Do your Cubs wear uniforms to den & pack meetings?

[VigilEagle04]

Eagle92:

 

I've been known to just not care and wear everything but the shirt (though often I will have a Scout related t-shirt on)to work, whether it be BS or Venturing pants/shorts. I have a very casual work environment (gotta love an accounting department where everyone is wearing jeans usually)so it poses no problems. I almost always have a Scout shirt in my truck regardless (I have been called last minute for a FOS presentation far too many times)so that is not so much of an issue.

[mpaull]

We are similar to many others here in that we do a "waist up" sort of thing for the kids - this is more financial than any other reason. We do uniform at Pack meetings. For Den meetings, we were a bit looser. I help out at my son's Webelos 1 meetings and when we had the group devise their code of conduct for Den meetings, the question of uniforms came up. The leaders encouraged the kids to decide on something like "We will be APPROPRIATELY uniformed for all meetings." This means that most often it will be the Class A shirts and neckers but, with advance notice from the leaders based on the day's activities, could be the Pack t-shirt, or even 'grubbies' if the activity is outside and dirty. This certainly puts us closer to the category of 'requiring' uniforms with all the attendant $ issues, but our Pack runs a uniform locker for those who need assistance and we have had no problems.

 

The kids are great about this and we have had no problems thus far. Now, trying to get the leaders to be in full uniform at Pack meetings - that's going to be a challenge. At our last meeting, only the other ACM and I were in full uniform; several other leaders, including the CM, were not - an unfortunate message to send to both parents and kids.

[Jeffrey H]

In my opinion, the Den Leaders have the most impact setting expectations for the uniform. If the DL is fully uniformed, then he/she is leading by example and you will have a "sharp" looking Den. The Cubmaster sets the example also, but the scouts may not see him/her that much. They see the DL weekly.

 

If we are not going to wear the official uniform properly, then why bother with it? I would rather see the boys wearing pack t-shirts instead of sloppying wearing the official blue shirts. As as DL, I wear the full uniform to every Den Meeting to underscore the importance of the uniform and to show the boys that we are members of a great organization.

 

Have the Scouts wear their uniforms and wear them out. The Scouts will soon grow out of them anyway so you want to get your money's worth.

 

In response to a previous post, the full uniform for Cub Scouts is shirt, pants, belt, socks, neckerchief, and hat (optional). Anything less is just a partial uniform. Now, local Packs will decide for themselves to require uniform pants or not (based on economic concerns or outgrowing their clothes), but if anything other than official pants are worn, then it's not full uniform.

[Stosh]

I'm with Jeffrey H on this one. There is no such thing as a full uniform. There is in uniform and then there is not in uniform. When I was a Cub Scout I had the socks, belt, pants, shirt, necker and hat. That was the uniform. I wore it out as did most other boys. Fortunately for my mom and dad, I didn't get my growth spurt until I was out of Cubs.

 

When I was a Boy Scout, it was again, socks, belt, pants, shirt, necker and hat. It was expected.

 

Today one has the notion that just the shirt is good enough. Well, I went to a double Eagle Court of Honor and one of the boys wore the uniform because he had attended Jamboree and it was required (as if when not at Jambo it's not???) The other boy had a scout shirt and blue jeans.

 

If kids can come up with uniforms for sports, school, etc. surely the investment in a pair of pants and belt can't be that big of a deal.

 

A uniform is not required. I would prefer the boys show up in civilian clothing than come with a half-baked attempt at a uniform by just wearing the shirt thinking they are in uniform. It especially irritates me at flag ceremonies when boys use the scout salute when not in uniform. It shows a level of respect/disrespect for what they are doing. My boys have refused to participate in non-uniform days at summer camp. It was the last time they attended camp at our council camp.

 

My troop is the only one in our council that I know of that is in uniform for all scout activities.

 

And as a secondary comment, blue jeans for Cub Scouts is explicitly forbidden by BSA policy. But then it would seem that everyone is making up uniform rules on a daily basis.

 

Stosh

 

(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[Eagle92]

Stosh,

it's now kinda hard to argue the jeans when Supply now sells their own brand

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=APPAREL&c3=PANTS&c4=&lv=3&item=610520-9

 

Now I know the website says Not for official uniform wear, but I know folks who say, if national sells it, it's official. And vendors do provide misinformation at times.

[Stosh]

And the catalog explicitly states that the BSA blue jeans are not to be considered in anyway part of a BSA uniform.

 

One would also think that if the boys can afford BSA blue jeans they can surely afford BSA uniform pants. Kinda blows the whole argument out of the water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, $10 is not $30, but I can get uniform pants off of E-Bay for around $10 and it's official.

 

Quote from the cited website:

 

"THIS IS NOT OFFICIAL UNIFORM WEAR!

 

INTRODUCING BLU -- BSA EXCLUSIVE-BRAND YOUTH DENIM. NEW! From school-wear to outdoor adventure, this classic 5-pocket style is durably constructed and made to last. Parents will love the quality and the great value price. Basic jean design includes BSA logo on the shank button and the cool BLU label on waistband back. Non-uniform apparel for youth in 100% cotton denim. Imported. "

 

All caps are from the copy/paste from the website. This is nothing more than BSA making a few extra bucks off of their marketing to youth.

 

Sorry, the argument doesn't hold up that because BSA sells blue jeans, it means they are acceptable part of the BSA uniform.

 

Stosh

[clemlaw]

In response to the original post (which I realize is rather old now), there's probably no need to fight this particular battle. The pack leadership doesn't want to _require_ that uniforms be worn to den meetings. So it's not required.

 

But even if they are not required to do so, surely they are _allowed_ to wear uniforms, and nobody can argue with you as den leader if you _allow_ them to wear uniforms.

 

Therefore, as den leader, I would take the initiative and announce that henceforth, the Cubs are allowed to wear their uniforms to den meetings. Make it sound vaguely like this is a change of policy. Maybe find some cheap temporary patches and hand them out to Cub Scouts who are in uniform at the next meeting. (Manage to only have enough for those who are in uniform. After all, if they don't have a uniform to put it on, they don't really need a temporary patch anyway.)

 

This will change in a few years, but most Cub Scouts still think their uniform is cool, and they want to wear it. So take advantage of this while you can.

 

And as for the nitpicking about what kind of pants to wear, at our first den meeting, I told the parents that the official pants are quite durable, and the kids like them (with all of the pockets, secret unzip legs, etc.) But I also pointed out that I really can't tell the difference between any other pair of dark blue pants.(This message has been edited by clemlaw)

[John-in-KC]

When my son was a Cub, the Pack standard for Den meetings was blue jeans ILO blue slacks for Den meetings. Otherwise, Class A, unless the DL specifically called for an activity uniform (and there were reasons).

 

Den meetings were generally immediately after school.

 

Trips? Class A less medals and other things that could be lost.

 

Pack meetings? Class A.

[83Eagle]

If your son is in sports, he is expected to wear the proper uniform to the game or he won't play. That's the anaolgy I use. Class A's are worn to every Pack and Den meeting, and most often to outings as well.

 

If finances are an issue, start a Cub Closet to donate/exchange uniforms.

[jr56]

They don't wear their uniforms nearly as much as they should. Still working on that one.

[denleader09]

We wear the full uniform to both den and pack meetings. The only time I let the boys off from wearing their uniforms is when we meet in the summer and the temps were in the upper 90's in the evening or if something is incredibly messy.

 

We used to allow blue jeans, but we had a Webelos den that would never wear uniforms to anything and wore the grubbiest most ripped jeans and sweats to meetings. It was decided that you need to wear the uniform in Boy Scouts and if you were in a sport you wear the full uniform, so therefore we should too. I really thought there would be an outcry about it, but there has not been. Sometimes, when you have those high expectations people meet them. There are many options of buying on ebay, craiglist and we have had people donate their uniforms back, so for the people who join and can't afford it, we work it out.

 

I have told my boys in my den about how they can use their uniforms for survival (i.e. wetting their neckerchiefs for cooling, using as slings, unweaving their belts for string to make shelter) and lol, they thought that was so cool. So that probably helps.

 

As for not having time to change, I don't see why a boy couldn't pull his uniform shirt over his t-shirt he wore that day to wear to a meeting. That would just take a moment. ???