Delivering News or Spreading Gossip?

Circle Ten Council

Here are some thoughts to discuss with your Tigers (or any age Cub Scout or youth) based on common phrases.  These can be used with Achievement 4, ”Tell It Like It Is,” or anytime. Discussion can be at home, with the den or anywhere.  See the December Theme Baloo for hints on Family Discussions at Dinner (Keep them positive!) Comm. Dave

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all! Since the beginning of time, gossip has passed through every civilization and language. Whether intended to be mean-spirited or thought to be the simple relay of news and information, there is always someone who is the topic, and someone else who tells the story.

There are two sides to every story - From a group of kids on the playground to a group of adults around the water cooler, the discourse targeted on an individual is as damaging to the speaker and his audience as it is to person(s) being discussed. How many times have you encountered a group of people discussing

A particular individual, recounting only his or her good qualities?

Believe only half of what you see, and none of what you hear. The spoken and written word can both create and destroy. Individual lives, careers, schools, towns, companies, and churches have been turned completely upside down and permanently altered by misinformation, lies, half truths, murmuring…by any other name it is still gossip. Today, as adults we can still look back to “that” girl in high school, “that” woman down the street, “that” teacher at school, “that” man at church. Though “they” were major topics of discussion, how different things might have been if more people had talked “to” them rather than “about” them. Most victims of gossip desperately flail about like a drowning man, in attempt to fix the damage.

Stick and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.  Our words can do as much damage and leave scars, sometimes worse than any physical injury. Almost any adult can recall an incident in their youth that left such a scar. Countless numbers of children (and adults) have dropped out of sports or other activities because of something said to them or about them.

Time heals all wounds Children (and some adults) simply do not understand the concept of “just ignore it”. It is hard for people to be forgiving. It is hard not to retaliate. In anger and pain, it is hard to see past today and look to next week. Children cannot reason with time. They have a hard time with the idea that things will look different in the morning. Getting even only creates more problems. Countering in the same manner that someone has hurt you, only makes you just another person out to hurt someone else. Two wrongs never make a right!

Don’t worry, he’ll outgrow it—not! Studies have shown that “verbally violent” behavior in children escalates into physical aggressive behavior. Children who “bully” their way through childhood grow into adults who bully their way through bad marriages, multiple jobs, and assorted bad circumstances that are never their fault

How do you repair the damage done by gossip? You can’t. Like the toughest and most ravaging diseases, the only cure is prevention.

Nip it in the bud

Den Activities for Achievement 4, “Tell It Like It Is.”

Circle Ten Council

Advertisement Hunt

Give each boy seated at a table a popular magazine, containing a large number of advertisements. Have in mind several products that are advertised in these magazines such as toothpaste, cars, soap, motor oil, etc. Start the game by calling out the name of the product. The boy/partner team, who first finds the proper ad, tears it out of the magazine and holds it up. If it is the right one, have them sit on it, and continue the game by calling for another. After about dozen or so calls, find out who is sitting on the most ads.

Newspaper Delivery Relay

Divide group into teams this includes partners! Give each team a tricycle, a bag, a few newspapers and rubber bands. On signal, the first player in each team rolls up a newspaper, and secures it with a rubber band, puts it in his newspaper bag, rides his tricycle to the turning point, throws his paper on the area designated as the “front porch”, and returns to the starting point. Then the next player does the same until everyone has completed their turn. First team to complete deliveries is the winner.

You could, also, do this as regular walking/running relay race CD

Newspaper Scavenger Hunt

Using a newspaper see how many of the following items each boy/partner team is able to find.

·    Find the names of two US States.

·    Find a picture of a smiling person.

·    Find a political cartoon.

·    Find another kind of cartoon.

·    Find a sale ad for a car.

·    Find the name of the Capitol of the US

·    Find a picture showing some kind of transportation.

·    Find a bar graph or chart.

·    Find an article that mentions a trial by jury.

·    Find the name of your state’s governor.

·    Find a proper noun other than a person’s name

·    Find a story in the sports section that mentions money.

·    Find the highest and lowest temperatures in the US.

·    Find two words that rhyme.

·    Find a sales ad for your favorite food.

Bring Back My Pencil

Tune: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean”

My Cub Scout den went on a field trip

To visit the newspaper shop.

I was helping the presses print faster

But suddenly everything stopped.

Bring back, bring back

Oh bring back my pencil to me, to me.

Bring back, bring back

Oh bring back my pencil to me.

Go See It Ideas Activities for Achievement 4, “Tell It Like It Is.”

Circle Ten Council

See the December Theme Baloo for more Go See It Activities for this achievement. CD

Take a tour of your local paper.

Take a tour of your local radio station.

Take a tour of your local TV station.

Visit a Computer company.

Visit a print shop.

Visit a reporter, editor, photographer, etc.

Visit a journalism teacher - learn how important writing, grammar and spelling skills are to being successful.

This last one could be really fun with the write (pun intended) teacher.  If there is a Community College near you, that could be a good resource.  CD

Tiger Flag Ceremony

Pack 531, Old North State Council

Preparation - Let the scouts use their own words for the ceremony.  The important parts are for what the colors stand.

Material - You need a piece of blue, white and red cloth and a small US flag.

The first Tiger come in with the Blue material.  Blue is for courage.

They can say something like: "I am blue.  I stand for courage.  Courage is more than just standing on a battlefield defending our country.  Courage means standing up for what you believe."

The next comes in with white cloth.  White stands for loyalty. 

They can say something like: “White stands for loyalty.  Loyalty means staying true to what you promised.  As a Tiger Cub, I have a duty to obey my parents and do what is right.  I am proud to be loyal."

 The next comes with the red material.  Red stands for freedom

They can say something like: “Red stands for freedom.  Freedom isn't free.  Someone had to die so that I am free and can be here today. The red is for the blood shed so that I can be free.  Thank you for my freedom."

 The last scout(s) comes in with the US Flag. 

He says something like "I am the Flag of the United States.  I am made of courage, loyalty and freedom.  As a Tiger Scout, I am glad to have the courage, be loyal and thankful for my freedom so that I can be here tonight.  Would you please rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with me."

When you recite the Pledge, don't forget, One Nation Under God is one complete phrase.