Belt Loops and Awards (and please no shouting :) )

[momof1]

Hi everyone again,

I have a question about when awards (not the ranks) and belt loops and when exactly they have to go out. I am in the process of trying to recruit new volunteers for my son's CS pack and having a hard time because several parents are not sure that they want to come back because of the pack meeting as one of the reasons. For the past several years (at least since my son has been there and he is 2nd Webelos) the pack meeting have only been announcements and giving out awards, or some kind of celebration (Halloween party, Christmas party, Blue and Gold) and these meetings go on for over an hour. One parent suggested that the awards and belt loops should be given out in the dens with only the ranks being given out at the pack, then have some kind of activity afterwards and make the meeting only an hour. I agree with this and think that it is a wonderful idea, so I went to the handbook and I cant find anything on when to hand awards out. Do they have to go out at the pack meeting? How should I bring this up to the "cubmaster" (who by the way wants to keep the title but have me do all the work {see Cubmaster help thread} which I don't know how to handle either! ) and the committee. I have talked to a couple of leaders about this idea and they think that it is wonderful, for then every month their boys are getting something not going for months without anything, like it is between January and April. The 1st yr Webelos and lower recieve only ranks at the Blue and Gold and then no one receives anything in March because of Blue and Gold.

 

Now if they don't have to go out at the pack meetings. What are some ideas that other packs have done for an activity.

 

Thanks so much

 

 

[Bob White]

The best rule of thumb is to keep any cub scout activity limited to 5 to 15 minutes because that is the attention span of a cub.

 

As a Cubmaster of a pack of 96 cubs in 14 dens which awards were presented at the pack meeting depended on how many awards were being presented that night. If we had more than we could do in 15 minutes we had the dens do some at the den meetings.

 

There is a great resource called Ceremonies for Den and Pack Meetings that we used to make sure the presentations were fun and meaningful.

 

As far as what other activities to do at pack meetings I recommend you follow the agenda and activities found in Program Highlights magazine. They are well organized, easy to follow and filled with great ideas to get a pack back on track.

 

Good Luck

Bob White

 

 

[Twocubdad]

This is a conversation we have at leader meetings three or four times a year. Everytime we have any program that takes a little extra time (B&G, PWD, Raingutter, etc.), someone suggest that we postpone the awards presentation to save time. My response is that if we don't have time for both, we cancel the program. Recognition of the Scouts for the work they've done ALWAYS comes first! (Sorry for shouting.)

 

Bob's suggestion for time limits is a good one, but I wouldn't use it to eliminate awards. Simply break up the award presentations. We usually have the den leaders present the minor awards to his/her den and then do rank awards separately. If it gets long, we'll do a skit or something else between the two.

 

Chapter 24 of the Cub Scout Leader Handbook goes into detail on the elements of good Pack meeting (awards and recognition is #5) and suggestions for how to plan one.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[ScoutNut]

All of your achievement beads can be given out at den meetings. That is why they are called instant recognitions. If you are in a permanent time crunch you could also give out any participation patches in the dens. I would award belt loops and pins at the pack meeting along with the ranks and any special awards.

 

If you award all recognitions at pack, I don't see how any boy could go months on end without receiving anything unless the dens are not meeting or they are just sitting around a table for an hour! If you decide to hand out awards in the dens, I would make sure to bring each den up in front at pack and let everyone know what they have been doing/earning.

 

We do our recognitions during the pack meeting. They take up the first part of the meeting. Then comes our major meeting event with any announcements bringing up the end during snack time. We usually average, for a normal meeting, 1-1.5hr meetings. The biggies like Pinewood and when there is a meal involved can be longer, but they are always on a weekend night. Actually Pinewood Derby day is the only pack meeting with no awards except those for the Pinewood.

[AdvanceOn]

The responses thus far have focused more on how to reduce the advancement part of pack meetings but I think you should be focusing on the announcements.

 

Announcements should be put in writing as much as possible. Then just touch on the highlights. Also, a pack meeting shouldn't be the first and only means of communicating important dates and events. All that information should be disseminated at den meetings.

 

Parents want to see their kids rewarded for their hard work. It needs to be an element of the pack meeting.

 

As others have said -- use the scouting resources to plan your meetings. Advancement is an important piece.

[mschwartz]

Our Pack has a monthly newsletter that is timed to arrive about a week or so before the montly Pack Meeting. It contains (among other things) a calendar that has as many things in it as we have scheduled for the whole year. Then at the Pack Meeting, the CM hits the high points of the upcoming activities as described in the newsletter, reminds people to sign up for things like the circus or going to the Red Sox, etc. This takes maybe 5-10 minutes.

 

Next up is awards/advancement. We have about 70 boys in the Pack, so this can take a while, but each boy receiving anything only gets called up once, even if he's getting (for example) his Wolf badge, a gold arrow point, two beltloops, and a patch for the spring hike. That tends to have the effect of speeding things up while still recognizing the Scout for his achievements. It can take a while, but the boys are very good about it and applaud for their fellow Scouts every time.

 

Third order of business is Entertainment. We have some sort of entertainment at every meeting - September we had someone from the zoo come; she spent 45 minutes with the boys while we took the parents outside for standard "indoctrination" speeches.

 

Pack meetings tend to last about an hour and a half, but the time flies on by and everyone has a good time.

[Bob White]

Just to clarify, I never meant that you should cancel awards, only rearrange where they get presented. The awards should always be done on a timely basis and always in a meaningful way.

 

Bob White

[Sdriddle]

Depending on the size of your pack, giving all of the awards out at a pack meeting will take way too long. We are still small enough to do that, but as you get larger, the pack meeting will need to be reserved for only badges. Are your dens performing at every pack meeting? The skits and songs are the heart of your pack meeting planning. The parents are not interested in coming just watch somebody else's kid get alot of awards while theirs never leaves their chair. You have to do what works for your pack. We generally do not have any boy earn his rank badge (bobcat exception) until close to the Blue and Gold, so that has been a time for us to have really good ceremonies for everyone who has earned their badge. We really stress that the badge work needs to be completed by the B and G because as soon as spring sports start up, Cub Scout work hits the back burner around here. Pack meetings should be fun, last about an hour or so, and reward those who have put out extra effort. Save the belt loops, extra patches, beads and Webelos pins for a ceremony within the dens if you are running out of time for fun at the pack meetings.Get everyone trained, attend your Council Pow Wow, and use the pack meeting planning sheet in the leader guide. If yours is an older version, you might need to upgrade to a new one.

[Fat Old Guy]

Gotta give out the awards. Those little guys worked hard and want/need to be recognized in front of their peers and parents.

 

We didn't have a gigantic pack, about 50 Cub Scouts but that was enough that the awards table was filled every month. The Scouts would head for that table first to see who was getting what but most of the stuff was covered. LOL!

 

Usually our meetings went

Important announcements

Awards

Game

Awards

Song

Rank awards

Cake drawing

Good Bye

[Twocubdad]

The idea about having a newsletter to reduce announcement is a good one. In the past we've also had the newsletter posted to a web site for those who weren't at the meeting and didn't get a hard copy.

 

The other thing we've done is to schedule the big events separately from pack meetings. Pinewood Derby is held on a Sunday afternoon (but trophies are handed out at the pack meeting the following night). Blue & Gold is on a Friday night. Friday night is especially good because you don't have the pressure of it being a school night.

[CubsRgr8]

Please tell us more about the pack's "cake drawing"! I'm starving!

[momof1]

Thanks so much guys for the ideas on what to do with the awards. I understand that it is important to recongize the boys, and I think that I will bring up to the committee some of the ideas to break up the all awards pack meetings.

 

momof1

 

[sctmom]

We always play a few games at pack meetings, give out awards (we need to improve and actually have ceremonies), and never go over an hour. I'm trying to incorporate more skits.

 

Special events like PWD, B&G, Halloween Party, are NOT at pack meetings. We have a pack meeting and PWD in the same month. PWD is just that --- the derby.

 

People will get up and start walking out after an hour. Kids need to get home and get to bed.

 

I agree with minimal announcements because you know what? People aren't listening anyway.

 

To me a great pack meeting has skits, songs, games and awards.

Belt Loops can be given out in den meetings. Instant recognition beads are to be given out at den meetings.

 

[NJCubScouter]

Sctmom says:

 

I agree with minimal announcements because you know what? People aren't listening anyway.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. When I was Assistant Cubmaster and our CM was at the podium making announcements, I would stand in the back or middle and watch the people not listening. Even the parents who were trying to listen had a hard time because, even if the boys started out being quiet, there was always this gradually increasing "buzz" from the boys that was impossible to control. You can't expect a bunch of 6- to 10- year old boys to sit still and quiet for 15 minutes while someone is saying something that is not of direct interest to them. Even when the boys are doing a skit or something, attention is difficult to come by. (Exceptions would be things like when we brought in the 4-H snake-handlers club or something like that, then we would have the boys at complete, rapt attention -- not to mention they learned a thing or two as well.)

 

Anyway, a couple times I told the CM, look, forget the announcements and have the information in writing and hand it out or make sure it gets out through the den leaders. He would agree with me, but usually wouldn't get around to preparing anything. Sometimes he'd have the stuff in writing and do the announcements anyway. Oh well, I did what I could...