retroactive credit for tiger cub electives

[CarlosD]

Hi,

 

I am a Tiger Cub Den Leader and this is my first post on this forum. The Scouts in our den recently earned their Tiger Cub badge. One of the parents asked me if his Scout can receive credit for Electives for activities that were done prior to the boy becoming a Scout, or prior to the boy earning the Tiger Cub badge after having enrolled in Cub Scouts. I couldn't find anything in the Cub Scout Leader Book that spoke to this.

 

My gut tells me that if an activity was performed without the specific intent of doing an elective, it should not count, regardless of when it was done. Would appreciate any references to Scouting regulations which address this issue.

 

Carlos

[clemlaw]

Hi, Carlos, and welcome to the forum!

 

Page 78 of the Tiger book states, "a Tiger Cub may complete electives while working on achievements, but he can't receive a Tiger Track bead until he has earned his Tiger Cub badge."

 

So in my opinion, once he has finished the 15 required achievements, he can get the beads retroactively for any elective he has done ever since he became a Tiger Cub, which would be the day that he signed up. In fact, if he signed up in the middle of the year, I would probably stretch the rules and say that it goes back to the date the rest of the den started.

 

On the other hand, if he played a game with his family when he was 2 years old, I would say that probably doesn't count.

 

The beads are cheap, so I don't have any qualms about handing them out liberally. In fact, now that the Tigers in my den are finishing up, I'll probably encourage all of the families to go through the book and see which ones they already completed, even without knowing it. That way, they'll get a few beads just for reading the book, and it will also probably encourage them to do other ones that they haven't done yet.

[ScoutNut]

How can you get credit from BSA for something you did when you were not a member of BSA.

 

Does the book read in 1st grade count toward an English class in high school?

 

Anything done while a registered BSA Tiger Cub Scout counts toward requirements in the Tiger Cub Scout program. Anything done before that time does not.

 

A Scout can work on, and get credit for, Electives starting with the first day he is a registered Tiger Cub Scout. Tigers can not receive their Tiger Trax elective beads until AFTER they have earned their Tiger Rank award. That is why many Tigers receive a handful of elective beads along with their Tiger rank award.

 

They can keep completing Tiger electives, and receiving Tiger elective beads, until they graduate to Wolf Cub Scouts at the end of the 1st grade school year.

 

Wolf, and Bear electives work the same way. Scouts can start completing electives as soon as they graduate to the Wolf, or Bear Cub level at the end of the school year. However, they can not actually receive any arrow points until after they earn their Wolf, or Bear, rank award.

[moosetracker]

Greetings Carlos,

 

Welcome to the forums, come for visits and to read other threads and you will be the "all knowledgable one" in your pack in no time!

 

I agree with what everyone else has said, just wanted to clarify one point I don't think was addressed.

 

 

My gut tells me that if an activity was performed without the specific intent of doing an elective, it should not count,

 

 

As long as the activity was done while he was officially a Tiger Scout, and all requirements of the activity are met.. Then "yes", it should count, even though while they were doing it, it was not for the "intent" of earning the activity..

 

I don't know all Tiger activities so my example may not be a true activity.. But lets say your tigers have one to go to a museum.. You plan a trip, and one of your tigers can not go due to other family comittments.. But, they had just went the month before to the science museum, not realizing it was one of the Tiger activities.. As long as he was a tiger before he went on the activity, then it should count rather then having his parents take him again on their own the following month, specifically for the purpose of the Tiger activity..

 

Now if there is something like While at the muesuem, talk to someone in the visitors booth, or count the display cases, or some such thing, and that was not done, then it would not count..

[momof2cubs]

No credit can be given for any activity done BEFORE a boy joined scouts.

 

But credit CAN be given for an activity done anytime a boy is a scout even if that activity was not done specifically to earn credit. For instance, both my sons play flag football every fall. They don't specifically do this to earn the Flag Football belt loop, but yes the loop is earned in the process because they do all the requirements during the season. (I don't submit for a belt loop every season since I consider it pointless, but you *could*)

 

However, if a boy plays flag football in the fall and doesn't join scouting until the winter, no he may not earn his belt loop, since he was NOT a scout at the time.

[Twocubdad]

I agree with what everyone here has said, but I think the more important issue is one of expectations, not policy.

 

You will always have parents who will go through the book mining requirements their son inadvertantly completed. That really subverts program and cheats the Scout. The whole reason they are in Tigers is so they can do stuff with their son. Instead of turning the process into an adult accounting process, engage your son and make a plan to go do it again, purposefully working on whatever Scout requirement.

 

A family may do a particular activity all the time and the kid may have completed the requirements for an elective or belt loop multiple times. But I promise no seven-year-old ever looks at that activity and says, "hey dad, I did this last summer. Can you sign it off." (Okay, they will if they've been taught to do so.) Most kids are going to look at the requirements and say, "Hey, I'm really good at this. I CAN DO THIS!"

 

But you have to train the parents. As Cubmaster, I would always include this and similar topics in new parent orientation. Most adults are A-to-B people. You have to set these expectations early. You're not going to make this point in March when Sweet Little One is behind the other boys and mommy or daddy is trying to level the field.

[ScoutNut]

One last comment on when things "count", or "not count".

 

Activities done while in one level of Cub Scouts, do NOT count toward requirements in another level.

 

For instance -

 

Playing Cleanup Treasure Hunt, and completing Tiger Elective #33, can not be used to complete Wolf Achievement, Your Living World #7d, to pick up litter in your neighborhood.

 

Visiting a zoo with your family while a Wolf Cub Scout can not be used as the zoo visit to complete Bear Achievement #5d.

 

The chess belt loop your Tigers earned can not be used to complete requirement #8 in the Scholar Webelos Activity Badge.