Now Arriving, the Return of the Lion

[Stosh]

Gee, I remember back in the 1950's when I was a Cub Scout  My neighbor lady was my first DL her name was Mrs. Nielson.  I then remember we moved and my new DL was Mrs. Holtzmiller, her husband ran the candy store in town.  We didn't do much touring, but I do remember touring the local newspaper and watched them set print with a lithograph machine.  We all got a chunk a print that we got to keep.  It must have been about the same time we were learning to print stuff because I remember making a layer of some gel in the bottom of a 9" x 13" cake pan then writing in it and then laying paper on top and the ink from the gel got on the paper and we made copies of stuff like an old ditto machine.  I remember we had to write backwards to make it work.    I remember very vividly my last Cub Scout event where I went on a 10 mile trek with the Boy Scouts and had to make a fire and cook my own mess kit meal. 

 

Either we did a lot more memorable things back then or I just happen to have a pretty good memory for an old guy.  Yes, I do remember going down to the J.C.Penny's store and picking up a full uniform to wear.  I remember wearing it to school on den meeting days, and I remember doing a lot of fun things at the pack meetings, too.

[mashmaster]

I call "Burn out" an excuse for Poor Programs!  Call it what you want and bury your head but if you have Scouts that are burned out then you might need to check your programs!

The biggest problem I saw in my Web 2's was that they were tired of being around the 1st graders....   I bent over backwards to provide Boy Scout adventures for them to keep them invigerated but when it came to pack meetings there as always a collective sigh from them.  We have a large pack 60+ boys now and it is always a fight against chaos at pack meetings.  

 

That doesn't even count in the factor of sports that ramps WAY up in 4th grade.  Parents start deciding on spending 4+ days a week at the baseball fields and feel the hour meeting a week for scouts is just way TOO much.  They all think their son will be the next pro baseball player.

[desertrat77]

My entire CS "career" was at Howard AFB, Panama Canal Zone, '71 - '74.

 

Bobcat pin, Wolf and Bear ranks--fun, games, arts/crafts, and snacks.   Classic cub stuff.

Webelos--1 year, fast paced, lots of activities/field trips, focused on getting ready to join the base scout troop.  Not much focus on badges/etc.  Earn the required activity awards, get your AOL, done.  Overnight camp in the jungle, on an island, C-rations for dinner (had to turn the cigarettes over the den leader).  Ran around unsupervised on the beach, playing with crabs.  Enjoyed every minute of that year, but could not wait to cross over.  

 

I think the current cub program is too long, resembles a forced march.   I look at all the stuff that Webs I and II do now...I can see why the kids are bored.   They are probably ready to do something else.

 

Reintroducing the Lion rank:   Easy for National to do.   A very predictable program addition. 

Edited March 1, 2016 by desertrat77

[sierracharliescouter]

I'm hoping our council adds the Lion program. We have one of the largest packs in our district, close to 50 boys, and often have a few siblings "waiting in the wings". These siblings are our "in" to recruit in their friends for the younger rank. We have two Tiger dens this year, both with 6 boys. Most of these kids would have joined as Lions if it was an option. Of the 12 Tigers, 4 have brothers that are Bears.

 

A key to success is that both Tiger Dens are lead by new parents, but we split up the "experienced" parents between the two Tiger dens, so both of the new DLs have direct support from experienced Scouters during the den meetings. The new Den Meeting guides are getting great reviews from the DLs. As new Scouters they appreciate the option to "cookbook" a meeting. 

[Rick_in_CA]

Gee, I remember back in the 1950's when I was a Cub Scout  My neighbor lady was my first DL her name was Mrs. Nielson.  I then remember we moved and my new DL was Mrs. Holtzmiller, her husband ran the candy store in town.  We didn't do much touring, but I do remember touring the local newspaper and watched them set print with a lithograph machine.  We all got a chunk a print that we got to keep.  It must have been about the same time we were learning to print stuff because I remember making a layer of some gel in the bottom of a 9" x 13" cake pan then writing in it and then laying paper on top and the ink from the gel got on the paper and we made copies of stuff like an old ditto machine.  I remember we had to write backwards to make it work.    I remember very vividly my last Cub Scout event where I went on a 10 mile trek with the Boy Scouts and had to make a fire and cook my own mess kit meal. 

 

Either we did a lot more memorable things back then or I just happen to have a pretty good memory for an old guy.  Yes, I do remember going down to the J.C.Penny's store and picking up a full uniform to wear.  I remember wearing it to school on den meeting days, and I remember doing a lot of fun things at the pack meetings, too.

I remember a lot from my cub scouts. I remember visiting the local newspaper and seeing the huge printing presses (I was amazed that the paper could move so fast without shredding). I remember a trip to SFO to visit the United Airlines maintenance facility and walking around a 747 with it's engine cowling off (it was huge). I remember doing pinewood derby, and visiting a local McDonald's. I remember working with a wood burning kit (I burned my finger), and learning how to shoot pistols (as a Webelos - .22 rifles I learned how to shoot in Indian Guides before I joined cub scouts). I remember as a Webelos going to the local council's Bicentenaree (the scouts were there for a week, but the Webelos joined them for the last two nights over the weekend - I remember being disappointed because we missed the grass fire and the water bomber that put it out My older brother told me all about it. Yes, I was a Webelos in 1976). I remember parades, silk screening shirts, baking cookies, and cooking over a fire. My Mom was the Den Mother for the wolf and bear, and a dad took over for Webelos (as my dad was already working with the troop).

 

I'm actually a bit surprised how much I remember from cubs.

[fred johnson]

...  and often have a few siblings "waiting in the wings". ...

 

This is the reason I've heard repeatedly from parents.  But, it's same argument that moves the entry age lower and lower.  

 

- Right from the start, younger brothers couldn't wait to join boy scouts.  

- To satisfy younger siblings, Cub Scouts was created and formally introduced in 1930s. 

- To satisfy younger siblings, Tiger Cubs was created in the 1980s to serve 1st graders.  But, it was more of a partnership and friend of the pack idea.  

- Now, we are looking at kindergarten scouts ... and more of a friend of the pack idea again, but with pseudo requirements and tasks to earn their rank.

- In ten years, we'll have 3 and 4 years olds want to join cub scouts.  And, then the diaper scouts.  

 

This seems more driven by parent desire to include the siblings.  And, I like the idea of a "family scouting program".  

 

The trouble is this is often opposite of where you find the core lessons of scouting.  Those being about the scout reaching out on his own or with his friends, stretching his boundaries and exploring aspects of life that you can't normally do at home or at school. 

 

We are growing scouts by creating a lower age limit where that age benefits much less and the scouting program offers less value than traditional community programs such as early child hood programs.  And, people move on to the next program eventually.  My great fear that I think has a strong basis is that whole families will see a less mature program and move on for many different reasons before experiencing the program where BSA makes the big big difference, Boy Scouts.  

[fred johnson]

One reason Cub Scouts works (somewhat) is because it was created as a separate program from Boy Scouts.  It avoided lowering the maturity of a Boy Scout troop by adding younger less mature and less capable members.  One repeated issue I see these days is the 4th and 5th graders who are just much more mature than the 1st grade Tigers and ready to do more.  

 

SUGGESTION ... Move Lion Cubs (kindergarten) and Tigers (1st graders) into a new brand new program.  Perhaps district run.  Perhaps just big gatherings.  Perhaps just go-and-see its.  Call it Critter Scouts or some other cute name.  But I truly believe this is a good idea to avoid Cub Scouts that do six years of pinewood derbies and six years of blue and golds and six years of etc, etc, etc.  

 

If siblings really want to join scouting, create another younger program for it that does not damage the existing scouting brands.

[Stosh]

Life lesson #1 - in America you can't get a driver's license until you're 16.

Life lesson #2 - In America you can't join scouts until you are in second grade.

 

So what's wrong with age limits and teaching our kids to wait until they are old enough?  Even Pop Warner football makes kids wait until they are 8 years old and 65# before they can work on concussions and neck injuries and they don't have any family teams either.

[qwazse]

The thing I remember most about cub scouts was walking to the den mom's house. Then when I was a Webelos we had a state trooper for a DL and had to drive me there, but it was all good. That guy taught us to shoot a 38 special.

 

That's a huge difference from then and our now post-modern nomadic culture. We just don't trust the folks within a five block area to be good enough scouters for our boys. So parents are looking for that one location where they can take their boys to be among perfect kids. That means more demand for programs that will consolidate time in those moving metal boxes!

[blw2]

....

 

My son is now in his 30's but I bet if I were to ask him if he remembers some of the activities he did as a Tiger he would remember.  I remember them!.....

 

Naw... he only remembers them because you probably tell the same stories about them at every family holiday/get together 

 

sorry, couldn't resist.

 

But seriously, I sometimes think that is how I remember most of my childhood.... hearing the old farts tell the stories over and over.... looking at old family movies and picture albums....  I wonder how much is actual true from my eyes memory....

 

about Cubs.  I'm almost 50 years old.  I have only vague recollections of watching dad build the derby cars, and one of the races at a car dealership where they had free all you could eat till you throw-up hotdogs (and I verified it).  My mom was Den Leader or Den Mom... & I vaguely remember some arts and crafts bored to tears moments... touring a hospital, but pretty much my only memory of that was the gynormous laundry machines.  That's a bout it.  Only fleeting moments at best.

[SSScout]

""The work is done by whoever shows up"..   Sic semper volunteering...

 

You fellows remember the Cub Den because you had Den mothers (at least I did.  Then 40 years later I was a Den Leader)  that made sure you did memorable things.   I still think that plaster cast of a Cub Scout has to be some where up in our attic.  Soccer teams will never go up in an airport control tower (do they still allow such things?).  

We have a dam nearby that has our county's only hydroelectric plant.  Our Cub Pack took a tour of it , I remember the cave it was in, the stalactites of  (?) hanging from the ceiling, the noise and machinery, man that was neat! By todays standards (Niagara Falls? Boulder Dam?) it is a small operation, but back then, wow!  I called the water authority recently and asked if they would do that again for our Cub Pack .  The lady said she had never heard of such a thing, did I really remember doing that?  They could not , that the D of EP would never allow public access to it .  Forty years ago, lady.....

So, the Lion/Bobcat/Tiger/Wolf/Bear/Wombat/Leopard/Cheetah Cubs will just have to depend on "whoever shows up"  to give them a quality,  memorable program.

[blw2]

.... Soccer teams will never go up in an airport control tower (do they still allow such things?).  

 

They do!

well don't know about without connections, but likely.

I took our 2nd year WEBELOS to a local tower.  I'm a pilot but haven't flown in years and no longer have contacts, but I contacted the EAA young eagles person who is active in the local airport pilot's club and they helped me make it happen.

http://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-education-and-resources/eaa-youth-education/eaa-young-eagles-program

[RichardB]

In case you all had not seen this today.  

 

http://scoutingwire.org/our-lion-pilot-program-aims-to-attract-more-to-scouting-at-a-younger-age/  

[SeattlePioneer]

<< If Cub Scouts is supposed to be kept simple and made fun, why is everyone burning out?>> 

 

 

Oh, my!  Cub Scouts is hugely complex for volunteer leaders and for parents of Cub Scouts.  And they keep ladeling on the complexity,  more and more every year.

 

I find it VERY BURDENSOME to coach someone through the multiple steps needed to become a registered leader,  and increasingly I just don't bother.

[SeattlePioneer]

<<t I do remember touring the local newspaper and watched them set print with a lithograph machine.  We all got a chunk a print that we got to keep.  >> 

 

 

Not to be picky,  but you mean a lineotype,  which cast slugs of type to be printed on a press.

 

Vastly more efficient,  but the same idea Gutenberg had,  

 

Linotypes were MARVELOUS  Rube Goldberg machines!