Making Cub Scouts Work
by Dawn Frandsen
| Since 1913 the Scouting program has been supported and incorporated in Church programs
as a way for boys ages eight to eighteen to learn and reinforce gospel values. (The idea to
adopt the Boy Scouts of America program was presented to the First Presidency by Bryant
S. Hinckley, President Hinckley’s father.) Since that time, Scouting has been used as the
activity arm of the Aaronic Priesthood and as part of the Primary program. |
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Making cub scouts work smoothly
can be a challenge. In fact, there
seems to be three major barriers in terms of
having a Cub Scout program work well. But
if these common pitfalls are addressed and
solved, the other smaller problems will take
care of themselves.
Training
Problem number one: leaders and families
are unfamiliar with the program. The solution
to this is found in one word—training.
Any leader, in any situation, needs
to understand their responsibilities and
duties, as well as those of whom they work
with. The Boy Scouts of America, through
local districts, provides a series of training
experiences
beginning with an online course
called “fast start training” designed to help
leaders
understand their job. The Boy Scouts
of America website (scouting.org) has fast start
training for every position from den leaders
to the Primary president and can answer
many of the questions both new and experienced
leaders may have.
The next level of training is called Basic
Training. This covers training for specific
positions, like a den leader or committee
chair. After this training, leaders will know
how the program works as a whole and receive leader-specific training that will,
among other things, help den leaders learn
to keep records and give ideas to Cubmasters
for providing simultaneous entertainment
and instruction to a spirited group of eightto
ten-year-olds.
In addition to these one-time trainings,
roundtable meetings are provided each
month by the sponsoring district and are
especially great for Cub Scout leaders. At
these meetings, the next month’s theme and
activities are discussed. Ideas, and in some
cases supplies, are given to den leaders and
Cubmasters. Most districts or councils also
sponsor an annual training conference called
a pow wow. While pow wow attendance is
not required training, the curriculum is very
useful, and many classes and ideas offered
are relevant to every Cub Scout position.
Tenure
If leaders are properly educated and supported
in their training, they will gain an
understanding of and appreciation for
the aims and purposes of Cub Scouting.
This will help alleviate the second major
problem—tenure.
In the 2007 Aaronic Priesthood/Scouting
Broadcast, President Charles W. Dahlquist
II, Young Men General President, discussed
tenure in Scouting. “Over time, leaders
become trained, establish strong Scouting
traditions and build relationships of trust
with the boys and their families. . . . Ideally,
it would be wonderful to leave leaders of the
youth in callings as long as possible.”
Lack of tenure makes smooth operation
of the Cub Scouting program difficult. In a
well-run program, the boys will be able to
look forward with anticipation to activities
with leaders they can expect in future years.
Correlation
The third problem faced by many Cub Scout
programs is one of correlation. It is difficult
for some to see how Primary and Cub Scouts
fit together and support one another. There
are several ways Cub Scout requirements
dovetail with Primary’s goals: the family,
Character Connections, and Faith in God.
Family
Cub Scouting is a family program. Family
and parental involvement is actually crucial
to the workings of the program. Many
requirements revolve around life at home
and encourage participation with family
members in family activities.
Character Connections
Another way the programs work together is
through Character Connections. Character
Connections reinforce gospel principles and
subjects taught in Primary and at Cub meetings.
Found as requirements throughout all
three den’s books, Character Connections
discuss topics like respect, faith, courage
and honesty. Passing off these requirements
necessitates the boys to know, commit to, and
practice these values.
Faith in God
A third way Primary and Cub Scouts reinforce
one another is through the Faith in
God program. This small booklet provides
the requirements for the religious square
knot patch. After he has earned it, this
purple and silver patch is the only one that
will remain with him on all his Scouting
uniforms. He will wear it on his Boy Scout
uniform and on his adult uniform as he
becomes a leader.
The Faith in God program also uses other
Scouting activities to reinforce gospel teachings
that help these young boys prepare for
the priesthood through hands-on activities.
Many leaders try to incorporate one Faith in
God achievement at least once a month in
their Cub Scout meetings.
The Cub Scouting program is a way to
build and support boys as they prepare to
receive the priesthood. In 2007, when speaking
to Scout leaders about Scouts, President
Monson said, “They depend on you. Their
very salvation may be at stake. You can build
a bridge to the heart of a boy and can help
guide his precious soul back to our Father in
Heaven.” Leaders and parents who recognize
and follow this counsel concerning Scouting
will do a great service to future generations
of the world as we help these young boys
grow and mature.
LDS Living, July/August 2008, 38-39
Posted by David
from Baghdad, Iraq
There are lots of challenges in getting Cub Scouting to work in a ward and stake.
Finances is a big challenge! Most Cub Scout units are not allowed to conduct fund raisers in the church. However, units need money for scout awards, unit memberships, scout books, camping supplies, ceremony supplies, Day Camp, etc. In addition, the Den Mothers and the Cub Master need money to purchase supplies for the boys weekly scout activities. Many times the ward budget will not cover all of these expenses!
Bishopric Support - Another challenge is that some bishops support scouting and others do not. Without bishopric support a scout unit will flounder in a ward.
Lack of a Trained Cub Scout Pack Committee - Many times the parents are not brought into the Pack Committee or one is not organized in a ward. Then all of the burden falls on the Cub Master and the Den Leaders. Every Cub Scout Pack needs a trained Pack Committee and every parent in the pack should be on that committee and given a specific task to do!
Attendance at the monthly RoundTables and District Committee Meetings - Every Cub Scout Leader needs to attend the monthly Cub Scout roundtable meetings in order to get ideas on how to run their cub scout meetings every month! The member of the bishopric over scouting should attend as well.
Two Deep Leadership - Every scouting activity that involves the boys needs to have two trained scout adults with those boys! Many times Den Mothers are left alone with the boys at Den Meetings. A scout trained parent needs to help out that Den Leader every week. DO NOT LEAVE BOYS WITH JUST ONE SCOUT LEADER PRESENT!
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Posted by Richard
from Kanab, Utah
Fast Start is followed by New Leader Essentials, then Leader Specific Training. You neglected NLE.
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Posted by Dave
from Taylors,SC
My son joined Tiger Scouts with his friends in the 1st grade. He was six. By the time he turned 8 he had already started working on his Bear. Due to the fact that it seems LDS untis are treated more as baby sitting than Scout units, I kept my son in Scouting at a Methodist church. He earned his Eagle and greatly enjoyed his experiences.
We went on one campout with the ward tropp and saw so many violations of BSA rules and common sense that we never went back.
Pres. Monson has said that a Scoutmaster should have similar tenure as a Bishop and this is not done. My ward had a Scoutmaster who went to Woodbadge on his own and was very motivated, but just as he was finishing the program, he was pulled to be Gospel Doctrine teacher. A totla waste of talent. Under him the troop had gone to the first District and Council activities in years and had been great. The boys lost a lot of enthusiasm because of this.
I was on a board of review for 4 boys and didn't pass 3 of them due to bad uniform, no scouting skills and no knowledge of what scout positions they had held. Parents were upset, but when the scouting expectations were shown to them, they were better prepared.
The church (at least in SC ) doesn't give scouting any chance to work with the way it's administered.
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Posted by cheryl
from California
I beliee the statement that the religious knot is the only thing moved from cub to scout uniform is incorrect. The Arrow of Light is the only insignia that directly transfers to the boy scout uniform. My understanding regarding the religious knot is that after the scout has earned the religious knot as a boy scout, he may then wear pins on the knot indicating he earned it as a cub scout and a scout.
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Posted by Catherine
from Charlotte,North Carolina
My husband and I have been very active in Scouting within the Church for the last 20 + years and Training has always been one of our pet peeves. As Unit and Round Table Commisioners, Scout Master , Cub Master and PAck and troop Committee members, we have initiated several training programs on our ward and stake levels to bring the training to the leaders. Church members are used to "winging it" by the spirit but a Scout calling requires a lot of basic knowledge that can only be aquired through official Scouting workshops, Round Table Meetings are essantial to get the teaching aids necessary to run a successful program. Unfortunately, many times other ward programs get in the way on the calendar. And it just seems that one more meeting is more than we can fit in. But the excitment of the boy towards scouting begins with his Cub Scout leader and his parents and should not stop until Eagle Rank is reached. Basket ball is not an answer to an ill prepared scout meeting either....We have seen too many boys get discouraged by this practice... One of our sons ( both earned Eagle Rank} has gone on to be assistant scout leaders and scout master after his mission in his college family ward in South Dakota and that's the way it should be. If the torch gets passed on then the scouting program has done its job of preparing and certifying the leaders of tomorow.
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Posted by Lisa
from Utah
I appreciate the article on making cub scouting work. Having worked many years in cub scouts, I can see so much truth to those principles. Thank you for writing this article - I plan to share it with all units in our stake to help encourage them in their cub scouting programs.
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Posted by Rebecca
from Gaffney, SC
I work with Webelos and the biggest challenge is trying to do a two year program in one year, especially when boys move up on their birthdays and boys move in from other places so that what one boy needs another has just finished. It would be much easier if I had all the boys for the same one year period. You didn't address that at all.
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Posted by Phyllis
from California
My son has gone through cub scouts to now being a Webelos scout with so many changes in the leadership. One thing has not changed and that is our participation as parents. My husband goes to every meeting and always has something the boys can do if a leader is not prepared or doesn't show up. We want our son to have the best experience and also help the cub scouts in our ward.
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Posted by Ethel
from Manila, Philippines
Our stake has tried so many times to establish the scouting program in the primary and in the Young Men's Organization. We thought that we had already made it but as discussed, tenure was one of the main concerns. After training the Primary leaders and Young Men Leaders, they would be called to other callings leaving the boys in the air as to what would happen to them. Activities in the Faith in God & Duty to God Programs coinsiding with Scouting are either left unaccomplished or personally done with families that does not have sufficient supervision on how to perform these activities. We need our Priesthood leaders to include Scouting in its priorities with the Duty to God and Faith in God. We need our area authorities to follow-up this program from our priesthood leaders as this has been altogether been taken for granted or totally left-out.
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Posted by Tammi
from Orem, UT
One way to deal with the issue of boys coming in and out of the program at different times of year: Map out your program for a full 12 months. Then if a boy is in a full year, he'll get the entire program over the 12 months. Every boy will get things in a different order, but everything is still covered. I heard that at Roundtable and I think it's a great idea. Just like every Cub will experience 3 derbies if they're held the same month every year. Same concept.
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