US Cub Scout Emblem

The Cub Scouts, often known simply as Cubs, is a section of the Scouting movement for children between the ages of around 8-11 (depending on the country).

Foundation

The Scout Movement , originally designed for teenager, succeeded unprecedently soon after its creation by its founder Robert Baden-Powell (B-P) in 1907. A lot of boys yet reached the Scout age came to different Scout troops and asked to join the movement. Some leaders refused them at first but finally allowed them to stay as junior member. With respect to widespread acceptance of junior members, B-P decided to extend the movement to younger children and planned new theme and training scheme suitable for them. B-P asked his friend Rudyard Kipling for the use of his The Jungle Book history and universe as motivational frame in cub scouting. B-P wrote a new book The Wolf Cub's Handbook for junior member as The Boy Scout Handbook for Scout before. In 1917, the new section Wolf Cub was born and the junior members are Wolf Cubs.

In 1960s, the Wolf Cub section was detached from jungle theme and the section changed the name to Cub Scout and its members are Cub Scouts. Though the section detaced from jungle theme, the Jungle Stories and Cub ceremony are largely retained as tradition.

The Cubs were originally open only to boys, and the Brownies were set up as a parallel section for young girls. This remains the situation in some places. Even where girls are admitted to the Cubs, in some places there are separate packs for boys and girls.

Organisation

Cub scouts are organised in Packs, which are usually linked to a scout group, providing a community with all the age-sections. Adult leaders of Cub packs take the names of The Jungle Book 's main characters. Cub scouts have a distinctive two-fingers salute, in contrast to the three-finger salute of Boy Scouts.

Like Scout Troops, Cub Scouts are assigned to different small team in Pack. B-P named the team Six, which means there are six members in each team.

Progressive training

Cub Scouts, like the Boy Scouts, use a ranking system, but unlike its counterpart, the ranking is dependent upon age or grade level.

US

The entry-level rank, sometimes considered a separate entity than Cub Scouts, is Tiger. The next ranks, in successive order, are Wolf, Bear, and Webelos. The Webelos rank is unusual because a boy must spend two years as one before receiving the Arrow of Light Award, the highest given to a Cub Scout and the only patch from Cub Scouts worn on the Boy Scout uniform.

See Also

• Scouting
• Rover Scouts
• The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book

External Links

• The Virtual Cub Scout Leader's Handbook