Bill Smith's Unofficial Cub Scout Roundtable
A compendium of Ideas For Cubmasters, Den Leaders and those who help them.
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PREPARATION
FOR BOY SCOUTS
This is the 10th point in the purposes of Cub Scouting. It is probably the least understood of all 10.
A Webelos should enter a Scout troop with certain skills, knowledge, and character traits that he has picked up on his trail through the levels of Cub Scouting. This page attempts to highlight some of the stations on that trail that prepare him, and to explain how these will help him be a more successful Boy Scout.
Last Update 2/26/06
In Sunset Trail District, approximately one Tiger or  Cub Scout out of twelve that were recruited 10-12 years ago, went on to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. This ratio continues to the present.
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In order to prepare boys for Boy Scouting, den leaders and parents should have a general idea of what goes on in a troop program, especially camping and the patrol method. 

In Boy Scouts, a gang of about 6-8 boys form a patrol, go camping and play the game of Scouting. This act of camping provides all sorts of challenges for these boys. They must somehow face up to the incumbent problems while adhering to a set of ethical standards: the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. In essence, this is all there is to Boy Scouting. Everything else, the badges, uniforms, other activities, exist only to support this process.

Boy Scout camping is not the same as Cub Scout or Webelos camping, In the pack or den, we have outdoor activities because it's more fun. We could accomplish our purposes just as well indoors. It would just lack some luster. Outdoors and camping are essential to Boy Scouting. This is the arena, where individuals and patrols must meet and overcome the challenges. The only reason for indoor Scout meetings is to prepare to go outdoors. That is where the problems await and that is where the Scouts must solve them.

It is a mistake to think that patrols are like dens just because both have about the same number of members. A patrol is not just a den with older kids. Dens are a way of dividing up a pack to provide more individual and closer adult leadership. A patrol is the integral unit of Scouting where the members must work together to succeed. A patrol is a true gang of boys. The leadership of the patrol emerges from the patrol itself. 

The patrol method is the basic method of achieving the aims of Scouting, where patrols are isolated and become responsible for getting things done, where they are guided into looking within their own members to find the necessary resources. There is no Cub Scout equivalent to the patrol method. The family and parent participation provide some of the same benefits, but it works in different ways in Cub Scouting.

You don't need to teach Cub Scouts or Webelos Scouts the Boy Scout program. Just follow what is in the Cub Scout and Webelos books but be aware of what lies ahead for the boy.

Scouting Ideals: The Cub Scout Promise, the Motto and the Law of the Pack.
Nothing prepares a Cub Scout better for Boy Scouting than instilling within him the attitudes that are contained in those ideals a boy first learns as he earns the Bobcat Badge. Doing his best, helping other people, giving good will, doing his duty to God and country prepare him emotionally to be a good Scout.

Tiger Achievement 1F:  Think of one chore you can do along with your adult partner.  Do it together.
Well, we hit him right off the bat with a challenge to be responsible. Do your share. Help.
The Boy Scout patrol method works by having each patrol member take on responsibilities to achieve the goals of the patrol (like eating on a camp out.) Pushing boys to be responsible shows up all through Scouting but it really pays off when a Scout patrol is filled with Scouts who take their responsibilities seriously. It make Scouting fun, and enables them to take on all sorts of exciting challenges.
Tiger Achievement 2F: Together with your adult partner, look at a map of your community.
This is a high level intellectual achievement for a six year old. It requires that he visualizes his location from some other place: from above. By the time he enters Boy Scouts he should be familiar with maps, coordinates, directions and navigation. These skills continue to show up at every Cub Scout level.
Wolf Achievement 2b: Lead a flag ceremony in your den.
This is the first of several leadership exercises in Cub Scouting. It is important, not only in that he is challenged to have a bunch of 7 year olds line up properly and salute the flag correctly, but that he must withstand the reactions of his den mates who will be quick to critique any lapses that they notice. Of all the skills he will learn in Boy Scouts, leadership is one of the most difficult to master and one of the most valuable in life.


Wolf Achievement 8: Cooking and Eating.

Good meals on camp outs are essential to keeping a boy in the program. Boys Scouts, in a properly run troop, will be required to provide their own meals: make the menus, buy the food, carry it, store it safely, prepare the meals, serve it and clean up. They must do this in good or bad weather and always with the admonition that a Scout is cheerful and thrifty. If you want your Cub Scout to enjoy his Boy Scout experience, teach him to cook. This achievement is a comprehensive learning opportunity.


Bear Achievement 11: Be Ready.

This achievement mirrors the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. We expect a Cub Scout to think ahead and be ready to act in case of fire, water or traffic accident. This is the essence of Scouting: being ready and able to act appropriately and make things happen.
Bear Achievement 15C: Select a game your den has never played. Explain the rules. Tell them how it is played and then play it with them.
In a Boy Scout troop, the boys - not the adults  - run the program, lead all the activities. This is an excellent opportunity for an eight year old to experiment with leadership. Leadership is a learned skill that takes a lot of practice. Give your Cub Scouts ample practice opportunities before they have to do it for real in Boy Scouts.


Bear Achievement 24: Be A Leader.

This is one of the most powerful achievements in Cub Scouting. Try to have each Cub Scout do these, either as a full achievements or as electives. 24a - Help a boy join, is especially valuable since it is the only place anywhere in Scouting that a boy is taught to recruit. This is be a particularly important skill, because most troops depend more on word of mouth and boy-to-boy recruiting than any other method.
Webelos Outdoorsman Activity Badge:
Knots, camping, making a campfire and cooking over it - these are things he will do as a Scout. These are best done with a troop where he can see just how real Boy Scouts do them. Being able to do these jobs and do them correctly will help him become an effective and valuable patrol member.


Webelos Readyman Activity Badge:

Another in the "Be Prepared" series. This time, more focussed and more Scout like with some real first aid thrown in. In Webelos, the boy starts to tie emergency preparedness with the den's plans to go out and do things like camping.
Webelos Traveler Activity Badge:
Being in Boy Scouts is, to a large extent, getting away from home. What do you have to do to leave home on your own? Read maps and schedules, plan a trip, choose a destination, pack, and prepare for emergencies. This badge is full of little gems that will help a Scout on every activity from a simple overnight to a High Adventure trip or a World Jamboree.


Arrow of Light:

Preparation for Boy Scouting gets into high gear as he works on Arrow of Light. He is focussing in on specifics now: the uniform, the Scout Law and Oath. He actually visits troops, meets Scouts and leaders and gets the chance to observe them in action. This all leads up to that critical moment when he must decide which troop or maybe: will there be a troop? He is going to live with that decision. Few boys who find out that the troop they join is really not right for them ever transfer to another. Most just drop out. It is important that both pack and troop leaders do their utmost to help each Webelos make a good decision here.

Meal Preparation and Cooking:
    As stated above, good meals make good camping experiences. Cooking and meal preparation shows up in the following places:
      • Tiger -Elective 24. Help prepare the family meal, set the table and clean up afterwards.
      • Tiger Elective 25. Make a snack and share it with your family or den.
      • Wolf - Achievement 8 Cooking and Eating,
      • Bear - Achievement 9 What's Cooking,
      • Webelos -  Family Member Activity Badge - Feeding the Family
      • Webelos - Outdoorsman A.B. - Cooking in Camp.
    It's best for a boy to learn to cook in his kitchen before he tries it outdoors, over a fire. He should understand menus, shopping lists and recipes and know when to use each one. He should be acquainted with terms like, measure, mix, fry, bake, broil and simmer, and have tried a few of these before he has to do them on a Scout camp out.



Swimming and Aquatics:

    When one imagines Scouts camping, there is usually water in the picture. It may be swimming, a canoe pulled up to a lake shore camping spot or white water rafting. A boy should be ready to participate in all these, safely and confidently, as soon as he joins a troop. Cub Scouting provides an age appropriate, graduated program of aquatics:

Service Projects:
"Helping other people at all times" is part of the Scout Oath. Think about it. This is an awesome responsibility for an eleven year old. Cub packs that regularly schedule pack and den service projects are providing their Cub Scouts with a mind set and role models towards responsibility and dedication. Boys who are proud of helping others make good Scouts.
 


Camping:

It's tough to like Boy Scouting if you don't enjoy camping or if you don't camp. In Cub Scouting, we slowly introduce a boy to the joys of outdoor living and being away from home. When he gets into a troop, he will be doing all the chores and duties on his own that he used to do with the help of his family. He will be part of a patrol that succeeds or fails depending on the abilities of its members. We should take advantage of our increased opportunities to provide more camping in the Cub Scout program.

Skits and Run-Ons:
Communication is one of the set of leadership skills that Boy Scouting fosters amongst its members. The ability to stand up in front of the public and say something is an important part of the program. Boys of Cub Scouting age can be incredibly shy. We try to help them overcome this by making it fun in the Cub Scout program. The little gimmicks that add humor to pack meetings are also preparing a boy to help his future troop at troop meetings and camp fire programs.
  • Tiger Elective 6. Along with your adult partner, teach a song to your family or to your den and sing it together.
  • Bear - Achievement 4c. Tall Tales - tell your favorite folk-lore story to your den.
  • Webelos - Showman activity Badge.

BP on the Patrol Method
The patrol

[F]irst and foremost: The Patrol is the character school for the individual. To the Patrol Leader it gives practise in Responsibility and in the qualities of Leadership. To the Scouts it gives subordination of self to the interests of the whole, the elements of self-denial and self-control involved in the team spirit of cooperation and good comradeship.

But to get first-class results from this system you have to give the boy leaders real free-handed responsibility-if you only give partial responsibility you will only get partial results. The main object is not so much saving the Scoutmaster trouble as to give responsibility to the boy, since this is the very best of all means for developing character.

The Scoutmaster who hopes for success must not only study what is written about the Patrol System and its methods, but must put into practice the suggestions he reads. It is the doing of things that is so important, and only by constant trial can experience be gained by his Patrol Leaders and Scouts. The more he gives them to do, the more will they respond, the more strength and character will they achieve.

Robert Baden-Powell (1930)
Aids to Scoutmastership

MORE ON THE PATROL METHOD
WESTCHESTER-PUTNAM COUNCIL
GREEN BAR PATROL
TROOP 97 - PARENT INFO
TROOP 7 - HOW PARENTS CAN HELP
AIDS TO SCOUTMASTERSHIP -BP

Scout Oath (or Promise)
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
    and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
    mentally awake, 
    and morally straight.
Scout Law
A Scout is
TRUSTWORTHY
LOYAL
HELPFUL
FRIENDLY
COURTEOUS
KIND
OBEDIENT
CHEERFUL
THRIFTY
BRAVE
CLEAN
REVERENT

W. T. Smith