Learning Salesmanship Through Cub Scouts

Today I have a guest post from my son who is 8.  He is in cub scouts and is learning how to sell popcorn in order to help raise money for cub scouts. 75% of the sales price goes directly to the cub scouts, which is a much better split than typical fundraisers.  The boy scouts will teach Trent a lot of great life skills, and salesmanship is one of them.  Learning to be confident when approaching strangers and asking for a sale is something that everyone should learn.  The other 3 kids go to their dad’s houses on weekends from time to time, but this kid because he lives with his dad, gets left home with no other kids to play with.  Going to cub scouts has helped to give him something special for him to do on the weekends.

My name is Trent and I am 8 years old. I started cub scouts in June and want to do cub scouts until I am in 5th grade then I can be a boy scout.  I go to cub scout meetings at the church on Saturdays.  I have made a couple friends while in cub scouts so far. The first thing new cub scouts do is take the cub scout oath which says:

“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.”

In cub scouts we earn merit badges for doing certain things.  Right now I am just starting and I only have 1 badge. I am going to try to get more badges. Cub scouts go on adventures and even go camping. We also learn how to tie cool knots.  At my last cub scout meeting we made a rain gauge. We used a plastic bottle and tape and rocks to measure how much it rains in 1 week.  We will check it next week to see how much rain we got.  I like building projects like this.  I also like the cub mobile. The cub mobile is  a little go kart with no motor that the cub scouts use for races once in a while.

Going to summer camp costs money and to earn money for camp and other scout stuff we sell popcorn. During summer camp the boys learn to shoot bow and arrows! We sell popcorn in front of stores like Lowes and Family Farm and Home.  We also sell door to door and to family and friends. To sell popcorn we ask people if they can help support cub scouts by buying some popcorn. We tell people what we do in cub scouts and let them know how much each popcorn costs. When we were at the stores our pack leader had a board with pictures showing what we do in cub scouts.  People can buy popcorn directly from me or they can make a donation of popcorn to armed service families.  I have a website to sell popcorn to people that don’t live near me. We have delicious caramel popcorn, cheese popcorn and even microwave popcorn.

Can you buy some popcorn from me to help support cub scouts? Click here to go to my website!

Thank You! Trent.

Have you had your kids in cub scouts or girl scouts?  What are your thoughts on the program? We are pretty new to this but so far it looks like a lot of fun!