Tiger Cub badges earned... now what?

[eastcoaster]

Hello everyone,

 

I am a first-time Tiger Cub DL with 9 boys in my den, 2 of whom are my twin sons. The boys completed their Tiger Cub badge requirements, and I was planning to finish out the year by doing Electives and working on Belt Loops and Pins. However, a parent in my Den told me that I should now start working on the Wolf badge requirements. Is this correct? This parent has an older son who is a Bear in our Pack, and apparently they have begun working on their Webelos I requirements. However, I was under the impression that you couldn't start working on requirements towards next rank until June.

 

What to do, what to do...

 

I don't want my boys to fall behind, but I don't want to do something that's not proper. I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to rules. Would you kindly offer this newbie some advice?

 

Thanks!

 

Angela

[The Blancmange]

>>>>> The boys completed their Tiger Cub badge requirements, and I was planning to finish out the year by doing Electives and working on Belt Loops and Pins. However, a parent in my Den told me that I should now start working on the Wolf badge requirements. Is this correct?

 

Welcome to the Forums! You are correct. They do not become Wolves until June 1 and should not be working on the requirements until then.

[Scoutfish]

Work on Tiger Electives!

 

First, they are not Wolves. Even though they met Tiger rank, they are not wolves until next year OR June 1st which is the "offical" changeover point at National.

 

But the real determination is when you start your scout year. Most pack follow the school calendar. Grade 1 is Tigers. Grade 2 is Wolves, etc...

 

The parent may have misunderstod something that happens at resident camp where Bears attend Spring Resident Camps as first year Webelos because ..they will *SOON* be crossing over.

 

But this if for camping and learning purposes. They are still only Bears.

 

Now, the real thing is this:

It is your den, you are running it - the parent is not.

 

Why rush it?Are the boys having fun and enjoying it? Are they still active without being bored?

 

If so..keep on doing what you are doing...It's not a speed comeptition. There is no reason to rush things.

[eastcoaster]

Thanks for the quick replies! I had a feeling that was the case. You are right, I am the DL and I am running it, and we will do it the right way. Lots of fun things left to do, anyway! Plus I am pretty sure the requirements for each of the ranks are carefully planned to be age appropriate, and my Den of 6 and 7 year olds sure could use those extra six months of maturity before they start working on their Wolf badges.

 

I'm so pleased to have found this forum.

 

Thanks again!

 

Angela

[momof2cubs]

I know everyone says that the Tiger year is hard, because they are SO young. But I have to admit that I had the most fun ever with Tigers. The book has so many fun electives, and the whole thing is so new to them! I loved it.

 

Tigers do not become wolves until the end of the school year. Many people say that it is June 1st, in my pack the day after the last day of school is considered the turning point. We end school in late May, the Friday right before Memorial Day.

 

So yes, you can still work on Tiger stuff and there's so much out there.

 

We had a musical meeting (Music belt loop, making instrument, singing songs, playing musical chairs), we had a conservation meeting (reduce, reuse and recycle, LNT, clean-up treasure hunt), we went bowling (bowling belt loop), we visited an ice cream parlor where they learnt how italian ices are made. Fun days!

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Mom,

 

 

I think Tiger Cubs are the most fun of any Scout group! They are reliably entertained by pretty much ANY activity....

 

for five minutes. Ten minutes tops!

 

 

Last night the Tiger Cub and Bear Den Leaders co-operated to put on a terrific pizza baking activity! They bought raw dough at Trader Joes along with other pizza fixings.

 

Cub Scouts rolled out the dough for their individual pizza, added sauce and topping and the pizzas were baked in the commercial ovens available at our church parish hall.

 

The Cub Scouts had a great time and the parents pretty much all got involved helping with the activity as well.

 

It's the kind of activity that both parents and Cub Scouts will remember for the rest of their lives. Me, too!

 

The pizza was great, too!

 

 

 

 

[kari_cardi]

I love Tigers too! They are a blast, so enthusiastic and so sweet. Plus you really get to know the parents.

 

At this time of year, I like to do a couple of things for meeting ideas. First, I talk to the boys about what they would like to do. We look through the book together, pick stuff out, make a list. I also like to work with the parents to bring in any special skills they may have. One of my parents last year was a yoga teacher. She led a class for the whole pack, the boys loved it. And I like to look at working on special awards like Leave No Trace. I think it would be a true accomplishment for a den to earn Leave No Trace each year that they are Cub Scouts, and doing that starts right now with Tigers.

[perdidochas]

You are correct. They can't start on Wolf until after June 1.

 

Work on electives and Belt Loops/pins, and on just having fun--play games, learn outdoor skills (square knot), etc.

[grmaerika]

Wow. I did not even realize that they will be Wolves on June 1. I had made plans to keep working on just badges and belt loops over the summer! I'm the Den leader.oops. How come we would start working on Wolf requirements now when there is a good chance we will get more scouts after recruitment in Sept.? I really do not know how different the Wolf program is from the Tiger. I was hoping to still have all the parents involved through the summer. This seems to be working great. Please someone tell me what being a Wolf leader entails.How involved are the parents with the meetings?Right now we just have one Den meeting and one Go See It per month, and all the parent participate. Small group, only 5 Tigers. I think I have to change my whole gameplan.Any hints will be helpful.

[Eagle92]

A few ideas.

 

1) take the Wolf Den Leader Specific Training online. That will answer a bunch of your questiosn.

 

2) Get a copy of the Den and Pack Planner, or whatever it's called. It give yous a starting point for lesson plans for all 5 years of Cub Scouts.

 

 

As for meetings and parents, every unit is different. Some units have all the den meetings meet in one location every week X day of the week is "Scout Nite" and the Y number of the month is the pack meeting. So you can have 3-4 den meetings / month and 1 pack meeting. Some packs have the dens meeting at folks' homes. Some parents think BSA stands for BabySiters of America, while some packs want them involved.

[grmaerika]

Thanks for the input. I defenitely want to be planning ahead. The parent involvement has been great with the Tigers, but I know that is precisely the reason we had such a low number of Tigers.Alot of people just want to drop them off and be done.

[momof2cubs]

grmaerika: I am not 100% sure for the "official" rule is with parents after the Tiger year. In the Tiger year it is VERY specific that the parent must attend all functions with the Tiger. In our pack, we keep that rule alive through the Wolf and Bear years. Nothing magical happens on June 1st that allows all of the sudden for a den leader to be able to handle a bunch of 7 year old by themselves. They are still young and boisterous and the DL still needs help.

 

Also, cub scouting is NOT A FREE BABYSITTING SERVICE!!!!! No matter how many times I say that, parents do not get it. We had a parent sign up his boy last fall during our wolf year. He came to one introductory meeting and stuck around. The next meeting, he asked if he could drop off and we said no. We never saw him again. You know what? That's not the kind of parent we want in scouts anyways. I felt bad for the boy, but I moved on.

 

In regards to the Wolf year: get the book. That will help you plan everything out. The wolf year is in my opinion, the driest one of all the cub years. That's just my opinion. In Tigers, is all new and fun. In Bear, you are starting to get into all new fun boy stuff: knot tying, the always popular whittling chip, and there are more choices. But the Wolf year seems incredibly dry to me and we struggled all year long to make it fun and exciting.

 

There are also plan meeting guides that BSA put out last year on the web. When I google wolf meeting plans, it's the first link that pops up.

 

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[momof2cubs]

OOPS, I forgot something else: you do not HAVE to start working on Wolf-specific stuff during the summer. I know of many packs that are active year round, mine is not one of them. I live in a somewhat well off suburban area and kids are engaged in lots of camps and traveling so attendance is always low. So we only do fun stuff over the summer and do not have regular den meetings, but pack wide events a couple of times.

 

You can still work on things like belt loops, and just plain fun stuff: hikes, swimming (see BSA rules on that though..they require BSA trained life guards for that), etc. You can also work on Leave No Trace, Outdoor Activity Award, etc.

[ScoutNut]

No, BSA is not Babysitters of America. Then again, if all you are doing with the boys is "babysitting" them, then you are not providing them the Cub Scout program.

 

The BSA National Web site has the following to say about den meetings -

 

>>"Tiger Cubs attend their den meetings with their adult partners, but Wolf and Bear Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts attend den meetings on their own.">"Cub Scout den meetings are intended to be an activity for the individual boys. They are not a family activity, and the presence of parents can be a distraction. However, parental involvement is not forbidden and all meetings should be open to your participation. If you would like to be present at a den meeting, ask the den leader in advance so that the leader can plan a way for you to observe or participate in an unobtrusive manner."

[clemlaw]

>>>>>Wow. I did not even realize that they will be Wolves on June 1. I had made plans to keep working on just badges and belt loops over the summer! I'm the Den leader.oops. How come we would start working on Wolf requirements now when there is a good chance we will get more scouts after recruitment in Sept.?