Ron,

I taught my 4 sons how to tie the Cub Scout and Boy Scout required knots and other knots. I was a CS den leader and taught my den the CS knots. The Boy Scout store sells 1/8” white braided nylon cord that is perfect. It feels good in your hands and is easy to tie knots with. The worst is thick, stiff, scratchy rope. I worked on all the knots until I could do them easily myself. Any that require a loop I turned into a right hand/clockwise loop.

As an example let me tell you how I describe how to tie a bowline knot: let the rope hang down, take your fingers and turn the rope and make a loop my doing a clockwise turn, then take the end of the rope and pretend it is a rabbit, the loop is its hole, and the part about the loop is a tree. Then the rabbit come out of the hole, around the back of the tree, and back down the hole. Pull the rope tight and you have the knot. For the square not I tell them to just switch directions for the second loop. If the ends are on the same side it is a square knot. If they are on opposite sides it is a thief’s knot. If it is a mess it’s a granny knot. My oldest son cheated by tying it like a sheet bend and putting the end through the loop instead of across the loop.

Why don’t you list the knots you are teaching and we can give you ideas on how to make them easy to learn for young boys. The bowline - rabbit, hole, and tree trick must be as old-as-the-hills. My sons would almost be/were in tears when they tried to do a knot and it would come out wrong, especially if their brothers could do it.

Happy scouting! You are doing a great service for America by helping to build great men.

Thank you!