The New Cub Scout Program

[christineka]

As a parent, I'm overwhelmed with the new program.  My son's a wolf, but an LDS wolf, so he started in February, when he turned 8.  My older son earned his bobcat and wolf in a month and a half, so I got into this thinking there would be no problem getting my younger son to do the same.  Well, it's hard because younger son has challenges older son doesn't have.  Younger son not only has a vision impairment (found making charts was really hard for him, since brailling is not that easy.  Fortunately, got his braille teacher to give him alphabet stickers.  Making the phone list is twice as hard, when you are a beginner at braille.), but he's got attention deficit issues, along with the hyperactivity.  I can now see why moms are given an award for each cub rank.  It is a lot of work to get my little boy to do something and complete it.  He gets distracted before he even makes it to the kitchen to do his chore!  Here we are at the end of May and he's not finished wolf yet.  We're supposed to switch programs June 1st.  I looked at the new requirements and they seem to be much harder and more involved.  I will cry if we are told to start the badge all over again.   I can see that maybe the new requirements of the program are why there will be no more sports and academic program.  The boys won;t have any time for extras, especially the ones, who have difficulty with attention or who don't have much time outside of scouts to get these requirements completed.

[howarthe]

I haven't read the new tiger handbook, but I remember that the one-foot hike was part of the old program, and I think its a lot of fun.  I actually see a lot of kids at my elementary school (K-2) doing this sort of thing at recess.  They bring me moths and robin eggs and leaves and rocks all the time.  They are so proud of the things they find.  I love it.

 

I have read some of the Webelos handbook, and I really like it a lot.  The layout is very simple and friendly.  The requirements are listed in a much more straight forward way.  Admittedly, it was the old bear book that had the most complicated layout of requirements, but...

 

My favorite part, so far: "Despite what you may have heard, you don't have to retire a United States flag if it accidentally touches the ground. In fact, it's okay to clean or repair a flag that becomes dirty or torn." (Page 125)  Also: "Your den or pack may [retire a flag] as part of a ceremony, but your family could do this as well." (Page 127)

 

There are still a few requirements in there to "discuss" something with someone.  One of the goals of the new program was to reduce these.  I wish they had eliminated them entirely, but...

[SlowDerbyRacer]

As a parent, I'm overwhelmed with the new program.  My son's a wolf, but an LDS wolf, so he started in February, when he turned 8.  My older son earned his bobcat and wolf in a month and a half, so I got into this thinking there would be no problem getting my younger son to do the same.  Well, it's hard because younger son has challenges older son doesn't have.  Younger son not only has a vision impairment (found making charts was really hard for him, since brailling is not that easy.  Fortunately, got his braille teacher to give him alphabet stickers.  Making the phone list is twice as hard, when you are a beginner at braille.), but he's got attention deficit issues, along with the hyperactivity.  I can now see why moms are given an award for each cub rank.  It is a lot of work to get my little boy to do something and complete it.  He gets distracted before he even makes it to the kitchen to do his chore!  Here we are at the end of May and he's not finished wolf yet.  We're supposed to switch programs June 1st.  I looked at the new requirements and they seem to be much harder and more involved.  I will cry if we are told to start the badge all over again.   I can see that maybe the new requirements of the program are why there will be no more sports and academic program.  The boys won;t have any time for extras, especially the ones, who have difficulty with attention or who don't have much time outside of scouts to get these requirements completed.

 

You raise many issues here, but as it's late where I am I'm only going to comment on a couple.  First, a month and a half is incredibly fast to go through the old wolf program.  That should not be the standard to judge.  In our large pack, rank advancement (with some electives & other activities) is a 7-8 month timeline.  And regarding the ending of the academic and sports programs, it was not ended because of time constraints.  Many elements of it were shifted to the rank requirements and electives and in essence the program was combined with the regular scout program in a move to simplify, streamline, and create a consistent program structure across ranks,

[christineka]

You raise many issues here, but as it's late where I am I'm only going to comment on a couple.  First, a month and a half is incredibly fast to go through the old wolf program.  That should not be the standard to judge.  In our large pack, rank advancement (with some electives & other activities) is a 7-8 month timeline.  And regarding the ending of the academic and sports programs, it was not ended because of time constraints.  Many elements of it were shifted to the rank requirements and electives and in essence the program was combined with the regular scout program in a move to simplify, streamline, and create a consistent program structure across ranks,

That' good to know!  We only sped through it because I had no clue what son had to do to earn rank until a month and a half before his birthday, which in LDS scouts is when you change rank.  With younger son, I was told June 1st was the deadline, giving him 4 months.  He's actually got 8 out of 12 right now.  Tomorrow he'll finish another and then we just have to discuss cooperation with the family to have 10.  The other two he needs to do the whole thing.  (Living world and Be Safe)  Living world is hard for a kid, who can't really read.