Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts - Child First Starting Out?

[summerrluvv]

We got a flyer home today about registering for boy/cub scouts. I assume it's for next year, since I believe the boys have to be in first grade to join. Well, there was a website address on the flyer, so I checked it out, but it offered basically no information as to what they do, etc. Anyone want to give me a brief summary of how the cub/boy scouts work? Do they meet a lot, once a week, once a month? Does it cost money? (I'm sure it does!) LOL, I'm clueless!!! TIA

 

[holycow]

Cub Scouts is the BEST! My son is an almost Eagle scout so it has been a while since I've been into the cubs...did they leave a phone # of someone you could call. It is probably up to the troop what they will do.


HOlycow

 

[becobscot]

My DH is the Cubmaster of our local pack. The boys typically meet as a den(small group of same age boys) at least once a month and then there is a pack meeting(large group of boys grades1-6) that meet once a month. Now my DH is really into Scouting so he has the boys meet every week. Scouting involves many activities to help the boys build character. Some activities involve family participation. This is a great way for your son to make friends and have fun. I hope you join up. The boys typically do a fundraiser but in our pack the parents just pay into the activities to avoid the fundraiser. The registration is about $10 and our families pay an extra $50 so the boys can skip the fundraising. YMMV. They usually do a Pinewood Derby race with wooden cars they make themselves. There is a Blue and Gold Banquet and a Picnic at the end of the school year. There is usually a campout and some field trips as well. Sorry so long. HTH!

 

[summerrluvv]

Thanks for your reply! It sounds like something he would definately be interested in doing. I think I'll go to the open registration night in a few weeks and sign him up

 

[Jasminesmommy]

My son is 5 and starts 1st grade in Aug. I met the cub leader last thursay at the first grade sign up and he said my son could start this summer. We live in Indy. My son is so happy because my DD started Girl Scouts this year and now he can do his own. Also he said it cost $25 to start up then I am sure you will have dues which is usually up to the leader. Meetings is up to the leader as well and can vary from once a week to once a month.

 

[BethanyF]

Im just finishing up Tiger Scouts, moving on to Wolves as a leader with my son's den.
Anyway, yes, if your ds is done with kindergarten he can participate in the summer pack activities and use those events toward his Tiger requirements and electives. He is also eligible to earn a Summertime participation pin (if he completes a set number of events, 3 I believe)
Once the school year starts they will have 2 den meetings a month. This is when he will be with the boys his age. There will also be 1 Pack meeting. This is with all the boys from Tigers to Webelos 2. Most likely, there will also be a Pack outing.
Ive had a blast this year and am already starting to plan my Den activities for next year.
As far as what is costs....it will vary slightly by Council and your particular Pack's budget. Our Scouts pay $25 a year and this gets them a subscription to Boy's Life, their handbook, all the patches & pins, etc. We are fortunate that we have some great fundraisers, so a lot of the costs are covered by the Pack.
Feel free to PM me if you want more help.

 

[jgmklmhem]

I started as a cub scout and went all the way up to Eagle. Every Pack does things different. Our PAck had smaller groups which were Dens which met once a week. The dens are usually broken up by grade level. The whole Pack met once a month. Your area should have an area council for cubs up to boy scouts. Our Pack had a "get to know what we are about" meeting for adults and boys. Yours might too. I will say that many of my fondest memories growing up came from some sort of scouting event. I still remember many of things I was taught as a scout. Not every group is the same but once I hit Boy Scouts I did everything from hike the Grand Canyon...Sailing the Florida Keys....Canoing the Buffalo River in Arkansas....to going to Disney World....with many local outings along the way which in some cases are just a memorable.

The main web site is scouting.org not sure if that is the one you were given or not.

 

[the kabuki]

my son just got back this past weekend from a one day/one night camping trip with his dad. They had a great time, went fishing, had some activities planned, ate lots of food, campfires, hikes in the woods. They also have a twilight camp for 3 nights 4-9 pm where they go to different stations, archery, bbgun, swimming, fishing. We have one den meeting every other week, then there's a whole pack meeting(all the dens from the different schools/ different age groups) on the other week. Last week at our pack meeting they had life size chess pieces/chessboard. The boys went into teams and learned the basics of playing chess.

Our last den meeting, they met at Home Depot and made wood bird houses. They've also gone to Michael's and made rockets.

There's also the pinewood derby, where they race cars that they made from a kit that the pack provides. That's great fun for them.

you'll get what you put into it, the more camps you attend , the more pack and den meetings you go to the more you'll understand about earning badges, and all the other things they do. I would sign up for it, it is alot of fun.

 

[Figment22]

Cub Scouting is great!

Each local Pack is divided into Dens, which are arranged by age.
1st Grade - Tiger Cubs
2nd Grade - Wolves
3rd Grade - Bears
4th Grade - Jr. Webelos
5th Grade - Sr. Webelos
After fifth grade, Cub Scouts "cross the bridge" into Boy Scouting.

Depending upon the size of your pack, you may have more than one den for each level.

Tiger Cubs is the introduction and, at least in our pack, involved lots of parental support. There is a book available for each scouting level which gives guidelines for activities for which the boys earn awards. At Tiger Cub level, these would be iron-on paw prints which are arranged on their TC tee shirt. As they rise in rank, beads, patches and badges are awarded to the boys. In our pack, at Tiger Cub level, we had one parent who acted as a co-ordinator but each month a different parent would run the meeting/activity for the Tigers. It can differ from pack to pack (or even from den to den.) I'd suggest taking a look at the Tiger Cub book if you have a scouting supply store near you. It doesn't have to be the actual Boy Scout Council, many local sporting goods stores will sell scouting merchandise. As has already been mentioned, the entire Pack will usually get together for a big meeting once a month which may involve guest speakers. Our best pack meetings, which the boys enjoyed the most, were when the local Boy Scout troop would come in and tell the younger boys all the things they had to look forward to.

I highly recommend Cub Scouting!

 

[BethanyF]

At Tiger Cub level, these would be iron-on paw prints which are arranged on their TC tee shirt.

Just an FYI...as of this past year, Tigers are now in the official blue shirt uniform. They earn beads instead of the paw print badges. The beads are worn on a paw print totem that is hooked to a button on their shirt.

 

[live4christp1]

Our DS started as a Tiger Cub as well, it is a great experience. They have lots of activities for the boys, pinewood derbys, space derbys, campouts, hiking. The boys learn many skills as well. There is a registration fee but this year when we did our popcorn sale our DS sold enough to pay for his registration, book, camps for the year, hat, scarf, and a trip to stay on the Yorktown for him and his dad......we worked hard on our popcorn sale but had fun too. Scouting is great!!!!! In our troop parent involvement is strongly encouraged and when a scout earns his Tiger badge or Bobcat, etc. they recognize the whole family, not just the scout, as it is a family effort to work through all the electives, etc.

 

[mommytutu]

We are just finishing up before summer activites. My dh and I are Tiger Den leaders ane will be moving up to Wolves in the Fall. We've had so much fun!

Our pack has 2 den meeting a month and one pack meeting a month. Each meeting is about an hour and sometimes a wee bit longer. We do crafts and games and have discussions(about favorite pets, summer activites, helping others) during meetings. We've made hand puppets, food pyramids, time capsules, picture frames, leaf rubbbings, and learned magic tricks. Our boys LOVE to play pictionary. We've gone on field trips to historical buildings, the firestation, the ice skating rink, the printing press. The Pinewood Derby was a BLAST! Those boys make some neat cars and the parents really get into it. We've had a fishing derby and campout. We've had cub-o-ree which is a day camp that is lots of fun. We've collected food for the needy and shoes for kids in Iraq. Last weekend was a big scout weekend for us. We had Scout Show, which is lots of booths of food and games and they can earn badges. There was a dunking booth and a rock climbing wall. That night we all went to a Texas Rangers baseball game and the scouts and their familes got to have a "parade" out on the field before the game. We had around 2,500 scouts at the game that night. It was so cool!

Also, in Tigers, parental participation is a must. Our parents must stay. They can not just drop their kid off. If the parnets play the games the boys have a lot of fun watching their parents be silly and having fun.

And I just want to add, if anyone signs their boys up for scouts, please, particiapte and encourage your son to particiapte. We've had some issues with this in the past year and it has caused some hurt feelings when the boy who don't particiapte end up not getting certain badges, certificates, or recognition, but we can't go handing out badges and such to those who don't particiapte.

Oh, and to answer the cost question...we pay $10 a year, add $11 if you want a subscription to Boys Life. We have a popcorn fundraiser and we sell tickets to the Scout Show. We do really well with these two things so we don't pay dues. The church that sponsers us provides us with all craft and game materials, although I have bought some things out of pocket.

 

[summerrluvv]

Thanks for all the replies!! I actually went ahead and emailed the person that was on the flyer and she gave me the pertinent info. My son could sign up for Summer activities, but since he is going to camp and stuff, we might be too busy for that, so I think'll sign him up for the fall. The meetings are once a week or once every two weeks which is okay.

 

[BethanyF]

My only concern is that I'm a single parent, and I will more than likely be the one taking him to meetings and stuff. Are there other mothers that go too or is it mainly boys and their fathers?

Lots of moms participate, Im a Den Leader and the Pack Treasurer.
Our pack has a large percentage of moms as Den Leaders. And I would say 75% of my Tigers had mom with them as their parent partner.

 

[nuke]

My husband is going to be Cubmaster next year. He loves scouts as much as my son.

In Tigers there is a lot of parent involvement. Once in Wolves not so much in the meetings but at the Den level there is more. It is important to be involved. We did a pancake breakfast a few weeks ago and I started out as just signing on to help for an hour and ended up staying all day because I was having a blast.

 

[MerryPoppins]

My son is almost 18 and has been involved in Scouting since he joined as a Wolf. DH and I became den leaders at that point, and have remained involved as adult leaders since he's been a Boy Scout. He just did his Eagle project last weekend, so he'll be earning that before his birthday.

Many of the adults in our troop are men, but there are a lot of women too. You would not feel out of place if you were involved in our patrol/troop. I think more women are involved in Cub Scouts than in Boy Scouts.