One Cub has way too many electives/Beltloops

[Lyndalk]

I have a few comments concerning this dilemma. I am a Cubmaster, den leader and troop advancement committee chair. I guess our Pack runs differently. In our Dens the Leader, for the most part, works on the beltloops. We may give certain areas within that beltloop for parents to work at home but most of us do this at our meetings or pack events. We usually go through their books, Wolf to Webelo and let parents know what they can work on at home if they so chose. When I had my Tigers we accomplished 10 beltloops for those that were there in attendance all the time. If they weren't there all the time, their parents were given the option to work on something at home if it was feasible.

 

Parents are very well meaning when they try to get their child some kind of advancements but not always are they looking at the "real" requirement. Case in point was just recently for me as I had my 1st year Webelos at the pool working on their Aquanaut. One parent, whose son doesn't even swim, felt that by him doing the back stroke in his personal float device was accomplishing a requirement. She really wants her son to do this, and in time he will but for right now he hasn't.

 

I would possibly take less field trips (save some for when they are Webelos and will need to get out to do their pins) and work as a group to accomplish these.

 

The parent knows if they are lying or not and they only do their son the disservice. If you have tried all you can to give them and out and want to stop this from happening again, maybe change some policies or have a committee member maybe act as a beltloop counselor. My meetings are run with patrols, denners and other jobs, so they are better prepared when they become Boy Scouts. Anything is worth a try!

 

Happy Scouting!

 

[cajuncody]

I would disagree with one sentence above: "We usually go through their books, Wolf to Webelo and let parents know what they can work on at home if they so chose. " That is not the way it should be. Wolf and Bear are meant for the boys to do with their familes, Webelos are meant to be done with their group. I am a CM and DL and I would be highly upset if some one told me what I was allowed to work on at home with my Bear level son (who completed his bear badge over the summer with out his den). Belt loops and pins are optional, if a parent wants to work on them at home that is up to them, the pack can choose to buy them or not but a scout can earn them at home as long as required projects are displayed at pack or den meetings. "A scout is trustworthy." Any thing else is adding to requirements.

Kristi

[Lyndalk]

I think you have misunderstood what I was saying. In a Wolf or Bear book there are things like watch a TV show with your family, go to the zoo, read a book and tell your den about it. In the Webelo book there are have a fire plan in your home, check your families first aid kit for home and car. All parents are told to they can look through their books and work on what they would like, but the majority of the things we work on at our meetings and pack events (this was mostly concerning beltloops not book material). The Webelo program is much more intense then Cub Scouts and a lot of parents have neither the resources or time to do what is needed for the activity pins. In my area we are fortunate to have museums, science centers etc that help the boys get a lot of those done with just a visit and few hours of time.

 

I never tell anyone they HAVE to do anything. We just have posted all those things that a family can do in the book that we have found they are most likely to do or are capable of doing. Most of our parents are to busy to do much of anything else with sports, other siblings, school, work, etc.

 

I am sorry if it sounded as if I meant something else. We don't spend a lot of time getting the most of any beltloops or anything else, our boys just work steady on the requirements for the badge so that when we have Scout Sunday and our Blue and Gold banquet the boys and all the parents (our Boy Scouts are now part of that also so the Cubs can see the awards the older boys get) can see them advance in rank. Our boys are sometime way too competitive and we try and tone that down in scouts and work more on learning new things aspects.

 

No one is ever stopped from advancing on their own, I have yet to see a kid want to get it done before hand in our Pack before their friends did so with us it is a not an issue and would not be dissuaded if they chose too.

 

I truly hope this clears this up.

 

Happy Scouting!

[cajuncody]

Lyndalk,

I understand what you are trying to do but maybe you should think of it another way. If you give a parent who is "very busy" a list of "acceptable at home" achievements you are basically telling them that it is ok to try to do some of them. However if you tell that same parent that the handbooks are to be worked on at home and you may touch on some of the achievements at a den meeting then the parents are more likely to open the book and help with the advancement with out waiting on you to do them in a meeting. You may even find parents who are willing to help plan a meeting on a certain item. My experience is that if you give them an abreviated list that is all they will look at, not the whole book, and many will miss out on some great activities. They may also see it as I did in your other post that those are the only ones they are allowed to work on.

Still sounds confining to me.

Kristi

[SemperParatus]

The secret to a long and successful scouting career is to stop counting the number of awards that others have earned (or not earned) and to focus on your own efforts and accomplishments.

[BelieveinScouts]

Hi Lynda J,

 

My boys did earn their BB Gun/Archery Belt Loops at a District Event. It was at the "Hooked on Scouting Day Camp/Fishing Derby" held at Dan Beard Council's Cub Scout World. One of my other Boys, earned his BB Gun Belt Loop at Dan Beard Council's "Spring into Camping" Event, also at Cub Scout World. That's the only place for boys in our area to get those two belt loops.

 

We did do the Scary Scavenger Hunt. I didn't make it too scary though and managed to teach them a little history of the area while I was at it. We sent them out in Groups of four. Each Group had an Adult with them. Two of our other parents went into the Woods and scared them at one point. We set up different stations for them with clues leading them all over Cowan Lake. They loved it. On Sunday when we asked them what their favorite activity was, that was it. We did make sure that after it was over, the two parents that had scared them came out and showed themselves though. It was a lot of fun, and something I'm sure they won't soon forget.