Promoting Cubh Scout Advancement

[SeattlePioneer]

Our topic for Roundtable next month is how to encourage and promote Cub Scout Advancement. Frankly my competence in that area is kind of shaky.

 

So I invite those with ideas and methods to post them here!

[Scoutfish]

I tell den leaders to make whatever they are working on fun. Scouts canhave fun and learn too. If they are having fun and get a chance to laugh..they will enjoy it more and rememebr what it was that made them have fun.

 

Droning on while reading out of a book is too much like school. Kids "mostly" hate school.

 

Kids can get lectured at home...they do not need a den meeting to continue that lecture.

 

Sure, some nights will not be nearly as fun as others..but they still don't have to be a horrible experience.

 

One of the biggest things I see that hurts the fun process is not having a plan of what to do at a meeting, and having more scouts than you can handle.

 

So..this probably isn't quite what you asked huh?

 

Okay, woodcrafts and woodworking projects. Bird houses are great to build, but don't stop there. We are goiong to make wooden tomahawks at our next campout. They will be made of 3/4 inch thick plywood, have no sharpened edges, and you are going to have to lash the handle to the head. We might cheat and use a screw or two after they lash them together. Then they get to decorate the tomahawks with paint, feathers, beads and leather cord.

 

After that, they will throw them at targets.

 

It will be handles just like an archery or BB gun range.

 

And yeas, we have the DE"s and council's blessing on this activity.

 

Point is, we just worked on "Sawdust and Nails" for Bears, and "Make it yourself, tie it right, and Indian lore" for Wolves.

 

You can be creative.

 

For our Tigers last year, they built 6 Birdhouses that they then took to a local park on a Saturday,. They dug the holes, put posts in the ground, and mounted the birdhouses. Then they went fishing and cooked hotdogs and ran around and played.

 

4 families came up and asked for applications for their sons.

 

[Eagle92]

"Advancement should come as naturally as a tan...something that occurs by being in the outdoors."

 

If your folks are using the new Den and Pack Resource Book, or whatever is called, then advancement should come naturally. Key is to make it fun. I also recommend getting them outside as much as possible.

 

 

I'll give you an example. We had a campfire with marshmallows (don't tell RichardB ) Sang a song or two, but focused on stories, particularly folk tales. Kids liked it so much, we had visitors: 2 Tiger Dens and a Wolf Den. thankfully we had enough marshmallows to share.

 

Another nite we did the bike work, had a bike cop come out and talk. Then did the bike course we made. Yep we gave them homework too: Go for a bike ride with the family.

 

KISMIF

[ScoutNut]

Follow the BSA Cub Scout 2010 program -

 

http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/content/Home/%7E/link.aspx?_id=B57B1B0E05494AD4961D46FBF03A6805&_z=z

 

It moves the work on Rank Awards from the family to the den.

 

However, the family still has to get the Cubs to the den meetings.

 

Also, keep in mind that although BSA National is pushing the "bling", in Cub Scouts, earning Rank Awards are not required to move to the next Cub level.

[kari_cardi]

Follow the program. It works.

 

Make it fun. More interesting for the leader and the scouts.

 

Keep good records. No need to repeat completed requirements.

 

Communicate with the parents. They need to know what their scout has accomplished, what the den plans to work on in the future, what needs to be done at home and by when (we do most advancement work in the den meetings, but there are still home activities)and how to support their scout in advancements. Also, what awards can be worked on at home, like religious medals, family awards, etc. Not every parent wants to be involved, but you don't want to lose the parents who do AND good communication will save your butt when Johnny doesn't earn rank, because then the parents can't say they didn't know.

[ScoutLass]

I did a similar topic at our RT last year. From my notes:

1) Properly trained den leaders that understand program delivery.

 

2) "Trained" parents. I'm constantly surprised at the number of parents that don't understand they are also Akela and can work on advancement at home with their son.

 

3) Exciting ceremonies. An exciting ceremony, such as Bobcat facepainting, makes the boys that much more hungry to earn their rank.

 

4) Provide multiple opportunities to complete rank. I see this a lot. For example, the Tiger den does only the five required go-see-its. A kid misses one and is never given an option to make it up so he never gets rank. Coach leaders to provide options to the parents for completing requirements (like the Tiger doing the go-see-it with his parent instead of his den).

 

5) Keep in Touch with the boys and families who aren't advancing as quickly as the remainder of the den or who only have a month to finish that last requirement for rank. Giving a parent and cub a list of what is left to do makes it much easier for them, especially in Bears and Webelos where dissecting what is required and what isn't gets more complicated.

 

This last one is a personal pet peeve. I hate, hate, hate the immediate recognition kits for Tigers-Bears. We use them, we give the beads, but I don't think the boys even like them. half quit wearing them within a couple months because the dangling beads get in the way and are too easily lost. We use patch segments heavily though, because the boys are totally into them. We give a segment out at pack meetings for any special pack events the boys attended, and the den has the option of giving one out for any den achievements. We supply patch vests to all cubs for them to display these on. These little segments make the cubs advancement hungry. We have seen 100 percent of our boys who attend at least one meeting a month reach rank in the last two years since we implemented the patch vest and segment awards. A webelos in a vest covered in patches also does more for recruitment than anything else, since even non-cubs are impressed.

[momof2cubs]

Scoutlass: tell me more about this "segment patches"? I've never heard of it! And me an awards chair! I'd love to know about this incentive.

 

Parents are, in my opinion, the key reason boys don't earn rank. If they don't take them to the meetings, if they don't work with them at home, if they don't show up at events..well..

 

It makes me sad.

[Basementdweller]

so explain to me why they need more patches than what is already offered?????

 

 

Lets see the Tiger and wolf/bear instant recongition totems.

 

Belt loops and pins....

 

Rank patches, various event patches, like haunted halloween, christmas at camp or maple syrup days.

 

 

Does this set them up for the big let down in Boy Scouting????? There is no monthly bobble hand out in most cases.

[83Eagle]

We never used to do the red vest thing in our pack until some boys transferred in who had them. Now we do and the boys love them. And we give patches for everything except tying your shoes. They love them, and cub scouting is about the boys. They are our clientele.

 

If they are disappointed when they join boy scouts it is not our fault. As webelos we tell them no one is going to be after them for earning things in boy scouts. Hopefully they listen and also learn that through their troop visits where they see the differences between pack and troop meetings and activities.

 

It is also incumbent on the boy scout troop leaders to explain how things work in the troop. As I've said here many times, it is not Cub Scoutings fault if boys do not like/are disappointed with the boy scout program, or with a particular troop.

[ScoutLass]

Momof2, Segments are just small curved patches. Our scout shop has them or you can buy them online. They are only 50 to $1 each, which is good for our pack's limited budget. We award belt loops, but rarely actively encourage them due to the cost, so this is a good stand-in for those. You can make a vest for less than $2 and in 15 minutes, even if you have to hand sew it.

 

I disagree with the bits and bobbles things. For one, we don't get a ton of patches beyond rank badges in our neck of the woods unless we have them made up ourselves. No Halloween patch or anything here. We award segments for all those types of events. For the boys I've seen in packs that use segments, their vest is almost like a scrapbook of their scouting years. I've looked at patch vests with boys scouts as they pointed out each little segment and shared little stories and memories that they have from earning each one. My husband's pack back in the 80s awarded segments on a sash, and he does the same thing when showing his sash to our boys.