Not our most fun meeting but an important one. Cubs last week went over basic Scouting principles including Leave no Trace in honour of the disaster our Pack made of the washrooms last week.
We started the meeting off by inspecting the washrooms so that we all understood what shape we expected them to be left in after our meeting was over.
We spent some time (a lot of time) working on our opening as some members of our pack have found it challenging to form a semi-circle on the 3-point line. We went over the idea of personal space and introduced the old-school scouting concept of a blood circle (the safety circle formed when you hold out your arms and make a circle) which in scouting is used to ensure we have enough space in senior years when you are working on knife skills or fire building skills.
Some Cubs more than others are finding parts of our program challenging and that’s ok. We win and lose as a pack and no matter whether we are winning or losing, life is all about how well we play and interact together, the shared experiences and friendships we make along the way. To that end, we need to cooperate and work together and as long as we are all doing our best our Pack will succeed. 🙂
We played a game of cleaning up paper recycling that Scouter Gord brought in to help reinforce the idea that as Cub Scouts we leave no trace. Whether it’s hiking and making sure we bring all our garbage out of the park or trail or leaving washrooms in the state we found them in, Cubs leave no Trace.
We split off into Lairs where we went over the S.P.I.C.E.S. of Scouting, the principles our meetings and activities focus on. Cubs were challenged to come up with mini-games or activities to help teach one or more of the scouting principles back to the other lairs. We only had time for one group to present so next week we will make sure the other 5 lairs have a chance to present and demonstrate the games and activities they came up with.
Social: scouting activities are designed to bring youth together in fun, educational activities with the hope that through shared experiences life long friendships can be formed.
Physical: as an outdoor adventure club meetings and activities generally promote staying active and healthy
Intellectual: scouting activities promote problem solving skills and challenges to help develop youth into confident, independent leaders of tomorrow
Character: at its core scouting activities help our youth build character, our Cub promise includes helping someone everyday
Emotional: understanding one’s emotions and those of others helps scouts handle the challenges of life. Whether it’s stepping back to collect one’s thoughts when you are feeling overwhelmed or trying some physical activity when you are feeling down, scouting recognizes the mental health of our youth is paramount to healthy living and activities are designed to allow all our Cubs to shine.
Spiritual: whether a Cub is religious and believes in God or not all Cubs are encouraged to look at the bigger picture of life and our individual role in making the world a better place. Morals and ethics and ultimately Kindness and Respect to all is a fundamental part of Scouting.
Our Cubs came up with some amazing ideas and are looking forward to presenting them back to the Pack at our next meeting.
