How does the belt loop program work for your pack?

[Pack212Scouter]

Our Pack has run the belt loop & pin program for as long as I can remember. The kids love it. The costs are built into dues as part of awards. We do have two restrictions on it.

 

First, a belt loop/pin will only be awarded once. If they earn it twice, cool, but they already have it (most of our Scouts run out of waste lonf before they stop earning new belt loops anyway!). Also this encourages them to work on a new one.

 

Second, we have a limit to six belt loops/pins per month. First of all, in most cases, that is all that a Cub can reasonably do and do it in the spirit of the award. Second, we want to make sure that they are working on advancement and not just Belt Loops. Third, and this is a big one, it keeps the parents honest. We have had a couple that decided that they were going to try to "get the value" out of our program and turned in EVERY belt loop and pin the last month of the program when they had only been in Scouting one year.

 

[Pack212Scouter]

"I believe that the exposer that a boy gets in the Sports and Academic program to different activities is more valuable to a boy than a field trip to the zoo, or pumpkin patch, or farm, or pack sponsored family campout."

 

I have to disagree with you on this one. Many of the belt loops, especially the sports ones are normal exposure for many boys now days. The Camping and family experiences sadly are not.

[Scouter Dad]

Thank for your responses. It's good to get a view of this subject outside of our on den leader meetings.

 

I think the big sticking point is going to be where the money comes from. If I am to introduce a program that costs the pack money I'm going to have to tell them how we'll pay for it. It sounds like $30 - $40 per scout is about what it is. I have my work cut out for me because our pack is currently at 95 boys before the fall recruitment drive. Looks like the friends of Pack 22 might be working overtime on this.

 

This is a great forum and I've found some awesome stuff here that's going to be helpful over the next four years. I very much appreciate the feedback. Your comments and suggestions will certainly go a long way.

[TenBears]

>>Last year I did a beltloop roundup where kids could go from station to station and earn up to 4 belt loops. I'll probably do that again at least once this year. Our pack pays for all awards earned.

[Novice_Cubmaster]

Belt loops are really simple.

 

Scouts sell popcorn. Pack gets money. Scouts get beltloops.

 

 

NC

[ParkMan]

I find that having the belt loops built into the dues/budget allows the boys to just focus on earning the recognition. They don't have to think "if I earn this, then my parents will have to pay".

 

That said, in the case these number earned gets too significant, I thought about having some kind of limit after which an extra assessment would kick in if the boy wanted to earn more.

 

Something like, once the boy earned 10 in an a program year, there's an additional $10 assessment before earning any additional loops/pins.

 

[kari_cardi]

Our pack loves belt loops. We do several every year as a pack. Focusing a meeting on a belt loop lets the leaders pool resources at the end of the year when we are all feeling a little burned out. We also use them at the beginning of the year when we have new recruits joining up, any attempt to work on ranks leads to frustration as the new boys have to play catch-up. This way, everyone learns new things and have an award to show for it.

 

We pay for any belt loop earned during a meeting or camp, one time only. We also cover up to 10 total per year. After that, the parents can buy them if they want. Belt loops and pins are not restricted items in our Scout shop, anyone can purchase them.

[CubLeader429]

I am a very very new tiger cub leader. I hadn't planned to be a leader at all but the leader they currently had could not take the responsibility so I steped up and have now taken over the den. I have done some research on the beads and understand those are earned by the FDG reguirements. Where do I find the information on how to have the Tigers earn the belt loops??

 

Thank You

[Lisabob]

Welcome! And thank you for stepping up. I hope you have a lot of fun with your Tigers this year.

 

 

There is a booklet you could buy at your local scout shop, called Cub Scouts Academics and Sports Program, which lists all the requirements. If you don't want to buy the book, you can also find the info online. Here's a very good site that is typically highly reliable, when it comes to stuff like that:

 

http://usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/a-sindex.asp

 

Scroll down a little bit and you'll find "clickable" lists of all the belt loops/pins. Just note that a couple of them (bb and archery) have restrictions on where/when they can be earned. Also, since the loops are quite expensive ($1.80 each), check in with your pack leadership about how they are paid for before going too much furhter. It is possible to make major dents in the pack advancement budget, if they haven't already planned to cover the costs of loops, in which case, you might want to encourage your den to take a rather leisurely approach to earning them.

 

 

[ScoutNut]

You can find the requirements for the Cub Scout Academics and Sports program, along with a number of other awards, on the BSA National Web site here -

 

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/CubScouts/Leaders/Awards.aspx

 

Keep in mind that the boys have 5 years in which to earn belt loops and pins. There is no need to do a lot of them in their very first year.

 

If you are looking for additional, filler type things your Tiger Teams can do, I would suggest doing Tiger Elective activities. They are fun, age appropriate, and will earn them Tiger Track beads.

 

You can find information on, and the requirements for, the Electives in the back of your Tiger Handbook. As the den leader you really need your own Handbook. It is really inconvenient to have to share your son's.

 

Good luck, and have FUN!

[Scouter Dad]

Thanks to all the responses you left. I used this page at our last council meeting to present the program and we will vote on it next week. I got much positive feedback and I think we're going to move forward. Our Pack used to do the Sports and Academics program a few years ago but it was dropped when fund raising efforts diminished.

 

I've been able to secure some money from the local K of C and a few bites from other organizations. We also plan to sell ad space in the monthly newsletter to help pay for it.

 

We are going to start the program in January this year and at first will limit the boys to 1 academic and 1 sports belt loop per month. If a scout works toward the pin as well we consider a 3rd and 4th belt loop opportunity. We want to push the nature of the program of learning new skills and do our best to avoid just handing out belt loops because a scout also plays baseball or soccer.

 

The big factor for den leaders to say no was that their programs keep them pretty busy and they didn't want to have to track it. I stepped up as advancement chair and took that burden off their plate. I figured it was only 1 hour a week so how could it be? ;-)

 

Thanks again and wish me luck.