TIGERS

Baloo Archives

Achievement 4, How I Tell It

This requirement is about Communication.  Getting our Tigers to talk with others and be positive in what they say.  They may learn how to carry on conversations and a little about mass communication. 

Tigers can learn there are many modes of communication – when we talk, write, dance, sing or draw pictures.  We communicate too with our faces when we frown or smile and our bodies with how we stand or move our arms.

Our uniforms and beads (on our Tiger totems) and patches communicate information about who we are and what we like to do.

Adults communicate through newspapers, magazines, books (Harry Potter) television and radio.  Be open to showing all these to your tigers to help them Search, Discover and Share.

Achievement 4 Family Activity

4F - At a family meal, have each family member take turns telling the others one thing that happened to him or her that day. Remember to practice being a good listener while you wait for your turn to talk.

Mealtime conversations should be kept positive.  Sharing your day’s activities could be become a regular family activity.  Try to do this at a meal when everyone is there.  Sharing amongst family members is always good so try to keep doing it even if only a few members are present.

The requirement helps promote Family Understanding, one of the Ten Purposes of Cub Scouting!!

This requirement involves doing a Character Connection on Respect.  There are three elements to every Character Connection.  A Tiger must first know what is correct, then practice doing it and finally commit to doing it in the future.  If you want more info on Character Connections there is a BSA Bin Item 13-323A or go to Bill Smith’s Virtual roundtable at - http://www.wtsmith.com/rt/chardev.html

For the Respect Character Connection –

Know – Have the Tiger discuss how he can show respect while talking with others.  How to listen respectfully.  How he may interrupt and still be respectful.

Practice – Have him participate in a family conversation (The one for this requirement would be great!!)  Then discuss how he and others showed respect.

Commit – Have him discuss how it felt to be respected while he talked and how he felt showing respect o others.  Have him make a list of three things to remember to help him talk respectfully.

Achievement 4 Den Activity

4D - Play "Tell It Like It Isn't"

This is the old “Whistling Down the Alley” game where the boys line up and pass a secret along.  By the time it gets to the end, it usually is different than the start.  The more boys the more fun.  The Adults should join in, too, to make the line longer. 

After the game discuss how things your Tiger may hear may not always be accurate. That messages change as they are passed from person to person.  Discuss, too, how unkind words (gossip) can do harm and is often untrue.  Cubs should only try and say things that are true.  Honesty is a core value of Cub Scouting.

Achievement 4 Go and See It

4G - Visit a television station, radio station, or newspaper office. Find out how people there communicate with others.

This is very easy.  Where I live we have a great radio station, WJBR (www.wjbr.com) that invites Scouts up to tour.  Then, if the Den wants to, they tape them saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  Every day at 7:00 AM, they play a tape of a group (school class, Den, Troop, Club).  They even came to my roundtable and had us one morning saying the Pledge.  I really like it when I hear a Tiger Den; they are so honest and excited. And most say it correctly – saying “One Nation Under God” as a continuous phrase without a pause. Of course it helps that the morning DJ, Michael Waite, grew up in Indiana, the Heartland of America, and his assistant, Mr. Rhoads is an experienced Philmont trekker!!  I have heard the Pledge said on several other area stations so maybe there is one by you.

Our local newspaper encourages tours.  When my son’s Den went for Communicator, they inserted a picture of the Den on the front page and ran enough copies so each Scout could get one!!