Our Journey Through Tiger Cub Scouting - September 2008 About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Christie!! Now I don't have to read the handbook

[emtpej]

Originally Posted by christiejay

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Tonight I finished reading through the Handbook. I had only skimmed it earlier to get the basics. So what knowledge did I gain?

Main steps for this year:
1. Immediate Recognition - this is the first thing you earn. Learn 3 simple things about Cub Scouts and you earn this plastic tag with a tiger pawprint in the middle. It has a slit at the top, so it goes over the button on the shirt pocket. There are 4 holes at the bottom where you hang the cords that you will place beads on. More on that in a moment.

I always hated those things. Nobody could ever get the beads to stay on AND allow others to be added.

2. Bobcat badge - every cub scout starts here, regardless of which type of pack they belong to. In addition to the 3 things about cub scouts that you had to learn above, you now must learn 4 additional things. Then there is the "Bobcat Requirement." This consists of going over various safety rules with your son. Things like stranger issues, not going places alone, other people don't have the right to touch you, internet safety, etc. You review these through a series of what if questions. Wow, this is a biggie right off the bat!

It is of great importance for the protection of the scout, the leaders, and the program.

3. Tiger Cub badge - the meat of the first year. You must "complete" (I'll come back to this) 15 requirements. There are five categories, and in each category is a family activity, a den activity and a "go see it" - a field trip. For each family project you earn a white bead, each den activity an orange bead, and each go see it a black bead. These beads are attached to the first three cords of the tiger emblem mentioned above.

Sounds like you've got the idea.

4. Tiger Track beads - after you earn the Tiger Cub badge, you can start receiving Tiger Track beads to go on the fourth and final cord. You earn one bead for each 10 elective activities you complete. There are 50 electives to choose from. You can work on these at any time during the year, but you can't receive the beads until after you get the tiger badge. Oh, and you can repeat the same elective and earn an extra bead for doing it again. Interesting.

That would be a pretty busy scout and family...

The scouts don't have to actually complete each activity in order to receive credit for it. Huh? The cub scout motto is "Do Your Best". So that's all they have to do, no matter how much or how little that involves. As long as they participate they can consider the activity done, and move on. I jokingly told Jay that this was like baby scouts. Just kidding everybody! I know this is just an introduction to scouts, but I still would have thought you would need to complete the activity. Well, this should make it easier to earn more beads if Joshua gets frustrated, I know we don't have to keep at it and make his frustration worse. So I guess it is a good thing after all.

It IS kind of like baby scouts. The goal is to get the family and the scout involved gradually and year by year progress from just doing things to meet the approval of the parent(s) to doing things to meet the approval of leaders that are not the parent and get a little more 'in-depth' each time. That's why WEBLOS is pretty much the same subject matter as Bear, just spread out over two years. Plus, you never know what your boy is going to like or be good at until he DISCOVERs it.

There are some additional awards that Tiger Scouts can earn:
1. Outdoor Activity Award - Attend camp, do the outdoor activity in the "bead" section of the book, and choose 3 out of 13 activities listed.
2. Leave No Trace Awareness Award - 6 requirements here, mainly all just a variation on the same theme - learn what "leave no trace" means and demonstrate what you have learned.
3. Academics and Sports - you can earn tabs (they call them belt loops) to go on your boy scout belt. There are 40 different academic areas and sports represented. Most can be worked on individually or with the family, den or pack. However, archery and bb-gun shooting are restricted to areas with the proper BSA supervision, like at camp.
4. BSA Family Program - designed to strengthen family bonds. There is a separate booklet that lists all the activities to choose from. Complete 10 activities, 2 each from 5 different categories. The family earns a certificate and pins, the scout earns a badge.

Will Joshua earn these? I'm sure with our interest in the outdoors that it will be no problem for him to earn the outdoor activity and leave no trace badges. I will probably borrow or buy the academic and sports guide book to see what the requirements are for some of these. There are quite a few that I think he would be able to earn based on his interests, but of course it all depends on the requirements. I read on the BSA website that as the boys do more in each category they can also earn pins as well as the belt loops, so this is something that he can build on from year to year. Jay told me that this program used to just be offered for boy scouts, or was it webelos? But they moved it down to cub scouts. I'm sure we will also work on the BSA family program, so I need to check out that booklet as well. I think the more opportunities Joshua has to earn a badge, the more interest he will have in the program from year to year. You know, that instant gratification aspect and all that. (Sidenote: On our previous trips to the Smoky Mtn Nat Park, we would buy Joshua a patch for each trail he hiked. He was disappointed to learn that the short nature trails did not have a patch to buy. )

All the requirements should also be available online at USSSP.
For scouting credit there are some things that can only be done at scout camp. For cubs this is usually day camp.

Things to still do:

Check into the God and Family award program. I see that the award is broken down by age group, for Joshua that would be the 1-3 grade booklet. But I need to find out if this is something the boys work on each year, with different activities for each grade level, or if it just a one-time award. If it's just a one-time thing we will probably wait another year or two to work on that one.

Most denominations have more than one level of the faith-based awards, which are under the jursidiction of the church, not the scouts, I believe.

Jay thinks we need to buy a den patch for Joshua's uniform. It was not mentioned at the info meeting, so we will have to see what they say at our first official meeting with the whole pack. There were only 4 1st-grade boys at the info meeting, so unless several others join in the next few weeks, I guess there will only be one den of Tiger Cubs. But even then perhaps they still need a den patch?

I doubt it, unless it is part of the overall plan for the pack. We pretty much only ever had one den per level. The pack gives out a lot of badges and things, so be to only buy the things you have to.

Looking through the handbook a bit more carefully, I realized that I should have had Jay buy me a Tiger Cub T-shirt to wear to the meetings as Joshua's adult partner. Joshua will probably need one as well, for various activities during the year. But the shirts can be purchased later, and spread out the expense a little bit. I forgot to mention that the few uniform pieces they got cost $60!!!

Very often, it is possible to obtain gently used uniforms. Your district leaders should know if this is available, if you want it. I don't think you HAVE to have an adult Tiger partner shirt...

[Chrissi]

We went to DJ's first Tiger Cub meeting last night. Actually, it was an informational/registration type meeting like yours to figure out which troop to join. Easy-peasy because every troop (6 in our area) are within 5 - 10 minutes of our house and many of the troop leaders lead more than one troop. Boy Scouting is big here in rural PA. Apparently, the Minsi Trails Council is very large.

Grammy, who lives very close to the Monroe County Boy Scout supply store, offered to pick up DJ's uniform essentials today. DJ's troop offers the boys the chance to earn their Tiger Cub neckerchief, so they suggested DJ just get the hat, shirt, and the troop and council patches for now. Avoids a huge initial investment until your son is certain Cub Scouting is for him. There's a purple fleur de lis patch, too. I'm not sure what that one is.

Oh, and we left the meeting with popcorn fundraiser forms et al. They're wasting no time.

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by dejavu

Invest in the clear thread to sew on the badges. Then you don't have to worry about matching the thread to the colors on the badge.

Ooooooohhh ... now why didn't I think of that? Great idea, thanks!!! Oh, where did you get yours? Our Wal-Mart no longer carries fabric, I looked in the sewing department today and even though they still sell sewing machines they have no thread, only crochet thread.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great update Christie!! Now I don't have to read the handbook

Well, I wouldn't go that far. Besides we haven't even had our first meeting yet.

Originally Posted by emtpej

I always hated those things. Nobody could ever get the beads to stay on AND allow others to be added.

Yeah, I was wondering about that from the pictures I saw...

That would be a pretty busy scout and family...

I was thinking that too. I'm sure they will add up faster than it initially seems, since you can be working on them from day one. Some of the electives overlap with things we like to do anyway, so that should help.

It IS kind of like baby scouts. The goal is to get the family and the scout involved gradually and year by year progress from just doing things to meet the approval of the parent(s) to doing things to meet the approval of leaders that are not the parent and get a little more 'in-depth' each time.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Tiger Cubs only got started in the 80's. So fairly young compared to BSA overall.

Most denominations have more than one level of the faith-based awards, which are under the jursidiction of the church, not the scouts, I believe.

We are Baptists, and there are 4 categories for Scouts. And I think I misnamed the 1-3 grade award earlier, it is actually God and Me. You're right, the church sets the requirements.

Originally Posted by Chrissi

We went to DJ's first Tiger Cub meeting last night. Actually, it was an informational/registration type meeting like yours to figure out which troop to join. Easy-peasy because every troop (6 in our area) are within 5 - 10 minutes of our house and many of the troop leaders lead more than one troop. Boy Scouting is big here in rural PA. Apparently, the Minsi Trails Council is very large.

Wow, that's a lot of scouts!

Grammy, who lives very close to the Monroe County Boy Scout supply store, offered to pick up DJ's uniform essentials today. DJ's troop offers the boys the chance to earn their Tiger Cub neckerchief, so they suggested DJ just get the hat, shirt, and the troop and council patches for now. Avoids a huge initial investment until your son is certain Cub Scouting is for him. There's a purple fleur de lis patch, too. I'm not sure what that one is.

How nice of her! That's cool they can earn a part of their uniform. The purple patch is the World Scouting emblem, EJ posted a link to it further up the thread. That's the one I was wondering why, if they all have to have it, doesn't it just come on the shirt to begin with.

Oh, and we left the meeting with popcorn fundraiser forms et al. They're wasting no time.

Hee-hee. I had forgotten about the popcorn selling. Jay did plenty of that in his years of scouting. No telling what I'll be hearing about at the first meeting.

[christiejay]

First off, I wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you for your interest in this thread, that will make it much more fun to share throughout the year. Feel free to jump in with your son's experiences, too. It will be fun to swap stories.

Monday, September 8

This is our regular meeting day, but there's no meeting tonight for the boys, just for the leaders to get the calendar set up. So instead, I read the introductory section of the handbook to Joshua (2-3 pages in large bold print, not too much ). He had asked about scouts in the car earlier, so I told him we would look at his book together.

After reading the intro, I showed him the different awards and badges he would be able to earn over the course of the next year. He seemed pretty excited, but at this point I did not go into any detail about them. While I enjoy seeing the big picture I know it will be way too overwhelming for him.

I also realized that the two district campouts taking place this fall are on Saturday night and Sunday morning. (I had originally thought it was Fri-Sat.) That means Jay can go with us, and I don't have to do it by myself!!! One is coming up pretty soon so we will need to register for that pretty quickly.

Oh, and let's not forget the exciting part of the day earlier ... I washed Joshua's uniform shirt and neckerchief! Didn't want him to go to his first meeting with creases from being in the packaging!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, September 9

Well, who needs sleep when you can make a master plan for something?

I sat up way too late tonight making one list of everything in the handbook. Why, you ask? Because I am crazy, of course! I had noticed that a few of the requirements/electives had notes, stating that if the whole den did an activity all the boys could count it for credit. And other little tips like that. So I just decided it would work better for me if I wrote all that stuff down now so I wouldn't forget about it later. Also, since some of the things we like to do anyway can also earn Joshua credit in scouts, it will help me remember to keep up with those activities as we do them throughout the year. It's easier for me to have it all on one (albeit lengthy) list, than trying to remember which page of the handbook I saw it on.

But I need to check out the website again, because there is an award mentioned on there that is not in the handbook. The Emergency Preparedness Award. Perhaps it is a new award, and since the handbook we have is the 2007 printing, it came out after the book was printed. I remembered reading that this award has requirements for all level of scouts, even Tiger Cubs. I'll have to add it to the end of my master list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, September 10

I had intended to purchase coordinating thread at Wal-Mart this morning, to sew on Joshua's patches before his first meeting Monday. But our store no longer sells thread, in addition to no fabric. Although they do still have sewing machines. Hmmm. I had considered driving over to Jackson to get the thread but didn't really feel like going that far since I'd have to gas up first. Anyway, then I logged in here and read the wonderful suggestion of using clear thread for all the patches. That's a great idea, especially since I don't sew. That way I don't end up with several spools of thread over the next few years and nothing to use it on. I'll have to look for that this weekend. Michael's perhaps?

[christiejay]

Wednesday, September 10

More research online turned up these tidbits:

God and Me requirements - looks like the award is only earned once for each age group. In other words, all 1-3 graders do the same work. Since this is the case we will wait another year or two to work on this one. This is the website for the people who oversee the award:
God and Me Description

Found this website in the wiki format which was very helpful:
Main Page - MeritBadgeDotOrg
I like that it takes you all the way from Tigers to Eagles.
I also like that it tells you which requirements can also be counted towards earning other awards. That was what I was going for with my own master list.

And, from that website, I realized my mistake on the tiger track beads. From the pictures drawn in the handbook, I thought they were spiral-shaped beads, and had wondered how in the world they were going to be attached to the cords. Well, actually they are flat disks so they just stack on top of each other. The way the illustration was drawn confused me. This makes much more sense.

[emtpej]

Would some light-weight fishing line do the trick?

I hope you don't have to go all the way to Jackson! Yikes!

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates!!

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by emtpej

Would some light-weight fishing line do the trick?

I hope you don't have to go all the way to Jackson! Yikes!

Fishing line did cross my mind, I might do that.

Oh. Jackson (the part I shop in, anyway) is only a 15 or so mile drive, sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like it would be a day trip or something. It's just that there wasn't much gas left in the car and filling up would just mean an additional stop I'd have to make. I much prefer to do my shopping in town. Now, if only we could get a Target, Michael's, Lifeway, Hallmark, department store, etc. I would be all set!

[christiejay]

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Well, not much to report from the last couple of days. Basically, I am just ready for the first meeting to be here! I guess we could go ahead and work on learning the Bobcat requirements, but if I understand correctly that is something the pack works on together in the beginning, so I will wait and see what we are told.

I was getting overwhelmed looking at all the options for the Academics and Sports awards, so I spent some time today trying to narrow down our choices. I read online the requirements for each, and noticed that some of the requirements may be met by working on the achievements and electives in the handbook. Which means, let the same project/activity count for two different things, so a little less work. But not all the subject areas had that option for the Tiger Cub requirements and electives. So that is how I narrowed down my list. I wrote down the subjects that had some shared work with Tigers, and that's what we'll focus on for this first year. Since he's doing the requirements anyway, we might as well let them count toward another award.

Jay agreed to go ahead and sign us up for the first District overnight event which is the first weekend in October. It is called Cub Annapolis. You build a racecar that the cub wears (think Halloween costume of sorts) out of a cardboard box. Then the scouts participate in a fun race. There is also a dessert competition. I figured we better go ahead and turn in the registration at the first meeting next week since it is coming up so soon.

[christiejay]

Friday, September 12

Mentioned to my friend Rebekah at work today that I was going to be looking for some clear thread for sewing the patches. I asked her (since she cross-stitches, which is way more sewing than I do ) where she thought I could find some, and if she was even familiar with it. She said yes, there is something called invisible thread that she has heard of before.

Friday night I'm working Parents Night Out at church, Rebekah had dropped off her kids so she and her husband could get out for the evening. When she came back to pick them up, she told me she found the clear thread at Hobby Lobby and got some for me! She didn't bring it in to give to me, so I don't know the price, brand or proper name. When I get it I will let you all know in case you are interested.

[Colexis Mom]

I was thinking of you last night Christie as I was sewing on the badges to Colin's shirt!! I just used the same color thread as was on the patch because I didn't want to go look for the clear

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

I was thinking of you last night Christie as I was sewing on the badges to Colin's shirt!! I just used the same color thread as was on the patch because I didn't want to go look for the clear

That was my original plan, but since I don't own any thread this sounded like the easier route. Jay thought I was nuts when I told him about it. Looks like I will be sewing patches a few hours before the pack meeting Monday afternoon! Nothing like a little procrastination to get the year started off right!

[Joanne929]

Well, first, Congratulations to both of you for joining Scouts!!!!

DH was a Cub Scout and then Boy Scout here in Kingston as a kid and of course, wanted our boys to join. I, on the other hand, wanted NOTHING to do with (Scouts was not big at all in my city).
Anyways, Josh (now almost 15) started as a Tiger and earned Bear, Wolf and Webelos rank and his Arrow of Light and crossed-over to Boy Scouts and made it to his Second Class rank, but decided it just wasn't what he wanted to do anymore. As a Boy Scout LOVED the camping!

Jeffrey (almost 12) also started as a Tiger (I was the den leader) also earned Bear, Wolf, Webelos rank and his Arrow of Light and crossed-over to Boy Scouts this past February, has earned his Tenderfoot rank and will earn Second Class within the next two months.

Bobcat is not a rank - it is a requirement of ALL Scouts, regardless of when they join the program. And a "Pack" is Cub Scouts, while a "Troop" is Boy Scouts.

As far as the Sports/Academics program - my suggestion is to be careful on what you earn and when. Many beltloops correspond with the requirements of other ranks, especially in the Webelos year (in our Pack, the Scout would be required to do the requirements if that was one they wanted to complete but did not earn a second beltloop). And, some of the other awards you mentioned, sometimes also go along with another rank/program better. Like, the Whittlin' Chip - some of the Bear requirements go along very nicely with those requirements. It's always a personal choice, but I found we were repeating some things and the boys noticed!

Scouting is a great program. Like I said, DH wanted the boys to get involved, and I ended up getting invovled (I was the Pack Secretary for 6 years, I did the monthly newsletter, I was Jeffrey's den/webelos leader, and I organized the Summertime Activities). I was also fortunate to make some great friends.

Have fun with it - don't stress about it but do have a plan! If I can help out with anything, PM me if you'd like! Enjoy it! YIS

ps - DDJamie is also in Girl Scouts, a Junior this year, and I am involved with some of the same Moms/friends and volunteered to the the Troop's Treasurer and will do the cookies! And, I help out on the Troop level with fundraising and in general.

[christiejay]

Thanks Joanne!

I've found a couple of forum sites that I read a little bit on over the weekend, in particular about the belt loops and pins. I agreed with what one person posted - earning the belt loop and/or pin as a T/W/B Cub and then again as a Webelos was basically two different things because the Webelos had developed so many more skills and knowledge, etc. than what he had possessed as a younger Cub. So there may be some that we end up repeating, especially those we might do this year and as a Wolf. But during his Bear year I will be paying more attention (looking ahead to Webelos years) so that he doesn't end up repeating the same requirements two years in a row.

Tonight's our first meeting, really looking forward to it! Sounds like you've had quite the journey yourself. Thanks for the encouragement!