast.") I agree with the lack of participation in at least the pinewood derby, I think that is one real big factor in weather a boy wants to be a scout or not. Many that I have talked to who tried the lion program last year included he lions in the pinewood derby in some form or other. ("Probably a better move would be to encourage and provide support for packs for tag-along activities at Cub pack meetings and events so these youngsters - both boys and girls - enjoy the routine of Cub scouts when there is an older boy involved.") This is why the lions would only have a fraction of the den meetings that the rest of the pack would have. And are part of the Pack meetings. ("As for Daisies, consider that very many girls drop out of girl scouts right about 6th grade. Think any of that might be due to starting so early as well as the other irrelevancy factors the GSUSA seems to be facing?") I am not sure what there is after the 6th grade for Girl Scouts. Is it like the crossover to Boy Scouts?? If not I can see why girls would quit after the 6th grade. Think however that there are also a lot of boys who call it quits at that age also. My girlfriend was in Girl scouts through the 11th grade but during junior high she participated very little due to sports taking over most of her life. ("The same for organized sports. The kids may have fun running around in a group, but have you ever actually watched 5 year olds playing team soccer? They have no clue and are not learning teamwork or rules. Someone needs to remember that little kids needs to be allowed to be little kids and have that time to explore thier world before we choose all their activities and sctructure all their time for them.") First off, this statement can be false in many instances. I have watched kids play team soccer, hockey, t-ball, football. The kids learn as much as the kids are able to. My son was one of those 5 year olds who ran around without learning teamwork or rules but you know the he did have FUN!!! It got him introduced to the sport. I also have cousins who have children that played on hockey teams and t-ball teams that were much more advanced than my son, which I am okay with, but there are teams for them out there if they would like to participate at that level. Having a Lion program available only lets the boys join IF they want to. It introduces them to scouting and lets them decide if they want to continue.

There was also speculation at the meeting that adding the lion cub rank would eventually take off the second year webelos program for some who are already ready to advance. I have been told that in a lot of packs the boys are ready for the jump after the first year of webelos.

I just went to our council meeting last Thursday. This is apparently he last year for the pilot program. And our council is a part of the testing. It is $15 for the 2 year membership, it does not include boys life, and you have to provide your own t-shirt. Iron on transfers are supplied though. The boys are not considered part of your pack (roster) until they cross over to tigers(or recharter in March). At the time they become tigers there is some $1 fee that they have to pay. The reason for the scouts doing this as I was told is because there is so many things out there trying to get the attention of young boys. Just think. How many sports can your son be in before they are in 1st grade??? The scouts are covered by insurance we were told, although that may be the charters insurance, however it was not explained that way. The boys can attend pack meetings and it is meant for them to have maybe 1 to 2 den meetings led by the parents. The Lions earn instant recognition beads similar to the tigers before they earn the tiger rank. They CANNOT participate in the pinewood derby or similar events. This is a sore spot in our pack. There is talk about allowing just the lions to have their own races, but it is not endorsed by the BSA. The lions are also not allowed to fund raise. There might be more that I am missing. It is also a plus because you have an established tiger den in the spring. And possibly already have a tiger den leader.